Watchmaking as an art

Difficult decision! You might say that I could build anything and more than just one, right? But it’s not quite like that, because I would like to have a favorite. Perhaps one inspired by mythology or ancient history would work for now, while a totally different theme would be fitting in five years’ time. What is the single most important development since watch mechanisms were invented? I believe it should be the dial, the watch face. It’s just like having a car engine fitted inside a body. That’s when it becomes a car, and the same is valid for a watch. Before that, we can only talk about engineering, nuts and bolts.

Augustin Matei studied sacred art at Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest and he is a graduate of the Tonitza High School. He lives in Pucioasa, where he decorates watches, using techniques such as engraving, painting and sculpture, mirroring their owners’ personality. When we spoke with him, he said he aimed to capture the emotion the future wearer of the watch would like to preserve over time.

“FUTURE” AND “PLANNING” - SOME NON-EXISTENT WORDS IN THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE

There is no secret, Romanians’ ability to plan forward is limited. Jokingly, it is said that it doesn’t exceed three days because this is what the Turkish army needed to reach the capital. Planning means measuring three times and cutting once, so one may safely say that Ordinance No 114 (OUG 114, for short) is yet another example of an ill-conceived, ill-promoted and ill-implemented piece of legislation, incapable of seeing and planning wisely for the future.

Usually, bad news travels in pairs, and here we have no exception. The other bad news is that come the end of the year, the current contract between Gazprom and Ukraine over the transit of Russian gas will cease. And there are not many reasons for optimism that another one will be concluded without a hitch. Let’s face it, in 2018- 2019 we had a joke of a winter and there is no certainty that the one to come will be just as mild.