Notes From A Collector
Thoughts on the new Speedmaster, the AP Neo Frame, and where this blog is headed
Welcome back to the blog.
It has been a busy start to February. A bit of travel, a bit of work stress, and not much spare time. Standard life stuff. Watches have mostly been a late night scroll rather than anything hands on.
There have already been a few releases this year. The new Omega Speedmaster caught my eye first. I actually like it. The black lacquer dial with the sunken white subdials gives it some depth and makes the whole thing feel sharper and more modern. It looks good in photos and probably even better in the metal.
But we have seen this before. It is basically the Speedy Tuesday 1 colourway again. At some point you start to wonder whether Omega is genuinely iterating or just recycling the back catalogue. It is still attractive, but it does not feel new.
Then Audemars Piguet dropped the Neo Frame, which I think surprised everyone.
I wanted to sit with it for a few days before reacting. First impressions are rarely useful.
Credit where it is due. I like that AP is trying something different. They do Royal Oaks incredibly well, but outside of that, the catalogue feels thin. The Code 11.59 is slowly becoming more accepted, but to me it still sits awkwardly between a dress watch and a sports watch. It tries to be both and ends up fully satisfying neither.
And that is coming from experience. I lived with one for a few months after a friend lent me his. It is well made, but it never really clicked as something I wanted to wear.
So a new shape and a new idea is welcome.
What works on the Neo Frame?
I genuinely like the jump hour complication. It is fun, mechanical, and very watch nerd. Seeing the hour snap over at 60 never gets old. From the videos, AP has nailed the execution. It looks crisp and instantaneous.
I also like that they are digging into their own history. Vintage AP is full of interesting shaped watches and quirky complications. There is a lot of inspiration there, and it is good to see them acknowledging that instead of just making another Royal Oak in a slightly different metal.
The framing of the time apertures is nicely done too. It feels architectural and very AP.
That is about where my positives stop.
The size is the first problem. On paper 34mm by 47.1mm does not sound huge. In reality, rectangular watches always wear larger than you expect. That length makes it feel closer to a small cuff than a compact dress piece. Put it next to something like a large Reverso and the AP looks oversized in comparison to an already too large watch.
Cartier has shown for years that you can package this kind of complication into something much smaller and more elegant. So why make it this big? It feels unnecessary and hurts wearability straight away.
Second issue is the movement.
AP said this was designed movement first. I struggle to believe that when there is still a round movement inside a rectangular case. If you are going to make a shaped watch, commit to it. A shaped movement would have made this feel thoughtful and purpose built. Instead it feels like a compromise.
And a 52 hour power reserve in 2026 is just average at best. Plenty of brands are comfortably hitting 70 hours or more. My old Blancpain Fifty Fathoms had 100 hours. If you are asking people to buy into a bold, modern design, at least give them modern specs to match.
Third, the strap.
I cannot get past it. The integrated fabric strap just looks like a fitness band to me. Every time I see it, I think Whoop or Apple Watch. That is probably not the association AP wants. It cheapens the feel of what is supposed to be a high end, design led piece.
Maybe they boxed themselves in with the glossy black face and the overall aesthetic, but it still feels like a miss. A better strap or bracelet option would go a long way.
The glossy black dial itself is fine, but it feels like a wasted opportunity. This could have been the perfect platform to show some craft. Enamel, engraving, lacquer work, something special. Look at what Jaeger-LeCoultre does with special Reversos. That kind of creativity would have given the watch real personality.
Instead it feels quite sterile.
There is also the bigger question of price and positioning. This lands at typical AP pricing, £56k, it is going to be competing with some very serious alternatives. At that level, people expect near perfection, not interesting but flawed.
Which brings me to the usual cycle.
Every new release gets picked apart. Part of me wonders if we are just impossible to please. But at the same time, these are not small brands making affordable watches. AP is supposed to be one of the best in the world. It is fair to expect them to get the fundamentals right.
Smaller case. Shaped movement. Longer power reserve. Better strap. None of those are radical ideas.
So why not do them? Cost? Time? Or just the reality that the Royal Oak still pays the bills and everything else is secondary?
I do genuinely respect that they are trying to step outside the Royal Oak shadow. I just wish the execution matched the ambition.
Personally, I would love to see AP lean back into what they historically did best. Complicated perpetual calendars. Slim open worked pieces. Weird shaped dress watches with real personality. The sort of stuff that makes collectors stop scrolling and actually pay attention.
That is the AP that deserves to sit comfortably in the so called holy trinity.
The Neo Frame is interesting. I just do not think it is quite there.
Lately I have been thinking a bit about where this blog is actually going.
Up until now I have only written when I felt like I genuinely had something to say. Usually that meant a new watch coming into the collection, something I had spent proper time with, or a piece that really stuck with me. If I did not have that, I stayed quiet.
I have never wanted this to turn into a news site. There are already plenty of places doing release rundowns and chasing every announcement the second an embargo lifts. That has never really interested me. I do not want to feel like I have to comment on every dial variation or limited edition that shows up each week.
What I have enjoyed is writing from experience. Wearing a watch for months and then deciding how I actually feel about it. Buying something with my own money and figuring out whether it was worth it. Changing my mind. Selling things. Making mistakes. Learning as I go.
That has always felt more honest.
The downside is that it makes posting pretty irregular.
If you only write when you buy something or get proper hands on time, the gaps between articles can get long. Work gets busy. Life happens. Sometimes there just is not a new watch to talk about. Then suddenly a couple of weeks have gone by and the blog is quiet again.
That is probably not great for consistency.
So I think the answer is somewhere in the middle.
I still want the core of the blog to stay the same. Personal stories, longer reviews, proper time spent with watches before forming an opinion. That is not changing.
But I also want to start sharing more of my general thoughts on the watch world. Not covering every release. Not trying to be first. Just picking the ones that genuinely interest me and giving an honest take.
Things like today. A new AP that I am not convinced by. A release everyone loves that leaves me cold. Or something small and overlooked that I think deserves more attention.
Less reporting. More commentary.
More “here is what I think after sitting with this” and less “here are the specs”.
Hopefully that lets me write a bit more regularly without forcing it. A few shorter opinion pieces alongside the longer deep dives. Still personal. Still selective. Just a bit more consistent.
There are also a couple of new things happening this year that feel like small milestones.
I have been invited by A. Lange and Söhne to attend one of the Watches and Wonders press days. It is the first time any brand has ever invited me to anything or given me any kind of access like that. I am still paying for my own flights and accommodation, so this is not some sponsored trip. But it does feel like a step forward.
Hopefully it means I can bring back proper hands on reactions and photos from the new releases, not just recycled press images. Actually seeing the watches, trying them on, and forming an opinion in person is always better than judging them through a screen.
And alongside the writing, I have also been doing the podcast with a few friends every couple of weeks. It is a bit looser and more conversational than the blog. We talk watches, collecting decisions, and whatever else we have been obsessing over lately. If you prefer listening to us argue about this stuff rather than reading my rambling thoughts, that is another way to follow along.
It all feels like part of the same thing. Spending more time around watches, thinking about them properly, and sharing those thoughts in whatever format makes sense.
At the end of the day, this is still just me collecting watches and thinking out loud on the internet.
I would like to keep it that simple.
Please keep keep writing the way you’ve been writing. We need more critical thinking in the watch space, especially for experience collectors.
Congrats on the ALS invite to WW! Moving on up in the world!