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Hello Newman!

You knew it was going to happen one day, certainly after the idiocy we've seen with recent show-stoppers like the womanizing-country-abanding Bao Dai 6062, or the so-subtle-no-one-would-ever-know-its-a-Patek-under-a-sweater 130, that the ultimate vintage watch that people with far more money than brains will jerk each other off over, would be found.

Not too long ago the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), released a white paper that took them over 3 years to complete, which was supposed to define for us all mere mortals what "fine watchmaking" really is. To do this, the established a "Cultural Council" made up of 46 "experts" that would judge all brands and watches across a series of criteria both subjective and objective.

The end result was that only 68 brands managed a score high enough to qualify their watches as "fine watchmaking".

Last weekend we saw an example of the complete and total idiocy within watch collecting when the so-called “Bao Dai” Rolex 6062 sold for nearly $5.2 million dollars, setting a record for a Rolex watch at auction in the process. The reason for this outrageous number was because of it’s supposed rarity and provenance. Bao Dai who was the last Emperor of Vietnam, bought this watch during the Geneva Accords in 1954 not long before he abandoned his country because he realized that actually running it would interfere with his womanizing, golf, bridge, etc. As such, he took his Rolex to the south of France to frolic among other like-minded nobodies until his death in 1997.

Good for him, but for that “provenance”, someone actually paid $5 million. Of course, this did not come without criticism. Many have spoken out against the lack of common sense shown in these prices/values, citing the Bao Dai as the clearest of examples.

I spent much of last week and the weekend taking deep breathes. The reason for this was the latest Phillips Geneva Watch Auction where the extremely famous “Bao Dai” Rolex 6062 was going to be auctioned off. Among “Rolex Collectors”, this was apparently the best of the best. Some very prominent Rolex collectors have even been quoted as saying if there was just one Rolex they could own, this would be the one. So, the obvious question is what’s the big deal about *this* Rolex?

The reference as mentioned is a 6062. It's the last moon phase Rolex ever made until this year when they introduced a new moon phase movement as part of their Cellini collection. But, this particular 6062 is one-of-a-kind. It's the only one in 18k yellow gold that has a black dial and diamond indices. Thus, making it as rare is it gets, which is one of the 3 main rules of collecting vintage watches. Apparently, there are no records of a second watch just like this one. There are other 6062’s, some in stainless steel, other gold ones too, but only one with a black dial *and* diamond indices.

“A fool and his money are soon parted.”

That is a famous proverb that seems to be the foundation of the marketing used by watch brands today. In other words, for better or worse, despite the absolute fact that watches are machines, tools, instruments of time, etc., watch brands want us to view and judge watches subjectively like jewelry. This is how you end up with gold dive watches, for example, and people foolish enough to buy them.

Yesterday, April 26, 2017, the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) released a white paper on “Fine Watchmaking”. In short, the white paper was created to promote what they’re calling “Fine Watchmaking”, and they defined 4 market segments and 7 areas of expertise by which 46 “independent international experts” used to judge brands against. These people make up what they’re calling the “Cultural Council”. For a watch to be qualified it must score at least 60% where 65% of the score is objective and 35% is subjective.

In total, 86 brands were judged, 68 made the cut, and only 28 were so good they became partners.

This past March there was an auction for an old Tudor Submariner. This watch is unique because it is the only reference Submariner made by either Rolex or Tudor that has a manual wound movement. The other thing that is interesting about this particular example is that it really does appear to be completely original and untouched, but also in really amazing condition. As you will see in the photos, it definitely looks old and has signs of aging, but the case is still really crisp and its original finish is mostly there, even the bezel insert wasn’t changed and the lume is still untouched.

If you ask me, I would recommend against buying a watch from a young independent company. This is my general rule, and this has nothing to do with the quality of the watches, because young independents make some amazing watches, and I do mean amazing! My recommendation is simply based on the economics of the watch industry itself.

Currently, buying a watch brand new has never been a bigger ripoff. If one compares prices of watches today to even 20 or 30 years ago, factoring for inflation, watches are one of the few things in our world that are actually much more expensive.

Now that Baselworld 2017 has ended, we can all take a deep breath, the proverbial “chill pill”, and actually discuss what was released in a (hopefully) objective way. To that end, here is a small list of some of my favorite and least favorite watches from Baselworld 2017.

My Least Favorite Watches

1. Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis

There were many awful watches at Baselworld 2017, in fact the awful watches represented the majority of the watches shown, but none were as bad as the Hublot MP-09. This is the kind of watch that might have targeted new money Asians or Middle Eastern buyers once upon a time, but even they would probably take a pass at this atrocity. There is literally nothing new here, which I suppose represents Hublot as brand perfectly. But the MP-09 takes bad taste to a whole new level and makes it’s buyer pay for it through the nose with it’s $169k sticker price!