This story begins decades ago in a bungalow with squeaky wooden flooring and military surplus desks; my grandfather’s office. It was by no means grand. It looked out into a veritable junkyard he called a machine shop, but to us, his grandchildren, it was a playground and adventure land. Step into his office and on his desk in a special desktop holder sat two glossy black pens with gold tipped ends. They were slim; modern yet reminiscent of those styluses used by scribes in the Middle Ages. A 2006 Conway-Stewart Maki-e Collection Karyoubinga Celestial Maiden Neither the style nor the elegance was what drew me to these pens of his. Rather it was the way they painted the letters onto the page.

IWC reminds us of the real reason why our time is valuable.When my son was born, I, as a hardcore watch enthusiast, began the process of figuring out what his first watch would be. It had to be the right watch for the right reasons. Many of the moneyed choose a Rolex for this occasion because, and I quote them on this, at least it can always be pawned. A perfectly good reason you have to admit, but not one I necessarily want as prominent in my thought process. You could also go the extreme expense route, looking at only the Pateks and Vacherons of the horological world. While that from an enthusiast view is fine, it didn’t fit well with my own vision of what I wanted the watch to say. About myself and my dreams and priorities, and about what I thought about when I looked at my son. I ended up choosing something that spoke of history, heritage, expertise and even a bit of humor and fun.

HURRICANE COBBER The Merlin II sputtered into life, and only then my two wingmen started their Hurricane Is. After the usual checks, I waved the wheel chocks away and taxied off. The takeoff was uneventful, and we grouped in standard V formation and climbed towards the skies above Saarbrücken, soon leveling off at our patrol height. I knew exactly where the German border was. It was against orders to cross this border, but I wanted some action, and frequently crossed it, disregarding orders anyway. We just crossed the border into Germany when I spotted some Messerschmitt Bf 109Es above us; nine of them. “Here’s the action!” I said to myself. I closed the gap in an favorable position and opened fire on the leader. Two “Emils” broke formation to attack us. The Hurricane trembled as all the eight .303 calibre Brownings fired a deadly hail of bullets, tracers showing hits on the leading Me 109. It caught fire and fell in a plume of smoke.

FOR Ballon Bleu de Cartier Jean Giraud Moebius Born in 1938 in Fontenay-sous-Bois, France. Now lives and works in Montrouge, France.

For Hermes, holding things on is more complicated than it seems.The Bienne workshops of the Hermes watch company have recently seen the opening of a new workshop. True to their leatherwork legacy, the brand has opened a watch-strap workshop with attention to detail and process that might make pale by comparison the assembly of even some simpler wristwatches. Hermes entered the horological world in the 1920s through its production of high end and quality leather watch straps. Growing demand to fit their premium straps onto special timepieces, as well as growing demand for their own wristwatches, has brought together the two components of saddlery know-how and watchmaking creativity in the new facility in Switzerland. The attention given every single leather watch strap Hermes produces is quite surprising. We were given front row seats to what they call a “twelve act ballet” that starts with specially chosen leathers and ends with one exquisite hand made leather strap.

MAURICE LACROIX PONTOS RECTANGULAIRE RESERVE DE MARCHE The Pontos Rectangulaire Réserve de Marche may not be Maurice Lacroix’s most complicated timepiece, but it is—unquestionably—one of its best designed. LEFT: Ref. PT 6157-SS001-110 comes with a stainless steel case much smaller than Ref. PT 6167-SS001-330 (39.50mm). Its silver dial has Roman numerals as opposed to the latter’s linear indexes. Its date aperture, meanwhile, is positioned at 2 o’clock. RIGHT:Ref. PT 6167-SS001-330 has a broad 42.85mm stainless steel case.

FOR Ballon Bleu de Cartier Lorenzo MattotiBorn in 1954 in Brescia, Italy. Now lives and works in Paris.

The assault of technology obviously failed to completely subvert the traditional mechanical watch. PLAYGROUND OF THE MIND FUTURE SHOCK Sometime in the seventies, Alvin Toffler wrote a book by that title to describe the situation where people would feel that technological progress was so swift that people couldn’t handle it. No one would have the time to get used to the present benefits of technological progress before it becameobsolete.“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

The new face of luxury timekeeping. Do take the time to stop and stare. The name and the brand Hermès has always been synonymous to luxury and quality craftsmanship. First established by Thierry Hermès in 1837 as a harness workshop, the product lines of the company soon grew to include clothing, leather goods, handbags, perfume, tableware and jewelry. Today, Hermes is a multi-million dollar firm with hundreds of boutiques and franchises across the globe, and continues to provide nothing but the highest-quality goods for its clientele. In the year 2000, La Montre Hermès approached Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier with the intent of developing its own watch line. The company chose its partner well, as Vaucher Manufacture had a long and distinguished tradition of creating superb-quality mechanical watches. The collaboration resulted in the Dressage wristwatch, featuring the highprecision H 1928 calibre, which debuted in 2003.

On the move again. Deeper. TAG Heuer has put something new forward for those with the need for depth and the love of the visually mechanical.Many collectors are enamored by the timepieces of the deep, those that are not just dive watches but deep, deep dive watches. Watches that will keep on going long after your own mortal body will have been crushed if you happened to actually test the thing in the water. These watches are big, bulky and heavy in order to withstand the pressures you will see as you start reaching past where the light can go. Because of this need for strength and impregnability, they also almost always have metal backs. Usually engraved with the depth rating, or an image of an old metal diving helmet or such, they were a necessary tool for those that worked the deep. For the enthusiast though, it meant that you couldn’t see your movement.