“It is a very childish book . . . you have been warned!” my friend Kristian Haagen said to me when I inquired about ‘Hashtags and Watches.’ Haagen is one of the more colorful figures among the writers who follow the world of watches. Which means that he rarely does anything the way that anyone else would. ‘Hashtags and Watches’ is a perfect example.
As has become apparent over the past few years, getting your watch serviced, especially with any group-owned brands, can be a major thing. It can take many months, and even up to a year. The reason, of course, is that there are only so many qualified watchmakers to service these watches, and brands are overrun with a gargantuan backlog of service requests.
But that’s only one of the reasons to consider becoming a backyard watchmaker.
Historian Dominique Fléchon has worked for the Richemont Group since 1994 and the FHH since 2006. He is a quiet achiever, therefore you may not be very aware of him. Fléchon has authored a comprehensive book on the history of watchmaking called ‘The Mastery of Time.’ This 456-page oeuvre makes the perfect gift for the horophile in your life.
The Isle of Man’s Roger Smith has long had an appreciation for triple calendar wristwatches, finding harmonious balance and purity in the triple calendar indications of day, date, and month. Having successfully redeveloped the George Daniels-invented co-axial escapement to be both smaller and more efficient, the time was right to introduce a new model: The Series 4 triple calendar.
I had never imagined I could be jealous of myself until after I stepped out of the Corsa yellow Lamborghini Huracan that I had just pushed beyond my experience of everyday physics during an exhilarating five laps at the historic Sebring Motor Speedway. The time behind the wheel of the Huracan changed me forever and I immediately burned to be the guy that had been in the car, not the guy now walking away from it.
Urban Jürgensen & Sønner has had quite an exciting twelve months: perhaps the most exciting of its 240-year history. In 2014 the brand’s Central Second took home the prize for Best Men’s Watch at the GPHG. Then we were astounded to already see the first results of new ownership: in just eleven weeks the new team managed to revamp the existing collection to present five “new” models at Baselworld 2015.
On November 25, 1915 Albert Einstein introduced his general theory of relativity to the scientific community in Berlin.
Now, on the 100th anniversary of this scientific milestone, the Federation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) poses the question through its seventh forum, entitled “The Future in Progress,” as to whether this theory is still relevant as a metaphor for out-of-the-box thinking in watchmaking.
The Urwerk EMC Pistol, an extremely limited edition of just five pieces, features a very intricate mix of hand-engraved artistry and groundbreaking technology. The EMC Pistol is an edition of the watch that closes the EMC line, which is really a test bed for the hybrid technology inside rather than a fully finished wristwatch.
I was invited by H. Moser & Cie to attend a most atypical press conference in Zürich. The occasion was the first parabolic flight in Switzerland, during which Moser, along with its escapement-making sister company Precision Engineering, tested movements and components in zero gravity. H. Moser & Cie also launched the new Pioneer collection, its most contemporary yet.
Among the many highlights of SalonQP 2015 was the “Inside a Second” exhibition of chronographs presented in partnership with the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie. The exhibition included the George Daniels co-axial four-minute tourbillon with Daniels’ compact chronograph mechanism. And that would have been enough chronograph for me all by itself, but there were many more highlights.