The Mechanik2

I have known Christian Gafner for a minute or two. We first met in 2013 when I bought a pair of Ilmia sneakers from him in what is now the Hyperion hotel during BaselWorld. 

I ran into him again in 2019 on the train from the airport in Zurich heading to the Jura. In fairness, that was not such a random meeting as I had plans to meet him in Biel-Bienne, and he just happened to get onto the train car that I was traveling on. When we arrived in Biel-Bienne he sold me another pair of Ilmias!

Needless to say, he has done a lot in the world of design and up to now his "Magnum Opus" has been the original MIH watch. But it seems that he might be about to leave even bigger footprints on the horological landscape.

Courtesy of Mechanik2

The Mechanik2 is the newly minted reinterpretation of the original MIH watch. It has been a long, slow, steady process but one that is hopefully about the reach the finish line.  

While similar in many aspects to the original, this new piece is not a complete "homage" and that is a good thing. It will offer the opportunity for those who missed the first "go-round" to get the next generation. 

It is important to note that this is not, has not (and as far as I understand it) will not be "endorsed" by the MIH. But that takes nothing away from the ambition of its design and its execution.

If you feel that this might be in your wheelhouse, check it out yourself at the Mechanik2 website -

https://mechanik2.com/

It's Gotta Be The Shoes! The Feel-Good, Triumphant Return of ilmia!

     Christian Gafner, Co-founder / CEO (is the handsome one on the left)

I am a sneaker-head.  There, I've said it.  It would be easy to assume that this the result of my time at the University of Oregon where Nike was in many ways born and raised.  But in fact it goes deeper.  Picture a small college town in northern Ohio back 1976.  Students coming to town from all over the country, and in fact the world.  And with the students came some worldly classmates at Prospect elementary school, who actually VISITED England, France... even Germany!  The rest of us wore Keds, or if we were really cool (which I was definitively, NOT) you might have Converse.  These kids came back wearing Adidas and Puma sneakers.  And not shoes made of canvas, but actual leather!  

As reported in an earlier Tempus Fugit missive, I begged Santa Clause (i.e. Mom and Dad) for a pair of leather Adidas.  There were a few small obstacles standing between me and Christmas happiness:
  
1.  While some kids in Oberlin had Adidas shoes on their feet, no retail stores within hailing distance sold them.

2.  The stores that sold them were so far away that you had heard of these cities on the local news, but they might as well have been in East Germany.  The roads that connected my small hometown and the metro Cleveland area were not, shall we say, advanced or well coordinated.

3.  I had what were considered at that time, seriously undersized feet for my age.  Meaning that while Adidas and Puma might make shoes in my size, those were not the sizes that specialty sports stores in Northern Ohio (or really anywhere else in the US) would likely be ordering for their stores.

Spoiler alert - somehow (hand to God, to this day I don't know exactly how), Mom came through and under the tree were a pair of size 1 Adidas Cadets. 

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide info web

I wore those shoes until they literally fell off of my then 9 year old feet.  And I have been devoted to sneakers ever since, but in all honesty, I had not had that same visceral, Christmas morning thrill until many, many years later when I first met Christian Gafner and bought a couple of pairs of ilmias back in 2013.  

Curious to relate, just like that 8 year old kid in Ohio, there was a whole country of kids (East Germany) young and old who loved and wanted sneakers.  And ilmia was the brand.  The Berlin Wall came down, Germany was re-unified, and ilmia tucked in for a long nap that would have been the envy of sleeping beauty, until they were awoken by a few princes, and a princess.

Which brings us nearly up-to date.  I started coming to BaselWorld as a journalist in 2011.
At the time, ilmias were a well-kept secret, and had I not seen them featured at the ochs und junior shop in Lucerne I would not have known about them.  And that is when I first met Christian and put my money on the table and put a pair of ilmias on my feet.

For those of you not aware, Christian is the designer behind the first MIH watch -

Courtesy of Embassy & MIH

He also has done design work for Eterna and Porsche Design among others.  But these days he is firmly behind the re-boot of ilmia.

So one week ago, I found myself fresh off the train from Zurich to meet him and see the new batch. And so to one of my "other offices", Caffè Spettacolo just opposite the Biel/Bienne train station, where I got to see what is up next for ilmia.  And a friendly travel tip from your old pal Henki - next time you're in-between connections at the Biel/Bienne station, or you need an easy to find rally point?  I highly recommend the Caffè Spettacolo.

And I got the hook-up, and put my marker down for a pair of "samples". 

And as any good sneaker-head would, I got my pair signed -

1 / INFINITY.  I like that ; )

And while I got a chance to look at the new, I also got a brief re-wind through the old -

Have no doubt, ilmia made some serious athletic shoes back in the day.

And if you were a kid on what we used to think of as the "wrong side" of the Berlin Wall, and you couldn't get your hands on the Adidas Rom or the Puma Roma?  ilmia had you covered -

Now I can't speak to how the "old school" ilmia kicks fit and feel, but my pair fits well, super soft and comfy.  And to quote the youngsters hanging out at Bodega in Boston, they are:

"So drip!"

Per the Urban Dictionary:
Drip

adjective to describe your outfit similar to swag, sauce, steez, swank

dripmane - "mane my outfit is dripping right now"

by splashtonkutcher October 08, 2018

Biel/Bienne was my first stop on an horological wander that took me Switzerland and France.  The story starts with -

A Love Letter to Besançon - part 1

Stay tuned!

Fantasy League Watch Brands

So what if you could build a dream team for a watch brand, the same way that you construct your "fantasy football" team?

This would be mine:

In no particular order -

North American Brand Manger - Paul Erhardt
Paul has done amazing things in helping to bring the new JEANRICHARD not just to life, but to relevance.  He would be my go-to guy, period.

Public Relations - Manon Vauthier 
Manon has been the voice of Eterna for several years and I firmly believe that they are the luckiest company in the world to have her.  As a former PR guy I take these things pretty seriously - she is the best, period.  

Marketing - Xavier Markl
Girard-Perregaux, JEANRICHARD - and soon the world.  There is something to be said for restraint in marketing.  Keep in mind, restraint is good.  And any brand with half a brain would want him working for them.

Communications/Messenger - Charris Yadigaroglou
Max Busser & Friends is spoiled.  They have a wonderful leader, they have several talented contributors including Messrs Sarpaneva, Silberstein and Speake-Marin.  But Charris is perhaps the "hidden key" to this.  Hiring Charis would be a coup for any brand, and it wouldn't surprise me if he isn't receiving overtures from the big and mighty.  But then I also suspect that Charris is one of those rare and wonderful people who is not just interested in a paycheck.

Defender of the Realm - Patrik Sjögren
There is something to be said to staying true to your vision.  We all have the tendency to cave, to go for the quick buck, the easy money.  How many of us are able to say that this is my vision?  This is my idea, this is how I want it to be?  This is Patrik.  A man must have a code, and thank goodness there are people like Patrik out there who have a code and stick to it.

The Artist - Vincent Calabrese
The man is a virtuoso.  Self taught, apologizing to no one.  We need more folks like him.

The Designer - Christian Gafner
The designer of the MIH, and the man behind ilmia.  Bright, talented, focused.  Enough said.

The Keeper of the Record - Willy Schweitzer
The Poet Laureate of La Chaux-de-Fonds.  With Dr. Oechslin's retirement from the museum imminent, I can think of no better person to take over.  That is, of course, if GP/JR are willing to part with him.

The Iconoclast - Adrien Choux
A luxury watch made in China?  Well considering that vast portions of your "SWISS MADE" watch bear the same origin, why not embrace the idea?  That is just what Adrien has done.

The Visionary - Rick Marei 
My boss when I was at DOXA.  He saw the future and he shoved it in our faces - in a good way!  Even the mighty Richemont group owes Rick a sincere thank you for opening the doors to LEGITIMATE online watch buying.

The Press - Frank Geelen, Robert-Jan Broer 
Bloggers actually care about what they tell you.  In ten years' time, when Frank and Robert-Jan are publishing books on the industry,  we will realize that we got amazing, fantastic information not from people paid to write full time, but people who wrote full time because they loved it.

The Retailers - Tim Jackson and Javi Perrigo
Tim is the champion of the independent watch maker.  And Mr. Perrigo?  The man who taught me

most of what I know about "Romancing" a watch.  Because ultimately, a watch shouldn't be a purely 

rational decision.  There should be a measure of passion.  Thank you Javier!

The Impresario - too many to name

These are the folks that keep these new brands (and some established ones) still chugging along.

Classico Horse from Ulysse Nardin

This just in from Ulysse Nardin -

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

The Year of the Horse is upon us, and Ulysse Nardin pays tribute to the animal spirit with the Ulysse Nardin Classico Horse. Like the wild horses, it is a timepiece of independence made with the free-roamer in mind.

Graceful with power, self-determined with emotion, and untamed with control, the horses on the watch’s dial appear to gallop with liberty. Expansive plains and majestic mountains in the background meet their arrival. 

Love or Money?

Okay, hopefully I've got your attention.  For the next little while, I want to take as many chances as I can to talk about people not only in the watch industry, but in fashion, etc. who are in it for love, not for money.

Today I will kick things off with watches - and as is often the case here at Tempus Fugit we turn to Lucerne and ochs und junior.

Courtesy of ochs und junior

Wrapping Up the Meridian MP-05

We have now shot past two weeks and it is time to sum up the Meridian MP-05.

I think the thing that keeps coming to mind is "hand-made".  This is not a mass produced watch.  Of course, it's one thing to say that about the case, but the crown, the dial, the hands... all the way down to the buckle on the watch strap!

The buckle is a wonderful piece of craftsmanship. Yes, those are hex screw heads you see. It would have been easy to simply purchase some ready-made buckles and stamp them Meridian, but this is not what they were after. This buckle is as strong a brand image as any logo could ever be.

The look and feel are clean and tactile - this is a very solid buckle and is the perfect accompaniment to the thick and robust strap - made in England exclusively for Meridian.

And the strap is also secured by hex screws that can be easily removed with the tools provided by Meridian as part of the "packaging".  While Meridian is a new enterprise, I suspect it won't be long until other strap variations are available.  But as I mentioned in earlier posts, the Meridians ship with a leather strap as well as an additional nylon strap.  As I am a fan of the leather strap that came on the watch, I have not gotten around to trying the nylon strap, but it is a very nice touch to have included it.

So what's the verdict?  I have to say that I have truly enjoyed wearing the Meridian.  This is a hand crafted watch.  And you can see that in all of the neat little finishes, as well as some of the eccentricities and seeming "imperfections".  These imperfections include an individually painted "sandwich" dial that  will not look like any other Meridian dial - for the very reason that it is individually painted.  I like that.

In addition, the screw-down crown, while very secure and functional, does not engage the way that say your typical dive watch would with the release of the crown.  In most other watches, you unscrew until you hear and feel a little "pop" of the crown releasing itself from the screw threads.  With the Meridian, it is much more subtle - you unscrew the crown and at a given point you will hear that old familiar sound of winding.  At which point, you reverse the direction and start winding the watch.  This took a little time to get used to, but now I have to say it is one of the very things I truly enjoy about the watch.

The lume is first rate -

The only suggestion I would make moving forward for Meridian would be to apply lume to the second hand.

The packaging is practical and useful and like the straps, the dials, the hands the buckles the cases - it is made in England.

The watch has worked quite well - the timekeeping is first rate with very minor deviations - the maximum I experienced was + 7 seconds but averaged + 5 per day.

The size of the watch while substantial is surprisingly far less of an issue than I anticipated it might be.  I owned a "serie B" Panerai back in 2003 which at 44 mm really did feel too big.  The Meridian is in fact slightly larger, but does not feel as ponderous on the wrist.  Part of this is no doubt down to the case style, and also the lack of a crown guard like Panerai's might provide for a slightly more "svelte" appearance and feel.

When we get down to price, this is where I have read a lot of discussion back and forth.  A very simple gut reaction for some folks on various forums is to immediately compare this watch to what other watches at this price point are available.   And this is where I would have to say that it is really like comparing apples to oranges - these are different things.  Panerai, Omega and others make very fine "serial production" watches.  These are watches that are manufactured - and there is nothing wrong with that by the way - but this underscores the key difference.  The Meridian is a hand-made, hand-finished watch that is made one at a time from materials (with the exception of the movement) that are produced in the UK.

Courtesy of Meridian

The movement although Swiss, is stripped down to its most elemental state and engraved and reworked with the type of touches that you would expect from some of the big names (but that you don't often see).  Hand blued screws on a movement that you will never see?  What's the point, only you will know this, right?  EXACTLY!  YOU will know that movement is beautifully engraved, you will know the screws are blued - not painted.  Ultimately, this is not a watch you buy to impress your friends with - this is a watch that you buy for yourself.  If you feel more secure with a more well-known brand, that is completely understandable - this is NOT a watch for everyone - and that is perhaps the coolest part about it.  It isn't trying to be for everyone.  I like that as well.  Like the ochs und junior or the MIH watch, this is something that is special and unique, not for the masses.

For me it is a question of buying a brand, or buying a watch.

My vote is for the watch.

Ulysse Nardin Introduces the Monaco Limited Edition

As the sponsor of the 2012 Monaco Yacht Show, Unlysse Nardin has created a special edition to commemorate the event and partnership.  Here is the news, straight from Le Locle -

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

For over 166 years Ulysse Nardin has been creating some of the most reliable marine chronometers in existence.

An icon in high horology, particularly in its historic relationship with marine navigation, Ulysse Nardin is proud to participate for the fourth consecutive year at the Monaco Yacht Show as official sponsor.

Resolutely anchored in aquatic sports, the Monaco Limited Edition timepiece is designed to tackle extreme conditions. It perfectly combines its dual function as a diving instrument and beautiful watchmaking piece. The Monaco Limited Edition has a self-winding movement featuring a 42-hour power reserve indicator, over sized small seconds and large date display.  

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

A symbol of the vigour of youth, this powerful timepiece showcases Ulysse Nardin’s constant advances in watchmaking technology.  Its stainless-steel case, 45.8 millimetres in diameter, has been specially treated with a sophisticated vulcanisation process giving it a blue rubber coating with a remarkable appearance and a truly comfortable feel.  Its exhibition case-back reveals the self-winding movement.

To enhance its look, a wave pattern adorns the structured strap and dial.  The hour markers and hour and minute hands are covered with blue luminescent material for improved readability.  Its power-reserve indicator is situated at 12 o’clock while the small seconds and large date are displayed at 6 o’clock.  Small hands are painted blue. The sapphire crystal has been treated with an anti-reflective coating. Fitted with a unidirectional rotating bezel and screwed crown, its case is water-resistant to 200 metres.

This edition is limited to 100 pieces, each individually numbered and engraved on an 18 ct gold side plate. The reliability of the Monaco Limited Edition is further strengthened by an exclusive black ceramic folding clasp and a blue rubber strap with ceramic components.

With this latest addition to the Marine Diver collection, the Manufacture in Le Locle firmly establishes its reputation as a cutting-edge watchmaker.

www.ulysse-nardin.ch

A "First Night" at the ochsenspace

It is good to have friends!  I consider Beat Weinmann a friend, and despite knowing me for over a year, he still invited me to the "First Night" of the ochsenspace as "supper club".

Photo courtesy of Bea Weinmann

A fantastic meal was enjoyed and more friends were made!  If your travels ever take you to Lucerne, make a point of dropping by, having an espresso, and making some new friends.

Photo courtesy of Bea Weinmann

Lea Montini led the crew in the open kitchen and prepared a first class meal.  Lea is working hard to bring the concept of "pop-up" dining to Switzerland - and hopefully to Santa Barbara - we have a spare room for you when you come!

It's SPRING!

Thank you Beat, Bea, Lea and everyone!  Here's to the ochsenspace!

Size is everything…

Courtesy of Beat and the ochsenblog -

39 mm diameter is Ludwig Oechslin's favourite size for a wristwatch. Elegant, balanced and timeless. We also have friends in the Netherlands who like that size. That's what finally convinced us! 

Spring 2012, then, will find us offering the tinta collection in both sizes, 42 mm and 39 mm.

We'll start with the selene, the due ore and the mese tinta. The anno tinta in 39 mm will come a little later. We're already getting orders in for the new smaller size, which will be wrist-borne by the spring. They'll be sent out by FedEx or collected from us in person at our new place. Photos of the latter coming soon... ;-)

2012

It is amazing to me to think about how fast things change.  In the watch industry it might not seem that way unless you frequent BaselWorld.  I attended my first fair in 2007 - has it been that long?  Since that time, there have been several comings and goings.  Watch companies have come and gone, and some have come again.  CEOs and marketing folks have moved from one company to another, not unlike professional footballers in the post-Bosman era.

And all of this, in my opinion, is good.  It is good to get fresh perspectives, new ideas and see potential change and growth.

One company that I am curious to see in Basel is Ulysse Nardin.  It has been some time now since the passing of their "re-founder" Rolf Schneider, but this BaselWorld will be one where we will all be waiting to see what the future holds.  It is easy to focus on new releases, new models, etc., but I am always more curious to try and sense the mood or feeling.

Ulysse Nardin is somewhat of a rarity - not part of an enormous group, and not a family "firm".  I for one am hopeful to see some of the previous imagination and spark that marked the UN of ten years ago.  Finger's crossed!

Easter egg hunt

Happy Easter -

A true Paneristi

So I have come to the conclusion, that if reincarnated, I want to come back as a customer at Embassy's Lucerne store!  Beautiful store, fantastic items for sale, and without a doubt, some of the most stylish people I have seen in a long time -

I LOVE Panerai - and apparently I am not alone!

Post

And some more color from Basel!

Eterna calibre 3510 - start to finish

It is often said that pictures speak louder than words. And Eterna was kind enough to provide me with several images that clearly bear that out.

At the "drawing board"

The finished product

More than just the sum of its parts

Anyone with any doubts as to whether this is a hand-finished, in-house movement can put those questions to rest -

My sincere thanks to Manon Public Relations Manager Eterna & Porsche Design Timepieces for providing these fantastic images!

www.eterna.com