Last Week (in Watches) End of 2021 – Part 1 of 3

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This week has somewhat of a calm before the storm feel to it, as the watch world builds up to Dubai Watch Week that Rikki is headed off to. However, we still have several interesting things going on with ladies watches topping auctions, CW Sellors exceeding expectations financially, the latest in Bucherer’s US expansion, limited editions from HODINKEE and Revolution, Panerai’s downsized watches and the latest from Timor. These are the top 7 things in the world of watches; let’s get into it.

Ladies watch takes the crown at Bonhams’ auction

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Photo Credit: WatchPro

While this hobby is generally dominated by men, in the past couple of years there has been an increase is women getting into the hobby on wider scale. That shift seems to have made its way now to the auction scene at the  most recent Bonhams’ Knightsbridge auction. The top selling piece at the auction was a ladies’ watch, a 2007 Patek Philippe Gondolo Gemma which sold for £19,000. Two other ladies’ watches made it to the top 10 lots as well; a Cartier Bamboo Coussin from the 1970s selling for and another Patek Philippe with an 18k white gold open face pendant watch that comes with embellished with enamel, diamopns and pearls which sold. Interestingly, both sold for £11,475. Turn of events like these are always encouraging and hopefully will contribute to making this hobby more welcome to women and other genders.

Scottish Watches and Bark and Jack

C W Sellors records 35% sales growth

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Photo Credit: WatchPro

One of UK’s top independent jewellers,   C W Sellors has defied pandemic woes and logic with stellar financial results for the financial year ended April 2021. It recorded revenue growth of about 35% having raked in £20.7 million in sales. It also has an operating profit of £2.1 million, which is a whopping 147% increase over the prior year. This is especially remarkable given that it is not an authorised retailer for Rolex which dominated watch sales during the pandemic, and a bulk of its retail stores are located along main tourist areas and prime city locations.

Bucherer continues U.S expansion via Tourneau

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Photo Credit: WatchPro

Bucherer has finally added its second boutique in USA. When the Switzerland brand bought Tourneau in 2018, it must not have expected to have to wait three years just to have 2 boutiques in USA. However, its conversion of Tourneau’s boutiques into its own image has been relatively slow and dogged by pandemic woes since the former made the acquisition in 2018. The first rebranded boutique was completed just 2 months ago in New York. It has now added a second in Las Vegas after rebranding Tourneau’s boutique at King of Prussia. The design of the boutique screams luxury with a mixed use of grey tone stone, dark & light woods, marble and darker fabric as well as bronze accents. Bucherer has also worked with several major brands like Hublot, Tudor, Blancpain, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Longines so to create an overall cohesive aesthetic in the boutique instead of having an outlet that was a mashup of the different brands unique colours. The result is a boutique that oozes class. Assuming the service matches the quality of the décor, the boutique would make anyone visiting feel special.

HODINKEE’s Timex Waterbury Limited Edition

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Photo Credit: WatchPro

HODINKEE has released its latest limited edition, this time a Timex. One of the best things about HODINKEE’s limited editions is the fact that they span a wide spectrum of price ranges, with Gronefelds worth tens of thousands of dollars  all the way down to Swatches that go for less than US$200. This latest release falls closer to the latter end of that spectrum, coming in at only US$279. What we have on offer is a Timex Waterbury completed with HODINKEE’s design sensibilities. The result is a Miyota powered dive style watch, that has a 40mm x 13mm steel case and a mineral crystal, with 100m water resistance. It features a black aluminium bezel with no numerals, an a cool looking pebbled black dial with 3-6-9 numerals, white baton hour and minute hands and a bright red seconds hands. HODINKEE also included its brand name above the 6 o’clock numeral that balances nicely against the Timex branding at 12 o’clock. Does the watch look good? Personally speaking, it is hard for it not to, given that the design is a simple timeless sort of design. The white hands and numerals in more close up pictures appear a little “cheap” for the lack of a better word, but that is to be expected given the price range. Overall, it is hard to fault the watch for anything other than being a tad too safe in its design. At this price range, you would think a bit more risk could have been taken in terms of adding flair to the overall look. However, if what you are looking for is an affordable solid dive-esque watch, that has some exclusivity (the exact number is not stated, then this watch would be a solid option. At the time of writing, the watch is still available for sale 5 days after its release which must be some sort of record for HODINKEE. However, do act soon if you are interested so you don’t miss out on this.

Revolution’s Hanhart Bronze 417 Chonograph Edition No. 2

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Photo Credit: Revolution

While Revolution’s limited editions may not get the same rushed attention as HODINKEE (to be fair, not many other media sites do), it has released some really cool collaborative pieces. Its collaboration with Holthinrich last year comes to mind. This week, Revolution announced another really cool limited edition piece, its second iteration of the Hanhart Bronze 417 Chronograph. Edition No. 1, as Revolution refers to it, was released last year, and replicated the vintage design of the watch that frequently took up Steve Mcqueen’s wrist time. Edition No. 2 carries much of the same vintage aesthetic, but takes it a step further with a 39mm case where the Edition No. 1 was a 42mm case. It is also now features a tonally matching (with the bronze case) sunburst copper dial that would likely play beautifully with light. Personally, I respect Hanhart’s choice (according to Wei Koh, it was their idea) to downsize the case which would make it far more versatile and wearable, at least for someone like me. It also matches the whole vintage look better, even if the original 417s from the 1950s were made in 42mm sizes. At S$2,911, this is not a cheap watch, but it is also not an unreasonable ask and if you are a fan of the brand and the design language, would be a wonderful addition to any collection in my opinion.

Panerai’s 40mm Marina Luminors

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If you wanted an indicator that brands are starting to launch smaller watches in general, then you have to look no further than Panerai, one of the original bastions of larger, or even oversized watches. In the past year or two, the brand has released several smaller pieces such as the 42mm Submersible in several colours. Of course, it always had a the 38mm Luminor due as well. However, this week, it has made the downsizing of its watches more evident when it released 3 40mm Marina Luminors to replace the former 42 mm iterations. The three new models feature white, black and blue dials. It is no coincidence that as a fan of smaller watches, my interest in the brand has peaked this past year. The 42mm Submersible with a white dial was at the top of my interest list, but this latest 40mm Marina Luminor with a white dial is a beautiful alternative as well. It is also more affordable at S$10,100 which is more than S$2,000 cheaper than the Submersible, so that will be a tough choice to make.

Timor Heritage Field AP

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Timor is a interesting brand because its current iteration is relatively young, having only restarted in the past 2 years. However, it also has a ton of history behind it, given its place as on of the 12 brands from the renown Dirty Dozen that produced watches from the UK Military in World War II. Naturally, the first watch it released on its revival was a 36.5mm sized reiteration of the World War II piece. It has now released its second watch, this one inspired by its first ever watch that was adopted by the British military in the 1930s. In many aspects, this watch is even more good looking that the first of its reissues. This model comes with a cream coloured dial paired with cream-tangerine lume plots and filled hands on a rail that really plays up the vintage aesthetic. It also features a small seconds complication that has the word “waterproof” above it, something that I am a bit sceptical about as a design choice since it feels a tad too on the nose. this  Like the original comes in a 36.5mm x 45.5mm x 11mm case. It also has a domed sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 50m. If there was one thing that felt off about this model, it would be the size of the Arabic numerals on the dial. They look just a touch too big which makes it border on cartoony and even if it does not exactly crowd the dial. Still, if that doesn’t bother you, it is cool watch that is reasonably priced at £1,100 and allows you a choice of either a hand-wound or automatic Selitta movement.

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Photo Credit: vintagewatchspecialist.com

So that is it for this week. As always, get in on all the action on the Scottish Watches website, YouTube Channels (Scottish Watches, Scottish Watches Live as well as Watches Unboxed) and of course, the podcasts on your podcaster of choice. Till next time, take care everyone.

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