Hi guys,

Hope you’re all doing reasonably well – it’s been an unusual couple of months for sure! For Watchbase, the situation in which we now find ourselves has had a couple of implications. For one, I haven’t been at our office much, and the same goes for the rest of our team. It took a bit of time to settle in at home, but productivity is up at our usual standards again.

Then, many brands have put off new releases indefinitely. The first to break this pattern was Breitling, and all their 2020 releases are of course up on our website. Past weekend saw a digital edition of Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH), with many brands releasing at least a couple of new pieces. I will be adding these to our database over the next few weeks.

I am however most excited about the big steps we’ve made in our IWC database – which I think now ranks amongst the best on the web. I’m not at all finished, but a few fun numbers nonetheless:

• Our database has over 300 unique Portugieser references listed.
• Our database has over 100 unique Big Pilot references listed.
• Our database has 22 different IWC Laureus models.
• Our database has over 400 IWC limited editions!
• And in total, we have well over a thousand IWC’s in our database.

Stay tuned for more!

Another week, another round of updates.

This week I’ve gone over our A. Lange & Söhne collection and updated the prices to reflect the most recent price increase. Top of the charts? That would be the Tourbograph perpetual Pour le Mérite 706.025. I’ve also added a couple that were missing still, such as the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds below.

Another brand that has received a round of updates is Audemars Piguet. I’ve added a lot of watches that were not yet in our database, most of them from either the Millenary or Jules Audemars collection. Whilst not very popular nowadays, there’s some great watches in these collections. The Jules Audemars Minute Repeater Jumping Hours being a prime example.

What else? A few limited edition TAG Heuer watches, including a limited edition for Qatar that’s pretty cool;

Stay tuned for more!

Quick update from WatchBase HQ, Amsterdam:

I’ve just finished going over Omega’s full current catalogue including the latest price increase. This means over 1400 watches are now up-to-date, ready for the upcoming novelty season. I’ve also put on draft a few upcoming 2020 releases, but those will have to wait until the info is made public 😉 .

A somewhat smaller project also finished is the Jaeger-LeCoultre catalogue, which is now also once again up-to-date. I’ve also added a couple of watches that were either missing or just released;

Stay tuned for many more updates in the coming weeks!

How’s it going guys?

Zenith price increase

Last week I’ve updated our Zenith prices to reflect the price increase that’s set for February first. As with Rolex, I’ve also added a few missing watches here and there. Please find our Zenith watch database here.

IWC Big Pilot Black Carbon IW5061-01

I’ve also added a couple of rare and / or new IWC watches – among them this cool IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Edition Black Carbon, a limited edition of 100 pieces created with the help of Hong Kong IWC collectors. This watch, reference IW5061-01, has a case made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (‘UD carbon’). Details here.

Other cool new IWC’s included the Portugieser Perpetual for Arije in red gold and white gold, and the Portugieser Automatic 100 Years Hübner.

This was a big one.

It might seem as if little has been done over the past few weeks, but it’s quite the contrary. I’ve been working hard on Rolex January price increase. The collection is quite vast to say the last – but it’s finished now.

ENJOY!

I’M SORRY – the past week has been fairly slow. And with the upcoming Holidays I suppose the next few weeks won’t be any different. This week nonetheless saw a notable and important addition with six new variations of the IWC Portugieser ref. IW3716.

A bit of background.

The IWC Portugieser Chronograph 3716 is an updated take on the 3714. The latter was introduced in 1998, itself building on the template that was introduced with the 1995 Portugieser Chrono-Rattrapante ref. 3712. The look would proof to become hugely popular and quite timeless. Proof? It looks identical to this day.

Both the 3712 as well as the 3714 saw their movements based on the Valjoux 7750 / 7760 platform. Not that anybody cared too much about the somewhat pedestrian origins of the movements: the Portugieser Chronograph remains popular to this day, and the Rattrapante was recently resurrected in the form of various boutique-specials after a sizeable hiatus.

In the mean while the 2011 Portugieser Yacht Club and the 2013 Portugieser Chronograph Classic were introduced. Positive: in-house movements, in-line with the demands of today’s collectors. Negative: whilst beautiful in their own right, neither of them looked much like the good ol’ Portugieser Chronograph.

150 years.

Then, in 2018, IWC celebrated its 150th anniversary. As part of this celebration the company brought three limited edition Portugieser Chronograph models; two in stainless steel, one in red gold. These paired the classic looks (though with faux enamel dials) with an in-house movement. Of course anybody could tell that it would only be a matter of time until the regular collection Portugieser Chronograph would receive these updates.

And now it’s finally here. In no less than six executions. In stainless steel there’s the IW371604 and IW371605, both with silver dials, the IW371606 with a blue dial, and the IW371609 with black dial. Looking for something a bit more sumptuous? The IW371610 and IW371611 feature red gold cases, paired with an ardoise or silver dial respectively. In stainless steel the premium over the classic 3714 is only 250 EUR. Not bad!

Hi there data-hungry watch freaks!

The past week I’ve once again added a respectable number of watches to our database. The big projects we’re working on are Tissot, Certina, Hublot and Longines. To keep things interesting (mainly for myself, that is) I’m alternating between these four brands – though still it can get quite repetitive. Luckily there’ve been a few odd new releases too. What stood out this week?

Longines Avigation Chronograph for Portugal

A bit of a passion of mine is uncovering obscure limited editions, often exclusive to specific markets. The Longines L2.668.4.21.2 is a prime example, being made in 225 pieces for the Portuguese market. More info!

NOMOS Tangente 35 for Antoine de Macedo – Paris Saint-Germain

The NOMOS Tangente 139.S50 for Antoine de Macedo (Paris Saint-Germain) is a limited edition of 75 pieces that’s subtly different from your standard 139. More info!

NOMOS Tangente Sport for Hodinkee

Another limited edition NOMOS introduced this week is the Tangente Sport for Hodinkee, reference 501.S6. The Tangente Sport was introduced in 2001 as one of NOMOS first attempts at a more robust, sportier timepiece. Its succes was fairly limited and it has since been replaced by watches such as the Club, the Ahoi, and the newer Tangente Sport neomatik. It’s a bit puzzling as to why Hodinkee went with this obscure, out-of-production watch – but it looks good if a bit tame. More info!

Certina DS-1 Powermatic

Alright, it’s neither new, rare or otherwise spectacular, but as an overall package I find this Certina DS-1 Powermatic quite convincing. A svelte case, classy dial and a ‘Powermatic 80’ as the source of motivation – at EUR 650 incl. VAT that’s not bad at all! More info!

Hi guys! It’s been another great week for Watchbase, with a lot of new watches added to our database. The bulk of them Tissot, but there’ve been a few others here and there. Below my favorites:

Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph Japan

This Japan-only edition of the Breitling Premier B01 sports a mother-of-pearl dial, which is a first for this collection. It goes surprisingly well with the elegant, vintage looks of the Premier! MORE

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Mercedes – AMG Petronas Motorsports
IW503003

A limited edition of just 10 pieces, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch
Mercedes – AMG Petronas Motorsports reference IW503003 sports a carbon fiber dial with emerald green accents. MORE!

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Lewis Hamilton
IW503002

Two in a row! The IWCBig Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar reference IW503002 was designed in cooperation with Lewis Hamilton. For a watch with a matte black ceramic case it’s fairly flashy – the dial is burgundy while the crown and case back are made of red gold. MORE!

Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 Nicky Jam High Jewellery

Like Nicky Jam? Got EUR 364.000 burning a hole in your pocket? We’ve got your back with the Big Bang Meca-10 Nicky Jam 414.OX.9101.LR.9904.NJA18. MORE!

Tissot Seaster 1000 Powermatic 80

I’ve added so many Tissot I swear I can’t see another one. But still, this Seastar 1000 looks pretty cool with its gradient blue dial. Powermatic 80 too! MORE!

While the week before was all about TAG Heuer, this week we’ve made some big steps in our Tissot database. Hundreds of watches have been added, and over 900 are waiting to be put live still. Bonkers. It’s not all Tissot though – I’ve also added a few other gems here and there. My favorites?

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando

Wow, wow, WOW! The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic is easily one of my favorite watches from the past few years in whatever form, but this one might be one of the coolest yet. The case and bracelet remain unaltered from the original 102713, but the dial now has ridges radiating outwards from the small seconds axis – designed by Tadao Ando no less. It’s furthermore doesn’t have any writings or logos. Stunning!

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Arabic Blue

Another cool Octo Finissimo, this time with Eastern Arabic numerals on a blue base, housed in rose gold. We’ve seen these numerals on the Octo before, but this is a particularly lush execution. More!

Rose gold a bit much for you? it also comes in titanium.

Omega Seamaster 300M James Bond Set

It must’ve been at least a few weeks since the last Omega limited edition, so about time they did another one! Here we have the ‘James Bond Set’, which consists of two takes on the Seamaster 300M – one in stainless steel, one in yellow gold- sold as a set limited to 257 pieces. The design is similar to the 7007-piece 210.22.42.20.01.004 though there’s no date. My favorite of the two is the yellow gold; the contrast with the black dial, bezel and strap is particularly striking. More!

Tissot PR 100

Confession: I CAN’T SEE ANY MORE TISSOT! But there’s still over 900 to go. Anyway, here’s a completely harmless PR 100. 39mm, 100m water resistant, EUR 240 incl. VAT. What more does one really need? INFO!

For the past two weeks I’ve mostly been working on our TAG Heuer database. It needed a lot of work – apart from a few high-profile releases I hadn’t really updated it in years, plus we had a huge amount of references still in draft, most notably watches powered by quartz movements. A few of my favorites (plus two Zenith for contrast) below;

TAG Heuer Formula 1 WAH1113.FT6025

The Formula 1 is TAG’s entry-level collection. Still, I quite like this green-on-green number. Looks like a fun watch for summer holidays. Simple, robust, and relatively inexpensive. Wear it & forget about it. MORE!

TAG Heuer Professional Sports Watch WAE1113.FT6004

Another TAG, another quartz. BUT!!!! the Professional Sports Watch – originally introduced as the Professional Golf Watch – has such a unique case, designed for optimal ergonomics while playing sports. The case serves as the buckle for the bracelet too, not unlike Piaget’s fancy Upstream watches. MORE!

TAG Heuer Formula 1 David Guetta WAZ201A.FC8195

Remember this? I almost forgot about it. I don’t care much for David Guetta but the blue-on-black makes for a strong look. That strap though! MORE!

TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 01 CLEP CAR201J.FT6087

Carrera’s. There’s so many of them. The wild number of movements, cases, dials -and combinations of these three elements- makes it hard to really understand the collection [/rant]. Anyway, one of my favorite Heuer 01-powered Carrera’s is this CLEP limited of 100 pieces. MORE!

Zenith Defy Classic Rainbow 3.9002.670/96.R587

Yes, yes, I’ve uploaded the Phillips A386 retro pieces this week too, but by now I think we’ve seen about enough El Primero 50th Anniversary watches. So, here’s something different: the black ceramic Rainbow Defy 41, made as a Greater China (and Zenith boutiques) LE of 150 pieces. MORE!