Konstantin Chaykin’s latest masterpiece, the Moscow Comptus Easter Clock, isn’t designed for the wrist but for the mantel, and it presents further evidence that the man I dubbed the “Wonderboy Russian Watchmaker” is one of the greatest watch and clockmakers in the game today.
Anyone who visits online watch forums with any frequency very likely comes across at least a few heated discussions of “finishing,” a topic that seems to fascinate, and divide, enthusiasts. What is it and why are opinions divided?
Please join our Quill & Pad round table discussion, where we talk about what we did and didn’t like at the 2017 SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie). And get ready for a cornucopia of beautiful photos and colorful opinions!
Manufacture Royale doesn’t seek to be a small brand that does small things or a big brand that does all and knows all, but a brand that makes its own meaning and direction. The new 1770 Micromégas Revolution is a clear example of this thinking.
It has now become quite common for high-end mechanicals to reduce the dial to indications around the bezel. However, Christophe Claret’s quirky Maestro, launched at SIHH 2017, has most of the movement on display instead. And the Maestro is a watch with a substantial “wow” factor.
SIHH week 2017 is off to a great start for our small group of California collectors. The highlight of our first day was our now-traditional Saturday night dinner with independent watchmaking legend Kari Voutilianen. Each year, Kari meets with us to share and explain the watches that he will be introducing at SIHH. And here they are.
The Time Aeon Foundation, driver of the Le Garde Temps, Naissance d’une Montre project, will present its second project at the 2017 edition of SIHH, which involves a collaboration with the recently announced boutique brand Oscillon.
It’s not just the Đông Sơn drum theme of these two quite different collector’s items by watchmaker Peter Speake-Marin and pen maker Grayson Tighe that caught my eye: it was more than that, it was the actual pieces themselves inspired by the indigenous people of the Red River Delta of Vietnam.
What a beautiful theme to decorate such rare and interesting objects with.
Here we present the first part in a three-part series about the making of Derek Pratt’s H4 reconstruction. This part was written by Roger Stevenson, chief watchmaker at Frodsham. This article was first published in the ‘The Horological Journal’ (HJ) in February 2015 and we thank them for the gracious permission to republish it on Quill & Pad.
Derek Pratt (1938 – 2009) was perhaps one of the most “complete” watchmakers of our time along with his friend George Daniels. The Swiss-based Englishman firmly was behind and part of many watches and projects that are today common knowledge, while his own name remains relatively hidden.