A New Voice at Tempus Fugit

This year marks ten years (in July) for Tempus Fugit.  And truthfully?  Ten years is really more than enough to listen to just one point of view.  And owing to this, I am particularly pleased to announce that you will soon also find the insightful opinion of another industry veteran - Francis Jacquerye.

Francis comes from Belgium, the other chocolate "making" country, and broke into the watch industry after contacting several companies with a design and being hired on the spot by the Sector Group. He worked on a dozen fashion licenses in Italy before completing a lengthy recruitment process with Longines in Switzerland, where he was promoted to Head of Design within 4 years.

Before opening his own agency and giving a little push to friends who were launching Tsikolia, Gavox and Gorilla watches, Francis released limited editions under the brands Techné and Tärnan. He relocated with his family to southern Sweden in 2015 to help put together and launch Kronaby.  He also was working to personally relaunch Siduna. When Kronaby filed for bankruptcy in Spring of 2019, he helped the Festina Group to preserve a dozen jobs from the software division.

Having been on both sides of the curtain as a watch collector and an industry professional, Francis has been trying to foster a honest dialogue between brands and consumers, but he is not afraid of calling his peers when they are bluffing. Before the rise of social media he curated WatchProjects.com to try and give visibility to more than 200 micro-brands, and in 2009 he inadvertently helped to uncover the Seiko roots of the TAG Heuer calibre 1887.

Francis likes to challenge preconceived ideas about the past, present and future of watchmaking; and in 2013 he published "The Speedmaster Standard", which compared the price of watches, wages and cost of life across several decades.

Francis borrows from economics, social science and marketing to explain the dynamics of luxury and watches, and he was nominated a Top Writer 2018 by the knowledge sharing platform Quora.com, where he has been garnering more than 3,000,000 views.

I am thrilled to have Francis join me here, and know that you will truly enjoy and learn from what he has to share.

The Harrier Carbon Series UTC

Fom Techné  -

Courtesy of Techne

This is one of two new models designed for the use of working professionals in air traffic control.  

The Harrier Carbon Series UTC measures 41 mm in diameter.  The case is crafted of carbon reinforced BPA-free nylon.  The movement is  Ronda's 515.24H with a UTC feature.

Here are the pertinents -

Pilot watch with luminous indexes and skeletonized hands. Precision Swiss engineered quartz movement with snap date, independent time zone and hack feature.

Amagnetic carbon-reinforced case. Matte black dial, white minute track, indexes with Super- Luminova, white hands with Super-Luminova.

Strap made with cowhide strap.

• Diameter 41.0 mm
• Thickness 11.1 mm
• Strap width 20.0 mm
• Calibre Ronda 515.24H
• Time base quartz
• Smallest time fraction displayed 1 Hz
• Jewel count one
• Autonomy (in days) 1,350
• Working temperature range -5 C° < +50 C°
• Accuracy (in minutes per year) 4
• Water-resistance 10 bar
• Anti-shock 
• Anti-magnetism 1,600 A/m

And best of all is the price - $280 US.

Tärnan - October Rerun

TÄRNAN

I just received this from  - Tärnan

The genesis of Techné (and revived brand Tärnan) dates back to 1991, when Franck J. became a watch collector. He kept searching through boutiques and vintages stores while undertaking studies in design and gold smithing. In 2001 he was awarded first prize for a watch design, which encouraged him to pursue a career within the horological industry. Eventually, the young man ended up in the product department of a watch company that patented and produced one of his own case designs.

Franck J. has always enjoyed developing and designing for other brands, but he was also longing to launch a "homebrew" signature that would offer watches with a great fun factor. The business model comes from entrepreneurs like Messrs Ken Sato, Eddie Platts and Bill Yao who succeeded with "word of mouth" marketing and have inspired a generation of watch enthusiasts.

In 2007, Franck J. decided to register the brand Techné and 2.5 years later the very first watch designed with complete "carte blanche" was released - the Sparrow Hawk. The design of the Sparrow Hawk was 100% original and played with visuals codes from avionics to evoke vintage aviation chronographs. After one year, sales radically soared. One explanation to this recent popularity might be the resemblance to a big name watch that was released 6 months after the Sparrow Hawk.


Techné will keep expanding their model range and it will remain an "utilitarian" brand. The Sparrow Hawk collection is currently sold out, but an upgraded version is under way.

In 2010, Franck J. and his wife applied for the right to use the defunct trade mark TÄRNAN. Being herself from Sweden, Mrs. J. is an essential advisor on budgeting and aesthetic matters.

Little information is available on the brand TÄRNAN, but the trade mark was signed on watches imported in Scandinavia during the 50’s and the 60’s. There are earlier silver pocket watches but vintage classical, military, sports and diving TÄRNAN watches often appear in auctions or vintage stores throughout Sweden and neighboring countries.

The identity of the revived TÄRNAN is yet to be defined, but the duet decided to launch the brand with a model inspired by experimental diver’s watches from the 1950's.

The first timepiece, Oceanographer, is Swiss Made and celebrates the technological breakthroughs of the 1950’s in underwater exploration. The history of diving watches is tied to the invention of the revolutionary Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus and the breakthroughs they both allowed in Oceanography. Rolex was one of the few manufactures that tried to build reliable timepieces for assisting scientists in their exploration of the underwater world.

Photo courtesy of Tarnan

Help Create the Next Techné Watch

With a growing series of successful crowd funding projects, Techné  has launched their latest project on Rocket Hub and this is your chance to get in on the "ground floor"!

Here are all the details, straight from the source!

Courtesy of Techne

After successfully crowfunding a diving watch in 2011 and a chronograph in 2014, Techné is opening pre-orders on a Dual-Time Swiss Concept Aviator Watch.

Overseeing development of the brand Techné (www.technewatches.com), Swiss studio VANTGARD is hoping to bring this unique, three-year battery, Swiss Concept watch to production through crowdfunding. Available from USD 125 to USD 135 on RocketHub.com, the timepiece was designed to combine great looks with a Swiss-engineered mechanism. Funders can choose between 3 different straps, and each watch will be delivered in a nice military-style kraft box and will be covered by a 24 months Limited Warranty.

Sized at 39.5 mm (15½"), the case is forged in 316L surgical steel and receives a brushed finishing. Its diameter is perfect for men and not too big for women. Designed for water-resistance to 5 bar (static depth of 50 metre), it uses a hardened mineral crystal with a domed shape, reminiscent of the acrylic crystals of early 20th century military watches. All components of the quartz mechanism are engineered and produced in Switzerland by ISASWISS PLC before assembly in Asian Swiss-grade factories.

The development process spans over 12 months, and VANTGARD chose to work through the first 10 months before launching the crowdfunding, which only leaves 2 months before planned mass production. Design has been finalized, blueprints submitted by suppliers have been approved and production moulds developed. Leaning on the experience of their last RocketHub project, VANTGARD planned ahead of time to avoid any unexpected delays, so they are confident that they will meet the deadline. An updated time-line of this project is made available on Tiki-Toki.com.

If the funding is successful, mass production will be launched on the 1st or April 2015, and items will start shipping to funders by the 15th of April.

About Techné

Techné represents a return to the fundamental virtues of a watch: reliable accuracy, legibility under extreme conditions and rugged protection from the elements. The word techné is Ancient Greek for “manufacturing know-how”.

All Techné watches are characterised by a contrasting dial that is especially easy to read under extreme conditions and are manufactured to Swiss standards with high-grade materials such as surgical stainless steel, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal or tempered glass.

Available in cities such as Brooklyn, Huntington Station, Nashville, Hong Kong, Seoul, Brussels and Lausanne, Techné watches are designed by VANTGARD, a family-owned company based in Grandson, in the Swiss Watch Valley that stretches across Geneva, the Jura mountains and Basel. The watches are assembled in Asia with Japan and Swiss parts to maintain competitive retail prices.

Techné on RocketHub

This just in from Techné -

Courtesy of Techné 

Watch Auction for World Cancer Day

This just in from Techne -

Courtesy of Techne

In anticipation of World Cancer Day, Techné is auctioning a brand new Tärnan Oceanographer with serial number 001.