Almost all watch forums seems to have these weekly or even daily threads about what’s on your wrist today. Well, in my case it is quite easy, the vintage Submariner I recently got is hard to beat on a sunny day like this
Our friends over at the German Rolex Forum (Das Rolex Forum) are clearly having fun with this “What are you wearing?”-thread, hence the 469 pages (and counting) filled with the most beautiful watches AND photos. Forum member Kurt tops the last few pages with his white gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona (I love the dial on the white gold version), this picture could easily be in the Rolex catalogue if you asked me.
This white gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona has reference number 116509 (in case you want one) and is fairly easy to obtain, as the stainless steel model remains the most popular version of the famous Daytona. The white gold version lists for 23.450,- Euro (here in The Netherlands) but there is more discount on gold models than on the stainless steel models
Other interesting “What’s on your wrist today?”-threads are:
During the last few days, we encountered some heavy snowfall here in The Netherlands. As you can see below, ‘my street’ became all white last sunday.
Therefore, Bernhard of the 100% Rolex blog posted some incredible nice photographs of Rolex sports watches with so called tropical dials. According to Bernhard, these 1960s dials have probably been painted with a mixture of colours to get a deep black dial. The mixture probably included some brown that comes to the surface after the other colours faded away through UV (or perhaps a bit of moisture, who knows).
In his most recent post, Bernhard shows a few Rolex models (among them is the Cosmograph pictured below) with a tropical dial. Although the vintage Cosmographs (and Daytonas) are a bit too small for my wrist (as they are 36mm), I really love them a lot.
Brown dials are hot and I must admit that I always liked the brown dialed Rolex chronograph models, including the later Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref.16520 ‘compax marrone’ or ‘Patrizzi’ with its brown subdial rings.
The (handwound) chronograph movements that Rolex used in those days were far before they started using their own movements, or even the Zenith movements ofcourse. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Rolex used the Valjoux 72 movement as a base caliber for their own Rolex caliber 727 movements. Below you see a close up of the Rolex Cosmograph movement, used for an interesting article on the WatchProSite. The photograph has been taken by A.Shear.
This Valjoux 72 handwound chronograph caliber with a column wheel mechanism was used by numerous other brands, such as Heuer, Girard-Perregaux, Wakman, Wittnauer etc. However, and maybe I am falsely informed, but my guess is that most vintage Rolex collectors (same goes for Panerai for example) are not very interested in the mechanics inside their wrist watches, but it’s more about aesthetics. But please, if you are on the look out for a beautiful vintage Rolex, make sure the movement inside is in good running condition. Do not focus on optical problems only.
Please visit Bernhard’s 100% Rolex blog for more interesting information on these vintage beauties.
As of today, I participate in MotoringExposure.com, a website for those who are passionate about super cars. Although I am pretty sure I will never own one of these wheels myself, I do like to read about them. The MotoringExposure team thought that their readers might be into watches as well, haute horlogerie to be precise. I think they might be right, since the love for mechanical watches and (special) cars seem to go hand-in-hand. How often have you seen the car & watch analogies on dedicated websites and forums? And how many watch brands do look-up their own car brand to be connected with? Aston Martin and Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC and AMG, Officine Panerai and Ferrari, Oris and BMW F1, Audemars Piguet and Maserati, Tudor and the Porsche Motorsport… just to name a few official ones.
My participation in MotoringExposure.com is writing about timepieces. Not only the ones that have a car-connection, but the ones that could make the hearts of car passionata tick faster. The first article is about the watch that is definitely known amongst MotoringExposure readers, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. Seen on the wrist of Paul Newman (Winning) but also on the wrist of the winners of the 24 Hours of LeMans.
The Everose gold version (ref.116505) of the Rolex Daytona is really something special in my opinion and might perfectly fit the wrist of a super car owner. Even if his or her interested in watches is only limited, you can’t go wrong with a Rolex chronograph ofcourse!
600 pieces only, a weight of 12 Kgs and 600 pages telling the story of 130 Rolex Daytona watches in prestine condition, dated from 1960 and on. Pucci Papaleo Editore did an amazing job on describing these watches with this level of detail, delivering it in one book that is entirely bound by hand with a leather lined 8mm wood binding. The team of Pucci had some help from only the best vintage horology specialists, who consist of collectors, watchmakers and retailers.
For photographing all these time pieces, the most advanced photography techniques have been used and in the end (it is about the result) it has been printed with the highest resolution possible.
This said, it perhaps gives you more understanding on the price tag of 4000 Euro. I am pretty sure that the serious Daytona collectors consider this to be the Rolex Daytona Bible. As a vintage Daytona collector, I also assume that reference work like this is absolutely necessary to be sure on every little detail when you buy one of these beauties.
Although the moon landing was years before I was even born, I always had an interest in the space race. The fact that the Omega Speedmaster Professional was the first watch worn on the moon, probably has a role as well in that interest. Last year, when we celebrated the 39th anniversary of the moon landing, I wrote an extensive blog post on the moon landing, NASA and the role Omega played in it with their Speedmaster Professional watches.
a Dutch (Rotterdam) newspaper from 21 july 2969 covering the moon landing
This year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, Omega introduced the 40th anniversary Speedmaster Professional watch during the BaselWorld 2009 expo. After seeing it in the flesh, I wasn’t very enthusiastic to be honest. The red tip at the chronograph second hand is too loud to my taste. The sterling silver Apollo 11 patch in the 9 o’clock subregister is very nicely done though.
However, this is ofcourse not the watch that is similar to the one that landed on the moon in 1969. As written before, the Speedmaster Professional watches with reference numbers st105.003 (Aldrin), st105.012 (Armstrong) with serial number 24002981 and st145.012 (Collins) with serial number 26552506 were the first watches worn on the moon, all with movement caliber 321. If you want something modern but yet similar, I suggest you get the regular Speedmaster Professional watch with hesalite crystal and stainless steel caseback (not the transparent one that is), ref 3570.50. Milking out the moon landing to market a new limited edition Speedmaster every 5 years (and other limiteds in between) has become a bit sad, and I think I am not alone on this one.
If you are going to spend 3850 euro on the Speedmaster Professional 40th Anniversary edition, you can actually better spend it on a REAL moon watch, like the aforementioned 145.012, 105.003 or 105.012. These vintage beauties with movement caliber 321 (column wheel chronograph manufactured by Lemania) can be had for 2500-3000 Euro in good condition. Some years ago, I wrote this article about the different Speedmasters through the years (1957 till modern models) and how to identify them correctly. It might be useful when looking for a vintage Speedy.
Although I am not wearing my vintage Speedmaster Professional 145.012 on a daily basis anymore, it does get wrist time at times like these, to commemorate the moon landing in 1969. I also think this watch is one of the nicest chronographs around, even nicer than, let’s say, a Rolex Daytona for example. However, for the Rolex fans there is the GMT-Master ref.1675 that is known to be the favorite of astronauts in their private/spare time. As the Speedmaster watches were official NASA equipment and had to be returned, the Rolex GMT 1675 was the way to go for most astronauts.
The Speedmaster is one of the purest chronographs around in my opinion, an incredible readible dial, bulletproof handwound movement, a plastic crystal that magnifies the superb dial and – ofcourse – an incredible history. NASA did only choose official for the Omega Speedmaster Professional after running several exhaustive tests.
Oh yeah, if you want to take a peek at one of the most special Speedmasters around, make sure to check out the gold Speedmaster Professional that was produced between 1969 and 1972. Only 1014 pieces were ever made, with a box in the shape of a moon rock. The one below is owned by a friend of mine, who proudly wears it! I covered this rare Speedmaster in this article last year. The first 28 pieces were given to the president of the United States (Richard M. Nixon at the time, who received number 1), the vice-president and the active NASA astronauts.
Photos from the Ultimate Book website
a Dutch (Rotterdam) newspaper from 21 july 2969 covering the moon landing
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