It is just possible that the modern era of watchmaking truly began in 2001 when Ulysse Nardin introduced its Dual Direct Escapement in the first version of the Freak. Not only was this particular timepiece groundbreaking in its avant-garde design, but more importantly in its fundamental escapement technology invented by Dr. Ludwig Oechslin.
Lighter and faster: Graham’s speedy new models dig deep into the motorsports heritage that has inspired the brand’s CEO, Eric Loth. Energetic and charismatic, Graham’s CEO assumes pole position and leaves his engines running; with him, it’s always full throttle when the time comes to talk about two of his biggest passions: racy watches and fast cars.
The last few years have seen a slow but steady increase in the number of ladies’ watches with both serious artistically decorated dials and cases and high-quality mechanical movements.
Here we highlight just five of the stunners that caught our eyes from Patek Philippe, Blancpain, Bulgari, Breguet and Delaneau.
In ten years, Greubel Forsey has presented the Double Tourbillon 30°, the Opus 6 for Harry Winston, the Tourbillon 24 Secondes, Invention Piece 1 (another of my all-time favorite watches), the Quadruple Tourbillon, the GMT, the Double Balancier and lastly the Quantième Perpétuel à Équation du Temps.
This hobby ostensibly centers on the watches, but in reality it’s all about the people. The first person in this story is friend, fellow collector, and photographer Howard Parr. Inspired by the memory of his late stepmother, Libby Parr, and her courage in the face of ovarian cancer, Howard undertook a photographic journey to capture images of other women who are fighting ovarian cancer. The resulting images are both beautiful and inspiring.
Quill & Pad has the honor to introduce the new GoS (Gustafsson and Sjögren, the “o” stands for “and” in Swedish), “Bifrost” Damascus steel watch and knife set, named for the famed rainbow bridge that the Norse Asgardians used to reach Midgard (earth).
Legacy Machine 101. Just when we might next expect to see LM3 featuring some new and unusual take on another traditional complication, this being MB&F, we get the complete opposite: a pared-down version of Legacy Machine No.1 called LM101 with a 40 mm case and a completely new in-house movement.
Last week Quill & Pad co-founders Ian Skellern and Elizabeth Doerr went to the Mille Miglia: Elizabeth as the guest of principal sponsor Chopard, Ian (in a support car) covering Roland Iten, a main sponsor with five cars in the event, and Mr. Roland Iten himself, who competed in the race in a 1953 Porsche 356 Pre A Coupé 1500 , driving more than one thousand grueling miles through the Italian countryside.
Ian, Elizabeth and Roland now discuss this unique adventure and invite you to listen in.
Few of China Haidan group’s acquisitions in the luxury watch sector have made more recent headlines in the world of watches than the jewel among them, Corum. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. China Haidian’s group communications director, Marie-Alexandrine Leibowitch, responded to my queries regarding the recent ousting of former CEO Antonio Calce and yesterday’s dismissal of head watchmaker Laurent Besse along with a few other employees.
Vintage watches are becoming more and more of a subject in our little world of ticks and tocks. So I set out for Frankfurt very early on a Saturday morning to meet up with an old acquaintance, vintage watch dealer Ron Geweniger. And we set off for the Dr. Crott auction so I could learn a bit of what goes on behind the bidding.