"Mr. Rolex" selected ten favorite watches and the results were surprising

James Dowling, the founder of the well-known foreign watch forum "Timezone", has collected watches for more than 35 years. He combined his interest and career with another expert, Jeffrey Hess, and co-wrote a book entitled "The Best of Time Rolex Wristwatches: An Unauthorized History.〉Watch Bible is recognized by watch fans as an authority on Rolex watches, and some even call him "Mr. Rolex", which shows how much he loves watches, especially Rolex watches.

▲Source: inidraig, ukwatches

In an interview recently, James Dowling shared his ten favorite watches. For him who collects countless famous watches, this is undoubtedly a difficult task, because he must have a reason to appreciate each watch before including it in the collection. It should not be difficult for ordinary people to choose ten watches, but James Dowling has touched and owned too many watches. What are the tables, the answer may be a little different from what you think...

▲James Dowling once published a book on Rolex watches, which is highly respected by watch fans. Source: Amazon

▲Source: Watchpro

ROLEX Pillow Oyster Waterproof Watch

The starting point for Rolex to become famous. At the beginning of the 20th century, the brand founder Hans Wilsdorf believed that a good watch must meet at least several requirements, including accurate travel time, automatic winding and waterproof performance. It was not easy to concentrate on one watch at that time. However, it has almost become the standard specification of all mechanical watches today, which shows the vision of Hans Wilsdorf back then. The Oyster waterproof watch in 1926 was the first step for Hans Wilsdorf to practice the blueprint in his mind. The pillow-shaped Oyster waterproof watch owned by James Dowling was manufactured between 1926 and 1927 and belonged to the first batch of Oyster waterproof watches. All the essence of Rolex watchmaking.

▲Source: Watchpro

ROLEX Beta 21 Ref. 5100

Beta 21 is a quartz watch research and development project jointly invested by more than ten brands, but the first batch of Beta quartz watches has no mass production market, otherwise they may rewrite the history of clocks and watches and become the first quartz watches. The Rolex Beta 21 owned by James Dowling was produced in the late 1960s. The quartz movement on the watch was a relatively large work at that time, which was different from the style of ultra-thin watches favored by the market at that time, which made the watch unique. In the 1960s, it was said that the price of a watch was not necessarily related to the material of the case, including the accuracy of the travel time. On the Internet, the Day-Date without gemstones asked for about 4,000 pounds, but the price of Beta 21 at the time was extremely exaggerated, as high as 14,000 pounds! At present, there is no information to prove the exact production quantity of Rolex Beta 21. James Dowling estimates that it is about 1,000 pieces, because the watches are all engraved with numbers, and James Dowling has not seen works with numbers above 900. Around the 1990s, there were probably less than half of the production of this watch left on the market at that time, and now it has been more than 30 years, and the number will only become rarer and rarer.

▲Source: Watchpro

FRODSHAM Double Escapement

Some people should have never heard of this brand (including myself), James Dowling pointed out that the technology and tools used by this independent watchmaking brand are definitely modern elements, but they still try their best to follow the traditional watchmaking process to create watches. This brand is quite low-key, and many works are specially produced after receiving orders, so it is not easy to see in the market, and it often takes a while to place an order, but James Dowling said that he thinks the wait is definitely worth it.

▲Source: Watchpro

PATEK PHILIPPE 3448 Perpetual Calendar

As a watch fan, it is definitely hard to resist the watches of Patek Philippe, the king of watches. The PP watch selected by James Dowling is the brand's first mass-produced automatic perpetual calendar watch in 1962. It has been about 16 years since the watch was launched. The only self-winding perpetual calendar watch on the market. James Dowling appreciates the appearance design of 3448, and thinks it is simple and elegant, and now the value of this watch is getting higher and higher, starting at about 185,000 pounds. James Dowling probably bought this watch in the 1980s. It cost him about 8,000 pounds to start with. Due to the high price, he had to sell half of his collection of watches at that time to have enough budget to buy this PP. The story of this watch is that because James Dowling paid a lot of money to buy this watch, he could only look at other watches he wanted to buy for a long time, but he had no money to buy in his pocket, so he endured it for about 10 A few months later, he finally resold the watch at a price of 500 pounds less than the starting price. If he were to estimate the value, the watch should be sold for 500,000 pounds. It is not an exaggeration. It was too impulsive to sell.

▲Source: Watchpro

CARTIER tank normal

The first Tank was designed in 1917 and officially launched in 1919. After more than 100 years of birth, the design features of this watch have not changed much, such as rectangular case, Roman numerals, orbital minute scale, blue steel Hands and crown inlaid sapphires, etc. At the beginning, all Tank watches were manufactured and sold in Paris, but there was one exception, one was sold in London - the one owned by James Dowling, the watch 1919/20 London is engraved on the case and folding clasp of the watch. James Dowling accidentally found this watch at the famous Portobello Market in London, but at that time the mirror of the watch was broken and the watch could not be worn. He decided to buy it on the spot without hesitating for too long, and handed it over to a professional watchmaker to help him restore it.

▲Source: Watchpro

HAMILTON Ventura

James Dowling often went to the United States, Germany, Japan and Hong Kong to watch watch exhibitions for several years. During that time, he bought many watches one after another. He and his wife had an agreement that if the watch he bought home was what the other party wanted, he The wife can receive the watch directly, and in exchange for this privilege, James Dowling can freely buy watches without restriction. Once he bought a Hamilton Elvis watch with a platinum case and a black dial. The avant-garde appearance of the watch attracted the attention of his wife who is engaged in art work, so this watch was confiscated—about 20 years ago What happened years ago, perhaps because his wife couldn't put it down, James Dowling's evaluation of it also increased.

▲Source: Watchpro

Urban Jürgensen Ref. 3

The history of the old Danish brand Urban JÜrgensen can be traced back to the 18th century, but he became interested in this brand after being taken over by Mr. Peter Baumberger in the 1980s. James Dowling mentioned that a powerful watchmaker under Urban JÜrgensen, Derek Pratt, once I have worked with George Daniels, and the watchmaking technology is not ordinary. James Dowling especially likes the Ref. 3 perpetual calendar he made for Urban JÜrgensen. The overall design of this watch is neat and elegant. , He thinks that he likes the design aesthetics of this watch more than its craftsmanship, which is different from ordinary watches, and James Dowling is particularly impressed.

▲Source: Watchpro

JAEGER-LECOULTRE Mark XI

James Dowling also likes Jaeger-LeCoultre watches, but it is not the most classic Reverso of the brand, but a rarely heard military watch. It turned out that after the Second World War, the British Royal Air Force realized that they needed to equip pilots with high-precision watches, so they responded to the high-level management, and the high-level management began to open tenders to watch brands, among which Jaeger-LeCoultre was one of the participating manufacturers. It is said that they have produced about 2,700 watches for the British Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and South African Air Force. For example, the Mark XI owned by James Dowling is a masterpiece of super practicality, although it is not fancy. The design of the watch, but the reading time is very clear, and the moment that really fascinated James Dowling was when he lifted the bottom cover. He felt that this watch was equipped with the most well-designed movement among all military watches in history. It was this that made him fall in love with this watch with all his heart.

▲Source: Watchpro

LONGINES 30Z Chronometer pocket watch

The early observatory competitions held in Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom were a major event for watchmaking brands. Because these competitions had certain requirements for the size and volume of the movement, some brands even made movements specifically for participating in the competition. Longines was one of the most active brands in those years to participate in the observatory competition, and the 30Z was their work designed for the highest level of observatory competition. This movement is not commercially available, and it is rarely put into the case. James Dowling believes that the number of these movements is quite small, probably not more than 100. It happened that a 30Z movement was sent to the British Observatory (Kew Observatory) ) was left in place after the competition. Later, the movement appeared at a watch exhibition. James Dowling, who knows the goods, bought the movement on the spot, and then asked a familiar watchmaker to help him make the case, which he often carried with him. carry pocket watch.

▲Source: Watchpro

SEIKO Astron 40th Anniversary Watch

SEIKO's Astron was the first mass-produced quartz watch when it was born in 1969. At the beginning, the brand was only made of gold, but James Dowling himself didn't like watches with gold cases (the aforementioned Cartier Tank Normale was for him. Said to be a few exceptions), and SEIKO followed up and launched a re-engraved commemorative watch on the 40th anniversary of the birth of Astron in 2009, and changed the case to black titanium, which is right for James Dowling. The watch is equipped with 9F Quartz movement, the official data is an annual error of 10 seconds, and it is limited to 200 pieces. For James Dowling, who loves watches like an idiot, this is a very meaningful and special work, but he feels that the market is not interested in this watch. The degree of attention is relatively low, which is why he likes this watch so much.

After reading the list of "Mr. Rolex"'s ten favorite watches, I found that he is not only interested in Rolex watches, but in fact he loves all watches, and his collection objects are not limited to brands, eras, materials, functions or designs. I feel that he He is very familiar with every watch, and he is indeed a super player with a long history of collecting. Although it is difficult to know the style of watches he likes, what is certain is that as long as it is special enough or has special meaning for him, it is often The ideal watch he will always have in his heart.