A quick look at just three of the many amazing watches released in the year twenty twenty two. So, to narrow it down I decided to go for price bands, cheap, not cheap, and much more expensiver than Rolex. I also went for watches I don't own, because I've done that already.
1. CHEAP
Omega Moonswatch
Some of y'all will hate on me for this one, but I think the buzz and the craziness created by the Moonswatch was good for the industry, it was different and interesting and made people go mental. At £207, it's an accessible price-point and though hard to get, there are many on eBay, now at around £300 which is pretty good for the scalpers market, and you don't have to go to shop, just look at it as £80 delivery. Unless you want the Neptune one, that's a bit more. I enjoyed the buzz, I like the watch and the idea. Imagine if you were the only person who knew about this watch, if it was released with no hypebeast attention or nonsense, it would have been awesome. I don't care what other people think, if you don't like my fave movie or my fave watches it doesn't matter to me. I went to the Swatch shop in Covent Garden to have a look before I considered a purchase, I liked them much more after seeing them, but I haven't decided which one I want yet. No rush, I will pick one up when the right deal comes along.
2. NOT CHEAP
Longines Master Collection 190th Anniversary Edition
Longines is celebrating its 190th anniversary by releasing the Master Collection, which includes this gorgeous wristwatch. The devilishly appealing wrist porn has Breguet-style numerals machine-engraved onto the dateless matte finished face, while the 40mm steel or 18-carat gold case is beautifully polished for a distinctive appearance. It's a limited edition of 190, and it it oozes class, at under £2000 for the steel, it's worth every penny for me. Independent watchmaker Naoya Hida does a very similar one but they cost ten times as much. There is something about engraved numerals that I find absolutely titillatingly erotic, and the Longines ones aren't even hand engraved, just imagine if they were...
In the words of the Kings of Leon, my sex is on fire...I don't know what that means, but it feels right.
3. MUCH MORE THAN EXPENSIVE
Cartier Masse Mystérieuse / Rotonde de Cartier
The Masse Mystérieuse is a timepiece that appears extremely implausible at first glance and becomes even more improbable as you look closely at it. It's a limited edition (of 30), automatic watch, which means it has a winding rotor, but the twist with the Masse Mystérieuse is that the rotor also serves as the mechanism - it's a mysterious mass, that's for sure. Erm what, it's a mental idea, and is amazingly executed - the rotor is the movement, and the movement is the rotor. I added a video to help you understand, but this is black magic I tell you, voodoo of the Parisian kind, my favourite kind. Cartiers website is very low key on this one, so I leaned on Hodinkee, Watch I Love and Monochrome for the info. A snip at no less than £275,000. I will take it, but what is the crown connected to...
There were so many stunning, awesome and interesting watches released this year, as well as the boring reboots, tiny tweaks, re-releases, and overpriced unattainable nonsense watches. It was a good year for me and my watch journey, I got my hands on some stunners as per my top 3 purchases (see here). I would have been almost equally as happy to pick up the above three.
Yours Rotorequalsmovementally,
Alvin
P.S.
An honourable mention to the Christopher Ward Bel Canto. Christopher Ward has always struck me as a rather dull name for a watch brand, slightly less so than Roger Smith, but Roger got it going on. This isn't about the name, it's about the movement and the only reason it didn't make the top 3 is because I forgot it existed. A Sellita SW200-1 base movement is pretty bog standard stuff, CW add 60 more components and some voodoo, ending up with a chiming movement, that looks like a £20k super lux watch. Absolute magic.
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