There are some watches that just belong together. And collectors spend years trying to round out collections on various themes. Which is why, when we saw this article written by Matt Bain, noted Miami dealer and someone with whom we’ve worked in the past, we got so excited.
You see, there aren’t many big collecting themes that go across brands. You can be a Rolex sport watch guy. You can be a Patek guy. You can be a chronographs guy, or you can be a dive watch guy. But those are either so limiting that you end up only buying one brand, or so expansive that the theme hardly means anything at all. One of the most interesting and popular trend of recent years, especially with his passing, is to collect watches designed by Gerald Genta. You know, the early Royal Oak, the first Nautilus, etc. And what makes this so interesting is that rarely could one build a Genta collection with one stop, but here, via Matthew Bain Inc, one could.
That’s because right now, they have a Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 3700 (the first one, designed by Genta, with the JLC 920 ulta-thin caliber), an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Reference 5402 (the first one, designed by Genta, with the JLC 920 ulta-thin caliber), an IWC Ingenieur SL (designed by Genta), but also perhaps the rarest of them all, a Vacheron Constantin 222 (NOT designed by Genta, but with the JLC 920 caliber, and the watch on which the Overseas collection is based), all for sale.