The Stamford Original

From Loomes -

Courtesy of Loomes

This little buzzer snuck in today and I have the opportunity to share it with you before the official reveal at Salon QP later this week.  And yes, I have permission ; )

Loomes is not a marketing powerhouse, but they do make some nice watches.  This is their latest offering - the Stamford Original.  As I have not seen it, I am going to let them tell you about it in their own words -

We are proud to announce the birth of our new movement 

The Stamford Original will be revealed on Thursday at the Saatchi Gallery.
Weighing in at 29mm diameter and just 4.6mm thin the movement is designed to suit our own watch cases and dials.
The Stamford Original is a completely new movement. Every component is manufactured in England. Much of the turning work is outsourced to around twenty middle-England precision engineering companies. From there the watches are slowly built up in our Stamford workshops.

 A staff of fifteen machine and jewel the plates, cocks and bridges in small batches and  machine cases and dials. Even the  screws and jewels are made in England.

Courtesy of Loomes

We were driven on by those in the industry who said this "couldn't be done" (the manufacturing of all the components in England). Robert stubbornly believed it could and has spent the last few years working towards this moment.

We will be exhibiting at Salon QP and the watch will be available for 2017. It is being made in a series of  twelve in white gold and twelve in yellow gold cases, 39mm diameter. The price of each is £28,500.

The Case:

Our own design, cast in London including Scottish river-panned gold and Cornish tin, 

in use for six years now and wearing well. For the Stamford watch it will be available 

in 18ct White Gold or 18ct Yellow Gold.

The Dial: 

Designed and machined and decorated by us in our inimicable fashion (the dial and dial feet 

are machined from the same piece of nickel silver. Finished with a matte surface and rhodium plated. 

The use of "Loomes" rather than "Robert Loomes" denotes the new Stamford movement.

The Hands: 

cut from high carbon spring steel they are individually heat blued to a dark rich hue before 

fitting to brass collets (made in Birmingham).

Sapphires:

laser cut and polished in England. Fitted in place by Nylon gaskets which are hand turned by 

English specialists.

Crown: 

cast and machined by us, fitted to our own stem with rubber seals from Northamtonshire.

Strap:

Hand-cut English bridle leather and goatskin individually made for us in Leicestershire by a specialist 

leather workers who produce for international Haute Couture houses.

Buckle and strap pin components:

The buckle and tongue is cast and polished by us. The pins are developed in Coventry from 

work done for an English pen maker.

The movement:

Plates: 

designed and machined by us in Stamford out of nickel silver. 

Each is hand reamed for jewel fitting and small internal screw-threads are cut by hand. 

Plate screws: 

designed by us, using a "nut and bolt" system. Manufactured in West Yorkshire 

using high carbon steel. Hand blued in the workshop.

The barrel and cap: 

manufactured by (an ex-employee of Rotherhams) a Coventry firm  

The arbors and toothed wheels: 

made in Yorkshire, just outside Huddersfield, home of George Savage qv. 

The tooth profiles are our own creation, being satisfied with nothing we have seen. 

I am reminded of the time a new manager entered a Coventry watchmakers in the 

early19th century with fancy French mathematical explanations of how to calculate pinion forms. 

One of the workers replied;  "but every Englishman knows a pinion is shaped like a bay leaf". 

We are influenced by our experience of how the wheels deform in use and so practical 

experience outweighs theory. 

The balance wheel:

turned in Leicestershire, machine holed and spoked in Stamford before hand finishing,

poising and fitting.

The collet:

made in Stamford

The roller:

made in Stamford

The hairspring:

made in England. We have a significant batch of these springs, fresh from the 

winding boxes (we still have access to). Six steel springs are wound together and come out, 

hardened and tempered, fused together. A mild acid bath is necessary to separate them from 

one another. before cutting to length, timing, forming inner curves and outer and finally 

pinning into a watch. 

We retain use of the winding boxes, have the hardening skills ourselves and an open

 option to produce kilometers of spring in Sheffield should we need it.

The jewels:

designed to our measurement, they are laser cut and internally polished, in England, 

from aluminium oxide tinged with chromium to give the traditional red "ruby" colour.

Alas, there is nobody in England who has invested in the Stepanhov method of jewel 

production, so ours cost many times the cost of conventional modern jewels.

Winding and setting components are cut either in Stamford or Cambridgeshire and hand 

finished in our workshops.

The mainspring:

provided by an English mainspring maker.

Simple movement facts:

18,000 vph conventional train. The (hidden below the barrel bridge) winding leaves a 

very traditional English half-plate appearance, and a large swathe of engraveable metal. 

The plates are 18ct gold plated for longevity after jewelling.

 

October 31

Courtesy of Corum

This is the third new version of the Bubble released by Corum this past week.  Skulls seem to be the thing for just about everyone, and this one will certainly have some appeal.

Here are the pertinents -

Movement

CO 082 - 

Automatic

Functions:  Hour, minute, second

Power reserve:  42 h

Frequency:  4 Hz, 28’800 vph

Jewels:  21

Dimension:  11 ½’’’

 

Case

Thickness:  18.50 mm

Water resistant:  100 meters / 10 ATM

 

Dial

Material:  Brass

Finish:  Black, Leaf-type, openworked, black varnish

 

Bracelet

Color:  Black

Material:  Rubber

Interhorn:  24/20 mm

 

 

 

The Night Before Halloween -

This is the second of three offerings from Corum to help mark Halloween -

Courtesy of Corum

Here are the pertinents -

MOVEMENT
Movement number:
CO 082

Winding system:
Automatic

Functions:
Hour & Minute • Second

Power reserve:
42 hours

Frequency:
4 Hz, 28'800 vph

Dimension:
11 1/2'''

Rubies:
21

 
DIAL
Material:
Brass

 
CASE
Shape:
Round

Dimension:
47 mm

Thickness
18.50 mm

Case Material:
Stainless steel

Bezel Material:
Stainless steel

Crystal:
Domed sapphire crystal with anti reflective treatment

Back type:
Screwed in open back cover in stainless steel with glare proof sapphire crystal

Water resistance:
100 meters / 10 ATM


HANDS
Leaf:
Rhodium-coated • Faceted


BRACELET
Material:
Vulcanized rubber

Colours:
Black

Interhorn/Buckle:
24/20 mm

Buckle type:
Tongue buckle

Buckle material:
Stainless steel

Be Careful What You Wish For!

So a few days back, Swatch got served up a mighty cold cup of espresso.

This is the original statement provided by Swatch Group -

Courtesy of the Swatch Group

I realize that the text is a bit small, so here is a link to the statement on their site -

Swatch Group Statement

And while schadenfreude has many more "scholarly"definitions, I think this little snippet from a "poem as definition" courtesy of Luke Wehner and posted by the Urban Dictionary sums up how a lot of people in the industry currently view Swatch Group's predicament:

Waking doormen from their naps

Watching tourists reading maps

Football players getting tackled

CEOs getting shackled

I was speaking to a colleague from the Fourth Estate and we were both pretty bemused by the "everything happens to me" tone of the Swatch Group statement. So let's dissect this little missive to see if we can read anything from the entrails -

Based on the amicable settlement between Swatch Group and the Competition Commission (Comco), which was signed in 2013, the company ETA has a supply obligation towards third-party customers until the end of 2019. The supply quantity agreed upon has - by a substantial amount – not been purchased by these third-party customers, and certain major customers did not place any orders for 2017, while ETA, due to its imposed supply obligation, must continue to maintain the capacity to deliver roughly 1.5 million mechanical movements. 

Okay, let's take this first bit. What it underscores is that Swatch had, for all intents and purposes, gained nearly total control of the movement manufacturing market. The language used at the time of the Comco settlement and the time leading up to it was that Swatch was a benevolent master, hoping to encourage their competitors to grow and flourish and develop new solutions of their own, as in develop and make their own movements. Now the subtext of this was clear for a lot of people who were not imbibing the corporate Kool-Aid, and we called bullshit. Because when you started to drill down to a more granular level there were several other contributing factors that were probably closer to the reality:

1. Not only does Swatch make movements, they also have a handful of brands that you might have heard of. Brands like Tissot, Longines, Hamilton, Rado and others. These brands have had to compete with others for market share. And it gets harder and harder to differentiate between many of these brands because when you "lift the hood" they are all, essentially, running the same engine. This then becomes a marketing wedge for the little guy - "Hey, why pay $2,900 when you can get essentially the same watch for HALF that amount WITHOUT the fancy name?" Spend any small amount of time on a watch forum or listen to the patter of the brands or salespeople who do NOT sell Swatch group brands, that will inevitably come up as a reason to buy brand X and not buy a Swatch group watch. So common sense would tell you that you would be better off if those companies were not able to make that pitch. Because let's face it, ETA is the standard. Soprod, Sellita, Techno Time? Well, according to some "experts" out there, there is no comparison. So if you take that possibility away, well then the differences between Swatch brands and others is far clearer. Moreover, if these independent/non-Swatch group competitors don't have a new solution or provider lined up who offers a reputable alternative? well that might cause them some pain, but the Swatch brands are just fine because you control the means of production ; )

2. There have been competitors in the production of movements for some time, these are not exactly brand-new entities. And the move to use other people's movements was in full swing even back in the "boom" years when several brands would openly complain about the scarcity of available ETA movements, and more specifically the delays of deliveries of ETA movements, which in turn caused them major problems in completing the assembly and delivery of their own watches to their customers. What Swatch was not counting on is that the brands that they had in the past kept over the barrel were now in a stronger position, that Soprod was developing some very good solutions, and that customers were now taking advantage of them.

Therefore, Swatch Group requested from Comco that ETA should be allowed to offer and sell the non-purchased quantities to all its third-party customers. The Swatch Group proposal never intended to deviate from the amicable settlement but rather to supplement it in order to take the abusive customer behavior into account. This request has been rejected by Comco.

So the basic point here is - we campaigned to be allowed to stop supplying movements to our brands' competitors, you agreed, and those pikers came up with their own solutions faster than we thought they would. NOT FAIR! I particularly love that phrase - "abusive customer behavior".  Essentially, their customers cut their orders owing to the global downturn in watch sales, therefore they (the customers) are abusing Swatch group by doing what is best for their business.  In other words, exactly what Swatch asserted was the motivation for them curtailing and finally eliminating movement sales to brands outside of the group.

Swatch Group regrets Comco’s decision and deems it utterly unrealistic. Swatch Group is forced to maintain the production capacities for third-party customers – with substantial financial and personnel expenditures – although in some cases, the third-party customers have drastically reduced or even completely dropped their order quantities. 

Basic translation?  The shoe is on the other foot, and it pinches.


With this decision, ETA and Swatch Group must once again assume their customers’ economic risk. In spite of the fact that major customers such as Sellita or Tudor have reduced their order quantities for 2017 by about 700,000 pieces in total relative to the previous year and although the difference between the effectively-ordered quantities and the spare capacity amounts to almost 900,000 pieces, ETA must maintain the determined capacities for the coming years in order to meet its supply obligation as defined by Comco. 

What this really underscores is the entire watch world's refusal to recognize and adjust to the economic realities that have been brewing for the past two years.  It is also interesting that Swatch goes to the trouble to identify two particular villains in their version of what went wrong.  The truth is that owing to the agreement that Swatch actively pursued, Tudor, Sellita and others were going to get cut off soon enough.  And let's not forget that Tudor is not exactly starved for movement making know-how.  You might have heard of another little upstart called Rolex that happens to be in the same "family".  

Plainly put, when you continue to try and "shock and awe" all of your customers into looking for new solutions, you have nobody to blame but yourself when they actually listen to and act on your messaging.  What the f*&k did you think was going to happen? 

As a result, the decision of the Comco penalizes a market participant – ETA – which has made substantial investments in innovation and development of industrial capacity, while other market participants again preferred to focus their investments solely on marketing their products. In order to cover the additional costs arising from this enforced readiness to deliver, ETA will have to consider massive price hikes. 

Again, calling bullshit on this one.  The real innovations were happening in other places.  Soprod makes movements with some truly interesting complications for some of the industries big dogs.  Eterna offers a lot of interesting ideas, the only thing holding them back is the unrealistic pricing structure they seem unwilling to let go of.  And other competitors have popped up.  Now what Swatch is not saying in this statement, which if I'm honest is the real issue that is impacting movement orders, is the slow down in the watch business as a whole.  Simply put, brands that ordered thousands of movements annually are not ordering ANY movements until 2018 at the earliest.  What that means is that they are sitting on a boat load of movements that they haven't even used yet, and don't anticipate using for the next 18 - 24 months.

And therefore, when supply far outstrips demand, the only thing that apparently makes sense is to -raise prices!

Well, I am certainly no Hayek, but I have to question the sanity of this approach.  Because there are a few flaws in this idea.  Keep in mind that every movement manufacturing concern is suffering right now due to unrealized orders.  If ETA chokes off the movement supply to other brands, there are a few suppliers who could step in.  My hunch is that this is more of a "no really means no" situation, and Swatch is playing chicken with themselves as they race towards the cliff. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Corum has brought out three new Bubbles and as we take Halloween particularly seriously here in Salem, Massachusetts we'll be sharing them one a day. 

The watch world sorely misses Severin Wunderman, but when I see the Bubble and see that it continues to flourish, well I know that two of "Severin's children" - Mr. Hess and Mr. Ekangaki will smile and revel in a fond memory or three.  It is very few watch world entrepreneurs who have so positively touched as many of the people who worked for them as Mr. Wunderman did.  He was special, and the Bubble continues to be so.


So for Friday, October 28th here is the first of three new Bubbles -

The Pirate -

Courtesy of Corum

Here are the pertinents -

Movement

CO 082 - 

Automatic

Functions:  Hour, minute, second, date

Power reserve:  42 h

Frequency:  4 Hz, 28’800 vph

Jewels:  21

Dimension:  11 ½’’’

 

Case

Thickness:  18.50 mm

Water resistant:  100 meters / 10 ATM

Dial

Material:  Brass

Finish:  Black, Leaf-type, openworked, black varnish

 

Bracelet

Color:  Red

Material:  Rubber

Interhorn:  24/20 mm

 

 

Something Interesting from Holland

While down in New York City I got to see some interesting watches offered by smaller independent watch companies.  And one of them was Eza -

Now I need to be very clear that I had been on the move since 5:00 AM when I finally came face to face with the Co-founders -

But if I got the story right, Mr. van Golen and Mr. Trampe met as university students in their native Holland. One was wearing a Vostok Amphibia and the rest was history.

The Eza Sealander is a vintage inspired dive watch that really ticks all of the boxes for that watch fan or even non-fan who makes purchase decisions based on what they see and like rather than what brand name is stamped on the dial.
It is available in a black dial -

Courtesy of Eza Automatic

And a very striking blue dial -

Courtesy of Eza Automatic

But this is more than an "homage" effort.  The guys at Eza did not go cheap and cheerful, 'cause let's face it, there are plenty of Vostok Amphibia's out there already!  Perhaps the single greatest wish of those of us (yes, me included) who have owned Vostok, Poljot (insert other Soviet era watch name here) is that the quality of the watch might live up to the cool look.  And of course it never did!  Well, now for all you fellow former cold-warriors and true fans of form AND function, your wish has been granted.

And the packaging and attention to detail far surpasses what you find from so many other big boy brands. The watch is delivered in a beautiful leather roll which accommodates your Eza watch, the complimentary bonus NATO strap, and a strap changing tool.

That roll is placed in a beautiful black wooden box

And that box has not only the guarantee, but the running rate of YOUR individual Eza watch as recorded by the Dutch watch maker who assembled your individual Eza watch himself and adjusted and tested the movement in several different positions.

All of this for a very reasonable price -

€701.65 excl. VAT | €849.00 incl. VAT

Here are the pertinents -

Movement
Calibre ETA 2824 Automatic, Ligne 11-1/2’”, 25 jewels, 28.800bph, 38-40 hour power reserve, adjusted by Eza Watches to six positions.

Functions
Automatic & manual winding, Display by means of hands: hour, minute, second. Date calendar, Stop second device, Shock-absorber for balance staff.

Case
316L Stainless steel case with mixed brushed and high gloss finish. Case diameter 41.0mm, lug width 22.0mm, case thickness 13 mm.
High gloss 316L Stainless Steel Caseback with engraved logo.

Dial
Dial with high gloss indexes filled with C3 SuperLuminova™
Ceramic bezel insert with C3 SuperLuminova™

Crystal
Double domed anti-reflective, scratch resistant sapphire crystal.

Water resistance
Water resistant to 30 ATM, 300 meters.

Strap
Vintage leather and nato strap.

Ratings
Adjusted to six positions and tested.

The Marine Chronometer Manufacture

From Ulysse Nardin -

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

 Two different versions - blue or white lacquered dial.

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

Here are the pertinents -

References 

1183-122-3/43 
1183-122-3/40 

Movement 

caliber UN-118, dimension : 13 3⁄4 ’’
in-house designed movement
Escapement, patented DIAMonSIL
Oscillator: patented inertial balance wheel with Silicium hairspring 50 jewels 
 

Power-Reserve

approximately 60 h 

Winding 

self-winding 

Functions 

Chronometer COSC with power-reserve indicator at 12’oclock 
small direct seconds and round date window at 6 o’clock forward 
and backward date corrector 

Case

stainless steel

Dial
blue or white lacquered dial, with roman numerals 

 

Bezel

fluted bezel

Crown

screw down security crown, covered with rubber

Diameter

45 mm

Water-resistance 

200 m

Crystal

anti-reflective sapphire crystal

Case-back 

sapphire crystal

 

Strap 

rubber strap with titanium elements and folding buckle

 

 

 

 

Catching up with Horage

So last Saturday found me down in the big city to visit a few clients and see some new watches.  And one of the brands that made a bit impression was Horage.

 

Andi Felsl Head of Strategy

Change is what is sorely needed in the watch business, and change is what Horage is offering on a lot of levels beyond mere watch making.  But more on that later, we'll stick to the watches for now.  Most specifically the Array -

 

Horage

ARRAY K1 39mm SS-BB

This watch and it's three partners started life on Kickstarter, but if my information is correct, these will be shipping in the next few months.

 

ARRAY K1 39mm SS-WW

ARRAY K1 39mm SS-GG

 

 

A manufacture movement, hours, minutes, second, big date and power reserve indicator.

Stay tuned!

The Kmartization of the Watch Industry

It is, to me at least, a simple question -

If you, the watch brand, list the MSRP of a watch at $1,250, you create an idea that maybe, just maybe $1,250 is a fair price to pay for it.  When you, the brand (or possibly a disgruntled or simply inept) distributor then place your watch on Mass Drop or Touch of Modern at a deeply discounted price, say $449, it is likely that you will achieve 3 things:

1.  You will sell more watches in one fell-swoop
2.  Perhaps more people will be aware of your watches than were before
3.  You guarantee anger and frustration from previous customers and retail partners while also not-so-subtly setting an expectation among the general public that the watch should be priced at the $449 level as opposed to even $1,000

Now I want to be 100% transparent about a few things - I do work with brands and represent a handful of them.  I have delved into the idea of partnering with a discount group buy concept to introduce a new brand.  And in fairness, it does get the word out quickly, but it also sets an unrealistic expectation about pricing - which will become a realistic expectation in the eyes of the customer.  The REAL price of the watch will continue to reflect the percentage that you discounted the watch in partnership with the group buy site. 

Further - I do not see anything wrong with what Mass Drop and Touch of Modern are doing.  The grey market has proven that there is too much supply and not nearly enough demand at a certain price point.  So to a large extent I think it is a case of "physician heal thyself".

But as the guy you ask to help "spread the good word" about your watches, let me share some honest feedback - while you might move some watches quickly, make some money quickly, and get your watch in front of several thousands of extra people, you have also directly informed the market place that your watches were over-priced (even if they weren't).  And most importantly, you have succeeded in losing the trust of your previous customers and retail partners. And as we all know, trust is one of the most fragile things out there.  It takes years to gain, and seconds to lose.

And then Schmutz Hopped into my Life

All too often we get certain ideas driven into our heads. A watch has to be all business or all whimsy, but never anything in between.  But as it happens, there are some folks offering something in a timeless tank style design.

Schmutz offers something different.  A tank style watch that sports (in some instances) an actual hand-painted dial, in others the dial is a print based on an original painting.  

The watches are a good size as you can see by Mr. Bunny's not insignificant presence on my wrist.

There are other ready-made dial options, and you can even commission a custom dial - an option I am currently weighing ; )

And best of all, these are affordable - in the $250 - $300 range for the "ready made" versions.

And more than the wonderful prints, you get to customize your watch even further in terms of the case finish, the strap, etc.

Here is an example of what your watch could be composed of:

Dial by Tiana Birrell -

Courtesy of Schmutz Watches

You can then choose between a stainless or black PVD case -

Courtesy of Schmutz Watches

Courtesy of Schmutz Watches

And also a choice of straps -

Courtesy of Schmutz Watches

Courtesy of Schmutz Watches

Courtesy of Schmutz Watches

Courtesy of Schmutz

Courtesy of Schmutz

The packaging is nice and simple, not excessive.

Here are the basics -

• Swiss Quartz Movement (Ronda Caliber 762)
• Choice of premium custom strap
• Choice of stainless steel / Black PVD case
• Water Resistant 5 ATM
• Original Design by Tiana Birrell

Check them out at:

http://schmutzwatches.com

The Gavox Aurora - Why I Bought it

When you write a watch blog, even one that caters to a small readership such as Tempus Fugit, you get to test drive a lot of watches. And when you stop worrying about satisfying advertisers and stroking egos, you get to be honest.  This past spring I got to review the Gavox Aurora and to say that it made an impression on me would be a great understatement.

As I have said more than once, I am not a person driven by gadgets or the latest technical whimsy. I suspect whatever thirst for knowledge of the horological minutia of micro mechanics I might have once had got beaten out of me during my time at DOXA listening to armchair blowhards wax on about their superior knowledge (yes, that is sarcasm) of the fine points of the ETA 2824-2, or other sublime topics.

So the question is, what made such an impression on me?  Simple Complexity.  Yes, the Gavox Aurora has some pretty cool and sophisticated functionality, but all of the functions can be controlled even by a brain as "un nimble" as my own. 

But the other thing I really liked about about the Aurora was that it didn't just roll on its back like a faithful puppy waiting for you to rub its tummy.  No, if you wanted to check out or use the functions, you actually had to engage your brain, and the watch, by way of the crown/central pusher.  It makes the entire experience a bit more personalized, a WHOLE LOT MORE interactive.  It makes a complicated watch fun, without being an exercise in "haute behavior".  

So yes, this watch made a big impression on me, and hence I found myself in New York, cash in hand, to pick up my own and visit with Mr. Happe.

To a large extent, a watch is a watch is a watch.  And maybe it is just where I am emotionally, spiritually and intellectually in this world of watch fanatics of which I am a  member, but I want more than the latest innovation.  I want something that registers on a human, an emotional scale.

Something that provides a warm and fuzzy feeling.  And that is what the Aurora provides me.

When you find that special watch, well it is a love affair of sorts that you indulge in form the beginning of the day, until the sun sets.

So as the kitchen calls and I go to rattle a few pans to make dinner, remember that watches should be fun, as well as functional. The two are not mutually exclusive! So now I've got mine, and I am a happy guy!

I hope you find yours, whatever it is, or whoever makes it.

That's all for now - enjoy your watches!