3-Watch Thursday #30
Collectability, Watches Under $500 and Rebecca Struthers
Morning team,
Hope you’ve had a great week since I was last in your inbox.
This week I’m back with 3 watch related things that piqued my interest this week.
Don’t worry, it’s not as self promotional as last week, though I do have a couple of new projects in the works.
Other than that, lets dive straight in.
The Key To Master Case Makers For Patek Phillipe
Right off the bat, I love the pun in this title.
In case you don’t know, the key hallmark with a number inside identifies the case maker. What a clever play on words.
More seriously, I finished reading this article and I’m incredibly pleased that I’ve taken the time to read it and learn. Simply through writing about Rolex and talking to friends about Blancpain, I’ve picked up an idea for the case makers Freres Borgel/Taubert Freres and Jean-Pierre Hagmann.
But that’s where my knowledge of case makers previously ended. I’d heard bits and pieces about others but couldn’t remember names or watches that they’d cased.
Until now.
This article is the scholarship that I’ve so desperately wanted. All the Patek case makers in one place. Now I have the names, it’s just a case of finding out the other watches they cased!
Thank you Collectability and Tania Edwards!
You can read the article here.
The Best Watches Under $500, According to the Watch Illuminati
I was put onto this article last week having seen Mark Cho’s post showing his feature in it.
I don’t know how each and every one of you got into watches, but my personal story is one from style (I think).
I liked how some watches looked and others didn’t as I browsed the internet looking at brand websites I’d only ever heard of such as Omega and Rolex.
I then found myself liking most widely seen watches (the Instagram effect).
And now I find myself having gone full circle back to watches being stylistic and a bit more binary.
I either like the style or I don’t.
That’s where this article comes in. Cam Wolf invites guests to write about their sub $500 watches. Some modern, but some eBay finds. That’s what I love most, the eBay finds. It reminds me of when Chris Hall wrote that he picks up a sub £100 eBay watch as a Christmas present to himself.
This is what keeps me smiling. Knowing that getting into watches need not be “expensive”.
There is truly something for everyone even well under £100.
Go check it out here.
Jeff Stein makes an appearance with the Tag Heuer Formula One that’s in the above figure. Those watches are having a bit of a moment at the minute.
OT: The Podcast - Rebecca Struthers (Struthers Watchmaking) on the hand made watches and her book, Hands of Time
Like how I fanboy about ACM, this week it’s another OT: The Podcast episode but this time with a particular British watchmaker.
The last time I listen to Dr Struthers was in her HSNY talk from 2017 that is on YouTube, and this episode Andy and Felix do a great job asking how the business has grown and her approach towards watchmaking.
Thoroughly worth a listen, particularly the shifts between philosophy of time into the economics of watchmaking.
Thanks a lot for reading.
When I sat down to write this for you yesterday, it turned into a whole day of watch writing for other projects too! I really appreciate every person who reads and shares this newsletter!
See you next week.
Owen