The following is another in an occasional series of The Escapement Rooms interviews. Tramelan, Switzerland. In a small, prefabricated building at 14 Rue des Sucettes is Doilea, S.A., a small but important part of the Swiss watch industry. Its founder, and today seemingly its only employee, Al Doilea sits behind a large desk in a… Continue reading The Escapement Room Interview: Mr. 60%
Author: gkv
A Man of His Time
(What follows is not about watches. I could have tried a weak attempt to make some watch related reference, but it would have been transparently bad. At all historical times alluded to below you may assume that I wore a Fossil "Blue" with a green dial and a yellow fixed bezel. I am not ready… Continue reading A Man of His Time
Learning curve
When I was sixteen years old, I worked in a fast food restaurant in suburban Maryland. I took my job very seriously and figured it out in short order. My best friend, an older schoolmate of seventeen, and I were so good that eventually with a manager running the cash register, we could do an… Continue reading Learning curve
Ask a Watch Collector Anything (Vol. Two)
We are back for the second installment of the occasional Escapement Room series “Ask a Watch Collector Anything”. We have collected a variety of questions and put them to Steven Kolchak, the marketing director for a plumbing supply company in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Steve is fifty-one and collects everything from luxury Swiss brands to… Continue reading Ask a Watch Collector Anything (Vol. Two)
Round Table No. 10: Boys Club
Greg: I thought that we could talk about collecting goals for the next year. As collectors (not enthusiasts) where do we think that we are going? Do we have goals? Ambitions? What is on the horizon? I think that I am going to be less impulsive. There is still the joy of finding something undervalued… Continue reading Round Table No. 10: Boys Club
It was a year, the year that was
The first day of January is one where we frequently look back at the previous year and forward to the one to come. (The Roman god Janus had two faces for a reason, maybe.) Here I will discuss what I learned about myself this year (I am dictating this while staring at my visage in… Continue reading It was a year, the year that was
SOTC (Part Uno)
Well, it is near the end of another year of collecting and it is time for the inevitable State of the Collection (SOTC) post. These are fun for me because I get to tell you my watch stories about watches that mean something to me. I get to reveal something about myself, my relationship with… Continue reading SOTC (Part Uno)
Time Cut Short (a little off the ears)
I have been thinking about alternative measures of time recently, something more than minutes, hours, days, months, and years. This is due no doubt to the fact that I am in desperate need of a haircut. It goes from being perfectly kempt one day to undeniably unkempt the next. It is usually the hair on… Continue reading Time Cut Short (a little off the ears)
Be thankful
There is conflict in many places of the world. Men are doing terrible things to each other as we have through history. Inflation is running too high. It is not as high as last year, but it is still making most goods considerably more expensive than they were several years ago. Glaciers are melting. There… Continue reading Be thankful
Just in time for the holidays…
What could be more intimate than a watch lovers' connection with the straps, bracelets, and bands that attach their beloved time piece to their wrist. In this new publication from TER, noted author and philanthropist, D. Bater, explores the tactile and intimate relationship that we all have for these methods of embracing our watches. He… Continue reading Just in time for the holidays…









