My First Grail Watch: Rudy Chavez Of Baume & Mercier
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 Rudy Chavez, president of the North American arm of Baume & Mercier. Read on to learn what model from the B&M catalog eludes him even to this day.watches-dealer (ABTW): Who are you, and what is your relationship to the watch industry?Rudy Chavez: My name is Rudy Chavez and I am the President of Baume & Mercier, North America.ABTW: When did your fascination with watches start?Rudy Chavez: I had just started college and was working part-time in a jewelry store in New Jersey. It was there that I learned the jewelry and watch business, and over time, developed a strong affinity to timepieces. The best part of the job was being able to share in the special moments of our clients, and to assist them in selecting the perfect timepiece for themselves or their loved one.A

A New Edition Of Salomons' Breguet (1747-1823) Book Now For Sale, Benefitting The HODINKEE Fund
Abraham-Louis Breguet was an illustrious watchmaker responsible for a plethora of inventions, including the tourbillon, equation of time, the first wristwatch, the first reliable automatic watches (perpetuelles), and the first gong spring for repeaters. It is hard to imagine what the horological world would look like today without Breguet’s contributions. Sir David Salomons was one of Breguet's greatest collectors and historians, and his 1921 book Breguet is considered one of the finest texts on the watchmaker's life and works. Only 1,000 copies were produced almost a century ago, and few have survived. The book has since been out of print and unavailable to the public. Today that changes. “To carry a fine Breguet watch is to feel that you have the brains of a genius in your pocket.”Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons 1 OF 11 Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons, 2nd Baronet, was a scientific author, barrister, and a prolific coll

ROO 44mm novelty or New 42mm?
Pics and feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to decide between the two models above in rose gold. What would you go with and why?

Rubberclad Bezel-Rubber replacement
So I'm sure this has been asked before but my search using the search-function has found me no results in the 20 minutes I back tracked so I will pose this question to the good people here on the AP subsection.Have any of you had the rubber on any of your rubberclads replaced? I've e-mailed AP service here in Japan and in the US and they both say the entire bezel (with metal), must be replaced.I could have sworn that wasn't the case...

Is the Explorer 214270 Mk1 currently the best bang for your buck Rolex?
It looks like an mk1 with the WG non lumed 3-6-9 is going for around $4500 - 5200 asking price on the forums. That seems like a great deal to me for probably the most versatile modern Rolex that could easily fill a 1 watch collection.I personally prefer the WG 3-6-9 on the mk1. I find the lumed 3-6-9 on the mk2 makes the watch look more generic and subdued. And I find the short hands criticism almost trivial. Are there better deals to be had on a modern rolex?