Even if you swore off the news over the holidays, trading in your smartphone for a burner flip phone and cutting off your internet service at the telephone pole, you probably heard about Carlos Ghosn going on the lam. Ghosn had previously served as the CEO of Renault and Nissan, simultaneously, and he was a giant in the automotive industry. But he'd recently fallen from grace. Ghosn was out on a $4.5 million bail having been jailed by Japanese authorities for almost four months as a result of alleged financial crimes. After his bail was set Gosn was placed under house arrest. But on December 29, 2019, he walked out of his house, took a high speed train, boarded a private airplane, and ended up in Lebanon where he hopes to evade extradition.
The press is covering this escape in excruciating detail, including a running debate over whether Ghosn hid in an oversized case for musical equipment in order to evade customs and security checkpoints. Media have also noted that there is a timepiece dimension to Ghosn's saga: he apparently bought over $32,000 in Cartier watches using company money (that will get you about 8 Santos-Dumonts in steel on a leather strap before taxes).
But Ghosn's personal choice of wristwear has really not been discussed at all. I'm here to fix that with the help of our awesome community. Back in May of 2015 keen eyed user MIG33 posted a picture of Ghosn on a Watchuseek watch-spotting thread and suggested that his timepiece was a Vacheron Constantin dress model. Screenshot of 2015 Watchuseek discussion threadI did some digging and my best estimate is that this is the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine Date Automatic in white gold, reference 85180/000G-9230, with the caliber 2450 movement (I believe in-house). It has a 43 hour power reserve and ceramic ball bearings for the rotor, allegedly eliminating the need for lubrication. Pre-owned estimates for this watch are in the neighborhood of $20,000 but there is a wide dispersion in listings and estimates.
Curiously, at his press conference today in Lebanon, Ghosn's wristwear had significantly changed. Ghosn at his Jan 8, 2020 press conference A user on a dive watch group I belong to on Facebook noted that Ghosn seemed to sport a comparatively inexpensive plastic quartz wristwatch, possibly on a NATO strap. After some discussion we settled on the likelihood that this was a Casio G-shock reference DW5600BB-1 (the strap and watchface seemed to match). Pre-owned these timepieces sell for approximately $62. Quite a difference in value from Ghosn's less controversial days.
I bring this up, in part, in order to highlight my earlier article discussing how haute horology watches have a feature which high-profile individuals in risky situations greatly appreciate: portable liquidity. Close-up of Ghosn's press conference watchGhosn could have very well walked out from under house arrest in a "leafy enclave" of Tokyo knowing that he carried $20,000 on his wrist. No need to visit the bank and withdraw that amount, possibly exposing his plans in the process. I can just imagine one of his accomplices pausing before Ghosn crawled into the musical equipment case in Osaka and asking for the watch as a "gesture of appreciation." A watch collector really doesn't have much of a choice under those circumstances and it really isn't all that much compared to the $350,000 Ghosn seems to have paid for airfare alone. Does this explain why Casio replaced Vacheron?
Ghosn's fate remains to be seen. But, as in many elements of life, wrist watches have played a prominent roll in this tale.
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Last week, Icebox / Swiss Watches GA, a third party retailer of pre-owned watches, officially acknowledged receipt of a lawsuit filed by Rolex USA in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia - Atlanta Division. A screenshot of the Icebox / Swiss Watches GA retail location Source: Rolex's legal filing. The cause of action for Rolex's lawsuit against Icebox / Swiss Watches GA is "Trademark Counterfeiting, Trademark Infringement, False Advertising, Designation of Origin, Descriptions, Representations, and Unfair Competition." I've previously covered lawsuits of this sort filed by Rolex against independent retailers who sell modified watches. But this one is an order of magnitude different. Icebox / Swiss Watches GA has some very high-profile clientele. For example, a YouTube video from five years ago entitled "Post Malone Buys Rolex For 21 Savage & Autographs A Bugatti!" has over seven million views (the video content is pretty ...
We're certainly not suffering from a shortage of coverage when it comes to Rolex's recent launch of an entirely new product line: the Land-Dweller reference 127334 (steel, there are also precious metal versions). I've read much of this coverage and I will do my best not to repeat it here. Instead, I hope to share a few takes that you may not have seen elsewhere, including evidence that the watch's design heritage extends in directions that are overlooked. So let's get into it. To begin, the Land-Dweller is undoubtedly attributable to the leadership of CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour, who took the reigns of the brand in the summer of 2015. According to an expose by Bloomberg (more on that later), development of the Land-Dweller began roughly five years ago, a handful of years after Dufour took over. There have been many, equally significant releases by Rolex of late. For example, 2023's "emoji" Day-Date was arguably a bigger "mic drop" than the Lan...
I recently learned that the CEO of Audemars Piguet Americas (APA), Ginny Wright, was departing the legendary watch brand. A tabletop model of the AP "Starwheel," photo taken at AP House NYC. The new CEO of AP Americaa will be Louis-Gabriel Fichet, who joined AP in 2020. I learned about this development from an online watch publication whose editor opined on the matter . I feel obliged to respond to that piece because I think it reveals some concerning biases in watch industry coverage, biases which will only diminish if we talk about them openly and honestly. There were three critiques of Ms. Wright's time at the helm of APA that jumped out to me. First was the allegation that Ms. Wright suffered a "sudden removal." Subsequent to this critique, Ms. Wright posted on her Instagram account that she is "returning to the world of prestige beauty and stepping into a global CEO role." Moving from a regional executive position to a global one is not ind...
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Explore the world of automatic mechanical watches, blending timeless craftsmanship with self-winding precision. Discover the perfect watch to elevate your style.
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