Year in Review…
Most Popular Watches on the Perpetuelle.com Blog During 2010
(pageviews)
1. Omega Liquidmetal Seamaster Planet Ocean
3. Panerai PAM 339 Composite Marina Militare
5. Richard Mille RM027 Rafael Nadal Edition
Of course a watch that was introduced in January (SIHH) or March (Baselworld) would naturally have more opportunities to be viewed than a watch that was introduced in July (e.g. Panerai PAM 360), and so if I weight the pageviews on a “per day” basis the list is a bit different.
Most Popular Watches on the Perpetuelle.com Blog During 2010
(weighted pageviews)
1. Panerai PAM 386 Composite Luminor
2. Panerai PAM 360 “Paneristi” edition
3. Panerai PAM 339 Composite Marina Militare
4. Omega Liquidmetal Seamaster Planet Ocean
Now, the overall popularity of the blog grew steadily throughout the year, but I have not controlled for this….nor many other variables — so yes, this is a crude measure of popularity. However it is not meant to be a precise exercise in statistics, but rather a light-hearted look back at the timepieces that watch owners, collectors & enthusiasts were most interested in during 2010, at least as far as this blog is concerned.
And with that, I wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best in 2011! There will be lots of new watches coming soon in January, so stay tuned in!
I just wanted to wish a Merry Christmas to all the readers of the Perpetuelle.com Blog. I’ll be back next week to recap 2010, and then it’s onward and upward to 2011!
Kyle
by Kyle Stults on December 20, 2010
How sweet it is…
Free of its weathered crystal, the dial of this now infamous Rolex Submariner Ref 5510 says it all. Without doubt, this one is an absolute TROPHY!! Hodinkee’s Blake Buettner, whose excellent reporting first brought this watch to my attention (in the waning hours of the auction) has the follow-up story…nice work Blake!
Dial of the Infamous Rolex Submariner Ref 5510 Sold on eBay for $66,100
As an aside, my initial story can be seen here, and for what it’s worth, I stand by it. In the time I knew about this watch, and knowing what was publicly available at the time, there is no way in a million years I would have put a bid down on it. That said, my kudos to those who did have the edge (or the ‘cojones’…whichever it was) to go in big for this trophy watch, a beautiful vintage Rolex Submariner 5510.
All said and done, I am so happy to see this story turn out to be such a positive one!
by Kyle Stults on December 19, 2010
Big black PVD…
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I recently had the opportunity review a couple new watches from Victorinox (the “Swiss Army” brand) – the Air Boss Mach 8 Special Edition and the Infantry Vintage Chrono. This is the second of the two reviews, the Infantry Vintage Chrono PVD. I was particularly excited to review this black PVD chrono after first writing about it back in August (click through if you would like to read more details). Hope you enjoy my review.
Victorinox Swiss Army Infantry Vintage Chrono PVD
images (courtesy Victorinox)
More at mechanical.victorinox.com.
In the next day or two I will post my “side by side” video comparison of the two watches.
by Kyle Stults on December 18, 2010
Up close and personal…
I recently had the opportunity review a couple new watches from Victorinox (the “Swiss Army” brand) – the Air Boss Mach 8 Special Edition and the Infantry Vintage Chrono. I was quite impressed with both watches and recommend them for an “entry-level” luxury/high-end mechanical watch. The movements in both watches is a Valjoux 7750, a very commonly used Swiss made movement with an excellent track record for reliability and accuracy (for the normal watch wearer). You can learn more at Victorinox Swiss Army’s good website for these new, higher-end watches at mechanical.victorinox.com.
Here is the first review. I will post the Infantry Vintage Chrono tomorrow, and then later in the week I have a “side-by-side” comparison of the two. I hope you enjoy these reviews. If you have any questions or if I overlooked any details you wonder about, just drop a comment and I will be glad to share more insights.
Victorinox Swiss Army Air Boss Mach 8 Special Edition Watch Review
photo:
SIHH near, but Baselworld wants to play, too…
Guess Blancpain couldn’t wait until 2011 to share with us its new Villeret Half-Time-Zone watch. Officially debuting at Baselworld 2011 (March 2011), this watch is a beauty, and I must admit a nice surprise given some of the awful and tacky pieces I have seen from Blancpain in recent years (L-evolution series, anyone?). To be fair, the Fifty Fathoms collection is still going strong and regular readers here may also recall Blancpain’s much praised and equally beautiful Villeret Half-Hunter Moonphase which debuted at Baselworld 2010 (March 2010). This new watch will undoubtedly be a nice complement to it and the Villeret collection (and of course share many of the same technical and design elements of).
Blancpain Villeret Half Time Zone Watch
40mm rose gold case
So what exactly does this “half time zone” watch do? Well, the wearer can adjust the second time zone in half-hour increments — something that will come in quite handy for those who might find themselves in India or other half-hour time zone differences.
and
News from Dubai…
This new Tambour diver from Louis Vuitton will hit Louis Vuitton boutiques in January 2011. A refresh of a model first introduced in 2005, the watch comes in a few combinations: steel case/black dial (men’s 44mm and women’s 39.5mm sizes), steel case/blue dial, and a limited edition pink gold case/blue dial/red bezel. The more discerning eye may appreciate the skeletonized hour and minutes hands, as well as the “dive flag” motif for the small seconds subdial at the 6 o’clock position. There is also a unidirection bezel which is set with “LOUIS VUITTON” letters in rubber to make for easier grasping of the bezel — if you look closely you can see this in the photo below.
Louis Vuitton Tambour Diving II
44mm/39.5mm steel or red gold case, unidirection rotating bezel, “L O U I S V U I T T O N” rubber bezel markers, 300m water resistance (100m for the 39.5mm case), rubber strap
The full lineup:
Looks nice, but…
…I can’t get past how pathetic it is for IWC to label these “limited edition” pieces as “One out of 50″ rather than individually numbering them (1/50, 2/50…50/50). IWC PLEASE stop being lazy (or tell me why you are not, in fact, being lazy) and diminishing the value of your “limited edition” watches by numbering them as “One Out of 100″, or “One out of 50″ (Boutique only Smurf Blue Pilot Watch), or “One of 250″ (Yellow Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar)….at this level, I think collectors expect and deserve individually numbered pieces. This “One of XXX” business is soooo not cool.
IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar Limited Edition 2010
42.3mm rose gold case, perpetual calendar, perpetual moonphase, IWC Caliber 51613 movement (automatic),
Recommended Reading…Must Read….
I recently stumbled upon an absolutely splendid article about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo that I wanted to share with you all. Penned (keyed?) by friend of the house Ben Clymer — who many of you may recognize as the Executive Editor of Hodinkee – the article delves into the Royal Oak’s iconic history and why the watch is so beloved by collectors. In addition to the historical backstory, Clymer also drops some cold, hard facts down on a popular myth about the Royal Oak Ref 5420ST A-series, which I found interesting and enlightening. I think this article is a must read for any serious watch fan, and I don’t say this lightly, particularly as I am linking back to Timezone.com where the article is posted (I am not a fan of the site due its highly censored and rigidly moderated forums (no linking to other watch-related sites/blogs, etc.) and its outdated modus operandi in general) . Please click here to enjoy Clymer’s article:
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Jumbo” – Past, Present, and Future
by Benjamin Clymer, Executive Editor, HODNKEE
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak A-Series (1972)
The Third 01 Arrives…
The new Breitling Transocean 01 joins the “Caliber 01″ club. The Chronomat 01 and The Navitimer 01 came before it. These three major Breitling product lines now have their own model featuring Breitling’s in-house Caliber 01 (the “B01″ movement). Like the Caliber 01 models before it, the new Breitling Transocean 01 production models are preceded by snazzy looking limited edition pieces (available in several variations) to get things started with a bang. The rose gold edition (200 pieces limited) looks sooo sharp! The Stainless steel variant will retail for $6,700. Rose gold will be a much higher, but not sure how much.
Breitling Transocean Caliber 01 Limited Edition
43mm case, sapphire crystal display back
A couple of the stainless steel variations (2,000 piece limited edition)
I guess the Montbrillant 01 is next (wait a minute—did I miss this one already???).
