It is as if contemporary Swiss watchmakers retreat from the fancy industry conclaves in Geneva and New York and Hong Kong and Dubai and Shanghai, to life as medieval shepherds, lonely but subtly and painstakingly reaping value from the earth improbable acre of isolated alpine meadow--suffering for their art--in arcadian isolation.
The industry mythologizes the local.
Swiss watch companies bridge local and local all the time, diligently manufacturing locally in Switzerland (with some "limited" exceptions) and marrying it with the delicate and relentless campaign of marketing Switzerland itself, and everything associated with that particular local.
Read MoreThe industry mythologizes the local. Heritage and tradition, it all reduces to local.
And before you are dazzled by the immaculate finishing, remember that part of enduring appeal of that watch is the association with non-cosmopolitan grittiness. It is the quaint image of the watchmaker toiling away at his workshop, squinting and suffering for his art. It is the hopelessly unscalable nature of the Swiss Alps, bucolic as they are, far from any port, a spaghetti of mountains and valleys.
Read MoreWhich collection of stuff would you rather have: the first is broad, while the other is concentrated?
These are the two basic directions one can have in collecting anything. The items don’t have to be expensive; they don’t have to be particularly rare. The same question dawns upon every single collector: do I go wide or deep?
Read MoreWhen watch collectors talk about a "grail," usually they mean a mythical timepiece, horology unattainable by virtue of some combination of price and rarity.
But I reckon a grail can also mean the one watch- the only watch. The sine qua non of one's collection- i.e. without this singular watch one's collection would possess such a hole in it to be empty.
Read More