What began with brands like Invicta or T.W. Steel copying the designs of Rolex professional watches, U-Boat, and some other brands alike, has now turned into a situation that is totally out of control and not regulated at all. Furthermore, there are now hundreds of these ‘knockoff’ brands that keep crossing the fine lines of intellectual property infringement and have become plain ‘copycats’ profiting from iconic designs of major luxury watch brands. Do I consider this wrong and infuriating? Of course, I do. To say the least.
Posts filed under From the Editor
From the Editor: Watch Concierge Service by WCL. We'll Help you Find the Watch of Your Dreams.
If you have been looking for a specific timepiece that you just can’t find, no worries. Here at WCL, we are launching a new Watch Concierge Service where we can help you source it. We have a wide network of private collectors, authorized dealers, resellers, secondary market dealers, and close friends we usually work with.
From the Editor: A Disassembled Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore 'Panda'. A Feast for the Eyes of AP Fans.
Mexico City is one of the watch capitals of the world. Regardless of the crime wave that has hit the country over the last 20 years, hardcore watch collectors trade pieces and buy/sell watches on a regular basis. More than eight years ago on one of my visits to Mexico City, I decided to call one of my favorite preowned watch dealers in the city and pay him a visit. I still remember like it was yesterday, when I purchased from him my very first Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo A-Series back in 1998.
From the Editor: My Honest Thoughts on the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept 'Black Panther' Flying Tourbillon
Never in my wildest dreams, I would’ve imagined I’d be writing something like this. As you all know, I’ve been a fan of Audemars Piguet since 1998 when I purchased my first Royal Oak Jumbo ref. 5402 A-series and it is no secret that AP is one of my three favorite watch brands.
From the Editor: AP Royal Oak Extra-Thin 'Jumbo' 15202ST Pricing Skyrockets as the King is Dead, Long Live the King!
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Extra-Thin ‘Jumbo’ reference 15202ST.OO.1240ST.01 released in 2012 —to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Royal Oak— is as close as it gets to owning the original Royal Oak Jumbo ref. 5402ST from 1972.
From the Editor: The Day I Had to Shoot a Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 with an iPhone 11
As the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WCL, I have countless stories of challenging watch photoshoots or photoshoots going wrong. What could be my worst nightmare as a watch photographer? That my lens would break inadvertently or that I would drop my camera right before the shoot? Well, neither of them. The worst and most unexpected thing to happen was to forget my camera’s memory cards 1,100 miles away right before meeting with Stephen Forsey in Mexico City.
From the Editor: The Patek Philippe Nautilus 5990/1A is now a Highly Coveted Six-Figure Watch. How Much Higher will it Get?
The Patek Philippe Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph ref. 5990/1A was released back in 2014 and since then it’s been one of my favorite Nautilus references. It brings the best in design and functionality by combining a Travel Time function that indicates the time in two different time zones with a 60-minute chronograph and a date indicator. With a retail price right under $60K at $59,140 USD, this is another one of those Pateks that has gone out of control in the secondary market.
From the Editor: Is the 'Sleeper' Patek Philippe 5960/1A the Next Big Thing?
The Patek Philippe reference 5960 was first released in 2006 in platinum and it instantly won acclaim as it was the brand’s first automatic in-house chronograph. Then in 2014, Patek released the 5960/1A in stainless steel with a silvered dial and everyone had mixed opinions about it —read our hands-on review here—, I personally felt it was a very well-balanced timepiece and a lot of watch for the money to be quite frank.
From the Editor: Initial Thoughts on the new Zenith Chronomaster Sport. Better than the Rolex Daytona?
Yesterday afternoon Zenith unveiled the new Chronomaster Sport ‘breaking the internet’ of watches. While I’ve never dared to give my opinion on a watch before seeing it in the metal, I think this is one of those instances where I feel I can and I have to. Equipped with an improved El Primero calibre and a black ceramic bezel, watch collectors around the globe immediately made the expected comparisons against the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. Capable of measurements with an accuracy of 1/10th of a second, the new Zenith Chronomaster Sport marks the rebirth of a legend.
From the Editor: Watch Collecting Lifestyle Photography Now Available for Purchase at the Ferrari Art Gallery
I am happy to announce that some of our photographic works are now available for purchase at the Ferrari Art Gallery in Dallas, Texas. Back in 2018, I stumbled upon the Ferrari Gallery in the Dallas Design District and I was blown away by what I had just discovered. Here’s the article we published about the gallery and the works of James Ferrari that includes incredible sculptures that are created out of salvage Ferrari parts from modern Ferraris. The Ferrari Gallery is located in Dallas’ Design District and is led by husband and wife James and Debra Ferrari —both renowned artists.
From the Editor: Twelve Blue Watches to Wrap Up the Year 2020
Without a doubt, the year 2020 has been a rough year. It’s been a year of changes with a global pandemic in full and a year where we’ve learned to live differently. As we wrap up a very intense year, how about we focus on some incredible blue watches for those experiencing the blues during this holiday season or just because here at WCL we are absolute lovers of everything blue.
From the holy trinity of watchmaking to the independent brands, these are timepieces that are hard not to think of as we start making our wish list for the year to come. Let’s welcome the new year with a bang and with these gorgeous watches that have taken our breath away at least once.
Health, fortune and happiness to all of you that are avid readers of WCL. Without you, we wouldn’t be here today.
From the Editor: AP Royal Oaks Selling in Excess of $38K USD, the Watch Market has Gone Crazy
Two weeks ago I wrote an article on the Rolex Submariner Hulk reaching an all-time high in the secondary market. Today, I am going to be talking about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ref. 15500ST reaching another all-time high. While the global pandemic follows its course and mortgage interest rates hit an all-time low under 3%, all I can think of is the secondary watch market and how it’s gone totally crazy. Every week I check the for sale listings across different watch fora and the websites of some of the most important watch dealers in the world, to get a sense of what the watch market looks like
From the Editor: Rolex Submariner Hulk ref. 116610LV Gets Discontinued, Secondary Market Skyrockets
The Rolex Submariner Date ref. 116610LV a.k.a 'The Hulk' was one of those watches that in 2010 made me gravitate back into the brand. Fitted with a 40 mm stainless steel case and a striking green dial and green cerachrom bezel, the ‘The Hulk' is one of those special Rolexes that I will miss dearly and will forever regret not buying when the opportunity was there. Today, after the new 41 mm Rolex Submariners have been presented and the Rolex Submariner Date ref. 116610LV a.k.a 'The Hulk' has been officially discontinued, the secondary market is going crazier than ever.
From the Editor: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , His Watch and His Legacy. Let's Keep Fighting for His Dream.
I’ll start this feature by first saying that ‘Black Lives Matter’ and I wouldn’t be talking about this watch right now, had it not belonged to the man that did so much for the American Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his incredible speech “I Have a Dream” almost 57 years ago on August 28th, 1963. On that day, he was probably wearing either this Timex watch —exhibited at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport— or the Rolex Datejust that we’ve seen in many of his pictures.
From the Editor: The Holy Trinity of Watchmaking or What I Call the Caviar of Watches
Back in the 1990s, almost five years after I became the serious watch collector that I am today, I first heard the term ‘The Holy Trinity of Watchmaking’. This term has been used for decades in order to refer to the three most important luxury watch brands in the world. But what sets the brands conforming the holy trinity of watchmaking apart from other brands? Well, they all three hold unparalleled prestige, uninterrupted history, exclusivity, and serious accolades in the horological world.
From the Editor: Swiss Watch Exports Strongly Impacted by COVID-19. The U.S. and China are Still Holding Up.
With more than 30,000 cases in Switzerland and 4.3 million cases worldwide, the impact of COVID-19 has hit the Swiss Watch Industry really hard. Swiss watch exports fell sharply in March, by -21.9% equivalent to CHF 1.4 billion Swiss Francs. With exports expecting to deteriorate even more in the month of April —figures to be published at the end of this month—, the steep decline in exports comes mostly from certain countries in Asia like Hong Kong —one of the most important watch markets in the world—, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, and throughout the European Union from countries like the U.K., Germany, France, and Italy which have seen a very steep decline.
From the Editor: My First and Last Day at Baselworld. The Demise of the World's Largest Watch and Jewelry Fair.
I still remember my first day at Baselworld like it was yesterday. The first time I attended the fair was back in 2013 just weeks after Watch Collecting Lifestyle was launched. Attending Baselworld had been one of my lifelong dreams as a watch collector. At the end of 2012, my spouse gifted me a trip to attend Baselworld in 2013 as a birthday present. Little did I know at the time, that this would give birth to what is today my full-time job. After my spouse planned the whole trip without sparing anything —premium tickets on KLM and a long stay at the Park Hyatt Zürich—, I decided to take advantage of the trip and put my marketing and media expertise to work and that’s how WCL was born.
From the Editor: What Makes the AP Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar the Perfect Daily Wearer?
Perpetual calendars come in all forms, shapes, metals and prices. However, few brands stand out from the rest as far as their perpetual calendars in terms of history, reliability and prestige. When you are looking for a perpetual calendar the first brand names that pop up would be Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin as these make the ‘holy trinity of watchmaking’. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual —Quantième Perpétuel— ref. 26574 was released at the end of 2015 and since then, it holds ‘watch grail status’.
From the Editor: Almost a Year After its Release, the new Rolex GMT Master II 'Pepsi' is Still Selling Way Above Retail. Will this Bubble Finally Burst after Baselworld 2019?
It’s been almost a year since the release of the Rolex GMT Master II ‘Pepsi’ ref. 126710BLRO in stainless steel and we can’t wait any longer to see what Rolex will be unveiling at the end of the month during Baselworld 2019 from where we will be reporting live with all the novelties. Even though we are excited about all the Rolex novelties coming out this year, the most we are intrigued about is not necessarily that. While it is very likely that Rolex will release a new Milgauss or maybe a new GMT Master II ‘Coke’ and perhaps downsize the Explorer II to 40mm, what we can’t stop thinking about is how much longer the price bubble will hold before it bursts.
From the Editor: Celebrating Watch Collecting Lifestyle 5.1. The Anniversary Issue is Out.
Welcome to our anniversary issue 5.1! By now, you must be wondering what the 5.1 on the cover of the magazine means. Well, it’s been five years since I launched Watch Collecting Lifestyle as a website and one year since the first issue of this print magazine came out during the Fall of 2017. For this fifth issue, I’ve decided to explore a new approach in terms of content and layout to make this celebratory issue a real visual treat. One advertisement. No text. Pure eye candy. Ultimately, I hope you treasure every image in it and keep this copy of the magazine forever.
