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Hello and welcome back to About Time, This time last week I was trundling around the Glastonbury Festival, where the Apple Watch is the sensible watch of choice.
It's handy for reminding you that you're in a “Loud Environment” where “Sound levels have hit 90 decibels”, and also for informing you that you’ve done a quite preposterous amount of steps in any 24-hour period.
Festivals = healthy!
That said, I did do one bit of proper watch-spotting at Glastonbury, stuck in a queue next to a really very chatty man, when by dint of something – anything! – to say in return, I commented on the nice Panerai Radiomir he was wearing. He explained that it was now his watch of choice, a bit more under-the-radar, he reckoned, on account of having recently been mugged for his Rolex. I said this was a sad tale indeed. Though when I asked what type of Rolex it was, he thought for a bit and replied – “a Seamaster”. Clearly not an About Time reader.
I tell you these things both to explain that time has been in shorter supply this week, and that since I've also been exposed to great artists performing their greatest hits, it was the About Time edition to reach for a greatest hits compilation of my own – the watches I've screenshotted from Instagram and stuck in a folder (“Great Watches!!!”) on my phone.
Thanks very much to Charlie Dunne, Chris Hall and Tom Heap for their nominations, too. Only one of whom suggested his own Instagram account.
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1. @long.vintage.watches’ Heuer Soccer Worldcup Reference Stop Watch Chronograph, Scarce Game Timer 203.507
The timekeepers at Euro 2024 have been keeping track of the things using Hublot Big Bang-shaped scoreboards, Hublot Big Bang-shaped LED displays and Hublot Big Bang e Gen3 watches on their wrists. The 44mm smartwatches include GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC payment connectivity, perhaps for the half-time vending machines. Back in the 1980s, this Scarce Game Timer 203.507 from a (pre-Tag) Heuer was more the vibe. The orange 45 minutes marking showed when half/full-time was up. A simpler, though possibly less accurate, time.
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2. @10thwatch’s Seaboard-Yacht chrono
Designed by, and for, racing sailors. Its “tool watch” bona fides are underlined not just by its strong visual dial but by the fact that Seaboard is not a watchmaker but a marine company. Internet chatter suggests a 2025 rerelease. |
3. @ericwind’s Omega “Ultraman” Speedmaster
We can’t produce a list like this without a) including our friend Eric Wind – aka “the Million-Dollar Dealer” – and proprietor of Florida’s Wind Vintage or b) including a drool-worthy Speedmaster. Look at it. Just look at it. |
4. @artdecowristwatches’ Hamilton Ventura Electric
Shaped watches are quite the thing these days. The triangular and retro-futuristic Ventura line, worn by everyone from Elvis Presley to the cast of Dune: Part Two, hasn’t always been About Time’s cup of tea, but it’s hard not to love this version with its 14k yellow gold case and deep black – and original – dial from 1957. |
5. @vandervenus’s Enicar
Honestly, has any brand ever had a better logo than this? |
6. @fumanku’s Pulsar “Time Computer Calculator”
Priced at $3,950 on release in Christmas 1975, this all-gold-everything calculator watch was more expensive than a Rolex Day-Date at the time and would have been quite the exec flex for anyone going up, up and away on early Concorde flights. Yes, Casio does make something quite similar today for £56.29.
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7. @pulsultra–ch’s Delirium Squelette
Noted for its ultra-thin quartz movement – 1.98mm, a feat somewhat negated by its hefty gold case – Concord's Delirium was advertised as “the watch that revolutionised time” back in the late 1970s. Prices on the resale market remain in the “high” to the “you’ve got to be kidding” bracket – and that’s if you can find one. |
8. @robinmann’s Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse
Robin Mann, aka retailer Mann About Time, has a love of collecting wonderful old timepieces that is nothing if not infectious. This 1970 18ct yellow gold Ellipse with a two-tone sigma dial is pure vintage dopamine. Utterly decadent. But, you know, classily so. |
9. @goldberger’s Omega pendant watch
Another terrific piece from Auro Montanari – aka John Goldberger's – IG wall of goodness. This Omega pendant watch was designed by Andrew Grima, London’s foremost contemporary watch designer during the 1960s and 1970s. Grima also produced gold digital watches for Pulsar and an “About Time” (hey, nice name!) collection for Omega. Chest hair/denim shirt combo potentially circa the same era. |
10. @mrbwatches’ Rolex King Midas ref. 9630
Less than 800 of the originals were made. Finding one in this condition is a Herculean task. From 1962. Though the shape is very 2024. |
11. @piagetcollector's Piaget Special Order of the state of Qatar
There are collectable 1970s Piagets and then there are collectable 1970s Piagets. This special order from the State of Qatar, housing the brand’s celebrated, teeny-tiny 9P movement beneath a wonderfully monochrome dial, very much falls into the latter camp. Do yourself a favour and follow @piagetcollector – everyone’s a gem. |
12. @mr.a’s Piaget enamel keyless triangular watch
One of the most well-known and respected watch dealer/collectors in the watches and jewellery “space”, Alessandro Fanciulli’s IG is watch porn in excelsis. He files this model under “one that got away”; an absolutely wonderful Piaget with an enamel caseback that went under the hammer at Sotheby’s last month. Bidding opened at a conservative CHF 6k, and by the time it hit CHF 35k @mr.a had long dropped out – presumably sensibly so. “Congratulations to the new owner,” he writes. “A sublime piece and work of art.”
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13. @watchclog’s Piaget Black Tie
The Piaget known as the "Warhol” on account of the artist – a collector of watches, as well as everything else that wasn’t nailed down – owning one. Piaget used the stepped cushion case to help reduce the appearance of size, while the onyx dial is so inky black you want to dive right in. |
14. @julientoretto’s Piaget 927 Alternatively, perhaps you prefer your white gold Piagets square? |
15. @jmsfisk’s Rolex Explorer ref. 1016
Take the one Rolex universally agreed to be perfect – ie: the 1016 Explorer – then add a “tropical granite” dial. Results are 🌴🌴🌴😎 |
16. @interior.angles’ Petermann Bédat Ref. 1967 Deadbeat Seconds
Independent watchmaking duo Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat are the team behind Petermann Bédat, a small brand based in Renens, in Switzerland. They started the company in 2017, going on to win the GPHG Horological Revelation Prize just three years later with this. Only 45 were made. Happily @interior.angles has filmed both the front and the back of the watch, so you can see it ticking away in perfect harmony. Which is possibly the closest any of us will ever come to seeing one in action.
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18. @thankyoufatherdash’s Nomos’ True Blue Worldtimer
Not every watch in the folder is an unattainable A-lister. Leave it to former Billionaire Boys Club employee and host of the excellent Wrist Check Pod to bring something within mortal’s reach. Nomos’ Worldtimer has all the design chops you’d expect from the meisters of minimalism, a tall order when you’re combining 24 time zones into one dial – “home” being accessible at the push of a button. Or, as Mr. Dash puts it more simply in this post: “Banger”.
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19. @horology_ancienne’s Rolex Tridor
Any Rolex fanboy worth their title will know that the Day-Date model is only ever produced in precious metals – that’s platinum or gold (your choice of 18ct yellow, white or Rolex’s own Everose). Except that’s not quite true. From the late 1980s to the early 2000s Rolex made the Tridor, a tri-tone Day-Date with a bracelet in white, pink and yellow gold. Producing centre links in three different golds might not sound like any great shakes, but it turned out to be a major technological headache for The Crown. The champagne dial in this example is particularly 👌 as are the many other rare Pateks, Omegas and Vacherons in the personal feed on this account.
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20. @the_patina_boy’s LeCoultre 2726 Moonphase triple date
J-LC’s first triple calendar with a moonphase was a rectangular watch – but it wasn’t a Reverso. The ref. 2726 was launched in 1949 to mark the death of Jacques-David LeCoultre, grandson of founder Antoine, the previous year. |
21. @tom_heap_’s Cartier Crash
Tom Heap is deputy director of Sotheby’s, watch specialist and head of sale for London, and has handled more nice watches than Jay-Z, Ed Sheeran and Mark Wahlberg combined (and possibly even sold them a couple). He’s a particular connoisseur of Cartier’s 1966-1974 London wing, Cartier London. This Crash was one of 400 released in 1991 by Cartier Paris and went up for auction last year. It is typical of Mr. Heap’s grails. His DMs are open. |
22. @arthuroduro’s Sophisticated Ceintrée
According to his biog, Arthur Pfister (@arthuroduro) “searched for a watch for [his] 18th birthday. [Things] Escalated considerably. I regret nothing.” Part of the @_hesit_out crew of hip, outré watch collectors making horology a markedly different place than it was even a few years ago, this Sophisticated Ceintrée dual-signed by LeCoultre and sometime British pin-makers Kirby, Beard and Co, is typical of the gang’s magpie eye. Now in his early 20s, is it too much to suggest that, by his own admission, sleeping under “more than 1.5 tones [SP] of old watch magazines, booklets and auction catalogues” might represent a problem for the young man?
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23. @markchodotcom’s Naoya Hida & Co Type 41-1
As co-owner of Drake’s and co-founder of both The Armoury and Hong Kong-based retail “concept” Drop93, Mark Cho is one of menswear’s leading lights. His watch collection isn’t bad, either. Or at least, it wasn’t. Selling almost the entire haul off in 2022 – a total of 66 watches – somehow just made Cho cooler still. He was an early supporter of Japanese über-watch snob brand Naoya Hida & Co. Their typically chic Type 41-1 is quite something. |
24. @timebyraf’s Rolex Cellini Consider this one “off-catalogue”. |
25. @watchfred’s Breitling Datora ref. 805
Take your pick from discontinued, deleted or just damn-hard-to-find Breitlings from collector, historian and Breitling brand advisor Fred Mandelbaum, currently doing hush-hush work behind-the-scenes as it prepares for the 2025 (?) relaunch of the recently acquired/long dormant Universal Genève label. Dating from 1953, this wonderful chrono is a watch Mandelbaum says he has been “patiently hunting… for literally decades”. Which, for him, is saying something. |
26. @brandonfrazin1680’s Rolex Explorer II ref. 16550
The first serially produced Rolex sport model to come with a white dial, this second-gen Explorer II is particularly sought-after thanks to its cool, ice-creamy dial. It likely looks that way because of a manufacturing error. While the ref. 16500’s black-dialled cousins tend to look pretty much the same today as they did when they launched back in the mid-1980s, the paint on the white-dialled versions has typically discoloured. The result: an attractive shade of vanilla. No two are identical.
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