The new watch alert amongst you may wonder if Hublot’s pentagram-heavy Big Bang Sang Blue II King Gold is aimed at Wiccans. Ask Maxime Plescia-Büchi. That’s the Swiss tattooist who designed it – and no less than seven variations on the theme. The 45mm King Gold may not be the most legible watch, but neither are any of the others. How about that . . .
Watch news! Earlier this week, a 1969 “John Player Special” Rolex hammered for $1.5m. It’s nowhere near a world record Rolex. In October 2017, Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona fetched $17.75m. Still, it’s a pretty penny for a rare watch commemorating Rolex’s sponsorship of the John Player Special Formula 1 team. How rare? Our man @perezscope called out Hodinkee on their inaccurate account of the sale . . .
Jack Baruth clued me in to the Casio F-91W. “Most luxury watches can’t match an eleven-dollar Taliban graduation watch for accuracy,” Jack wrote. Sure enough, Wikipedia’s Casio F-91W entry has a subsection entitled Usage In Terrorism, cataloging the model’s popularity as an improvised explosive timer and ubiquity among terror detainees . . .
The Truth About Watches has been accused of harboring a doom-and-gloom view of the Swiss watch industry. That’s understandable. Who else has been running a coronavirus-related deathwatch since early March? That doesn’t mean we take pleasure in news of Swiss watch consolidation/bankruptcies. Just the opposite . . .
Continue reading “Swiss Watch Consolidation – Coronavirus Watch 31”
Jacob & Co.’s $7m Billionaire Ashoka Watch isn’t the jeweler’s first “death by diamonds” timepiece. Nor is it their most expensive. That honor belongs to the $18m Billionaire’s watch. Purchased by boxer Floyd Mayweather in June 2018, that diamond-happy horological happenstance held 239 sparklers. The Ashoka redo makes do with a mere 62 diamonds. Yes but . . .
Continue reading “Billionaire Ashoka – Jacob & Co.’s $7m Watch”