Vulcain Cricket Pop Quiz!

When I was in middle school, I had a very good history teacher. And he had a way of giving a piece of fact in language that could be deceptive.

One question I remember was this - 

Who was the first US President born in the United States of America?

Now to our way of thinking, and our nascent understanding of Presidential Electoral requirements, it seemed like a trick question. Like who's buried in Grant's Tomb?

I had a quick Google, and thankfully Donald Trump's favorite South African adoptee and his team of nitwits haven't done a virtual arson job on this (yet)...

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Long story short, the first US President born as a United States Citizen was Martin Van Buren, born in 1782 - and no, he did not receive a Vulcain Cricket ; )

Now history notes that the first sitting US President to receive a Vulcain Cricket was indeed President Truman in 1953 (although the case back on his gold Vulcain Cricket was engraved 1952).

But - spoiler alert - he was not the first US President to wear a Vulcain Cricket!

My new book on the history of the Vulcain Cricket and the Presidents of the US will be released in March, and all will be revealed! 

Stay tuned for preorder information.

The Curious Case of Vulcain...

Okay, it's been a minute. As many readers know, I've been in a 25-year love/hate relationship with Vulcain. Though the players have changed multiple times, the product line shuffled more often than the cards in a dealing shoe at the old Tropicana's blackjack tables, and the marketing efforts about as understandable as the instruction manual for your car - that although printed in three different languages, the car company did not take the time or the effort to separate them into three different sections ; )

As you may have heard, we have a little, informal public opinion poll happening here in the lower 48 next Tuesday. Nothing too important, but curious to relate we hold it every 4 years.

Okay, so what does the US election have to do with watches, and Vulcain in particular? Well, curious to relate, Harry S. Truman was given one by a grateful group of White House photographers as a "Going Away" present in 1953. President Eisenhower wore one as well, but how and when he bought or received his remains a mystery. Lyndon Johnson was the original Vulcain evangelist, buying not only for himself, but for friends, dignitaries, etc.,. And Richard Nixon received his as a thank you for a speech.

I've spent the last 25 years researching the Cricket and the presidential connection, and the second version of my book on the subject will be dropping shortly after the US election next week.

But I will be spending this weekend spooling out some content for you, right here on "The Blog Formerly Known As Tempus Fugit" - Henki Time.

And thanks are due to some folks who helped throughout - Carla Duarte the former CEO of Vulcain / Anonimo -

Michel Ditisheim, one of the Godfathers of the Ditisheim/Paajanen Crickets -

And the Paajanen family, past and present - Kiitos!

As for the current team at Vulcain - I've  received... 

crickets!

So stay tuned, I'm going to deliver this direct to the public, no special advertising or marketing content ; )

A President's Day Special - The Vulcain Cricket, The Presidents of the US.

It is well known that Harry Truman was the first US President to receive a Vulcain Cricket. What is not well known is that he did not receive it from Vulcain. He received it from the White House News Photographer's Association. 

There is a great photo of the presentation which you will be able to see in the upcoming second version of the Cricket and the Presidents. But for now the watch itself -

Courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum

Courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum

It is also well known that Dwight Eisenhower was a Vulcain Cricket owner - although nobody is exactly sure how he came to own one. He was more known for wearing his Rolex, but that's politics for you.

Courtesy of Vulcain / Paajanen Family

Perhaps the greatest fan of the Vulcain Cricket while in the Oval Office was Lyndon Johnson. He had more than one, and also purchased a BUNCH of them to gift to staff and dignitaries, and if President Johnson's White House calendar / diary records are to be believed, one recipient was Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara.

And finally there was Richard Nixon who received his Vulcain as a thank you for a public speaking engagement while Vice President.

And he wore his Vulcain Cricket A LOT!

Courtesy of the Nixon Presidential Library

Again - none of these watches were presented by the brand, it all happened wonderfully organically.

It wasn't until a family jeweler based in Helsinki Finland met with the son of the inventor of the Vulcain Cricket that a true tradition of Vulcain presenting a Cricket to the President (either former or current) President of the United States. And that was kicked off with a gift of a Vulcain Cricket to then US President Ronald Reagan.

There is a lot more to this story, and when my updated book about the US Presidents and the Vulcain Cricket comes out, you can read all about it ; )

Coming Soonish...

As some of you reading this will already know, yours truly with the immeasurable help of the Paajanen family, Dan Mason, Carla Duarte, and Michel Ditisheim put out a small book on the history of the Vulcain Cricket's relationship with the Presidents of the United States. It was put out in partnership with Vulcain and provided free of charge to the general public. There was always a plan to put out a revised and updated book, and I am happy to say that this plan is still in action.

With that said, I also had to make the hard choice to pull the original from circulation without notice. For anyone out there who wanted one, I am sorry. But I also wanted to shed at least a little light on what can at best be called chicanery, and perhaps more honestly as the mischief of weasels.  And yes, the weasels, or in this case the belettes know who they are.

So with that said, I am pleased to relay that the extra time has afforded me the opportunity to get more original photos, documentation, etc. 

So for those who supported the original version, a big thank you and you can count on an update when we are ready to go. Should be a few more months - AFTER the spring watch shows.

Until then, enjoy your watches!

 

The Cricket And The Presidents

Twenty-three years is a long time! In many ways, I have been working on this small book for nearly all of them. I am happy (and relieved) to say that it is now finally done.

At the risk of "underselling" this, I am going to tell you what it is, and what it isn't.

It is a compilation of anecdotes about all of the Vulcain Cricket watches and their Presidential owners and guardians that can be accounted for. It is not 500 pages of glossy paper, elegantly slipped into a hardcover edition in a special slide-out box. 

It is just over 30 pages, contains images of correspondence from the Presidents, and the truth about who actually gave a Vulcain Cricket to various Presidents of the United States.

If you are looking for a big, heavy coffee table book to put on your coffee table, this is not the book for you. If you want a resource for some interesting (at least I think so) factoids about the Vulcain Cricket and the US Presidents who either owner or received one in an easily digestible format? Then  this might be right up your alley-way!

We will be offering these for sale sometime in the second week of March. If you think you might like to get one, shoot me a message or leave a comment.

The Presidents And Vulcain - The Cricket Travels East For An Unexpected Stop In Moscow

With Vice President (only later to become President) Richard Nixon leaving public life in the 1970s and Gerald Ford replacing him, the Oval Office was decidedly "Cricket Free" for quite some time. For those of you following along at home: Up to this point, Vulcain had not presented a Vulcain Cricket to a US President (sitting or future). Once again, a huge thank you to Michel Ditisheim for a lot of background that he provided.

When I was meeting with Mr. Ditisheim back in November, I asked him about a Time Magazine cover that featured a noted world leader wearing what appeared to be a Vulcain Cricket. And it was during this conversation that the TRUE identity of the first "President" to receive a Vulcain Cricket from the Vulcain company, was not born in the US. In fact, the first to be presented a Cricket directly from Vulcain was not born in Virginia, Ohio or New York, but rather by the Yegorlyk River, in Privolnoye, Stavropol kray, Russia, U.S.S.R.

"Wait, what's that you say? The first time Vulcain presented the "Watch of the Presidents" to a president was to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union?"

Courtesy of Time Magazine

Yes watch fans, the Soviets beat the US to space with Sputnik, and Gorbachev beat any US President in being presented with a Vulcain Cricket, directly by Vulcain.

What has been missed, or simply assumed by most accounts of the Cricket and the US President connection was that the company had given the watches themselves. This was never the case up to this point. And it is quite intriguing that Michel Ditisheim, the son of the inventor of the Cricket would be the one to set up his father's invention on its second act on the world's geopolitical stage.

What Mr. Ditisheim explained to me was that the idea to give Mr. Gorbachev a Vulcain Cricket came about in what I often refer to as the "between time". This is the time when Vulcain had slowed down its production and became part of the Manufactures d'Horlogerie Suisses Réunies SA, or MSR. This group was formed in 1961 and included Revue Thommen, Buser Freres, Phenix, and later Marvin (in 1976).

Mr. Ditisheim with the help of Vulcain enthusiast (and member of the Swiss Federal Council) Pierre Aubert helped to arrange the presentation of a Vulcain Cricket to the leader of the Soviet Union. The watch was delivered to the Kremlin in 1987, and then... nothing. Not a peep. Mr. Ditisheim could not have been blamed if he might have felt it was a failure as a PR plan. Three years passed, and  it wasn't until he went to his mailbox, and took out that week's copy of Time Magazine's International Edition (December 30, 1990, number 53) that he knew that the Vulcain Cricket had not only been successfully delivered, but had found its way onto Mr. Gorbachev's wrist! Vulcain never received any sort of acknowledgement or thank you. But there it was, the first ever Vulcain Cricket presented to a sitting "president", splashed large across the front cover of (at that time) one of the world's most important news magazines.

And the Vulcain Cricket was about to take to the air again, and travel westward to land again on the wrist of a former US President. But not quite as far west as you might think. Tune in next time to read about how a family jeweler worked with Michel Ditisheim to reclaim its title as the Watch of the Presidents.

A Grand Day Out - Visiting Vulcain HQ in Le Locle Part 3

Any story about visiting Vulcain HQ would not be complete without a tour of what may be a pretty phenomenal museum in the not-too-distant future. 

Although there are administrative offices on the second (first) floor, and an atelier on the third (second) floor, there is a magnificent, sun soaked area on the first (ground) floor that will make an amazing, albeit small museum should Vulcain ever decide to create one -

Lots of light, lots of beautiful vitrines, and luckily, lots of treasures to display -

This is the same (not exact, but the same) Vulcain Cricket that was presented to President Barack Obama upon his election, and curious to relate? That was the very first Vulcain Cricket ever given as a gift to a United States President.

But beyond that, lots of fun pieces from the archives -

But the archives run far deeper than the past 50 years. The thing that gets lost in all of the (justifiable) buzz about the Cricket, is that Vulcain was a pretty significant producer even before back in the day -

And this includes some pretty esoteric pieces -

But a visit to the Vulcain HQ will also reveal quite a bit of history - some downright historical, and some relatively recent.

While it is certainly true that watch brands are fond of professional footballers (soccer players) and vice-versa, it is worth noting that back before it was a fashionable (or today, overdone) notion to partner with players or teams, Vulcain was one of the first to dip their toes in the partnership waters -

With Real Madrid (above) and Fiorentina 

(below) -

And continued on into more recent times partnering with a Grinnell College graduate from Chicago who opted to pursue music rather than electrical engineering.  

His name was Herbert.  

While we may always wonder what he might have contributed in terms of inventions and developments to improve our daily lives, I personally feel that the world is a much better place thanks to Head Hunters and Future Shock, and Herbie Hancock made the right career choice -

And a small bit of Henki lore - the idea for the Herbie Hancock partnership was born in a seafood restaurant in Beverly Hills, California back in 2011 with the (then) new distributor of Vulcain. I was having dinner with the new North American distributor Mark Wasserman who had just taken over Vulcain having formerly distributed Oris. Oris as you may know had done a slew of jazz musician partnerships, including one of Herbie Hancock's former bandleaders, the son of an East St. Louis dentist and Julliard drop-out, Miles Davis.

In terms of "Presidential" brand ambassadors, it is important to once again try to clarify some misinformation that has continued to swirl around the Vulcain Cricket and its relationship to the Commander in Chief. The Vulcain Cricket gifted to Barack Obama in 2010 was THE FIRST Vulcain Cricket gifted to a US President (sitting or former). 

In fact, it might surprise you to know that before Vulcain presented a Cricket (the Watch of the Presidents) to a US President, Vulcain actually presented a Cricket to the leader of the Soviet Union!  But that is a story that we will be picking up in the next installment of The Greatest Marketing Campaign That Never Was (a marketing campaign).  

Like all good things, my visit had to come to an end, but my nearly 24 year quest to compile a clear and accurate record of the Vulcain Cricket and its relationship with the Presidents of the United States continues. 

It has taken me from Helsinki Finland, to San Francisco, Basel Switzerland, on to Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, La Chaux-de-Fonds and finally to Le Locle.  But the quest continues, so please stay tuned!

And nearly 24 years later, our story will take us to Finland.

And I will introduce you to a family that with the help of the son of the inventor of the Vulcain Cricket reinvigorated the the legend of the Watch of the Presidents.

Until then - Tempus Fugit!

A Grand Day Out - Visiting Vulcain HQ in Le Locle Part 1

I had the opportunity to visit the Vulcain HQ not once, but twice this past autumn in September and then again in November.

Yes, I came to see the watches and to gather information, but before I could even walk through the door of the villa, I was already transported to a different time and place as my driver pulled up out front.

One quick point, this is not what would be referred to as the "ancestral" home of Vulcain, as that building is in La Chaux-de-Fonds, just down the street from ochs und junior and has been converted into a rather elegant apartment building -

This is as it looks now (including the author's hand).

And here is how it looked "back in the day" -

Courtesy of Vulcain

Needless to say, things have changed a bit. But a walk through the gardens around the current home office will take you right back to the early days -

The grounds are immaculate, and the surrounding neighborhood is quiet and serene. You would never know that Tissot and Mido are just around the corner and up the hill.

And the back garden was just the place to try on some of the latest Vulcain offerings -

This (above) is one of the latest offerings from Vulcain, and I must admit my personal favorite.

Some other interesting options -

And as you can see, photographed in "real" conditions.

And a ladies model that the person running things in the HQ, Carla Duarte, was kind enough to model -

We popped back into the candy store, I mean villa, and saw some more pieces -

But as the old saying goes, there can be only one, and this one (below) really speaks to me.

I have spent the last 24 years thinking about the Vulcain Cricket and its relationship to the Presidents, and the last 11 years writing about it. In researching the posts you have been reading, I have had an opportunity to read about and see (at least the images) of the various presidents and their Vulcain watches. For whatever reason, of the current collection this one seems the closest fit to the past. 

It goes without saying that we are all living in challenging times. And it is also fair to say that in hindsight (and sometimes even real time) the people we elect to office do not always live up to our expectations. But I am also convinced that just as the United States is what has been referred to by someone far more eloquent than me as a "grand experiment", the US and the Presidents have, are, and will continue to be the touchstone of some pretty remarkable accomplishments. And the Vulcain Cricket has been with them for many of these moments -  The Civil Rights Bill (Eisenhower) followed by the Civil Rights Act and  the Great Society (Johnson) to name just a few. 

If nothing else, the Vulcain Cricket reminds me that just because things could be better now, it doesn't mean that we should stop working and trying to make them so. But then again, I am a hopeless romantic.

Tune in next time for a look at how today's Vulcain Cricket is made, and a look at some of the lesser-known history of Vulcain. 

Until then - Tempus Fugit!