← Scottish Watches
Scottish Watches
Scottish Watches Podcast #773 : Patek, JLC, Cartier, ALS and Much More
00:53:25
In the absence of transporter technology, getting to all the brands at Watches and Wonders is a bit of an impossibility, so in this show we’re going over what we...
Loading summary
Transcript62 lines
- [00:01]
A
Welcome to the Scottish Watches Podcast. It has been a week since Watching Wonders kicked off. We've been back for a while. Dave is still in Switzerland, but he's in a different place. And we've had two live recordings that have already gone out to the greater world. They've been well received. People actually enjoyed the fact that we put ourselves through the wringer this year, decided to record every night or every morning live at the show and then compile it together, put it out in a timely fashion, which we probably should have done many, many years ago. But we're going to refine that process, make it even slicker and smoother for Geneva watch days, whatever the folks at Dubai Watch Week we've got planned later in the year and then obviously next year for Watchmakers Day and watch and wonders 2027. But because we didn't manage to get round all the brands, all the booths and all the people, we thought we would do a bit of a recap, looking through all the press releases, the information and the ones that got away. But the first thing we're going to do is check in with Dave. He's across still in Switzerland and back in Terraforma here in Scotia. How are you getting on, Dave?
- [00:54]
B
Indeed, Dave as well. But Dave's not actually in Switzerland, he's in Londinium, which is that capital city of the United Kingdom, of which Scotland, well, unfortunately is a part of. Not unfortunately, that's a bit unfair, but as part of still, I am down here.
- [01:07]
A
How many limbs have you got left?
- [01:08]
B
Me? Well, this is why I have no Rolexes, because I value my arms and hands. So actually, the weather's been nice and I've not been wearing any watches when I'm out and about. Not that London's really that unsafe, to be fair, but I got here yesterday and I'm here for a couple of days and then back up to Scotland, which is something that I'm looking forward to because I've not been there for a little while. But, yes, we've got quite a few areas and watches and brands that we didn't manage to get to visit, so we can cover a little bit of the highlights of those. We got to see some of them in their displays and windows as we walked about, so we should maybe cover off what we want to talk about.
- [01:44]
A
We shall indeed. And you've got a buddy at the first place we're going to talk about and you never get back to you in time. So we never managed to go and see the watches. The novelties in real Time and that is of course Patek Philippe. They were celebrating half a century of the Nautilus, did a really good display on the front of their stand. Very un Patek like it was as if this year maybe Rolex, Patek and a few of the other high fluting brands decided that they were going to make things a little bit more accessible to everyone, jazz it up a little bit, be a little bit more stylish. And it reminded me, the front of their booth reminded me of hot launch with their television sets and all that kind of jazz. But it was a great display. We got to be as close as anyone has ever been to the collection because they usually hide them in a safe at the back in a vault in the boutiques. But no, we got to have a look through some glass and they look quite nice.
- [02:28]
B
Yes, indeed. I think these are of course going to be some models that will be challenging to get if you have the money and desire to own one of these. But that said, we did manage to get a good look at them and I think they played their cards well for this. It's 50th anniversary. They could have gone a bit OTT if they had really wanted to, but in my opinion they've kept it quite reserved and I for one think it's a nice understated way to celebrate that 50th anniversary of the Nautilus. Well, they've not thrown crazy complications, they've not invented something that kind of forces to me, the anniversary. They've kept it clean, simple, slim cases. Everything seems to be balanced and proportionally well. And of course, precious metals, as you would expect. Well, it's a big anniversary nonetheless. So yeah, I quite liked what they're doing. And blue seems to certainly be the colour of the anniversary.
- [03:17]
A
As we mentioned in previous editions of this show, Patek are one of those brands that everybody wants to find out what they're up to. Little bit like Rolex, although you can, you can walk into boutique and pick up Rolexes a lot easier than maybe you could a couple of years ago. Patek is not the same. They have got much lower production numbers and they keep things a little bit more reserved for their clientele. But as I mentioned, they were upping their game. They had a lot of cool things at the front of their booth and their booth hasn't really changed much in probably a decade or more because 2017 Baselworld, when I went to my first watch event, their booth looked identical. It was in a different city, now it's in Geneva. But they have Replicated the look and feel of the main auditorium. In the halls of Baselworld within PAL Expo. Anyone that had been in the past and then visits nowadays, you'll feel right at home. And Dave was telling me they actually store on site all the booths, all the technology, which is why every year it kind of looks a little bit the same. Although we did say the Tudor one was looking perhaps a little bit samey because every year it's the same kind of thing. You walk in, they play the big presentation and their LED screens and you hear Tudor as in the watch speaking to you from the speakers. Yeah, it's getting a little bit tired. Maybe they can up their game a little bit next year. But no Patek. Doing great things as always. I was actually looking through some of the pre owned pricing to see how things are currently sitting in the market and they haven't really deviated too much. As much as perhaps other brands, especially Omega on the secondary have dropped like a lead balloon. The tech haven't. Before we move on, Dave, maybe give us a bit of a hint on what the new releases were all about.
- [04:45]
B
Okay, well there's a couple of ones I'd say the classic is. And they call it the 5810 1G 001.
- [04:52]
A
Not the 002 Dave.
- [04:53]
B
No, 001. It's the 18 karat white gold model on a matching white gold bracelet. 41. So it's a reasonable size. It's 6.9 millimeters thick, very slim. It's a mix of satin brushing, polished surfaces and the bracelet gets their patented fold over clasp. It's got the lockable adjustment system dial sunburst blue horizontal embossing. It's got the calibre 240. It's ultra thin movement, very slim, 22 carat mini rotor on there as well. 48 hours of power reserve. 75,000 Swiss francs. 2,000 pieces is a limitation of it. It is absolutely as you would expect it to be. They've also got another one in there, but instead of kind of having that bracelet, they've got a navy blue composite straps kind of textile patterning with some cream stitching on it and you've got baguette cut diamonds set into it as the hour markers. Only a thousand pieces of that coming in at 60,000 Swiss francs. It's cheaper because obviously you don't have all that precious metal in the bracelet. They've also got a medium sized one on there that's coming in at 38 millimeters. So if you want something a little smaller, maybe that's the option. But again with that fully integrated platinum bracelet and it's in and around the 90,000 Swiss franc mark. So lots of things, as you would pretty much expect from them, limitation numbers aren't ludicrously low. 2000 is a reasonable number, especially for that price point. So there's maybe half a chance, if you've got a bit of a relationship with them, that you might be able to get one of these. It's not my favourite watch, to be fair, with in the whole range, but it does seem to be that one that's got the most hype. They've kept it classy, they've kept it exactly as you would expect Patek to do. They're not the brand that likes to do big gregarious things. The one slightly funky thing they did, though, was a Nautilus pocket watch coming in at around about 50 millimeters by about 13 mil. Thick 18 karat white gold. That one was a wee bit crazy. 100 pieces of it and punchy price point wise, 205,000 Swiss francs. That's the one that's a wee bit ridiculous. But you've got a pocket watch, stroke desk, clock, whatever you want it to be. So that's a wee bit of a summary of what they've done. Check out the show notes for some pictures and of course the, the more detailed information.
- [07:00]
A
Oh, we forgot the show notes thing. Yes. Everybody check the show notes that will be linked in your podcast player. If you're watching this on YouTube at the weekend, it will be linked in the description. You can go across our website, look at a page that is designated for this episode. It will list in chronological order all the watches, all the stuff to do with the events, the news, the industry insider stuff that we chat about on the show. And you can obviously go back and click through that afterwards if perhaps you're driving, you're at the gym, walking the dog or doing whatever it is you are doing. Now, next brand we're going to talk about that we didn't get to see. And the reasons are. Let me just explain this a little bit for anyone that doesn't know. The reasons we can't get around all the brands is because there are probably more than 60 participating houses every edition of Watches and Wonders. There's only two of us on the ground. We tried to get Simona across to help out with the camera work and all the rest of it, but it was so late in the game that unfortunately we were denied and so many people came up to me and Dave and said, where's Simona? Thought she joined the team. Why is she not here helping out? We tried our best but we were told no. So hopefully next year when we apply a little bit earlier, we can maybe get things sorted out. Because all the other media enterprises blog to watch time and tide. They had seven, eight, 10 people across and all we're looking for was a press pass. So fingers crossed we can get that sorted for next year. But with 60 brands and we were only there half a Tuesday, full of Wednesday, full of Thursday and a little bit of Friday, there was no chance we could get round the 45 minute appointments or half hour appointments between each of them. We had to be very careful. And the other problem is the second, the absolute second, that all the appointments are released round about February or perhaps late January, everybody jumps on them. Anyone that gets a notification on their email, it's first come, first serve. You have to log into the back end, you have to go and book your appointment and if you ain't fast, you're last. And unfortunately we were up to other things at that moment in time, so we did not get the best of the best appointments. That's why we got to see Tudor later in the week. That's why we didn't get to see certain brands and other brands don't even email us anymore. Rolex do not email us. They do not tell us anything. Whereas lots of other creators and people, they seem to have inroads left, right and center. So if you work at Rolex, you know somebody that works at Rolex or Patek or these other places and you'd like us to do a hands on bit of coverage from the show next year, live and direct, then let them know we'd love to come along, we're good boys. Been doing this for what, eight years? We haven't pissed anyone off to the fact of getting a cease and desist just yet and we're not looking to start. So that is why we've not managed to boots on the ground, cover all the different brands. But it doesn't mean we can't go through the press releases and look through the glass.
- [09:28]
B
No, absolutely. And we have in the past definitely visited Jaeger, Lecoultre or GLC to make it easier for everyone. We visited those. We just didn't manage to get an appointment this year because, well, everything Ricky's just explained. But let's see what they've actually done. It seems to be all about the master control range for them this year. They've refreshed it in many different ways. That's their integrated bracelets, slimmer proportions and upgraded movements. The three main models are all sharing the same kind of general take and approach to how they've updated it. The bracelets finished with these polished bezels, the satin brushing on the sides, and you've got this really nice tapered bracelet that, you know, really nicely fits into the case, as you would expect, of course, from an integrated bracelet. All of them with water resistance rated at 50 meters. So not so much waterproof, more splash proof.
- [10:12]
A
Every time I hear the name Master Control from jlc, I always think of the movie Tron. Don't know why I think of the movie Tron, but I always think of the movie Tron. And that's because there was a character in it called Master Control and it was actually the actor David Warner that played Master Control in the original. And I got to meet him in Glasgow. Do you like this little aside? It's as if we're trying to pad this episode out because we didn't actually visit these brands yet. I got to see and meet him him and get a photo and a signature of him at one of the Comic Con events here in Glasgow. So that was great.
- [10:41]
B
But anyway, glc, there's Ricky's little aside. But yes, the main one I think that's probably going to appeal to more people is the Master Control chronometry date power reserve. This is the one that I think is definitely focused towards watch enthusiasts. 39 millimeters by 9.2, so very slender on the wrist. The dial on this one you've got a kind of blue gray sunray gradient which kind of fumes towards the edge. It's got the new calibre in it. That's the 738 automatic 241 components. Another one that I think is the simple, cleanest one, the one that from all of the imagery I've seen is the one that appeals to me is the chronometry date. It's again 38 by even slimmer at 8.4. That one comes in both stainless steel or 18 carat pink gold on matching integrated bracelets. The steel one on that one, again, that blue gray dial. The pink definitely in the warmer brown bronzy tones. I have to say browns seem to be a color of the show. Lots of brands bringing in these reddy browns, these deeper browns, tobacco browns. It seems to be a colour which I've said for a long time more brands should do. So I'm pleased to see that that one's running on the calibre 899, 70 hours of power reserve. Pricing on these ones is pretty accessible, I would say, for the brand. Steel coming in at €12,200. The pink gold coming in at 45,500. Precious metal, unfortunately, is expensive at the moment, but at that, 12,000 for steel from a brand of this kind of reputation, there's lots of other brands in and around the same price that maybe don't have that same history. And what GLC brings to the party, the other big hitter is the Master control chronometry perpetual calendar. Very small, 39 millimeters, again by 9.2. Steel or pink gold, both options with the matching bracelets. You've got those same colorways on there, the blue gray on the steel or that richer, bronzy browns in the pink gold. You've got display date, day, month, leap year, moon phase. Super compact, I would say. And the calendar is programmed for to remain accurate to I think around 2,100, which is a long way in the future. I will be long dead by that point in time. Pricing in these steel versions coming in just. Yeah, well, thank me. I'll be glad, to be honest. Some days I wake up and think, oh, I'm still here. The steel version, just under 40,000. The pink gold coming in at around 72,500. So that is some of the key highlights, I would say, that are getting offered from jlc.
- [13:02]
A
Well, I've got a bit of a soft spot in my heart for JLC ever since I first got into watches. And the reason is Tim Mosso now at the 1916 company. Maybe it used to be Watchbox. Before that, Goldberg, whatever it was, watch you want. And the reason is he was an avid collector of the brand and when I was starting out, knew nothing. I was watching whatever I could find on YouTube. And his videos were the pinnacle every single week because it was him or Archie Lochtray or tgb. So you know who won there. And I got introduced to the brand, the history, the legacy, the watchmaker's watchmaker, the folks that made the movements for Audemars Piguet in their range of Royal Oaks. And up until recently still did the jumbo movement. So I got a bit of an insight into what they did, where they were, where they were coming from. Polaris had just come out maybe a few years ago. And Ambox, Ambox 2, those are two watches that I absolutely adore and would one day love to get a hold of because they just stand proud of the collection not being too in your face like Older Zenith, maybe they were a little bit too big, bold and bulbous. But they just sat right and then through Bark and Jack, Adrian Barker got an invite to go across in 2019, pre pandemic, for one of my first factory tours to GLC up the mountains. And it was fantastic. Not just because it was the first one, but because of what they stand for, their legacy, what they still produce, and the fact that they're members of staff in the atelier. They use traditional watchmaking methods alongside brand new and contemporary ways of producing watches. It's that mix and match where you've got the elegance and the tradition and it flows right the way through, almost into futuristic stuff because we've seen this, that and the other. We've seen their gyro tourbillons. We've seen all kinds of releases over the years. Sometimes they're quiet. Last year we couldn't really remember anything they did because they didn't show it loudly this year. These watches, I actually really quite like the bi compact one in the Master Control series we just talked about. The only thing that puts me off is the eyes of the bi compact subdials. They look a little bit too spread. I love a bit of symmetry and it almost looks like they're too out towards the chapter ring, just a little bit too much. And the fact that there is almost lack of bezel on the frontage, I think the proportions are slightly off. But it's great to see them making waves, getting the headlines and hitting all the blogs. And nowadays, obviously the influencers are talking about them, so fingers crossed. Jlc, the watchmaker's watchmaker, comes back in droves.
- [15:18]
B
Yeah, absolutely. I think for me it's nice to see they're not focusing on the things that you might expect them to do. They're trying to do something a little bit different and give a bit of focus to other models in the range that deserve the attention.
- [15:29]
A
And next, let's stop off with the folks at Cartier. This is a brand that we do get to along with glc. We do get to see these ones. They actually do send invites, but as I mentioned mentioned, it's very difficult to get an appointment. And the other problem is sometimes the appointments that we are offered conflict with other brands. And we have very strict guidelines as to where we can go and what we can attend to. Give a bit of an insight into how watches and Wonders actually works for journalists, media folks, bloggers, YouTubers and influencers, not podcasters. We're not really included. You have to book an appointment, but it has to be within zone, within region, and it doesn't matter that across the world everyone listens to Scottish Watches podcast. That's how we're number one. We have to stick within the guidelines of we're based in the uk, therefore we have to go to a UK Talk presentation. It has to be in English, it can't be an American one, even though that's in English. We have to fall within the confines of what is offered. And if we happen to be meeting one of the other brands that we booked in with, then that kind of nullifies our access points. Hopefully in the future, if we can speak to people behind the scenes, we can move things around a little bit, maybe we can get that access or we can utilize the fact that we have got Barbara Plumbo from the States, that we have have got Volologos out in Singapore, we've got Ralph out in Dubai to help move things along. But this year was a lot better than last year. And myself and Dave were talking as we were progressing through the different days at the event, it felt more structured, it felt more like they'd greased the wheels. Everything was a little bit easier, especially for ourselves. I remember maybe year one or year two back from the pandemic. There was this crunch point, a stranglehold of the entry where everybody was trying to get through. All this press was a mast that things start at 9am, so you have to get there on a shuttle into the place, scan in, go through security, which was an absolute bastard a couple of years ago, where everything was scanned, everything had to come out of bags, laptops had come out, so they'd gone to the airport. This time around, it flowed so well. I thought something had gone wrong, but no, because they still did scan everything properly. In fact, they vetted things a lot more than they had done in previous years. Security was of a paramount importance, but it just felt a lot more cohesive. Even getting lunch, that is something that, as you go along, it's press. They don't want you to leave the main areas, they want you to get to your next appointment appointments. So the lunch breaks are set at a specific point in time. Problem in the past was everybody could just turn up, grab what they wanted, maybe have three or four different meals for lunch, perhaps if they had large stomachs. And this time around you actually had to scan to get your lunch. So just a little tweaks here, then everywhere to make things a little bit easier, to stop people maybe taking advantage of the system. But one of the brands that we really hoped to see was Cartier. We've seen them in the past and they just didn't have anything available when we went to look. Although they did email us at the very end to say they'd put extra stuff on. But by that point we had obviously booked in elsewhere. So let's have a roundup of what they released.
- [18:14]
B
Well, they've got a lot of their classic lines, reinterpretations I would say. The Roadster, the Santons du Mond shape portion. This kind of timeless style that you I guess expect from Cartier. The Roadster. It's the return of this model 24 years after it first debuted. It's a large model coming in at 47 by 38 by just over 10. 10.06 millimeters. There's a medium size which is a little smaller, 42.5 by 34 by under 10 millimeters. Both of these with 100 meters of water resistance. You've got a few different case options as you would expect. Stainless steel, yellow gold and a two tone steel and gold option in there as well. The larger version uses their self winding 1847 MC whilst the medium variant uses their 189940 hours of power reserve. You've got new updated bracelets. They've got shorter links which should make it a little bit more wearable and a bit more kind of conforming to the wrist. And they've got their new quad quick switch system. There's a tongue twister for you. The medium steel model starts around 7,600 pounds whilst the larger ones are coming in just over the 8,000 mark. So definitely not as unobtainable price point wise as some people might expect Cartier to be. They do actually produce quite a lot of especially their steel models at significantly under 10,000. So worth a look if you like that kind of vibe and style. The Santos Dumont, probably one of the best known styles and looks in here as well. It's a fairly elegant update. In here you've got three new bracelet models. They're kind of leaning into their jewelry roots. All three of them. They're measuring a much more wearable 31.5 x 43.5 x 7.3. Keeps that very slim rectangular profile that's made that watch super wearable. Again, various options, you've got yellow gold, you've got platinum and you've got this new 15 row bracelet that's made up of a fairly significant number of links, 394 to be precise. Each of them is only just over 1 millimeter thick. That's kind of really inspired by their flexible bracelets that date back into the 1920s. They've got some pretty standout things here. They've got an obsidian dial which has been cut to a very slim 0.3 millimeters. The naturally trapped air bubbles in these dials make everyone unique. Cartier, I have to say, it's not something that sits with me in terms of aesthetic, but they are, if you look at all of the reports, one of the brands that really has bucked the trend when it comes to market forces and trends within the market. We all know over the last few years a few brands have had slightly more challenging times in terms of how many watches they're selling. But Cartier is one of the few brands that's really bucked that trend and still does well. Any of the models catch you out? Ricky?
- [20:54]
A
I like the Santos range, but I don't know if I like it enough to add to the collection. And my collection has changed so much over the past few years with things coming in, things going out and one or two things being replaced with newer models of the previous editions. Carti is a brand that are looking. Whenever I go into a boutique, most recently was over in Laing's and Edinburgh and George street because we were catching up with the folks there. They had some special edition norqaines in to have a look at. We'll talk about them in a future edition of the show. But went in and spoke to the people there. Extremely knowledgeable, also extremely down to earth. Some people have the thought in their head when they walk into a boutique that deals with the likes of Rolex that they're going to look down their nose at you. That's not the case. There are very few brands in the world, very few boutiques in the world that that happens in this day and age. Perhaps it did 5, 10, 20 ago. No longer is that to be expected. And Cartier is a brand that appeals to everybody because it's classic, it never goes out of style, it's elegant and it's also attainable. They're not crazy money. They have not followed the trend of constantly pushing the prices up. And that's something we have discussed over the past now three episodes. Accessibility of price points with Hublot doing fantastically well. Panerai not getting the memo whatsoever and shooting into stratosphere as if they were aiming for the moon, not the Artemis guys. Cartier bringing it back down to earth. They did something with the crash that Dave might go into in a little second. But they are nice watches. They Just don't quite appeal to my wrist. I don't know if I would ever pick a Cartier up versus the Moser, versus my Rolex, versus some of the micro brands, my Form X's, my Bozells, all those things. Or a G Shock. I just don't know when I would actually pick a Cartier up. And I don't go to Tuxedo Penguin events often enough that that would be in my hit list. So. How about yourself, Dave? Do you actually own any cartoon?
- [22:43]
B
Do you know? It's one of the few brands that I have had one and I had a few issues with it, mostly about the wearability of my wrist. Not a technical issue with the watch, and that was a Santos. And I think I felt I had to have it within my collection because, well, it's one of those classic pieces, but it's one of the very few that has left David's collection just because, to be honest, it just didn't gel with me.
- [23:08]
A
What other watches have you picked up? Because you have got that thought process that I think we all go through where you need to have a dive watch, you need to have a chronograph. What else has been in there that you thought you actually needed to have got a hold of and decided, I just got caught up in the hype a little bit there.
- [23:25]
B
Yeah, I think everyone goes through that phase. I don't even know if it's a hype. I think it's part of that journey that most people go through. You know, watches are quite emotive and you get, you know, guided by other people, what the market thinks you should have. And, you know, Cartier, they do a couple of very classic models. And I think you go through a phase where you think maybe should have one of those.
- [23:46]
A
Did you ever feel as if you needed to have a Daytona or a Submariner or anything like that?
- [23:51]
B
I think it's gone through my head in various phases where, oh, should I have one of those? But I've never got to the point of actually committing to one more because, no, it's just never got to that stage. You know, the cut. What else? I think possibly Bulgari. I have got a couple of Bulgaries, albeit the ones I've got, I do wear and I do enjoy them. That that watch that they brought out in 37 millimeters, the name that we don't want to talk about because it annoys David so much that he never got one back in the day and they finally brought out a size. But I think possibly for Me, that moment has passed as well. I think we all move through that journey and we get to a stage we are now. Now you get so many watches in your collection that you think enough is enough in terms of overall numbers. And then to get something new, it has to be special, whatever that is to you. The color, the look, the style, the vibe, the story, whatever. Whatever floats your boat. And I think over the last few years, I've definitely moved more into stage of. It needs to really be unbelievably exciting for me, for me to want to get the wallet out and actually buy it. And it isn't always driven by price anymore. There is occasionally a model I see that I think I really want that. And the price point is so ludicrously high that it's just not sensible or accessible for me. A little bit like the Van Cleef, that jumping hour one we talked about in the last episode. I love that watch. It's unbelievably cool. Do I want to spend anything like that amount of money on it? No, that's a different question. It's an interesting one. Maybe that's good for a future episode. We should talk about watches that, you know, we have bought and well regretted, not regretted, whatever you want to describe it as. That could be a good topic. It's also a topic that you can tell us more about. You could drop us an email, you could drop us some information about watches that maybe you've bought because you felt you've had to have them in your collection. And then maybe you've been disappointed by it and offloaded it. Or maybe actually it's turned out to surprise you. Good topic. Write in. We can talk about those in some future episodes.
- [25:45]
A
Yeah, definitely. That's a good point to say. If you've got any thoughts, maybe you want to give us your feedback on what you thought of watching Wonders this year, if it impressed or depressed you. Because a lot of people were happy, a lot of people thought they expected more. But what people need to remember is that Watches Wonders is a successor. Kind of officially, unofficially, it is the successor to Baselworld. And Baselworld for 100 years was the place people would go, retailers would go to find out about the new releases that they would have and be able to stock for the next 12 months. It wasn't a showcase. It wasn't. The great showman. Hugh Jackman wasn't there to tell everybody on the Internet what is going to be happening with Rolex and Patek. That was a bit of a byproduct. And that's only appeared over maybe the last decade or so when things have really opened up. But throwing it back to watches that perhaps we thought we would put in a collection and then we didn't deal with. Definitely do. Email us infocottagewatches.co.uk and that is almost the opposite of something that I recently got involved in with Johnny at Esquire, where he did a roundup of what is your big watch regrets. And mine was twofold. One, not buying a Audemars Piguet Royal Oak blue dye because it was the 37 mil, not the larger 41 mil. Stupid boy. Should have grabbed that with two hands. And then the other one was it wasn't a regret as so much as it was something that was needed to be done and that was selling off my Daytona White Gold because I was buying a house. But I fixed that problem recently and we're going to bounce it back to Dave because he wants to tell us more about Cartier, I think.
- [27:10]
B
Well, yeah, the other big thing is it's the 10th anniversary of the Cartier Privier collection. That is where they go a bit off, off kilter when it comes to things like case shaped. They've resurrected, I think, three of what could be classified as some of the more iconic models. And this is where I will butcher the phrasing and the wordage. So we have the Cartier Tortue Chronograph monopusier. That is their monopushe chronograph in English, the Cartier Tank Normale and of course the Cartier Crash Squalette. These are some of the most desirable watches within their offering. They've got these, they're all in platinum, they all feature the ruby tip crowns, but they all go a bit off piste after this, where you've got very much different shapes and going on. The one I think is the crash, that's the one that really gets a lot of attention. They were all in there. Check out the show notes to see these. I don't know enough. This is an area of watches that really is not David's forte. He knows what they are, he can respect what they are, but they're so not my thing that I don't get into it. But it's where you got all of these subtle design layers, iconic areas of watchmaking within that sphere that, yeah, it's nice to see them doing it. Everyone was talking about the crash. The crash seemed to be people that are into that style. That seemed to be, for a lot of people, the watch of the show for me, I like it for what it is, but to be honest, definitely not the watch of the show for me. Ricky, did you get a look at any of these within what you could see either as we were passing the booths or in the informations we were sent?
- [28:39]
A
Absolutely did not. Unfortunately, I had no time at all to have a look at this whatsoever. And when we're walking around, it was literally. It wasn't walking around, it was running around. We were carting all the equipment we had with us because we were recording bits and bobs. We have got an interview that will appear in this episode later on quite shortly actually, where we had to cart around lighting tripods, light stands, cameras, microphones, all kinds of stuff. So whereas some people were just running around with their phone in their pocket, it was almost like Tough Mudder, but in Switzerland at PAL Expo. So we should probably move on to another brand that we didn't. Well, we do actually get an invite from these folks. It's not a case that we missed out on it. Ylang and Zona is a brand that never communicates with us, which is really odd because year one of the podcast we did go and see them, but we didn't piss them off. So I don't understand why they don't talk to us. But anyway, Dave, let's talk about them just now.
- [29:29]
B
Well, this is of course the German high end atelier watch company, a Langezona and they've brought out the Lange 1 Tourbillon perpetual calendar.
- [29:39]
A
Are they still upset about that thing that they didn't win twice?
- [29:42]
B
That's possible. I mean there's very nearby a city that. Well, okay, let's not get into that. That's probably a bit too far. Anyway, I think they're a very serious watchmaking company and people that collect their watches and purchase their watches view them as one of the stalwarts, the real serious players within premium watchmaking. But they've injected quite a degree of fun with this. I've mentioned it's the Lumen watch. So they've had these for a few years now, but. But what they've done here I think is pretty cool. So you've got a perpetual calendar, you've got Tourbillon, you've got everything you would expect from a Lang Azona. It's super legible from a point of view of watch. You've got the offset time display, you've got the iconic large date, of course, that you would expect from the brand. And in regards to the perpetual calendar, they've made it as Readable as you can make these things, because of course, there's a huge amount of information that has to be kind of displayed within a relatively small space on your wrist. They've got the month displayed in a ring around the kind of dial circumference. You've got the retrograde day display on there. The leap years displayed as a small indicator at 6 o'. Clock. And you've got the moon phase inside the small second sub dial. It's very clear. You've also got a little day night indicator hiding in there. But what they've done is, of course, they've gone mad with Lume. So you've got Lume applied to the smoked sapphire crystal glass on there. You've got Lume paint applied across almost every surface of the watch, which is sitting absorbing light during the day, and it's storing a up for nighttime. Not just, of course, the hands and the hour markers are glowing. But almost every complication within the watch is legible and can be read in the dark. The date, the leap year discs are luminous. The moon phase is luminous. The adjacent starry night there is luminous. The month and the date display is also luminous. It's coming in in a fairly compact form, 41.9 millimeters in diameter, 13 mil thick. It's in platinum. You've got a black alligator strap app. A huge number of components. Well, it is a perpetual calendar. 685 of them. It's their caliber, L225 1. It's 50 hours of power reserve, which isn't huge, but is pretty respectable for this type of watch as well. Price point. Punchy is the phrase. I'm going to use €550,000, which of course is a huge amount of money, but I'll give it its due. It looks amazing at night. I think it probably looks nicer at night night than it does during the day when it's glowing up. It's got a fun vibe to it as well. It should be fun and it should be enjoyable at that amount of money. Again, a brand that I've never quite gelled with that full Germanic vibe about it. I like some of the stuff Nomos does, which is again, quite Germanic in its feel. I like a bit of the stuff that's done by Glacuta Oregano. I like some of their stuff as well, but again, this is a brand where they've never done anything this. It has definitely impressed me, but it's never made me go, I really want to get my hands in one of those. Whereas there are others. We mentioned Flogius earlier. He is a huge fan of this brand and owns a couple of pieces and a few of my friends love this brand as well. I do like what they've done here. Of everything they've done in the recent past, this is probably my favorite and it's more because of the Lume, but there's maybe some other watches that have done the whole Lume thing that are mightily more accessible price point wise and of course availability wise because this is not going to be a watch that you can just get your hands on even if you've got that serious amount of change in your pocket. Ricky, we walked past the huge depictation model of the watch on multiple times during the show. It was out and about. People were talking about this watch. You any thoughts on it?
- [33:15]
A
I like the look of it. I like the fact that they have gone to town with the look. But it's still a dress watch. Still got a leather strap. Not keen on the price point. Think that's a little bit on the high side for what it is. I mean there are reasons why things cost a certain amount of money. But when we now speak to the folks behind the scenes at very large organizations, perhaps we speak to the folks at Vacheron or Moser or MB and F and we look at their price point for the ingenuity, the movement, technology. What they put together to be half a million bucks for this doesn't gel. Doesn't gel with me. Not to say it's not worth it. Probably is worth it, who knows. And everything is opinion. As long as it tells the time doesn't dig into your wrist, then it's a watch and everything else is up to yourself. It's in the eye of the beholder, as they say. I don't really know what I think of Ehlang and Zona. It's part of a conglomerate, although it acts as if it's an independent, the price point has always been high. People have always liked it. But apart from Watches and Wonders or prior to that, Baselworld, people don't talk about it. It's one of those brands that they shoot like a firework and then you just do not hear much about them throughout the rest of the year. I remember the new, latest, greatest big thing that was going to come out was the Odysseus from them a couple of years ago and everyone was like, oh my God, it's going to be the killer sports watch. It's going to take over from the Nautilus and the Royal Oak and The Daytona and everything else and nothing. Nobody talks about it any longer. So it's a bit strange. It's a brand that it doesn't affect me either way. I've never had the longing to own one. I've never had the longing to even try one on. And they have got lots of different things. Their thing is big dates and all that kind of jazz just ain't one for me. Although Philologus absolutely loves them, adores them, can't wait to talk about them. And one of our biggest faux pas was a couple of years ago when he came to watches and wonders for the first time we recorded a show with him. And because of his dialect and the way that he speaks, because he's not a native English speaker, our AI noise reduction system changed his a Lang and Zona chat about a big hitter into being a big shitter.
- [35:09]
B
Yeah, that's where AI maybe had a little trip over its own feet unfortunately on that. But hey ho, it made a few people laugh.
- [35:16]
A
It did indeed. Now it's time to do the wrist checks and well, what I'm wearing on the wrist doesn't really matter because I've been wearing the same watch for quite a while now and that is my freak X ulysse Nardan got this a couple of years ago and it is in the top three watches in rotation. It just appeals to me. Red and black is my color. If anyone's watching YouTube video you can tell as much as blue and white are also my colors. So it's almost the yin and yang. It's the back and the forward between the two. But that's not the watch I'm going to talk about today because we have been told many times in the past sometimes we go too high. We talk about watches like the A line and Zona a second ago that is going to crunch through half a million bucks of your bank account, which is a pretty penny in this day and age and any day and age. But we also talk about the budget friendly things, the accessible price points. We talk about Formex, we talk about Arash, we talk about this, that and the other where you get really good value for money. And there are many brands from far plumb places that do even better value for money, although they don't have Swiss made stamped on the dial. And one of brand that perhaps played in the field of the influencer, the YouTuber back in the day, Filippo Loretti, they have been around for a long time at the lower price point scale. But when in this day and age everyone seems to Be trying to do things that are lower priced to try and get people through the door or to order online. These guys have moved things upscale and we've talked about different brands like Studio Underdog using seagull movements and whatnot. Well, these guys have split off a higher version of. It's almost like the Lexus versus the Toyota, the Rolex versus the Tudor. And they have now got a thing called Atelier Loretti. And the first thing that they've sent across for us to have a look at is a tourbillon that is based on a Miota base movement. And we've seen inexpensive tourbillons in the past. My favorite is from Mirage, got it half a decade ago. It is phenomenal. Prior to that it was a nanograph from Tag Heuer, but that was almost double the price. Nowadays if you get a tourbillon from Tag, it's going to cost you a massive amount more than that. The watch we're going to talk about today is around about the 800 bucks UK. So the first thing of note is to say that no, this is not a gold watch. If you're looking in the show notes or you're watching the video on YouTube, it is IP coated. You ain't going to get gold at sub $1,000. But for a dress watch, this actually worked very well. And it has got one of the best little dials I have seen in a long time at this price point. It's got an Aventurine style, so it's almost a blue glass coat with all those sparkles that go in. And it's got the Atelier Loretti logo up at the top which isn't overpowering. And it's got a bit of a almost chopped onion crown on the side which is engraved with a little bit of their logo. Bit of a satin finish here, there and everywhere with a polished bezel. And obviously the main talking point here is the tourbillon down at the six o' clock position in that little carousel. You can see all the parts moving around there. And the price point we've got to talk about again, that is around about 750 quid depending on the variation you want. You do a meteorite dial for about 150 bucks more. All the details will be in the show notes as mentioned. But the other thing is you rotate the watch around, you have a look on the rear and they have got a lot going on. Now we talk about decoration and movement, Geneva stripes, Cote de Geneve, all that kind of stuff. And it comes in at a Pretty penny because this costs a lot of money to do properly. These guys, as I mentioned, have got the Miota base, they've got the tourbillon as on and then they've got all this striping on the back of the movement which you would not expect at this price point. It is actually very well executed put together and it's got 100 meters of water resistance, which again is to be commended. So these guys obviously have played in a lower price point for many, many years. So it's good to see in this day and age people actually moving things upward and forward. And we talk about the fact that this is an IP coating. Well, I thought, well, how tough and durable is this going to actually be? So I took a nice knife to the back of the watch to try and scrape it off. And at the lug up in this corner, which on the video you'll see there's a tiny little scuff mark. I tried to scrape the gold off and I couldn't manage it. So if anyone is worried that oh, this is going to wear off, it's not going to look so great in a couple of years time, well, you're probably going to be wrong because I tried my best to distress the watch and I couldn't actually manage to do that. So Dave, this is probably the first time you've seen this, but what are your thoughts?
- [39:35]
B
Yeah. Do you know this is a watch that, that belies its price point. It looks considerably more premium than that sub 1,000 pound price point and significantly sub £1,000 at that, that kind of adventuring style dial on there. It's got a real good shine to it. Yes, definitely leaning towards the dress watch aesthetic more than anything. But at the same time this is something that I think you could definitely wear in and about as a daily wear watch if you wish to do so. You're getting access to that kind of tourbillon watch again at a price point that typically you're not going to see it. And as long as you don't get too overbearing about it has to be made X, Y or Z, then I don't think that's a bad thing. It's automatic as well, which means that while you're wearing it, it'll keep itself wound up, nice industrialized finish that gives a feeling vibe of a much more expensive premium product at a very accessible price point.
- [40:24]
A
So speaking to the guys behind the scenes, they told me that they've been working on this for about three years or slightly over because they had seen that they were hitting a bit little limit from their previous range. We've talked about them in the past. They had some Superman watches, I believe they did some Batman watches, Spider man, etc. We've talked about them. They were more in the fossil category, they were more in that area of the G shock. They played in the low hundreds. This isn't even the thousands this, as I said, it's around about 6, 700 quid. Look in the show notes for the details of that. So to bring something out in this day and age, to extend and expand where they're going, it's to be commended. And the size of it isn't too bad. It looks massive here because obviously it doesn't have a big bezel, but we're talking 42. And with that rotor, the automatic movement that's inside, plus the module for the Tourbillon, it's only just a fraction under 11mil thick. At this price point you might expect to find mineral glass, but it's actually got sapphire as well. So there is lots going on here. 100 meters of water resistant as already mentioned. So it's a bit of a win if you're looking for an inexpensive tourbillon dress watch that is going to glamorize the wrist on one of those nights out. That will hopefully be coming soon as the weather gets better and better. Better. So look in the show notes for all the details on this one. Don't think there's much more to say apart from, oh, one thing is, even though it's tourbillon movement, it's running at high beat of 28,800 vibrations per hour, which you usually don't find with these kind of things. So again, massive kudos to the guys there. Hopefully we'll see what they've got coming out later on in the year because this is going to be the success that I expect it to be. They're going to iterate, they're going to deviate and they're going to be doing a ton more. Now Dave, tell us what you've got in the wrist.
- [41:58]
B
So what am I wearing? Well, if you've listened to the last few episodes I had on our new Horge Tourbillon 3 for the entirety of watches and wonders. But I picked up as I was back in BLE, the latest prototype iteration of our Revolution 3 microreg. As it comes closer and closer to full scale production. I have its very latest technical iteration and I'm wearing it for a few days just to make sure that everything is doing exactly what it should because we've had some great results through in regards to some tests that have been done where we've managed to get the accuracy within a very, very small window, as was promised with that whole project. So I've been wearing it and I will be wearing it for the forthcoming days to make sure that it does exactly as it says in the tin. David's not the most rough and tumble when it comes to how he wears his watches, but I'm trying to be a bit more aggressive with it than I would be normally with a watch to make sure that again, it does exactly what it says in the tin and survives day to day wearing. So that is what I have been utilizing and have had on the wrist and will be having so for the next week or so. So.
- [42:59]
A
So here we are with somebody that is far more famous than myself or Dave. Do you want to introduce yourself to everybody at home?
- [43:05]
C
You're too amble.
- [43:08]
B
Yeah.
- [43:08]
C
I'm Pierre Gasly, Formula one driver for BWT Alpine Formula one team.
- [43:13]
A
So the reason he's here, and if anyone has tuned into previous episodes where we were down at the Formula one at Silverstone just about a year and a half ago, it was a fantastic event. Got to meet this gentleman, then we did a press conference with him via the Internet because he was super busy, busy. And then we actually did another press conference because you released a watch with Moser. How did that come along?
- [43:32]
C
Yeah, it was an incredible project. So Moser came along in Alpine in 2024, so that was our first contact and basically got us drivers involved in the design of the Alpine watch. And at the time I thought, okay, well, I want to do my own watch, you know, if I got to contribute to it, then why not doing my own? But I knew it was a bit of a long and mother came back to me and said, well, actually, we want to do that with you. And then, yeah, this was absolutely mind blowing to go from the start, going to the manufacturer, understanding exactly what we could come up with, what feature I wanted in the watch, what we could do together. And in the end, we came up with my dream watch. So really, really pleased and really incredible process.
- [44:15]
B
And as a Formula one driver, knowing those little nuances, the setup of your car, all of these things, you're very attention detailed. So when you were doing this with them, was there any features of the watch that you had this absolute idea of what you wanted, that you saw them thinking, oh, this is going to be hard?
- [44:33]
C
I think. I think it's. There was obviously about the mechanism about the, the weight, about the fact that I think a watch me, I like it when it, it's sort of like quite elegant. It's not too flashy, not too punchy depending on the, the event that you go at. But it's depending on your mood. It, it's gotta bring you power, it's gotta bring you confidence. And then I wanted it to be linked to me but not like too strong as well. And obviously my race Number is number 10. So we decided to come up with a small touch on the dial at 10 o'. Clock. So there is actual red Ruby on the 10 o' clock which we worked on. And then as you said like in F1 it's all about precision and the watch in itself into another level. We are talking on my race car sometimes about like a quarter of a millimeter on, on some part of the, the setup. But precision in the watch industry is like, is just to a complete different level. And you know, seeing actually the people working on, on all these mechanism and the way that they could come up with just the attention on the details just make you appreciate the watch so much more.
- [45:45]
A
Well, when it comes to Formula one, watches have been linked for decades, decades and decades, all the way back to the 60s and 50s. Tag Heuer, except back in the day Moser aren't a name that was synonymous with the paddock or the starting line. It was a hidden gem. What was it like, you getting involved with Moser versus the likes of Rolex, versus the likes of Tag etc.
- [46:06]
C
I think it's fair to, it's completely fair to say. I think what I like with the people that I work with is really the sort of like relationship that you are with the people. And you know, when we first met, it's a family business. I'm a very family owned oriented person. And then that straight away like sort of built a certain connection, a certain trust. I have four brothers, I have a very strong link to all of them. Bertrand, Edward, you know, being on board with their dad onto the mother history and this sort of vision and idea I really like connected with that sort of vision. And then yeah, it just created that bond with which we developed later on. And then as I say with the experience of going at the manufacturer, really understanding how far and how deep they were going into this sort of like attention to details really got me excited and my knowledge on watches just increased massively thanks to them. So yeah, so far it's been an incredible collaboration.
- [47:09]
A
And the last question before we let you go because we are here with lots of other people vying for your attention. You're not wearing your own watch today. What do you think of the Pump?
- [47:17]
C
I think it's absolutely mind blowing. You know, like these just came out yesterday is the Pump edition that's, you know, in collaboration with Reebok, of the famous shoes, the. The Pump. I think, you know, as a kid, I've. I've always wanted the Pump just to. It's just playful, you know, it was just like a playful shoes. And I'm also a Reebok ambassador, so when, you know. Exactly. Both world came together, I heard about it and I thought it was absolutely fascinating. I had no idea how they would come up with, you know, mechanism that will allow you to pump the watch, to actually, you know, charge it and then. No, I think it looks. It looks splendid, honestly. And yeah, it's a great piece. Very limited, but yeah, it's absolutely. It's very cool.
- [48:00]
B
I think that's one of the beauties of Moser is when they do a collaboration, it's not just stick some names on the dial. It is actually a pump mechanism that does something functional. Yeah. Fantastic watch. Thank you very much for your time. I know you've got lots of people, as Ricky says, Vineface, attention. Thanks very much again.
- [48:14]
C
Thank you. Thank you, guys.
- [48:15]
B
As we come to end of this episode, let's talk about what's going to be coming up next. We're going to have a few regulars of the show. Pietro and Barbara are both going to be coming on and giving their opinions. Some of the brands that they got to see at Watches and Wonders and all of the associated shows that we didn't have the time to visit or maybe we just couldn't get it fitted in. So they'll be giving you their opinion. Pietro, of course, the king of everything independent watchmaking, talking about it. And Barbara, she got to see many of the brands at Watch and Wonders that maybe we didn't get to see. So let's get another alternative opinion from them then. In Glasgow in early May, we've got the Glasgow Watch show run by the Watch Collectors Club. Hamish putting that event on. We'll be there doing a live recording. So if you're going to be at that event, make sure you set some time aside to come and get involved as an audience member with that live recording.
- [49:02]
A
It may be worth your while, Dave. It may be worth your while.
- [49:05]
B
It might be worth your while. Well, let's see. Come along anyway. Get involved and see if it is indeed worth your. Your while. It Definitely is worth your while. Then a few days later we're down to London where we've got another live podcast recording, this time with the guys at Bucherer who have Bucharest Watch Week happening for the whole week. We will be there for a couple of days and we'll be doing an event live in their flagship store in London. More details about that will be in the show notes. If you're in the London area, make sure you get along to get involved with that. Lots of different things happening over the period of that Booker Award week.
- [49:38]
A
Details are scarce thin on the ground at the moment because they were waiting for Watches and Wonders to happen to find out which watches were going to be released and which watches and brands they could incorporate into this. They're busy behind the scenes working out all the logistics and all the information, but we will be there on the first day, as Dave mentioned, recording a live podcast. And this is something we've done a few times now. We're getting into a groove. We kind of know what we're doing. We're not going to make an arse of it. So thankfully, and as I mentioned in the prior episode, we caught up with the team from Booker, we were over at Watches and Wonders and had lunch with them. It's phenomenal to get legit FaceTime to sit down, to do that human to human thing instead of zoom calls and team meetings and all the rest of it. And we are going to be live and direct from London from capital city down in England Shire. But we have come to the end of this episode. We tried to cram in as much as we possibly could over the last three episodes. There are probably some stragglers we've missed. If there are ones that perhaps we have forgotten and you want us to delve deeper into it, drop us an email infocottishwatches.co.uk and we've got a little collection of amassed emails over the past few weeks. So definitely do get in touch and we will rattle through them in a subsequent episode. And that's pretty much it. So Dave, what should we tell people to do?
- [50:49]
B
They should be checking out the back catalog. We've got a few interesting pieces in there. Harlan, someone who's been an old friend and involved with the podcast from the early days, he's on talking all about, well, what he's been up to. We've also got a show with and
- [51:02]
A
getting us of lots.
- [51:03]
B
Yes, indeed. He found us a nice little quiet corner that was one of the off the beaten track areas that you could eat at Watches and Wonder. So thank you for that, Harlan. We also have had Tahimish, the organiser of the Glasgow Watch show and talking all about it, previewing the show. Check out that episode and of course all of our coverage of the other big event.
- [51:20]
A
All of our coverage. Is he related to all of our content from last week?
- [51:24]
B
He is, absolutely. He's definitely involved. Also Barbara, you'll be hearing from her in the near future. But she also had a episode a mere few weeks back far and sweat talking all about their interesting, very obtainable watches and many, many more shows in the many hundreds that we have. Not far away from getting towards 1000 in the coming months.
- [51:44]
A
We've also got Oliver, not all of our content or Oliver coverage. We've got Oliver Epstein from Chronoswiss. He was on telling us about the history of the brand, how he took it over and how he's taken it to the lofty heights of where it is just now. Got to see them. We could go there. Great content. In a prior episode we also had Xavier from Czupec doing his annual Scottish watches Visit. Not just 5 or 10 minutes full episode, talking about the last year, the revitalization of the brand, a decade of watchmaking at the highest pinnacle points. Other two episodes that you should check out along with our prior content from Watches Wonders because we do it a little bit differently. That's what people tell us looking through the comments in the last few YouTube videos. The fact that we walk around, we look at things and we report on it in a very down to earth manner. It's the way we've always done things. We're not suited and booted. We're not trying to be Hodinkee, we're not trying to be. The guys at Fratello, they do a fantastic job jobs. But we are slightly deranged. I think that's the right word, deranged Scotsman. So yeah, we do it a little bit differently but that is us at the end of an episode. Thank you for listening and we'll catch you again soon.
- [52:45]
B
Take care,
- [53:00]
A
Sam.