There are few greater pleasures to budding watch collectors than trawling eBay for affordable horological treasures from the pre-quartz mid-20th century when most mechanical wristwatches were made and priced for the average citizen, not the one percent.
This sort of trawl might unearth Aquaplunge tool watches from Rotary, which were made in a number of styles in the 1960s including three-handers and more racy chronographs.
You can pick them up for well under £1,000, and they will typically show all the character that comes from over half a century of use.
For those who love the look of watches from that era, but want a more polished, accurate and reliable timekeeper, a brand new Rotary RW-1895 Chronograph, based on the design of the Aquaplunge, will appeal.
The watch is part of a great reset for Rotary, which will see it draw more heavily on its archive of watches dating back to 1895.
Design-wise, it is a doppelganger of the original, with a sixty minute bezel and and internal tachymeter track.
Under the hood, Rotary has installed a hybrid movement that keeps time with a quartz module while the chronograph is mechanical.
Like its OG, the modern watch has two subdials left and right on a matte dial.
It comes in a 38mm package with a choice of blue dial and steel bracelet, black dial with leather strap or black dial with the bracelet. Each is limited to 500 pieces.
The steel on steel pieces are priced at £299 while the leather strap model costs £269.
Unfortunately I had a new Rotary bought as a 30th birthday present, the hands fell off, then it wouldn’t keep time and rotary wouldn’t fix it. Needless to say I moved on from them as a brand!