It's time . . . which of the holy trinity (+ Lange) do you pull the trigger on after saving up and why?

Of the 4 brands listed, I would get an A. Lange & Sohne. Why? Because nobody other than total watch nerds have ever heard of it. NOBODY would know what the EFF it is. And if anybody saw it on your wrist...

... they'd think, "That is the ugliest piece of sh*t I've ever seen." Nobody would ever bother you!

Perfect!

None. They don't appeal to me.

Lange, if only to buck the trend of the Swiss grail watch with the chorus of heavenly choirs and all that.

I want some good German operatic singing of the most inane stuff with my grail watch, thank you! 😛

The VC 222 already lives rent free in my head it may as well share time on my wrist.

None of above

Credor Eichi II hands down for me (White or "black" doesn't matter, both are equality beautiful) it's the most beautiful watch I've ever seen

Tried one of these on and loved it ,only problem 5yr wait list,so plenty of time to save up

This is a very hard question as I’ve handled a DeBethune Starry Varius and it was remarkable. I also know ALS makes some phenomenal watches- and I’ve been fortunate to see a couple of those too. The problem with ALS is I’ve seen and heard of way too many watches going back for stupid quality control issues. I’m gonna include a post from an IG account https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp4ddSFLttX/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

watches.in.singapore- “Lange removed the moonphase from my friend's lumen and forgot to put it back in. I've heard many horror stories about Lange's servicing, ranging from oil leaks on the dial to malfunctioning chronographs, but this takes the cake.

A good friend bought this lumen from auction last year. Upon receiving it, we found that the watch had a very strange fault.

While the seconds would tick, it was not connected to the minutes/hours, meaning that the watch wouldn't move.

Naturally, we sent the watch in for service. It took over 6 months, with just the quote alone taking a ridiculous 3 months or so. The watch returned at the end of last year with the "Quality Control" sticker on it and everything. But it was instantly clear that the moon was missing.

To this day, it still baffles us how so many Lange staff were able to miss a very large luminescent moon. Looking at the dial, you can clearly see an empty indent that likely helps keep the moonphase in place. And let's not even talk about the fact that this happened on a Lumen, one of Lange's most desirable limited editions. Without a doubt the most ridiculous watch servicing we've seen and ironic for a brand whose tagline is #higheststandards“

A comment on that thread even had another owner complaining about a defect on their Lange. Unacceptable for a brand with the tagline #HighestStandards

awatchconnoissuer: “That is so messed up. On top of that the wait time is ridiculous and so are their service quotes.

My brand new datograph has a few scratches on one of the levers which can be seen from the caseback. It's something I only noticed after my purchase and trying to take macro shots. Quite upsetting to say the least but now I've figured it's better to live with it rather than send it for a service; unless obviously required with mechanical issues.”

These owners shouldn’t be dealing with these issues. But I think it’s similar to the hyper-car ownership experience. People who get limited edition allocations for cars like a LaFerrari don’t want to make a bunch noise as they’re getting a gift from the automotive manufacturer that will appreciate in value rather quickly. I think it’s a similar situation with these high horology brands. FP. Journe movements are also known to be a bit fragile. I’ve been told by collectors to stay away from early models and try to collect Journe from 2016 onwards.

Don’t get me wrong, I still aspire to own an ALS & Journe. I just have a hard time picking one Maison out of the holy trinity +1. Perhaps I’d take an AP Royal Oak Double Balance frosted. I just love that frosted look.

Not gonna lie . . . if I had a little less sense (and if I weren't married), I'd probably have another watch box just for Glashutte based watch companies.

Looking forward to what's in store for Credor as a sub-brand.

I'm honestly split btw. Vacheron and Lange. I love the Lange Saxonia Copper Blue with the aventurine dial . . . but I also love so many of the modernized reissues of Vacheron's back catalog like the cushion case Historiques 1921 or the triple calendar 1942. As with most brands, I tend to not like the popular models for personal taste reasons, so the Overseas does nothing for me.

AP? Also does zero for me aesthetic wise . . . and I suppose like the Rolex Daytona, I maybe unfairly associate APs with a kind of showiness and ostentation (and maybe even douchebaggery) . . . albeit still quality and beautiful in their own ways.

I love vintage and more classical Patek (Calatravas) but again . . . I just don't like the nautilus or aquanaut. Does zero for me. Plus, it would be wasted on me since I'm not much of a water person.

Currently, the Vacheron Historiques 1942 is on my serious list. I just love the vintage look in a somewhat more modern size. It's also just one of those watches that can be dressed up/down and totally flies under the radar. And I'm a sucker for a pointer date.

Sadly none listed so....Option E!

CWC RN Quartz

or

LHD FXD (this would much harder since I'd have to find someone to be willing to modify it lol)

Honestly, I have yet to encounter a watch that I am willing to spend more than 25000€ on and that includes platinum watches on bracelets, high tier independents and Seiko Micro Artist stuff. My stance is: "I don't care how hard you polished them chamfers, ain't no way I'm giving you more than 10 grand for the work". So it would have to be something technically innovative with proven benefit and that's the one thing watchmakers aren't doing anymore. Competing (!), they claim there's benefits but it's lacking proof, in technology. Today it's finishing, branding, pricing and exclusivity. I don't value that high enough.

There are some expensive watches I would like because I find them cool, in the order of desirability, a Cartier Tortue Chronograph, Royal Oak Annual Calendar or Rolex Day Date. But I don't want any of these watches at the current prices because every time I'd look to check the time it would scream "you overpaid for this". Even if you 100x my bank account I'd almost certainly feel the same. Just because I could don't mean I should...

Nice, though for me if they're offering German watches I'd mostly go for Pforzheim brands with a dash of Glashutte brands like Muhle and Nomos or Glashutte Original.

Of these four brands, A. Lange definitely resonates most with me... However, in reality I would turn to Christiaan van der Klaauw.

Though these are beautiful expressions of watch history, I might stick with a Timex Expedition and a nice backyard in-ground pool build with one of those new style reverse-osmosis filter systems.

I love the font on that VC!

Which ones? Just had the opportunity to try this one on and fell in love with it the dial.

The pioneer 40mm is also very wearable.. I don't like the tourbillon version as it eats into the dial, but I wanted to see the color in person. I love the 'invisible' Moser name on the new pioneer.

Whattt. Really. This is disappointing if true. I haven't heard much on forums about this.

Pioneer Center Seconds would do nicely. Or Vantablack. Strictly aspirational

I just couldn’t disagree more. When you look at what people like the Gronefeld brother are doing or Max Busser at MB&F. It’s truly innovative on all levels. I’d spend all day on them if I had the money. There’s also De Bethune and FP Journe as well.

You and I have a different version of what affordable and possible mean. In my case it MIGHT be possible for me to get a Doxa 300 before I die. My impossible dream is between $10-$15,000 a number which most people here don’t think is a big deal. But all i want is that 70s ploprof….

Well, they are good at claiming innovation but is it actually working but where's the proof? For example

• Is the centrifugal governor in the groenograaf only for show or is it actually implemented in a way that it's working, i.e. reducing stress. We don't know.

• Does the resonance mechanism and remontoire in the expensive Journe watches have any benefit regarding accuracy. Well, the high horology brands certainly chickened out of the attempted relaunch at the chronometrie competitions, the article behind the link describes my issues in a sense. So there's that.

I think there is a Journe all the way at the bottom of this partial ranking (because nobody wants to tell their scores...)

• MB&Fs look cool, no doubt but they mostly strike me as show pieces, i.e. form over function. Nothing wrong with that but not my thing really. I respect them though.

• Then there's complications. Most of them aren't really hard to make if you don't insist on overcomplicating it, Ludwig Oechslin has demonstrated it. that's the type of innovation I value and definitely not where the watch industry is headed. You may feel different and that's okay.

The problem with most horological innovations is that nothing is ever free. So making one thing better by introducing something exotic at the cost of something tried and tested is rarely a good idea. Resonance for example is a sound concept but having two balance wheels means each is smaller and thus has less inertia. Plus they take away space for the main spring which means less regulating power. The constant torque idea is a good one, remontoire or chain-fusee will help in theory but is the added complexity worth it? Are the tolerances tight enough? One step forward, two steps back. If I am wrong, and I'd happily be wrong in this instance, then they should prove it by demonstrating superior performance. It's only fair, put your movements where your mouth is.

The only tech that actually seems to work in a somewhat proven way is Breguet's magnetic pivots in their 10Hz movement. It's simple, sound and there's at least anecdotal evidence that it's accurate. From what I could gather anyway...

I back up my vote as follows...

No Langes (yet) in the collection...

Sorry my exit watch will always be a Grand Seiko. I would not mind if GS or Lange takes the spot of AP. They just keep releasing Royal Oaks.

I'm not even gonna kick low with the Spidey watch:

Or this: the dials are just not on the same level.

Or this:

would be glad with a Patek Philippe 5196 R as my exit watch

VC makes great watches but they’re under the Richemont group, not independent so people may not appreciate them as much.

AP… only the jumbo and their older perpetuals (in 39mm) are worth it IMO. They seem to have lost it nowadays.

PP, another brand that has now prioritised (too obviously) making money over anything else.

ALS… Best finishing of all, but also Richemont group and they do bundling and pointless stuff nowadays.

May be worthwhile to look at other brands too. Or perhaps give up the idea of exit watch and just buy what you love for as long as you can :P

FP Journe, easily.

Yeah, larger corporations and conglomerates . . . can't live with 'em/can't live without 'em . . . It's like the rock band stereotype --> "They used to be really good and then they got too big" . . . which would make all of us the hipster that's all "Yeah, well . . . I knew about them before they started working with the machine, man."

$10K for a watch is a big deal for me - which is why I don't own a $10K watch...! 😀

For me is because its what I live on in a year.