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In the Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Elegance Sartoriale collection the patterns are truly the stars of this collection, not just because they are taken right from the folds of fashion, but because they are all incredibly difficult to engrave due to their complex designs. Every single line is engraved by hand on a rose engine lathe using guilloché.
Michel Parmigiani does not dwell in the past. Instead, he has utilized his considerable expertise to create a brand that is more focused on the future of watchmaking. The partnership between Bugatti and Parmigiani has led to some extraordinary timepieces, which not only embody the essence of Parmigiani but that of Bugatti as well.
Given my recent musings on these pages about the relative roles of rarity and complication in driving the value of a watch, it seems appropriate to dedicate this “Behind the Lens” entry to a piece that is both complicated and limited in production: Patek Philippe’s Reference 5950A. What’s so special about this watch? Well, first of all it’s a split-seconds chronograph. What else?
These two duelists are both called Sherman and they are actually extremely high-quality 8-day clocks by MB&F and l’Epée 1839, Switzerland’s only specialised high-end clock manufacture.
But what I’d like to know this week is: what on earth are they fighting over?
Are they even fighting each other at all?
There is a very special place in Milan, Italy that few locals even know exists. Casa Campanini is a quiet place, deliberately so, but it has recently become well known to fashionistas the world over since its opening in September 2015 as the Ralph Lauren Palazzo. Follow me in for a visit!
In contrast to the pared-down visuals of the original Charming Bird, Jaquet Droz’s 2016 edition puts equal focus on the lovely songbird chirping away underneath the domed sapphire crystal and the beautifully artistic dial crafted in engraved and painted mother-of-pearl.
A tsuba is the hand guard of a traditional Japanese sword. “These eventually became elaborate pieces of art – far beyond their practical use,” says engraver Kees Engelbarts, whose fascination with Japanese handcrafts led him to use the Japanese metal alloying technique called mokume gane as the first one in watchmaking. It has now also led him to dedicate a watch to the tsuba theme, inspired in particular by a piece by Japanese swordsmith Hamano Masanobu.
While you hear very often that watches are “mechanical art,” in this case the overused description makes sense: here mechanical art (Benzinger’s unique movement embellishment) meets conventional art in the form of the dial embellished with an oil-on-canvas painting by French painter Léon Zanella.
This week’s caption competition is a hard one as it has quite a disparate mix of subjects including a Grönefeld One Hertz, lots of snow (it was shot in the Arctic Circle), and a few dogs for good measure. What appropriate, funny, or sarcastic comment can you think up as a caption or for the optional speech bubble?
Today we have a horologically themed caption competition that involves one of my favorite brands: De Bethune.
The photo below was shot at SIHH 2016, and I have to thank regular contributors Simon Cudd and Joshua Munchow for posing as wrist models. I will not reveal who is wearing which watch, but regular readers are likely to be able to make a fairly educated guess. Leave your caption ideas in the comments!
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