The London Lounge

Buying vintage is difficult especially for a non-expert as increasingly many vintages watches have been altered or created from a mish mash of parts to produce a specimen in the best condition. This is most prevalent for the very popular vintage pieces like Rolex, Panerai or some military issue watc...

Some other suggestions of the top of my head: the IWC Portofino, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso or Master series and Glashuette Original (the Senator Navigator and possibly others). These three brands offer a good quality to price ratio. Another brand you can look at is Sinn, which specialises in sports/m...

If you like a larger watch you can look at the ref. 5196, essentially an extra-large version of the classic ref. 96 Calatrava which many regard as the quintessential Patek simple dress watch. As some other posters have suggested, you can look at Breguet, Vacheron Constantin and Lange for watches of ...

Thanks for the tour. Would love to visit the factory myself one day.

- SJX

I believe that's the blue diver Peter is referring to, known as the Offshore 'Scuba'. The one pictured is a special edition that is only available at AP boutiques (there is one in NYC at E 57th St between Park and Madison).

- SJX

Indeed AP is not in Geneva, but the widely accepted, but unofficial, "big three" in horology are Patek, Vacheron and AP; mainly due to their history and focus on high horology. Vacheron Constantin came closest to being demoted in the 1980s, while under the ownership of the Saudi oil minister, when t...

Audemars Piguet, although I reckon today's Breguet has a good claim to be one of the three.

- SJX

Officially, Patek no longer does custom watches from clients. But I do believe they still make special pieces for important individuals (mostly royalty from the Mid-East and Asia) as well as large retailers like Wempe and Tiffany. Piaget will make watches to a clients specification, but usually jewe...

James Dowling is one of the foremost Rolex experts/dealers in the English language world, and he maintains a site at http://www.ukwatches.com/. His prices tend to be higher than anyone else's, but the condition of what he offers is always top notch; furthemore the rarity of his watches are more ofte...

You can try: Superior Watch: http://www.superiorwatch.com/ RGM: http://www.rgmwatches.com/repair.html Swiss Watchland: http://www.swisswatchland.com/ I have not had experience with any of them but I have heard good things about all three. Jack Freedman of Superior Watch is well respected in internet...

I have a bag from John Chapman which I am very pleased with, the quality and workmanship is top notch. The only drawback of the bag is its weight, about 1.2kg empty, which I attribute to the brass fittings and canvas coated rubber material. They do bespoke bags now, you can contact them through thei...

Cartier is generally more about its iconic designs than anything else. The Santos, Tank, Panther et al, are classical yet unique; all have stood the test of time and show no signs of aging. While the quality of the watches is decent, on par with Breitling and others in the price range, they are not ...

I have something very similar, except in canvas and leather, with a single middle pocket. It is a very convenient design although my particular bag is very heavy at 2 kg empty. Mine has a heavy brass zip on the main pocket, and that can scratch things like your laptop as it's being pulled out, or ev...

I believe that is incorrect. I met Philippe earlier this year when he was in Singapore, and he confirmed all 200 Simplicities have been sold, although not all have been completed. AFAIK, Philippe has been sold out since 2004 if I'm not mistaken. Maybe Peter can confirm this.

Mr Dufour's watches are no longer available from him, production of the Simplicity is capped at 200 (?), and all have been sold. His other models, the Duality and Sonnerie have long been sold out. It has been rumoured Mr Dufour has a new project lined up though. Perhaps Peter can comment, he's the e...