Field Notes - Beverly Hills Watch Crawl

Last week I had an opportunity to visit family in Los Angeles whom I had not seen since before COVID.  So, like anyone with normal priorities, I set aside a day for exploring the boutiques of Beverly Hills. Luckily a couple of my brothers are also watch collectors so we could make a day of it. 

Long story, short we started at one end of Rodeo Drive and worked our way down to the bottom stopping at Rolex, Panerai, Grand Seiko, Hermes, JLC, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Bvlgari, IWC, Vacheron Constantin and Breguet. It was an amazing day full of incredible watches and mediocre wrist shots.  I will spare you most, but not all, of those.  But here is a quick list of my conclusions as I look back on what I saw.

1.     I was impressed with how welcoming and generous almost everyone was.  The staff at the Breguet and Vacheron Constantin really deserve high praise in this respect.  Even though it was clear they were not going to be selling anything on that specific day, they were happy to sit down and spend close to an hour walking us through their collections, history, production techniques and really educating us about their brands. It made for one of my most memorable watch days ever.

2.     Grand Seiko is giving this industry a real run for its money.  This was my first time seeing a large collection of their pieces in one place and I was impressed.  Yes the dials are incredible, as is the case finishing.  And the bracelets, while not yet Rolex quality, are rapidly improving.  But the thing that got me was their ability to segment the market and have something for a wide variety of collectors.  If you have about 5 grand they have a lot of good options for you.  7-8?  Check.  10?  No problem.  15?  Right this way.  And in each of these segments they are punching above their weight.  If I am being honest, “value for money” was not something that I saw a lot of that day.  But GS has it in spades.

3.     The new Bvlgari Octom Roma collection is my pick over the Octo Finissimo hands down.  It wears so much better.  Go with the white face.

4.     IWC is making the most comfortable bracelets in their segment.  I had never really thought about a 43mm Big Piot before, but I can totally see that bracelet pushing me over the edge someday.

5.     The date window on the new Breguet Type XX is way worse in photos than in real life.  The military version of that watch actually looked very cool in the steel where I had never cared for it in photos. Who would have guessed?

6.     I don’t care for the Rolex Datejust.  But if I were ever tempted to buy one, I think I would just head to VC and get the 56 instead. I like what VC is doing with this collection and how they are actively courting new customers.  But that is a topic for another post.

7.     The Cartier Santos had never been on my radar before but was one of the big surprises of the day. I keep thinking about the sportier one with the black face. Hmmmm…..I don’t have any square watches in my collection?  You have got to have one of those right?