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.
The initial online response to the new Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 collection launched to great fanfare at the 2019 SIHH in January was extremely negative, and even among those who withheld judgment until handling the watches, “lukewarm” seemed to be the general view. Having let the dust settle a bit, GaryG takes a look at the anatomy of what he thinks was a dismal product launch (though not necessarily a dismal product).
The buyer of this unique-piece Kari Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II was inspired by the look of the F.P. Journe “Black Label” Chronomètre Souverain already in his collection. And GaryG finally gets it into his light tent, sharing not only what he thinks, but also what he sees behind his lens.
When GaryG first considered an article on this topic some time ago, the title was going to be “How High is Up?” in reference to what, at the time, was the ongoing escalation in the prices of both new and used watches and the flood of higher-end, highly complicated timepieces from makers both large and small. Times have changed, and so has the market. Here is GaryG’s advice.
Watch collecting should be fun! Yes, it’s important to show the proper respect for the designers and makers of the watches we all love, but at the same time I think it’s completely appropriate to go beyond somber and traditional daily watches and give a bit of free rein to one’s desire for more flamboyant timepieces.
Once in a while on the collector forums, a question is posed: is there anyone in the collector community who has never, ever, owned a Rolex? As a general rule, respondents to these queries tend to express disbelief that such a creature could possibly exist given the quality and ubiquity of the brand’s watches. Well, folks, GaryG is here to tell you that such people do exist, and that he is one of them. How could it be? And then what happened?
For this edition of Behind the Lens, GaryG shares a series of photographs of one of the great watches of our time, the Philippe Dufour Duality. The Duality, with its linked twin escapements, was originally planned for production in a series of 25 watches. In a turn of events that seems almost unbelievable today, a lack of initial demand eventually led Dufour to limit production to just nine pieces, one of which is owned by a good friend of Gary’s.