Watches, James Bond Watches…opening this month!

If you want to see some of the most in-depth and fascinating work done in the world of watches, I recommend you spend some time on JamesBondWatches.com, a site with a “Dedicated focus on all things related to the wristwatches of James Bond, Agent 007, created by Ian Fleming and brought to film by Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions.“  I also recommend the sister-site, JamesBondWatchBlog.com.  The inestimable Dell Deaton is the creator/curator of both sites and the definitive authority on the “James Bond Watch”:

Dell Deaton, the National Watch & Clock Museum’s guest curator for the exhibit, Watches, James Bond Watches

Lest you think this business of “007’s watch” (actually–watches) is just a sideshow hobby of Dell’s, I would also like to point you to the soon to be opening exhibit at The National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, PA where Deaton’s work will be on full and proper display.  The exhibit — Watches, James Bond Watches –will feature the watch that provided the inspiration for James Bond’s wristwatch:  Ian Fleming’s own Rolex Explorer.   This wristwatch was recently identified by Dell Deaton as the original, literary James Bond watch, the details of which were featured in a recent WatchTime magazine article.

Ian Fleming’s personal Rolex 1016 Explorer, which served as his basis for the personal James Bond wristwatch he described in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1963)

Credit:  Imperial War Museum

According to the NAWCC:

This is the first time that Ian Fleming’s watch has been exhibited in the United States. The watch was recently on display at the Imperial War Museum in London, featured in an exhibit on the life and work of Ian Fleming.   Fionn Morgan, Ian Fleming’s stepdaughter, states “Ian would have enjoyed the idea of displaying his own Oyster Perpetual as part of an exhibition of James Bond watches…It is wonderful to see the James Bond legacy presented through the watches that this character has worn. It is further most gratifying to see Ian’s Explorer number 1016 displayed as the origin of this long and continuous chronology. Collectors and the public will learn a lot through this exhibition.

Ian Fleming on the set of “Goldfinger,” 1964, wearing his Rolex 1016 Explorer wristwatch  Standing next to him are James Bond film producers Harry Saltzman (immediate right) and Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli (far right). Credit:  Imperial War Museum and Getty Images

Although a bit off the beaten path for some of you, I am quite confident that a visit will not disappoint.  I myself hope to make the trip sometime this summer to see the exhibit.

And my congratulations and commendations to you, Dell, on all your fine and ongoing work.  Truly amazing!

A standout watch…

This past weekend at a special event hosted by TAG Heuer, I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the new TAG Heuer Silverstone “reissue” .  I first wrote about this watch in Dec’09, and it was great to finally see the watch in the metal.  When it was handed to me, my first impressions of the new TAG Heuer Silverstone were in general positive.  In short, the watch has a great “retro” look all its own, it comes in 2 great colors, and it wears very comfortably on the perforated leather strap with a cool “Heuer” logo buckle.  My main only quibble is the price — a bit high for me at $6,500.  That and the case height (more on this below).  But overall, it’s a pretty cool watch.  Here’s a few looks (and please pardon my unfortunate camera work, which leaves a little bit to be desired):

Unlike many watches, the Silverstone looks virtually identical to the previously released press photos, although one thing that immediately struck me was how “thick” the case is.   This is one aspect of the watch that can only be understood appreciated in person.  While I do not know the exact case dimensions, I do know that the thick, square case sits…shall we say very “proudly” on the wrist.  Weight-wise, the watch is also quite substantial, and I say this in a good way.

As for the colors, I find both color variations to be very attractive and very well executed by TAG Heuer.  I’d probably select the blue version if I had to choose just one.  The strap is also quite comfortable and with a very cool “Heuer” buckle (not pictured).  Finally, the left-sided crown is also decorated with the “Heuer” logo and is a very nice touch, too.

As I noted in my Dec’09 post, the watch was originally introduced in 1974 and is named for the Silverstone racing track in England, famous home of the British Grand Prix. The original Silverstone housed the Chronomatic Caliber 11, the first self-winding automatic chronograph with micro-rotor, and the tribute pieces remain true to spirit with an updated version of the Caliber 11.

In closing, I’ll leave you with some words from TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin.  I think he perhaps summed up this watch best when he said:  “It’s just a standout, as audacious and unconventional as the person who dares wears it.”  I couldn’t agree more.

We recap our favorite wrist shots…

Readers of this blog know that we here at First In Watches like to keep an eye on “who’s wearing what” — particularly when it is discovered by an “in the wild” spotting of a wrist shot.  Come to think of it, we’ve spotted and called quite a few candid wrist shots over the past year, and so we thought we’d take a moment to reflect.  Enjoy!

For starters, we spotted Bill Clinton wearing a Panerai to his meeting with North Korea’s dictator:

and then there was France’s Nicolas Sarkozy wearing a very stately Girard-Perregaux:

Moving on from world leaders, we founder ourselves wondering what YouTube founder Chad Hurley was wearing (in fact we still don’t know!):

And then there are society’s seedier characters, from which we have set our spying eyes upon everything from disgraced Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff’s forfeited watch collection:

to plea-dealing lawyer Scott Rothstein’s gaudy wrist wear:

and — yes — we’ve even been lured in to writing about “Narco Bling” aka the watches of Mexican drug lords:

Alas, our passion for the elusive wrist shot is rarely satiated.  And so our relentless pursuit of precious metals housing precious movements often leads us to search the wrists of athletes — out of their uniforms and into casual mode, elite athletes are no match for our horologically trained eyes which have transformed many an innocuous photo into a story about a wrist shot.

For example, we outran Jamaican super-sprinter Usain Bolt striking to catch him in his trademark pose with a Hublot Big Bang Ceramic:

And when it comes to the hoops game, it was an easy drive down the lane for this slam dunk shot of Shaq with this Audemars Piguet:

Likewise, Kobe Bryant was quick to flash the peace sign giving us a clean steal and a clear look at his Nubeo:

and the same for the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade — spotted in a watch only an NBA player could wear, a Haimov:

Check that — Dwayne Wade has most recently been spotted wearing Hublot!  Nice trade, D-Wade!

So what will Team Perpetuelle spot next?  Stay tuned!

We hope you enjoyed this special edition of “Wrist Shot Rewind”!

Up close and personal with Hublot’s JC Biver…

I would like to call attention to an excellent interview that was conducted by Łukasz Doskocz who is the Founder/Editor of Chronos24.pl, one of the leading watch portals in Poland.   Lukasz is also one of my “watch blogger friends”, and I thank him for sharing his  interview with Perpetuelle.  At Baselworld 2010, Lukasz had the opportunity to sit down with none other than Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver.  The interview is very casual and offers a great “up close and personal” look at the man with the Midas Touch.

Unscripted, casual interviews are often the best and most revealing, in my experience, and this one is no exception.   Biver’s passion for watches truly is contagious!  The interview is in English (with Polish subtitles)…enjoy!

Editor’s Note:  This guest post was written by Geert Tibosch, co-owner of the leading Dutch watch platform, DeZinVanLuxe (DZVL), which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

The dream of every watch collector: a unique piece, something really special.  Earlier than expected, I was going to have the chance to own such a piece; a Lange & Söhne pocket watch, a chronograph from the early 1900’s.

Whether I’d wear such a thing is another question, but owning such a masterpiece would be fantastic. To cut a long story short, at a small auction house in Den Bosch, the Netherlands, they had a pocket watch up for auction. Not just a pocket watch, but the Lange mentioned above.  Below you can see the picture of the watch from the catalogue, and below this a picture of the movement, directly from the Lange & Söhne website.

The auction house estimate was set between €350 and €500. This could be a great opportunity to make a dream come true. The week before the auction I collected all possible information about the watch, unfortunately there wasn’t a single comparable watch on the internet.

So we had to make a decision, how much would it be worth to us? Before the auction we looked at the pocket watch once again. Obviously it was special, but how special?

Lot number 6218 was brought into the auction room, we agreed on the maximum amount we were going to bid. The only thing that could help us now was a lack of interest from other bidders. The auction started at €400, to €425, €450… The auctioneer didn’t see my raised hand until another bidder stopped bidding at €700. Now the bidding really began, two candidates with only one goal: bringing in an unprecedented fine Lange & Söhne pocket watch.

Bidding went up quickly to 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500, 3,000… Phew, we weren’t expecting that. All the literature on auctions says one thing to get the optimum result: decide your maximum bid in advance and do not get distracted by peripheral issues or emotion. No sooner said than done: when bidding reached €3,200 we stopped, however special the pocketwatch seemed to be.

After the lot was sold, the auction was over for us. The winning bidder also left the room and waited for us outside. The only thing we could do, was to congratulate him with this fantastic purchase. We couldn’t resist asking him about his knowledge of the watch.

Dumbfounded he told us this was a really unique piece from Lange & Söhne and he ascribed a value of no less than €25,000 to the pocket watch. We knew it was special, but not that special…

An illusion poorer but an experience richer, the auction ended. We didn’t feel disappointment or regret, only respect for the buyer. With his knowledge and experience he had the key to success!

What an experience!

“This is Trieste. We are on the bottom of Challenger Deep. . . . Over.”

– U.S. Navy LT Don Walsh, on January 23, 1960

The watch that is water-resistant to 35,840 feet…in the metal…

Yes, that’s right — 35,840 feet deep, or about 11,000 meters — is how deep the Rolex Deep Sea Special has been.  That’s the equivalent of almost 7 miles below the surface. In fact it was to the bottom of the deepest part of Ocean — the southern end of the Mariana Trench known simply as “Challenger Deep” — that the watch and two brave souls went, 50 years ago.  It was January 23, 1960, to be precise, and the two brave souls were U.S. Navy LT Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard.  They piloted TRIESTE, a crude vessel known as a bathyscaph, to the “Challenger Deep” and back.  And they took a very special Rolex with them.  The feat of a human, or a watch, descending to such depths has never been repeated.

Thanks to the great people at Liljenquist & Beckstead of McLean VA (Washington DC), I recently had the privilege and honor to experience firsthand this Rolex Deep Sea Special.  As one of the pre-eminent Rolex dealers on the East Coast (among the many other luxury brands they carry — A. Lange, Hublot, Breguet, et al.), Lijenquist & Beckstead was selected to play host to a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the TRIESTE’s descent aka the “Deepest Dive”.

Specifically, they put on a fine event hosting U.S. Navy LT Don Walsh (co-captain of the TRIESTE) and senior representatives of Rolex USA.  And of course, the legendary Rolex Deep Sea Special was front and center.

I must say it was quite an honor to shake hands and chat with LT Don Walsh.  If you want to know what a true American Hero is like, you need go no farther than Don Walsh.  In my brief conversation with him, Don was wonderful — easy to speak with and clearly full of knowledge stemming from his lifetime of experience in and around the marine environment.  I only wish I had more time to question and listen to the stories of his achievement and adventure.  Don was gracious to make himself available for several hours at the store, chatting with fans and enthusiasts, signing autographs, shaking hands, and posing for pictures (don’t mind that non-Rolex wearing fellow on the right):

In the below photo, Don Walsh explains the TRIESTE.  The sphere at the bottom of the vessel that Walsh is pointing to is where he and Piccard were situated for the mission — about the size of a large refrigertator, according to Walsh.  And for **just** 9 hours!  Interestingly, as Walsh explained it, the Rolex Deep Sea Special was not technically affixed to the outside of the vessel  (though obviously was still exposed to the ocean elements and every bit of the pressure).  Did I just shatter a bit of popular watch folklore?

Not surprisingly, Don Walsh has been a Rolex-wearer since 1960.  And the man knows how to throw down a wrist shot:

Doing a bit of research on the topic, I came to discover that there are myriad reports of Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard’s famous journey.  For example, Jake’s Rolex Blog has extensive writings on the subject.  Thus the reason that the focus of this article is on my personal experience with Don Walsh and the Rolex Deep Sea Special and not much more.   I will, however, recommend two very recent, very nicely written articles that I came across that I think you will enjoy.

First, Navy honors officer 50 years after voyage to ocean depths, by Michael E. Ruane, The Washington Post (excerpt below):

The sunlight began to fade a few hundred feet down. Shades of gray turned to black. The steel structure groaned as the water pressure increased, and the Trieste sank toward the fabled gorge in the Pacific Ocean floor known as Challenger Deep.

One thousand feet. Two thousand feet. At 2,400 feet, the two crewmen dimmed the cabin lights to let their eyes adjust. At about 13,000 feet, they entered the abyssal zone — “the timeless world of eternal darkness,” one of them wrote later.

At 31,000 feet, they echo-sounded for the bottom. There was no return. At 32,400 feet, a thick window cracked with a bang. Farther down they went. Into the bleak hadal zone, named for Hades, the ancient Greek underworld. Finally, at 35,800 feet, then-Navy Lt. Don Walsh, 28, phoned the surface: “This is Trieste. We are on the bottom of Challenger Deep. . . . Over.”

and Deepest Dive: Geographic Honors Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, by Ford Cochran, National Geographic (exerpt below):

…National Geographic bestowed its highest honor, the Hubbard Medal, on Walsh in a ceremony at our Washington, D.C. headquarters. The U.S. Department of the Navy also awarded Walsh its Distinguished Public Service Award.

“Don Walsh is one of only two people to have visited Earth’s deepest place, and no one else has come close,” said Gil Grosvenor, National Geographic’s chairman of the board. “His accomplishment ranks along with those of our other Hubbard Medal recipients, people like Robert Byrd, Charles Lindbergh, and Robert Ballard.” Jacques Piccard died in 2008, at the age of 86.”

In summary, let me again extend my thanks and congratulations to everyone at Liljenquist & Beckstead for the fine event.  And a very special thank you also goes to freelance photographer Dunks Photo for the first class camera work.

50 years later, I and the rest of the world look back in awe and wonder on the inspirational achievement of Don Walsh, Jacques Piccard, and the Rolex Deep Sea Special!

You can see many more (and slightly larger) pictures of the event in my photo report on the Perpetuelle.com World Watch Forum by clicking here.

If you are not aware…

there is a good series going on right now by my friends over at The Watch Lounge.  Titled “How to Move Forwards While Looking Backwards – Innovation In the Watch Industry”, it is a multi-part “Special Series” with two articles published thus far and more to come this week.  Please click through to read them – click here for Part 1 which contains some insights from the always interesting Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver, whom The Watch Lounge recently sat down with.  And stay tuned in, after all, who doesn’t like a good Special Series!  Cheers Tom!

Perpetuelle’s Authorized Dealer Interview Series #2…

In continuing with our Authorized Dealer Interview series, Perpetuelle.com Moderator James Bond recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Al Armstrong of Armstrong Rockwell Watches & Fine Jewelry in Hartford, CT.  Like Bond’s prior interview with Dorfman Jewelers of Boston, his discussion with Al Armstrong is equally insightful and entertaining and I wanted to take a moment to highlight it here on the blog.

One of the most interesting things I learned from the  interview is that Armstrong Rockwell was one of the very first retailers in American to carry the now very prestigious German watch brand Glashütte Original (my favorite brand!).  In addition, I always find it interesting to hear which brands a particular AD carries and why.  Armstrong Rockwell carries an interesting mix of well or fairly well-known brands – Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Hublot, Perrelet, Roger Dubuis, IWC, Glashütte Original. They also carry Urban Jurgensen & Sonner of Copenhagen, British watch brand, Dent (most famously known for the creation of Big Ben), and McGonigle Watches, a very unique, independent Irish watch brand (ran by two brothers).   I’ll leave it to you to read more about why Al Armstrong decided to carry these brands — and more — in the interview!

**Click here to read James Bond’s full interview with Al Armstrong of Armstrong Rockwell Watches & Fine Jewelery**

Finally — as I noted in the last interview, James and I would like to be able to continue this series of interviews with various leading Authorized Dealers of fine luxury watches.  If you are interested in speaking with us, please drop me a line at kyle@perpetuelle.com or James Bond at james@perpetuelle.com.  There is no cost/fee — It’s all for the love of watches!  You can think of it as a way to gain a bit of free PR and in exchange for sharing some “Authorized Dealer” insights with our audience.

Up close and personal with 12 of the world’s greatest watchmakers, and the man who sat down with them all…

Recently, I had the pleasure of reviewing a copy of Michael Clerizo’s Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, published by Thames & Hudson (ISBN 0500514852 / 978-0500514856, available for purchase on Amazon.com, or you can meet Michael and get a signed copy this week at Baselworld 2010 – Messeplatz, in front of Hall 1.0, the Watchprint bookstand).  I think it is worth saying up front that I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fine watches – it was a truly enjoyable and entertaining book.  After reading the book, I contacted Clerizo and conducted a follow-up interview to glean some further insights about the “why” and “how” of the book, and I think you will find these insights to be equally worthwhile (the interview follows my book review, below).

Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, by Michael Clerizo

Michael Clerizo is a London-based American journalist who contributes to the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal (most recently in the “WSJ” Weekend Magazine), the Robb Report, and specialist watch magazines.  Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking is filled a series of “stand alone” stories about watchmakers and many  pictures of their unique watches.  Specifically, via a series of interviews with each of the featured individuals, Clerizo takes the reader behind-the-scenes and into the fascinating lives of 11 different watchmakers who represent the finest that the modern day watch industry has to offer.

I enjoyed manner in which Clerizo brings out to the reader the individuality of each of the 11 famous watchmakers.  The spectrum of personalities – also fully reflected in the watches they create – is quite evident as one advances through the book.   From the staid and practical (George Daniels, Roger Smith, Philippe Dufour, Marco Lang), to the jovial, whimsical, and seemingly carefree (Franck Muller, Vincent Calabrese, Alain Silberstien) to the unconventional even eclectic (Svend Andersen, Vianney Halter, Antoine Preziuso, Aniceto Jiminez Pita), the diversity of talent and vision could not have been better put on display by Clerizo.  Perhaps the only commonality amongst all these men is their ablity to create specactular timepieces!

Several other master watchmakers are also profiled, though to a lesser extent, in the latter pages of the book.  Even so, there were a few additional names that I think could have been included in the book – Christophe Claret, Maximilian Büsser (MB&F), Jean-François Ruchonnet (Cabestan) are those that come to mind.

The book itself is substantial – 12 x 12 inches – with a beautiful cover featuring a picture of a watch movement made by George Daniels.  It makes for a great “coffee table” book, sure to evoke a curious question or start a friendly conversation from even the most shy person or non-watch enthusiast who might be in your company.  Most pages of the book are non-glossy white and a bronze-ish color, except at the end of each story there are several glossy pages of beautiful photos of the watches as made by each watchmaker.  I think Clerizo would have been better off using glossy paper throughout the book, as the bronze/white text was sometimes difficult to read.

All in all, Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking is a well written and worthy read for any watch owner, collector or enthusiast.

****

Interview with Michael Clerizo, author of Masters on Contemporary Watchmaking

Tell my audience a bit more about your background and how this book came to be. What compelled you to write this book? Any particular inspiration?

I am an American writer living in London.  My background is what might be described as varied; I’ve had lots of jobs and started lots of projects aimed at making money.  At the end of the year 2000 I was working for a small, London based branding agency. One day the owner of the agency came to me and said; ‘I am just so happy. I’ve found a new definition for a brand. A brand is a code by which we live our life.’ When I heard those words I knew I had to get out of there.  ‘A code by which we live our life!’ The guy had lost it. You live your life by a religious code, a moral code, a philosophical code, even a zip code; I don’t care but a brand? I knew I was in trouble if I stayed.

Luckily, Mother Nature intervened and a few weeks later some strange and potent virus put me in the hospital. I was there for twelve days in total isolation. One morning I woke up to find myself covered by ice cubes. During the night, I developed a fever that went so high I lost consciousness. The doctors decided that the deep freeze was my only hope.  I knew things were serious because of the nurses from the Philippines, good Catholic girls that they are, they always made the sign of the cross before entering my room.  It took six months for me to recover. I named my condition Russian Novel Syndrome after the many characters in Russian novels that develop fevers requiring lengthy periods of recuperation. Lying around not doing much I started to read everything I could get my hands on. Newspapers, magazines, books on obscure Bolivian artists, anything. I decided I could do better than many of the writers I was reading. I have been writing ever since. I never went back to the branding agency.

About seven years ago, an editor asked me if I wanted to write an article about watches. At the time I knew nothing about watches but ignorance never stops freelancers so of course I said yes. When I began researching I was struck by the beauty of many watches made by famous companies like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. It was through that beauty that the subject first got it hooks into me. Eventually I learned that a few watchmakers still worked on their own making watches mostly by hand and in very low volume, sometimes only one or two a year. I have always been fascinated by great craftsmanship and skill so I found these watchmakers and their work mesmerizing. Most of these watchmakers are unknown outside of a tiny circle of collectors and aficionados so I made it my mission to bring them to the attention of a wider audience. That is how the book came about. I hope it doesn’t sound too pompous.

I wanted to write about watchmakers the way people write about architects, film directors and composers. I was lucky enough to find a publisher, Thames & Hudson, willing to take a chance.  Two books influenced me. The first is Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut. In this Truffaut asks Hitchcock question after question about his life and his work. I was fascinated by Hitchcock’s explanations about the storylines plot twists in his films and the camera angles and lighting levels he used. I remember thinking that Hitchcock’s comments were much more interesting and enlightening that anything critics had written about his work. The other book is Lennon Remembers by Jann Wenner. In 1970 Wenner did several long interviews with John Lennon in Rolling Stone and then he published them as a book. At one point Wenner reels off the titles of Beatles’ songs and Lennon explains the origin and sometimes the meanings of the lyrics.

I wanted to do that with watchmakers, to learn about their inspirations and their methods, the why and the how of their watchmaking. I am not saying that watchmakers are as important to our society as film directors and songwriters – although there was a time when they were. I am saying that great watchmakers are artists and deserve our respect.

How did you decide who would be featured in the book?

The first three chapters Daniels – Andersen – Calabrese are devoted to the founding fathers of the independent watchmakers movement. Daniels responded to the quartz assault on mechanical watches. Today he is an inspiration to every independent watchmaker and many who work of big brands. Andersen and Calabrese also responded to the quartz assault when they started their own workshops. But, when they founded the Académie Horlogère Des Créateurs Indépendants they went beyond that. The Academy was a reaction to a trend in the early 80s, the concentration of financial power and marketing muscle in a few big brands and their financial backers. Once a watchmaker joined the Academy he could show his work at the Basel fair and other shows. The Academy created a path to the market place for many watchmakers. This continued when the Academy launched its website.

There is another way to look at the work of early independent watchmakers. The quartz watch and the concentration of financial and marketing muscle were early examples of globalization. The independent watchmakers movement is the response of a creative minority to the homogenizing effects of globalization.

The next three chapters are about Swiss rebels, Philippe Dufour, Antoine Preziuso and Franck Muller. These men became independent because they viewed Swiss watchmaking as being too industrial and ignoring the craft traditions of the past, ignoring the contribution of the individual watchmaker and lacking in creativity. So, they went out on their own.

For the next three chapters I wanted to get outside of Switzerland. The first place I went to was Barcelona not a traditional center of watchmaking but the home of Aniceto Jimenez Pita a great Spanish watchmaker. There are many amazing things about Pita but perhaps the most amazing is that working alone at the back of his shop he has managed to develop an extraordinary diver’s watch. Also, in many of his designs you see the culture of the Mediterranean of the Latin world. That is very unusual in watchmaking.

Then came Alain Silberstein whose workshop is in Besançon historically the center of much of French watchmaking. But, Silberstein is not a watchmaker by trade he is an architect. His way of thinking about the craft and about watches is very different from anyone else in the book. I really wanted to get that perspective into the book.

Marco Lang, the German watchmaker in Dresden, is unique because for much of his life he confronted the possibility that he would not be able to become a watchmaker. The authorities in communist East Germany frowned on mechanical watchmaking. For Lang, the attraction of watchmaking was so strong that he never gave up hope. Now he is creating magnificent watches. I think his story is fascinating.

The penultimate chapter in the book is about Vainney Halter. To call Halter eccentric is putting it mildly. He is an extraordinary character. Many of the influences on his work are from outside watchmaking and that was something I wanted to explore.

Roger Smith is the subject of the final chapter. There were many reasons for including him. His work is technically superb and he loves to talk about the technique and I wanted technical explanations in the book. Also, I wanted to show that the English tradition of making watches in a small workshop with only a few people was still alive.

Did you face any noteworthy challenges in getting in touch with any of the watchmakers you interviewed? Did you already have relationships and if not how did you go about getting in touch with them?

I had met, spoken to on the phone or communicated via email with most of the watchmakers in the book before I started working on it. For those I had had no contact with, for example Aniceto J Pita, I phoned and explained what I was doing and asked for an interview. Considering that the interviews lasted eight hours, sometimes stretching over two days, everyone was very understanding. But, they knew what they were getting into because I sent each watchmaker a list of questions at least ten days before the interview.

There are many several sources of information about watches and watchmakers available today – what do you think we will find in/learn from your book that will not be learned/found anywhere else?

In the book’s introduction I say that the central topic is people, not watches. You can learn a lot about watches from many different sources but I think my book provides more information about the people behind some of the best watches ever made. And, it’s not just biographical information. I tried to get at what made watchmakers do things in certain ways. There may be other places where Silberstein talks about how a painting by Edward Hopper influenced his work, or places where Daniels talks about how he wanted to surpass Breguet, where Preziuso talks about how a fairground ride gave him the idea for a watch but I think that kind of information is rare. Also, it’s all together in one place. Another thing is the photographs. The book has 672 images, 493 in color. In every chapter, when the photographs were selected to provide a retrospective of a watchmaker’s work. In some cases there are images of the first watch a watchmaker ever made. No one has done anything like that before for so many watchmakers.

What’s next for Michael Clerizo?

Right now, I’m focusing on my work for the Wall Street Journal Magazine. Sometime after the Basel fair I’ll talk to my publishers about another book project. I’m seriously thinking about trying my hand at fiction.

Thank You, Michael, and best of luck.

Perpetuelle’s Authorized Dealer Interview Series Begins…

Perpetuelle.com Moderator James Bond recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Jonathan Dorfman of Dorfman Jewelers, an elite watch and jewelery dealer located on the very prestigious “Newbury Street” in Boston, MA.  So why should you care to read this interview?  Well…

In keeping with the Dorfman philosophy of not wanting to be all things to all people and aiming for only the best, you will find just 2 prestigious brands of watches in the company’s Newbury Street store.  Which ones, you ask?  Well, I’ll let you discover this for yourself.  On the jewlery side, Dorfman only carries one brand – Van Cleef & Arpels.  In fact they have an official Van Cleef & Arpel salon in-store and as part of this they do sell the Van Cleef & Arpel watch line as well.

What struck me most about the interview, though, are the humble roots from which Dorfman was built.  Today, Jonathan and his brother Douglas Dorfman proudly lead a family-owned business that grew from their grandfather’s humble beginnings during the Great Depression through their parent’s prescient move to 24 Newbury Street in the 1970s.   Quite the American success story if you ask me!

Click here to discover and enjoy the full interview (it is actually fairly short – only 4 questions and responses) – I think you will enjoy it.

24 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

On another note, James and I would love to be able to turn this into a series (or mini-series) of interviews with various leading Authorized Dealers of fine luxury watches.  If you are interested in speaking with us, please drop me a line at kyle[at]perpetuelle.com.