The Watch Appreciation Thread - Part two (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre,

[an draoi]

For anyone who is interested, here are some Royal Oak waiting times for the AP Paris boutique:

15202: 5-6 years
15500: blue 2 years; black/grey pretty much immediately available from July

Apparently the Geneva boutique has stopped taking names for the 15202, as the waiting time is currently at 8 years. In Spring 2017 the wait there was 3-6 months. The world's gone maaaaaaaaaad!

 

[chocomallo]

It is the only CPCP watch (if I'm not mistaken) to have a Stainless Steel alternative made. The steel variant is, technically, not CPCP but has the same movement and a hand guilloche dial with a slight pattern variation (no flower).

It is a lovely little thing, but a b*tch to get serviced. Took nearly 12 months in total to have Richemont do a proper service.

Spoiler: Basculante

View attachment 1130532

Also, as a fun aside, I picked this up recently. I did some digging, with the help of the Breitling Heritage dept, to find out more about it and it seems when Ernest Schneider bought the company in the late 80s they found a bunch of NOS mid century movements which he had cased in Rose Gold and sold as limited editions. This dial/case configuration has a Venus 175 movement and was made in 75 pieces (other dials in the same case had another 75 piece run). Pretty neat!
View attachment 1130533

Both awesome! How big is the Breitling? Really sharp. I like that era. 80s, 90s and even early 2000s when looks were classic but the manufacturing had improved water resistance. Yours is even better. A real vintage movement but a modern case. Cartier service times are pretty slow. The worst I have experienced by about double. Still love the brand though.

 

[MZhammer]

Both awesome! How big is the Breitling? Really sharp. I like that era. 80s, 90s and even early 2000s when looks were classic but the manufacturing had improved water resistance. Yours is even better. A real vintage movement but a modern case. Cartier service times are pretty slow. The worst I have experienced by about double. Still love the brand though.

The Breitling is 37mm but wears a bit larger because of the beautiful tear-drop lugs. It's got a great Rose Gold case with a vintage style snap back and a really wonderful dial with applied Rose Gold markers. I was pretty fortunate to find it after a recent service by Breitling's heritage dept.

Spoiler: More Breitling

For anyone who is interested, here are some Royal Oak waiting times for the AP Paris boutique:

15202: 5-6 years
15500: blue 2 years; black/grey pretty much immediately available from July

Apparently the Geneva boutique has stopped taking names for the 15202, as the waiting time is currently at 8 years. In Spring 2017 the wait there was 3-6 months. The world's gone maaaaaaaaaad!

I'm not too surprised by this, it was only a matter of time until the Nautlius fire spilled over into the RO. With Nautilus and Aquanauts going well above retail, it makes sense that some of the fervor transferred to Genta's first born that, until recently, had shorter waitlists and still has a lower MSRP.

Spoiler: Glad I got in early....

 

[walds11]

@MZhammer: The Nautilus 5711 market is crazy. The asking prices for the blue dial = about 2x list. Agreed on your AP assessment. The 15400ST blue dial has creeped up. I’ve seen asking prices in the upper $20,000s.

Here is a pic of its little sister, the 15450. 37mm, but wears a few mm larger. It’s perfect for my thin wrist.

 

[benf]

@MZhammer: The Nautilus 5711 market is crazy. The asking prices for the blue dial = about 2x list. Agreed on your AP assessment. The 15400ST blue dial has creeped up. I’ve seen asking prices in the upper $20,000s.

Here is a pic of its little sister, the 15450. 37mm, but wears a few mm larger. It’s perfect for my thin wrist.
View attachment 1130674

Interestingly, the price appreciation doesn’t seem to have been impacted the 15450st (yet). Perhaps it’s the smaller size? BNIB examples are listed on Chrono 24 at close to MSRP.

Was offered a blue dial from an AP boutique recently and I passed on it. Hope it’s not going 2 haunt me.

 

[walds11]

Interestingly, the price appreciation doesn’t seem to have been impacted the 15450st (yet). Perhaps it’s the smaller size? BNIB examples are listed on Chrono 24 at close to MSRP.

Was offered a blue dial from an AP boutique recently and I passed on it. Hope it’s not going 2 haunt me.

Yes, due to the smaller size.

The blue dial is actually going for a premium, at least here in the US.

 

[an draoi]

I'm not too surprised by this, it was only a matter of time until the Nautlius fire spilled over into the RO. With Nautilus and Aquanauts going well above retail, it makes sense that some of the fervor transferred to Genta's first born that, until recently, had shorter waitlists and still has a lower MSRP.

Spoiler: Glad I got in early....

View attachment 1130660

Yeah, this is my view also. I talked about this with the sales associate there and we mused that there are probably few people who like one but not the other.

He also said that AP is taking steps to limit its sales geographically, although it's not clear to me what this means in practice. So for example, he said that the European boutiques were only accepting European customers onto their wait lists. Quite what "European" means and how it could be enforced, I don't know, other than the EU boutiques ceasing to offer tax refunds to non-EU customers (which is the example he gave me). I also wonder whether it will have much effect on the length of the wait lists for the models I mentioned (all of which are the SS variants, by the way). I'm not sure how many customers from Asia or the ME are seeking to add their names to multi-year wait lists for SS ROs, rather than buying PM ROOs that they can walk out with on their wrists.

I used to think that I might buy a 15202 at some point, but it now seems that point is at least 5 years away. Not that a little enforced restraint is a bad thing, mind you.

 

[Riva]

SS becoming more precious than gold. They learnt a lot from Supreme and buyers didn't learn anything.

 

[Riva]

Casentino season

 

[Dino944]

It is the only CPCP watch (if I'm not mistaken) to have a Stainless Steel alternative made. The steel variant is, technically, not CPCP but has the same movement and a hand guilloche dial with a slight pattern variation (no flower).

It is a lovely little thing, but a b*tch to get serviced. Took nearly 12 months in total to have Richemont do a proper service.

Spoiler: Basculante

View attachment 1130532

Yes, the Tank Basculante is the only Cartier to have a stainless steel variant that uses the same movement. There was a CPCP Ronde that has evolved a into the Ronde Solo, but the case is a bit flatter on top and the movement is different. There is still a gold Ronde available but different dial and movement than the CPCP version.

BTW, congrats on your Breitling! Hope it gives you many years of enjoyment.

Both awesome! How big is the Breitling? Really sharp. I like that era. 80s, 90s and even early 2000s when looks were classic but the manufacturing had improved water resistance. Yours is even better. A real vintage movement but a modern case. Cartier service times are pretty slow. The worst I have experienced by about double. Still love the brand though.

Interesting that you and @MZhammer have had such bad service experiences with Cartier. I can't help but wonder if it is based on the countries where you reside and had them serviced. We've dropped off my wife's large automatic Tank Francaise at the NYC Flagship store for service either 3 times in the last 17+ years and its always come back to us in less than 6 weeks.

 

[Texasmade]

For anyone who is interested, here are some Royal Oak waiting times for the AP Paris boutique:

15202: 5-6 years
15500: blue 2 years; black/grey pretty much immediately available from July

Apparently the Geneva boutique has stopped taking names for the 15202, as the waiting time is currently at 8 years. In Spring 2017 the wait there was 3-6 months. The world's gone maaaaaaaaaad!

From what I've heard, AP boutiques are setting really long expectations but actual orders are coming in much quicker.

 

[Dino944]

Yeah, this is my view also. I talked about this with the sales associate there and we mused that there are probably few people who like one but not the other.

He also said that AP is taking steps to limit its sales geographically, although it's not clear to me what this means in practice. So for example, he said that the European boutiques were only accepting European customers onto their wait lists. Quite what "European" means and how it could be enforced, I don't know, other than the EU boutiques ceasing to offer tax refunds to non-EU customers (which is the example he gave me). I also wonder whether it will have much effect on the length of the wait lists for the models I mentioned (all of which are the SS variants, by the way). I'm not sure how many customers from Asia or the ME are seeking to add their names to multi-year wait lists for SS ROs, rather than buying PM ROOs that they can walk out with on their wrists.

I used to think that I might buy a 15202 at some point, but it now seems that point is at least 5 years away. Not that a little enforced restraint is a bad thing, mind you.

There are definitely people who like one design but not the other. I really like the RO and the Nautilus. I’ve always favored the RO’s design slightly over the Nautilus, but that’s subjective and both are great watches.

Years ago when I ordered my 15202 from an AD, the wait wasn’t too bad, roughly 6-12 weeks. You could just walk into the NYC boutique and buy one, if you didn’t mind paying MSRP. I even got it with a little better than a 15% discount. Now I understand ADs in the US don’t or can’t get the 15202 in steel, they are reserved for the boutiques.

In the end the RO and the Nautilus are great designs that can easily coexist in a persons collection without seeming redundant.

My 15202ST... not sure why it’s at the top in this post.

 

[steveoffice]

woah you got 15202st with discount? good old days before ig...

 

[Texasmade]

I got my 15400 silver dial in Feb 2017 with a 22% discount. I remember going to the NYC AP boutique and seeing a blue 15400 for sale along with the Open Work Jumbo a month later. Those were the days when you could actually buy the watches you wanted without waiting years.

 

[Dino944]

From what I've heard, AP boutiques are setting really long expectations but actual orders are coming in much quicker.

Once production ramps on on the 15500 I doubt the wait for one with a blue dial will be 2 years, there were never 2 year waiting lists for 15400s. As for 15202st, I have heard the wait for the last few years has been long, but not 8 years long as the Geneva boutique suggests.