SDC Weekly 80; Making 2025 Count; The History of British Hallmarking; The Art of Waiting; Loss Aversion
EquiAlt Ponzi Scheme, Zuckerberg's Watch Habit, AP’s Resta Interview, Jérôme Lambert at Jaeger-LeCoultre, VC's Steel 222, Time+Tide, Omega’s Archive Heist, Sell-Out Index December Report, On Change...
🚨 Welcome to the first SDC Weekly of 2025!
I will not wish you a Happy New Year and you can thank Larry David:
Estimated reading time: ~48 mins
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“For two months I did not read anything else, neither newspapers nor magazines, and I felt so good….All our education should be directed to the accumulation of the cultural heritage of our ancestors, the best thinkers in the world.”
Leo Tolstoy wrote this in his diary while working on A Calendar of Wisdom
Damn, this break was interesting. After 79(.5) editions of dissecting drama in the watch world, analysing market trends, and occasionally taking the piss out of Swiss executives who shall remain nameless (looking at you, Thierry), I took some time off the constant feed of watch news.
You might think three weeks isn’t much of a break - but when you’ve been mainlining watch industry gossip like a morphine drip, even a short detox offers surprising clarity!
The Joy of Disconnecting
In December, David Epstein wrote about the value of taking news vacations, referencing how Tolstoy found peace by restricting himself to older sources while working on his Calendar of Wisdom. Epstein explained how Thomas Jefferson once wrote to John Adams: “I have given up newspapers in exchange for Tacitus and Thucydides, for Newton and Euclid, and I find myself much the happier.”
To be clear, I didn’t come close to reaching Tolstoy or Jefferson levels of enlightenment during this break; but it did serve as a reminder that the watch world keeps spinning even when you’re not obsessively tracking everything. Who knew?
Looking Forward
As we head into 2025, SDC Weekly remains committed to cutting through the noise while hopefully maintaining some slightly unhinged energy which many have come to expect. Beyond that, there is plenty to look forward to…
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2025 is shaping up to be quite the milestone year in watchmaking. Vacheron Constantin hits 270 years of continuous operation - a feat that would be impressive for any business, let alone one making watches through revolutions, world wars, and quartz crises. Speaking of crises, Breguet marks 250 years since Abraham-Louis first opened shop in 1775. One can only imagine what he’d make of today’s market dynamics, or how Swatch is failing to do his name any justice!
Audemars Piguet celebrates 150 years, though given their recent collaboration choices, I wouldn’t be shocked if they marked it with a Paw Patrol limited edition. (Too soon?) Meanwhile, Rolex turns 120 - and in all likelihood, they will acknowledge this milestone with all the enthusiasm of a teenager being asked to hug their grandparents in public. Or maybe they’ll finally give everyone the Coke GMT (given the GMT master specifically turns 70) that’s been predicted for the last 5 years? Unlikely. The OG was a Pepsi after all.
Then there’s also MB&F which turns 20, and aside from a MAD2 which we already predicted last year, there was also that ‘totally new’ piece which Max mentioned - not an LM, nor an HM… I think each of these will make an appearance at W&W and Dubai Watch Week respectively.
Lange was founded in 1845, so 2025 marks their 180 year anniversary. One Lange collector tells me he expects a new complication. Will it look good? Probably. Will it be overpriced? Definitely. (P.S. I’ve been told there will be a Lange price increase in early March - everything is selling under retail, but Richemont thinks the Lange masochists can give even more. As long as they keep paying the price, I suppose we can’t blame Richemont can we?).
Oh, how can we forget, it’s been 30 years since Omega first equipped James Bond with a Seamaster in ‘GoldenEye’. That’s three decades of product placement that somehow never gets old 😂
Finally, Grand Seiko might be turning 65, but really, nobody (who matters1) gives a fvck. So let’s move on.
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The calendar is already filled with events as well. LVMH Watch Week kicks off in Los Angeles from January 21st - their first time on the West Coast. I suppose Miami became too mainstream for them?
Watches and Wonders returns to Geneva in April (1st-7th), where we’ll undoubtedly see more variations of existing models presented as ‘groundbreaking innovations’. The concurrent Time to Watches event offers an alternative for those seeking to view the smaller brands, or, pirates, as the Rolex CEO called them!
The Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair (September 2nd-6th) might prove particularly interesting this year. With China’s luxury market continuing its spectacular impersonation of a falling knife, all eyes will be on Asian market indicators.
Geneva Watch Days (September 4th-7th) introduces an ‘Incubator’ category for smaller independent brands. Whether this helps level the playing field or just creates a kiddie table for brands without massive marketing budgets remains to be seen.
Dubai Watch Week rounds out the year (November 19th-23rd) with a new location at Dubai Mall’s Burj Park. They are doubling their footprint to 200,000 square feet - because apparently, the only thing Dubai loves more than luxury watches is building things bigger than necessary.
Between these major events, we’ve got everything from the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (End Jan) to Watch Week Aspen (Aug) and Jewellery Arabia Bahrain (Nov).
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With Formula 1 entering a 10-year partnership with LVMH, we can expect an avalanche of racing-themed watches. After Rolex’s departure from F1, LVMH seems determined to prove they can fill those very expensive shoes. TAG Heuer must be thrilled - they finally have a legitimate reason to keep making racing watches besides ‘because we always have’.
Looking at this packed calendar, one thing is clear - the industry hasn’t lost its appetite for self-celebration. Between the major anniversaries and endless events, 2025 promises to be a year full of revolutionary releases that somehow look suspiciously like everything else in the catalogue.
Of course, this is precisely what keeps SDC Weekly fun… may 2025 bring us fewer colour variations and more innovation.
Welcome back!
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If you’re new to SDC, welcome! Feel free to catch up on the older editions of SDC Weekly here.
🎈 Small stuff
The EquiAlt Ponzi Scheme
Let’s kick off the year with another Netflix crime drama style story, of course, with a horological twist. Many have already shared the fact that the U.S. Marshals Service is about to auction off a rather impressive watch collection - these seem to be the spoils of an alleged $170 million Ponzi scheme run by EquiAlt LLC’s Brian Davison.
A coveted Tiffany-signed Nautilus seems to be the cause for all the attention, but either way, if you’re running a massive fraud you clearly still need to keep time in style 😂
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Where to begin… Between 2010 and 2020, EquiAlt supposedly raised money from over 1,100 investors (many of them elderly) promising to use the funds for distressed real estate investments. Instead, according to SEC documents, Davison and his partner Barry Rybicki allegedly used new investor money to pay returns to earlier investors - the basic Ponzi playbook.
Where it gets interesting for watch nerds, is that while the SEC was particularly interested in the roughly 300 properties across Tampa Bay, we are more intrigued by what Davison kept in his ‘man cave’ - a collection of over 70 watches from brands like Audemars Piguet and Rolex, estimated to be worth around $15 million. Here’s a full list if you’re interested. Essentially, the watches that will hit the auction block with the marshals auction represents what’s left after the above list was moved on2.
From the court documents: “It appears from what I’ve observed and read that the housing market is a sellers’ market right at the moment, and I would like to take advantage of that.” That was from Burt Wiand, the court-appointed receiver. I hate to break it to Burt, but the watch market isn’t quite as hot as it was when this case started!
In an interesting turn of events, Davison managed to negotiate a non-prosecution agreement with the FBI in exchange for helping with asset recovery. Smart move - though I suppose when you’re facing serious federal charges, giving up even a Tiffany Nautilus starts to look reasonable.
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It’s always fascinating to peek inside a serious collector’s vault, but there’s something rather compelling about watches acquired through questionable means. Each piece tells a story - but instead of horology, it is one of hubris.
Zuckerberg's Watch Habit
The watch community’s recent obsession with the Zuck’s growing collection actually speaks to human psychology. When social media lit up with discussions about his acquisition of the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 and the F.P. Journe FFC, the commentary seemed to be dripping with a mix of envy and indignation.