Jaeger-LeCoultre Vintage Gold

My First Grail Watch: Christian Bedat Of Bedat & Co. And RED8
Welcome back to an original watches-dealer feature, "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 Christian Bedat, founder of RED8, who quite literally grew up in the industry, and wraps things up with a great bit of life advice.watches-dealer (ABTW): Who are you, and what is your relationship to the watch industry?Christian Bedat: I was born in the industry - I'm the son of the late Simone Bedat, who founded Raymond Weil and then helped me manage Bedat & Co. I grew up in the industry and spent my youth in factories and the worldwide market. The passion grew slowly to become part of my personality. I can now say that, at the age of 50, I have over 40 years of experience.ABTW: When did your fascination with watches start?Christian Bedat: Again, at young ages, spending time around watch people from all fields. I attended my first Basel fair as a child at the age of 7,

Rolex Cellini Danaos
So, I am looking at purchasing a pre-owned Cellini Danaos 4243/9 (38mm XL model). Been actually thinking about it on and off for 2-3 years. Either one of the WG or WG/RG models. And I really like the "bulls-eye" dial because it's sporty as well as dressy. I tried on a 4243/9 recently. It was WG with RG bezel, black dial with stick makers. 38mm is a really nice size for a dress watch and it would make a nice casual watch as well. I wear a shirt and tie everyday to work, so the Danaos would get plenty of wrist time. Why is the resale value so horrible on these things? I would never buy one BNIB even with a good discount because I would take a bath if I decided to sell. MSRP is $8,850. Ouch! I have been seeing nice pre-owned examples for mid $4,000 range. I probably wouldn't take too much of a hit on resale if I paid in that price range. There are plenty of all gold dress watches out there that represent a better value, but I can't seem to get this one out of my head.

Pulled the Trigger
Well, after some deliberating I decided to pull the trigger on a Grande Vitesse and I couldn't be happier with the decision I love the overall feel of this watch and like that the choclate covered dial gives it a little uniqueness. The best part of all was that my plan was to purchase this watch now and give it to my wife so she could hold on to it and give it to me on a later date (birthday, anniversary, or something like that). Instead, my wonderfully understanding, patient and amazing wife, who actually supports this crazy hobby of mine, told me to wear it now and that perhaps there would be another watch in my near future! Gotta love herSo, without further ado...

Horology 101 - self winding watches
The first self winding watches appeared in the late 1700's. Abraham Louis Perrelet is attributed with inventing the forerunners to modern automatic watches when he developed the first eccentric oscillating weight mechanism in 1770 (below on left) and the first full-rotor winding mechanism (below on right) several years later.EDIT: New information shows that the full-rotor mechanism is now being attributed to Hubert Sarton. Only a few hundred self winding pocket watches were produced before 1900 making them very rare. Breguet produced a line of automatics called "perpetuelles" starting around 1780, but discontinued them before 1800 because of their unreliable nature. Since they were subject to relatively little motion while in a pocket they could not be utilized to their potential. Wristwatches, on the other hand (pardon the pun), would employ these movements with great success. In 1923, John Harwood patented the first "bumper" wristwatch caliber. The oscillating weight swung nea

New Avenger Blackbird
This just arrived today, took a couple of shots for receipt inspection, but it goes back in the box for the wife to wrap until my birthday this weekend. So psyched to have this one. It's bigger than my old 45 mm Ti Helson, but fits better due to the lug shape and lower profile.