chintu
505
Watch Hunter Diary - Part 1
I started with my wish list of “must have”. While my collection was built over time, it was not in the specific order that I have listed below. Each hunt was deliciously pursued and the victim snared, possessed and loved and pampered till now. A few did fall out of favor and let go later with a deep sense of parting ( will touch upon the ones that I sent away and the ones that got away, later….
Narsi.
1. To go with the Tuxedo: – and obviously it had to be in 18K (RG or PT). The logical choices were the grand dames of horology – AP, VC, PP. If it was AP, the current choices were from the Edward Piguet or Jules Audemars collections. With Vacheron it had to be from the Patrimony or Malte collection and with PP the choices were the Calatrava or Gondolo. Strangely enough the process of elimination resulted in Vacheron making the exit first. Except for the VC1400 movement being in-house, there was nothing about VC that excited me. Besides the 1400 had not gotten any rave reviews either. VC seemed to be creating larger cases with movement spacer rings akin to a wafer thin guy dressing up as a samurai. Out it went. I turned to Patek. There seemed to be a zillion calatravas, literally with center seconds on a 315 caliber or petit seconds on the old 215 caliber. In fact PP seemed to virtually do a Rolex in the Calatrava by too many dial variations with the same 215 ticking inside. Prices – well, well, well.. Did they represent Value for Money?. At over 12K for the simplest one without date, I did not think so. The next choice was AP. The Jules Audemars collection looked right; In-house movement (or F.Piguet calibers modified by AP), pricing not astronomical as PP. These thoughts in mind, I was lurking around my usual Ads and saw this little “cushion shaped” (John Schaeffer) watch sitting silently and calling out to me for attention. To cut the story short, I ended up taking this home with its elegant F.Piguet movement (AP 2085/2832). Lovely cathedral hands in blackened gold, Petit seconds and all of 34mm. Different, old and yet new (NOS) and refreshing form. If only it had a display back, the joy would have been a notch more. The only reason that I might let this go later is if I get my Lange Cabaret Moonphase as my dress watch.
5. Just worry about February now…: I was steadily climbing the ladder of horological complications. Wading through watch magazines and learning more about the big three ( shall I say perhaps four?), brought me the realization that it was time to complicate my life with a more pleasurable challenge; the choice of the next watch, that would be from the venerated brands and with something to stand out from the crowd. Sigh…. I had to start with Patek again as their Annual Calendar had always aroused my interest. Was it the chosen one then? The 5035 / 5146 / 5036 had all the right things I wanted and each could be a lovely every day watch also with very practical value. Did those ritual bouts of window gazing, stepping in and out of the PP dealer’s portal, but could never psyche myself to cough up their LIST PRICE (the dealer let me know that he will be delighted to give me a discount when HELL FREEZES OVER). I could almost hear Mr.Stern speaking to me through the dealer. I was getting a bit frustrated of not having a comparable alternative to the PP annual calendar (I had not mustered enough courage to think of a perpetual calendar at this point of my watch hunting life). FPJourne’s Calendrier represented a suitable answer. It looked better, needed to be adjusted in 3 out of 4 years for Feb 28 ( it turns over from 29th Feb to March 1 in that 1 year) and more exclusive, but their prices were in fact way over PP!!! Of course there was this usual pitch about the FPJ with brass movements being a collector’s item. Well well well…. It looked like my search for annual calendars had reached a dead-end. May be it was time to move on and look for a different complication – a world time again where I could see all the 24 zones at the same time; or a power reserve with moon phase. I decided to give it some rest and forgot about the annual calendar. Destiny has a nice way of helping you achieve your desires (a bit of philosophy does not hurt). I was on my visit to the island nation of Singapore, a watch paradise where competition to get to the customer’s wallet is at its fiercest amongst the sellers. The juiciest deals get thrown at you once the sales person knows that you are serious and once you have allowed him/her to have a sneak peak at your cash wad or the platinum credit cards… Temasek Tower, Millenia Walk, Orchard….I was navigating through each mall and each dealer, savoring the collections for Lange, Patek, GO, Jaegers, Breguets and Audemars and stopping to have an odd conversation here and there on some of the interesting pieces; WHEN I froze in my tracks in THAT shop. Staring at me was this watch that made me rifle through pages of watch memory. Ha Ha. This was the elusive Quantieme Annuel from Audemars Piguet. What was on the menu.? Royal Oak 36mm case – Yes; but steel – well.. OK; Steel Bracelet – Yes; Blue Dial with Clous de Paris decoration– Yes Yes; a lovely pair of white baton hands; a gorgeous red arrow date hand and the icing – the month sub-dial between 5 and 6’ O clock position with months having 30 days in red and months having 31 days in black. Game, Set and Match. This one became my next trophy of the hunt. Some quick facts about the movement : AP 2224 (stopped production in 2003 perhaps), diameter 26mm, height 4.85mm, 28800 vph, power reserve 40 hrs. Ever since that AP has not produced any more Annual Calendars.
2. One for the Road: Having decided that every horologically inclined male had to have a chronograph (we have to proclaim our sporting instincts and pretend to time our laps even if it meant the trips from the couch to the refrigerator… right?) in the watch collection, the hunt for the right one began. This segment offered the maximum choice as every watchmaker had the ubiquitous chrono to offer. Three sub-registers, date window, and column wheel at a minimum was my essential requirement. Fly back/ Rattrapante was desirable, but not essential. I did not have to think much. No Tags, Omegas, Breitlings or AP (the unlimited, limited editions were screaming for mercy) for me. It had to be Zenith, the grand-daddy of chrono makers. The “El Primero” beating at 36000 vph (just to tickle you guys – it is used by Parmigiani in the Toric series and priced astronomically because Parmigiani added a few Geneva stripes to the El Primero and beveled the bridges a trifle; by Tag Heuer as Caliber 36; by Rolex in Daytona – apologies to Rolex fans if they do not use the El Primero now). And so, it was the El Primero that I bought, from the older series of Zenith that were created luckily before Thiery Nataf decided to have Zenith build watches for visitors from outer space. An understated elegant silver dial, a 400Z caliber ticking away at 36000 vph, 100m water resistant polished steel case with a sapphire back; on a steel bracelet represented the true Zenith that I had always admired. And that went into my horological hoard.
4. Taking to the Air : Now I was hooked. Lurking around TZ/WatchProsite and the GO forum combined with strong doses of GO catalogs procured at each visit to the GO dealer was enough to propel me into my next purchase. Was it to be the simple Senator, Karees or the complicated ones? My choice was driven by one simple objective. L E G I B I L I T Y. I had to get that watch with the cleanest dial and the largest date possible and what better choice than GO Navigator Cal 39 version. Black dial that was just perfect; the whitest of hands compliment the dial; Pano Date with both digits on same plane; brushed steel and the shimmering Cal 39 manufacture movement with that solid 22K rotor whirling around at the slightest drift of the hand! A few trips to the store; a few nips and tucks in the price and here it was; a worthy addition. But I still could not feel a sense of completeness. Off came the leather strap and on came the solid GO bracelet. That did the trick.
3.
The Travel Bug: And how can any self respecting international traveler be without a GMT or a World Time watch. The choices? Plenty. Jaeger, Patek, AP, Franck Muller, VC, UN, GO, Zenith… endless. A bit of PP bashing here is a must. The 5034 and the morphed 5134 on the 215 caliber were obviously overpriced as were the Malte Dual time. PP of course had the lovely 5110. Would have loved to have it. But in the meanwhile Patek decided that they did not need new customers as Mr. Philippe Stern had begun enquiring about the pedigree of their prospective customers for complicated watches, to decide if they deserved to own a Patek complication or if they were to be cast away as lesser mortals that had to be satisfied with brochures and catalogs (and TZ/ WatchProsite scans) of the coveted complications. UN and IWC did not appeal much with the window displays. But the queen bee IMHO was the Jaeger. A plethora of choices here; Reverso Duo and Reverso GMT with the unbeatable unique case, Master GMT, Master Home-Time, Master Geographique and the rare bird “Reverso Geographique” . Wow. Strangely enough, something stopped me from plunging into the Jaeger basket. I was getting increasingly restless until one day I saw this perfect answer to my prayer sitting serenely on display at this store… Dubey & Schaldenbrand Classic GMT – Here was the watch which had two independent time zones, settable by a single crown at any interval i.e. even with a one minute difference between the two time zones; blued leaf hands; with a 24 hour indicator; and to top it all, a pointer date hand; and to top it all !!; Capped with a lovely crystal back revealing a beautifully decorated gold plated custom built ( ETA 2892-A2) movement. I went in; neither looked left or right; picked up the shimmering baby as a kingfisher would swoop down on that tasty fish; completed the transaction in 15 minutes at a very attractive price and came away clutching this beauty.
Watch Hunter Diary - Part 1
Uugh...
Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts. You've picked up some
Very sensible collections
Wonderful post
