Blast from the past! This post is a “reprint” of an article Ian wrote that was first published on The PuristS in 2005 and it covers Felix Baumgartner, Urwerk, the Harry Winston Rare Timepieces Opus V, The Urwerk 103.03, plus an Urwerk 103.03 user review. Enjoy!
Martin Green ranks the Horological Machine N°6 Sapphire Vision, which MB&F released in 2016, as one of the most memorable watches ever created. And now with the final edition of Horological Machine N°6 he asks whether MB&F saved the best for last.
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?
Armin Strom has released the Dual Time Resonance Sapphire, the pinnacle of the brand’s micro-engineering now housed in a completely transparent sapphire crystal case, showing every possible angle of its incredible caliber.
As always for GaryG’s small group of enthusiast collectors from Northern California, SIHH week 2019 started with arrival in Geneva and a traditional dinner with independent watchmaking wizard Kari Voutilainen. It’s a chance to see many of the watches that he will be displaying at the show; and with Kari’s kind permission here they are.
Visitors to the 2019 SIHH can expect to find 17 independent watchmakers and boutique brands in the Carré des Horlogers. Here is a sampling of some of the pre-announced watches that we can expect to see from these maverick creators.
When brands look to the past to find the absolute best details to combine into a killer timepiece, the result can be a terrific diver, a classy chronograph, or, in the case of American watchmaking company RGM, a fantastic pocket watch-inspired, enamel-dialed wristwatch like the Pennsylvania Series 801 Classic Enamel. Joshua Munchow feels this watch stands apart as a culmination of the brand’s ideology.
There are some watches you fall for the moment you see them. Sometimes that initial infatuation passes and you move on to the next temporary obsession, but then there are those instances in which the more you see, talk about, and learn about a piece and its origins the more you resolve to save up to buy one. For GaryG, the Grönefeld 1941 Remontoire was one of the latter.
Laurent Ferrier won the award for best Men’s Complication watch at the 2018 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève for the Galet Annual Calendar Montre École, an imagining of an annual calendar based on Monsieur Ferrier’s original ‘montre école’ (final exam watch). Joshua Munchow appreciates the watch’s simplicity and legibility and feels that it’s a perfect example of what an annual calendar can be.
The Andreas Strehler Sauterelle à Lune Perpétuelle contains a moon phase mechanism that will only need adjustment by one full day every 14,189.538 years. And not only does the Lune Perpétuelle have an extremely accurate moon phase, but with the help of the constant force mechanism it is even more accurate for the little intervals as well.