Experiments & proof-of-concept creating transparent wood. Could the recent onslaught of wooden watch cases & wooden watch bracelets eventually migrate to include composite wood watch crystals?
The Joy & Woe of Acquiring a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
My biggest takeaway from this story from Ben Hodges? That those kitsch mobile apps that let you play with the functions of a mechanical timepiece are actually effective marketing exercises.
Swatch Group Closed 384 Stores in 2020
The global pandemic took a toll on retail operations of the watchmaking powerhouse.
E2O
Swiss supplier of escapement parts, balance wheels, hairsprings, & pinions.
Image credit E2O
3D Printing Tools for Watch Manufacturing at Scale
How Sinn leveraged Formlabs' Form 3 to 3D print at testing rig for their oil-filled UX dive watch.
Image credit Sinn Spezialuhren via Formlabs
Hazel McCallion Celebrates Her 100th Birthday
Arguably the greatest City Mayor of our generation. Still thriving at 100.
Anti-trip Device
A patent filed by Swatch-owned, Nivarox, for Breguet in an effort to make detent escapements more reliable in wristwatch form.
Image from patent filing
Cubli
A cube-like, Swiss-made robot that can balance on edge.
Image credit ETH Zürich
A Fond Farewell for the Nautilus 5711
An interview with Patek Philippe president, Thierry Stern, about the decision to end production of the Nautilus reference 5711, its one last hurrah, working through a global pandemic, leaving Baselworld, & stewarding the brand.
Norifumi Seki 3D Moonphase
In 2016 Norifumi Seki saw a documentary about Japanese watchmaker, Masahiro Kikuno. Less than four years later, he’d made this.
Image credit Norifumi Seki
A Unique Simplicity Is in the Works for Only Watch
Meanwhile, the “waiting” list for the remaining 10 watches in Philippe Dufour’s 20th Anniversary Edition of the Simplicity has sky-rocketed to over 155,000 people.
Image credit The New York Times
Decorating Watch Movements
The art of hand finishing, explained by Peter Speake-Marin.
Inside the Recently Updated British School of Watchmaking
Along with a hint of what it’s been like studying such a hands-on craft in the face of lockdowns during a worldwide pandemic.
Teasmade
An alarm clock that brews you a cup of tea to welcome the day.
How to Prototype & Influence People
By Aza Raskin.
Bexei Watches
A deep dive into the work of Hungarian horologist, Aaron Becsei.
High Precision Mechanics
A paper detailing the creation of a self-winding mechanical movement with quartz precision, from the 1990s, by Jean-Jacques Born, Rudolf Dinger, & Pierre-André Farine.
Graveyards Full of Secrets
Philippe Dufour on the tragic loss of skill & know-how.
