The Death of Anonimo

may not be so much of an exaggeration.

Okay, I have what I would have to sum up as a love-hate relationship with Anonimo.  There are so many things that I loved.  The Militare, the Kodiak strap, the cases that were not stamped, but "scooped".  Cases proudly made in Florence.  And don't even get me started on Dino Zei, I've met some really nice people, but he is perhaps one of the kindest, most generous people I have ever met.  I have met the men who carried the flag for Anonimo - the CEOs and they were great , and I can tell you that they were earnest, they were genuine.  And all I can say in the final analysis is that the thing that hurts so much is when you see what Anonimo is now.  F&^*ing golf outings in Luxembourg?  NUTS!  Leopard TREK?!? Double nuts - I have yet to see one of the cycling team wearing one of these.  And the automatic with the "pinwheel" date window - that just looks cheap and tacky.  Sorry, but it does. 

What made Anonimo special was not just the cases, or the water resistant leather straps, or the legend of Dino Zei - because in all honesty there were plenty of supremely ASSED-UP moments!  Service requests that would languish for nearly half a year?  The eyelash of a watch maker staring up at you, hermetically sealed beneath the crystal of your watch when 18 months later you received it from service.  Emails, phone calls, faxes, carrier pigeons and dare I say even smoke signals that went unanswered ; )  But let's be honest, on some goofy level it was just plain charming.  "Oh, this is Italy… things take time…"  No matter how much "spleen venting" took place on various fora, we were all willing to wait.  It was a bit like a Frank Lloyd Wright building.  It was beautiful, and you suffered beyond belief while Mr. Wright turned you inside-out.  And then you moved in, and the roof leaked, and you had to keep a garbage can under the drip.  But in all fairness, you wouldn't have traded the experience for ANYTHING.  And ultimately I think that is the "Ballad of Anonimo".  Like that crazy artistic, free-spirited woman that you dated in university.  She borrowed your car while you were away for a job interview, used it to visit an old boyfriend and racked up seven parking tickets in five days!  But there was something about her…  just like there WAS something about Anonimo.

So now we have the name, we have a group of watches that look about as much like the original Anonimo as Farah Fawcett looked like Elizabeth Taylor.  And why?  Well, let's face some facts - 

Bankers make SHITTY watch company owners.  But let's hope.  Maybe things can be differnent.