No question: Bremont deserved a right royal pasting for falsely and misleadingly claiming that its Wright Flyer watch’s movement was made in-house. Question: how important is the in-house movement claim to all but the most anal retentive watch buyers? What percentage of buyers know or care what caliber pushes their watch’s hands around? If we’re staying within the horological community . . .
surely the roundly rejected (if not reviled) Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet is more controversial. There are people who actually buy the thing.
I reckon “the most controversial watch ever” should be controversial enough to be known by non-watch nerds. Like the watch that mistimed Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics. Which didn’t happen. The mistiming I mean. Jesse showed the Nazis what for.
Here’s a controversial idea: watches aren’t controversial. That said, any watch that costs more than, say, $10k qualifies. Not amongst watch collectors obviously. But if you’ve ever heard the words “you paid how much for that watch?” you’ll know I’m right.