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.
Urwerk and MB&F are two stalwarts of contemporary watchmaking with, superficially at least, much in common. Here Ian Skellern shares what he thinks are the significant similarities and differences between these two leaders in modern independent watchmaking.
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.
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?
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.
This is a family affair: a story of Ian’s wife Brigitte, her horse Gucci, his father Neil, and an engraved Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique. And this is a good example of how and why you might want to commission a work of art on the back of a Reverso.
The Breguet Tradition collection, as exemplified here by the Tradition Automatique Seconde Rétrograde 7097, does just what it says on the label: provide tradition. And it does that very well as Ian Skellern illustrates in a comparison with an original 200-year-old Abraham-Louis Breguet Souscription pocket watch.
One of the advantages of writing about watches is visiting the brands. And while we do our best to share these treasured experiences with you as best as we can, nothing can replace the pleasure and joy of experiencing things for yourself. Happily, Jaeger-LeCoultre is now offering Atelier d’Antoine masterclasses, manufacture visits, and discovery workshops not only to journalists but also to watch aficionados. Here’s how you can get in on the fun!
While Dubai Watch Week did not take place this year, the popular Horology Forum discussion panels were fortunately held virtually. Here are three videos from it you may enjoy.
Ian Skellern still remembers the sense of awe he felt when he had the opportunity to watch and listen to a recently restored centuries-old Jaquet Droz singing bird. The animation was compelling, and the quality of the birdsong sound was incredible. But as impressive a feat he thought that full-sized eighteenth-century Jaquet Droz singing bird clock was, shrinking that mechanical technology to wristwatch size is just mind-blowing. As The Naked Watchmaker Peter Speake highlights here.