Robb Read: Are We On a Private Flight To Climate Hell?

Private aviation’s booming. Critics say flying’s wrecking the planet, but what are the facts?

By Mark Ellwood 23/05/2022

There’s never been a busier time for private aviation. Vista Global Holdings, for example, reported a 64 percent rise year on year in 2021 for its VistaJet and XO brands, and fractional behemoth NetJets reported a 30 per cent rise vs pre-pandemic levels. That boom, of course, was powered mostly by the switch to private flying as a result of Covid-19, but it’s likely to continue even as we move out of the pandemic phase: 92 per cent of the members of Private Jet Card Comparisons said they would fly the same or more in 2022 versus last year. Another 95 per cent said they would renew their card or program memberships.

But should we be getting on planes at all—let alone flying private? Are the environmental costs too great? Are carbon offsets just a way to relieve guilt and greenwash airline travel?

As the world’s attention on climate change intensifies, anti-take-off efforts are, well, taking off. Take the concept of flygskam, or flight shame. This Swedish-birthed anti-aviation campaign leverages social pressure to keep folks grounded: Cut out flights, flygskam-ers posit, and you’re making major sacrifices to offset climate change. Nothing’s worse in the sector than private aviation, with its let-them-eat-cake-at-60,000-feet reputation: Per one study, flying private can produce eight times more emissions per person than comparable jaunts on commercial carriers. So with a surge in private flying, and that sense of impending, aviation-induced doom, are we on the flightpath to hell?

Flightpath to Hell Climate Change

Worldwide flights produced 915 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2019, or 3.5 per cent of total output, while private aviation accounted for 37.1 million tons. Courtesy AP

The facts, of course, are a little more complicated. First, some data: Worldwide flights produced 915 million tons of CO2 in 2019, though the entire human output of that pollution was 43 billion tons total in the same year. By most estimates, per data from 2018, flying produces around 2.5 percent of global CO2 emissions, or 3.5 percent of what’s known as “effective radiative forcing”—think of that as its overall impact. Another study says that business aviation contributes just 2 per cent to overall aviation emissions, but that on a per-person basis, its emissions are much more damaging on a per-person basis.  One study of private aviation’s annual contribution to greenhouse gas emissions pegged it at 37.1 million tons.

On the flip side, the Air Transport Action Group, an industry-funded body, touts that aviation overall would rank 17th in the world if its economic activity is compared with individual countries, or around the same as the Netherlands.

“Aircraft are tools of global trade—they can’t fly on fairy dust and neither can the global economy,” says Hong Kong-based Paul Jebely, head of asset finance at law firm Withers Worldwide; he works with UHNW folks across the world every day to buy and finance private planes. “There are lots of armchair Captain Planets who willfully overlook, or fail to recognize, the second- or third-order consequences of their flight shaming. That iPhone permanently glued to their hands has a bigger footprint to get into someone’s hand thanks to shipping, logistics and mining. But let’s go ahead and replace the aviation component with carrier pigeons on a gluten-free diet and, somehow, it’ll all be better.”

Portrait of Paul Jebely, head of asset finance at law firm Withers Worldwide

Paul Jebely Withers Worldwide

Jebely’s numbers are off: per one estimate, the lifetime carbon footprint of an iPhone is around 168 lbs of CO2-e (carbon dioxide or equivalent greenhouse gas); Apple’s own data shows that the environmental footprint of an iPhone 13Pro varies from 69kg- 111kg of CO2-e, depending on storage memory capacity. It’s hard to quantify the average carbon footprint of private jet travel, given variations in plane capacity and fuel efficiency, but by one estimate, the per person environmental impact of flying private is around 631 lbs of CO2-e per hour. The BBC Reality Check team’s own calculations produced a figure of 430kg per person for the same period.

Still, the truth is that there’s still good reason to make efforts to minimise the climate impact of every private flight.  Sustainability in this sector is in its infancy, but many leaders are making worthwhile strides. It’s responsible and responsive; corporations, too, are increasingly setting goals that include targets around CO2 emissions related to their business, including jet flights. The nimbleness of this sector, as well as the higher margins compared with commercial operation, mean that innovation should ignite more readily here. “Everyone in the entire aviation industry is well aware of the necessity of reducing aviation’s climate impact while also being aware of the fact that we’re bearing a heavier burden than other industries because of the public pressure,” Jebely continues. “But private aviation can and must and will do better.”

Jebely points, for example, to efforts by OEMs like Bombardier and Gulfstream to improve the footprint of their production processes. Fractional and charter firms, of course, are keen to tout their commitments to climate—NetJets, for example, now includes carbon offsets in all proposals, and has committed to buying 450 million litresof sustainable fuel from WasteFuel. Sustainable aviation fuel, which still has extremely limited distribution around the world, can cut aircraft emissions by 80 percent. No firm, though, goes as far as London-based Victor.

Flightpath to Hell Climate Change

Earlier this month, Bremen airport in Germany offered the airport’s first fueling with sustainable aviation fuel. Courtesy AP

The firm has established a program in which it pays for 200 per cent of every flight its clients charter. The money comes from Victor’s own bottom line, rather than as an add-on to its clients’ invoices. Last year, for instance, the company organized flights totalling 2.7 million nautical miles, which created 27,906 tons of emissions. Victor purchased 60,128 carbon credits that were invested in forest restoration and wind-power projects in Borneo, Cambodia and Turkey. The company bought 93 per cent of the credits, while its clients contributed 7 per cent. “My personal gold standard is to avoid flying whenever possible and the middle ground is to reduce how much we can fly,” says Victor Chairman Clive Jackson, who launched the program. “To mitigate means that if you have to fly then at least have the good grace to clean up after yourself.”  Translation: Buy carbon offsets or use sustainable aviation fuel.

Jackson says he brokers around 5,000 flights for clients per year, versus the 300,000 or so that, for instance, industry giant NetJets handles.

Carbon offsetting isn’t endorsed as a practice by all climate-change experts. “It has a long history of not lowering carbon levels,” says Greenpeace UK’s Charlie Kronick, who notes that his own organization doesn’t buy them as they don’t actually reduce the amount of carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere, the key metric for Greenpeace. “They are too often based on exaggerated claims of emissions reductions,” he says, “A one-off payment for a carbon credit does not assure the growth of trees, nor protection of forests from fires or industrial pressures.“

Clive Jackson, CEO of Victor

Clive Jackson, CEO of Victor Victor

While carbon offsetting is important, it’s much less sexy than another option touted as a solution to flying private, guilt-free: eVTOLs, (Electric Vehicle Take Off and Landing aircraft). Those Tony Stark-like concept planes rely on climate-friendly fuel for propulsion and take off and land much like helicopters. No wonder, then, that the real-life Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr, has invested in Whisper Aero, one of the startups aiming to pioneer this technology. The commitment has been attention-grabbing enough that it’s persuaded several celebrities to invest in different firms, including the J-Lo-backed Archer, and Larry Page’s Wisk, which have been embroiled in legal tussles.

The eVTOL segment, which has attracted serious financial investors for a half-dozen brands, expects to see it first electric aircraft certified in 2024 and 2025, with widespread adoption expected closer to 2030. Besides their emissions-free credentials, they will also offer new ways to commute within cities and regions., though eVTOL aircraft are likely to come into service as cargo carriers before being adopted for passenger transport.

Mike Hirschberg, the executive director of the , the leading  eVTOL association, says battery technology will need to progress to increase range for the aircraft before there is widespread commercial use. Hirschberg adds that it’s vital that work on an infrastructure for eVTOLs starts sooner than later, and forecasts it will be at least a decade before eVTOLs are mainstream.

A wisk Aerotaxi in flight

A wisk Aerotaxi in flight

In the meantime, the industry is looking at piecemeal solutions. Kennedy Ricci, whose family owns Directional Aviation,  just launched 4Air, which offers a certification program that aims to be the eco equivalent of the safety ratings produced by industry-standards firm Argus. The start-up doesn’t handle flights, either as an operator or a broker, but instead works with companies that do to both improve their sustainability efforts and certify their actions to reassure clients. CSG targets at corporations are key drivers for his business growth, but Ricci tells Robb Report that there’s another audience that’s critical: “We see it’s a lot about employees—companies wanting to retain good talent who want to work for a more sustainable firm. They want to show their employees they’re trying to be better stewards.

The cost of partnering with 4Air on a flight program is minimal, per Ricci—a few hundred dollars at most per hour of flying for its most intensive certification. 4Air offers four tiers in its program, ranging from simple carbon neutrality in level 1, or Bronze, to a commitment to sustainable fuels in Gold or level 3—that’s a commitment to not just offset but also reduce emissions. The fourth tier, Platinum, is the company’s most ambitious: It involves a commitment to underwriting innovation in aviation via a contribution to the 4Air-helmed nonprofit Aviation Climate Fund. It focuses on research and development, working with innovators around the world, including the team at the Whittle Laboratory at Britain’s University of Cambridge. That lab is named after the jet engine inventor who graduated from the same university, and Professor Rob Miller is one of its current team.

Contrails from a jet airliner

Contrails from a jet airliner Adobe Stock

SAF and eVTOLs are, of course, potential solutions to the climate crisis when it comes to private flying, Miller says, but there are other, more unexpected ways that private aviation can lead the reduction in CO2. Take condensation trails, or contrails, for example. These remain in the upper atmosphere for far less time than carbon dioxide—hours versus years. “But nitrous oxide produced when you burn nitrogen in an aircraft, that’s a greenhouse gas, and soot is going into the atmosphere, too. The contrails can form cirrus clouds, too, and that has a global-warming effect,” he says, “When you add all those together, you find that CO2 is only really half the problem.”

Reducing contrails, then, should be a focus for aviation innovation, he says, citing work on hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft. “The hydrogen that reacts in the fuel cell is closer to the environmental temperature outside, so it doesn’t produce nitrous oxide or soot. And we don’t know for sure, but you may also be able to condense out some of the water.” Miller also points to routings of planes as an easy way to improve sustainability: Aircraft flying in the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic, for example, are more fuel efficient. “Right now, you have to be at a certain distance from each other because air traffic control is not good enough to allow them to be closer.” Aircraft manufacturers have changed their avionics to fly more efficient routes, resulting in an estimated five to ten percent reduction in emissions. All of these tweaks are more readily adopted by nimbler private flying firms, of course, than any large, commercial airliner.

Miller’s insights highlight easier wins that the aviation industry has overlooked. Congested air traffic control or ATC systems, for example, contribute hugely to emissions: Operational planes spend 15 percent of their time on the ground rather than in the air, burning fuel all the while. One fix touted by Paul Jebely is TSAS, a NASA-championed program from 2017 that promises to streamline ATCs. “The most important advancement aviation can make, globally right now, whether commercial or private, is making ATC systems way more efficient,” he says, “This is basically like a super software update to air navigation and ground control systems and is available right now. If it had been adopted two years ago, it would already have had an impact.” (Singapore’s Changi airport is currently trialing these systems.)

NASA TSAS air traffic management software simulation

NASA TSAS air traffic management software simulation NASA

It’s a reminder that there isn’t a single area where charter user and private aircraft owners should focus their sustainability efforts—carbon offsets might be box-ticking, but they’re still important. Wealthy fliers, though, can apply financial support or pressure in less familiar areas to perhaps greater effect. “People fixate on planes flying around the sky, and that’s a misplaced focus,” says Jebely. “The damage is done not just when they’re flying around but [when they’re built], and by them sitting on the ground.”

While there’s no easy solution to erasing aviation’s environmental impact, the solutions are being adopted—albeit slowly—by the leaders, and even some of the smaller firms in private aviation. Victor’s 200 percent offset program is a start, but the fact that only seven percent of its clients are willing to pay for offsets gives a sense that the change may have to come from top-down legislation or a more concerted industrywide effort to make SAF and electric aircraft more common.

Are we on the flightpath to hell with private aviation?

Many private aviation companies have launched carbon offset programs, but it’s not clear how effective they are in actually reducing carbon emissions. Courtesy AP

“We need a higher level of transparency,” says Victor’s Jackson. “I would like to see all flight movements published—was the flight a carbon-offset or not? I want it to be verified. Follow the money. We have to think about the claims that individuals and companies make as they aim to promote and differentiate themselves.

“Right now,” he continues. “There are no regulations or obligations to prove whether or not the claims companies are making are true. We need independent monitoring by region, industry and country. What goes into the atmosphere is important, but we also need to find out what we’re missing and whether our actions are working.”

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How Off-the-Rack Suits Got Sophisticated Enough to Win Over Bespoke Guys

Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better, and it offers even the most particular dressers a fast, easy platform for experimenting with their look.

By Aleks Cvetkovic 18/02/2025

The world moves fast—and for once, tailoring is moving a little bit faster.

Guys around the globe are rediscovering their love of suits, but many have determined that they can’t stomach the monthslong wait for bespoke. The good news? Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better.

That’s in part because bespoke makers are beefing up their off-the-rack offerings. Anderson & Sheppard’s shop-in-store at N.Y.C.’s Bergdorf Goodman—the first outpost beyond its London flagship— opened in December with, among other things, a sharp wool-and-cashmere jacket in a delightful shade of teal. Huntsman’s recent fall-winter collection, billed as its most comprehensive assortment yet, offered everything from tuxedos to shooting breeches. Even Leonard Logsdail, Hollywood’s highly esteemed bespoke purveyor, is experimenting with hem-and-go models.

But non-custom tailors are upping the ante, too. Some of the best ready-to-wear suits on the market come from such brands, whose wholly distinctive points of view provide a welcome departure from the rigidity of many bespoke tailors’ house styles. The preponderance and diversity of such high-quality, easy-to-access threads has recast off-the-rack suits as the ultimate way to experiment with your look, not just a way for some to get dressed on the cheap. What’s more, it reflects the new reality that even people who suit up regularly might want to show up looking different on Thursday night than they did on Tuesday morning.

“Life nowadays is much more fluid,” says Chris Modoo, a London-based stylist who once worked as a tailor on Savile Row. “Things happen, invitations appear. You might get an invite for a black-tie party in the South of France for next Saturday.” Ready-to-wear is the obvious solution when you’re in a last-minute menswear quandary, but “it also means you can try new things.”

One maker worth a test-drive is Husbands Paris, founded by Nicolas Gabard, who sees his role as an “archivist of the past.” His look, inspired by stylish men such as Yves Saint Laurent, David Hemmings, and Gary Cooper, is unabashedly striking—think long, fully canvased jackets, broad lapels, structured shoulders, and wide-leg, high-waisted trousers. These wares are made in small workshops in Italy and Portugal, where craftspeople infuse them with high-end details such as hand-sewn buttonholes and silk bar tacks, a form of stitching that reinforces seams and pockets.

Thom Sweeney L.A. store Brett Wood

They’re the kind of touches any menswear enthusiast can appreciate—even if they’re the trees to Gabard’s style forest. Clothes like this are designed as a form of wearable self-assurance, enhancing what Gabard calls a “classically masculine” silhouette: broad shoulders, slim waist, narrow hips.

“Of course, tailoring has to fit well, but it also has to bring something else,” he says. “More and more [Husbands] customers want to be confident, powerful, and sexy in their outfit.”

When you want to look more suave than soigné, turn to the indie Milanese brand Massimo Alba, which is known for its chic casualwear but made its name with easygoing tailoring. “A great suit is not just about the way it fits but about the way it makes you feel,” says the eponymous label’s founder of his relaxed approach. “For me, the essence lies in balance, between structure and softness, elegance and ease. In my opinion, a suit should adapt to the wearer, not the other way around.”

Alba’s creations are cut from plush materials such as corduroy and flannel, featuring natural shoulders and only the lightest of canvasing in the chest, which results in a less-formal look. Which is not to say they aren’t workhorses: Daniel Craig wore one of Alba’s Sloop suits to dodge bullets in 2021’s James Bond film No Time to Die. “I always focus on fabrics that move with the body, details that whisper rather than shout, and cuts that allow for freedom,” Alba adds.

And freedom is precisely what this newfound inventory of great ready-to-wear tailoring provides. Modoo advises some clients to look to bespoke tailors for investment-level garments, such as morning suits, tuxedos, or the dark, serious stuff you might need for a funeral or odd courtroom appearance. “You know you’re going to wear these for 10 or 15 years,” he says. Let the new class of distinctive ready-to-wear step in when you want to try something that just wouldn’t make sense as a bespoke order. “Your pink-velvet blazer for the Christmas party? How well does that need to fit?”

London bespoke tailor Caroline Andrew is one of many who admits ready-to-wear has its place. Courtesy of Caroline Andrew

Fortunately, with so many options available, the fit is easier to dial in. You can expect most high-end operations to make a long list of changes, from ensuring that the seat of the trousers drapes appropriately to cutting working buttonholes on the jacket. For a peerless experience, you can always reach for garments from one of the many talented bespoke tailors offering ready-to-wear. At Thom Sweeney, such clothes are “all influenced by our bespoke cut,” says Thom Whiddett, who cofounded the brand with Luke Sweeney in 2007. “You try on [our ready-to-wear] jacket, and you immediately get a sense of the proportions and shapes that we put into a bespoke garment.”

That alluring sense of near-instant gratification is the point. For some, nothing will ever replace the distinguished feeling of slipping into a bench-made suit—and plenty are willing to wait for it.

“You have to mentally buy into the process and enjoy it,” says Caroline Andrew, a London bespoke specialist. “The journey is just as important as the finished product.” But ready-to-wear sets the time-strapped tailoring enthusiast down a different path: discovering new facets of your personal style at a record pace.

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Tom Brady Wears a Jacob & Co. Watch Decked in Yellow Sapphires to the Super Bowl

The $740,000 Caviar Tourbillon was an opulent choice for the former NFL star.

By 17/02/2025

Tom Brady was on the field tonight at the 59th annual Super Bowl game, and while the retired NFL hero—a seven-time Super Bowl winner (the most of any footballer in history)—wasn’t playing, he came dressed to impress with a $116,400 Jacob & Co. watch on his wrist.

Brady, who is a notable watch collector, recently sold off several of his timepieces at a Sotheby’s auction called “The GOAT Collection: Watches and Treasures from Tom Brady” this past December. Those timepieces ran the gamut from a Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 to a unique Audemars Piguet Royal Oak with his name spelled out in diamonds across the salmon-colored tapisserie dial. His Rolex Daytona sold for over $1.5 million, and, in total, his auction raked in around $7 million. So, he’s well-equipped for a new watch purchase.

Whether or not he owns the six-figure sapphire stunner or it was a paid spot, the watch certainly stood out against his conservative but immaculately fit gray suit. “Tom Brady is the epitome of excellence, both on and off the field,” said Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co, in a press release sent out by the company shortly after Brady’s appearance. “We’re thrilled to see him wearing two of our most prestigious timepieces on the biggest stage in sports. The Billionaire Mini Ashoka and Caviar Tourbillon embody the precision, luxury, and innovation that define Jacob & Co. We’re honored to have him represent the artistry and craftsmanship behind every piece we create.”

Like much of Brady’s wrist candy, his 44 by 15.8 mm Caviar Tourbillon is not easy to come by. It is limited to just 18 pieces. It features hours, minutes, and a one-minute flying tourbillon in the JCAA43 movement with 216 components and 72 hours of power reserve. The movement itself is set with 338 brilliant-cut diamonds, while a total of 337 yellow sapphires adorn the case and dial. The clasp is decorated with another 18 baguette-cut yellow sapphires, and the crown comes with 14 baguette-cut yellow sapphires and one rose-cut yellow sapphire. As far as gem setting goes, this is one extraordinary piece, but it certainly seemed like a surprising choice for Brady, who was otherwise dressed like he just stepped out of a boardroom or a Ralph Lauren catalog.

Benjamin Arabov, son of Jacob & Co. founder Jacob Arabov, is now the CEO of the company. The 32-year-old recently took to Instagram to post that he was looking for a rebranding agency with experience in visual identity and packaging. As far as marketing goes, however, with Tom Brady, he’s golden.

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This Vintage Rolex Day-Date Has an Ultra-Rare and Coveted ‘Bark’ Design

The ultra-cool piece from Wind Vintage also comes in pristine condition with a desirable patina.

By Paige Reddinger 17/02/2025

Over the last four years there has been a resurgence in interest for 18-karat yellow gold watches. Much of that is due to fatigue over the long-running craze for steel tool watches, but it is also in part due to the rising value of gold (which shows no sign of slowing), rendering these once undesirable pieces increasingly worth collecting. Add to that the fact that, in some niche and stylish circles, unusual bracelet treatments, gem-setting, and interesting dials are becoming increasingly appealing and you have a new wave of watch collecting emerging. Steel sports watches are still the bread and butter for most dealers, but as pockets of interest in more unusual timekeepers, often from younger and fashion-forward collectors, continue to rise we’re seeing some really fun pieces pop up on the market. Case in point: This 1980s Rolex Day-Date in 18-karat yellow gold with a sapphire and diamond dial from Wind Vintage currently available exclusively on The Vault.

It wasn’t that long ago that dealers had a hard time unloading an all-gold gem-set piece. Eric Wind, the notable dealer and founder of Wind Vintage, says five years ago he would have sold this piece for around $23,000 to $28,000. The asking price today? $45,000. “It is very rare,” he tells Robb Report. “I think that was all clearly hand-done. Funnily enough, bark watches were not very desirable in the past. You know, even five to 10 years ago, they were very, very hard to sell. But, over the last three to five years, there’s been such an emergence and interest in jewellery and watches and work like that engraving and other kind of artistic forms that the watches took.” The style of engraving he is referring to on this watch can be seen on the bezel and middle links of the bracelet that is referred to as “bark” for its rough tree-like appearance.

“Bark” engraving on the bezel and bracelet of the Wind Vintage 1980s Rolex Day-Date
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

And while the bracelet is certainly a notable feature that will stand out in a sea of Submariners and Daytonas, the dial is also worth bragging about. Its diamond minutes track and sapphire hour markers are executed in what is known as a “string dial” because it looks like a string of pearls. “They’ve become very popular,” says Wind. “They were very expensive back in the 80s, just because of the cost of the stones, and there are just not many that exist on the planet.” Likewise, Wind says the canary yellow matte dial is not something he comes across often, having only seen a couple of others.

An up-close look at the patina and “bark” engraving on this 1980s Day-Date from Wind Vintage.
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

Part of what makes this watch so hard to find on the market is that pieces like this often didn’t survive past their ’80s heyday. “A lot of times these watches were so undesirable that dealers would replace the bezel inserts and put on fluted inserts, or smooth bezels or fluted bezels and melt down the bracelets or polish the center link so they looked like a standard Day-Date. Those dealers should have learned that what goes around, always comes around. Now with these interesting Rolex watches on the rise, they’ll become even harder to find.

A Wind Vintage 1980s Day-Date with “bark” engraving and a gem-set “string dial”
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

If you’re interested in the piece and want to speak to Wind about it IRL, he will be at Robb Report’s House of Robb event in San Francsico today during the NBA All-Star weekend.

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Soccer Star Kylian Mbappé Is Now an Investor in Watch Marketplace Wristcheck

Just like Jay-Z.
Published on February 7, 2025

By Abby Montanez 11/02/2025

Kylian Mbappé just went from brand ambassador to investor.

The celebrated French footballer, who currently plays for Real Madrid, has taken a stake in luxury watch trading platform Wristcheck, Hypebeast reported lat week.

Off the filed, the 26-year-old soccer star is a known timepiece collector and has served as an ambassador for Swiss marque Hublot since 2018. With this new partnership, the forward joins a growing group of influential backers, including Jay-Z. The rapper and business mogul took an equity stake in the Hong Kong-based company last summer as part of a recent funding round of $7.9 million.

“I’m thrilled to join Wristcheck as an investor through Coalition Capital,” Mbappé said in a press statement. “As a Hublot ambassador and someone passionate about watches and innovation, I see Wristcheck as a platform that truly understands the next generation of collectors. They’re reshaping the watch industry with a forward-thinking approach that blends technology, transparency, and creativity.” Mbappé did not immediately respond to Robb Report‘s request for comment on his new business endeavor.

Kylian Mbappé is an investor in online watch shop Wristcheck.
Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Launched in 2020 by renowned horophile and Instagram personality Austen Chu, Wristcheck offers a platform for collectors to buy and sell pre-owned watches that have been authenticated by Swiss-trained watchmakers. Since it was founded, the company has raised more than $21.6 million in funding from investors including the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners GBA, and K3 Ventures.

Mbappé, meanwhile, has achieved remarkable success in his soccer career. He won the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France, becoming the youngest player to score in a final since Pelé. At PSG, he has secured multiple Ligue 1 titles and domestic cups. Individually, Mbappé has earned the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award and regularly features in top European scoring charts. And in 2020, he was ranked the world’s highest-paid player, surpassing rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

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Sotheby’s Will Put on the Largest Auction of Breguet Watches in Decades This Fall

To celebrate the revered watchmaking house’s 250th anniversary, the sale includes rare collectibles belonging to living Breguet family members.

By Paige Reddinger 11/02/2025

Interest in Breguet has experienced a quiet resurgence among savvy collectors who appreciate the brand’s deep-rooted watchmaking heritage. This growing enthusiasm will soon take center stage with an upcoming auction that shines a significant spotlight on the storied Maison.

Founded in Paris 250 years ago, Abraham-Louis Breguet was one of the most influential watchmakers in history, best known for inventing the tourbillon and the automatic winding system—along with many other groundbreaking innovations. His legacy continues to inspire modern masters such as F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour. You can see Breguet’s influence pointedly in pieces like F.P. Journe’s famous Chronomètre à Résonance timepiece, voted one of Robb Report‘s 50 Greatest Watches of All Time.

Now, Sotheby’s has announced “the largest sale of Breguet timepieces in three decades.” Though the auction won’t take place until November, the auction house is already working to build anticipation. In the meantime, it might be wise to brush up on the most coveted Breguet references.

Breguet 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV Breguet

What may pique collectors’ interest is the sale is being curated in conjunction with Breguet and Emmanuel Breguet, the vice president and head of patrimony, who happens to be a descendant of the original Monsieur Breguet. So far, the only timekeeper publicly associated (at least visually) with the auction is the 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV. Still, it hints at the historic level of pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks that will be on offer. Abraham-Louis Breguet was a frequent supplier of high-end and state-of-the-art timepieces for royalty, including Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, and King George III.

Other highlights include an open-faced montre à tact (a watch that replicates the internal hour hand on the cover of the pocket watch via an arrow so that time could be read via touch) with a calendar and moonphase indications that was the inspiration for the Ref. 3330. A pendulette with alarm, perpetual calendar and repeater, and a two-color gold open-faced tourbillon watch is said to be a part of the sale, although no images were provided as of press time. More info on what will be in the sale will come this spring.

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