Venla Voutilainen Heads to Urban Jürgensen
Kari Voutilainen's 22-year-old daughter, Venla Voutilainen, will be working full time at Urban Jürgensen. With Kari as the brand's new CEO and Venla on as a full-time watchmaker, the duo make up half of the current Urban Jürgensen staff, reinvigorating this storied brand that has a promising future.
Image credit Clara Tuma for The New York Times
AP Caliber 7121
Debuting in the new Royal Oak Extra Thin, this caliber improves on its predecessor, the AP 2121, in a number of significant ways.
I am incredibly happy to see the barrel get a dedicated bridge. Previously, in the caliber 2121 (itself based on the Jaeger-LeCoultre 920), if there were any issues with the barrel, such as a broken mainspring, nearly the entire movement would have to be disassembled to address it. Mirroring it handsomely on the other side, I am pleased to see this caliber also make the move from a balance cock to a full balance bridge. The move from peripheral automatic winding to a centrally driven system, mounted on ball bearings, is a likewise welcome change.
I am curious to learn more about the specifics of the implementation of the new stud holder. Ostensibly, the mechanism to move the stud holder, in order to adjust the beat error, appears to be mildly over-engineered and the screw to lock in the beat error once corrected is precariously close to the soft metal of the balance bridge.
Image credit Audemars Piguet
The Remarkable John Leslie
A 19th century Scottish-Canadian watchmaker and jeweller who operated a successful boutique near Parliament Hill in Canada's capital city, Ottawa, for half a century.
The house that he built for himself and his wife was later purchased by Canadian Prime Minister, Wilfred Laurier, and is today the Laurier House, an official national historic site housing a museum.
Photo via Gary Fox
Leery on NFTs
Kevin O'Leary sits down to talk watches with David Lin.
I've seen this interview making the rounds. While there are nuggets of truth in here, this interview is rife with misinformation. When it comes to the watches, the errors are ultimately inconsequential. Of greater concern is those with deep enough pockets to be investing in this echelon of timepieces being duped out of serious coin on NFTs for the secondary watch market. I know enough about the underlying tech behind blockchains, camera sensors, and machine learning—not to mention authenticating watches—to state flat out that what he is intent on selling doesn't hold water.
UPDATE: O'Leary also announced his intention to create and sell NFTs for the secondary watch market at Watch Week in Dubai. In his announcement he stated that he had the backing of the Horological Society of New York. I have it on good authority from multiple officers of the HSNY that this claim is unfounded.
Zimmer & Ive
Hans Zimmer on his relationship with Jony Ive as fellow creatives:
"We've never met, but we have this weird relationship where he sends me something and just has a little note going, ‘I made this’. And then I write as a thank you note, I write a little tune by hand and I sent that back to him and so, it's like things we made, right? "
