Issue #290 | Buying Time - November 13, 2026
Seiko’s sales soar, watchmaking gets artistic, and a blue balloon dog faces the bidders.
Buying Time in 60 Seconds
Seiko is reporting record results, with watch sales up 24.2% and annual watch revenue potentially heading beyond $1.5 billion—even as enthusiasts question whether the brand still delivers its old value advantage. A. Lange & Söhne has opened its first Latin American boutique in Mexico City. Christopher Ward and Mr. Jones turn the Bel Canto into a colorful mechanical bird, Zenith joins J.N. Shapiro for a guilloché collaboration, and Takashi Murakami launches a watch brand of his own. New books explore the rebuilding of Fears and the people behind military watches, while RZE’s $299 solar-powered Seeker provides a useful reminder that wearing a watch need not require a financial committee. At auction, yesterday’s white-gold Rolex Daytona stopped at $47,500 without meeting reserve; today, Hublot’s Jeff Koons Balloon Dog gets its turn.
Time Graphing Today’s Watch Universe
Everybody Has a Story. What Is Yours Worth?
The watch industry has become exceptionally good at explaining why a watch costs what it costs. There is heritage. There is craftsmanship. There is an artist, a revived movement, a difficult material, an unusually determined founder or a connection to an occupation considerably more dangerous than checking your email. Today’s issue offers nearly the entire menu. The interesting question is which of those explanations leaves you wanting the watch after you have finished reading the explanation.
Start with Seiko, where two of today’s stories appear to be arguing across the room. The company’s record first-half results and rising watch salesdescribe a business enjoying considerable success. Watch revenue climbed 24.2%, with growth across major regions and product families. Meanwhile, a ten-year retrospective on Seiko’s changing value proposition asks why the brand feels less like the automatic recommendation it once was. Both things can be true. A company can sell more watches at higher prices while making longtime enthusiasts work harder to find the bargains they remember.
That distinction matters because commercial success and collector affection are different measurements. Seiko’s problem, if we can call growing sales a problem, is that its old reputation still accompanies every new price tag. Buyers remember forgiving an ordinary bracelet or imperfect regulation because the watch delivered so much for so little. Raise the price and those same buyers tend to develop improved eyesight.
Elsewhere, the industry is putting more personality into the product itself. Christopher Ward and Mr. Jones have turned the Bel Canto Lucia into a small mechanical performance: a bird’s beak indicates whether the chime is engaged, and its tail becomes the hammer. The artistic contribution changes how you experience the mechanism. It is cheerful, legible in its intent and refreshingly willing to be a little odd. Mechanical watchmaking has spent decades insisting it is emotional. Here, at least, something actually happens.
Zenith and J.N. Shapiro take a quieter route with their double-signed G.F.J. Calibre 135. Hand-cut dial patterns and American pocket-watch-inspired movement decoration give the collaboration a visible reason to exist. Ulysse Nardin, meanwhile, places traditional purple enamel beneath the extraordinary architecture of its Freak S. One watch asks you to look closely at a familiar format. The other makes you reconsider the format altogether.
Then there is Takashi Murakami, who has moved from collaborating with watchmakers to launching Time Objects. A titanium skull, flowers, cylindrical jumping hours and a tourbillon make a fairly direct statement of intent. The artist is no longer visiting the watch business. He has acquired a permanent address. Whether collectors follow will depend on how convincingly the watches connect his visual world with their mechanical one.
The more revealing stories may be the ones about the people doing the work. The new book about rebuilding Fears includes the uncertainty and financial strain that polished anniversary campaigns usually leave outside the frame. The Ateliers Associés partnership with Mickaël Gaspar addresses another practical issue: exceptional watchmakers also need funding, commercial knowledge and time to develop a business. Admiring independent watchmaking is easy. Helping it survive requires something more useful than applause.
The Watches of Espionage book makes a related point from another direction. A watch becomes more interesting when its story comes from someone’s life. That is a useful distinction in a market where a nylon strap and a suitably serious product name can apparently qualify almost anything for tactical duty.
And through all of this comes the RZE Seeker: titanium, solar power, sensible dimensions and a $299 price. No elaborate explanation is necessary. Shinola’s Duck Automatic makes its own case by using a Japanese movement to bring the price down. These watches remind us that a good product story can begin with the words “comfortable,” “useful” and “fairly priced.”
Today’s auction supplies the final edit. Yesterday, a white-gold Rolex Daytona attracted $47,500 and still did not sell. Today, Hublot’s Jeff Koons Balloon Dog arrives carrying artistic recognition, limited production and a very distinctive shade of blue. Bidders will decide how much those attributes mean to them. The industry can write the story, commission the artwork and furnish the boutique. The buyer still gets to write the number.
-Michael Wolf
News
A. Lange & Söhne Opens Its First Latin American Boutique
A. Lange & Söhne has opened at Kogan Luxury House in Mexico City’s Polanco district, creating an intimate collector destination inside a renovated colonial-style home. The boutique, which opened November 11, includes an Experience Library of watchmaking tools and artifacts and becomes the brand’s tenth point of sale in the Americas. Go Deeper
Seiko Watch Sales Head Toward $1.5 Billion
Seiko Group’s watch sales rose 24.2% to ¥122.4 billion, approximately $767 million, in the six months through September, helping drive record group results. With the company raising its full-year forecast, watches could generate more than $1.5 billion in annual revenue if they maintain their current share of the business. Go Deeper
Feature
Has Seiko Lost Its Value Advantage?
A decade of hands-on experience finds Seiko still capable of producing distinctive favorites, but rising prices make familiar shortcomings in accuracy, bracelets and quality control harder to excuse. With Citizen, Orient and microbrands offering stronger competition, the Seiko name increasingly starts a buying discussion instead of settling it. Go Deeper
Being Fearless: The Reality of Rebuilding Fears
Chris Hall’s 176-page Being Fearless traces Nicholas Bowman-Scargill’s first decade reviving Fears, including the risks, setbacks and periods when survival was uncertain. Available November 13, the book follows the company’s growth from a one-person operation into a 14-person Bristol business—and includes rather more reality than the average anniversary brochure. Go Deeper
Watches of Espionage Takes Its Stories Into Print
Watches of Espionage: Tools of the Trade brings together more than 500 pages covering over 160 watches from 40 brands, with the emphasis on the people and experiences behind them. Two edition styles, optional slipcovers and a reprinted 1965 UDT Handbook accompany the launch, with preorders open and delivery estimated for May. Go Deeper
Military Watches, From Honest Tools to Tactical Theater
Ten military and tactical selections span historical reissues, modern titanium tools and specialized designs, with prices ranging from $275 to $2,950. Hamilton, Marathon, Sinn, Benrus, Squale and others get assessed on practical specifications and wearability, along with the occasionally awkward distance between military credibility and military marketing. Go Deeper
New Watches
Ulysse Nardin Freak S Purple Enamel Combines Radical Mechanics With Traditional Craft
The Freak S Purple Enamel places a purple guilloché-flinqué enamel hour disc by Donzé Cadrans beneath one of modern watchmaking’s most distinctive mechanical displays. Its 45mm titanium case houses the automatic UN-251, with two inclined silicon balance wheels linked by a differential, a rotating movement that indicates the time, and a 72-hour power reserve. Setting is handled through the bezel and manual winding through the caseback, preserving the Freak’s absence of conventional hands and crown. Production is limited to 50 pieces. Price: US$174,400. Go Deeper
Zenith and J.N. Shapiro Give the G.F.J. a Hand-Cut American Accent
Zenith’s G.F.J. Calibre 135 Double Signed with J.N. Shapiro pairs a 39.15mm rose-gold case with a silver dial displaying barleycorn, basketweave and Shapiro’s Infinity Weave guilloché. The hand-wound movement receives damaskeening inspired by American pocket watches, while its COSC certification, regulation to ±2 seconds per day and 72-hour power reserve support the decorative work with serious chronometric credentials. Limited to 25 pieces, the collaboration comes with three leather straps; a rose-gold bracelet is available on request. Price: approximately US$82,700, converted from CHF68,900; local taxes may apply. Go Deeper
Christopher Ward and Mr. Jones Make the Bel Canto Sing a Different Tune
The C1 Bel Canto Lucia gives Christopher Ward’s hourly chiming watch a colorful new identity shaped by Mr. Jones and inspired by Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. A bird sits within a garden scene rendered in 19 pad-printed colors, with its beak indicating the chime setting and its tail functioning as the hammer that strikes the gong. The collaboration uses the mechanism as part of the artwork, making the moving components integral to the scene. It joins the collection without a fixed production limit. Price: US$5,550 on a strap or US$5,995 on a Consort bracelet. Go Deeper
Czapek Crossroads Lightning Brings Racing Detail to the Faubourg de Cracovie
Czapek’s Faubourg de Cracovie Crossroads Lightning takes inspiration from Swiss GT driver Jacopo Mazza’s racing helmet, translating it into a black hand-guilloché dial, silver counters and red accents. The 41.5mm steel case houses the COSC-certified Vaucher SXH3, a 5Hz automatic column-wheel chronograph with a 65-hour power reserve and timing to one-tenth of a second. A gradient tachymeter scale, glassbox sapphire crystal and choice of Alcantara or calfskin strap complete the 18-piece edition. Price: US$44,800 before tax. Go Deeper
Fortis Turns Up the Brightness With the Novonaut N-42 TR
Fortis adds fully luminous LumiCast X1 dials to the Novonaut N-42 in Halo Black, Halo Blue and Halo Green. Each version retains the substantial 42mm steel case, 200-meter water resistance, bidirectional timing bezel and day-date display, paired with a hybrid rubber-textile strap. The automatic Werk 17 column-wheel chronograph provides a 60-hour power reserve, while the watches weigh 115 grams on their straps. Price: US$5,950. Go Deeper
Petermann Bédat Shrinks the Chronograph and Keeps the Craft
Petermann Bédat’s Reference 2914 introduces a chronograph-only monopusher in a compact 36.5mm platinum case with soldered lugs and a polished concave bezel. A semi-transparent sapphire dial reveals portions of the mechanism, while the hand-wound calibre 234 combines a column wheel, horizontal clutch, jumping-minute mechanism and hand-beveled solid-gold wheels. The movement offers 56 hours of power reserve and is visible through the exhibition back. This initial platinum edition is limited to 20 pieces. Price: approximately US$216,100 before tax, converted from CHF180,000. Go Deeper
Trilobe Rebuilds Une Folle Journée Around Its Own Movement
The second-generation Une Folle Journée retains Trilobe’s three counterclockwise rotating rings for hours, minutes and seconds, now inside a redesigned barrel-shaped case with integrated lugs. Measuring 40.3mm across and 18.25mm thick, the watch introduces the brand’s X-Nihilo automatic movement, with a central rotor, 4Hz balance and 42-hour power reserve. Titanium and rose-gold cases accompany blue, black or gray treatments and matching striped rubber straps. Price: approximately US$26,000 before tax for titanium, converted from €23,500; U.S. pricing for rose gold has not been disclosed. Go Deeper
Vario Gives the Futurist Some Tantalum Weight
Vario’s Futurist Tantalum Edition puts its angular, 1970s-inspired design into a dense bluish-gray metal that is notoriously demanding to machine. The 39mm case measures 10mm thick, delivers 100-meter water resistance and combines polished bevels with the collection’s faceted sapphire crystal. Seven sunburst dial colors accompany the Miyota 9039 automatic movement, with production listed at five watches per color and public allocations opening after Singapore’s November 14–15 Spring Sprang Sprung event. Price: US$2,999. Go Deeper
Rexhep Rexhepi’s Own CC2 Keeps Things Personal
Rexhep Rexhepi’s personal Chronomètre Contemporain II pairs a platinum case with a unique textured sage-green enamel dial, ivory indices and diamond markers. The watch retains the CC2’s dead-beat zero-reset movement and the long, elegant lugs associated with Jean-Pierre Hagmann’s case design. Signs of wear suggest this is a watch its maker actually uses, adding another appealing detail to a piece that was never intended to populate a dealer’s display. Price: not offered for sale; no public U.S. dollar price. Go Deeper
Mickaël Gaspar’s Souscription Gains a New Kind of Backing
Ateliers Associés, founded by William Massena and Louis Westphalen-Lemaitre, is backing Mickaël Gaspar’s debut through funding and shared expertise while leaving him in control of his company and creations. His Souscription places a visible balance and retrograde date inside a 39.9mm steel case, with a hand-wound Cal. 234 designed to make its mechanics understandable. The 20-piece edition offers 46 hours of power reserve and combines in-house component production with hand finishing. Price: approximately US$82,800 before tax, converted from CHF69,000. Go Deeper
Takashi Murakami Launches Time Objects With Skulls, Flowers and a Tourbillon
Takashi Murakami’s new Time Objects brand begins with the Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping Hours Tourbillon, bringing his recognizable imagery into a Grade 5 titanium skull-shaped case. Hours appear on a cylinder, minutes on a trailing disc, and rotating flower motifs accompany the hand-wound KM 7012 TM movement. Its 125-hour power reserve supports five versions, including two 12-piece editions and three gem-set variants. Price: approximately US$102,000–US$177,600 before tax, converted from CHF85,000–CHF148,000. Go Deeper
Review
RZE Seeker Keeps Everyday Watchmaking Refreshingly Simple
The $299 RZE Seeker combines a 38mm titanium case, solar-powered Epson quartz movement and 100-meter water resistance in a lightweight everyday watch that skips the date and most of the fuss. Preorders open November 19, with early-December shipping expected, and a full charge supplies approximately four months of running time. Go Deeper
Shinola Duck Automatic Finds Value Through a Japanese Movement
Shinola’s 38mm Duck Automatic combines skindiver styling, 100-meter water resistance and a flexible steel bracelet with the Miyota 9015, bringing standard steel models to $895. The proportions, dial texture and tool-free clasp adjustment help make this one of the brand’s more persuasive mechanical value propositions. Go Deeper
Anders & Co. Goes Rectangular With the AC3 Lago
The AC3 Lago introduces a slim rectangular steel case measuring 27.75mm by 38.10mm and just 6.3mm thick, with five dial choices and a curved sapphire crystal. A Miyota quartz movement keeps the hours-and-minutes design compact and accessible, while the restrained proportions give Anders & Co.’s first rectangular watch a distinctly dressier character. Go Deeper
Vander Avort Lovon Makes a Quiet Belgian Entrance
Vander Avort’s debut combines gold cases, hand-engraved lugs, limited guilloché dial variations and a Chronode-made automatic movement with a 60-hour power reserve. The darker dials and comfortable fit earn praise, although the 40.9mm case and pricing put the Lovon into direct competition with some very established Swiss alternatives. Go Deeper
Podcast
Fratello Talks: Our Watch Pet Peeves, Vol. II
Nacho, RJ and Daan discuss the small failures that can spoil an otherwise appealing watch, including uncomfortable clasps, disappointing straps, awkward date windows and missing antireflective coatings. It is a useful reminder that the part touching your wrist can matter considerably more than the paragraph describing the heritage.
Watching Time
Adrian Barker: Did They Fix the TAG Heuer Aquaracer?
Adrian Barker examines the titanium Aquaracer Professional 300 Sundowner 2 collaboration with Time+Tide, including its design changes and 80-hour power reserve.
Set The Crown: The Luxury Watch Market Is Changing
Chris and Julien discuss new releases, complications and value, asking whether collectors are beginning to look beyond the familiar machinery of hype.
Fratello: Our Watch Pet Peeves, Vol. II
The video edition of Fratello’s discussion tackles the straps, clasps, date windows and finishing shortcuts that become surprisingly noticeable after the purchase.
Collectability: Inside the Auction World With Geoffroy Ader
John Reardon and auctioneer Geoffroy Ader explore landmark sales, the skill of reading a bidding room and why exceptional watches matter more than record headlines.
Chisholm Hunter: Twelve Quiet Luxury Watches
An understated selection spanning three price ranges includes watches from Nomos, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Zenith and Vacheron Constantin.
Subdial: Something Is Missing From This MB&F
A varied lineup includes an unusual MB&F, retrograde complications, a starry-dial Lange and a platinum Andersen Genève celebrating Concorde through cloisonné enamel.
Auctions
Phillips Hong Kong Assembles a Tourbillon Showcase
Phillips’ November 21–22 Hong Kong sale spans historic pocket tourbillons and modern wristwatch experiments, with highlights from F.P. Journe, Richard Mille, Audemars Piguet, Théo Auffret and Beat Haldimann. Three generations of Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyrotourbillons add further mechanical theater, with previews running November 16–22 in West Kowloon. Go Deeper
Auction Report
The Daytona Stalls. Can Hublot’s Balloon Dog Find Some Lift?
Yesterday’s November 12 auction of the 2026 Rolex Daytona White Gold/Ceramic/Black/Oysterflex, reference 126519LN-0002, reached $47,500 without meeting reserve. That makes it an unsuccessful auction, rather than a $47,500 sale—a distinction worth preserving when discussing what watches are actually worth.
Today’s November 13 offering changes the mood considerably: a 2026 Hublot Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons Blue, reference 542.UB.5170.NR.JKN26. Apparently, after the Daytona failed to take off, we are trying something inflatable.
Introduced September 16, 2026, the collaboration translates the rounded forms of Koons’s Balloon Dog sculptures, developed between 1994 and 2000, into a watch. The blue version is limited to 200 pieces, alongside separate red and silver editions also limited to 200 each. Its 42mm polished blue anodized-aluminum case and bezel adopt an inflated profile, with a matching sculptural dial, a decorative rubber tail and a small Balloon Dog counterweight on the seconds hand. The artistic connection extends across the watch’s construction, giving it a stronger identity than a signature printed on a familiar dial.
The auction example is described as unworn, with the dial, case, bezel and bracelet or strap components all rated excellent; slight handling marks remain possible under the overall condition description. Inside is the automatic HUB1710, offering approximately 50 hours of power reserve, while water resistance is 50 meters. The blue strap uses a rubber base with a metallic-blue leather insert. Its appeal rests on the combination of Koons’s visual language, limited production and unusually playful execution; the mechanism supplies the timekeeping without competing for the spotlight.
Hublot’s published U.S. retail price is $25,100 before tax, which provides a clear reference point but does not establish this example’s resale value. With the watch barely two months beyond launch and no reliable completed-sale comparison established here, a confident secondary-market estimate would require more evidence; ambitious asking prices are not proof of what buyers will pay. The supplied auction details do not include a reserve, so any premium or discount remains to be determined. The auction ends at 12:00 p.m. EST today, Friday, November 13, 2026. Buy it because you want the blue balloon dog on your wrist. Expecting it to fetch your money back is a separate trick.
Current bid: $9,100
Losing Time
A few of Today’s Big Losers at Auction on Grailzee
Four Watches, Four Reality Checks
The sellers brought $98,884 worth of expectations. Bidders brought $39,000. Across these four failed sales, the combined bids finished 60.6% below the combined asking prices—a $59,884 disagreement over what the watches deserved to bring home.
The 2025 Rolex Lady-Datejust 28mm with green dial and rose gold President bracelet (279135RBR) delivered the biggest dollar disconnect. Against a $55,000 ask, bidding reached just $20,000, leaving a $35,000 shortfall, or 63.6% below asking. Precious metal, diamonds and the Rolex name apparently weren’t enough to persuade this audience to finance the seller’s ambitions.
The 2026 Rolex Datejust 31mm with pink “Sundust” dial and Oyster bracelet (278240) encountered a quieter version of the same problem. Its $12,394 asking price met a $6,500 high bid, a $5,894 gap, or 47.6% below asking. That impressively specific asking price suggests someone did considerable arithmetic. Unfortunately, the bidders did their own.
The 2021 Hublot Big Bang Unico Red Magic Limited Edition 45mm (411.CF.8513.RX) suffered the largest percentage miss. Bidding stopped at $5,000 against a $17,995 ask—a $12,995 shortfall, or 72.2% below asking. The red ceramic made a statement. The bidding made a considerably less expensive one. “Limited edition” may describe production, but it does not guarantee unlimited enthusiasm.
The Hublot Big Bang Unico “Blue Magic” Limited Edition 45mm (411.ES.5119.RX) came closest to its seller’s target, although “closest” is doing charitable work here. Its $7,500 high bid fell $5,995 short of the $13,495 ask, or 44.4% below asking. No year was supplied for this example. Blue Magic attracted a stronger offer than Red Magic, but neither managed the trick of turning an asking price into a sale.
The common thread is the distance between seller expectations and the money this particular auction audience would commit. Both Rolex listings missed substantially, so the crown offered no automatic protection; both Hublots demonstrated that colorful ceramic and limited production still need a willing buyer at the proposed price. These failed auctions don’t establish universal market values, but they do establish that these sellers’ targets found no takers here. An asking price remains wonderfully easy to set. Getting someone else to agree is the expensive part.
Closing Time
Thanks for reading BuyingTime Daily. Have a great weekend, wear something you enjoy, and remember: a compelling story is a fine reason to look at a watch. The price still deserves a look of its own.
