Posts Tagged ‘Independent Watchmaking’
Ferdinand Berthoud FB 3SPC.2
If Ferdinand Berthoud doesn’t ring a bell, here’s what you need to know in an instant download. Think high independent watchmaking underwritten by Chopard, well above LUC. Think marine chronometry roots, re-interpreted for the wristwatch, as the name takes from one of the most accomplished and inventive, insatiable watchmakers of the 18th century. And think…
Read MoreFP Journe Chronomètre Bleu
In the same way that the Oysterquartz is Rolex on the back foot under a forcing function to become inventive, the Chronomètre Bleu represents FP Journe’s best ability under pressure. This context still is not talked about enough. It was conceived in the midst of the 2008 financial meltdown. Precious metal values were skyrocketing. Demand…
Read MoreBrown Guilloché Dial Voutilainen Observatoire
Despite sharing a strong family resemblance, this Observatoire is not a Vingt-8. It’s what came before, in tiny numbers, powered by a quite modified and ridiculously-beautifully-finished Peseux 260 before Kari’s own calibre 28 was ready. There were fewer than 50 examples of the Observatoire made before the Vingt-8 took over the throne. It was so…
Read MoreLang & Heyne König Albert Von Sachsen
Lang & Heyne, not to be conflated with Lange, are quite unlike anything in the independent world. Taking inspiration and terrior from Dresden, Mirko Heyne and Marco Lang slowly built an audience for German watchmaking that is of equal quality to anything Glashútte but entirely distinct, though much of that was accomplished with hire Jens…
Read MoreRomain Gauthier Logical One, Titanium
Pause a moment and just contemplate the insanity here. The fusée and chain is surely the most spectacular way possible to deliver a constant force from the mainspring. A fusée and chain made of a snail cam with a chain of individual rubies used as roller bearings is, well, madness. As if that weren’t enough,…
Read MoreFP Journe Vagabondage II, Platinum
No one remembers who comes in second. That was the fundamental problem facing FP Journe’s first attempts at the digital time display, the Vagabondage series, in the wake of the Zeitwerk. However, by third go, FP Journe’s manic obsession had yielded his own first, running digital seconds. Despite that massive and somewhat insane accomplishment, it…
Read More‘Art Deco’ Piece Unique Voutilainen Vingt-8
I don’t know what to say here except that this is a pretty wild thing. This is the ‘Art Deco’, a piece unique Voutilainen based on the 28SC SB, the first Vingt-8 to feature centre seconds. But this Art Deco has a lug we haven’t seen before or after, which looks like it belongs permanently…
Read MoreSylvain Pinaud Origine ‘Ste Croix’
Sylvain Pinaud is one of the more recent guard of independent watchmaking, one can be easily forgiven if the name is unfamiliar. His work is of a very high bar, both in being design led but with masterful quality. Pinaud’s story differs from many of the more recent independents in a long career, working first…
Read MorePhilippe Dufour Duality
One of the ten Dufour Dualities ever made has surfaced and you can’t expect us not to point this out. What’s interesting here is that it’s on the market at all, but more on that later. While renown primarily for his superhuman finishing ability, Philippe Dufour first built his name in complication (much like Rexhep)…
Read MoreDe Bethune DB25 Perpetual Calendar
You wouldn’t guess it at a glance, but this is a perpetual calendar. It’s just a perpetual calendar in titanium with a spherical palladium/zirconium moonphase and day/month apertures in a place you might not expect. There’s an inherent paradox here. Denis Flageollet has had some pretty audacious cases and designs over the years. This isn’t…
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