This is part 3 of a three-part series about Derek Pratt’s reconstruction of John Harrison’s Longitude Prize-winning H4, which was the world’s first precision marine chronometer. This article was first published in ‘The Horological Journal’ (HJ) in April 2015, who we thank for graciously granting permission to republish on Quill & Pad.
Impressively, the cathedral chimes remained audible as Stephen Forsey closed his palm completely around the Greubel Forsey Grand Sonnerie in a (knowingly) futile attempt to silence the gongs.
But how? And what else does this exceptional timepiece, one that I might call the best in the world, hold in store?
Here we present the second part in a three-part series about the making of Derek Pratt’s reconstruction of John Harrison’s H4. This part was written by Carl Murray of Frodsham. This article was first published in ‘The Horological Journal’ (HJ) in March 2015, who we thank for permission to republish on Quill & Pad.
Here we present the first part in a three-part series about the making of Derek Pratt’s H4 reconstruction. This part was written by Roger Stevenson, chief watchmaker at Frodsham. This article was first published in the ‘The Horological Journal’ (HJ) in February 2015 and we thank them for the gracious permission to republish it on Quill & Pad.
Many watches hold a special significance for their owners. The watch I am chronicling here didn’t just change someone’s life, it changed MY life: the Jean Daniel Nicolas Two-Minute Tourbillon by Daniel Roth.
I know of only three watchmakers making watches by hand today: one is Michel Boulanger for Naissance d’une Montre. The other two are Dominique Buser and Cyrano Devanthey, who are hand-making watches they call l’Instant de Vérité under the umbrella of their own micro brand Oscillon. And what a watch this is!
MB&F’s Legacy Machine Perpetual took the prize for Best Calendar Watch at the 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève and I thought it deserved that accolade and more. LM Perpetual has rewritten the architecture of the perpetual calendar, transforming this oft troublesome complication into a virtual masterpiece.
The Quill & Pad panel reflects on watchmaking’s biggest night: the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, often described as the Oscars of watchmaking. In this segment, we chat about what we liked and what we didn’t like, which watches won and why we think they did.
We also express a bit of dismay at times.
Follow the 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) live in either English or French with our live video stream starting at 18:30 CET / 17:30 GMT) Thursday November 10.
Our panel members are nearly unanimous in their predictions for the winner of the top prize in the 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève: the Aiguille d’Or. While two members of the panel could not settle on just one winner, calling a tie between two and even three watches, for Ian the winner is crystal clear. Let us know which timepieces you think will be crowned with the Aiguille d’Or in 2016.