The Time Bandit concept for the Opus 5 had a slot machine type indications. The time would display after pulling the handle and the rollers stopped spinning around

‘Time Bandit’: The Urwerk Opus 5 For Harry Winston That Almost Was – Reprise

The Opus 5 by Felix Baumgartner/Urwerk for Harry Winston is one of the best of this series of exceptional timepieces. But, as this drawing by Urwerk designer Martin Frei from June of 2003 shows, one of the original ideas behind Urwerk’s Opus 5 was a digital display in a model christened with the working title “Time Bandit.” Check out this superb almost-was timepiece!

‘The Persistence Of Memory’: Online Museum And Ode To Independent Watchmaking

The “great lockdown of 2020” gifted us with something outstanding: from the depths of an anxiety-inducing existence arose an online exhibition called “The Persistence of Memory,” which can be described as an !online museum” honoring some of the most influential and important independent watchmakers of the modern era. Here Elizabeth Doerr speaks with its creator Michael Tay for an inside view on what this “exhibition” surveying 50 years of independent watchmaking is. And what it isn’t.

Alain Silberstein x Philippe Lebru KB2 Clock (Video)

A collaboration between renowned watch designer Alain Silberstein and the founder and director of the Utinam Besançon clock manufacture, Philippe Lebru, this imposing, colorful timekeeper meets the eye and runs away with it.

Oskar Pascal OP483 Chronograph: The World’s First Watch In NASA-Grade, Ultra-Hard ZR01 Metal. And There Are Pods, Too

Oskar Pascal is the brainchild of a pair of Swedish brothers who were neither previously involved in the watch industry nor are they watchmakers. The engineer and designer have created a cleanly designed chronograph housed within the world’s first watch case in ZR01, an amorphous alloy based on zirconium, one of the hardest metals in the world and even used by NASA. And then there are the Pods!

Philippe Dufour’s Daughter Danièla Makes Her First Simplicity (Plus Video)

Philippe Dufour’s daughter Daniela has now completed her formal watchmaker studies and has begun working with her famous independent watchmaker father. Notably, she just completed her first new-generation Simplicity.

Behind The Lens: Vianney Halter Anniversary – Reprise

One of the inconveniences associated with COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings was that GaryG’s local watch gang hadn’t been meeting in person so he wasn’t able to borrow interesting watches to shoot. However, just prior to the lockdown in California he did pick up an intriguing piece from a pal: the Anniversary by Vianney Halter.

In Praise of Anglage: Exceptional Hand-Finished Anglage Is Difficult, Slow, And Expensive So The Big Brands Have Given Up And Few Seem To Have Noticed (Or Seem To Care) – Thank God For The Indies!

Big brands are now making beautiful, reliable, and relatively accurate “traditional” mechanical watches, but the handcrafted work many of us value is disappearing. Highly skilled watchmakers and artisans are rare and expensive: there just aren’t enough of them available to churn out the large quantity of nice watches now being sold. And why bother when nobody seems to have noticed?

Andersen Genève, Worldtimers, And The New BCHH Celestial Voyager

A.H.C.I. co-founder Svend Andersen has more than three decades of experience creating world time watches, and the stunning Andersen Genève Tempus Terrae Celestial Voyager, a limited edition commissioned by Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie (BCHH), is one of his best.

Clear shooting: Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II

Commissioning A Watch: My Journey With The Kari Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II – Reprise

In late February 2010, an informal group of Northern California watch collectors, all owners of at least one Kari Voutilainen watch, met for lunch. One of the members of the group nonchalantly mentioned, “I’ve been talking with Kari about something . . .” It was a set of bespoke Kari Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II models. GaryG’s response two seconds later: “I’m in!” So how did it go after that?

Why I Bought It: Romain Gauthier Logical One – Reprise

GaryG was sitting at his breakfast table on the morning of January 18, 2013 when during his morning scan of news he saw a photo of something breathtaking. It was Logical One by Romain Gauthier – a watch he immediately knew that he would own someday. He was captivated by the white gold version with frosted gold movement: this was “the one” for him.