Watches & Wonders 2025: Daily Episodes Live From Geneva | Day 1¶
Published on Wed, 2 Apr 2025 00:06:07 +0000
Day 1: Rolex, Patek, Lange, and more.
Synopsis¶
In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, recorded on Day 1 of Watches and Wonders 2025, hosts Ben Clymer and Rich Fordon discuss the major watch releases from the show. The dominant topic is the new Rolex Land Dweller, which Rich calls "the most important model in decades." The watch features Rolex's first in-house developed indirect impulse escapement with dual silicone balance wheels, an integrated bracelet, and a controversial honeycomb dial. While the team appreciates the technical innovation and 1970s-inspired design aesthetic, they debate whether the distinctive dial works with the overall package, with some suggesting the movement would have been better showcased in a more traditional Rolex case.
The conversation shifts to A. Lange & Söhne, with particular enthusiasm for multiple releases including a minute repeater perpetual calendar in honey gold, a honey gold Odysseus that especially captivates Ben, and a new 34mm watch with Lange's smallest in-house caliber ever. The hosts note how Lange discontinued all their small watches last year, making this new 34mm release particularly significant. The discussion also covers Patek Philippe's new 40mm Cubitus in rose gold with a brown dial, which the team sees as a more wearable follow-up to last year's controversial 45mm launch. They analyze whether this represents Patek walking back their bold statement or simply responding quickly to market demands. Other Patek highlights include the new Calatrava 6196 with an updated movement and salmon dial, which finally gives the collection a proper entry-level offering, and a rose gold split-seconds chronograph with a stunning two-tone brown and cream enamel dial. The episode concludes with praise for Rolex's new 1908 dress watch on an integrated bracelet, marking another significant design departure for the brand in the same year as the Land Dweller.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Rich Fordon | This week's episodes of Hodinki Radio are proudly sponsored by our partners at UBS. Stay tuned later in the episode for what we're planning this year in celebration of all things horology. And keep an eye out for the return of UBS House of Craft |
| Ben Clymer | . Alright, everybody, we are here at Watches and Wonders Day 1, 2025. In a secret corner of the Palexpo, we're never gonna reveal where we are because then all the fans will come up and ask broad graphs from Rich and Tan tan. Naturally so obviously the big news is Land Dweller, the Rolex Land Dweller. We have our man Rich Ford over here who wrote I think the seminal piece on it. I think the top of the news charts these days, um with with the Land Roller. So tell us about it Rich |
| Rich Fordon | . Yeah, so it's uh Rolex's brand new model. I called it the most important model in decades. Uh it was leaked, we saw it on Roger Federer's wrist. It features their first ever in-house developed escapement, which is an indirect impulse escapement. Uh the details are deep and you can go to the story for those, but the bare bones of it is that the movement features two silicone balance wheels, etc. etc. It features a integrated bracelet, which caused a bit of a stir in the honeycomb dial. Uh I love the thing. I'm so excited to see it, but uh what do you guys think? So it it's really like a little bit of like reference |
| Ben Clymer | 1530 oyster quartz beta 21 vibes or almost in in some ways. It's that type of 70s vibe and really royal oak-ish in in some ways. Not esque, but ish. That's right. Uh never ask. Never ask. Always ish. That's right. That's inside joke. Don't worry about it. Um what do you think, Lance? I don't I mean, okay, to be clear, I like the case, I like the bracelet, I like the vibe, I like Rolex being innovative, not sure about the dial. I'm a hundred percent there with But I haven't seen it in person so who knows. Right. But Rolex does that thing don't they with like modern novelty dials like a palm leaf or flower or whatever. So maybe this is just like the beginning. I don't know about that because I feel like normally when they do something like that, it's usually everything else is the numerals here are different, you know, the proportions are different, even the dial proportions of the bezels seem a little like off. So for me, I think when you throw so many elements in there, that's when it starts getting confusing. Palm frond was interesting because it's just a day just and then you put that in. This, I don't know. Like I honestly would have been I think it would have been cooler if you saw that escapement go into something completely normal. Yeah. You know, I think that would have that would have felt like a Rolex move from |
| Rich Fordon | like 10 years ago. Isn't Isn't the way we're feeling right now heavily influenced by seeing leaks and you see that dial, and it's leaked and rumored that it's a honeycomb dial, you're like, whoa, that's strange, the integrated bracelet. And then now when we're actually presented with the product and it's more about the movement, and all of that stuff's a little more secondary, it's hard to divorce from what we saw first, which is the leaks. Can I just say as somebody who isn't really mechan |
| Ben Clymer | ically minded, if it had been put in something that was already in the catalogue, I wouldn't be thinking twice about the movement. Well that that's the issue with Rolex. It's like ro Rolex often makes these like fairly significant you know technical innovations, but they put it in a day date, which like you see on your grandfather or somebody that looks like their grandfather like me. Like you know, it's just something that really you just don't pay attention to. They're they're always innovating. This time they chose to give it a whole new canvas and say, we're gonna put it in a whole new line. Which really also to you to your to your story, uh Rich, like is not a date just, but it's above it, not a day date, it's below it, it's a whole new thing in the middle, which is always interesting because that was almost always like big brother, little brother, father-son, whatever you want to call it. Now there's this new stepchild in in the middle, so to speak. It's kind of interesting the just on the design front, it,' it's as like yes callback to oyster quartz, but it is like a modern look. Yeah. And I dunno, that's an interesting move. It's thin. Yeah, it's thin. Open case back. Yeah. I mean it's it's really I mean I've I've said this elsewhere recently but like Rolex is doing a lot of stuff that is really un Rolex. This is for sure one of them. I mean to leak the watch purposefully like that, like Rolex never even two years ago they never would have done that. Is it as un Rolex as the emoji watch. That was my line in the sand. Oh, that's a great that was a turning point in the on Rolexness of Rolex. Um like sincerely though. Yeah. Um really an amazing thing. Obviously, the number one story on our side, the number one kind of thing people are talking about. Yeah. What else are you guys psyched by? I mean I'm always gonna say Langa. I think you like langa? Yeah, no, you know, I I tend to appreciate it from afar, you know. No, no, I I I like I always like what they're doing, especially when they're they kind of come out with solid releases that you know I think they're mind blowing in a way that's not very show-offish. Um show-offish. Show off ish you know? Not show-off esque. Yeah. That's that's the important thing. Show offish. Yeah yeah show-offish. Yeah. Um we're we're writers here, right? Yeah. Some of us. Some of us at least. We're trying. No, but I think you know Longa continues to just iterate in a way that I think only they tend to do. Yeah. You know, obviously the headliner is going to be the minute repeater perpetual, which is, I mean, impressive watchmaking, right? I know in your piece you kind of compare it to the category definer, which is paddocks. Um and you know, I think they do a good job of still feeling like manga uh while trying to compete in that category. Like what do you think? Is are are they doing a good job of that? Well, I mean let me oh let me take a step back. So if if I may. Right? Yeah. And how do you feel about it? You know, it's it's it's good. It's busy. Okay. Where did you see the the longas first? Oh, that's right. We uh we saw them in um we saw them a few days ago. We went over to the sort of uh little hybrid uh boutique where Vashron um and I believe Longa share space. Um and you know, you were filming your your interview with uh Wilhelm every year, you know, it's true. Um and you know, we got to see them in person, which was really nice outside of the booths, right? Right. Um in in natural lighting, getting to play with the movement. Um yeah, and so I think that's also setting the the experience for me, which is being able to see that actually in in context of how one would normally get to Yeah, and I I I think that's where I was headed with it. It's like I think seeing that stuff kind of ahead of the schedule. This is such a like we're wearing well, you're not wearing a tie, you're wearing a purple suit. We're we're all wearing it's actually a vagine it's over yes um you know really wonk over here yeah I mean but like yeah that that well that day I guess I was wearing a jacket because I was on camera but like I was wearing sneakers like it's much more like informal setting today we're all dolled up and like to see that type of watch which, is like a it's a real grand complication, like a literal one, um on the wrist of Wilhelm, just wearing it around and then the the prototype, you know, that that changes the per the perspective at least for me on on how you've used something that's seven hundred plus thousand dollars. And then they also had a few other watches that I really like like the the honey gold odysseus yeah talk to me about honey gold to be clear everyone who works at Hodinky is a longer head okay like watches them. We're like long aheads, okay? Tan tan and I our friendship blossomed through like our appreciation of longs. Literally as I work minute repeater on Honey Goal. That is what cemented our friendship. It's like kind of a beautiful story. Um, so talk to me about honey gold. Yeah, Ben, why are you so excited? Like I think for me, it's it's funny. I mean, you have been in this industry for a while now, you know, you've been doing this for for a long time, and you, you know, it's it's very clear when Ben gets excited about something because it's a reaction that you usually tend to not see every day at least. Yeah for sure. And the way I always describe it is you when you first saw that watch, you looked like a kid in the candy store. 100%. Right. You have have a a pic pictureture of of it it.. And I It's uh look, I I've been doing this a long time, you know. This is I think SIHH or whatever this is called, fifteen or so. So I've been doing this like seventeen years, which is insane. And uh I still like when something really hits me, it really fucking hits me. That watch really hit me hard. And I was like the minute I saw it, I was like, I want it. Can I have it? And then I had to like negotiate to see if I could even get it. And I'm not kidding. Um and you know it's like it it takes something like I I love language. The quality of langa is superlative, it is, I'll say this on the record happily, it is better at scale than PATSEC, AP, blah blah blah. If you're talking about every watch, right? An entry-level watch from Langa is better than an entry-level watch from from most of those other brands, in my not so humble opinion. The Odysseus never really jumped out of me because I I love the Royal Oak. I love the Nautilus. I've owned those for 10 plus years each. I adore them. The Odysseus was like, I just don't need another steel watch or another titanium watch either. This watch honey gold to me is something so special. Now we kind of see it with sand gold and AP. It is such an unique color, unique weight. Uh it is so much harder. Like it really feels harder with your fingernail than a standard gold. And so to do a full bracelet in honey gold Pink, rose tones, whatever with brown. Yeah. Chef's kiss. There you have it. Um and I know whatever. Come for me if you want. I'm undoing my I hate rose gold opinion. Oh. Whatever. I'm I'm I'm fickle. Uh I think Rose Gold Brandile cubicus, which we should line up for our next topic of conver. Yep. Here for it. So before we get to that, let me just wrap up Longa with our guy T T over here. Wrap it up. 34 millimeter. Tell me about it. That is the silent killer. I think Rich |
| Rich Fordon | ard Rich Rich, you like that watch. I was going to tee this up because I have not seen Longa yet, but I want to know what it looks like in person. It is it is |
| Ben Clymer | proportionally so different than any of the current or you know, I would say past five years or so, any of the time only watches they've done. Yeah. Um it is Longa's smallest caliber they developed in-house. Ever. Um ever. Right. You know, and also interesting anniversary year for them. They're celebrating anniversaries or not anniversary year, but they're celebrating seventy-five movements developed in-house, which is crazy to think about. And I think that counts, you know, variations when you're doing a lumen movement and you're removing some power reserve, you know, indicator or whatever. But 75 is a lot to do, right? And so I think it's cool where that such a like a big number goes into such a small sort of movement that in any other brand I think would just immediately get passed on. I think you would just be like, okay, they just did a smaller watch, so what? But they really like actually focused on developing something from the ground up. So I mean I was reading what Tony De Haas was saying. And long story short, movement got a completely redesigned going train and 72 hours of power reserve. So the current 1815s like that big tiny. And it's like it's four point something millimeters thin. I think it's like four point eight millimeters thick, right? Um, and just to have that where the current 1815s in a much larger case have 50 hours of power reserve, you know, like it's cool where this is becoming their next thing. And you know, for context too, last year they discontinued basically every small watch they made yeah every single saxonia time only all gone and so I was like okay well there's got to be something up here I did not expect something like that from the ground up and even smaller. Yeah. Right? Smallest one was a 35mm saxonia. Now we're 34. It wears incredible. What other combinations is it honey and um blue dial? So there's it's a two blue dials, one in white gold and one in pink gold. Okay. So it's pink. It's pink. Yeah, yeah. And Lunga doesn't do blue gels too often, as you know, you know. Um they whenever they do it, it's kind of for a special occasion. And I believe most of them are usually time limited. So I would venture a guess that we probably won't see this for a long time Yeah, I mean I have to say I got to try it on with with Tantan. Like it is a chic little watch. I mean it's 34 is like you're making a stat |
| Rich Fordon | ement. That's your that's your It's uh definitely definitely my range of the spectrum and I the first gen Saxonia in thirty-four and I think it's a second gen 1815. It's actually like thirty five and a half two of my favorite watches I've ever put on my wrist. So beyond excited to see that thing. Okay, that's a really big statement coming from Rich. If there's one I'll put the |
| Ben Clymer | modern qualifier on there. Of course. If there's one modern longa that's for Rich, it's 100% this watch because it's and And the thing is, you know, you've seen the 34 millimeter Saxonias. I don't think you're ready for the proportions. Again, it's it's I believe it's uh six point, it's six point something millimeters thin. For for context, the Saxonia thin, I think, is five point nine. So it's just a hair thinner, but just the way that I mean the the previous saxonias that you're talking about, you know, they're they're a little thicker. They're bit taller, yeah. They're a bit taller. And so just putting this on your wrist, it's it's you're gonna like it. I love the dichotomy of Long Eti. It's like Zeitwa. Yep. And then this. Yeah, like hamburger and like the slice of American cheese. And I respect that. No, I agree. Yeah. And then I I ran into our good friend of the show, Gary Steingart, yesterday, and he's real we love him. We love him. We love Gag. He doesn't need any more love, but we love Gak. We love him. Ran into him and he said, What's going on? What's you know he's here reporting for the Atlantic or Bloomberg. And I mentioned the third-four millimeter and he said, Oh my god, like that is my watch. And he actually had another watch that he was about to order. And he's like, I'm not ordering that. I'm gonna do this. And then I was DMing with um this guy that used to work here. We had to let him go because he was drinking down the job, Tony, trainer. Oh yeah. And um such a rackhead. I know he was just classic. And he was like, this is the watch of the show, no doubt about it. So the the the nerdy, skinny little white guys love this watch for sure. Oh yeah. Tony likes everything I like, so that makes sense. Yeah, you're the original Tony Tran.s Yeah. Um, but it's just fun to see like kind of friends of the show that we all love and know uh very well. Uh also really loving this watch. Special thanks again to our part |
| Rich Fordon | ners at UBS for their support of Hodinki Radio. Last October, Hodinki, and UBS brought together some of the most influential personalities and brands in the industry to celebrate all things watches. This year, we're partnering again with expanded events across the U.S. in addition to our fall House of Craft in New York. Stay tuned to Hodinky for updates on these events and other projects with our friends at UB |
| Ben Clymer | S. Now, back to the show. Okay, can we talk about Patek now? Of course we have to do it. Please. Um I don't even know where to start because never did I think I'd see the day where I was most excited about Patek on day one. A Patek Cubitus. Not just the cubitus. Like there are other yeah, overall I like uh we need to make this like very clear. I have never seen Malika this excited about like a general group of watches in my life. Okay, that might be slightly you haven't seen me at the Cartier but Oh ye,ah that's true, that's true. Um for sure it's more exciting to me than normal. I think honestly, from a design perspective, it's the first time I've seen Patek do stuff that I'm like seriously into like design language the colour the use of brown the use of salmon isn't even my thing and I'm like this salmon looks hot the color travel on the on the color travel on the sixty one ninety six |
| Rich Fordon | sixty one ninety six the 5370. 5370. Yeah. And then cu |
| Ben Clymer | bitus, raised gold, brandials. Forty millimeters. 40 millimeters. Yeah. I'm I'm not even being controversial. Like I like it. So let's talk about that a little bit. So the big cubitus came out just in October, like not long ago, to already have a new one. Smaller move uh I'm sorry, smaller case size, forty five down to forty. Same movement. I got forty five. Yeah, but it's square. I mean it's not forty five includes the ears.. The numbers don't count The numbers don't count. So this is only precious. So it's white and rose. What do you think? So I mean I was really confused. I think that was the initial thought because that's normal. You know, yeah, exactly. I mean, usually I'm like, where am I? That was the first question, I guess. Um and I think for me, I loved sort of the bizarrness of the first cubitus launch, right? In a way that I think maybe, you know, made people question my tastes. What do you mean what do you mean by the bizarrness? I th I think it was so they really went into the launch with a bang. And I think with the leak, you mean? No, I think just the overall the pro the strategy, right? And I think 45 is a statement. Yeah, that's a big watch. That's to do such a brutish kind of case with that size is I would just say bizarre is the only word I can think of. I don't know if maybe the brand thinks of it that way. Like, but I think you know you it's a it's a statement. I like what they were doing with it. I think it was the way to get people to talk about it because I think in context and this might be a hot take I think these two cubitus or cubit eye are almost a little boring in comparison, which I don't think is a bad thing at all. Boring but you want. Boring would like it. I didn't think it's as controversial as everybody makes out. And I do think there's something to be said. I'm now seeing having done like a bit of a cycle in the watch world, um, that trends actually do make it to the brands eventually. And yes, it's the 70s thing, but these like angular shapes are like obviously kind of I don't know. I I like it. I like when something's different. Yeah. Um I I like to be challenged. Um and I think cubit is actually I haven't seen it yet, you've seen it. Um I'm re |
| Rich Fordon | ady for it. Okay. Rich? Did everyone take Patek's bait by like falling for the trick of wow, crazy cubitus, it's huge, there's a weird, complicated one and now they're just gonna slowly like win us over for sure with the right product. Yes, I think the ans |
| Ben Clymer | wer is you know, and I it obviously it's a it's a it's a plan that we've seen before from from others for sure, but I think like the the forty five millimeter A obviously I've worn it like it doesn't wear like a 45 I'd say it wears like a 42 the 40 which I just got out of seeing probably wears more like a 37 so it's quite small because I remember when it came out I was like I want the thirty eight hundred version of cubed disk. I I I kid you not. So before James and I went in to see it, I was chatting with a gentleman who who works at at product development and he was wearing a thirty eight mil uh I'm sorry thirty eight hundred nodels. And he's like, this is what we're doing. Yeah. It really is the 3800. It is that size. It is not I don't I don't know to describe it. It it is much smaller than you might think. 40 millimeters to me is a submariner. For sure. Or Daytona. This is way smaller than that. Because also it's 40 millimeters Great joke right? Master comedian. Yeah. Um I yeah, I just like I think the reason why I'm still a little like just I need to see them in person, of course. Yeah. But it's more from the strategy side that I have this weird fascination with, which is I think usually for something like this, you would let the first sort of generation run a year. And then you would kind of come in being like, let's revive the conversation in a new light. This is sort of like and my question to maybe you guys is: I think it's I agree with Rich that it's intentional, but do you think that it could be interpreted as sort of like they're walking it back a little in sort of that like boldness that the first one was? I just think the world moves quick, you know. You think so? Yeah. And I think you're totally right. Yeah, and it's about the consumer. Yeah, I I think you're totally right. And I think if th if there's one through line through everything that we've seen and we've already published like fifty stories on the site, yeah. It's like people are producing c commercial products to sell. Right? It's like okay, there's a mineral beater from Long Island, whatever but the the the the small uh whatchamacallit eighteen fifty eight i'm a watch expert um that thing the the the odysseus yeah every rolex obviously like people want stuff that they can put into a dealer yeah it's gonna move quickly the world is just different now and and and you know in in many cases like the cubitus I happen to know like we can't keep in stock with watch the Switzerland and and at all dealers um but they want stuff that like people are gonna walk in and buy. And I think if you look around the world, you go to you know Bond Street in London or Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, like there are a lot of watches available for purchase. And so I think Paddock may, and I I don't know this at all, may have just said, you know what, instead of w you know waiting a year, let's just pull it right up to watches and wonders and get it out there. Yeah. I mean, I suppose it doesn't really because both are in precious metal, they're not really, you know, badly against their sort of steel allocations and percentages. So they can kind of more freely reduce. To be clear, these watches, I think the price is like seventy six thousand dollars. Like it's not a cheap watch. They're they're precious. They're gold. And with a gold bracelet. So like it's it's not a cheap thing. Um, but it's you know, it's something that people will want to buy. Continuing with Pat Tech, yeah. New color Trava. Oh |
| Rich Fordon | my god, you want ninety-six for rich? Yeah. I've been waiting for this case which they use in the rare handcraft section. It's like that 38-37 Calatrava. And they've had that case, and it's been frustrating me for years that they don't offer a Calatrava in that case. With that movement in particular. With that movement, yeah, filled out. Um it it seems like a real winner. I mean, the movement's already incredible. We saw it before and the aesthetics here. F sixty one nineteen, right? Hobnail. Um shout out to Mark Hobnail. |
| Ben Clymer | The aesthetics are really, really good. I agree. Yeah, the black, the black indices and yeah. I feel like, and you know, Rich has heard me talk about this all the time in the office, maybe too much, but I think for me, what gets me so excited about the 6196 is that it finally I think balances out the Calatrava collection for them. Totally agree. In a way that like and for me, I'm not I'm not really a a vintage guy at all, right? But for me, the 5196 was such a cool thing from paddock because it's in the same way that Langa appeals to me because what you can you can buy right now is very close to what maybe you loved about the brand as it was relaunching. Paddock moves fast, paddock sometimes not so much. For me, especially in the Calatrava area, the 5196 was just like that perfect time machine. That almost like it gave you the closest thing to something that you could buy that was a modern watch, but you could still get a taste of like what the old sort of paddock was like. So I I I hear you. Yeah. But I disagree. Okay. And so the the thing, the thing about the 5196 is like for years I've been saying that an entry-level longa is way better than an entry-level paddock. And in my mind, always was the 5196. And to be clear, like 5196, you used to be able to see in cases even here in the salon they were everywhere that movement was so small and so old yeah for for that and to be clear the dial was incredible right it was a 570 two tony brigade like it was exactly what i would want yeah and i had the opportunity to buy that watch a dozenzen tim timeses, half a do, and never chose to do it because it's like this just m-this movement is not a protect lead movement in the way that it should be for the year 2025 or for 15 or whatever |
| Rich Fordon | . Isn't that kind of the origin story of the 96. As 96, like these are all 96s in a way. And I was just looking at the difference between a 96 and a 3796, which is the first modern follow-up to the 96. The 96 subdial is lower than the 3796. And then the fifty one ninety six is even higher. Like you get to a point where the aesthetics are just ruined by the original design, it just doesn't look like the same thing anymore. That's exactly right. And we're back towards that original design. That's exactly so this |
| Ben Clymer | this to me, you know, now I'll have to be careful. I'll have to do my homework before I say Longa makes the best entry-level watch. Because the caliber in the 50 51 nineteen, 6119, and now the 6196, you know, holds a candle to what we're talking about with Longa. But for years, what was in the 5196 was really not at the same level at all. Yeah. And I I saw the watch, I I I like salmon dials, the black and markers, like it's just a killer. I mean, this is what a Patek Cala Trava should be. And you know, Calatravas are probably look, nothing's easy to get from pad tech, but they're probably among the easier watches to get from Pat Tech. This could change that. Yeah, I gotta say I think a lot of the current color travelers just don't I mean I don't I don't think they feel like paddock like a lot of the current ones that before the 6196. Like with the texture dial? Yeah. The ones with the texture dial, the sort of that like race car inspired stuff, like it doesn't seem like a colotrava to me. You have got to go to the Patek Museum before you leave. Yeah, I know. If you have the time because the Calatra of a section is |
| Rich Fordon | like it's insane. Yeah. Uh Ben, do you want uh two minutes to talk about the what is it, fifty three seventy, the brown |
| Ben Clymer | ? Might as well. I mean, yeah, so there' theres a 5370 is a split second paddock so it's modular based on the watch that's in the 5170 5172 when that watch came out in 2013 or so it was platinum black dial. I remember writing it s I mean kind of like what we're talking about with the honey gold odysseus i was just like banging away like this is the best watch ever and i basically said this was the best patek philippe that has come out in years and i meant it at the time because it had the case shape of a 1436 not 1463 so this is the super slim split second. But it was big. Black enamel dial. Like what's not to love about that? And Patek produced that watch for so many years that it just kind of fell out of favor with collectors because at that, I mean that that watch is a 200 plus thousand dollars. Like that's a meaningful purchase mat noter who you are. And it was just I don't want to say it was overproduced, but they kept it in the catalogue for so long that you could kind of get it. And then they they pulled the black dial out and put in a blue dial, which I didn't love. It was like a bright blue dial, which not my thing. And so now that's gone, and now we have it in rose gold with a two-tone brown and cream enamel dial, which changes everything and I think really ups the anteon on that watch. Yeah, you're a man of brown, so I'm a man I've I like a brown. Guys, brown is hot. Okay, like brown is I I yes, like not quite brown. But brown is the look. I think it that dial looks, I haven't seen it yet. But it looks gorgeous. It's amazing. And so it's it's tromplet, like it it's's a real enamel dial. You know, we were with a uh a very well known independent watchmaker yesterday and he was like, look, there's there's enamel dialing and then there's basically like you you basically do a standard plate, put some glass over it, and it looks enamel and the the two are not the same and what PatTech did here is real champouvet multi-tiered you know two different actually it's it's probably four plates but two different colors. I mean it's the real deal stuff and it's rose gold so you get a much more kind of vintagey style split second I I adore that watch. It's still big. I would prefer it was thirty nine instead of forty one. It's still thick, you know, but it is what it is. It's not a split. It's a split, exactly. But great watch for sure. Can I um just drop a random thing in the chat. Um because we didn't really talk about Rolex, we talked about Landweller. Yeah. Um aside from Landweller. I'm into the 1908 on the bracelet. I think it looks really sick. It looks amazing. The bracelet is sick. Like, why haven't we talked about this more yet? Yeah. Yeah. So here's a little piece of information that I that I found out recently. The platinum 1908 current gen, like the last generation, is impossible to get a retail. Did you know that? I can see that. I believe it. People are dying for it. You know like Rolex heads up people that like there's some people that will just only buy Rolex. You can't get it. But the the the new yellow gold on the yellow gold bracelet is amazing. It totally changes. Amazing. And I think the bracelet, even the way it's connected to |
| Rich Fordon | the watch, I'm like, what is going on here? Isn't two bracelets from Rolex in the same year sort of insane? I mean you have a new bracelet on the land roller and a new bracelet on the 1900s. |
| Ben Clymer | What do they call that bracelet, Melica? Settimo. Um but I think Say that again. Settime. I'm not Italian. I think that that points to this whole idea of me saying that the brands do actually listen to the consumer. Oh they do. And uh I don't know it works differently to the fashion world I was still wrapping my head around it. But um the bracelet thing is a clear ind |
| Rich Fordon | icator to me that that's they're giving us what we asked for. Also, if there's a criticism to be made of Rolex, it's everything is in the same Oyster case and it either comes down Jubilee or Oyster. And this year, like you were saying, you know, they're trying to get people to get people excited about buying watches, they're offering exactly not that in their two lead products |
| Ben Clymer | . Look, I mean it it's it's goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Rolex is the dominant brand in watches. And for the longest time, you know, people that made dress watches and and technically innovative watches kind of didn't worry about Rolex. You know, it's like, oh, we're over here doing some high-tech shit and like we want the nerves, you know, the 10-10s and the bends of the world, so to speak. And now everyone's got to worry. Because like Rolex, when they do anything, people pay attention. And you're totally right. They're filling out the catalog yeah to have a lot of stuff and you know I said to somebody earlier it's like would I buy a land dweller I don't know I haven't seen it yet but I'm thinking to myself like I already have a royal oak it kind of feels like a like but now that they're like directly competing with a royal oak ye.ah Right? I mean like a an o uh a day date, which I own, or a day test which I do not own, never I would never compare them to a royal oak, but this watch I really would. If you look at the case shape, the you know, the integrated bracelet, uh a high-end movement, yeah. You're competing with Nautilus, Royal |
| Rich Fordon | Oak, etc. Yeah. I mean, not to be movement guy, but like in two meetings yesterday with independent watchmakers, Kari Vutzalan and Retchup, both said this escapement might change the whole watch world. So like that's what this is. I that's why I focus the story. I I talk about it a lot, but you know, you gotta listen to stuff like that |
| Ben Clymer | . I'm here for the nineteen oh eight. I think it's really classy. I think So classy? Yeah, classys. Clasy. Classy. Yeah. I think it's classy. Um I I'm into the black doll more, I would say. Right. Than white doll. But I'm I'm paying more attention to that now. When's the last time Rolex has done a straight endling bracelet? Like the 40s? Right? Like that little dot in between the case. That's kind of crazy. Thanks to whatever commenter mentioned that and pointed that out to me this morning. I say, Oh that,'s pretty cool. Well, I feel like for years the idea was that Rolex was one of the few brands that even though they didn't make an integrated bracelet, they saw basically the case and the bracelet as one object. The watch was a thing. That's why it's so hard to buy a replacement jubilee for an oyster, all that. They just don't want you to mess with it. And for them to come out with this, that changes the whole sort of perception of like what they see a bracelet as. And then you go to the opposite, right? With the land dweller, where if you look on the back of it, the spring bar is tiny, right? So it's you're seeing all these like different ways of approaching a bracelet this year, just like you said, that I think from an engineering perspective, I'm also really interested in like what are these assembly lines looking like um to actually switch over and like how far in advance you actually have to you know gear up so much machinery in such a different way. Yeah. That's not hard that's not easy to do. I give them a lot of credit where they spoke to the designers of the of the landweller. They they said something like five or seven years for for this. Incredible. But with that, we have to wrap it up because I'm getting the look from our man Dave. So today we are seeing two, well, we've already seen a few, but we're seeing Cartier for this one. Can't wait. And Tudor for the whole gang. So tutor and Cartier uh feedback will be coming tomorrow. Pretty psyched about that. And uh stay tuned to Hodinky. We've already published like like way too many stories. Like how many stories? Like just leaves us time to get drunk for the rest of the week. Yeah, this is a part. That's all we do. We don't we definitely don't. But tune in tomorrow. We'll we'll see you then. See you guys |