For International Women’s Day, I’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Struthers, the most academic and studied watchmaker in horological history. And she has the singular honor of achieving the very first doctorate in horology. This is a very modern watchmaker with a rather old-fashioned way of doing things.
A friend of GaryG’s recently purchased a real object of desire: a unique piece Classic from Vianney Halter that includes a date indication. When asked about his motivation in adding this to his collection, his friend told him, “I’m interested in what history will determine to be the ‘greatest’ watchmakers of our time.”
The click spring is one of the smaller components of a mechanical watch, but it is of enormous importance. Ever wondered why the crown doesn’t retaliate furiously and unwind every time you crank it? Without the click spring, a wound mainspring would immediately – and explosively – uncoil like a raging viper in a hat box.
One of IWC’s most emblematic timepieces, the Portugieser chronograph has been a cornerstone of the brand’s collection for many years. The Portugieser, which first appeared back in 1939, has not always been a bestseller. The truth is, IWC failed with three separate launches before the Portugieser finally became a success in the early 1990s. Sabine Zwettler shares a brief history of the Portugieser here and introduces the six new chronograph variations powered by an in-house movement.
Clare Valley winemaker Jim Barry has teamed up with one of the most famous German producers, Dr. Loosen, to form a new joint venture called LoosenBarry. It currently offers two blends of Rieslings: one using Mosel grapes but made in the Australian style, while the other Riesling comes from Clare Valley grapes, but made in the German style. And the results are in!
And we have a winner for our February 29 Leap Year competition: find out here how one lucky Quill & Pad reader will soon be receiving her new Gorilla Fastback GT Bandit!
Ian Skellern’s feelings regarding the rapid series of announcements of watch events like the cancellation of Watches & Wonders and Baselworld as well as the full-steam-ahead project Geneva Watch Days have been equally quickly undulating: from initially being enthusiastically for, Ian ended feeling against Geneva Watch Days. Why put anyone’s health at risk, especially with perhaps little in return but a few photos and a persistent cough? But it is a tough call.
What makes an enamel dial so magical? That is the question Martin Green asked himself when presented with the new version of the Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique with a blue oven-fired enamel dial that Breguet recently launched. You may enjoy the answer he came up with.
Launch yet another me-too blue-dialed steel sports watch today and you can expect flack. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Tourbillon is, you guessed it, a blue-dialed steel sporty watch. But as Joshua Munchow explains, it’s much more than that. And you’ll probably really like it.
A visit to Texas offered Elizabeth Doerr a surprise: she came across a very large painting simply entitled ‘Watch’ at the Dallas Museum of Art. Further inquiry into its painter, Gerald Murphy, revealed a fun historical anecdote and a bit of a mystery. Why did Murphy paint a giant Cubist impression of two watches in 1925, and which watches were they?