Discussion
No apologies for posting my grail again :
809 Breitling Cosmonaute from 1967.
THE watch I wanted and I've never come across anything else I wanted half as much.
It's not super-rare or super-expensive (although I felt it was expensive enough!) and doesn't feature a mega-complex movement made of angelhair and unobtainium, but it's, for me, the best watch ever made and mine was the nicest one I felt I could afford
M.
809 Breitling Cosmonaute from 1967.
THE watch I wanted and I've never come across anything else I wanted half as much.
It's not super-rare or super-expensive (although I felt it was expensive enough!) and doesn't feature a mega-complex movement made of angelhair and unobtainium, but it's, for me, the best watch ever made and mine was the nicest one I felt I could afford
M.
Edited by marcosgt on Monday 24th November 10:17
Things like 5513s, Deep Sea Chrono Cermets and Doublematics are all "do-able", and boxes that can be ticked if you concentrate a little time, but for me...'grails'...they have to be really out there. It's either a long chase, a test of endurance, the odyssey to actually find one, or it's about money.
Cash, they say, is King, but when you're in the boutique on 711 5th that only works for Floyd Jr. Nope, you need to push the Coutts Silk gently across the table, and it doesn't hurt. And if the funds you're putting to one side could easily be parked in an '07 Bentley GTC or a cheeky two-bed getaway in Perugia then it has to be some strong desire you're harbouring; its the twilight zone where rational thought and temptation constantly headlock each other...
Anyway. Mine.
Patek Philippe 'Nautilus' 5712
Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time
Breguet Classique Perpetual Calendar
Cash, they say, is King, but when you're in the boutique on 711 5th that only works for Floyd Jr. Nope, you need to push the Coutts Silk gently across the table, and it doesn't hurt. And if the funds you're putting to one side could easily be parked in an '07 Bentley GTC or a cheeky two-bed getaway in Perugia then it has to be some strong desire you're harbouring; its the twilight zone where rational thought and temptation constantly headlock each other...
Anyway. Mine.
Patek Philippe 'Nautilus' 5712
Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time
Breguet Classique Perpetual Calendar
tigerkoi said:
Things like 5513s, Deep Sea Chrono Cermets and Doublematics are all "do-able", and boxes that can be ticked if you concentrate a little time, but for me...'grails'...they have to be really out there. It's either a long chase, a test of endurance, the odyssey to actually find one, or it's about money.
Cash, they say, is King, but when you're in the boutique on 711 5th that only works for Floyd Jr. Nope, you need to push the Coutts Silk gently across the table, and it doesn't hurt. And if the funds you're putting to one side could easily be parked in an '07 Bentley GTC or a cheeky two-bed getaway in Perugia then it has to be some strong desire you're harbouring; its the twilight zone where rational thought and temptation constantly headlock each other...
Anyway. Mine.
Patek Philippe 'Nautilus' 5712
Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time
Breguet Classique Perpetual Calendar
The trouble with most of watches like those (I must admit, I don't get the Nautilus at all, it's a nice enough watch, for about £3k, 5 tops!) is that they're ownership grails for some, but really, would 99% of people wear one on a regular basis?Cash, they say, is King, but when you're in the boutique on 711 5th that only works for Floyd Jr. Nope, you need to push the Coutts Silk gently across the table, and it doesn't hurt. And if the funds you're putting to one side could easily be parked in an '07 Bentley GTC or a cheeky two-bed getaway in Perugia then it has to be some strong desire you're harbouring; its the twilight zone where rational thought and temptation constantly headlock each other...
Anyway. Mine.
Patek Philippe 'Nautilus' 5712
Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time
Breguet Classique Perpetual Calendar
The three you list seem to be ALL about money, not a chase or test of endurance (unless that's about saving an unfeasible amount of money for a watch without giving into the temptation to buy something else instead). A watch that's a challenge to find is, to me, a grail. One you can simply order at the AD if you're rich enough is not.
Finding a top notch early Speedmaster or Navitimer or a Comex-Sub isn't THAT difficult, but it's not as simple as picking up the phone and giving your Black Amex number to the AD.
I'm not one to deny that watches are mostly about jewellery, but I don't really see any appeal in a watch some complex, overwrought and hard to read, that it constantly gets passed over in favour of other watches, which are easy to read, don't get dings (or if they do, I don't worry) or I think about whether I'd wear them in the part of town I'm visiting today.
Perhaps it's a curve and where I am on the curve (and probably likely to stay) is so low relative to the top that I still think of a £5-10K watch as something for a lottery win (And a big one at that), but somehow I don't think I'd ever want something like the Breuget, the same as I know damn well that I'd never buy a Rolls Royce Phantom, no mater HOW rich I was.
I guess, it's really down to a perception of the purpose a watch serves. If the pleasure is in knowing you own something super complex and ornate and precious metal and you derive pleasure from getting it out and looking at it and then putting it back in the safe (or driving to your safety deposit bank and looking at it as I sometimes read of people doing), then who am I to question that, but then are you really buying a "watch" or a piece of art?
M
Edited by marcosgt on Tuesday 25th November 08:55
marcosgt said:
The three you list seem to be ALL about money, not a chase or test of endurance (unless that's about saving an unfeasible amount of money for a watch without giving into the temptation to buy something else instead). A watch that's a challenge to find is, to me, a grail. One you can simply order at the AD if you're rich enough is not.
Thing is, for some (me) the money is the 'chase or the test of endurance' as above. I have worked so, so hard (everything is relative of course - hard for me is perhaps not hard to others!) to get the watch I am wearing right now; it's taken months, almost a year of buying, selling and trading other watches, endless selling of my stuff on eBay, and a hell of a lot of going without the things I usually enjoy. It was bloody hard work fotting that in with all my other responsibilities. No it's not rare, but it's special to me because it took a LOT of work to get it. marcosgt said:
I'm not one to deny that watches are mostly about jewellery, but I don't really see any appeal in a watch some complex, overwrought and hard to read, that it constantly gets passed over in favour of other watches, which are easy to read, don't get dings (or if they do, I don't worry) or I think about whether I'd wear them in the part of town I'm visiting today.
I guess, it's really down to a perception of the purpose a watch serves. If the pleasure is in knowing you own something super complex and ornate and precious metal and you derive pleasure from getting it out and looking at it and then putting it back in the safe (or driving to your safety deposit bank and looking at it as I sometimes read of people doing), then who am I to question that, but then are you really buying a "watch" or a piece of art?
Oddly, the watch I found most complex and difficult to read was... my old 809 navitimer I guess, it's really down to a perception of the purpose a watch serves. If the pleasure is in knowing you own something super complex and ornate and precious metal and you derive pleasure from getting it out and looking at it and then putting it back in the safe (or driving to your safety deposit bank and looking at it as I sometimes read of people doing), then who am I to question that, but then are you really buying a "watch" or a piece of art?
I wear all my watches for everything, precious metal, complications or whatever. I'm not stupid as in I don't wear a perpetual calendar to the beach but I'm sure you don't wear your 809 there either. They aren't for looking at for me, they are for wearing and whatever I owned would always be worn for anything.My grails therefore would be:
JLC Reverso Triptique
JLC Gyrotourbillon
PP Sky Moon Tourbillon
I will never, ever be able to afford any of them; such is life.
Realistic grails are the Breguet PC above, and PCs from PP and L.U.Chopard.
A Vacheron Constantin 'TopWind':
I saw one of these several years ago when I started looking at watches and like the contrast of the simple guilloche dial against the quirk of the crown being at 12 o'clock instead of 3; and then the finishing of the stiletto hands against the soft numerals. At the time I had no idea how rarely they would come up, and haven't seen one (in time) since.
I saw one of these several years ago when I started looking at watches and like the contrast of the simple guilloche dial against the quirk of the crown being at 12 o'clock instead of 3; and then the finishing of the stiletto hands against the soft numerals. At the time I had no idea how rarely they would come up, and haven't seen one (in time) since.
tigerkoi said:
Things like 5513s, Deep Sea Chrono Cermets and Doublematics are all "do-able", and boxes that can be ticked if you concentrate a little time, but for me...'grails'...they have to be really out there. It's either a long chase, a test of endurance, the odyssey to actually find one, or it's about money.
Cash, they say, is King, but when you're in the boutique on 711 5th that only works for Floyd Jr. Nope, you need to push the Coutts Silk gently across the table, and it doesn't hurt. And if the funds you're putting to one side could easily be parked in an '07 Bentley GTC or a cheeky two-bed getaway in Perugia then it has to be some strong desire you're harbouring; its the twilight zone where rational thought and temptation constantly headlock each other...
Anyway. Mine.
Patek Philippe 'Nautilus' 5712
Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time
Breguet Classique Perpetual Calendar
nice selection.......the only problem with the world time, its not that easy to actually see the time if you have 55 year old eyes like me....just sold mine because I had to put my glasses on the read the bloody thingCash, they say, is King, but when you're in the boutique on 711 5th that only works for Floyd Jr. Nope, you need to push the Coutts Silk gently across the table, and it doesn't hurt. And if the funds you're putting to one side could easily be parked in an '07 Bentley GTC or a cheeky two-bed getaway in Perugia then it has to be some strong desire you're harbouring; its the twilight zone where rational thought and temptation constantly headlock each other...
Anyway. Mine.
Patek Philippe 'Nautilus' 5712
Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time
Breguet Classique Perpetual Calendar
[quote=RichB]I'm looking for a JLC Master Chronograph 'Boutique Edition' similar to the standard stainless steel version but with gold hands and markers for the time and blued hands for the chrono. But with only 150 made it will be a long search 
[/quote
Bought the SS version earlier this year, it broke nearly straight away (I posted about it at the time). The case is also not very resistant to scratches/dings. However it's a lovely watch which I enjoy wearing.
[/quoteBought the SS version earlier this year, it broke nearly straight away (I posted about it at the time). The case is also not very resistant to scratches/dings. However it's a lovely watch which I enjoy wearing.
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