FEATURE: Watches & Wonders 2023 - Part 2: IWC, Oris, Rolex & Chopard (with Jim Dollares)

 

Welcome back to the second part of our irreverent coverage of Watches & Wonders 2023. For part one (which was totally devoted to TAG Heuer, of course) click the link below:

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2023/04/feature-watches-wonders-2023-part-1-tag.html

ROB: Welcome back Jim, so where shall we begin?

JIM: Well, how about we start by bashing that hyped and insanely priced IWC Ingeneur?

ROB: Oh yes, a great place to start. Yeah I mean, people have been saying that we are moving into a new era of nostalgia, the 60s is done to death so lets rehash the 70s and possibly the 80s too... and this watch sure looks like it should have come out in the 70s don't it? Though I have to say, I do quite like the funky dial.

JIM: You like it? And you say you never like what everyone else loves! I think it is a decent watch but I am no big fan of integrated bracelet models like this one. And is there anything unique to this watch? When I first saw it, my first thought was that it might as well say Baume & Mercier, Frederique Constant or Tissot on the dial. But just because it says IWC on the dial, the price for this steel watch is set to something crazy like 11k! Can you believe that? I mean, hats off to IWC if they can fool their moronic fans to pay that much, but still. Crazy!

ON THE WRIST: Chopard Alpine Eagle Automatic Watch & L 'Heure du Diamant Ladies Automatic Watch

 

298600-3001

Harrods / London, 15th September 2021

This was my wife and I's first visit to Harrods in over two years and for the first time ever we decided to stop and look around the 'Fine Jewellery and Watches' room instead of simply walking through it on the way to the more 'regular' watch boutiques. I'm really glad we did too because we found all sorts of goodies there including a Dior boutique selling the ladies Grand Bal, all manner of bejewelled Hublots and Roger DuBois (many of which were clearly pushing the boundaries of taste) and the Chopard boutique which was well worth a visit.

I've never been a big fan of the brand if I'm completely honest, because the Mille Miglias left me pretty cold and nothing else spoke to me much either. However, that all changed today when I came face to face with the Alpine Eagle for the first time (and our Swedish friend Jim Dollares was first in line to tell me 'I told you so)'. He did actually, although I had completely forgotten about it since I saw the release photos a while back... so it came as a welcome surprise and the perfect start to a great day out in London.

FEATURE: Is Trying On Expensive Watches a Good Idea? (featuring Jim Dollares)

Chopard Alpine Eagle

When I was in London recently I had the opportunity to try on a 'Chopard Alpine Eagle' which while not SUPER excessively expensive, is still something that I could not really contemplate buying without some serious saving and some intense soul searching. I was very impressed with the quality of the watch in the hand and I could totally understand why people who can afford to drop £11,000 on a watch without too much heartache would, but it also made me question whether trying on watches you know you can't really afford is a good idea. Does it make you dissatisfied with what you can actually afford or is it all part of the fun of being a watch enthusiast?

To find out, I thought I would ask our Swedish friend Jim Dollares,..