REVOLUTION WATCH Issue 34

The issue of Revolution you are holding in your hands is an important one for me. First, it demonstrates our determination to continue to publish the print edition of our magazine even as we’ve significantly grown our content creation online, on social media and, yes, using the Zoom platform, which I’m pretty sure now has all of our conversations stored forever on their cloud to be sold to foreign governments for data mining. I joke, of course. Why was this so important? Because my time during lockdown, self-isolation, quarantine, shelter at home or whatever you want to call it, has reaffirmed one thing to me. Reading something on paper is a damnably welcome reprieve from the constant daily assault of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Instagram and TikTok. And, please, for all…

There are some watches that will be forever linked with cars and famous characters on the small and big screens. The examples that come to mind are under-the-radar and not famous links, but are well known to the army of watch geeks towards whom this tome is generally aimed! If I say a Ferrari 308 GTS and Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum P.I. you immediately think of what? Correct — the “Pepsi” Rolex GMT-Master reference 16750. How about a Porsche 908 and Steve McQueen in Le Mans? Well done you — a blue-dial Heuer Monaco! OK, now time for a difficult one. A white Ferrari Testarossa and Don Johnson as James “Sonny” Crockett in Miami Vice? Anyone…anyone? Good answer — an Ebel 1911 Sport Classic Chronograph! The 1980s series Miami Vice…

Speedmaster lore is so rich and so deep that it encompasses far more than the watches themselves. Of course, this is the case with any niche field of collecting, but when your watch of choice has been worn to the Moon, the details tend to get drilled a little deeper. And so, surrounding the Omega Speedmaster you can find a whole host of Moonwatch adjacent paraphernalia — patches, pamphlets and all manner of straps, from Velcro to this humble strap. Originally called the Forstner Komfit strap, it is now more widely known as the JB Champion strap. The American bracelet company Jacoby Bender acquired Forstner in 1963, who originally manufactured the mesh-type bracelets under the name Komfit. Taken on their own, these lightweight mesh straps are nothing special. Middling quality and of…

OK, what’s the coolest, newest release of 2020? Hands down it is the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin Skeleton. And, because I’ve been limited to 800 words for this introductory article, I shall henceforth replace that exceedingly long name with the simple sobriquet, “Baby.” Why is Baby so cool? Well, she’s cool on many different levels. First, let’s talk about movement. Baby’s predecessor, the 222, was launched in 1977 to do battle in the integrated bracelet, sports chic arena, with Audemars Piguet’s 5402ST Royal Oak that kicked things off in 1972 and Patek Philippe’s Nautilus 3700/1A introduced in 1976 (understanding something about new-model lead time, it is clear the 222 was developed in parallel with the Nautilus). Like the other two watches, the 222 exuded a strong and appealing…

Piaget debuted its first extra-thin movement, the 9P, in 1957 and went on to hold the world record of the thinnest mechanical watch in 2014 with the launch of the Altiplano 900P that was just 3.65mm thick. And so, when Piaget gave us a glimpse of the prototype of the Altiplano Ultimate Concept in 2018, we were all intrigued. Breaking all sorts of records, the watch was a gossamer thinness of 2mm only, standing at the same height as the caliber 9, or about the same thickness of a 1-Euro coin. What began as an experiment in micro-engineering has now become a fully-fledged product. The new Altiplano Ultimate Concept features the same base construction as the 900P to achieve ultra-thinness. The miniaturisation process starts with removing the movement baseplate and machining…

The Royal Oak comes in various sizes, you can find the self-winding model offered in 37mm, 39mm and 41mm. That said, if one were hankering after the smaller sizes, like the 33mm, it may come as a slight disappointment as the 33mm model was powered by a quartz movement. But now, disappointment no more; Audemars Piguet has dropped a new small model in their most iconic lineup. The new model is in 34mm, just a hair larger than the previous 33mm, and features, for the first time, a mechanical self-winding movement. Audemars Piguet launched the new collection with little fanfare, but at our recent visit to AP House, we were given the opportunity to view and photograph the new piece. The 34mm Royal Oak comes in four versions: in steel with a…