A Few Minutes With MeisterSinger's John van Steen

While we are roughly at the half-way point of our 90 day essay on time and MeisterSinger, I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a few minutes with one of the key people behind the brand, the Director Sales and Managing Director, John van Steen -

Courtesy of John van Steen

Tempus Fugit - What was your first watch? Was it a gift? Is there a story behind it?

John van Steen - My first Watch was a Seiko Quartz when I was 12 or so. It was a gift from my parents upon leaving primary school.


TF - When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you "grew up"?

JvS - I grew up in the town of Hoofddorp which is a suburb of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Up until I was 12, I wanted to be a professional soccer player (like most boys) until the moment I realized that I wasn’t good enough, and after that my goal was going into business.


TF - Where did you go to school? What did you study?

JvS - I went to school in the city of Haarlem (which is, by the way the inspiration for name of the neighborhood in NYC Harlem, like the Dutch City  Breukelen which is the origin of Brooklyn) where I studied Wholesale Business at the Business school. After that I started working at the age of 20, I regret till today the fact that I didn’t go to University.


TF - How did you get involved in the watch business?

JvS - More or less out of a hobby. I wanted to start my own business back in 1999 and my hobby/ interest was watches.


TF - What brought you to Meister Singer in the first place?

JvS - As said, I started my own company in The Netherlands back in 1999 distributing brands like Eberhard & Co , Titoni and Nomos-Glashütte. I remember quite well when I was at BaselWorld 2003 I saw a German watch brand in a small booth which had watches with a single hand. That intrigued me, it intrigued me so much that I wanted to know more and started a conversation with the Founder Manfred Brassler. From that moment I became the distributor in The Netherlands and 10 years later in 2013, I became Sales Director of the brand. In 2019 I became Managing Partner. By the way, the original Dutch company (Time Company) btw is still in business and I still own it.

TF - I might, in fact, have been the first MeisterSinger customer in San Francisco when I bought the cream dialed one-handed Unitas model from Seregin's back in 2003. Obviously a lot has changed since then. What have been some of the biggest challenges for MeisterSinger?

JvS - Congratulations with that purchase and thanks for the trust. You must be one of the first US customers for our brand. Of course a lot has changed in the world for us as well. I think in terms of quality we moved from amateur level to professional and we’re now represented in 39 countries all around the globe. Our biggest challenge is getting our story / philosophy to the final consumer. Having said that, once that story is told, it hits the heart and we’ve got an ambassador for life. It seems that every single MeisterSinger wearer embraces our way of looking at time, which seems extraordinary, but is in fact the only logical way to do so, especially in these current crazy times we live in. So in order to get more and more connected to the final consumer for our message we invest in videos on YouTube for instance and invest in training methods for our retailers. We’re a small company so it doesn’t always go as fast as we want, but we’re getting there step by step.

TF - I realize that it is hard for a parent to choose their favorite child, but what is your favorite MeisterSinger model?

JvS - That is not hard for a parent, it's impossible! However although they are all my babies I must honestly say I’ve got some favorites - 

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

the No.03 since it’s the pure MeisterSinger.

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

The Perigraph for the extraordinary date function.

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

The Lunascope with one of the biggest Moon phases in the industry. 

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

And of course the Circularis with our own movement with a power reserve of 120 hours. 

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

If you would force me to mention only one it will be the Circularis with our own movement since it combines watch making skills with the purity of a single-hand watch.

TF - What other watches/watchmakers interest you?

JvS - I hold many brands in esteem, but will mention Mühle-Glashütte for making daily beaters with a real high quality for affordable prices (btw did you know we did a mutual project with them; The German reunification watch in early October this year?), Eberhard & Co since that was the brand I started with and which put me on a good path and taught me a lot about the business, and Armin Strom since I like the way that  both of the owners Serge and Claude are standing in life and doing their business.


TF - What is the best market for MeisterSinger?

JvS - The best market is our local market Germany followed by The Netherlands, France, Belgium , Austria and overseas USA, UAE and India.


TF - As you are from Holland originally, any tension in the office when the Dutch take on the Germans in football?

JvS - "Don’t talk about Football with a German" is something I learned quickly ; ) 

They think Franz Beckenbauer -

Courtesy of fcbayer.com

was a better player than Johan Cruyff, can you imagine? 

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide info-web

But honestly what I admire about German football is the fact that they always fight till the very last second and that’s something we all can learn from.

TF - If you weren't doing this, what do you think you might be doing?

JvS - I really don’t know, but one thing I know I would be an entrepreneur. Perhaps something with bicycles since that is my favourite hobby nowadays.

TF - What advice do you have for the next John van Steen out there?

JvS - Enjoy whatever you’re doing since life is too short to waste on something you don’t like to do. What a lot of people forget is to enjoy the little things in life; they are always hunting for something and once they reached it they start hunting for something new without enjoying the moment. Enjoy, be happy and live.

A Few Minutes with George Graham

As you know, whenever possible I try to have an interview to coincide with a 15 day review - and with the review of the Graham Silverstone Time Zone it seemed like a good time to run this "interview".


And now, a few minutes with George Graham -


James Henderson - What was your first watch, was it a gift?  Is there a story behind it?


George Graham - I am not sure that I can remember beyond when I joined my mentor - Mr. Tompion to work with him and I moved to London.  Together we created many wonderful things - and I was also fortunate to make the acquaintance of his niece Elizabeth, who would later become my wife!


JH - When you were a boy, what did you want to be "when you grew up"?


GH - It's difficult to go back that far.  As you know - timekeepers in the form of watches are still a new novelty.  I was, however, very interested both in the natural sciences and had a good head for mechanics.


JH - Where did you go to school, what did you study?


GH - I really consider my apprenticeship with Mr. Tompion to be my formal education - that was in London.

JH - I know that it is difficult to chose a favorite - but is there any one of your creations that holds a special place for you?


GH - Well, I have been blessed with many beautiful and talented "children".  I came up with a timekeeper that could measure - and "capture" actual elapsed time.  We will have to come up with a better name for it - something like "stop watch" perhaps.   I am also quite pleased with the "Dead-Beat" escapement.  Some folks have taken to calling it the "Graham" escapement, but I suppose that is for others to decide.






JH - Who else out there is making watches that interest you?


GH - Well of course Mr. Tompion made some fantastic timekeepers.  There is this new fellow - John Harrison.  He has made a clock out of wood - WOOD!  And that clock is fantastically accurate!  He has also come up with something that people are calling the "grasshopper" escapement.  It is virtually frictionless and requires no lubrication!

He also has it in his head to construct a timekeeper for sea travel, to hopefully aid in the calculation of the longitude at sea.  I know it is mad - but I honestly think that John might be the man to solve this problem.






JH - But I have to ask - why help him as you have?  Surely you could create a clock capable of this?


GH - While I might be able to - he has!  Granted we have worked together, but the inspiration and work has been his own.  I have helped in my own small way - much as Mr. Tompion helped me, but I feel safe in saying he will be the man to solve this riddle!




JH - Maybe that is why they call you "honest George"?


GH - Well I am not the man to say, but I would be happy and proud to help any fellow watch maker in his efforts.  




JH - You've been at the forefront of British horology - who do you think will be the next George Graham?


GH - I know that this is near blasphemy - but it would not surprise me if someone in France will come up with something interesting in the next 20 - 30 years.  Someone who will make amazing things even for royalty.  But if I really think about the future - and in Britain in particular, I sometimes have a vision of a solitary man, working away in some quiet place - maybe a smaller island - Orkney, or maybe the Isle of Man.  I suspect that he will be someone originally born of the city - maybe even London - who was fascinated by the workings of a forgotten watch.  Someone who despite all difficulties of early life will go on to do amazing things.  He may even take Mr. Harrison's idea of the grasshopper escapement and focusing on the idea of a modern escapement that will need minimal "human intervention" he will maybe champion Mr. Harrison's ideal of making something practical and useful to the masses.  It is not the fashion today, but maybe some day watches will be made on a larger scale - hundreds - maybe even thousands per year.  He will probably be the sort of person who will be a bit reclusive, a bit hesitant to take on an apprentice - but I believe that there will be one man who will somehow convince him to take him on.  I know that this will be more than 200 years from now, and I will long since have left this earth for a prior appointment with my creator - but I somehow sense that both the master and his apprentice will reestablish British horology.