Cartier Santos Dumont SM

My First Grail Watch: Peter Roberts
Welcome back to an original watches-dealer interview series, "My First Grail Watch." In this series, we ask prominent people in the watch industry about the first timepiece that they lusted after. Today, we're speaking with Peter Roberts, who is, well, is hard to pin down in a single sentence, in terms of his relation to the watch industry. He's been in it for four and a half decades, going through many brands in a many capacities. He's also taught horology (teaching some other names well-known to us), writes on watches, and recently created a new version of a watch he first built back in 1970. Since I couldn't pin down his relationship cleanly, let's let the man himself tell us.watches-dealer (ABTW): Who are you and what is your relationship to the watch industry?Peter Roberts (PR): I have been in the industry for 45 years. I have worked for many watch companies over the years including Rolex in Geneva and as Technical Director and Director of Watchmaking for two brands. I taught Horo

The Chronoris 1970 - is it new or old?
Watch forums everywhere exploded earlier this month when it was announced that Oris was releasing a British Racing Green version of its instantly recognizable Chronoris. Not only would the new model feature great colors, it als had a 10 minute countdown, was oversized, and came in a box complete with a pair of vintage racing gloves. Incidentally, it was also limited to 1,970 pieces. Instantly galvanized, I rushed to my local Oris AD to ask about ordering this "new" model. There I was shown the model in a catalogue over a YEAR old!? To add insult to injury, I've found the watch for 2800 euros in the UK, and it's all over Japan for 238,000 yen. Both will set me back right at $3,000. Perfect! But my dealer informed me that the US MSRP was $4,625!!!! Not only tha, but because it was a limited edition, there was no flexibility in price. so what gives? How is this brand new model in a catalogue from LAST YEAR? And why is the price so high?

How to go off the deep end.
...or in classic Rocky & Bullwinkle alternate title fashion: My best justification yet for breaking the vintage watch bank. I thought I was going to grab a stellar new model from JLC that some horrible enabler who's screen name starts with "Scott" and ends with "D" showed me a picture of a last week:What a great looking watch! A few of us checked it out, and I was really thinking of putting a deposit on it since it's scheduled to be released in the summer. Even went to an AD to inquire about a pre-order. It looked like a winner at 39 mm and an ultra-thin model with a moonphase. It was really making me drool. ..then this popped up early one morning shortly after I fell in lust with the JLC:As a vintage ultra-thin collector, this is the one for me. It's a caliber 2120, used by AP, VC, and PP in their ultra thins since the mid 60's. Even better that it's in white gold since yellow gold dominated the period. There's already plenty of yg watches in my box. It's also only 4.5 m

Calatrava v. Chevron ('Henri Stern') deployant clasp
Having managed to satisfy myself with the help of responses to another of my threads, that the 5140 that I have just acquired did not have a rogue clasp (it had no Calatrava rose and turns out to be a since-discontinued 'chevron' or 'Henri stern' clasp), I have followed up on TRF and a few other forums as to the differences. Whilst there is plainly an identified issue with the safety of the chevron clasp, there is a sizeable body of opinion that strongly prefers it to the more traditional Calatrava clasp, for a whole variety of reasons. Not only that, but there are those that actually mourn its passing and regret that it is now very hard to find the chevron clasp.As this is my 'entry level' first PP, I have nothing to compare the chevron clasp with. Before asking PP whether they will give me a free swap (this seems to be available from what I have read), I thought I would sound out people's opinions on whether this would be an unwise move; not least as I guess that it is very much a

On your birthday
There's nothing better than spending the night in with the family a Patek on the wrist and a wee dram Merry Christmas and happy new year to everyone