Time Machine.

A personal blog written and maintained by Liping Lin on his own collection—watches worth looking at from the outside in, and opening when the movement asks for it.

Explore the collection

Archive still / pocket watches and chainsSwipe or use ← →

Collection entry / A01 / 04

Vacheron Constantin Overseas 42050

A first-generation Vacheron Constantin Overseas, reference 42050/423A, in the 35 mm format. White guilloché dial, polished Maltese-cross bezel, screw-down crown, and an original water-resistance rating of 150 metres.

It is not a miniature version of the 37 mm Overseas. At 35 mm it belongs to a moment when a serious men’s sports watch could still be compact, and it remains the thinner, more ambitious original before Vacheron reinforced the movement as the 42052.

Open full record

Heuer split-seconds pocket chronograph shown with a vintage racing car — Approx. 1963–1966 / Swiss-made

Collection entry / B02 / 04

Heuer Ref. 11.204 Rattrapante Pocket Chronograph

A full pocket chronograph that combines conventional timekeeping with elapsed and intermediate timing. Its two superimposed central chronograph seconds hands run together at start; the rattrapante pusher stops one while the other continues, then releases it to catch up instantly.

The rattrapante mechanism gives the watch its purpose: a first competitor's time or an intermediate lap can be recorded while the main event continues. This is an instrument for motorsport, athletics, horse racing, rally checkpoints, scientific experiments, and industrial time-and-motion studies.

Open full record

Collection entry / C03 / 04

Vacheron & Constantin Pocket Watch

A Vacheron Constantin dress pocket watch with a champagne sector dial, applied Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds, and a fourteen-karat American case. The movement, numbered 440101, belongs to the Calibre 439 family and was imported under the VXN code.

It is a watch made between two worlds: a Genevan heart completed for New York taste. Survival matters as much as origin. The case was never melted, and the letters S.P. remain.

Open full record

Zenith El Primero with 18k gold case — c. 1995–98 / Ref. 30.0240.400

Collection entry / K04 / 04

Zenith Chronomaster El Primero

Zenith Chronomaster El Primero, reference 30.0240.400/01, also recorded as 14/30.0240.400. A first-generation, pre-LVMH gold chronograph from about 1995 to 1998, with applied gold numerals, a pressed basket-and-rosette dial, and a COSC-certified calibre 400.

It is the El Primero after its second survival: no longer merely a famous old calibre, but the foundation of Zenith’s own high-end identity. The dress-watch surface conceals one of the most ambitious industrial chronographs of the twentieth century.

Open full record

View all collection records

Independent practice

A quiet resurrection

Horlogerie
Indépendante

From the hush of abandoned movements, a new watchmaking is born. What time had nearly forgotten is gathered, given a case, and returned to the living wrist.