The Watchstars awards jury comprises a very large panel of international writers and journalists. It is the massive size of this jury that often produces interesting results. The 2015/2016 edition of Watchstars just came to a close, and the winners in five categories were announced with four brands taking honors. Find out more here!
We see a lot of photos here at Quill & Pad that have us scratching our heads, not all of which are of watches. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these images are destined to remain digitally encoded on a hard drive tucked away in a cupboard, probably never to be seen again. So for your (hopeful) enjoyment we have decided to start a photo caption competition in which we publish an image. The following Saturday we will publish the best caption (or captions) received for a lot of lighthearted fun.
It’s kind of a Christmas present, isn’t it? Right now I’m wearing this gorgeous little piece of Urwerk UR-106 horological technology and will be publishing an in-depth review in a few weeks. But for now, I just want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an interesting and seasonal view of this little Christmas present as much as I do.
Quite a while ago I was approached regarding an interesting project by my friend Anders Modig, who was in the throes of planning a large book project with the rather creative marketing and PR team at Glashütte Original. The book was to be a large compendium of, well, impressions of Glashütte Original by authors from ten different countries. And it was to be called ‘Impressions.’ So what’s it about?
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.