Entries by Elizabeth Doerr

Geneva Watch Days 2021 Round Table Discussion: What We Liked, What We Didn’t Like, And What We’d Buy From The Watches Presented At This Relaxed, Sunshine-Filled Fair

The 2021 edition of Geneva Watch Days was by most measures a successful event as the watch world slowly gets back to a modicum of normality. The presentations proved exciting as we could finally handle real watches instead of looking at them on a screen. We saw old friends, made new ones, and remembered why we love spending time talking watches. Here are our personal picks for “best of” in a number of categories. What were yours?

The Rise (And Rise) Of Independents: A Live Panel Discussion From Geneva Watch Days 2021 Featuring Felix Baumgartner (Urwerk), Pierre Jacques (De Bethune), William Massena (Massena Lab), Alexandre Ghotbi (Phillips), And Elizabeth Doerr

Independent watchmakers and brands have experienced an unbelievable uptick in not only business and sales during 2021 – despite, or even perhaps because of, the pandemic – but also in recognition and general respect and understanding. During Geneva Watch Days 2021, Elizabeth Doerr moderated a live panel discussion hosted by Phillips exploring in detail this new and unexpected position in the luxury watch industry. Please enjoy the recorded discussion here.

Rick Hale: Wooden Clocks Designed And Built As If By John Harrison Except Today And In The USA (Beautiful Photos + Videos) – Reprise

Clockmakers rarely get the credit they deserve, and Elizabeth Doerr believes that Rick Hale is deserving of at least a few minutes of your attention because this young autodidact clockmaker is doing something unique: handmaking self-designed clocks out of wood according to some of John Harrison’s principles.

First Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Marvel Black Panther Flying Tourbillon Appears At Christie’s Marvel(ous) Auction

Since its launch in April 2021, the watch world has been at odds with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Marvel Black Panther Flying Tourbillon. And while it has polarized opinions, that didn’t stop it from selling out quickly. Now Christie’s has the first Black Panther up for auction at its online “The Marvelous Sale.”

Wrist Watching: Rolling Stone Charlie Watts (A Discreet Watch Collector) Knew It Was Only Rock And Roll (But He Liked It)

Charlie Watts passed away on August 24, 2021, at the age of 80 after having been hospitalized for heart problems. He had been the beat-keeper for the Rolling Stones for half a century. Unlike his bandmates, the famed drummer of the Rolling Stones kept a low profile, and so identifying his watches wasn’t easy . . . but we managed to spot one.

‘Time Bandit’: The Urwerk Opus 5 For Harry Winston That Almost Was – Reprise

The Opus 5 by Felix Baumgartner/Urwerk for Harry Winston is one of the best of this series of exceptional timepieces. But, as this drawing by Urwerk designer Martin Frei from June of 2003 shows, one of the original ideas behind Urwerk’s Opus 5 was a digital display in a model christened with the working title “Time Bandit.” Check out this superb almost-was timepiece!

‘The Persistence Of Memory’: Online Museum And Ode To Independent Watchmaking

The “great lockdown of 2020” gifted us with something outstanding: from the depths of an anxiety-inducing existence arose an online exhibition called “The Persistence of Memory,” which can be described as an !online museum” honoring some of the most influential and important independent watchmakers of the modern era. Here Elizabeth Doerr speaks with its creator Michael Tay for an inside view on what this “exhibition” surveying 50 years of independent watchmaking is. And what it isn’t.

Oskar Pascal OP483 Chronograph: The World’s First Watch In NASA-Grade, Ultra-Hard ZR01 Metal. And There Are Pods, Too

Oskar Pascal is the brainchild of a pair of Swedish brothers who were neither previously involved in the watch industry nor are they watchmakers. The engineer and designer have created a cleanly designed chronograph housed within the world’s first watch case in ZR01, an amorphous alloy based on zirconium, one of the hardest metals in the world and even used by NASA. And then there are the Pods!

10 Omega Watches On Olympic Wrists At The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

With the 2020/2021 Olympic Games now in the (record) books, Nick Gould and Elizabeth Doerr can look back on a record number of watch spots for one event – but they certainly didn’t flag up every single watch they noticed. Here Elizabeth shares a listing of ten athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games who wore watches while competing by Omega, the official sponsor of the Olympic Games.