The Mechanics of Success
Marie de Pimodan, reporting for WorldTempus, offers a peek inside Richard Mille's Pro Art I facility, in Les Breuleux, where its cases are manufactured.
Since the creation of the in-house movement manufacturing department in 2008, Richard Mille has launched 15 in-house movements that equip 60% of its production—with the remaining 40% supplied by Vaucher or APLL [Audemars Piguet Le Locle].
Their Pro Art II building, completed in 2018, houses the brand's creative and technical offices, where research, engineering, and design teams work in tandem to innovate Richard Mille's distinctive cases and movements.
Image credit Jerome Bryon
Talking Watches With Adam Levine
Toward the end of this discussion with Hodinkee's Ben Clymer, it was cathartic to hear Levine lament the way that certain timepieces moving into the realm of financial instruments has taken the joy out of them, while simultaneously acknowledging that if that's all someone is chasing, they're in it for the wrong reasons.
“A Pure Masterpiece”
Titans from across watch industry chime in on their chronograph of choice, with selections from F.P. Journe, Carole Forestier-Kasapi, and Philippe Dufour.
A novel favourite of mine that didn’t make the list is the AMVOX II from JLC, designed by Francis Cretin and Magali Métrailler.
"Want Products Can Go Places Need Products Never Will"
Eric Barnes distills the five key lessons he learned over the three years that he and Paul Shustak developed and brought to market the distinctive Kor One water bottle:
- Have a Fresh Perspective
- Identify Needs, Build Desire
- Find and Surround Yourself With the Right Partners
- Follow Through on the Execution
- Don't Neglect Branding
Expounding a bit on that last point:
Nurturing and codifying a brand gives you a much broader creative canvas. A brand is not concrete, so you’re free to develop it and move around over time. It’s an unfinished story but gives both you and your users space to hold together. And certainly, in a world that has everything but is starved for meaning, a powerful brand behind your product can transcend the direct functional purpose and become part of your user’s story.
Image credit Kor Water
Superstorm Wreaks Havoc on Swiss Watchmaking Town
An epicenter of Swiss watchmaking, La Chaux-de-Fonds in northwestern Switzerland, was hit hard by derecho-like windstorm on Monday, July 24th 2023.
A number of homes and businesses took extensive damage, including Sellita's manufacturing facilities, pictured above.
Image credit Keystone / Valentin Flauraud
Pick the Right Line
Lex Stolk writing for Fratello:
With nearly everything being instantly available, things that aren’t have become more interesting. And valuable. The waitlist or the queue outside the luxury boutique tells us the waiting game targets new luxury consumers. People who are familiar with luxury don’t want to wait. But a new generation that grew up with instant availability sees things differently.
Referring to the “pre-Insta” years when scarcity was a non-issue for mass-produced timepieces:
Those days will never come back.
Instagram has unquestionably been a double-edged sword for the watch industry. It’s increased the size of the pie and forged new relationships on a global level in a way that wasn’t previously viable. At the same time that it has broadened the population of watch culture, though, it has also homogenized and gentrified it. In subtle, myriad ways—not exclusive to the watch sphere—social media has stripped away the joy in things, leaving behind a wanting façade of the real deal.
Voutilainen “L’Esprit du Bois” Decimal Repeater
While Voutilainen's Masterpiece 7 and Masterpiece 8 decimal repeaters remain among my personal all-time favourites of his creations, the dial of the “L’Esprit du Bois” GMT Decimal Repeater is a close contender to Masterpiece 7.
It's rare to see one of Voutilainen's repeaters come up for public sale. Rarer still for one to appear off of any sort of auction block.
Image credit Phillips Auctioneers, LLC
Chronomètre Furtif Bleu
An understated, horological tour de force, F.P. Journe's contribution to Only Watch 2023 marks the brand's first timepiece to feature central running seconds.
Hidden behind the striking, blue enamel dial and orange second hand, the solid tantalum case houses a brand new, in-house caliber, the reference 1522, which features a power reserve indicator and moon phase display nestled in the back of the watch. The rose gold movement is exquisitely well executed.
Image credit F.P. Journe
Swatch Group to Open New Watchmaking School in Switzerland
The Swatch Group will be expanding its international network of Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking Schools this autumn with the addition of a new facility in Grenchen, Switzerland.
The company is currently looking for a watchmaking teacher to fill the new role.
Inside the Workshops of Parmigiani Fleurier
Zoe Leung brings us a behind-the-scenes look at Parmigiani Fleurier's subsidiary manufacturing facilities Quadrance & Habillage, Les Artisans Boîtiers (a.k.a. LAB), and Vaucher, which are responsible for the brand's dials, cases, and movements respectively.
Image credit Heison Ho for Hypebeast
"Every Guilloché Tool Known to Man"
Kari Voutilainen has been steadily amassing a veritable treasure trove of guilloché tooling and expertise, having recently acquired the complete collections of renowned guillocheurs Georges Brodbeck, previously based in Saignelégier, Switzerland, and Wolfgang Lötterie, of Pforzheim, Germany.
Image via Europa Star