The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Same here. Not a bad list though.

I could only agree to 4 of the watches on the list.

Speedie, Monaco, Navitimer, IWC.

Thats Opinions I suppose. These 10 obviously spark up the authors pilot light, and most are classics, but not for me. They all have gravitas and heritage but, in the main, none of the other 6 speak to me.

I am surprised by the number of centre second vis chronographs, but there you go!

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Jim

"You have Control".

I agree with a lot of the comments above. Really a pretty good list although I would definitely remove the Datejust and replace it with the Calatrava. I'd also probably remove the GO and replace with a Zenith. I do have different ideas about the watches selected in each brand but that's only opinion.

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

+1 on replacing the GO with a Zenith El Primero, the GO is not a "living legend" but a relatively recent B-Uhr "inspiration" afaik ?
would choose a JLC Memovox (maybe a Deep Sea Tribute) instead of the Reverso
and a Breguet Type XX (a true living legend) would replace the Datejust

I think the list goes for legendary looks more than for legendary watches.

The Datejust in there is a good example. Does it even get more legendary than the best known watch of the best known luxury watch manufacturer. The datejust is THE Rolex by its looks and immediately recognizable as such... Hence legendary for how it looks.

The Primeros aren't that. They are legendary more for their guts than for their - often Nataf affected - looks. The new ones tend to be rather pretty, but they're only just taking off. Which may be why they're missing in the list.

As for what's really missing in the list:

A SWATCH!

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Cheers from Switzerland,

Fred

I agree with #1,2,3,4,8 & 10. But not in that order. If you have a list of Legendary watches the Calatrava must be near the top, if not #1.

I own two on the list an like them all except the AP. They are just not my cup of tea. I would also add that the Santos would not exactly be my Cartier choice either. Good article.

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An ever changing collection.....

even though im not a huge fan personally of the rolex daytona. im pretty sure it needs to be on that list..

I would have liked to see a version of Chronomat there.

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Chronomat Vitesse
Navitimer
Montbrilliant Olympus
Crosswind

For those who would exclude the Datejust, is this because you don't think it is iconic or legendary or classic enough, or because you don't want to see Rolex over-represented in the top 10?

I'm not a Datejust fan but, taking it on its own merits as a long-standing and classic design, I think there are very few watches that could displace it.

Not a bad list, but I do agree that one of the Rolexes could easily be replaced by a Panerai (certainly a living legend and a look that defines the whole range) or a Zenith

Nothing per se against multiple Rolexes, I just don't think that the Datejust would be in the top 10. Same argument against Panerai (for me) - a watch with effectively a 20 year history hasn't had a chance to reach top 10 legend status yet.

I agree completely about Panerai. Nothing against them, and I have owned a couple and would happily own one again, but I just don't see how they belong in this debate.

Can't see how that argument works against the Datejust though. To me, a classic design with a long unbroken history is iconic. A retro revival, no matter how nice (the JLC Deep Sea, a watch I really like, has been mentioned here) is not the same thing.

I didn't express myself very well - I meant that my argument against Panerai was that they didn't make my top 10 - logic behind it was different.

Well, while I agree a Pam could not possibly haul a Datejust out of the top ten, it certainly is the brand with the best recognition/year ratio of the last 20 years. No other brand has become so iconic in so little time.

Nevertheless, a consumer-available Pam is a modern classic at best, just as a Hublot would be, and no replacement for a Datejust in terms of how legendary it would be.

One could make an argument for a Primero though... But to me at least the Nataf years would void it.

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Cheers from Switzerland,

Fred