GaryG has been to Monterey Car Week around 20 times now to meet up with friends and enjoy the array of cars and, more recently, watches on display. While in recent years they have focused on the “big” events at The Quail and Pebble Beach, this year the group decided to add some variety and go off the beaten path a bit – with satisfying results.
GaryG debates the whys and wherefores of celebrity ambassadors and what they may (and may not) bring to the communication of a watch brand.
GaryG wears all of the watches in his collection, though some watches are more suited to daily wear than others. A reader’s question got Gary thinking, both about which pieces in his assortment are the go-to routine watches for frequent wear and, at a more fundamental level, what makes a watch a “daily wearer.” Read his opinion on that right here.
You can like everything, but you can’t buy – or keep – everything! Inevitably, the choices involved lead at times to regrets; for GaryG, along with many of his pals, the sadness is much more often about pieces they sold too soon or failed to buy rather than pieces they were sorry about buying in the first place (although surely everyone has a few “what was I thinking?” buying moments).
This is the story of a daily-wear watch: the Tsunami by Japanese independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka. It’s not a “beater” as it’s too beautifully made for that description, and some folks justifiably take offense at characterizing a five-figure expenditure in those terms. But it is a watch that GaryG suspects that he will be wearing a lot and in a variety of settings.
GaryG has long wanted to meet and learn from independent horologist David Walter. He recently had the opportunity to spend some time with him in his California workshop, soaking in a tiny fraction of his deep knowledge of clockmaking and encountering DeeDee’s Tourbillon, an ultra-interesting unique piece clock.
Ah, watch cases! As regular readers may recall, GaryG has a particular fascination with the outer shells that encase, protect, and enhance the ticking mechanical wonders within. And if watch cases fascinate, why not visit a few case makers? Let’s go!
GaryG finds the process involved in selecting a suitable gift for MrsGaryG fairly torturous. Nonetheless, he continues to do it. This time Gary focuses on two watches that he has happily added to MrsG’s collection as gifts: a pair of Élégantes from F.P. Journe. Find out why (times two!) right here.
As part of his “enthusiast collector” role at Quill & Pad, GaryG takes a look at watches that strike his fancy, sharing the visual results with our readers along with a few observations on photography, the watches themselves, and the collectors who own them. In this installment of Behind The Lens, GaryG takes on the formidable F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain.
If you’re just beginning to collect the works of independent watchmakers, GaryG suggests that you give careful consideration to watches from Habring2, the small independent Austrian watchmaking company founded and headed by Maria Kristina and Richard Habring.