For the adventurous collectors in us, we dare to venture to places where few will go. Watch collecting, at least for me, is a hobby and I would like to think I'm not a "snobbish" collector. I am one who will buy what is "fun". When I came across this watch, I had to blog about it.
Back in 2022, the Russian Watch Award Best Russian Mechnical watch was won by this model the "Le Petit Prince" aka The Little Prince.
In one of our watch gatherings, a fellow collector brought this watch. For more information on the gtg, read the blogpost here. That's the fun part about our gatherings. Meetings collectors who are well versed with the global offerings as diverse and as far away as Russia (by the way, I own a few Russian watches too). Our gathering is always around 2 themes and the recent gathering was around watches under S$2,000 and watches with a skeletonised or unusual dial structure. This Little Prince watch was one of those that was brought to the gathering.
Designed and developed by Anton Yaitsky and Dmitry Chugunov (I hope I got their names correct), the Little Prince won the Russian Mechanical category in the 2022 Russian Watch Award.
The dial side faithfully reproduces the book cover with the Little Prince standing on the planet. The aventurine dial shimmering in the dark represents the starry night sky - perfect!
The timepiece looks simple enough but try telling time... now that requires some explanation. The timepiece is actually a "single-handed" watch a la Meistersinger. With the single handed watch, every advancement of one "minute mark" spells 5 minutes which also means that the hour hand also represents the minute hand. A perfect watch for the Sunday to slow things down...
Referencing the above picture, there are 2 markers - one just below the 12 o'clock that suppose to be a "Star" and the other the "Sun". The "Star" circles on the outer rim while the "Sun" on the inner (bigger) rim.
The "Star" (with trails) shows the elapsed seconds going round the dial. This means the "star" circles the dial once every 60 seconds.
The "Sun" on the other hand, moves slowly on the outer rim, 5 minutes every advancement.
The centre of the dial is also well decorated - nicely reflecing the night sky with stars and planets.
The case back probably got its inspiration from the picture above...
The back of the case is closed with the engraving showing the Little Prince. It shows that this is a Limited Edition of 300 pieces and made with silver. Unfortunately, I don't read Russian so I can't tell you the meaning behind the inscriptions.
This is another winner in my books. An award winning watch for under S$2,000 and rather well made. This manual winding timepiece is limited to 300 pieces and someone is trying to sell it for S$15,000... yes, you read it right! $15,000... If there was profiteering to the moon and back, this is it! Good luck!
Watch collecting as a hobby should be affordable and most of all, fun! Buy what you like, that's what I say to anyone who asks me about which watch to buy. Go in knowing you like it and even if the secondary market price drops drastically, why will you care? Just enjoy the watch! But if your decision is based on secondary market prices, then your selection will be severely curtailed. But then, that is me... there is no right or wrong. Just personal preferences.
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