Collecting watches as a hobby is something exciting to me. It is getting craftsmanship from all over the world combined with technology. Something like an art piece all combined into one!
They can be stylish, they can be gaudy, and they can be hidden. They can tell a story of the kind of person you are something like they say about a man and his car, or women with her clothes and shoes.

Let’s talk about the Montegrappa vs Audemars both of these are luxury watches were you should have at least one of each in your collection.

The Elmo & Montegrappa Company is an exquisite manufacturer of writing instruments and watches founded in Italy in 1912. Notable partner owners are Sylvester Stallone and ex F1 Ferrari driver Jean Alesi.
One of my favorite is the limited addition artistic looking Gold Chaos and Enamel Automatic. It can have the look and feel as if you are a philanthropist in an Indian Jones movie with a rare prize on your arm, or you are part of a secret power society.

Make no mistake about it with its 3D design of a skull, dragon lizard looking snake, Roman numeral hour markers, and ruby jeweled flag. Anyone who knows watches will tell instantly it is a Montegrappa!
How the Chaos watch was invented can be contributed to Sylvester Stallone who at first wanted a pen for the action pack movie series The Expendables. During a meeting he sketched out the expendables skulls with wings, pierced by a sword logo and used that design!

The body of the pen was either sterling silver or 18k yellow gold engraved with skulls, snakes, lizards, red and yellow enameled sections that can only be described as "roads of fire."
It was made as a limited edition and sold very well.

Montegrappa and Stallone felt that if the Chaos pens were doing so well, why not a watch?
Thus the Chaos watch was born. It has a Swiss ETA 2824 Automatic movement, Roman numeral hour markers, (2) sterling silver, (2) 18k yellow gold, with and without the fire, over the dial is sapphire crystal and water resistant up to 100 meters. It also has an Alligator strap with an engraved skull buckle.

Despite the remarks that the Italian press made about the watch as being one of the worst thing to happen to Italy since Mussolini it became one of the best selling items for Montegrappa! 

Montegrappa produced two sets of 333 pieces of the sterling silver model (with and without enamel), and two sets of 33 pieces of the 18k yellow gold model. A collectors dream!

The Audemars Piguet is a swiss made company with the founding family still apart and running the business today. The luxury watch maker was founded in 1875 by then young watch makers Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet and is regarded as one of the highest end of watch manufacturers. Tiffany & Co, Cartier, and Bulgari are just a few companies that use some Audemar Piguet movements.

Jules-Louis and Edward were serious precision watch makers who created the first slim skeleton watch with a see through back. Another one of their signature creations is the Royal Oak.

When Oliver Cromwell’s troops pursued King Charles II, the future king of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1651, to escape them he took up refuge in the branches of an oak tree. Thus the tree became the “Royal Oak” and a symbol of power and protection.

In 1664 and 1939 in commemoration of this historical event, eight ships of the British Royal Navy took the name HMS Royal Oak. One battleship was reinforced with steel plates and had octagonal gun ports for its cannons that were secured by 8 visible bolts. This was the inspiration that a Gerald Genta took with the basis to imagine and create the shape of the watch case.

The AP Royal Oak Tourbillion was created with steel. A sports watch with an octagonal bezel, sharp angles, and 8 visible screws in front and on back was at the time a futuristic design. This was the first of its kind being a high-end sports watch made of steel.

Today athletes, actors, and many of the celebrities wear and represent the brand of handsome AP watches and time pieces!