Entries by Ian Skellern

Urwerk AMC: This Atomic (Clock) Mechanical Control Is A 21st Century Version Of Abraham-Louis Breguet’s Sympathique Clocks But Much, Much Better (Geiger Counter Not Included) – Reprise

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Here’s a prediction by Ian Skellern: the relatively nondescript AMC movement Urwerk presented at the 2018 SIHH will not only become one of the horological highlights of the decade, but will take its place among history’s most significant timepieces ever. That’s a bold statement. Here Ian explains why he thinks AMC is so important.

Burgess Clock B, The World’s Most Precise Pendulum Clock, Is Made To A 250-Year-Old Design By John Harrison, Longitude Prize Winner And Inventor Of The Marine Chronometer – Reprise

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Two-hundred fifty years ago, Longitude Prize-winning clockmaker John Harrison made clocks losing just one second per month. But that wasn’t enough for him: in his later life, Harrison claimed that he could make a wall clock with a then-unheard-of-precision of just one second over 100 days! And 250 years later, it turns out he was right.

John McGonigle Oileán H-B1 Triple Calendar Chronograph: I Don’t Know Of A More Beautiful Complicated Movement Available For The Money

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John McGonigle has launched the H-B1, the first watch under his solo brand Oileán. It’s a beautifully hand finished triple-calendar column wheel chronograph powered by a highly modified new-old stock Valjoux 88 movement. While not cheap, Ian Skellern thinks it’s the best value-for-money, exquisitely hand-finished, complicated watch he has ever seen.

5 Things You Should Know About Port Wine But Probably Don‘t, Including Why You Don’t Want To Know The Bishop Of Norwich – Reprise

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There are a plethora of places to see in Porto − the city center is a UNESCO World Heritage site − but one absolute must for wine aficionados is to spend a couple of hours across the river Douro in Vila Nova de Gaia visiting a Port house and tasting the wines. Follow me on such a journey . . . saude!

Make Mine A Double! The Macallan Whisky Mechanical Hip Flask By Urwerk (With Video) – Reprise

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Fine watches and fine whisky, for many the two go together like single malt birds of a feather. Urwerk founders Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei have been known to enjoy a smooth amber tipple or two, and as discerning gentlemen with discerning taste in haute horlogerie it’s perhaps not surprising that Baumgartner and Frei also have discerning taste when it comes to whisky: single malt by The Macallan.

John McGonigle Oileán H-B1 Triple Calendar Chronograph: I Don’t Know Of A More Beautiful Complicated Movement Available For The Money – Reprise

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John McGonigle has launched the H-B1, the first watch under his solo brand Oileán. It’s a beautifully hand finished triple-calendar column wheel chronograph powered by a highly modified new-old stock Valjoux 88 movement. While not cheap, Ian Skellern thinks it’s the best value-for-money, exquisitely hand-finished, complicated watch he has ever seen.

Abraham-Louis Breguet Souscription Pocket Watch No. 1836, dated 1807: Touched (Perhaps) By The Hand Of The Horological God – I’m Jaded No Longer

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This Breguet souscription pocket watch number 1836 was created just after the French Revolution in 1796 and was sold in 1807 for £600. A testament to the quality of the movement’s design and the skill of its watchmaker, after more than 200 years it still runs perfectly today, which makes it the perfect role model for Breguet’s modern Tradition line. But what relationship does Ian have to it?

Lessons Learned Free Ranging Peacocks (Peafowl): A Colorful Christmas ‘Tail’ (With Videos)

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Peacocks on Quill & Pad? Well, if luxury is defined as an inessential, desirable item that is expensive or difficult to obtain, then peafowl surely fit the bill as well as any fine mechanical watch. Here Ian Skellern shares more than you are likely to ever need to know about free-ranging peacocks/peafowl, recounting his colorful journey to sharing a garden with Bonnie and Clyde along the way.