The question I get asked most often by friends who know nothing about watches is, “What makes a watch so expensive?” To answer this, I often compare a watch to a car. My explanation goes something like this: To engineer a car from scratch, the main cost is in the manufacturing and assembly of each part. A great mechanical watch is […]

For those of you who don’t know, Vianney Halter released his first new watch in many years today. I absolutely love it!! I woke up to find these three pictures on Facebook.   I don’t know anything about the watch yet, but I am in love and think it is fantastic for the industry. For those who don’t know, Vianney’s […]

In case you missed my post this morning, please look here to find out about all the changes to the site and visit the new forums! For those of you who are not familiar, Beat Haldimann is one of the most incredible watchmakers in the world.  He is one of these guys who crafts nearly everything by hand.  His first […]

My friend Gary made a great post on PuristSPro detailing the pieces that he has added and subtracted from his collection recently.  Not only is the collection fantastic and the photography top notch, but the notes and introspection add a glimpse into the true power of watch collecting. Recently I had a somewhat tongue-in-cheek twitter discussion with Jack Forster about the […]

Yesterday, the results of the 2011 Concours International de Chronométrie were announced.  This is a competition where brands submit their pieces to be tested under numerous conditions and shocks to see which keeps the best time.  Unfortunately, my subject line will be the only of its kind in the industry, because really, who cares? This is one of many cases where […]

I started and run MB&F North America.  That means I am responsible for basically anything you see here in the US – from a watch in a showcase to an article in a magazine.  So when I say that the MB&F HM4 is my favorite watch that I have owned, I don’t blame you for thinking I am biased. However, […]

Where Richard Mille helped to subtly usher in a new world of horology, URWERK really founded what I now call Contemporary Horology.  From the advent of the quartz era until the late 1990’s, watchmakers had been focused on the past – slightly changing the same watches over and over again.  The 103 is a true landmark piece.  It represents a […]

If there was one overdone trend in the last 10 years, it was the tourbillon.  Modern production techniques made commonplace what was once the ultimate show of a watchmaker’s skill.  Combined with buyers’ willingness to spend more money on watches, as I discussed yesterday, tourbillons provided the perfect opportunity for companies to sell extraordinarily expensive watches that will eventually hold little historical […]

The Richard Mille RM002 is the watch that got me hooked on “exotic” watches.  In the early 2000’s, like most other people, I had no idea that $100,000+ watches existed.  The idea was simply absurd.  Why would anyone spend that much on a watch?  How could it possibly be worth it? Sure I had seen some watches that I considered […]

To this point in the blog, I have focused a lot on my views on the industry, and working with MB&F.  I figured that would be a unique take, as I really did not want to write a typical watch blog with pictures and info on watches.  But I do have another unique take – I am a watch collector […]