If you’re just beginning to collect the works of independent watchmakers, GaryG suggests that you give careful consideration to watches from Habring2, the small independent Austrian watchmaking company founded and headed by Maria Kristina and Richard Habring.
Simon Brette is a young movement designer with a history of working with Jean-François Mojon’s Chronode, MCT, and MB&F, who has now begun his own adventure of pushing the boundaries of traditional haute horlogerie. Brette launches his eponymous brand with the Chronomètre Artisans Subscription Edition, which sold out long before launch.
With the Type 8, Ressence goes to the core of its “DNA.” In fact, with it Ressence seems to be exploring an even stronger sense of purity than what we have seen before. That says a lot as Ressence was already a master in toning down design to achieve maximum impact and legibility.
Theo Auffret’s Tourbillon Grand Sport is a thematic follow-up to his debut Tourbillon à Paris. The two pieces use the same core foundation, but they are definitively different concepts.
Clockmakers rarely get the credit they deserve, and Elizabeth Doerr believes that Rick Hale is deserving of at least a few minutes of your attention because this young autodidact clockmaker is doing something unique: handmaking self-designed clocks out of wood according to some of John Harrison’s principles.
Origine by Sylvain Pinaud is an essentially simple watch telling only the time with three hands. The commitment to execution puts him on a level with some of the greats and is a good indicator that we will see a lot more from this burgeoning young brand.
GaryG seized a welcome opportunity to handle and photograph a unique version of The White by David Walter, which is equipped with Walter’s second prototype movement and a bespoke Chinese-character dial. The watch is owned by a friend who also happens to be a local-to-California expert watchmaker.
Vladimir Négault, founder of Ataelier Haute Complication, a relatively new independent watchmaker based in Geneva who is making some of the most interesting and inventive watches Ian Skellern has ever seen.
GaryG had so much fun shooting the Oileán HB-1 by John McGonigle that he has more images to show than words to say!
One of the most important things for the watchmaking industry is to ensure that today’s watchmakers have successors that can repair old watches, make new watches, and develop the next generation of watches. Fortunately, the next generation is coming on and is coming in hot, as Victor Monnin and Alexander Hazemann, two young watchmaking students, highlight as they take things to the next level with their school watches.