Regardless of industry, companies that make products are always trying to create that perfect product that can translate not only to great sales, but that can actually become an icon.

In computers, think of the iPhone. The first true Smartphone and it literally changed how every single human who has ever held a mobile phone sees mobile telephony forever.

In the automotive world, think of what it must have been like when in the early 70’s Ferrari introduced the 308 GTB. In an era where most cars were the size of small boats, here comes this sleek, wedge inspired design that literally sliced through the air standing still. It defined Ferrari for a new generation and defined what an exotic sports car is supposed to be, having influenced hundreds of designs afterward.

When it comes to the watch collecting world, specifically the Rolex watch collecting world, the fabled 'underline' has been a mystery.  

A Submariner or Daytona or Explorer with an underline on its dial is worth easily 1000% more than a non-underline version. 

There is absolutely no difference between the watches other than the tiny bit of faded paint, but its value is, as mentioned, very different.  

Turns out it was all an elaborate April Fools' Joke by some Rolex collector! - let's call him Bubba to protect his identity. 

It was easy for Bubba to make 'underline' Rolex dials since no one expects them to be pristine and they can't be authenticated by Rolex. So a faded underline would do.  

A couple years ago I wrote that IWC was back! That was when they introduced their revamped Portuguese collection, even renaming it to Portugieser. It included a slew of brand new in-house movements, and the revamping of other pre-existing movements. To refresh our memories, this is the list of what became the latest Portugieser collection:

Quite possibly an ongoing series, today’s bang-for-your-buck is the Zenith El Primero 36000. Specifically the 38mm version that is branded “original”, as in the original case specs/design from 1969.

The history behind the El primero is legendary. It was one the first three automatic chronograph ever made. The Heuer c.11 and the Seiko c.6139 being the other two and all were released within months of each other in 1969. The Zenith is named “El Primero”, which means “the first” in Spanish, because Zenith released their prototype before either Heuer or Seiko could release theirs (although both the heuer and Seiko were available for purchase before the El Primero).

After the 2016 Presidential Election in the United States, it is widely expected that there will be some economic uncertainty moving forward (at a minimum). This would affect the US, and by extension the world. Without going into a political rant, the reason for this is because proposed policies from the campaign trail point to an increase in interest rates, which basically means cost of living for the majority of people will go up. If this happens, luxuries are the first to get axed. Back in 2008 when the most recent financial crisis hit, the market was flooded with luxury cars, boats, and jewelry. It was only once the recovery really started to take hold the past couple years did we see, for example, an increase in watch prices to the point where records are being set all over the world.

A little while ago I put together 'The Ultimate Watch Collection'. A collection where money is no object.

But, what if money is an object?

In other words, if we wanted to build a watch collection of 'attainable' watches, where attainable isn't necessarily cheap, but that a person making an average salary could, with time, save up to buy at least a couple, what would that look like?

Well, I'm about to tell you (in no particular order), and yes there are watches in this list that overlap with the "ultimate watch collection", and thats because money isn't everything.

I love watches, but if you read my posts you also know I'm not one of those Horological Douchebags (HDs), that is constantly pushing the pissing contest many people with more money than brains tend to have with great regularity.

And without repeating myself (you can read older posts for that), let me present to you the most recent example: the Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 in stainless steel.

This is not your typical watch "icon".

And it's not that the Waltham 25 Jewel self-winding watch isn't a good watch, it is. But, if it were not for the TV show "Dexter", it probably wouldn't get the attention it's been getting.

Having said that, there is a reason why the costume designers for "Dexter" chose this watch, and thats part of what makes it an icon.

First, Waltham has pedigree. 

Yes, they folded with the arrival of the Quartz movement (like so many others, even though the brand still exists under new ownership), but they are the company (and the American watch industry in general) responsible for establishing the art of modern watchmaking.

Seiko is a brand that is often times overlooked and even disrespected.

Part of the reason why is totally justified. Seiko invented the Quartz movement and that almost single handedly wiped out the entire mechanical watchmaking industry.

Something that would have been unforgivable.

And they also make a lot of inexpensive, i.e. "cheap" watches.

But as described in an earlier post here, Seiko, despite it's flaws has true pedigree and has made more than it's fair share of worthwhile horological innovations.

One of those innovations was their very first automatic chronograph movement, which debuted across Japan in 1969, the calibre 6139.

The IWC Portuguese is a watch icon.

And has been, since it's inception.

But how did it come to be? Why the name 'Portuguese'?

As the story goes, a couple of Portuguese business men commission IWC for a wristwatch that had the "precision of a marine chronometer".

This was back in the 1930s, and by 1939 IWC launched the first ever Portuguese.

What makes this watch such an icon can easily be identified by the process IWC followed to get it made. And as you will see, the idea that 'form follows function' is at the core of this wonderful watch.

One of the things I’ve learned as I continue my journey in the watch collecting and watch hobby world, is that there really was a “golden age” of watchmaking. This golden age reached its summit somewhere around 1970 after Seiko released the world’s first commercial Quartz wristwatch on December 25, 1969, which in turn started what was dubbed the “Quartz Crisis” (how's that for a Christmas present!).

The “Quartz Crisis” referred to the fact that many manufacturers of mechanical watches, some that had been around since the 1800’s started to disappear by the hundreds as people started buying Quartz watches in favor of mechanical ones. Some companies survived of course, but the majority that did were gobbled up by large conglomerates such as The Swatch Group, who bought Omega, Longines, Breguet, to name just a few, or Financière Richmond SA who bought IWC, A. Lange And Sohne, and Vacheron Constantin, again to name just a few.

This was the original post to this blog, but as we revamp things, we are going back and publishing articles again. This is also due to the great news that Spazz.com is now available on Apple News Publisher.

So here we go...

Being the first entry of this blog I thought it best to begin with some basic info about the kind of advice one can expect to get from Spazz.com, and in doing so, I will use a true classic as my reference: the Omega Speedmaster. 

First and foremost, it is my opinion (and should be yours too), that overpaying is not a good thing. But in the world of watches it can be tricky to identify when you are overpaying. Of course sometimes it's dead easy, i.e. any Hublot, but often times it can be tricky. 

Speaking of icons, has there ever been any watch more iconic than the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak?

Nope, I didn't think so. 

But to understand why, we really need to go back in time. Back to the early 1970's when the watch industry was just coming out of it's golden era, and about to enter into its darkest (the Quartz crisis).

Audemars Piguet, one of the fabled 'Holy Trinity' of Swiss watch companies needed to make a change and what they wanted was to shake things up.

To do this, they asked Gérald Genta (whom had been designing their watches since the early 50's), to design a luxury sport watch. The result, the ultra thin Royal Oak.

And Phillips Auctions will auction off 4 watches that have attracted a lot of attention in these past weeks. All of which are expected to break records.

And all of them are absurdly overpriced and overvalued.

But one in particular is egregiously overpriced and overvalued, because one of it's failures is what makes its rare, hence valuable.

I'm talking about the the Rolex Daytona ref.6263, but the one known as the "Albino" Daytona (ooouuuu, ahhhhh), because it's sub dials are the same color as it's dial (white/silver). And Rolex only made about 4 of these "Albino" versions.