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The most common choice for classic dress watches has to be gold, but have you ever wondered where that gold originally came from? And by "originally" Ian Skellern isn't referring to a gold mine on earth but the original source of the gold before it even arrived on our planet. Spoiler alert: it involves an explosion, a very big explosion!
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What appeals to Elizabeth Doerr about Jaquet Droz is that within the Swatch Group's 190 separate companies (including 18 marques), the brand operates very much like an independent watchmaker and its artful timepieces reflect this. Here she goes deep into the history of one of the Swatch Group's oldest brand names, celebrating the 300 years since the birth of its founder.
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Before Joshua Munchow realized that he loved watches he was sure that he loved mechanical things and stood in awe of the many mechanisms and contraptions that he saw over his young life. Joshua eventually became aware of watches and the amazing marvels that they held within. To him, the Corum Golden Bridge stood out as an example of perfect horological exhibitionism. And the automatic version is even better to him!
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Lot 434 in the Antiquorum auction on May 9, 2021 is an ultra-rare A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 in stainless steel. A. Lange & Söhne never officially launched a stainless steel watch before the recent Odysseus, but there are a few steel Lange 1s in existence and they are quite sought after by collectors. Elizabeth Doerr explains why here.
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Following the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and the isolating feel of digital fairs, the prospect of a bright, sunny, warm, and welcoming in-person Dubai Watch Week warms our hearts immensely! And we are in for a real treat this time around for more reasons than simply celebrating a return to normality and the ability to touch and feel new watches and meet with old and new friends as Elizabeth Doerr explains.
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One of the problems with having an iconic wine among your offerings is that other, equally worthy wines are often overlooked or diminished in the eyes of wine lovers. But such is life. With its latest releases, Australian superstar winery Henschke has moved to align the vintages of several of its top wines, all Shiraz: Wheelwright, Mount Edelstone, Hill of Roses, and the legendary Hill of Grace. Ken Gargett tastes.
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Joshua Munchow recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the new slate-grey Tutima Flieger Automatic, a simple three-handed pilot's watch with date that comes in at an incredibly affordable price. He shares his thoughts here.
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GaryG recently took a deep dive into the world of digital art, auctioning a few of his photos of a rare Patek Philippe Reference 2526 Gobbi Milano as an NFT (non-fungible token). Here he shares the complete mechanics and thoughts behind his futuristic experience. And he's encouraged enough to do it again!
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Once upon a time in a small watch shop in a (relatively) small California town before GaryG really knew much at all about Vacheron Constantin as a brand and company. there was a display case. And a watch: the Vacheron Constantin Malte Squelette.
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Lot 165 at Phillips' Geneva Watch Auction: XIII on May 8-9, 2021 is one of the most important prototypes in the history of IWC. A true rarity and a true piece of watch history. It is Richard Habring’s personal Portugieser Split-Seconds Chronograph prototype. Elizabeth Doerr shares its history and meaning here. And why its creator is parting with it.
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What qualifies a watch to be "made in Glashütte" or "made in Germany"? Sabine Zwettler explains the similarities and differences.
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Recently GaryG took a deep dive into the world of digital art, auctioning a few of his photos of a rare Patek Philippe Reference 2526 Gobbi Milano as an NFT (non-fungible token). Here he shares the complete mechanics and thoughts behind his futuristic experience.
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Sit back and enjoy as Quill & Pad resident collector GaryG and Alexandre Ghotbi, director of the Philipps Auctions watch department for Europe and the Middle East, and A. Lange & Söhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid talk about watch collecting with Dr. Carl Naughton in this engaging video.
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If you love De Bethune and you love green, you will find this new version of the DB27 Titan Hawk mesmerizing. And its verdant, microlight-finished dial center isn't all there is to love: unusually for De Bethune, the Titan Hawk is now powered by an automatic movement.
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The first day of Watches and Wonders 2021 highlighted that green is not a trend color anymore; it is a movement. Martin Green (perhaps unsurprisingly) has always had a particular fondness for his namesake color and thought it was good time to zoom in on five very different watches introduced during the fair that put green on center stage.
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Chambertin, one of the truly great names in the world of wine, is an appellation created in 1937. The range of vineyards throughout the region, different makers, and various vintages all provide variations on the theme, but in general these wines tend to the fuller, firmer style of Burgundy. Ken Gargett explains why these wines are so special.
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The Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver is a very solid new diver’s watch from a brand focused on haute couture and whimsical timepieces more than practical tool watches. It's very good but Joshua Munchow isn't quite convinced that it's "all killer, no filler." He explains why here.
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Elizabeth Doerr takes a look at five of Van Cleef & Arpels’s artful SIHH 2018 introductions from the Le Jardin (“Garden”) collection and compares them with their natural namesake blooms.
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Please join this Quill & Pad round table discussion in which we discuss what we did and didn’t like at the inaugural (and hopefully final) digital edition of Watches and Wonders Geneva 2021. There were plenty of highs and more than a few lows during the week-long watch fest, and a sheer avalanche of new watches.
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A world-class micro-engineer, industrial designer, metalwork artist and accountant walk into a bar, and the barman asks . . . yes, Marton Radkai is talking about independent watchmaker Paul Gerber. Find out more about this genius right here!
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The Cohiba Maduro 5 consists of three cigars – all using maduro leaf as wrapper, which gives the cigars a much darker, almost chocolaty appearance. These are upper leaves that have been through fermentation but have seen five years' worth of aging, more than twice the norm. And that's only part of why Ken Gargett thinks these Cuban cigars are so special.
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The Grand Seiko Nature of Time is a collection of four watches celebrating the Japanese system of dividing the year into 24 small seasons called sekki. Two of the watches have stainless steel cases and are powered by a mechanical high-beat caliber, while the other two are housed in titanium and run on Spring Drive Caliber 9R65. And let's have a look at those 'seasoned' dials!
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Absolutely nobody needs an expensive high-end mechanical belt buckle built like an expensive high-end wristwatch. But then nobody needs an expensive high-end wristwatch either. For those with deep pockets and an itch that another Richard Mille, F.P. Journe, or Greubel Forsey timepiece can’t scratch, the Roland Iten R18 Superdriver might just do the trick.
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In his occasional series on great wines of the world, Ken Gargett tells the story of an extraordinary pigeon pair, Lindeman’s Twin Bin wines from 1965, the Hunter Burgundies Bin 3110 and Bin 3100. Their story is fascinating and includes drought, overproduction, grapes that were far riper than usual when picked, and a mysterious dollop of Pinot Noir. The result is one of the world's greatest wines.
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It would be relatively easy, and pretty interesting, for GaryG to tell you the story of his two days one summer with artist Alexa Meade and her team. And he’ll get to that, but there’s more: the flood of sensations and emotions that came from considering why time and space are so important to him and from inhabiting a work of art that melded GaryG's vision of himself with the artist’s interpretation and self-expression. And there was even a watch.
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Back in 1988, Chronoswiss was the first brand to bring the regulator display to the wrist. Recently at Watches & Wonders 2021 the company presented several new regulator-style watches in a variety of stunning colors and techniques. Anders Modig shares five of his favorites here.
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In recent years, the world of high-end watches has become a far more colorful place. We have evolved from decades of conservatism in which a blue dial was daring to a kaleidoscopic era where anything is possible. And now it's red's turn, which has the advantage of the richness of hues available. Here Martin Green looks at 4 new red-dialed watches from Bell & Ross, Oris, Rado, and Omega.
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Our planet earth is not doing so swell. Hoping to make a difference, Panerai experiments with new materials and ways to promote conservation. Here Joshua Munchow looks at the brand's innovative use of recycling materials in the new Submersible eLAB-ID PAM1225 and Luminor Marina eSteel watches among other initiatives.
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A fellow journalist friend asked Elizabeth Doerr for a subjective listing of her “top” Patek Philippe watches of the twenty-first century. In her article, though, she cited only one of Elizabeth's top five choices. So here Elizabeth shares the full list. You may be surprised at some of her very subjective picks.
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In the world of fine Swiss watchmaking, the name Breitling is synonymous with top-notch chronographs. And in the 2021 Premier Heritage collection, Breitling commemorates its technical pioneers Léon, Gaston, and Willy Breitling with three new very attractive vintage-style chronographs.
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