The Rolex waiting list, a myth that must be explained. Every now and then people talk about the weather or the Rolex waiting list. It seems like it is a standard of the business. There has been so much buzz around “The Rolex waiting List” and “The Call” to fuel tons of articles by better […]
Servicing your watch used to be a given. Now it has become an issue. I was talking about watch servicing with my watchmaking professor a few days ago – as you readers know, frequenting a horology course permits me to get to grips with the technicalities of the trade. I might not become the next […]
The rise and fall of one of the most illustrious watch companies I could be biased, but I still cringe somehow when I think about Zenith and its current fate of being a sort of troubled child lost in the stable of LVMH, with watches felt just as undeservedly “expensive”. It saddens me to see […]
Why the best watchmakers come from Switzerland? This is one of the questions people who are not into horology tend to ask to watch lovers. And while the world perceives Rolex as the best watch company there is in the world, the biggest part of the iceberg is hidden under water. The quick answer to […]
What distinction can you make between a formal watch (Cartier, Vacheron) and a casual watch (Seiko, Rolex)? The distinction between models (not brands – brands have very different models in their lineup) is quite subtle, if you ask me. And I have seen quite a lot of watch models and collections. So, what happened is […]
How did the inventor of the first watch know what time it was? While this question might sound silly, it isn’t – big time (and the wordplay is intended). The long path towards establishing a universal time system is long and convoluted, and starts from the beginning of history. The first clocks were invented around […]
How was the crown invented? What does it hide? The watch crown, which is a common sight nowadays, is a somewhat recent addition to the watches arsenal. Prior to its invention in 1842, watches used a key, as most clocks already did: after all, watches are just small, portable clocks. To wind them or regulate […]
Why is it so hard to take off the back of a watch? The answer is to keep the movement away from casual people tinkering with it. And I mean YOU. A mechanical watch is a sort of carefully balanced little mechanism which can be swayed by the presence of a minuscole blog of dirt. […]
Why don’t we see many silver watch cases? Precious metals like silver and gold were extremely popular throughout human history as a preferred material to make precious objects. Still, nowadays silver is seldom – if ever – used in the manufacture of watches. The motivation for this lack of popularity depends on a phenomenon that […]
Why are “luxury watches” such a status symbol for people? Despite what lots of people think, true luxury and high-end are really two separate things, and might co-exist in the same brand. High-end and luxury watches sometimes represent a rite of passage. As you rightly say, a sort of status-symbol object. But what transforms a […]