George Daniels is a polarizing and fascinating figure. Several years ago, Michael Clerizo took it upon himself to spend the amount of time with Daniels needed in order to write a detailed book about his life, and the outcome is a pure joy to read with well thought-out words, logical organization, and gorgeous photos. I heartily recommend this tome to anyone interested in horology, and as a holiday gift as well!
In 1974 Dutch watchmaker Christiaan van der Klaauw founded his own workshop making astronomical clocks, then soon similar complications for wristwatches. He retired in 2009, passing his baton along to Daniel Reintjes, who is now in charge of the world’s only watch brand completely dedicated to astronomical watches. Quill & Pad’s Martin Green sat down with Reintjes to get a feel for where the brand is now.
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.
Creative freedom is what almost all designers yearn for. Which is why Octavio Garcia and Lukas Gopp, both previously of Audemars Piguet, have joined independent forces to create a new micro brand: Gorilla. Here is the first watch born of that union, one that is aimed at the WIS in all of us, but remains affordable.
Social media has experienced quite the discussion of a Chinese phone “by Kari Voutilainen,” a Swiss-based Finnish independent watchmaker, which turned out to be not a phone but a SIM card cover. If not a social media storm in a teacup, then a brisk zephyr in a thimble, which also involved another Finnish independent watchmaker, Stepan Sarpaneva.
Welcome to Quill & Pad’s 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève predictions in the Calendar category in which the team picks favorites and explains why. The pre-selected watches in the running for this category are: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, H. Moser & Cie.’s Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Concept Funky Blue, the Chopard L.U.C Perpetual Chrono, Andersen Genève’s Perpetuel Secular Calendar “20th Anniversary” Blue Gold Dial, the Andreas Strehler Lune Exacte, and the MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual.
Back at Baselworld 2016, the duo known as Gustaffson & Sjögren (GoS) surprised me with a new watch named Sarek. Its most obvious element is, of course, the beautiful dial made of Damascus steel. The Sarek dial is created from 164 layers of hand-forged steel. The unusual coloring is partially achieved by tempering the steel until the desired colors display.
The short documentary film ‘Time Piece’ features two of the world’s best living watchmakers, Philippe Dufour and Vianney Halter, and provides insight into what makes the watches by these masters so special.
It is often hard to obtain is a second-hand watch by an independent watchmaker. But now, you can go to Contrapante.com, a division of vintage dealer Analog/Shift and the first retail website for pre-owned independents. And here is the best bonus: it is headed up by an enthusiast watch collector who perfectly understands the needs of someone looking to buy one of these pieces.
Meet the sublime Soberly Onyx, a beautiful compilation of taste, design, rarity, and supreme talent by Raúl Pagès, an extremely skilled independent watchmaker and restorer. Upon successfully completing a modern automaton, he set his sights on a more universal object and a functional design: his first watch.