An AP Royal Oak A-Series, An Original fake Patek Philippe Nautilus, An fake IWC Ingenieur SL, And A Vacheron Constantin 222 All For Sale, From The Same Dealer

There are some watches that just belong together. And replica watches collectors spend years trying to round out collections on various themes. Which is why, when we saw this article written by Matt Bain, noted Miami dealer and someone with whom we’ve worked in the past, we got so excited.

You see, there aren’t many big collecting themes that go across brands. You can be a Rolex sport watch guy. You can be a Patek guy. You can be a chronographs guy, or you can be a dive watch guy. But those are either so limiting that you end up only buying one brand, or so replica watches expansive that the theme hardly means anything at all. One of the most interesting and popular trend of recent years, especially with his passing, is to collect watches designed by Gerald Genta. You know, the early Royal Oak, the first Nautilus, etc. And what makes this so interesting is that rarely could one build a Genta collection with one stop, but here, via Matthew Bain Inc, one could.

That’s because right now, they have a Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 3700 (the first one, designed by Genta, with the JLC 920 ulta-thin caliber), an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Reference 5402 (the first one, designed by Genta, with the JLC 920 ulta-thin caliber), an IWC Ingenieur SL (designed by Genta), but also perhaps the rarest of them all, a Vacheron Constantin 222 (NOT designed by Genta, but with the JLC 920 caliber, and the watch on which the Overseas collection is based), all for sale.

The AP 5402 is a watch you likely know well, because we’ve covered it a lot. They have a few traits that make them special, and recently they’ve been doing really well in auction. You can see this example here.

The original Nautilus is perhaps most similar to the AP in that it was both a Genta design and it housed the very same movement. This example looks nice and clean, and more details are available here.

The IWC Ingy SL was also designed by Genta but doesn’t use the JLC 920. It is a very rare watch and one seldom seen in this condition. Details here.

Finally, the Vacheron 222 is super rare watch that has a bit of mystery around it. It was indeed the foundation of the current Overseas collection, and while it does house the same JLC 920 movement found in the Nautilus and RO, it was NOT designed by Gerald Genta, despite so many outlets (including ourselves! back in 2009) saying he had. You see there was a lot of misinformation out there, coming from the highest levels of VC saying that Genta was involved. Even former CEO Claude Daniel Proellochs said in a 2004 Revolution interview fake IWC that “you should remember that the Royal Oak, the Patek Philippe Nautilus and the 222 were all three designed by Gerald Genta, he adapted his design to the perception he had of each brand.” This was assumed be true for quite a while, until Alex Ghotbi of Vacheron’s own forum, the Hour Lounge, corrected us all by speaking with the folks closest to the matter, those that had worked on the 222! It turns out it was a young Jorg Hysek who conceived the 222, and though it’s not a true Genta conception, the inspiration is clear. This example of the 222 appears to be in great shape with original papers. Click for details.

Again, to see these four 1970s designs, all with integrated braclets, for sale in the same shop is pretty amazing, whether you need one, two, three or, four, to finish your collection.