Henki's Holiday Shopping List

Every year about this time, anyone who writes, blogs, vlogs, or pod casts about any sort of consumer product will open their emails each day to find a dump of requests from pr firms to write about their client's products for holiday gift buying guides. And while I do read Monocle, Vanity Fair and the Rake (if and when it actually shows up in North America. It is more often than not a no-show, or delayed by 3 months) I am a social worker, and do not foresee any time in the future where a Cartier Tank will find its way into my Christmas stocking ; )

But with that said, I thought I would break with my usual attitude regarding overt product placement by spending the next few weeks writing about watches, pens, shoes, etc. that I actually personally own or admire. With the caveat that almost all of them are actually (relatively) affordable and not the sole domain of the idle rich.

Some years are more challenging / eventful than others. And while we sometimes mark a success or triumph over adversity at the time, we sometimes wait until the holiday and get that extra something for someone we've been cheering for. The first gift suggestion would mark that for me.

And I'd like to kick it of with a watch from Archimede -

Courtesy of Archimede

This is the 1950 - 3. As it is from Arhimede, the case is "in-house" and manufactured by the Ickler family. It is of stainless steel and measures 40 mm in diameter. It is available with either a self-winding Sellita SW 200-1, or an option for a hand-winding Sellita SW 215. 

I would opt for the hand-winding version -

Courtesy of Archimede

The base price is €940.00 incl. VAT €789.92 excl. VAT. The mechanical movement option adds €80.00 incl. VAT / €67.23 excl. VAT to the total price. I personally feel that is more than fair.

And as this is a special year-end self-reward / very special holiday gift for a loved one (assuming I was the loved-one), I would plump for the case back engraving -

Courtesy of Archimede

This does, of course, add a bit more to the total, but this is not a watch for flipping, or for parking in your watch box. This is a watch that I would wear proudly in my "every day".

Courtesy of Archimede

And you have to love the lume! I hate having to grab my cell phone in the middle of the night to get a time check.

As for straps, those are a personal choice and tend to get changed after purchase. One thing I might tweak for weekend wear? I'd pop on an Archimede NATO just to shake things up a bit -

Courtesy of Archimede

At any rate, that is my first holiday gift suggestion. Stay tuned, tomorrow's another day, and another gift ; )

The Reality of the Situation - A Christmas Miracle in Watch Town?

Shamelessly borrowed from the World-Wide Infoweb

As we move closer to the holiday season, a few undeniable truths are becoming more and more apparent. First and foremost? Sales in Watch Town suck. There's really no nice way to put it. Lots of exports going out, but as anyone who's been in the game a minute or two will tell you, exports do not equal sales. So as 100s of SKUs are piling up in various warehouses around the world, the problem of too much stock on hand is going hand in hand with supply chain issues. It's an interesting situation that started with the first domino falling - over production. Ironically, this is not a new thing. It seems that the CEOs of Watch Town still prefer their own bath water to to pretty much any other beverage.

Once it became clear that the supply was far exceeding the already weak demand, the same folks who couldn't have their teams build enough soon-to-be grey market watches then slashed or completely canceled their supply orders. Which, in turn, led the suppliers to make many of their workers redundant. This, in turn, put the squeeze on smaller brands that were living in Reality (a more modest, yet stable municipality that is Watch Town adjacent). This, in turn, meant that although they were selling, they could not fulfill the orders that they were receiving. 

And so here we are - counting down for the holidays, and the Grinch is firmly ensconced under the Christmas Tree.

But maybe, just maybe there's a Festivus Miracle waiting!

Just kidding, that's about as likely as an Arnault offspring being replaced by someone who actually has experience...

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Wishes from Tempus Fugit

Courtesy of the Henki Collection

So for the past 10 years I've done a "Happy Holidays" post and frequently did so using copyright free images appropriate for the season.

This year I thought I'd do something a little different. The picture above is an original piece that my mother painted back in the mid-80s titled Cleveland. She was starting out a brand new life with no fixed address, no steady job or true career prospects. She was firmly stepping out into the great unknown. She would later go on to start a "second life" of sorts after finishing a course on design and entered the world of fashion design at the age of 51.
This painting now hangs in my house (Tempus Fugit HQ). It serves as a constant reminder to me that, to quote that other great commentator on the watch industry - Omar Sherif as Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia:

"Truly, for some men nothing is written unless THEY write it."

I realize as I write this that a little over a year ago I was spending the week in Biel/Bienne, then Besançon, then Paris and finally New York doing cool watch stuff. My friend Rod Hess and I were preparing a special section for BaselWorld, and it seemed like everything was easy, and after 10 years of hard work, Tempus Fugit was finally paying off, and that fame and fortune awaited!

And then...

COVID-19.

And every day since, I have stopped and looked at this painting, realizing that I am still here, my family is healthy, we are both still working, and I remind myself that COVID-19 or not, the future has not been written, because we have not written it yet.

In another year I would wish you all health, happiness and success in the coming year. And don't worry - I am absolutely wishing you that! But beyond everything else I wish you peace. Peace of mind during what are undeniably the most challenging times that many of us will ever experience.

2020 has been pretty bad, but 2021 has not yet been written - and we will each contribute our own verses.

I wish you health and Godspeed. And I look forward to seeing you on the other side of this, circa PC (Post Covid). 

Wishing you all the best for a safe, healthy and joyous new year -


Henki

James Henderson
Chief Débrouillard
Tempus Fugit Media
www.tempusfugit.watch

Holiday Cards! Happy Holidays from BRM!

Now is the time of year when the holiday e-cards start rolling in!  And in many ways, it seems appropriate to share these with you - for after all, it is all of you who really keep this little "bloggy-wog" going!

Courtesy of BRM

I'll try to get as many of these up as I can in the coming days!  Happy Holidays one and all!

The Turkey Test

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US, and as promised the Bianci White Beach Ceramic was pressed into service as I broke out the heavy equipment and spent the afternoon preparing my part of the meal.

So the turkey timed in at exactly 3 hours and 12 minutes.  This verified by both the Bianci and a separate time source.  And the turkey was pretty delicious!  

For those of you who noticed, yes I stuffed the bird with limes.  While I realize that this is non-traditional, I recommend it.  The citrus ensures that the turkey itself will remain fairly moist, as a very subtle flavor, and you don't lose any of that valuable stuffing!

The second major timing event is now only a little over 30 minutes away with the Ducks of Oregon trying to remain perfect.

Bianci has some fantastic offers going on, so check them out as you can buy direct -

www.bianciwatches.com