Unique Patek Pilot’s Watch Brings $1.7 Million
At Christie’s May 11 Geneva sale, a private Swiss museum paid SFr.1,891,000 ($1,734,862) for a unique, oversize aviator’s wristwatch made by Patek Philippe. The 55mm timepiece features splittable center seconds and an hour angle dial. This is the only watch of its kind known to exist, and until the sale, there was no mention of such a watch in the literature. The Patek Philippe archives confirm that this watch was completed in 1936, and that it was sold on September 28 of that year. The watch is thought to be a unique prototype made on special request. The case is chromed nickel. The dial is black lacquer. The scales and signature are carved into the plate and filled with off-white varnish. Luminous material was used to highlight the Arabic numerals and the outer 60 degrees scale, as well as the hands.The “hour” hand rotates once in 24 hours, indicating the degrees of arc against the center circle divided into 360. The “minute” hand rotates once ever

Watch Spotting: Vladimir Putin Wearing A Blancpain Grande Date Aqua Lung While Signing Treaty To Annex Crimea
If you've been watching the news, you'll know that earlier today Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Crimea a part of Russia in a ceremony at the Kremlin. After a speech in front of parliamentarians and various regional governors, Putin sat down with leaders from the peninsula and signed a draft treaty annexing Crimea. We couldn't help but notice that there was a watch prominently displayed on his wrist. After a little research we deduced that Putin was wearing the Blancpain Grande Date Aqua Lung, a limited edition from nearly a decade ago. 2 OF 2 The Grande Date Aqua Lung is a special edition watch from the Léman collection. Here Putin is wearing the stainless steel version, though there was also an edition in rose gold. The case is 40mm and relatively slim at 11.4mm, which is why it slides under a suit cuff so easily. The styling harkens back to vintage Blancpain dive watches, but with the addition of the panoramic date complication at 6 o'

Thinking about getting my first AP
I've been toying with the idea of getting my first AP. I went to the boutique in Manhattan to try a couple on. To my surprise....the 41mm Royal Oak actually fit my wrists better than the 39mm one. I have pretty small wrists at 6.25 but I automatically assume the 39mm RO would fit me right away but boy was I wrong. The case and bracelet was very stiff and it kind of hung on the side of my wrists. The bracelet did not hug my wrists the way that I like. When I tried on the 41mm RO it actually fit a lot better. The bracelet was not as stiff and it actually hugged my wrists a lot better. Does anyone have the same experience when comparing the two different sizes? I'm looking to get a simple blue dial 15202 or 15300. Which do you guys prefer?

Put it back to "original"?
One thing that I have definitely learned on this beloved forum is that what I once thought was a great thing... In fact is not!!!I am talking about getting my watches serviced by the Omega Service center.Case in point about my 2531.80 SMP that I bought new in 1998 and that has been serviced three times by Omega in that span... Including the last one where they changed the bezel that was a bit banged up (but really nothing bad) and especially all three hands (the orange tip of the second hand had faded, and the minute hand seemed a bit corroded around the tip, may be due to the luminova?). Anyhow, my point is that at time, the watch came almost as new, and I was psyched. Fast forward a couple of years, and I now realize that I should have kept it in as original state as possible in order to keep building the patina. May seem ridiculous but I am planning on passing this watch (and the other ones) to my son someday. Question for you: although this is not a rare or vintage watch by any str

Quick release strap bar?
Whats the deal with the quick release strap change system?I notice its on some models and not others, some older & some newer, it seems random?I was under the impression it was being phased in as the new normal, but noticed it was absent on some new models while still being used on othersIe 389 vs 372Anyone know more?