1872 for Men 
Clive Christian (2001)

It's easy to have a chip on your shoulder with Clive Christian knowing that he bought the historic Crown Perfumery just to gut it and use its bottles, insignia, and past honors to propel a vanity project in the luxury perfume sector. What's worse is the nameplate makes perfumes just for the sake of being "the most expensive in the world", with little other artistic vision than that, making the brand a gilded and diamond-studded glove to the face of perfume lovers who revered the cultural icon that was The Crown Perfumery. Having said that, I know there are bound to be some really capable perfumers passing through Clive's halls making some stellar perfumes, since there is virtually no limit on the R&D budgets they're given. Sadly, No. 1 (2001) and No. 1 for Men (2001) were both puff pieces of perfumery, with little else going on besides to smell overindulgent and pretentious; think a gaudy clubber dressed like Liberace and insulting the help in Shakespearean tongues and you're close to the mark. However, 1872 for Men (2001) goes in quite a different direction, seeking to present a fragrance designed with modern sensabilities using mostly ingredients available to The Crown Perfumery back at inception in 1872 plus a few naturally-derived molecules. What does this yield exactly? Well, something like a chypre but constructed in a manner that sees it wield classic floral absolutes, aromatics, woods, and resins to convey a modern standard of gentlemanly clean for someone not into vintage perfume. Remember, proper fougères and chypres did not exist in 1872, so this is really neither, just an odd piece of "steampunk" perfumery that marries modern know-how with mostly-vintage materials, then asking an arm and a leg for the experience of smelling like Marty McFly on his way back from 19th-century Hill Valley. I'd almost say it'a worth it, almost...

Perfumer Geza Shoen was up for the challenge with 1872 for Men, and think what you want of the house itself, but he delivers. The opening is very classically-minded citrus notes, because it cannot be anything but when modern abstract molecules are removed from the equation, so expect bergamot, lemon, lime, mandarin, pineapple, and peach lactone merged with galbanum, petitgrain, rosemary, lavender, and pepper. This opening is very reminiscent of Creed Royal Water (1997), which is itself a gussied up chypre with some luxury twists, so further references to scents like Homme de Grès (1996), Penhaligon's Douro/Eau de Portugal/Lords (1985), Yves Saint Laurent pour Homme Haute Concentration (1983) or Capucci pour Homme (1967) can also be made. 1872 is far more floral than them, and far cleaner, with cyclamen, freesia, marigold, and jasmine coming into the heart with a bit of clary sage for aromatic boost. The base is the most modern part, but only by a few tricks of the tail, with oakmoss, cedar, patchouli, amber, and olibanum smoothed over with a cool modern-ish vegetal muscone note, which adds that clean "laundry musk" touch without reaching for something cheap-smelling like galaxolide might be in this context. The only thing this is really missing is an aldehyde, tonka, or ambroxan to pull it out of genre no-man's-land and into something recognizable as current, which is most interesting. Wear time is virtually all day, while projection is moderate and the overall character is fussy but appropriate for daytime use in all but the coldest seasons, which is par for most citrus chypres even non-fussy ones. If you wear this to the office, expect some stares or people suddenly looking to borrow lunch money from you, because even though 1872 for Men is not as ostentatious as No. 1 for Men, it definitely still comes across "affected".

Clive Christian perfumes are almost certainly never "worth it" if you compare the object value of the materials and what the perfumer likely was paid, look at the price, then compare that to the price of something else with reasonably similar style, performance, and level of nose used to compose. Even Creed Royal Water is a much better value at cost-per-mililiter as it has nearly identical quality and will yield you a bottle 3 times the size for your money even at retail, as opposed to what Clive wants for a 50ml bottle of 1872 for men, plus if you dig into some vintage designers of similar stripe, you can do even better if you don't mind the loss of some floral filigrees. It's really those same filligrees that set 1872 for Men apart from its most-comparable peers, besides the "back to the future" concept of making a scent that is clean and fresh by the standards of 21st century gentlemen but composed through the lense of a 19th century perfumer. Personally, I think this stuff is fantastic and like several Roja Dove perfumes, is another example of something I'd love to take home if I found an extraordinary deal, but would never live down the guilt for if people who cared about me learned that I spent money equal to a new HDTV on a single bottle of perfume. It's safe to assume that if you ever see a bottle in my collection, I either won the lottery, got a very generous gift from somewhere, or slipped a roofie in a salesperson's drink and got them to sell me a bottle at the wholesale price, forbidden miraculous fire sales. 1872 for Men is certainly worth checking out for chypre lovers, especially ones wealthy (or spendthrift) enough for Mr. Christian's prices. I'd still undo it all if it meant getting back The Crown Perfumery though, sorry not sorry. Thumbs up.

Starts off mature/old-school, and manly, reminds me of Armani pH or Acqua di Parma Colonia. Quickly dries down to something more modern, clean and fresh, like Acqua di Gio.

Feels more dressed up and formal but should be versatile for all climates. Average projection but good, all workday longevity.

This is incredible! Wow. I can't tell individual notes too well due to the really great blending in this but I think I smell the prominent notes of lime, petitgrain, bergamot, peach, rosemary, and clary sage. It smells both very old-fashioned and very sophisticated at the same time. It is a citrus fragrance with herbal undertones and reminds me of Acqua di Parma Colonia. It's just incredibly well done and smells so beautiful. Sillage is strong while longevity is also fantastic, running at over 12 hours on my skin. Overall this is one of the best citrus colognes ever made.

5/5