The Shit That Killed Elvis 10 / 12

Courtesy of Hager

Now before you even say it, yes, these bear more than a passing resemblance to Tudor Subs (circa 90s), or even a hybrid of a Rolex Sub and a Black Bay.  But I think that what those comments do not take into account is the various different little aspects of them.  Note the RED 20 on the bezel above, for example.

Hager continues to make some really cool watches at very accessible price points.  And the Aquamariner continues that winning streak.  Ollech & Wajs seems to have petered out, so thankfully there is still Hager to offer the consumer something desirable at a competitive price point.

Courtesy of Hager

This was originally available in three flavors - Black, Blue, and Red (bezel), but the blue has sold out, and the black and the red appear to only have a handful left.  And having spent some time watching the interactions at a recent collectors event in Virginia, I can tell you that these watches were desired, appreciated, purchased and are certainly being worn.

Here are the pertinents -

Movement

---

Caliber:  Miyota 8215 automatic
Self-winding mechanical movement with metal movement holder
Functions: Quick correction of day and date, hours, minutes and seconds date display at 3 o'Clock
Total Diameter: 11.5 linge (25.6mm)
Height: 5.67mm
Jewels: 21 Jewels
Power Reserve: 42 Hours
Beat Rate: 3Hz/21'600 vibrations per hour/ Novodiac Shock Absorber
Accuracy: -20/+40 seconds per day

Technical Specifications

---

Material: 316L Marine grade stainless steel, polished and satin finished
Diameter: 41mm without crown
Height: 12.75 with solid back
Length: 50mm lug to lug
Lug Width: 22mm
Finish: Brushed with polished sides and beveled edges and satin finish
Water Resistance: Waterproof to 300 m (1000 ft)
Case Back: Solid steel screwed
Crystal: Domed, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment inside

Dial:  Applied luminous indexes

Bezel: Unidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated bezel with disc in matte midnight blue, matte black or matte burgundy anodized aluminum with engraved makers
Hands: Mercedes hands lumed with blue Superluminova
Crown: Screw-down winding crown, with HAGER logo and midnight blue, black or burgundy anodized aluminum winding crown tube
Bracelet: Stainless Steel with brushed screw links (instead of pins) and two button clasp and two button slidelock extension system (no need for half links)

Happy New Year

Well, we've covered another year here at Tempus Fugit and it is safe to say that the watch industry is going to be glad to see the back of 2016 -

So to 2016 - fuck off! 

And here's to a wonderful, exciting, profitable, stable, sane and productive 2017.  May we all learn from everything that went wrong and not repeat it, and may we build on the things that went right and continue to improve where we can.

I look forward to continuing the conversation!

The Shit That Killed Elvis 9 / 12

Courtesy of Fiona Kruger Timepieces

Every now and then you will encounter something that knocks you on your ass... in a good way!  And for me that was my experience when I encountered the watches designed by Fiona Kruger, and sold by her brand Fiona Kruger Timepieces.

Now I don't know that I could necessarily carry this one off myself, but it is pretty fab.  Everyone and their dog is making a watch with a skull or skeleton on the dial, but not everyone is making a watch whose case is designed around the shape of a skull.  That, as they say, is quite the other thing.

This one is the Celebration Skull.  A wonderful combination of just about every colorful aspect you could imagine.  It is not for everyone, and that's okay.  Some things should be unique, should be special, should not be on every wrist.

Here are the pertinents -

Case material & colour
Stainless Steel 316N with specifically designed back opening

Case size
57.4 x 41.3 mm (length x width), 10.9mm thick

Glass
Sapphire (front and back)

Colour of dial & style
3 layered dial in stainless steel 316N with hand-painted décor in in 7 specially
selected coloured lacquers and superluminova + new date feature
Layer 1: Hand-polished stainless steel with black PVD coating, hand painted lacquer and superluminova décor
Layer 2: Shotblasted stainless steel with Rhodium treatment, hand-painted lacquer and superluminova décor
Layer 3: Hand-finished with Circular graining (perlage) with Rhodium treatment, hand-painted lacquer and superluminova décor

Hands
Blued Steel

Movement
Mechanical Automatic movement, TT738 with skeletonised and custom- black PVD coated bridges, customised oscillating mass with skeletonisation, engraving and hand-painting, and custom-made date wheel

Buckle
Steel pin buckle

Bracelets
Hand-stitched calf leather

The Shit That Killed Elvis 8 / 12

Courtesy of Favre-Leuba

If Favre-Leuba were a song, it would definitely be Country/Western.  A brand fraught with more ups and downs than a rickety 1970's roller-coaster, they have finally produced a watch that the public is likely going to love.  This is the Raider Harpoon.

And here are the pertinents -

MOVEMENT

Automatic, patented mechanism for hour display

FUNCTIONS

Time display by minute hand and hour indicator, running seconds disk at the center for function control, helium valve

CASE

Stainless steel
Unidirectional rotating bezel made of anodized aluminum; screw-in crown; sapphire crystal with antireflection coating on both sides; screwed and aligned case back; diameter 46 mm, height 16.5 mm, water-resistant up to 50 bar/500 m

DIAL

Appliquéd index marks; luminous (blue emission) index marks and hour indicator, minute and second hands, markings under seconds disk

I Supported Tempus Fugit, And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt!

Okay, we're going to try something just a little bit different here!  I do NOT want to open a store.  I do NOT want to sell Tempus Fugit branded merchandise!  But in the past people have asked:

"Why don't you sell watch stuff, etc. like the other blogs?"

Well, by now you've probably realized that Tempus Fugit is not like the other blogs.

So here's the deal, for the next 3 weeks you can order your very own, super-nifty Tempus Fugit T-shirt. 

This is a rendering, but you should have the idea.  If we sell enough for the minimum (I believe 10), then you will receive your shirt approximately 10 days after the last day of the promotion.  If we do not sell enough shirts (man that would suck!), all orders will be refunded directly by Booster.
IMPORTANT - all purchases are transacted with BOOSTER - not Tempus Fugit. 

Also, although this is a fundraising site, Tempus Fugit although not very profitable, is NOT a non-profit.  All funds generated will be reported as income ; )

I had thought about pre-ordering shirts and selling them, but this way you can order YOUR SIZE and not be dependent upon me to play clothing salesman ; )

The price is $20 plus a modest shipping fee.  If this does well, we might try a different design every 3 months or so.

If you are interested, here is a link -

Buy A T-Shirt And Support Tempus Fugit!

The Shit That Killed Elvis 7 / 12

GoS has always fascinated me.  And the with the Sarek they have managed to surpass themselves -

Courtesy of GoS

The Sarek's dial is the largest Damascus steel dial that GoS has made up to this point.  The case style is decidedly different from previous offerings, and for my money marks a positive evolution.

Courtesy of GoS

 The movement is Soprod's A10 with Gos's triskele rotor -

Courtesy of GoS

Here are the pertinents -

Case: 
43.0mmx10.5mm (5ATM) Stainless steel

Lug width: 
22mm

Glass: 
Domed sapphire glass with double sided AR coating, extra hard on outside

Movement: 
Soprod A10 (top specification version) with GoS triskele rotor, dark satinized with polished bevels

Dial: 
164 layered steel Damascus steel with a Pool pattern. Tempered coloring of dial.

Hands: 
GoS spear shape in high gloss polished Rhodinated finish

Crown: 
GoS design in highgloss polished with satinized grooves. 7mm in diameter and with double gaskets.

Case finishing: 
Stainless steel worked and finished with inspiration from viking bracelets.
 
Strap: 
Handcrafted Moose leather fitted with stainless steel GoS buckle.

The Elite Moonphase

From Zenith -

Courtesy of Zenith

As 2016 is not yet over, I did not want to risk putting a jinx on the remaining members of the Rolling Stones, so thought I'd talk about this one instead ; )

In all seriousness, the Rolling Stones El Primero is to fine watch making as Thomas Kinkade is to fine art.  But despite a deeply misguided PR / Marketing department's best (or worst) efforts, Zentih still makes some JAW-DROPPING watches.  And for my money, this is one of them.

Hours, minutes, small off-set seconds, large date and a moonphase.  All housed in a case that measures 40 mm in diameter and is of rose gold, with a sapphire crystal display case back.

This one is right in my wheelhouse.

It might not be super-sexy, but then again, have you looked at Ronnie Wood lately?

The Shit That Killed Elvis 6 / 12

Courtesy of Ressence

Once again, I was at the end of the Conga Line on this one, but Ressence's Type 5 was one of the coolest watches that I personally experienced this year.  Blancpain, Rolex and others will continue to churn out very good, very solid dive watches.  But when it comes to unique and innovative ways to construct a watch, Ressence continues to set the bar very high.

Here are the pertinents -

Functions

• Hours
• Minutes
• Runner (90 Seconds)
• Oil Temperature

Movement

• Patented ROCS 5 - Ressence Orbital Convex System - module driven by the minute axle of a customised 2824/2 base calibre         
• Caseback winding and time setting with RCLS – Ressence Compression Lock System
• Magnetic Transmission
• Compensating Bellow System
• Self-winding
• 36 hours power reserve
• 28,800 vibrations per hour
• 41 jewels
• 25 gears

Dial

• Convex Grade 5 Titanium dial (125mm radius) with three eccentric biaxial satellites inclined at 3° (hours) and 4.75° (thermal gauge and runner)
• Engraved indications filled with blue and green Superluminova

Case

• Grade 5 Titanium 
• Two separate sealed chambers with the upper one filled with 37.5 ml of oil
• Domed sapphire crystals top and bottom with both sides anti-reflective coating
• Uni-directional bezel
• 46mm (diameter) x 15.5mm (thickness)
• 10 ATM water-resistance

Buckle & Strap

• Ardillon Buckle
• Black Barenia leather (24/22mm) + Black Nylon fabric (24mm)

www.watchcarrion.com

As the industry continues to seek the bottom, the bottom continues to become more and more elusive.  And where there is fetid product, there will be a need to get rid of it.  And as much as I would like to say it's evil dealers, shifty distributors trans-shipping, etc. the simple truth is a lot of brands got themselves into this mess. 

And I am now more and more convinced that watch brands can dig themselves out of this mess, but it will require the brands to let go of a few of their long-held beliefs.  And more importantly, it will require them to behave a little less hypocritically. 

So let's break it down!

1.  Brands need to own up to the fact that in many cases they are directly working with the grey, and light-grey market.  Go to BaselWorld and you will see the grey marketeers sitting in the same waiting lounge as the buyers from Shreve, sipping the same coffee, and meeting the same sales manager (and often the CEO)!  Brands have always utilized the grey market as a buffer to help make production and export estimates more elastic. 

So first things first, stop directly feeding the grey market. 

But along with that, stop feeding the light-grey market.  Touch of Modern and Mass Drop seem innocuous enough, but they are proving to be not even a viable short-term option.  When I can find a current model for LESS THAN HALF of the MSRP, why in God's name would I buy from an authorized retailer?  And it is important to understand that as more and more of the water is drained from the pool, the brand's reputation and perceived value continue to lower as well.  Because make no mistake, once Joma Shop, Ashford and Overstock.com are being undercut on price, they are going to start lowering their prices as well.  And then it becomes a sprint to the bottom.  The lower the price goes, the lower the perceived value.  Think I'm full of it?  Look at JEANRICHARD, a long time participant in the grey market.

JEANRICHARD, if not dead, might as well be.  At this point it has become horological carrion.  And the reason is simple, they could not sit tight, they could not focus on selling what they had, they were always convinced that the NEXT THING would solve the problem.  The greatest tragedy in all of this is that there are a lot of people out there who liked the watches and would have spent REASONABLE amounts on their watches.  But like so many other brands, the shot-callers had clearly consumed too much of their own bath water.  And it didn't have to be that way.  Millions spent on a re-boot. Fresh talent brought in.  A modular system (Terrascope, Aquascope and Aeroscope) that would standardize manufacturing and allow the brand to have a clear identity.  But the usual villains emerged as they had done at JEANRICHARD in the past.  We need at least 30 different dial options!  Partnerships!  And some of those partnerships were beyond ill-advised.  A tightrope walker was, in hindsight, an apt analogy for a poorly considered plan that many of us were convinced was the product of a hard night of drinking.  And then betting the farm on Arsenal pretty much put the final cannonball in the good ship JEANRICHARD's main sail.  The new and wonderful JEANRICHARD managed to come apart in the span of 18 months.  From hero, to sub-zero.  You can now get some amazing bargains, but it starts to have the feeling of buying a Trabant or a Yugo.  Good for kitsch value, but not much more. 

And it appears that JEANRICHARD is going to have plenty of company in the not-too-distant future.


2.  Brands MUST have a better understanding of what realistic sales volumes are, and more importantly must address and accept what realistic pricing structures are.  Budgets will always be predicated on sales.  That is just natural.  But this then means that instead of fantasizing about bonuses, promotions and red carpet events, you need to make honest, realistic forecasts.  It is better to not have enough product and create desire than to flood the market with too much.  It is better to make a modest profit than to lose millions. 

3.  And this is the big one - watch brands must make the decision to clearly identify themselves as either a perishable good (i.e. like fashion brands) or a durable good (like say, Rolex). Fashion created the concept of the outlet store or mall.  And Movado has embraced this idea.  It might be time for other watch brands to adopt the same idea.  Why should you dump millions of dollars in the grey market and see the value of your brand swirl around the toilet bowl of public perception for the benefit of .30 on the dollar when you could sell it yourself through your own outlet for .75?  Guess what?  You are STILL MAKING MORE than if you sold through the normal (non grey market) channels!

If you are going to view your product as the fashion industry does, then create your own outlet stores to manage oversupply.  Slowly choke the grey market dead.  You will lose a little bit of prestige in the short term, but nothing like the prestige you are currently losing while making even less money.

Or if you are making a durable good, treat it like one.  Adjust your budgets and your manufacturing accordingly.  Make fewer watches, be patient, and stop changing the product line every year or two.  Good things take time.  Better to invest time than to waste money, brand value, employees and the very brand itself.  Just ask JEANRICHARD.

The Shit That Killed Elvis 5 / 12

Courtesy of Eza

Sometimes you really don't know what you are going to find, and that is what brings us to The Shit That Killed Elvis 5 / 12.

Eza is really two young men who became enamored with a vintage Soviet watch.  But as most of us know who have owned a watch from the CCCP will relate, they look bitchin' but they are not exactly precise time keepers.

And based on that illogical passion (which is something encouraged here at Tempus Fugit), they created their own interpretation of their dream watch.  And it is a winner!

I got to try it on, and it is a wonderful time machine.  It certainly draws some solid inspiration from an horological relic of Soviet inefficiency, but works like a dream.

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 Tourer

 From Boston & Stewill -

 

 

 

Courtesy of Boston & Stewill

 This is a new release that brings a mechanical offering to the Boston & Stewill collection.

The Tourer presents a very legible dial with a wee design twist at 6 o'clock.  The shape of the second hand scale is actually arched like, well, an arched doorway.  An interesting twist that adds that little touch of differentiation.

Courtesy of Boston & Stewill

Available with either a black or white dial, the Tourer will be offered for -

£325 ($410) 

Here are the pertinents, straight from Boston & Stewill -

·         42mm Diameter, 11.7mm thick, 22mm Lug to Lug

·         316L Stainless Steel Case

·         ETA 2895-2 Movement

·         Domed Sapphire Glass

·         Open Caseback with Mineral Glass

·         Engraved Rotor

·         Calf Leather Strap with Stainless Steel Deployment buckle

·         Water Resistant to 5ATM

The Shit That Killed Elvis 4 / 12

So I'll start off right away and clearly state that Bell & Ross does support Tempus Fugit.  And moreover, I am fairly certain that this particular watch "dropped" a while back.  But it makes it this year because, frankly, this is the year I personally discovered it.

Courtesy of Bell & Ross

A watch, is a watch, is a watch.  I get a fair number of press releases in my in box.  Brands mighty and small in equal measures.  And while some of my colleagues will dip into their horologic thesaurus to drip honey on the virtual page, I don't generally get over-enthused about yet another celebrity partnership, re-boot or Brand X telling me something is awesome because their media puppeteer/CEO puts on a pair of lederhosen, gets on the stage to spin the wheels of steel and mugs for the camera.  More succinctly, you can put a cat in the oven, but that doesn't make it a biscuit.

So it really comes down to what moves you personally.  Some things that I suspect, by now, are  known about me: I enjoy driving the speed limit (in my sensible 4-door sedan), I am smart enough to know that energy drinks will not enable me to "shred" the half-pipe (although drinking them could lead to tooth decay, an accelerated heart rate, and the desire to use the word epic as an adjective), and my idea of death defying is a nice bowl of shredded wheat topped with (drum roll please) coconut!  So I am not, by definition, a "bad-ass".  But I am a romantic.  And romance, at least by my definition, is not something tangible.  It is not something that is easily defined by focus groups,  quantified by the number of Instagram followers, or Facebook likes.  It is either there, or it isn't.  It is, in my estimation, a visceral reaction.

visceral

adjective 

vis·cer·al \ˈvi-sə-rəl, ˈvis-rəl\

Definition of visceral

1. 1 :  felt in or as if in the internal organs of the body :  deep visceral conviction>

2 :  not intellectual :  instinctive, unreasoning <visceral drives>

3 :  dealing with crude or elemental emotions :  earthy visceral novel>

So while I might not have been the demographic envisaged when this watch came to be, it has grabbed me.  It takes me back to my preteen years watching Speed Racer -

 

Shameless borrowed from the world-wide infoweb

A watch, is a watch, is a watch...

Unless it moves you.

Here are the pertinents -

 

BR 03 - 92 AEROGT

Limited Edition of 500 pieces.
Movement: 

calibre BR-CAL.318. Skeleton automatic mechanical.
Functions: 

hours, minutes and seconds.
Case: 

42 mm in diameter. Satin-polished steel.
Sapphire case-back with anti-reflective coating.
Dial: 

skeleton. Metal appliqué indices. Metal skeleton Superluminova-filled hour and minute hands.
Crystal: 

sapphire with anti-reflective coating.
Water resistance: 

100 metres.
Straps: 

black calfskin stitched with red piping and ultra-resistant black synthetic fabric.
Buckle: 

pin. Satin-polished steel.

The Shit That Killed Elvis 3 / 12

Okay, this one was not a watch I expected to like, let alone want.  You know that rugged, good looking guy who spends his days making millions in arbitrage and his weekends undertaking deeds of daring-do and death defiance?  I ain't that guy.  I am beginning to think more and more that the reason why I can't get an appointment at the Breitling booth is not journalism based, but because I am probably considered too much of a namby-pamby to be among their watches ; )

Well, this one impressed me so much I saved my soda bottles for their deposits and purchased one of my own.  It is one of those watches that are hard to logically explain - it is quartz!  Everyone knows that quartz is dumb, right? 

This is a watch that defies logic on every level and anyone who spends even a small amount of time with it will want one of their own.  I reviewed Michael Happe's personal watch and I now know what it is like to be seduced by a drug dealer - "the first one is free kid, tell all your friends"!

This was my original review -

http://www.tempusfugit.watch/2016/04/practical-useful-and-shit-that-killed.html

And this was the follow-up piece after I had bought my own -


http://www.tempusfugit.watch/2016/10/the-gavox-aurora-why-i-bought-it.html

Hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph, second time zone, timer, moonphase, day, date and month. 

Here are the pertinents -

Technical Specifications :

• Measurements  Ø 43 x 50.5 x 12 mm
• Measure between lugs 22mm
• Autonomy between 4 to 7 years depending on mode usage
• Analog watch with 4 hands (1 for the mode, 3 for the information).
• Day and night visibility thanks to luminous hands and markings. Swiss Superluminova DGW9.
• UTC time reference, and local time by increments of 15 minutes.
• Countdown from up to 31 hours, with visual alarm.
• Mission chronograph to 31 hours, with split and flyback features.
• Perpetual calendar with simultaneous indication of date, day, month and leap year.
• Moon phase.
• Surgical 316L stainless steel, highly impervious to salt and sweat.
• Scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflection coating.
• Water-resistance to pressure of 10 ATM (333 ft).

Stick a Fork in Them

They're done. 

If there was any lingering doubts as to the potential viability of Vulcain, allow me to acquaint you with the latest product dump going on over at Touch of Modern -

Vulcain at Touch of Modern

Now up until about a year ago, our best barometer for how a brand was really doing was to check resale prices for previously owned models, speak with retail stores to see what was selling and what was not.  Moreover, you could see how much product was floating around the grey market.  And what we have started to learn this past year was that all of those surveys were probably giving us skewed data, owing to the great masses of watches being swept under antique carpets in Hong Kong, or buried in various domestic subsidiary office vaults.

Vulcain has proven that you can throw money at a problem and that won't fix it.  Moreover, their various US distributors from 2011 until now have proven that point in an even more profound manner.  The US distributors proudly crowing how amazing business was,  and then a mysterious amount of Vulcain watches showing up on an Ebay store based in NYC selling brand new Vulcain models at very steep discounts.

Touch of Modern and Mass Drop have actually become very valuable tools for forecasting how a brand is REALLY doing.  Because to some extent it is nearly impossible to battle the grey market.  It is like a multi-headed hydra, chop off a head and another takes its place.  But when you see the prices offered on some brands at Touch of Modern and Mass Drop, it becomes clear that in several of these instances, it is the brands themselves who are supplying the product to these outlets.  How else do you explain discounts GREATER THAN 50%?  No retailer, unless they are going out of business, is going to let stock go for less than what they paid for it.  And in fact, most distributors will dump it themselves on Ebay.  But when brands are doing deals directly with these outlets, it is a strong indication that they are running out of options, and drowning in their own stock.  And with 12 months and 4 days left to export all of the current models currently existing within the Swiss borders before the new Swissness restricts what can be exported as Swiss Made?  Well, get on your Speedos and grab some swim fins, because a flood of product is coming.

The Shit That Killed Elvis 2 / 12

I clearly do not know everything about everything.  I stumbled upon Horage back in September, and did not lay eyes or hands on one until a last minute visit to New York City in October.  And that is where I got to check out this little bijoux in person -

Courtesy of Horage

This is the ARRAY K1 39mm SS-WB

This is not a watch that I can easily quantify in terms of the usual criteria.  It is a bit of an horological outlier.  Not a big, huge name.  No big name ambassadors or partners.  But that would be obvious, and Horage is not in the business of being obvious.

Let's consider, this is a small-scale manufacture movement, offering something unique and special owing to the small numbers being made.  And yes, that is definitely cool.  But it goes deeper than that for me, because this was an emotional attraction.  I think the same way that I don't just head for the impressionists hall at the museum, I like to see some imagination.  And that is what grabbed me.  Yes, a classic shaped case, hours minutes and seconds, big date and with a power reserve.  And a lot of watch companies offer that as well.  But very few offer it in a transparent dial, allowing you to interact directly with the various functions of the watch.  A watch that satisfies the horological and whimsical sides of my personality at the same time ; )

And all of this for a very, very reasonable price - $2,300.  

Here are the pertinents -

DETAILED FEATURES

Case: 316L , stainless steel
Diameter: 39mm
Movement: K1 automatic 60h power reserve
Functions: 3 hands , Big date , Power reserve indication
Rotor: Tungsten laser Matterhorn
Dial: applied index , luminous
Hands: diamond cut with luminous
Crystal: domed sapphire
Case Back: sapphire crystal
Crown: Stainless steel
Strap: Calf leather black , NATO strap
Buckle: Stainless , U-flex , Single fold
Water resistance: 100m
Sex: Unisex

 

The Shit that Killed Elvis - 1 / 12

While the other more well-heeled blogs, online magazines and print outlets gather their best of the year reviews, I figured I put my two cents in for what actually moved me this year.  I want to be really clear on that point - to make my list it is not about advertising money, wining and dining me, or being what I just happened to remember from a press release.  There has to be an actual emotional connection that made the watch stand out.  These are the 12 watches that spoke to me -

1/12 -

The Tudor Heritage Black Bay 36 mm -

Courtesy of Tudor

For all the hype and fervor about the larger Black Bay models (i.e. the little Submariner for the rest of us), it was the Black Bay 36 mm that caught my attention.  No, it does not have a manufacture movement, and it is decidedly smaller.  But sometimes it is not the obvious child that draws your attention.

Rolex does damn near everything right.  If the folks at Rolex told us it was a good idea to eat broccoli while standing on our heads, we would probably do it.  But the one thing that they did which I personally wasn't 100% on board with was to change the dimensions of the Explorer.  The Explorer was the very definition of wrist iconography.  When they increased the diameter, they lost me somewhat.  Now to be clear, the new Explorer is nice, but when it got bigger, it lost some of its appeal to me.

But this past March, Tudor introduced the Black Bay 36.  Unlike the Explorer it utilizes indices, dots and an arrow.  It is not massive, but as you can see, per the Goldilocks school of watch sizing -

 
You want this watch.  I know that I do!  Here are the pertinents per Tudor  -

• case
  Steel, 36 mm, polished and satin finish
• bezel
  Smooth steel bezel, polished finish
• movement
  Self-winding mechanical movement, TUDOR calibre 2824
• power reserve
  Approximately 38 hours
• winding crown
  Screw-down steel winding crown adorned with an engraved TUDOR rose in relief, with black anodised aluminium tube

• dial
  Black
• crystal
  Flat sapphire crystal
• waterproofness
  Waterproof to 150 m (500 ft)
• bracelet
  Steel bracelet or aged leather strap with folding clasp and safety catch

A Chance Meeting with an Old Friend

As I have made clear before, I do work with a few watch brands as a consultant, etc. and in some instances a little more directly and more involved - such as my relationship with Auguste Reymond (I am responsible for Auguste Reymond in North America).  Owing to this, you will note that you do not see any posts about Auguste Reymond on Tempus Fugit. 

But a few weeks back while wandering around Cambridge I bumped into a watch that although related to Auguste Reymond, I felt it was a distant enough relationship that I could write about it here.

But first some background.  As many readers know I have lived in  a lot of places, with my longest adult residence being in San Francisco and Santa Barbara California.  Many also know that I grew up in a tiny town in Ohio (Oberlin), that I did my undergraduate work at the University of Oregon (go Ducks!), and that I lived and worked in Japan, Portugal, Scotland and Finland. But what many don't know is that right after finishing my BA at Oregon, I accepted a job in Cambridge, MA and lived and worked for six months there.  And so it felt a little like "bringing it all back home" when a few weeks back I was wandering around my old work neighborhood - Harvard Square.  And what should I find in the vintage case at a watch store?

A beautiful, bi-compax gold chronograph.  And the name on the dial is from Auguste Reymond's sister brand ARSA.  Now back in the day, ARSA was a brand in its own right.  But these days they are known by their our customers primarily for the braille watches that they produce. 

And for those of you who have not met the owner/CEO of Auguste Reymond, Lorenz Aebischer, I will say that I was touched when he spoke about the production and sales of not only the braille watches, but in addition the ones made for people with failing eyesight.  He described it to me as a pleasant responsibility.  One that does not necessarily make a ton of money, but one that provides a needed solution for a lot of people.

And suffice it to say, it gives me a lot of pride to be involved as well.

So that's all you'll hear about Auguste Reymond or ARSA here at Tempus Fugit.  Rules are rules ; )

Enjoy your watches, and keep an eye out for long lost friends ; )

Happy Holidays!

As the year draws to an end I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you for your continued participation and support with this little blog!

I look forward to continuing the conversation in 2017, and for now wish you a safe, healthy, and memorable holiday season.

Be well -

Henki

A Christmas Story - No Really!

I have gone on record several times saying that a Patek Philippe is not something you generally find under the Christmas tree.  In fact, I tend to say that about a lot of watches and frankly, if I am being honest, I don't know that I always feel a watch priced over a few hundred dollars is a "realistic" or reasonable Christmas gift.  This is not based on sales data, etc., it is more of a personal feeling that Christmas is, by and large, for sweaters, ties, maybe a nice book on watches... but as Christmas invariably involves multiple gifts, I often question how realistic it is for Mom and Dad or doting spouse to spring for a $3,000 (or more) watch as part of the standard yuletide haul.  And thus I find the ads advising us that Christmas is special and that if we really, really loved someone we would go into credit card debt to prove it, to be at best disingenuous.

But then again, there are events, occasions, milestones that just happen to coincide with Christmas and that (given a reasonable adherence to rational spending) can make for an exception to my "Grinch like" philosophy.

Back in 2000, I was living and working in Finland.  I was lured back to the US after 8 years abroad to manage a group of English as a Second Language schools with the corporate office based in San Francisco.  From the moment I arrived it was a race run at the pace of a sprint, requiring the endurance of a never-ending marathon.  Colleagues openly plotted against each other, mischief and ill will abounded, and my bosses, the two owners encouraged this behavior with unspoken approval for the combatants, and admiration for the most Machiavellian.   For them it was like the Hunger Games - fun to watch young, ambitious boys and girls fight it out and to see how far someone would go to get to the top of the pile to bask in the warmth of their approval.

I lasted a whole 2 years before being informed that my services were no longer needed, and my colleagues informed that I had "left to pursue new opportunities".  And then the internet bubble crashed, and there were no opportunities (new or otherwise) to pursue.  I struggled for 3 months to find any sort of job.  Former competitors called me in for job interviews only to spend the time picking my brain for intel on my former company.   There was no job, just a grand bit of Kabuki Theater for the Desperate.

And then by chance I stumbled into a Starbucks for a soul reviving cup of coffee, and nearly tripped over the table where a recruiting fair was going on.  I was asked to sit down, and four weeks and two interviews later I began working as a Starbucks Manager in Training.  That was July 1, 2002.  5 months later I was given the keys to my own store, a fairly significant raise, and was working with a pretty diverse, dedicated group of people.  

And that Christmas, this was under the tree -

Wendy had seen me admiring it for many weeks, and knew that I had made a modest deposit on it.  And unbeknownst to me, she had been in cahoots with Francis Z. of Seregin's to hide it from me, with Francis spinning an elaborate yarn of how sorry he was, but that the owner hadn't realized that I had made a deposit on it and sold it just the day before!  Francis took some irritation from me (which when the whole story was revealed made me feel pretty sheepish), and the day after Christmas when I came in to thank him for his part, he smiled, shook my hand, and told me to wear it in good health.

On the card that came with it, Wendy told me how proud she was of me, how I had been down but hadn't given up, and that I should wear this and always remember what is possible.

And now 14 years later, I look at the watch on my wrist and know she is right.

Do We Really Need Crocodile Straps?

I want to start out here by saying clearly that the intention of this post IS NOT to bash brands that use crocodile straps.  Moreover, it is not to bash people who may or may not have straps made of crocodile.  What's done is done,  and I don't think anyone ever responds well to scolding.

The purpose of this post is to raise what I think is a clear and simple ethical question - do we really need to use crocodile skin for watch straps and accessories any longer?  We have a lot of options these days.  And I further want to clarify that I am not insisting on vegan, etc., but yet another video has emerged making reference to yet another big group (LVMH) and what is, I will be plain here, the barbaric mistreatment of crocodiles in the harvesting of their skins.

NOW WARNING - this PETA YouTube video is very, very graphic, very upsetting to look at, and I do NOT want to needlessly upset ANYONE.  But, I also think that it is important that we honestly consider what is really involved in getting a Crocodile skin watch strap (among other things).




So I would politely ask brands to consider - is this something really necessary for the future?  Again, I am not here to bash, to shame, to chide or try to make anyone look or feel bad.  There is absolutely no point to this.  And I am not trying to push my morals on anyone else.  But - maybe as a society, we can recognize that it doesn't have to be this way?

Jean-Claude Biver no doubt has a James Henderson / Tempus Fugit Voodoo doll, needles and pins at the ready to jam into it, but I give him a LOT OF CREDIT in a lot of what he did with Hublot - rubber straps, etc.  Luxury DOES NOT have to equal cruelty or suffering.  And maybe we should all consider taking a page out of his book and consider what we can do if we think outside of the watch box.

What to Wear in the Race of Truth

A connected watch that really connects to your cycling!

Courtesy of Moskito

As regular readers will know, I am more than a wee-bit interested in cycling.  And on more than one occasion I have been, well, frustrated by the options available to me when it comes to watches.  Well, I suspect that is about to change!

I like my bike computer, and I like watches.  And I will confess that I have been curious about a few offerings from the connected/smart watch arena but had yet to find something that would do what I was looking for.  Essentially give me speed, distance, ride time, etc., available on my wrist.

Well, my wish is apparently Moskito's command!  They have launched a Kickstarter campaign that will hopefully bring this watch to market -

Moskito Kickstarter


I think that the video tells the story much better than I can, so here it is -

I am really excited to see this development.  And I suspect even Mr. Anquetil himself would have appreciated it!  Granted, he was known as Monsieur Chrono, but he of all people would have really enjoyed this.

Shamelessly borrowed from the world-wide infoweb

So if you are even a little bit interested in cycling, you may wish to check this out!  The Kickstarter project is underway now, and this is your opportunity to get in on this watch at the introductory price.

Enjoy your watches - and your cycling!

The Forecast Calls for Pain

Courtesy of the FH

Pay no attention to the numbers on the graph, everything is fine!

Well, in fairness, according to the folks at the FH, things in some sectors are getting better.  But here in the U S of A?  Per the FH -

On the other hand, the United States recorded one of its worst results of the year after March. 

Maybe, just maybe, it is time to consider that everything that used to work in the past is not working any longer.  Close some retail doors, hold back on stock, set some realistic expectations...

Ironically enough, there are many out there (me included) who do believe that the US is going to emerge in the coming months as one of the leaders and most important markets.  But for that to happen, it might be time to consider some new, or yet unrecognized talent to lead the US efforts for some of the brands that have been flailing.  There is a great deal of talent already in the industry, people who do fantastic work on a daily basis who should be given their opportunity.  Brands are missing out on a fantastic opportunity to not only save their companies, but identify and promote some top notch talent who will help secure not only their survival now, but their long-term success and growth for the years to come.

Or, they can keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome.

So we'll close with Moneyball again, but this time from the movie rather than the book.  It closely echoes my feeling of what is fundamentally wrong with the decision making paradigm of the watch industry.  The absolute terror of making a mistake and looking foolish causes brand leaders to select people who fit a stereotype (white, male and frequently Swiss or French) to run their North American branches, know sweet FA about the country, the culture, oftentimes even the language, and then scratch their heads wondering why things didn't work out -

Peter Brand: People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and mathematics cut straight through that. Billy, of the 20,000 notable players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team of twenty-five people that we can afford, because everyone else in baseball undervalues them.

The Bubble 47 Flying Tourbillon

From Corum -

Courtesy of Corum

This is a one of a kind piece so I suspect if you're reading this now, you may have already missed your chance ; )


The case is rose gold and measures 47 mm in diameter.

The movement is the CO 016 which is self winding (automatic).  Hours, minutes, and a flying tourbillon.  The power reserve is warranted at 72 hours.