Chronometer-certified and water resistant to 100m, the technical sophistication of the Patravi TravelTec II is capable of meeting the most sophisticated demands. Its robust stainless steel case, 47.4 mm in diameter, features a side-mounted sapphire glass window an essential feature of the Patravi TravelTec timepieces that reveals the built-in complication. It is a sophisticated component of the automatic caliber CFB 1901.1 that allows to simultaneously display three time zones in combination with a chronograph.

The nine applied hour indices on the dial identify the first time zone. An outer ring on the dial makes it possible to read the second time zone. The hour digits for the third time zone appear clearly readable on the bezel. The ample size of the three time zone display makes it enjoyably easy to switch one’s glance from one to the other.

Patravi TravelTec II.
© Swiss Replica Rolex UK

The model’s characteristic Monopusher enables rapid, user-friendly switching between East and West travel directions with a single push of a button. Another special feature of the Patravi TravelTec II is that the date display can move forward and also even backward when changing the hour setting – an impressive horological feat.

Adorning the case back is a time-zone sun, which shows the hour differences of 24 cities versus the prime meridian, with Lucerne – the homebase of Carl F. Bucherer – accentuated as a black engraving.

Patravi TravelTec II.
© Cheap Fake Rolex Explorer Watches

Finely stitched leather inserts in the TravelTec II’s special rubber watchband underline the combination of exquisite materials.

Eighteen months ago, you left Christie’s which at the time was the world leader in watchmaking auctions, and now here you are again at Phillips which had been missing from the sector until now. What magic trick is behind this?

The magic trick of life which redefines your projects!* Livia and I had indeed left Christie’s at the end of 2013 in order to work for ourselves, and reduce the number of fake Rolex watches we handled to include only the most beautiful on the market. After a short break, we therefore founded our company, Bacs & Russo. We were far from imagining that Edward Dolman, former CEO of Christie’s (!) would contact us and suggest working together to establish the watchmaking department at Phillips! After a few brainstorming sessions, we came up with a plan that would enable us to retain our independence while developing the watch department at Phillips: by associating the latter with Bacs & Russo. This partnership is all the more pleasing in that our vision of dealing with less volume in order to focus on the best quality in the market remains intact.
* “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans”.John Lennon

Your Auction One and Glamorous Day-Date catalogues weigh a total of 3.250 kg. On whom do you wish to make the greatest impression: the competition or your clients?

Impressing people was not part of our plans. But clients liked the formula, for which there are two explanations. On the one hand it turns out that all the departments at Phillips use this format, so with that in mind we adopted it as well. On the other hand, their thickness stems from our desire to maintain two pages for all the Cheap replica Rolex watches. It is very often too restrictive to attribute just one page and we wanted to fill this gap. Independent of its basic value, each piece presents such a lot of sometimes subtle aesthetic, historical and technical information, that to us it appeared indispensable that we document it correctly for experienced buyers. A few clients asked us with a touch of humour if we were offering a gym subscription with the catalogues, but the vast majority said they were delighted, even going so far as to say that they regarded them as reference works to keep in their watchmaking library.

The 2 catalogues for the Geneva sales, Auction One and Glamorous Day-Date.
© Phillips

Could you give us an example of some of the gems contained in these works?

In my opinion, the term “gems” does not necessarily refer to pieces that will set all-time records, but to those that will make collectors’ hearts beat faster due to their rarity, beauty, condition or history. And we have selected them on this basis. For example, lot n°195, a 1969 Heuer, is not only a very first-generation automatic chronograph and therefore very interesting from a historical point of view, but also sold in “new from stock” condition, with its original protection still stuck to the base and its original presentation box. In another style, but just as remarkable, the Vacheron Constantin Reference 4178 chronograph in steel with a salmon coloured dial and tachymeter scale is not just rare, but unbelievably beautiful and in virtually new condition. Independently of their favourite brands, collectors need to fall in love. It goes without saying that the four flagship lots on the cover (the Rolex “Albino” Clapton and three others from Patek Philippe: Reference 1518 in pink gold, Reference 130 mono-pusher chronograph, and Reference 6062 Black Dial having belonged to a U.S. General) are amongst the most beautiful, most important and most sought-after ROLEX fake watches this spring.

Heuer Ref. 1133 Monaco, lot 195.
© Phillips

You have also agreed to manage the 2015 edition of Only Watch for its tenth anniversary. Are collectors looking forward to it?

It’s an enormous honour for us to have been chosen to partner the 2015 edition of Only Watch. Together with Luc Pettavino, I had the pleasure of visiting the SIHH and Baselworld brands which welcomed us incredibly enthusiastically. I also had the privilege of seeing a number of current projects, and even a number of finished pieces, whose quality, creativity and genius fascinated me. Collectors are indeed looking forward to it and hope to obtain information before D-Day, but obviously I respect the desire of the Manufactures and Only Watch alike not to reveal anything earlier than planned.

You are the president of the jury of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Have the jury and the categories changed a lot?

The GPHG is an event which constantly has to adapt to developments in the market, even the most subtle amongst them. Furthermore, Carine Maillard and Carlo Lamprecht made a point of listening to various opinions after the last edition, and then sharing them with the small advisory panel of which I am part. It appears that the 2014 edition was very convincing and did not require major adjustments, with the exception of a few points in the rules. The categories were extensively revised last year and remain similar. As every year, however, we are changing part of the jury, and the members will soon be presented shop4watches.co.uk.

Louis Moinet was a watchmaking legend, a contemporary and partner of Abraham-Louis Breguet. Today, Jean-Marie Schaller has crafted the Louis Moinet brand into something of which Moinet would have been proud, combining art and watchmaking in a unique way, producing innovative cheap Rolex replica watches that look like no other  –  no easy task in today’s watch world.

The secret to the brand’s success? “Hard work and inspiration,” says Schaller. “Today, we write the new chapters of a story that was initiated two centuries ago, with the same values, the same language. My favorite projects so far are Memoris, because it is a bridge between yesterday and today, and Meteoris, because it is so crazy  – a planetarium with tourbillons featuring genuine pieces from the moon, from Mars and from the oldest known piece from the solar system.”

Memoris.
© Cheap Rolex replica watches

At Basel, the Louis Moinet booth was really buzzing, busy from dawn to dusk with customers and retailers inquiring about the brand. “I love building up relationships with our friends and customers,” Schaller says, a big smile on his face. “When a name grows – as it is our case – relationships change. It is like a child, needing different things as he gets older.

“Business is going fantastically well, even though the economy is really bad,” Schaller continues. “We have managed to create enough excitement and new emotions to convince the market.”

Meteoris.
© Ateliers Louis Moinet

One of Schaller’s true joys is the creation of new projects that fit the Louis Moinet tradition. “Our concept is mechanical art in limited editions – one piece, 12, 60, 120 or 365 pieces,” Schaller explains. “It’s important to me that we honor the heritage of Louis Moinet and to write new chapters of his history as if he were alive. We are not a marketing brand, we are a real brand with a real tradition. To us, as a new brand, it means that we are recognized and it gives us respectability. I feel that we are moving in the right direction. I want the Louis Moinet brand to be a creative alternative, not too classic, something really special.”

Schaller was raised in the watchmaking Jura, so watches are in his blood, so to speak. “Coming from the Jura Mountains, I realize that a watch is the fruit of patrimony,” he says. “If you think of all the craftsmen that put their hearts into these tiny machines on the wrist, it truly is amazing. Americans used to call the Swiss watch industry a ‘cottage’ industry, as it is made in so different places, in small chalets and ateliers scattered throughout these mountains. Well, they probably had a smile saying that, as they were the masters of the time in the end of the 19th century. Meanwhile, Waltham and other world leaders have vanished (did you know that Henry Ford visited Waltham to model his Ford Motor Company after?), the quartz revolution did not kill the mechanical Swiss fake watches, and we are still here. Even though Swiss exports only represent about two percent of the world market, these people from the Swiss countryside and mountains continue to produce marvels in their cottages. Quite unique in the world, I believe.”

In the face of the Apple Watch, Schaller is confident about the future. “I think mechanical fake Rolex watches have a bright future,” he says. “We will be more and more surrounded by electronics and the virtual world, but people will appreciate even more the art of watchmaking. For the entry segment, I think it will be more and more threatened from designer brands, cheaper brands, connected watches. This won’t be so easy and I feel the necessity for them to create more added value, as Swatch did in its time.”