Following on from the amazing Inversion Principle timepiece, Fonderie 47 now introduces the Peerless Fonderie 47 pen by Cross. The limited edition Fonderie 47 pen is characterized by gold interspersed with black elements made of re-purposed steel from destroyed AK-47s from Africa that are melted down in Fonderie 47’s foundry in Brooklyn.
Scott Rothstein was the ringleader of the third largest Ponzi scheme ever to take place in the USA, reportedly defrauding investors of $1.2 billion. The courts liquidated most of his ill-gotten gains such as supercars, yachts, and vacation houses rather quickly. However, his now-divorced wife, Kim, had hidden a few million dollars’ worth of baubles, which were later uncovered. And which are now up for sale.
This fascinating book closely examines a crucial 15 years in the life of the long, long career of Breguet, the brand. This is the unadulterated story of how the modern Breguet brand was created after the Chaumet brothers, Jacques and Pierre, acquired it in 1970 “for a modest sum.”
Now, it seems fairly evident that we are on the down slope of either a cyclical correction in prices or, if one takes a less optimistic view, a permanent loss of watch value as the mechanical timepiece industry faces a variety of challenges and potential disruptions. So what’s a collector to do? And what lessons can we draw, both from recent watch auction results and the history of other luxury categories, to guide us?
The La Montre Hermès’ factory has something that no other watch brand can boast: its own in-house strap production. The leather strap workshop was added to the purpose-built factory resembling the headquarters in Paris in October 2009. And though it is located in a “factory,” the strap-making process can hardly be called industrial; I would describe this craft needing a great deal of artistic grace as artisanal.
I loved Nomos Glashütte for what it stood for: creating manufacture movements and selling watches with little pretense and a whole lot of charm. But Nomos Glashütte didn’t have that standout piece that made me say, “Yup, that’s the one I would definitely buy.” Then the Zürich Weltzeit arrived.
During the launch of the bombastic Reference 57260 on September 17, 2015, Vacheron Constantin launched a second rhapsodic item: the truly encyclopedic oeuvre ‘Artists Of Time.’ This beautifully photographed 456-page tome takes an extensive look at both the inner workings of Vacheron Constantin’s craftsmanship and its grandiose history, telling the whole story of the only Swiss watchmaker to have been in continuous operation for 260 years.
The pounding of the drum backbeat and tick-tick-ticking of the mechanical watch form the background of my life, day in and day out. But what do these two fields concretely have in common?
Right at this moment in time they have two seemingly disparate Swiss made references welding them together: Paiste cymbals and Corum. Add Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice to the mix, and the whole thing looks, and sounds, amazing!
Founded by Armando Simoni in 1925, OMAS is one of Italy’s preeminent pen makers, and it celebrates 90 years of operation this year.
OMAS, whose name is actually an acronym standing for Officina Meccanica Armando Simoni, continues to build upon one of Simoni’s favorite expressions: “A pen must make writing pleasurable.”
So with this goal front and center, he led the way to creating truly beautiful – and highly functional – pens that are found in some of the best writing instrument collections around the world.
As has become apparent over the past few years, getting your watch serviced, especially with any group-owned brands, can be a major thing. It can take many months, and even up to a year. The reason, of course, is that there are only so many qualified watchmakers to service these watches, and brands are overrun with a gargantuan backlog of service requests.
But that’s only one of the reasons to consider becoming a backyard watchmaker.