What I Don't Necessarily Need...But I Desperately Want!

Courtesy of Lip

So Lip is lately full of surprises! Although it's a bit big for my wrist, I am now officially obsessed ; )

If my viewing of Chef's Table - Legends is correct, a large Blancpain wall clock hangs on the wall of the French Laundry. Under the clock are the words: Sense of Urgency

Courtesy of Lip

And if I do manage to lay hands to one of these time machines from Lip I will likely put a similar message underneath.

A sense of urgency is, in fact, something we should all try to live with. We should not just drift through life waiting and hoping. Life is too short for hoping and waiting.

So for those of you with the same feeling, read on for the pertinents, straight from Besançon -

LIP Mach 2000 Wall Clock

Réf. : 670068 

€199.00
Tax included

Where design redefines time

In 1974, LIP set out to break boundaries by inviting seven designers from outside the watchmaking world to reimagine its creations. The ambition was clear: to breathe fresh life into the brand after the social upheavals of 1973. A year later, in 1975, a daring new collection emerged — a bold departure that redefined the future of LIP. Among these visionary designs, one stood out and became truly iconic: the MACH 2000 chronograph, created by the celebrated designer Roger Tallon. 

Today, in 2025, a new icon is born: a wall clock inspired by the emblematic design of the MACH 2000 chronograph watch face. 

More than just a way to tell time, this clock transforms any space into a gallery of art, bringing a touch of elegance and originality to your interior. 

Let this unique creation infuse your everyday life with an artistic dimension. With LIP, time itself becomes a true work of design. 

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

• Dimensions: W 31.5 cm × H 30 cm × D 5.5 cm
• Weight: 900 g
• Movement: Silent quartz
• Display: Analog
• Hands: 3 (hours/minutes/seconds)
• Design: Two white hands & silent yellow second hand
• Dial: Black with baton indexes
• Sub-dials: 2 decorative counters
• Crystal: Flat acrylic glass
• Case material: Thermoplastic polymer “ABS” (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
• Power supply: 1 × AA battery (LR06) included
• Warranty: 2 years 

Why The Mach 2000 Matters

I am constantly surprised by what is remembered as iconic. And with rumors running high that Lip might be returning to the North American market, I am ready to embrace the future while reveling in the past. And the best part about the Mach 2000? It is here, now!

Courtesy of Lip

The Mach 2000 is the very first watch that many watch fans identify Lip with. Needless to say, Lip has a deeeeeeeep catalog, but with that said, for €449.00 it is an affordable piece of Lip, and dare I say it, French watch making iconography.

Lip, and French watch making writ large were at the forefront of innovation in watch making. They embraced quartz well in advance of the rest of Switzerland. And in fairness, as several people have stated - if quartz was a technology available to Abraham-Louis Breguet, he probably would have embraced it.

So for those of you ready to reach out and grab a piece of watch making, and design history, you can grab it direct from Lip!

Including €0.02 e

Lip

An important note to this story - in the time since my visit, my partner Rick Marei and I have been in discussions with Lip to represent them in North America and sell them through our soon-to-open online store.  So while everything I am writing here about Lip is absolutely from the heart, it is important to disclose to you, the reader, that I am in discussions to make that relationship more of a business one, so I am biased, and I do have a potential business interest.  They have not paid for this content, it is my own.  Both Rick and I are looking forward to bringing Lip Watches to North America.  Stay tuned!

I have held off on posting this because I was still taking some time to digest my visit to Besançon this past November.  

I feel it is safe to say that if you are looking for technical content, or brownie hounding then Tempus Fugit is probably NOT the outlet for you.  

But, contrary to what some brand managers out there might think, I do have feelings, and sometimes my heart will draw me in what I would honestly say are unexpected directions.

And this past Thanksgiving week, I returned to Besançon pretty much four years to the day that I first visited.

And while there were some touristy things that I did, the most important part of this one-day stop was to visit Lip. 

Lip has become something of a cult figure here in the US.  Not for nothing, the Mach 2000 is something of a anomaly in the world of watch fans.  If we are honest about it, in its current format is essentially, a quartz chronograph.  But this is a watch that demonstrates that a watch is far more than the sum of its parts.  Think I'm kidding?  While in France I received a Facebook message from a fellow watch journalist stateside asking me to pick one up while I was there and bring it back for him.  There are certain watches out there that hit visceral nerves, and for me Lip has a few models that speak to me on levels I can't really quantify.  They are emotional as much as pragmatic.  Lip, at its very heart, is as much a feeling as it is a brand.

I refer you to an article by Adam Sofineti -

http://www.watchpaper.com/2020/02/02/lip-nautic-ski-hands-on-review/

A part of Lip's history is a "passing around" of the brand.  When I visited four years ago, Lip had been living sort of a diluted life, really treated by the (then) owners as a label to brand watches under, and not the watch brand that they truly were.  

Enter the Berards - Philippe and Pierre-Alain.  In the time since my last visit, they have taken ownership of Lip, and reinvigorated it.  I am not here to criticize the previous owners.  I am, however, here to applaud the Berards, and the entire team at Lip.  

How do you manage a legend?  Curious to relate, Lip stirs a LOT of emotions in not only watch fans, but in the French consciousness.  But prior to the Berard's, that emotional connection was more of a sense of nostalgia.  

Since the Berard's?  I hate hyperbole, but walking around the streets of Besançon, Paris, and the offices and workshop at Lip, I really felt the energy, the passion, I really felt why some brands connect on the level that they do with fans and the public at large.

It would be easy to do a Blancpain and "start from year zero", but the team at Lip live in the real world, one where you don't manufacture history.  To that end, they have a rather unusual (in today's watch world) department that handles vintage Lip questions, assessments, and if I understood correctly, possible restoration (but my French is lacking, so I will need to get clarification on that point).

And while it would be easy for the Berards to simply have bought the label and turn to a white label company for everything, it was very clear to me that Lip clearly represents something special to them, and I got that same feeling touring around the new facilities that they have installed for mechanical watches.

It is not enormous, but it is not insignificant either.  And I think what is encouraging about it to me, is that it represents the first step forward.

It also bears mentioning that Lip has stayed true to its roots.  

While it would be easy for them recreate themselves as something that they are not, and never were, they have held the line on pricing.  In a world where brands both big and small jack up their prices only to jettison their unwanted stock to the grey market where it is discounted down to the bare bones, Lip offers something novel - a great watch at a fair price.

Now I realize that everyone wants to go to Switzerland to visit the historic Maisons, and that's fair enough.  But if you are really a fan of watches, history and culture?  Get yourself to Besançon and soak up all of the history and charm that this wonderful city has.

and pick up a Lip watch while you're at it, either here, or the City of Lights.  You don't have to be a Hipster to be a Lipster ; )

Bleu, blanc et rouge

From Lip -

Courtesy of Lip

Regular readers know that I am a sucker both for Lip, and in particular the Mach 2000 Chronograph.  This latest version is a wonderful variation that offers a tribute to the Bleu, blanc et rouge.

And I thought on the last day of Le Tour, this was a nice one to share.

Priced fairly at €449.00.

Here are the pertinents -

Watch reference 
671159

Case
steel 316 L brushed black, dimensions 42 mm X 40 mm, steel back case

Dial
black with 2 black counters and white hands, white indexes, white hour and minute hands, red chrono seconds hand, inner bezel with minute, date at 6 o'clock

Glass
mineral

Strap
black rubber 20 mm

Buckle
black barb

Movement
analog quartz Miyota OS21

Battery
type 399

Waterproof
50 meters

Warranty 2 years

Made in France - Besançon

Summer Repeat - The Silver Master Mach 2000

From Lip -

Courtesy of Lip

This wonderfully fun chronograph was the result of Roger Tallon's design back in 1975.

Courtesy of Lip

There are still some of the originals with mechanical movements to be had, but I am profoundly grateful that Lip is offering this in an affordable quartz version.  Priced at just south of 550 Euros it is something that offers a lot of fun for not a lot of money.

But more than anything else, this watch hit what I sometimes call a "memory nerve".  Have you ever experienced that sensation that viewing something, or a long forgotten smell can take you right back to a place and time far away?

Courtesy of Lip

Just for a moment it was 1976 again, and I was back in Oberlin, Ohio wandering around the Art museum.  It is at once nostalgic while at the same time of the moment.  If I'm honest, this is the kind of watch that just makes you happy.

Courtesy of Lip

Back in 1975 this was no doubt a bit much for a lot of folks, but in all honesty, I'm digging it.

Courtesy of Lip

Per Lip these are assembled in Besançon - France 

And here are some details -

The case measures 42 mm by 40 mm.

The movement is Ronda's quartz 5030 D.

The strap is Grey Rubber

Ultimately a watch is a device, an object - but isn't it wonderful when it becomes more than that?  When it can take you to a special place and time?

It's hard not to be romantic about watches.

I WANT ONE!!!

What Watch Would Monsieur Chrono Wear?

I love cycling.  And while I really love the spring classics taking place in Belgium, Holland, Italy and France, it is always the Tour de France that holds the largest audience.  And it has also produced some of the greatest personalities - such as perhaps my favorite rider - Jacques Anquetil.

Shamelessly lifted from the INFOWEB

In a time where riders are more like finely tuned machines with personalities to match, I long for a simpler time where where a racer actually had a personality and lived life.  And there was no greater bon vivant than Monsieur Chrono!  

Monsieur Chrono was a name bestowed upon him owing to his abilities in the time trial discipline or what many of us refer to as the race of truth.  You and your bike against the clock.

Courtesy of Lip

And I like to think that if he were still alive and pedaling today, this is the watch he'd chose - the Lip MACH 2000 Chrono 670082.  

Watch reference : 670082 

Stainless steel case 42 x 40 mm / silver dial 

Glass : mineral

Strap reference : orange genuine leather

Buckle : silver steel

Waterproof : 50 m

Movement : Ronda 5021

The Dark Master

From lip

I was in Besançon a few weeks back and finally got to see one of Roger Tallon's lip creations up close and "on the wrist".  I had not been 100% of the size, look and feel.  You will note that is "past tense".

The Mach 2000 is a wonderful size and fit, and the seemingly strange design was not come upon by just trying to be "quirky".  Legend has it that Mr. Tallon found the normal shape of a watch to be somewhat challenging to wear while working as it would interfere with the movement of his hands.  So the flat side and somewhat "shifted" focus were (if the legend is true) an ergonomic choice.

It works!

Saving my Euros now ; )

Here are the "particulars":

Courtesy of lip

Roger Tallon
1975 revised 2008

Watch reference
189 25 12

Strap reference
M size lenght 230 mm / 100 191

Buckle reference
150 153

Battery type
394

Caseblack / s. steel / 50 meters / 42X40 mm

Dial - Black

Strap - Black / black lining / rubber

Movement - Ronda 5030-D

Gender : man

Style : contemporary

Display : hands

Strap Material : rubber

Strap Color : Black

Dial Color : Black

Case Color : Black

Movement : Quartz

The Silver Master Mach 2000

From Lip -

Courtesy of Lip

This wonderfully fun chronograph was the result of Roger Tallon's design back in 1975.

Shamelessly borrowed from the "InfoWeb"

There are still some of the originals with mechanical movements to be had, but I am profoundly grateful that Lip is offering this in an affordable quartz version.  Priced at just south of 550 Euros it is something that offers a lot of fun for not a lot of money.

But more than anything else, this watch hit what I sometimes call a "memory nerve".  Have you ever experienced that sensation that viewing something, or a long forgotten smell can take you right back to a place and time far away?

Courtesy of Lip

Just for a moment it was 1976 again, and I was back in Oberlin, Ohio wandering around the Art museum.  It is at once nostalgic while at the same time of the moment.  If I'm honest, this is the kind of watch that just makes you happy.

Courtesy of Lip

Back in 1975 this was no doubt a bit much for a lot of folks, but in all honesty, I'm digging it.

Courtesy of Lip

Per Lip these are assembled in Besançon - France 

Courtesy of Lip

And here are some details -

The case measures 42 mm by 40 mm.

The movement is Ronda's quartz 5030 D.

The strap is Grey Rubber

Ultimately a watch is a device, an object - but isn't it wonderful when it becomes more than that?  When it can take you to a special place and time?

It's hard not to be romantic about watches.

I WANT ONE!!!