A timepiece says a lot about the man wearing it—and with all the brands out there it can be an impossible task to find one that suits not only your lifestyle, but your personality. As always Alister & Paine has taken much of the guess work out of the equation. We present to you three completely different luxury watches at three very different price points and, as you’ve come to expect, each watch has been rigorously field tested by our in-house staff of mountain climbers, sky divers and board members.
Bell & Ross BR01-94 Commando
Bell & Ross has been manufacturing watches since 2003 and their expertise shows in the impeccable taste and delicate architecture found in the Br01-94 Commando. Each piece is individually numbered and only five hundred of these watches have been created…making it an incredibly exclusive timepiece, if you can get your hands on one. Naturally, the BR01-94 Commando is a Swiss made automatic—meaning it operates off the movement of your wrist, not a battery like watches with quartz movement. We couldn’t think of a more appropriate place to field test this masterful piece of machinery than at the Pocono International Raceway in the open air cockpit of a Bertil Roos Formula 2000 car. It was a match made in heaven. The BR01-94 paralleled the masculinity of the finely tuned race cars as they slipped flawlessly from one gear to the next and the BR01-94 had enough features to keep us busy timing laps on our wrist instead of using the on-board computer…just because we could. MSRP: $6,500
Magrette Moana Pacific Diver
The Magrette Moana Pacific Diver captures the absolute essence of Alister & Paine—flawless automatic movement, a limited edition of only 500 from a boutique New Zealand watch maker who understands the importance of the marriage between simplicity and impeccable detail. Magrette was founded by Dion Wynyard McAsey –Dion left his position as Managing Director for a Creative Agency to establish a boutique nautical watch company for the real men of the sea. The Moana Pacific Diver has an uncanny water resistance down to 500m/1650ft and bears the classic styling of a 1950’s diving watch. Naturally, we sent our Magrette out for a harsh week of sailing around Manhattan and received compliments on it from deck-hands and yachtsmen alike. Each Magrette Diver comes with a durable and oh so sexy brown leather strap. With a suggested retail price of only $485 USD we challenge anyone to find a more profound nautical watch—with automatic movement—at a better price. MSRP: $485
Mr. Jones Watches The Accurate (SE)
Made exclusively for the man who knows that life is a short blessing. As the only watch to make the list with quartz movement The Accurate has an hour hand that reads “remember” and a minute hand stating “you will die.” The SE we tested, as we launched out of a perfectly good King Air at 15,000 feet, had a mirrored face as if the watch was speaking directly to us—and it was. The Accurate looks at home with jeans and your favorite tee or a tailored suit—it’s not until closer inspection that one sees the raw edge of this London designed watch. Depending on the type of man you are The Accurate will either inspire you to play it safe and live to see another day or to throw caution to the wind. MSRP: $150
