you are trapped in here with us
The bug of mechanical watches has likely bitten everyone reading this, but I'll say what I have to say anyways. I am a hopeless romantic. I have tried doing many things the old-fashioned way, which is nine times out of ten harder, more expensive, requires more effort, or a combination of these. I have largely… Continue reading A word of warning
I’m tired… another week, another round of tepid “hot” takes. Tudor is a homage of Rolex? Fuuuuuuck where to begin… I mean how can the sister company of one homage the other, and anyway, look at the history. Anyway, that’s not why we are here. I found myself in yet another rant, this time defending… Continue reading Practice what you preach
When I was about fifteen, God got up abruptly, and left by the back door. As the door shut quietly, he said, “I’ll be back soon enough, carry on for now.” It certainly took something away from Christmas and Easter in the short term. Rituals became shallow and lost meaning. The direction and purpose that… Continue reading Leave the seat down: a search for a vintage watch collecting philosophy
When you pop the back of a mechanical watch and see the intricate springs and gears in motion making incremental measures of time on the dial side, one can’t help but be amazed. If you have no watchmaking skills, you may also be confused. There are layers of complexity in even a simple three hander.… Continue reading Did Swatch choose wisely?
Greg: Are there any burning issues that need to be addressed? Here is my late night thought: Not all “vintage inspired” pieces are the same. What makes one work and one not? I am thinking of a Timex/Todd Snyder collab up on our favorite forum. It looks like any number of mid-century watches, but this… Continue reading Duologue No. 1: Reimagining Vintage for Modern Tastes
Trial is stylized combat. Rather than being decided with feats of strength or marksmanship it is a contest of words and persuasion. Facts matter too. We blame the inconvenient facts when we lose and give our golden tongues the credit when we win. Next week I will be in a small rural county seated next… Continue reading A vain man justifies his preconceptions…
What follows is an argument. This is an argument that I have often, in many contexts, but it always begins as a definitional argument. When we use certain terms, what do we mean?[i] Much has been written recently about the importance and desirability of sustainability in the watch industry. What does it mean to buy… Continue reading Some thoughts on sustainable watches
Am I ahead of a fashion trend, or way behind? I will let you decide. I think that I am behind. Maybe the watch world is not fashion after all. According to the fashion industry consultants Heuritech, the fashion industry experience cycles in roughly twenty-year increments. First there is the “introduction” of the trend,… Continue reading Old man fashion
The concept of the wristwatch is older than the concept of the weekend. Abraham-Louis Breguet probably made the first wristwatch for the Queen of Naples in 1810. Sixty-nine years later, in 1879, the British magazine Notes and Queries first used the term “week-end” to describe the comings and goings of workers. (The weekend is only… Continue reading Everybody’s working for the weekend…
I had a question of involving watch manners recently, or maybe it was watch etiquette, either way, it was a conundrum. Sometimes when I am hunting some vintage brand or model, I will send a picture of it to Kaysia or Chris to bounce it off of them. Sometimes, they do that to me. Occasionally,… Continue reading What can Emily Post tell us about watches?
The Escapement Room 