On the shoulders of giants

So I had set out to start a brief review of the wonderful Girard-Perregaux book that 
I received for my birthday this past Sunday.   I set out with really great intentions, 
I was going to divide it up into sections of 5 - 10 pages, reporting on the book as a
whole over the course of several days.  And opening up the book I was stuck.
There looking back at me was Luigi Macaluso.


Today it seems easy - you're in the right place at the right time - you buy a dead or 
nearly dead company, then sit back and wait for the magic to happen.  Yeah, right... 


It is easy for some of us to forget that there was a time when mechanical watches were dead.  Quartz was king, and there were a handful of guys who saw that the future was  irrevocably linked in the past.  People who in many ways, literally staked their lives (or at least their livelihoods) on the insane notion that mechanical watches would return.  Think about it - you're successful, comfortable, and yet you get this idea in your head that, in fact,  it is everyone else who is wrong - and maybe, just maybe - you are right.  What sort of person does this remind you of?

As I have heard said once before - there are three types of people:
The person who makes things happen, the person who sees things happen, and the person who wonders what just happened.


In a time where it would have been easy for him to stick to the familiar path, he took up the challenge to move from his native Italy and in the process he created one of the most dynamic watch manufacturers on the face of the earth.


Now to be fair, I know that we are talking about watches.  We are not talking about curing cancer, teaching school, or feeding the poor.  But think about the things that we love - things that are beautiful, captivating, magical.  Beauty, poetry, magic - in many ways, these are the things that we unwittingly live for.


To be sure, there are other watch companies, other entrepreneurs, other ateliers waiting in the wings - but I for one am grateful that Girard-Perregaux is still here - better than ever.

And I know that for all who follow the Macalusos (to paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton) 
if they see farther, it will be because they stood on the shoulders of giants.