We occasionally dip a toe into the world of high-end independents around here, a space that anchors no small part of my own enthusiasm for this stuff. There are some remarkable people doing amazing things at the periphery of this hobby (regardless of price point, really) and it?s worth stopping every once and awhile to appreciate that work, even if it does fall well out of reach for the majority of us. A pair of watches that caught my eye and gave me some pause this week came from a collaboration between Laurent Ferrier and Revolution Magazine and The Rake. Yes, they?re expensive and quite limited, but boy, are they beautiful.

These watches build on a theme that began with the first collaborative effort between these parties, the Classic Origins steel sector dial released last year. This time, we?re treated to a pair of watches that draw inspiration from the same era of the ?30s and ?40s, while the drama has been dialed up to 11 with oversized, applied Breguet numerals atop sunburst dials of gold or salmon. The white gold appliques are ruthenium treated for maximum contrast with the dial, and they are pure show stoppers as a result. A black sector ring joins the Arabic numerals with much longer, attenuated arms with serifed ends filling in the remaining hour markers.  
Each example is built within a steel 40mm case, however the movements differ between the two. The salmon dialed example receives Laurent Ferrier?s micro-rotor equipped caliber 229.01, which is no...