The New Romantics

You will notice a new section on the Tempus Fugit site - The New Romantics

It will start getting populated over the next few days, and is meant to be an additional resource for smaller, independent brands to discuss, share, promote and yes, even sell their watches.  

Now, unlike my more well-heeled (somewhat slipperier) colleagues who "painstakingly curate" "exclusive collections", the New Romantics section is something (I hope) a little more straight-forward and will not rely so heavily upon slippery language.

These are brands that are actually owned by actual people who are actually working on unique ideas.  These will be brands at several price points, and while some are more expensive than others, the concept is not about "exclusivity" or any other douchy hyperbole that some other blogs-now-retailers might spew. 

In many cases, the brands will have direct links that you, the customer can go through to make your purchase directly from the brand.  In some other instances, you will can also be directly connected to the authorized retail partner.  

Most importantly, I will be working hand in hand with the brands to assist with after service, etc.

It will be a part of Tempus Fugit, but it has it's own little home.  And this will be a "curation free" zone.  The simple criteria are:
1.  I have personally met the owners, and are the type of people I'd enjoy having a beer with (and most I have).
2.  I have personally tried the watch, strap, etc. and feel that it is a good product at a fair price.
3.  The product, whatever it may be, is interesting to me, and I hope it will be to you as well.

As mentioned before, I do work with some brands as a consultant and that will be clearly disclosed and all of those brands will be clearly identified.

The Other Big Night at BaselWorld - Wine & Time!

So, small confession to make.  I was one of the five co-conspirators responsible for the Wine & Time pop-up event on Friday night in Basel.  

This was in many ways a first of its kind.  Rod, myself, Nas, Martin and Jonathan joined together to create a unique event where new, small, independent and emerging watch brands could come together in a private location, and share their watches with the press (print and digital), retailers & distributors, and private collectors & customers. 

The logic was fairly simple - for better or worse BaselWorld has grown into a very, very expensive proposition for watch brands.  It is not an accident that 200 brands (and that is the officially reported number) opted to give it a miss this year.  Our feeling was (and still is) that there are a lot of interesting brands out there that both the press and the distribution networks would like to hear about.  And so Wine & Time was born.

The idea started out reasonably enough.  We figured maybe 10 brands, 20 or so press folks, and maybe 10 - 15 retailers and collectors.  So maybe 50 people or so.  And, well, let's just say that the demand very quickly outstripped the space!

 
It was a unique opportunity for collectors and fans to meet the brand owners, see the watches, chat informally with some of us "alleged" experts, and enjoy a glass (or three) of great wine.

So did we have brands?  22 of them.

Okay, but probably no journalists, right?
a few less than 50.  

We actually had to close access to any further press folks 72 hours prior to the event, because as word got around, people were coming out of the woodwork.

And about the collectors, retailers and others?
Well, there were 122 attendees, I'll let you do the math ; )

Brands were encouraged to sell direct to any potential customers, and let's just say that several brand owners left with more money in their PayPal accounts than they came in with!

It was a unique event in that it wasn't the typical "brand dinner" that you go to, sit stiffly at a table and make awkward small talk.  It was
wide-open and friendly, and needless to say, we'll be doing it again!

So on behalf of my partners in crime, I'd like to thank all of the brands, suppliers, journalists, retailers, distributors and the collectors and fans!  It was a great night, and we can't wait until next year!

 We'll see you next year!
 
 

The Fastback

From Gorilla!

Courtesy of Gorilla

So after you've collectively worked for Omega, Audemars Piguet and IWC among others, what's the next logical step?  You create a brand new watch brand called Gorilla, of course!

Courtesy of Gorilla

I got to spend some time with the two men behind Gorilla, Lukas Gopp and Octavio Garcia during this year's Wine & Time event and then later during my "office hours" at the Ramada.  And they are both very interesting guys with impeccable backgrounds.  But I'm going to swim against the stream and focus on the watch itself.  

I think the first thing that truly struck me was the way that the different materials used for the case truly complemented each other.  All too often, brands both mighty and small spit out watches with cases that look more like the result of a fifth grade art class than an actual design.  Not so with the Gorilla Fastback.

Courtesy of Gorilla

I draw your attention to the layered effect of the case (above). The base of the case is titanium, upon which the main portion of the case (carbon) is anchored.  And that would have been sufficient.  But the Fastback's design was informed by childhoods spent working on cars and descending alpine passes on sleek road bicycles, so a few wonderfully fun but appropriate design elements were added.  The red layer is, in fact, anodized aluminum and is described as a charter line or "pinstripe".  It doesn't need to be there, but it looks REALLY cool and sets off both the carbon of the main case below it, and the ceramic bezel above it.  And while another brand might have looked for a matching crown, I really applaud the use of a bright titanium crown.  It stands out, but for the right reasons.

Courtesy of Gorilla

While the case design is a departure, Gorilla didn't stop there.  The dial and hands are a visual treat.  The dial is described as "multilayer", and it does display a true sense of depth and texture.  The time is told by integrating an hour disc with the more traditional minute and second hand.  

Courtesy of Gorilla

I think more than anything else, I truly appreciate the lack of pretension shown by the two gentlemen behind Gorilla.  BaselWorld is overpopulated by egos poured into suits droning on as if it was 10 years ago.  Spoiler alert, it's 2017 and things have changed, and the good old days are not showing any signs of a speedy return.  The future of the watch industry is not going to be shaped by the same aging guys hanging onto the glory days of the past while they drink the night away in the 3 Kings, regaling anyone within earshot about who they were and what they did.  No, the future is going to be driven by people like Messrs. Garcia and Gopp.  People who are focused on a truly unique design and identity, willing to put their idea out there, and offer a truly desirable watch at a realistic price.  No celebrity ambassadors, no red carpets, no bullshit.  Just a cool watch.

Here are the pertinents, straight from the source -

FASTBACK SPECIFICATIONS

LAYERED CASE CONSTRUCTION: forged carbon case, anodised aluminium character line or “pinstripe”, ceramic bezel, titanium screw down-crown, titanium caseback.

MULTILAYER DIAL: unique hour disc, skeleton minute hand and contrasting old school automotive inspired typeface design, central dial segment with circular graining pattern, luminescent hands and numerals.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION: 110 Grams with strap and buckle, case diameter bezel 44mm, 48.5mm with crown protection, self-winding Miyota 8215, recto/verso AR sapphire crystal,
100 meters (10ATM) water resistant

COMMERCIAL INFORMATION: first 500 pieces will be numbered (NOT LIMITED, but identified as the very first
production pieces), delivered with an additional integrated rubber strap. Price 880$ (excl. Tax)

When They Name A Watch After You...

Okay, no, not exactly!  But at the Wine and Time event held two Fridays' back, I got the chance to lay hands to a really cool watch that was constructed using some truly alternative ideas, and it didn't hurt that this little wrist-borne bijoux bears the same name as yours' truly ; )

Courtesy of Montfort

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  There are no shortage of watch brands out there.  What makes a brand or a watch interesting is when they take a fairly mainstream idea, and try to bring something new to it.

The new Montfort collection is known as the Strata and is available in four variations, with the James being one of them.  Montfort is a departure for a few reasons.  The most seemingly obvious, that it was financed through crowd-funding is perhaps the one thing that is becoming more and more common these days.  But it does bear mentioning that the Montfort crew set the bar at CHF 80,000 and managed to triple that amount!

Now more near and dear to my heart were two of the other new ingredients that were added to the Strata secret sauce:

Super Stainless Steel.  

Courtesy of Marvel

No, this is not something that was used for Captain America's shield.  It is, however, a very well-thought out solution to one of the greatest sadness that any owner of a new watch will experience - the first scratch the new watch receives.  You don't generally go to the supplier and request Super Stainless Steel, so what exactly is it?  I'll let the Montfort explain it in their own words -

The solution was to diffuse carbon and nitrogen into the surface of the steel to make it 8x harder than normal stainless steel. The result is a brighter glowing steel that is way more scratch resistant. What’s more, by treating the steel in this way, the grain of the material appears, thus giving it a granularity similar to that of rock.

Okay, maybe it's just me, but that's pretty dope!  But there is one more twist to this tale, the dials are not your typical metal.  No, these are created with a 3D printer.  And this means that the dial has texture, depth, surface gaps that allow the movement to be partially viewed through the dial itself.  
 
As mentioned, the case is assembled from 4 pieces of "Super Stainless Steel".  It measures 44 mm in diameter and is water resistant to 10 ATM (that's 100 meters or 3330 feet for you land lubbers).  The front crystal and display back are both of sapphire crystal and treated with a blue anti-reflective coating.  The movement is the Sellita SW200, self-winding. 

Here are all the pertinents, straight from Montfort -

• 4-piece 44 mm hardened "Super Stainless Steel" case
  
• Swiss automatic movement (Sellita SW200) power re- serve approx. 38h and 26 rubies. Movement with ‘ruthe- nium’ surface treatment, blued screws and oscillating mass finished with ‘Côtes de Genève’ decorations
  
• Sapphire anti-reflective glass (top and bottom)
  
• Waterproof to 100 M (10ATM)
  
• "Clous de Paris" 3D skeletonized stainless steel dial
  
• Italian Leather bracelet with black stitching 22/20 mm
  
• Limited to 333 pieces
  
• Pre-tax price excluding shipping : CHF 1’599.–
  

And yes you saw that right, the price is a very reasonable CHF 1,599 pre tax!