After the markets closed on July 30, 2014, luxury group Kering (previously known as PPR and the Gucci Group) sent out the announcement that it had acquired 100 percent of Ulysse Nardin as part of its quarterly report.
In the “Objects of Desire” series, I’ll be looking at pieces that fall into the latter two categories – a mix of unobtanium and timenotrightium, as my Quill & Pad colleague Joshua Munchow might say. And, where better to start on the topic of desire than with the watches of Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey?
Ninety years is a ripe old age to reach for anyone, and few actually reach it. But it doesn’t surprise me that Walter Lange has reached this age so gracefully. He was, after all, 66 – retirement age for most people – in 1990 when he embarked upon the new business venture with Günter Blümlein to refound his family’s birthright.
To make a carbon fiber watch case, chopped carbon and resin material is lightly packed into a mold and then heated to the temperature at which the resin melts. For the SpidoLite II Tech outer case frame, this process enables Linde Werdelin to have a solid carbon fiber frame without any miniature layup. It also makes the material nearly indestructible under even the most challenging of circumstances.
This month’s horological news features new launches that include the Jazz Minute Repeater by Ulysse Nardin, hand-painted Persian horses from La Montre Hermès, F.P. Journe’s titanium Octa Sport, the new, commemorative Speedmaster Apollo 11 from Omega, the chilly Iceberg by HYT, a new ambassador for Richard Mille and much, much more.
Having had the opportunity to wear Urwerk’s UR-110 TTH for a month, I came to seriously appreciate not only the unique craftsmanship and gorgeous styling of this particular model, but also its cool, yellow-green lume display at night. The blackened titanium case and tantalum bezel is absolutely rock and roll: heavy in color, aesthetic in hue and unusual in this shape.
During Quill & Pad’s on location visit to Jaeger-LeCoultre in Le Sentier, Ian and I had the unique chance to take a lesson in enameling from the brand’s self-taught master Miklos Merczel. Merczel’s story is an interesting one, and jibes with Jaeger-LeCoultre’s common history with this art form: historically and uniquely on request, Jaeger-LeCoultre has famously placed enameled miniature paintings on the flip side of the Reverso case.
It was the Friday morning training session before the 2014 Hockenheim Formula 1 Grand Prix race and we were on our way to watch from a most privileged position: the box. Or, as it’s called by the Anglo-Italo Marussia F1 team, “the garage.” Armin Strom has been sponsoring the Marussia team for three years and had invited me for a look behind the scenes.
One night I was doing my typical browse-for-tools-and-equipment-while-making-excuses-and-putting-it-off thing and I happened to be talking to my best friend about how I wished I could have what I needed to make the watch I had designed.
Having heard this story many times, she finally said, “Seriously, quit complaining and just do it.” Two days later I had an order of parts and raw materials headed my way on a FedEx truck. And here’s how I made my first watch.
How much time one could survive in space without a suit? Are there truly 24 hours in a day? Why could dinosaurs not live in the present day (shock: ‘Jurassic Park’ is complete fiction)? Where arenmost of the volcanos on earth? Is there a river beneath the Amazon? How long has it been since it has rained on the driest place on earth? And what percent of the world’s species we have discovered? Here are 50 things you should know about the planet we live on.