The MIH watch - better than cookies!

Okay, when you are in the Girl Scouts, you sell cookies.  When you are in High School, you hold a car wash.  But riddle me this - you are responsible for one of the most important horological museums in the world and you've just obtained an amazing piece... that is going to cost a fortune to restore/repair.  Cookies and car washes are probably not going to cut it.

So when the Musée International d'Horlogerie needed to raise money to restore one of its latest acquisitions, the curator did what most curators do, he looked for ways to raise it.  Now if this was the New York Metropolitan Museum, maybe there would be a benefit dinner at $1,000 a plate.  But when the curator is one of the most notably inventive and creative minds in the modern watch making era - Ludwig Oechslin, well you might try something a little different...

This is the MIH.  To be clear, this is not new, it has been around for a while now.  But I first saw this watch in Elizabeth Doerr's fantastic book - 12 Faces of Time.  Gauging the design, level of complication and the pedigree of this watch, my assumption was that it was probably like water from the moon - i.e. the cost of a starter house in Northern Ohio.  In fact, in doing a bit of research it turns out to be much, much more within reach.


If you have followed high end independent watch making on any level, you have heard of both Mr. Oechslin and Paul Gerber (who by the way is also in 12 Faces of Time).  So ask yourself - a watch designed by Oechslin, and assembled by Paul Gerber - are you interested?

An annual calendar, composed of NINE (9) parts?!?  Yes!


So the next time you are going through a museum and consider your purchase of a t-shirt or a coffee cup - keep in mind that the next time you visit the MIH, you can purchase something truly special -

For the rest of us who are maybe not able to zip off to Switzerland for an afternoon's excursion, don't despair.  You can still visit the MIH museum "gift shop" and purchase one of these fantastic watches -


www.mih-watch.ch

Twelve Faces of Time - Elizabeth Doerr

Sometimes, if you are very lucky, you stumble across something that speaks to you.  I love super-high-res-chock-full of technical details stories as much as the next guy, but in all honestly watches represent something more emotional to me.  I want to know about the people who made them, or who owned them.  I want to have an understanding of what motivated them.

I imagine some of the independent watchmakers as "philosopher-artist-engineers".  Yes, I realize that probably makes no sense at all, but when you take a moment and really consider everything that goes into some of these watches, you realize what an awesome task it must be to not merely create, but produce, market and ultimately sell them.  A time piece's ability to tell the time is just the starting point.  It has to captivate you on so many different levels.  It should be technically advanced, crafted by hand, accurate - and pleasing to look at!

Elizabeth Doerr's book captures what many of us have only been able to try to imagine.

This is a 200 + page trip to a special place - inside the ateliers of 12 of the world's most talented and innovative watch makers.

Elizabeth's new book had a US debut at the new Ernst Benz boutique a few weeks back with a well-attended launch party and book signing by the author.  I was unable to attend, but was fortunate enough to obtain a signed copy.  12 Faces of Time is a beautiful coffee-table book, full of compelling black and white images,  and written with such care and attention to detail that it truly takes you not just to another place, but in many ways another time.  

Keep up with Elizabeth via her Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/ElizabethDoerrWatches