Recently picked up an AP Millenary 4101. I know open watches are generally not liked by many forum members but I’m a complete sucker for a well-executed one. I know most readers will think that all watches in this thread are pretty ugly which is perfectly ok with me
Personally I enjoy looking down at the watch and being able to see the escapement beating away and be reminded of the amazing and intricate little machine on my wrist. When I started downsizing my collection I had 3 open faced watches. Zenith Bullit, Zenith Chronomaster 1969 and Glashutte Original Panoinverse. The Zenith Bullit was the easiest one to part with as the 45mm case was simply too large on my wrist. It looked pretty cool in the sunlight with the carbon fiber dial, the black ceramic case, and red accents, but this was an easy decision because the watch simply didn’t fit. Next up was the GO. I loved the look of this watch and the engraved double swan neck fine adjustment is a thing of beauty. My issue with this one was legibility. The white gold markers were impossible to read in the light because there wasn’t enough contract to the rhodium dial. I would look down at the watch and appreciate the craftsmanship, but I couldn’t tell the time because everything was just so shiny in the light. So, I sold both of these and the proceeds more than covered the purchase of my first higher end watch, the AP Millenary 4101. (I kept the Zenith Chronomaster 1969 as well)
Now this is a very non-traditional watch and I can understand why this would not be liked by most. I, however, like the fact that it’s non-traditional and the elements that most people dislike I actually like. I love the oval shape simply because it’s different. I think this is one of the few watches where the open aspect was not an after thought or a modification to an existing movement, but was engineered and designed specifically to be an open watch. As such, it doesn’t look like a hole was simply cut into the dial. The depth of the dial gives a very dynamic look with different elements and bridges at different levels. The dial is incredibly 3 dimensional with elements at varying heights. The movement is an in-house AP movement designed to fit the unique case shape. The finishing is incredible as would be expected from AP. And it solves the issue I had with the GO by having rose gold markers rather than white gold. Granted the small seconds overlapping the main dial does sometimes make telling the time more difficult during the overlapping hours. And the watch reminds me of the melting clock artwork of Salvador Dali who is my favorite artist. Even though the watch is listed as a 47mm watch, the lug to lug is around 49mm so it even fits my small wrists. So far I have been very impressed with this one and think I made the right decision of selling the Zenith and the GO and picking up this one in its place.
Certainly a niche piece, but one I'd definitely take myself. 