Just about 20 pieces made their way to San Francisco - for your viewing pleasure:

The Philippe Dufour Simplicity, 37mm platinum. I mean, my pics don't do it justice. I have a video that shows how the dial plays in the light. The movement finishing also just awesome. I was awestruck. Struck with awe.



Patek Philippe 2499 in Vichet case with round pushers. The Vichet case with the stepped, long, curved down lugs was just amazing. Voluptuous.


Rolex 6238 Pulsations Dial. For @t_swiss_t


Jack Nicklaus' Yellow Gold Day Date. Talk about provenance.


Vacheron Constantin Dual Time Prototype worn on Mt. Everest. Not my cup of tea, but the texture of the dial was pretty special.


Rolex Submariner ref 6205. Never held one in hand before.


Marlon Brando's GMT worn on Apocalypse now. It's dope. Lume is perfect. Case is strong.


Rolex Padellone ref 8171 in steel. Incredibly sharp case. One of my favorites.

 

Thoroughly looking forward to seeing what the Brando GMT brings.

 

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

Wow, some classy pieces there for sure. Not sure I’m brave enough to remove the bezel from a GMT though. I guess that’s just one of the things that separates me from Marlon Brando!

 

His work is difficult to appreciate in photos. Seeing it in person is really needed to understand the level of work he does...

 

I'm glad to see you write this, because while I know I'm supposed to bow down and worship him as the greatest living watchmaker, I can't discern from photos what makes the Simplicity so much better than the rest of the upper-tier independent watchmakers.

 

I guess it depends on who those other upper-tier independent watchmakers are. I would put Kari Voutilianen right up there with Dufour for the ability to finish parts to a very high standard...I would gladly have an Observatoire that he finished for example, even though he's using a Peseux movement in it and not one of his own making...

At a certain point it comes down to the overall feel and cohesiveness of the watch, and I don't think personally that there are many watches that capture how good a simple watch can be better than the Simplicity. Certainly part of it is my own personal preferences no doubt, and there are many other independent watchmakers I really like (Gauthier for example) but Dufour seems to capture something they don't. Some of the best photos I've seen of a Simplicity are on Steve G's site:

http://ninanet.net/watches/others08/Mediums/mdufour.html

Having been in Dufour's workshop, seen the watches being made in person, I can say these come the closest to capturing the quality that goes into each piece...

Cheers, Al