I always ask myself (and extend this to you, Tony) - why is Piaget not covered more by the media? They are doing outstanding work with the Polo line, launch of the Warhol line and now the watch inside the pebble. They beautifully marry the jewelry workmanship with watchmaking (their movements are super thin resulting in highly wearable pieces). Yes, I’m a big fan (and owner) who doesn’t understand why they don’t get more respect.
ha, I can link a few articles where i was accused of being too effusive of Piaget back on Hodinkee. I think they get a lot of coverage, and also credit for inspiring everything from the current trends of stone dials to 'geezer' watches to Dennison.
But if I accept the premise of your question, perhaps I'd say that it's because Piaget is one of the houses that is half jewelry half watchmaking (with origins as a watchmaker), that can sit outside the comfort zone of traditional watch media.
I will agree that the Warhol line, still relatively new, has been a bit underappreciated. The launch limited edition with a mosaic of stones is rad.
Maybe it’s good for me to appreciate them in my corner and enjoy it. Though I feel other watch collectors are missing on some outstanding work.
Thanks for sharing your view, I didn’t think about your point about watch media having hard time covering Piaget, Van Clef & Arpels and other jewelry forward brands. Now that I think about it some media brought in experts in jewelry and fashion to help bridge this gap.
It's because for men their watches are unwearable in 99.9% of situations, unless you are the 0.01% or idle rich or instagram crowd.
They make great watches that are sadly too good for nearly all of those who can afford them. And for those who can appreciate them for the design, wearing it veers closely imo to cosplay.
I mean, yes, as a piece of art the Piaget sodalite Polo hits the mark, but how is any working schmuck like me going to wear that watch on a weekday, or on most weekends? Or to buy groceries?
Polo is not the only line that’s great - honestly, I can imagine wearing the YG Altiplano in most situations - office, home, out with friends. And switch to Gshock for gardening or exercise.
I disagree, the Polo line is a great example of watch for every situation. I have been wearing Polo Filed for a few years now and it’s perfect fit in almost every situation. With the quick change straps it can be dressed up/down as needed. And I don’t accept the critique that it’s Aquanaut cosplay, I own both and prefer the Piaget for versatility. Yes, some of the new models require self confidence, but let’s admit it watches are jewelry.
fwiw you 2 are talking about different watches—agree the Polo S is a good everyday watch. the Polo79 is a piece of jewelry. a beautiful piece of jewelry but no doubt something most aren't wearing everyday.
Agreed, I’m admiring Polo 79 from a distance. They are nice pieces, definitely only ballers can wear daily. Enjoying Polo Field which is a more pedestrian watch for every day.
The Black Bay 58 GMT debuted in 2024 and cost $4600 on the oyster bracelet with the T Fit clasp. The same watch in 2026 with a minor case tweak cost $5525 which is a 16.8 per cent increase.
Tony, at what point will buyers realize that many of the price increases do not correspond to quality increases and are simply the brands way to increase profits without giving more watch. Will it come from massively depreciated watches on the secondary market or buyers simply priced out of new watches from their favorite brands???
I think buyers are already realizing this, yea? talk of prices is perhaps the dominant narrative right now, whether it's Tudor (I mentioned the change in the BB58—I remember buying for $3500 and it's now $5.5k, 7 years later. a better watch, but it'd better be!), or another $100k unproven indie.
And yes, I think one of the underappreciated boosts the secondary market has gotten is the rise of primary market prices. Kingflum and I mentioned this on the pod, how retailers are advertising 'certified preowned' watches that are really brand new, with manufacturer warranty for 25% off msrp.
I realize that collectors are talking about this and it is being reported. What i am thinking about is what the watch industry (brands) are going to do about it. Based on history, they don’t tend to lower prices. They try to move inventory in many way they can to justify and make sales. In the long run, that could really hurt brands as we have seen watches at COSCO when the brands totally lose a realistic pricing level.
Do you see them scaling back increases? I see them moving folks to lower cost options or greatly depreciated inventory in the grey market.
I feel like the conventional wisdom of Tudor and Rolex in recent years has been that Tudor is where Rolex can innovate and try new things, but at least the last couple years at W&W I see Rolex having a lot of fun and doing interesting things, and Tudor not doing much at all. They seem stuck in a rut of their own making. Wondering what you think!
I agree that Tudor has been the Black Bay and Pelagos brand the last few years but the Monarch is a swing in a new direction and I think it's pretty good. Not fully realized as I've mentioned now I don't like the crown and maybe numerals could've been better.
Everything else was just updates and refreshes. Ceramic bracelet is cool for a certain segment of consumer but not my vibe.
If I were to grade Tudor's 2026, it'd have to be an incomplete as I certainly feel they'll have more for their 100th anniversary later this year. I hope it's something fresh.
Thanks! Agreed. The Monach feels halfway thought through to me, the case platform seems really cool but I just don’t get the dial at all. I find myself far more interested in modern Rolex than Tudor right now which is not something I thought I’d ever say 😂
I have an interest in the styles and human-centric approach to business that Sylvain Berneron brings to the industry. You said you met with them and saw the upcoming September release, can you share any impressions on it?
it's iterative based on what he already has in the collection (think what we've seen from Simon Brette in the past few days ;). next year he will introduce his third collection, the Fiasco, which he has teased will be closer to jewlery. This year is filling out the Mirage collection and beginning deliveries of the QA, next year I'm excited for his third collection.
I'll leave it at that for now, and see if he'll allow me to give subscribers a preview of his upcoming September announcements, which he let me do last year with the QA!
I was going to ask a similar question to Robert, so maybe I’ll pose the question in a different way in case you do go deeper in an upcoming post.
You’ve seen what Sylvain has been doing since the outset. How do you see where he and the brand are headed in broader terms of the brand and its place amongst its peers/contemporaries? Also, did you get any visibility into what the Fiasco may be or what that fourth pillar of his product architecture may be?
Any brands leave you concluding “they are about to be a thing” based on the reaction of you and your peers? Any brands that seemed to have worsened or confirmed a bleak future (*cough* Omega)?
It's hard to judge Swatch Group brands, including Omega, since they don't really have a presence during this week (which is a decision we could certainly scrutinize). I am curious what will happen with Chopard L.U.C. It's this niche of indie-quality watchmaking in a much bigger watch and jewelry brand. Enthusiasts have been talking about it for a while, but I think its design/aesthetic has caught up with the movement making in the past few years. Curious how they can carve out L.U.C to give it more exposure.
It's hard to say any of the W&W brands are 'about to be a thing,' as they're spending millions on an event already, but:
-Moser had a big booth at W&W for the first time, the size of IWC or JLC instead of Armin Strom or Trilobe. An F1 driver was there. The 34mm streamliner is nice. It feels like they've arrived as a mainstream player.
-After some really solid 2025 releases (Solaria, complicated clock), Vacheron had another great slate of releases aimed at a broader market.
-Lange has gotten some flack from collectors but the products are as always excellent and the last two years they've released watches with very un-Lange proportions.
Most of the indies I met with I don't think of as 'brands' yet, but watches from Cleguer and Proz were nice. I generally approach the microbrand market with some skepticism and wonder if any will break through to a larger market. Ming is an exception that does plenty of impressive product development on its own. I saw the polymesh bracelet for the first time, it's awesome.
much better thank you for asking, it used to be very difficult to get a real non-Nespresso coffee at Watches & Wonders and that is no longer the case. was even able to ask for my flat white a few times!
Great round-up Tony. I was left with the exact same feeling about the VC Dual Time, and it was even more pronounced on the rubber than it was on bracelet. Great to see you at Chronopolis and what a nice man Jérome is. Cheers 🍻
Since playing at watchmaking, I find my attention goes toward the technical substance as much as the aesthetics. Between the Zenith high-frequency magnetic experiments of last year and the new Parmigiani Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux with the "disappearing" triple-clutch architecture, we seem to be having some real functional advancements. Monochrome has a nice Youtube video going over the Parmagani’s functional invisibility innovation.
I enjoyed your podcast where the Breguet Expérimentale 1 and its 10Hz tourbillon and magnetic constant-force escapement were discussed. I’m fascinated by how brands are leveraging material science, like UV LIGA-grown components in the Yatch Master II and non-ferrous alloys, to solve problems of wear and size. I’m curious if Watches and Wonders had any other "stealth" innovations this year that prioritize mechanical longevity or movement architecture over just aesthetic updates? Anything else that stuck out to you?
The TAG Heuer Evergraph is another example, it swaps nickel-phosphorus parts for the traditional chronograph levers. They use LIGA to make the components. Hodinkee's got a pretty good technical look at it, worth a look:
Depends on the definition of “retreading the past.” The anniversary Nautilus might not be (a) but certainly does (b). I’d argue the Ultra Thin Vacheron 2500 meets both. New Crash Skeleton. Perhaps Lange Annual Cal, though hard to know with general production Lange. Surely there’s another?
That’s a pretty short list…which leads me to ponder, is this an industry in trouble? At some point I fear it becomes a case of who is the last person standing in a game of musical chairs. Ever rising prices in a market awash with fantastic (and plentiful) vintage and neo-vintage lightly used watches? Those trend lines cross at some point and when they do, it’s game over for a lot of the big brands…IMHO, of course!
Was there any sense from the brands/watchmakers that the industry is in decline, and that high prices is a very widespread complaint? Or was it just generally business as usual?
Last year there was this definite pall over the show as brands were acknowledging for the first time that times are tough. There was less of that this year, though perhaps the same reality is reflected in the relatively low key releases.
More broadly I think this show is about each brand, and the industry as a whole, putting its best foot forward and trying to create a moment for Swiss watchmaking. Market struggles aren’t part of that narrative but are still talked about.
One thing we all seemed to think is that the show was less busy this year, perhaps one small reflection of that.
Why do you think UG had an early embargo for their new lineup? It got ahead of all the noise, but then they seemed to get lost in the noise. Among all the media coverage of W&W, I didn’t see many folks get hands on with UG and I’m surprised with the lack of opinions overall. I guess I just expected them to be the talk of the town
UG (along with Breitling) are not a part of Watches & Wonders. So they released their watches the week before the show, and then had an event the evening before the show officially started. Some people made appointments to get hands-on with the watches throughout the week, but it's tough to get leave the obligations of the main fair to see UG. (for example I went to the event, and got to see some of the watches, but ultimately you get limited time).
Most of us saw UG in person for the first time just a few hours before Rolex, Patek, and most of the other embargos lifted at midnight Swiss time, and that's when those brands are going to dominate the conversation.
In Geneva, I think they were the talk of the town. Reviews seem pretty mixed, which is perhaps why people are staying away from complete write-ups for now.
While you were at VC, did you have a chance to look at the Tribute to Great Civilizations pieces? If so, what are your thoughts? Are they worthy and unique examples of metiers d’art, gimmicky, or something else entirely? How does their quality and execution compare with HH metiers d’art pieces from other makers?
Sadly not—I went on Tuesday (Vacheron a favorite of mine so I always try to go first day!). Oddly, VC released those pieces on Thursday, so they weren't available for me to see. I've seen just a couple VC metiers d'art pieces and they're probably second to none (based on my admittedly limited experience in this category).
like for these, they used stones from the region of the civilization. for example, the Egptian ones use limestone sandstone from Sinai. It's impressive stuff even just on an intellectual level.
Did you have the opportunity to try to new Chopard XPS in blue? Given limited availability of the 1860, it seems like a great value proposition for the same movement with a diff finishing.
yes! it's a great watch, Sadly I didn't take photos because I wanted to get the 1860. But I also like the green dial XPS from a few years ago. I've always thought the pieces are oddly accessible for what they are. COSC, microrotor, 7mm thick, $13.5k. I mention it somewhere below, but much more compelling than, say the new Polerouter. The dial's a little flat but I like the sector design.
I spoke with them about the XPS actually Tony, and it’s positioned there specifically to make LUC accessible with only minor tradeoffs, i.e. flatter dial, not the gorgeous guilloche, and no Geneva seal on the movement iirc. I love and respect the ethos of this firm and the founding family a lot, as you know.
Thanks for your coverage this week, always great to benefit from your own vantage point. I will attend tomorrow and interested to see the VC Cardinal Points more closely. Could you share a wrist shot? I have similar wrist size as you so interested about what you considered too big
Tony - this is all awesome. Thank you! Question as this is something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. With all of the big maison releases as well, as, all of the indies, which feel voluminous these days, where does this put the customer... someone like me, who buys maybe 1-2 bigger watches a year and a few smaller ones... It is starting to make me feel like I do not want to commit to the purchase as I have FOMO on something that could be coming down the pipeline. With so many new releases, I'm scared of committing. Not sure if this is coming across the right way but would love to get your take.
Yea, I relate to that. The speed of releases has become rapid, and there are all these shows that put constant pressure on brands to deliver. For example, I saw some discourse that this year's releases were soft or that Rolex was disappointing. I truly don't get that argument. I've gone to four Watches & Wonders and Rolex has released 2 entirely new collections, one with a new escapement (1908 and Land Dweller) in that time.
Anyway, to answer your question more directly. When I feel like I might have FOMO, I ask myself if it's because there's something about the watch available right now that I'm not 100% on. If it's new, do I really love the dial color? Is it .5mm too thick? If it's vintage, am I compromising too much on condition? If the answer's yes, then it's best to wait for the right one. OTOH, if you do feel like you truly love it, you can't let brands or advertising or the market induce FOMO because there will always be another watch. Easier said than executed, of course.
Well said - frankly, I've been trying to figure out the space of independents which is a rathole of ratholes. Unfortunately, the 'souscriptions' are usually 10 watches and they are 12-24 months from production. I'm having a hard time committing to one as I know there are many more coming and unfortunately for me, I cannot do them all as my wallet doesn't stretch that far. A good problem to have, I guess, but it's truly real.
I always ask myself (and extend this to you, Tony) - why is Piaget not covered more by the media? They are doing outstanding work with the Polo line, launch of the Warhol line and now the watch inside the pebble. They beautifully marry the jewelry workmanship with watchmaking (their movements are super thin resulting in highly wearable pieces). Yes, I’m a big fan (and owner) who doesn’t understand why they don’t get more respect.
ha, I can link a few articles where i was accused of being too effusive of Piaget back on Hodinkee. I think they get a lot of coverage, and also credit for inspiring everything from the current trends of stone dials to 'geezer' watches to Dennison.
But if I accept the premise of your question, perhaps I'd say that it's because Piaget is one of the houses that is half jewelry half watchmaking (with origins as a watchmaker), that can sit outside the comfort zone of traditional watch media.
I will agree that the Warhol line, still relatively new, has been a bit underappreciated. The launch limited edition with a mosaic of stones is rad.
Maybe it’s good for me to appreciate them in my corner and enjoy it. Though I feel other watch collectors are missing on some outstanding work.
Thanks for sharing your view, I didn’t think about your point about watch media having hard time covering Piaget, Van Clef & Arpels and other jewelry forward brands. Now that I think about it some media brought in experts in jewelry and fashion to help bridge this gap.
It's because for men their watches are unwearable in 99.9% of situations, unless you are the 0.01% or idle rich or instagram crowd.
They make great watches that are sadly too good for nearly all of those who can afford them. And for those who can appreciate them for the design, wearing it veers closely imo to cosplay.
I mean, yes, as a piece of art the Piaget sodalite Polo hits the mark, but how is any working schmuck like me going to wear that watch on a weekday, or on most weekends? Or to buy groceries?
Polo is not the only line that’s great - honestly, I can imagine wearing the YG Altiplano in most situations - office, home, out with friends. And switch to Gshock for gardening or exercise.
I disagree, the Polo line is a great example of watch for every situation. I have been wearing Polo Filed for a few years now and it’s perfect fit in almost every situation. With the quick change straps it can be dressed up/down as needed. And I don’t accept the critique that it’s Aquanaut cosplay, I own both and prefer the Piaget for versatility. Yes, some of the new models require self confidence, but let’s admit it watches are jewelry.
fwiw you 2 are talking about different watches—agree the Polo S is a good everyday watch. the Polo79 is a piece of jewelry. a beautiful piece of jewelry but no doubt something most aren't wearing everyday.
Agreed, I’m admiring Polo 79 from a distance. They are nice pieces, definitely only ballers can wear daily. Enjoying Polo Field which is a more pedestrian watch for every day.
The Black Bay 58 GMT debuted in 2024 and cost $4600 on the oyster bracelet with the T Fit clasp. The same watch in 2026 with a minor case tweak cost $5525 which is a 16.8 per cent increase.
Tony, at what point will buyers realize that many of the price increases do not correspond to quality increases and are simply the brands way to increase profits without giving more watch. Will it come from massively depreciated watches on the secondary market or buyers simply priced out of new watches from their favorite brands???
I think buyers are already realizing this, yea? talk of prices is perhaps the dominant narrative right now, whether it's Tudor (I mentioned the change in the BB58—I remember buying for $3500 and it's now $5.5k, 7 years later. a better watch, but it'd better be!), or another $100k unproven indie.
And yes, I think one of the underappreciated boosts the secondary market has gotten is the rise of primary market prices. Kingflum and I mentioned this on the pod, how retailers are advertising 'certified preowned' watches that are really brand new, with manufacturer warranty for 25% off msrp.
Hi Tony,
I realize that collectors are talking about this and it is being reported. What i am thinking about is what the watch industry (brands) are going to do about it. Based on history, they don’t tend to lower prices. They try to move inventory in many way they can to justify and make sales. In the long run, that could really hurt brands as we have seen watches at COSCO when the brands totally lose a realistic pricing level.
Do you see them scaling back increases? I see them moving folks to lower cost options or greatly depreciated inventory in the grey market.
Or, at what point will we all just buy lightly used pre-owned pieces or vintage watches instead
I feel like the conventional wisdom of Tudor and Rolex in recent years has been that Tudor is where Rolex can innovate and try new things, but at least the last couple years at W&W I see Rolex having a lot of fun and doing interesting things, and Tudor not doing much at all. They seem stuck in a rut of their own making. Wondering what you think!
I agree that Tudor has been the Black Bay and Pelagos brand the last few years but the Monarch is a swing in a new direction and I think it's pretty good. Not fully realized as I've mentioned now I don't like the crown and maybe numerals could've been better.
Everything else was just updates and refreshes. Ceramic bracelet is cool for a certain segment of consumer but not my vibe.
If I were to grade Tudor's 2026, it'd have to be an incomplete as I certainly feel they'll have more for their 100th anniversary later this year. I hope it's something fresh.
Thanks! Agreed. The Monach feels halfway thought through to me, the case platform seems really cool but I just don’t get the dial at all. I find myself far more interested in modern Rolex than Tudor right now which is not something I thought I’d ever say 😂
I have an interest in the styles and human-centric approach to business that Sylvain Berneron brings to the industry. You said you met with them and saw the upcoming September release, can you share any impressions on it?
it's iterative based on what he already has in the collection (think what we've seen from Simon Brette in the past few days ;). next year he will introduce his third collection, the Fiasco, which he has teased will be closer to jewlery. This year is filling out the Mirage collection and beginning deliveries of the QA, next year I'm excited for his third collection.
I'll leave it at that for now, and see if he'll allow me to give subscribers a preview of his upcoming September announcements, which he let me do last year with the QA!
I was going to ask a similar question to Robert, so maybe I’ll pose the question in a different way in case you do go deeper in an upcoming post.
You’ve seen what Sylvain has been doing since the outset. How do you see where he and the brand are headed in broader terms of the brand and its place amongst its peers/contemporaries? Also, did you get any visibility into what the Fiasco may be or what that fourth pillar of his product architecture may be?
Any brands leave you concluding “they are about to be a thing” based on the reaction of you and your peers? Any brands that seemed to have worsened or confirmed a bleak future (*cough* Omega)?
It's hard to judge Swatch Group brands, including Omega, since they don't really have a presence during this week (which is a decision we could certainly scrutinize). I am curious what will happen with Chopard L.U.C. It's this niche of indie-quality watchmaking in a much bigger watch and jewelry brand. Enthusiasts have been talking about it for a while, but I think its design/aesthetic has caught up with the movement making in the past few years. Curious how they can carve out L.U.C to give it more exposure.
It's hard to say any of the W&W brands are 'about to be a thing,' as they're spending millions on an event already, but:
-Moser had a big booth at W&W for the first time, the size of IWC or JLC instead of Armin Strom or Trilobe. An F1 driver was there. The 34mm streamliner is nice. It feels like they've arrived as a mainstream player.
-After some really solid 2025 releases (Solaria, complicated clock), Vacheron had another great slate of releases aimed at a broader market.
-Lange has gotten some flack from collectors but the products are as always excellent and the last two years they've released watches with very un-Lange proportions.
Most of the indies I met with I don't think of as 'brands' yet, but watches from Cleguer and Proz were nice. I generally approach the microbrand market with some skepticism and wonder if any will break through to a larger market. Ming is an exception that does plenty of impressive product development on its own. I saw the polymesh bracelet for the first time, it's awesome.
How was the coffee?
much better thank you for asking, it used to be very difficult to get a real non-Nespresso coffee at Watches & Wonders and that is no longer the case. was even able to ask for my flat white a few times!
Great round-up Tony. I was left with the exact same feeling about the VC Dual Time, and it was even more pronounced on the rubber than it was on bracelet. Great to see you at Chronopolis and what a nice man Jérome is. Cheers 🍻
so good to see you and the That Watch Pod crew!
Since playing at watchmaking, I find my attention goes toward the technical substance as much as the aesthetics. Between the Zenith high-frequency magnetic experiments of last year and the new Parmigiani Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux with the "disappearing" triple-clutch architecture, we seem to be having some real functional advancements. Monochrome has a nice Youtube video going over the Parmagani’s functional invisibility innovation.
I enjoyed your podcast where the Breguet Expérimentale 1 and its 10Hz tourbillon and magnetic constant-force escapement were discussed. I’m fascinated by how brands are leveraging material science, like UV LIGA-grown components in the Yatch Master II and non-ferrous alloys, to solve problems of wear and size. I’m curious if Watches and Wonders had any other "stealth" innovations this year that prioritize mechanical longevity or movement architecture over just aesthetic updates? Anything else that stuck out to you?
The TAG Heuer Evergraph is another example, it swaps nickel-phosphorus parts for the traditional chronograph levers. They use LIGA to make the components. Hodinkee's got a pretty good technical look at it, worth a look:
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/in-depth-tag-heuer-evergraph
Thanks Tony. Very cool!
I agree! The Patek 8-day desk clock is cool, and happily it is Nautilus based and not Cubitus based!
lol !
We’re there any new releases that were either a. Not a retread of a past model AND b. A future classic that my grand kids will be collecting?
Depends on the definition of “retreading the past.” The anniversary Nautilus might not be (a) but certainly does (b). I’d argue the Ultra Thin Vacheron 2500 meets both. New Crash Skeleton. Perhaps Lange Annual Cal, though hard to know with general production Lange. Surely there’s another?
That’s a pretty short list…which leads me to ponder, is this an industry in trouble? At some point I fear it becomes a case of who is the last person standing in a game of musical chairs. Ever rising prices in a market awash with fantastic (and plentiful) vintage and neo-vintage lightly used watches? Those trend lines cross at some point and when they do, it’s game over for a lot of the big brands…IMHO, of course!
Was there any sense from the brands/watchmakers that the industry is in decline, and that high prices is a very widespread complaint? Or was it just generally business as usual?
Last year there was this definite pall over the show as brands were acknowledging for the first time that times are tough. There was less of that this year, though perhaps the same reality is reflected in the relatively low key releases.
More broadly I think this show is about each brand, and the industry as a whole, putting its best foot forward and trying to create a moment for Swiss watchmaking. Market struggles aren’t part of that narrative but are still talked about.
One thing we all seemed to think is that the show was less busy this year, perhaps one small reflection of that.
Why do you think UG had an early embargo for their new lineup? It got ahead of all the noise, but then they seemed to get lost in the noise. Among all the media coverage of W&W, I didn’t see many folks get hands on with UG and I’m surprised with the lack of opinions overall. I guess I just expected them to be the talk of the town
UG (along with Breitling) are not a part of Watches & Wonders. So they released their watches the week before the show, and then had an event the evening before the show officially started. Some people made appointments to get hands-on with the watches throughout the week, but it's tough to get leave the obligations of the main fair to see UG. (for example I went to the event, and got to see some of the watches, but ultimately you get limited time).
Most of us saw UG in person for the first time just a few hours before Rolex, Patek, and most of the other embargos lifted at midnight Swiss time, and that's when those brands are going to dominate the conversation.
In Geneva, I think they were the talk of the town. Reviews seem pretty mixed, which is perhaps why people are staying away from complete write-ups for now.
That answers that! Sounds like the jury is still out. Looking forward to more hands-on content with these
While you were at VC, did you have a chance to look at the Tribute to Great Civilizations pieces? If so, what are your thoughts? Are they worthy and unique examples of metiers d’art, gimmicky, or something else entirely? How does their quality and execution compare with HH metiers d’art pieces from other makers?
Sadly not—I went on Tuesday (Vacheron a favorite of mine so I always try to go first day!). Oddly, VC released those pieces on Thursday, so they weren't available for me to see. I've seen just a couple VC metiers d'art pieces and they're probably second to none (based on my admittedly limited experience in this category).
like for these, they used stones from the region of the civilization. for example, the Egptian ones use limestone sandstone from Sinai. It's impressive stuff even just on an intellectual level.
Did you have the opportunity to try to new Chopard XPS in blue? Given limited availability of the 1860, it seems like a great value proposition for the same movement with a diff finishing.
yes! it's a great watch, Sadly I didn't take photos because I wanted to get the 1860. But I also like the green dial XPS from a few years ago. I've always thought the pieces are oddly accessible for what they are. COSC, microrotor, 7mm thick, $13.5k. I mention it somewhere below, but much more compelling than, say the new Polerouter. The dial's a little flat but I like the sector design.
I spoke with them about the XPS actually Tony, and it’s positioned there specifically to make LUC accessible with only minor tradeoffs, i.e. flatter dial, not the gorgeous guilloche, and no Geneva seal on the movement iirc. I love and respect the ethos of this firm and the founding family a lot, as you know.
Thanks for your coverage this week, always great to benefit from your own vantage point. I will attend tomorrow and interested to see the VC Cardinal Points more closely. Could you share a wrist shot? I have similar wrist size as you so interested about what you considered too big
added one to the article above. cool watches!
Tony - this is all awesome. Thank you! Question as this is something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. With all of the big maison releases as well, as, all of the indies, which feel voluminous these days, where does this put the customer... someone like me, who buys maybe 1-2 bigger watches a year and a few smaller ones... It is starting to make me feel like I do not want to commit to the purchase as I have FOMO on something that could be coming down the pipeline. With so many new releases, I'm scared of committing. Not sure if this is coming across the right way but would love to get your take.
Yea, I relate to that. The speed of releases has become rapid, and there are all these shows that put constant pressure on brands to deliver. For example, I saw some discourse that this year's releases were soft or that Rolex was disappointing. I truly don't get that argument. I've gone to four Watches & Wonders and Rolex has released 2 entirely new collections, one with a new escapement (1908 and Land Dweller) in that time.
Anyway, to answer your question more directly. When I feel like I might have FOMO, I ask myself if it's because there's something about the watch available right now that I'm not 100% on. If it's new, do I really love the dial color? Is it .5mm too thick? If it's vintage, am I compromising too much on condition? If the answer's yes, then it's best to wait for the right one. OTOH, if you do feel like you truly love it, you can't let brands or advertising or the market induce FOMO because there will always be another watch. Easier said than executed, of course.
Well said - frankly, I've been trying to figure out the space of independents which is a rathole of ratholes. Unfortunately, the 'souscriptions' are usually 10 watches and they are 12-24 months from production. I'm having a hard time committing to one as I know there are many more coming and unfortunately for me, I cannot do them all as my wallet doesn't stretch that far. A good problem to have, I guess, but it's truly real.