Why Philippe Dufour Matters. And It’s Not A Secret – Reprise
“I have no secrets as past watchmakers had. There are graveyards full of secrets and that’s enough.” – Philippe Dufour, 2014
If you are not happy with the results below please do another search
“I have no secrets as past watchmakers had. There are graveyards full of secrets and that’s enough.” – Philippe Dufour, 2014
In the Behind the Lens series, GaryG presents great watches as seen from a variety of visual perspectives, while at the same time passing along a few thoughts on what it’s like to shoot these pieces. And, from time to time, a helpful technical hint or two. And great watches don’t come much better than the Philippe Dufour Simplicity.
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.
Some meals are memorable for the food, some for the company, and some for a watch at the table. And then there are those meals that hit the ball right out of the park by getting top marks in all three. Make up any story you like to explain how a very contemporary De Bethune DB28 and a very traditional Philippe Dufour Simplicity came to be sharing a bowl of molten cheese in the Swiss Jura mountains.
Philippe Dufour is the master watchmaker you imagine. He’s scholarly, accomplished, revered, an eminence grise of the watch universe, and the guy all the up-and-coming craftsmen want to be. Tim Mosso gets up close and personal with both the man and his iconic Simplicity.
“I have no secrets as past watchmakers had. There are graveyards full of secrets and that’s enough,” said Philippe Dufour in 2014. Have you heard of him? Chances are if you have been collecting watches for any significant period of time, his name is well known to you. If not, let me enlighten you.
As regular readers know, the idea of the Behind the Lens series is to present great watches as seen from a variety of visual perspectives. Mostly, I feature watches on loan from my generous friends, but this time let’s look at a piece that I am very fortunate to have in my own collection: the legendary Simplicity by Philippe Dufour in a 37 mm white gold case with white lacquer dial.
As the Naissance d’une Montre project will be concluded when the eleven timepieces are completed, Time Aeon, whose main objective is to perpetuate the art of handmade mechanical watchmaking, had invited three students from three different watchmaking schools to learn the handmade way of working in horology – on display at SIHH 2017. Here, Philippe Dufour talks to Marc-André Deschoux of The Watches TV to explain.
Now, it seems fairly evident that we are on the down slope of either a cyclical correction in prices or, if one takes a less optimistic view, a permanent loss of watch value as the mechanical timepiece industry faces a variety of challenges and potential disruptions. So what’s a collector to do? And what lessons can we draw, both from recent watch auction results and the history of other luxury categories, to guide us?
“I have no secrets as past watchmakers had. There are graveyards full of secrets and that’s enough.” –Philippe Dufour, 2014
Have you heard of Philippe Dufour?
Chances are, if you have been collecting watches for any significant period of time, his name is well known to you. If not, let me enlighten you.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |