Horolonomics

I admit that when I first read about the Vacheron Constantin Concours d’Élégance Horlogère I did not understand the concept. Maybe that isn't entirely accurate. I understood parts of the concept, like the fact that it is an official collaboration between a brand and the watch department at auction house Phillips. And, it was clear that the concours will award prizes to registered participants. There is also a jury. The prizes part had me stumped, though. I guess I didn't understand why owning a watch would somehow qualify you for a prize. In retrospect, I misunderstood what the prizes were for (more on that in a minute). Additionally, I think I've figured out that I didn't understand this effort because I am not a car collector or enthusiast. There were a number of pieces from a heritage private collection on display during a recent concours event. In that world, owners of vintage cars can participate in somewhat regular events and win awards. Many honors go to...

Just before the holidays I published a post in which I shared my thoughts on efforts by investor Steven Wood to influence the direction of Swatch Group governance. I didn't mince words in my post. I had some doubts about the effort and I laid them out. Swatch Group had already provided a comment for my piece but at the time I published I had not heard from Wood even though I offered him a chance to comment. Not long after I published I received a response to my query. A Swatch Irony Chrono "Run Time" reference YCS1009S watch. The watch commemorates the Athens 2004 Summer Games. This example is in the Swatch museum. Wood was interested in commenting. I have to give him credit, he wanted to communicate even though I may not have been fully sold on his efforts. Some people will just shut you out in those circumstances. But Wood and his team were professional and prompt in communicating with me. I decided to invite Wood to participate in a question and answer exchan...

Regular readers who have been with Horolonomics for a while may well recognize the name Lovell Hunter. Dial close-up of Lovell Hunter's Love 1 prototype watch. I've posted a few articles about Lovell and his career in watchmaking, you can find those here and here and here. The TLDR from those posts is that Lovell is a professional watchmaker who worked, for many years, in the service center of a major Swiss brand. Recently he struck out on his own and founded his own independent brand, Love Hunter watches. His workshop is in Connecticut and he has worked with apprentices in the past. A good number of weeks ago, a watch event in New York City showcasing independent watchmakers crossed my feed. It's called Indies.NYC . MAD Editions, Kross Studio, Ondrej Berkus and a number of other brands participated alongside Love Hunter Watches. Lovell texted me now and then to share his progress on the development of his first watch. The Instagram photo which alerted me to ...

In some ways, I could understand investor Steven Wood's debut gambit to join the Swatch Group's Board of Directors. A Swatch in the collection of the Swatch Museum. As near as I can tell, Wood appeared on the scene around eight months ago and began leveling a lot of criticism. He claimed that, in light of his concerns, the Swatch Group Board of Directors should change in composition. Wood's primary allegation seemed to be that the Swatch Group share price didn't grow at a reasonable rate. Now, in those circumstances, the solution for any investor is straightforward: pull your money out or don't put your money there in the first place. Nobody is required to hold Swatch Group shares. But for Wood, the solution seems to be a type of slow-motion managerial coup attempt, one that I find bizarre for many reasons. I'd like to outline those here. First is the fact that this really does seem like a quixotic effort. The founding Hayek family controls something lik...

I first became acquainted with independent watch brand Zeitwinkel sometime in 2020 during the pandemic. The doorway into Zeitwinkel's workshop. For a while, I'd seen a lot of folks posting about watch chats on Clubhouse, a new social media app experiencing shockingly rapid adoption. I hadn't been able to participate, though, because Clubhouse was iOS-only for quite a while. Eventually the app was released for Android and I hopped into a channel hosting watch industry chats. The discussions were informative and enjoyable. One of Zeitwinkel's co-founders, Albert Edelmann, was a regular. I appreciated his candor as well as his sense of humor. As time passed, we continued to chat online and I had the opportunity to meet Albert in person at a Redbar event and during Watchtime in New York. He extended an invitation to visit Zeitwinkel's workshop in Switzerland, which I really appreciated, but just couldn't arrange until this year. So back in September I found ...

This week, an article in Swiss media caught my attention. An aerial view of the COSC lab in Le Locle. Screenshot from YouTube account SWISSKY. On Monday, the criminal trial of a 37 year old man began in the watchmaking hub city of La Chaux-du-Fonds. Allegedly, the defendant trafficked in marijuana. But what really drew my attention was the prosecutor's charge that "Boris" (the pseudonym given to the defendant in the case) had also trafficked in stolen watch parts. I read a bit more and the allegation is that Boris participated in a robbery in Le Locle at one of the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC) labs. I was surprised to read about this because I'd never heard about it before. As a reminder, COSC tests watch movements for accuracy and certifies them as "chronometers" if they pass the test. The process goes roughly like this: 1) a brand delivers movements to COSC for testing, 2) testing takes place, 3) chronometry certificate is issued...