The most common choice for classic dress watches has to be gold, but have you ever wondered where that gold originally came from? And by “originally” Ian Skellern isn’t referring to a gold mine on earth but the original source of the gold before it even arrived on our planet. Spoiler alert: it involves an explosion, a very big explosion!
Influencers have been around for as long as humankind exists, but where in previous centuries this power was mostly in the hands of nobility, priests, elected officials, or successful entrepreneurs, it is now wielded by teenagers with a camera and an Instagram account.
It’s still all about the people! Nothing makes GaryG happier than getting together and talking watches. At the F.P. Journe New York Boutique anniversary dinner late 2019, he had the pleasure of chatting with entrepreneur, television personality, and enthusiast watch collector Kevin O’Leary. Here he comes back to him with specific questions and gets the answers!
Vacheron Constantin has been producing timepieces uninterruptedly since 1755, and it often draws on that heritage for the models in the Historiques collection. A great example is 2017’s Historiques American 1921 Small Model, a terrific unisex wristwatch.
The Watches TV founder Marc-André Deschoux shares his thoughts on celebrity watch brand ambassadors, starting with Tudor and David Beckham, which he personally felt was counterproductive: so much so that the announcement pushed him to not make a Tudor purchase he was leaning toward.
Only a handful of producers are able to make hairsprings, most of which are large-scale industry suppliers. But a few watch brands manufacture their own using recipes and processes they keep close to their hearts. Bovet is one of these rare few manufacturers. Take a walk through the factory here thanks to The Watches TV, one in which cameras are usually not allowed.
The curved edges of the case of the Parmigiani Kalpa Kalparisma Snow ensure that, whatever the angle or direction, there are always diamonds catching light and reflecting it back as a bright galaxy of scintillating fires. It’s the incredible expanse of sparkle that makes snow-set watches so extraordinary, and this new watch is a prime example.
The longer Quill & Pad reader Thomas enjoys the world of watches, the more people he meets, and the more collectors he talks to, the more he asks himself, “Why don’t we include children, children’s watches, and pay more attention to this group of potential collectors and customers to ensure the future?”
Out of all the “traditional” styles of hairsprings, the helical hairspring is Joshua Munchow’s favorite because it adds three-dimensionality to the watch. These oscillators are so rarely seen that if you are only aware of five watches with helical hairsprings you already know a significant portion of the modern watches using them. Here are Joshua’s favorite five.
To mark its 50th anniversary in 2009, the International Museum of Horology in Le Locle, Switzerland launched an international chronometry competition. This effectively broke a long drought of 37 years since the last timing trial, which was held by the Observatory of Neuchâtel back in 1972. So what’s going on now?