The magazine of Christopher Ward. Issue 34. Autumn 2024
Holy SH**!
Or perhaps that should be ‘Unwholly SH21’? Because to mark the 10th anniversary of our 5-day, chronometer calibre, we’ve subjected it to open-heart surgery. Between The Twelve X’s front and rear sapphire crystals, we’ve re-forged and skeletonised components with custommade, diamond cutters. Then sculpted them to a precise, polished finish using re-programmed state-of-the-art CNC machinery. This industrial evolution extends to the outside with a 41mm case made from grade 2 and grade 5 titanium. Its top ring is rhodium. And it premiers a new micro-adjustable bracelet. When you find out how much it costs, we swear you’ll love it. (And maybe utter the odd expletive yourself.)
Do your research
Loupe.
The magazine of Christopher Ward.
The C60 Trident Lumière is the alpha and omega of luminosity. But why did we create it? And how did Swiss specialists Xenoprint go the extra mile to create the ultimate lume? Find out in our – ahem – illuminating watch profile on page 12.
While Christopher Ward watches may look beautiful, they’re also incredibly tough. Which is why when ultra-cyclist (and CW Challenger) James Hayden took on the gruelling 2023 Silk Road Mountain Race, he did so wearing a C63 Colchester. You won’t want to miss his race diary on page 30.
If you’re a fan of dive watches, you’ll enjoy Laura McCreddie-Doak’s tribute to this mostloved genre on page 34 while we also profile the Aquitaine series – and find out why it’s become so popular.
As ever, there’s a lot more to discover in Loupe, but we’ll leave the rest of the reading to you.
Enjoy the magazine!
Editor: Anthony Teasdale
Art Director: Jamie Gallagher
Designer: Sam Burn
Photography: Peter Canning
Light up your life!
What is it about luminosity that engages and –sometimes – enrages watch-lovers?
Whatever it is, it was made clear to us nearly 20 years ago that we needed to increase the level of lume on our watches, lest we risked incurring the wrath of horological keyboard warriors.
Like the scaredy-cats we are, we decided to comply. Which is why over the years Christopher Ward watches have become synonymous with almost unnatural levels of luminosity – think of the C1 Moonglow, for example.
Two decades on, we never imagined we’d ever produce a watch with the luminosity of the C60 Trident Lumière that adorns the cover of this edition of Loupe
Enormous respect is due to our design team for imagining the watch in the first place but especially to our long-time lume partner, Xenoprint, for helping us make our most luminous watch ever. It should light up the life of even the most vociferous lume-lovers!
Mike & Peter
Latest news from Christopher Ward and the wider world of watches
CW signs long-term deal with Everton
Christopher Ward has signed an extension to its partnership with Everton Football Club, meaning the company will be the club’s global timing partner until at least the 2032-33 season.
Next door will be a first-of-its-kind Christopher Ward dining experience for 36 people – which will double as a CW showroom on non-match days, the first in the north of England.
The interior spaces of the Everton Stadium have been designed by Forward Associates, which created the interiors at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium. Forward’s CEO Roy Westwood says: “This is an elite development. Together, we will create elite, but never elitist, fan experiences.”
Christopher Ward and the Blues extend partnership until at least 2033
The new deal will also see CW become a founding partner of the new Everton Stadium, located on the banks of the River Mersey, north of Liverpool city centre.
As part of the agreement, the company will host a new 1,200-capacity hospitality lounge at the stadium, with three restaurants and a bar area. According to CW, the feel is “more members’ club than regular hospitality”.
“The partnership with Everton has been a great success,” says Mike France, CW CEO. “Our values align, especially regarding Everton in the Community, the club’s charity. When we were offered the chance to become involved with what will be one of the most iconic stadiums in the world, it was a no-brainer. We have deep roots in Liverpool, so with the opening of the showroom and lounge, we’re coming home.”
Everton’s association with Christopher Ward began in the 2022-23 season, and has seen CW work with Everton in the Community on its projects in Liverpool.
New HQ for Christopher Ward
Company leaves Park Street for a more convenient and bigger site this autumn
Christopher Ward has announced it will move its headquarters from 1 Park St, Maidenhead, to a larger building near the town’s train station.
‘The Yard’ will boast a beautiful and larger new showroom that will be able to accommodate three customers at once in privacy. As with Park Street, it will be managed and hosted by Declan Strange.
Peter Ellis, co-founder of Christopher Ward, says: “We’ve loved our time at Park Street – and it’s seen us through nearly 20 great years. But it’s time to go. And I’m looking forward to seeing our staff thrive in the new space and welcoming all our customers to the showroom.”
The move will take place later in the autumn.
May day
Ex-prime
minster visits Christopher Ward HQ
Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May made a visit to Christopher Ward’s Park Street base earlier in the summer
Mrs May – who has recently stepped down as Maidenhead MP – took a tour of the company’s HQ: from the watch-repair studios to the customer service office.
CW’s Patrick Gilbertson, who was part of the team that welcomed the ex-prime minister, says: “It was great to welcome
Mrs May to CW Towers. She was wearing a stunning, bi-metal Omega Constellation, so it was clear that she has great taste! We showed her some of our most popular models and she was inquisitive about our timepieces, and how we manufacture them.”
The latest news
It’s a great time to be working for Christopher Ward in Biel!
The team is growing, and there’s a lot of enthusiasm among all the employees, new and old. As we come closer to the anniversary of the Bel Canto launch, the sheer volume of Bel Cantos we can now produce makes me proud, as the complexity and craftsmanship are extraordinary. And that’s down to our team.
We’ve also been working on the new C60 Trident Lumière and have had many hurdles to overcome due to the ultra-high precision required. Even after we confirmed the samples, we’ve optimised the mass production process to deliver the best possible product.
The only downside with all this is that I don’t work as much with my dad, Jörg Bader Snr, because our tasks and teams are more complex as we grow.
As we’re in the second half of 2024, I’m also looking to next year – that’s part of my job description! – and the work we’ll do on a new complication, and maybe something even more significant! I can’t say much about that, but it’s incredibly challenging – and exciting.
Despite all the work, we still socialise –especially with people from other watch brands. So if you want to see Christopher Ward staff chatting with people from the likes of Formex, Omega and Armin Strom, you might find us in the ‘Pooc’ Bar in Biel. Mine’s a cold beer!
Jörg Bader Jr, CW Head of Product
Worn in the USA
Christopher Ward to open first US showroom in Frisco, Texas –and you’re invited
Christopher Ward’s showroom in Maidenhead has long been a destination for customers looking for a personal watch-buying experience. With the expansion of the company’s American customer base, the time has come to open a showroom in the US, where fans will be able to try on and buy watches just as they do in the UK. The host will be CW’s North America Brand Director, Michael Pearson: Here’s what he says about the new space.
Hi Michael! Tell us about the showroom
It’s in Frisco, 30 miles from downtown Dallas and a 40-minute drive from Dallas/ Fort Worth airport. It’ll be open in September! I’ve lived in north Dallas for six years, and it’s perfect for the showroom because the watch community here is so vibrant.
How does a customer arrange a visit?
Just like our UK showroom in Maidenhead, visiting us in Frisco will be by appointment only.
We’re working on an online portal that will go live before the showroom opens so you can plan your visit to Texas. Keep an eye on our social channels.
Can you describe the interior?
It’ll be comfortable, welcoming, private, beautifully lit and a place we hope you’ll love to visit. Our appointments are an hour long so you can immerse yourself in our culture and try on as many watches as you like at your own pace. I’ll be there to answer any questions and offer advice – if you ask! Once you’ve chosen your watch, we’ll ship it to your home address free of charge. We’ll also pay any import duties.
Will you stock the entire Christopher Ward collection?
We’ll have every piece on hand for you to try on, though the watches will be priority-despatched from the UK to ensure they’re properly regulated.
We’ll also have samples of every new release as soon as it’s launched. If you’ve bought a Christopher Ward watch over the last two decades, we’d love to see it when you come in.
Michael, what do you personally bring to the showroom?
I’m a watch person. After 16 years of talking about watches, I’m still in awe of how these magic time boxes are designed and made. I enjoy unpacking the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ when talking to a customer and hearing fresh questions. For me, luxury has never been about money – luxury is about having an experience that stays with you forever.
Why should someone buy a watch through the CW showroom?
Buying everything online has become the norm. Even though CW is an online watch company, we know that for some people, trying on that special piece for the first time adds so much to the buying experience. We’re proud to be opening a physical location in America and hope that this showroom is the first of many across the country. Most importantly, we hope the experiences and relationships built within this showroom will last a lifetime.
Bright futures CW wins T3 prizes!
Christopher Ward has picked up two more awards – this time from tech-lifestyle website T3.
Not only did the C60 Atoll 300 win ‘Watch of the Year’, but CW was also named ‘Brand of the Year’ at the ceremony in June. The trophies were collected by CW’s Michael Pearson and Patrick Gilbertson .
T3 said: “Christopher Ward doesn’t miss. The British/Swiss watchmaker, one of the first built around online sales, has spent the past year dropping intriguing variants on its top watches. It has introduced new price points to bring them to more wrists. It’s even innovated on bracelet design… And we see nothing but fine execution in its future, with the skeleton-dialled Twelve X appearing to be a promising new flagship.”
Some of the finest young watchmakers in the UK have been rewarded by Christopher Ward at the prize-giving awards for the BA Horology course at Birmingham City University. The company has sponsored the awards for 10 years, and this year, CW’s workshop manager, Andrew Law, and technical director, Frank Stelzer, chose the winners.
The outstanding technical achievement prize for a third-year student went to Ivo Glenister, who made a Regulator Wall Clock. He’ll be rewarded with three days at our atelier in Biel, Switzerland, a Christopher Ward. Benjamin Bagnall was awarded the second-year prize for outstanding CAD (Computer Aided Design) skills.
The course’s long-term association with Christopher Ward has seen several winners go on to work at CW HQ, including watch maker Marcus Laing. Course head, Professor Jeremy Hobbins, says: “We’re so grateful to Christopher Ward for its sponsorship, and Ivo was a worthy winner. A great group from CW attended the ceremony, including several alumni now working for the company!”
Summer sail
Christopher
Ward celebrates 20 years in business with another boat trip down the Thames
“I felt incredibly honoured to see so many of the people who’ve been on this journey,” says Mike.
The idea for Christopher started with a boat trip down the Thames 20 years ago.
So it seemed fitting to celebrate the company’s 20th birthday in June with another (though fancier) cruise down the Thames – this time in the company of friends, family, CW staff and fans. Lucky revellers were treated to a speech from CEO and co-founder Mike France, in which he paid tribute to business partner Peter Ellis, talked about the company’s first days and the transformative impact the C1 Bel Canto has had on the brand.
While the photos show how much fun was had – and the company has already apologised for the ‘dad dancing’ that broke out when Sweet Caroline came on – much of the talk was about the new watches, designs and innovations.
“People weren’t just happy that we’ve survived and thrived,” said Mike. “They were curious about what’s coming next. I couldn’t tell them too much… I was too busy getting people on the dancefloor!”
Release: 2025
Things to come
The C1 Bel Canto is the watch that changed everything at Christopher Ward.
Like a stone dropped into a lake, its ripples are still being felt – helping the company take more chances and be even more innovative. For designer William Brackfield, that licence to experiment is fuelling him as he works on a watch that is every bit as daring as Bel Canto.
“This is not ‘Bel Canto 2’,” says William. “But it’s a spiritual successor. And it shows how far we’ve come in the last few years.”
The watch, due to be released in 2025, will place the balance wheel – which works with the hairspring to regulate the timekeeping – in a far more prominent position than usual. And this won’t be just an ordinary balance wheel.
“We’ve been working with an outside company that specialises in balance wheels, because the wheel is such an integral part of the watch’s design and functionality. It’s going to be a thing of beauty.”
While William is tight-lipped about any further elements of the watch, there are hints that it will be the most advanced watch the company has ever made. “We’re seeing just how far we can push it,” he says.
C60 Trident Lumière
Crafted from Grade 2 titanium and featuring an advanced luminous ceramic, the C60 Trident Lumière is the luxury diving watch that shines brighter
Words: Matt Bielby
Dive watches are at the heart of what Christopher Ward does, though that’s not always been so obvious in recent years. It’s not that they’ve gone anywhere; rather, that there’s been so much innovation elsewhere in the range, from the headline-making Bel Canto to the zeitgeist-surfing Twelve, that the rugged Trident Pros and retro-handsome Aquitaines haven’t perhaps enjoyed the attention they deserve. Well, that’s about to change. For the first time in some time, the brightest star in the Christopher Ward firmament is a dive watch – and we use the word ‘brightest’ deliberately. The C60 Trident Lumière is a new, unashamedly modern take on the Trident Pro 300 theme, bold and rugged but also unique. Nothing else looks like it – or shines like it.
It’s also comfortable, immensely so. The Lumière is titanium, so it’s light as well as strong – so light, in fact, that this has immediately become one of the most effortless watches I’ve ever worn, a piece I forgot I had on for whole swathes of the day. “It feels like part of your arm,” says Christopher Ward CEO and co-founder Mike France, who enjoyed a similar experience. “I was lucky enough to wear the prototype for a week, and was very reluctant to give it back. There’s something magical about this
watch, the way it fits and the way it feels. I fell in love almost immediately, and for many at the company it’s the same.”
But the Lumière doesn’t just have comfort on its side. Equally importantly, it’s vivid – and not just because the version you see here is in-your-face orange. Even in summery blue or stealth grey, with each ‘fumé’ dial fading gradually to darkness at the edge, it’s a watch that’s hard to ignore. Thanks to the heavy white indices and matching hands, all moulded from oversize chunks of Globolight®, a luminous ceramic that shines super-bright, and which is also used on the ‘moons’ of the C1 Moonglow. In the daytime, these huge blocks contribute to a three-dimensional
face, almost like a tiny futuristic stone circle on the dial; at night, they’re a constellation. It’s perhaps little surprise that this is the brightest Trident ever made.
Nostalgia’s part of the appeal of dive watches, of course – hey, who doesn’t want to be Sean Connery in Thunderball? – but has no place here. Everything about the Lumière is forward-looking. It’s a modern size – 41mm. A modern height – just 10.85mm, thanks to the slimline Sellita SW300-1 Automatic COSC movement inside (and it could have been under 10mm, if the indices weren’t quite so chunky and gorgeous).
“The Lumière costs half as much as the Tudor Pelagos”
“It’s the most beautiful tool watch ever made”
a fresh new way, with a subtle fade to the perimeter. Then there’s the blue, with the strongest, most noticeable fade from bright centre to deeper rim, and the subtle grey version, which could be the pick of the litter. “They’re all beautifully understated,” says watch designer William Brackfield, “while remaining utterly striking. A neat trick, but Lumière pulls it off.”
It boasts a sensible lug width – 22mm – and a beautifully wearable weight, thanks to all-titanium construction: Grade II for both the brushed-and-polished Light-catcher™ case and the newly redesigned bracelet, of which more anon.
The result wears just about perfectly: it‘s almost vanishingly light, sits flat on the wrist, is nice and compact lug-to-lug, and the new bracelet is a joy, tapering to the much-reduced clasp. Legibility, of course, is excellent; the bezel is lumed ceramic, and feels great as it clicks around, and the simple dial design – there’s no date, and just two real lines of text – give a relaxed but confident feel.
Dials come in three colours, and picking between them is almost impossible. The orange is the most beach-friendly, in-yourface and, for many, exciting. A classic dive watch colour, it’s presented here in
If the big takeaways so far have been ‘light and comfortable’ and ‘crazy-bright lume’, you’ve got something of the measure of the Lumière – but by no means all the flavour. “For me, it’s modern and fun while remaining supremely capable that it almost reinvents the tool watch,” Mike says. “Usually, tool watches have a bulky, utilitarian aesthetic that’s easy to respect but hard to love. Yet the Lumière boasts all that ability, while being stylish too. I’d call it the most beautiful tool watch ever made.”
It’s certainly one of the most distinctive. The dial’s solid globs of Xenoprint’s Globolight® are perfectly shaped and chamfered, a process that demanded much trial and error. “It’s an innovative ceramic infused with Super-LumiNova® –so is 3D and luminescent – rather than simply an applied pigment,” says Jörg Bader Jnr, head of product at Christopher Ward’s atelier in Biel, Switzerland.
“The cost of the dial and handset is significantly more than we’d normally entertain – by around four times, in fact – but it’s worth it. We asked for pieces to be made in special, hard-to-achieve shapes, and wanted facets on each index too, and the guys at Xenoprint delivered. There are no fewer than 17 applied Globolight® pieces on each dial, plus the hands. Altogether it has five times the lume of a regular Trident, and shines twice as brightly – and for much longer.”
But the innovation doesn’t end there. The crown guards, for instance, are more ‘aggressive’ than the usual C60 ones, while the modified bracelet demonstrates a new high for Christopher Ward. The microadjustable clasp has shrunk considerably – “with hindsight, the old version was too long,” Jörg says – while still allowing 6mm of adjustment, but the really exciting differences are to the adjustment mechanism itself. What once involved fiddly messing around with fingernails now uses a hidden button marked ‘push’ – much simpler, and perhaps establishing a new industry benchmark. There’s fresh attention to detail all over the new bracelet, in fact, with some facets polished, others not, and the edges beautifully chamfered. “This sort of exquisite finish on titanium isn’t easy,” Jörg says. “But it elevates the wearing experience.”
Titanium has become the material of choice for many of the best dive watches in recent years – though there will always, of course, be a place for the accessible sturdiness of stainless steel. But with steel’s strength comes its great drawback: weight. Titanium is more expensive, harder to finish and more likely to pick up small surface scratches, but it’s strong, skin-friendly (in a way steel isn’t), boasts remarkable corrosion resistance, and is featherlight – and as dive watches are unavoidably chunky things, this can make all the difference.
The most obvious point of comparison, of course, is with Tudor’s influential Pelagos, in either full fat or more recently reduced 39mm form. Great watches, but the Lumière makes a strong case for itself in comparison with either: consider its compelling mix of features (a display caseback and a helium escape valve? You don’t often see those together), that amazing lume –and the fact that it costs half as much. But that’s Christopher Ward for you.
“I think this is the finest dive watch we’ve ever created,” Mike says. “And the best from anyone for anything like the price.”
Open series
Diameter 41mm
Height 10.85mm
Lug to lug 47.90mm
Weight 53g
Case
Titanium Grade 2
Depth rating 30 ATM / 300m
Movement Sellita SW300-1 Automatic COSC
Functions Hour, minute, central seconds
Power reserve 38 hours
Timing tolerance -4/+6 seconds per day
Available now
Strap: £1,650/$1,975/€2,175
Bracelet: £1,985/$2,390/€2,625
“It has five times the lume of a regular Trident”
Which pretty much says it all.
The C60 Trident Lumière is available now
C60 Trident Lumière
Putting the lume in Lumière is Xenoprint, developers of Globolight® luminous ceramic. But how do they do it? We caught up with founder René Mathys to find out…
Hi, René! How does Globolight® differ from other similar materials?
We've been honing this process for over 12 years. It’s set a new standard in component manufacturing, demonstrating our commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
What were the specific challenges of the Lumière?
Navigating the intricate manufacturing processes for the 3D SLN indexes and triangular hands. Unlike any competitors, we've pioneered casting our luminous ceramic directly into the mould, which involves machining facets as fine as 0.03mm using CNC machines. Producing each index requires four precise steps –moulding, curing, polishing and milling –but the most significant hurdle was milling the titanium C60 parts, especially creating bevels with widths as narrow as 0.03mm. This sort of precision work was a first.
The hands are especially cool. How did you make them?
Here, the challenge was ensuring an exceptionally precise fit between components. The holes in the hand base and the feet of the Globolight® parts must align with a tolerance of no more than 0.01mm; when you think that a human hair is approximately 0.08mm in diameter, it puts it into perspective.
What’s next for you guys?
The future’s in good hands, as I’ve successfully passed on the process to my sons. We’re looking forward to exciting challenges ahead, particularly when we receive complex requests from customers –projects our competitors find too difficult to handle. The secret of the success of our ongoing collaborations with Christopher
Ward is that both parties hold themselves to very high standards, and our shared focus on finding solutions quickly and effectively means we can respond rapidly to challenges. And the close proximity of our facilities doesn’t hurt!
Sea change
Christopher Ward’s partnership with Blue Marine Foundation enters a new phase…
Since 2019, Christopher Ward has supported Blue Marine Foundation, a charity dedicated to reducing overfishing and improving the health of our oceans. By donating proceeds from the sales of watches such as the C60 BLUE, our #tide straps, and the Blue Friday campaign, CW has raised over £400,000 for Blue Marine as it works with communities worldwide to replace industrial fishing with ecotourism and sustainable fishing.
Now, the company is going one step further by giving two percent of sales from its entire Trident dive collection –including the new Lumière, and Pro 300 series - to help Blue Marine’s mission to achieve ‘30x30’ which aims to put 30 percent of the world’s oceans ‘under protection’ by 2030. The ‘30 percent’ figure is recommended by leading scientists to reverse adverse ecological damage, preserve fish populations, increase resilience to climate change and sustain long-term ocean health.
As we celebrate five years of the CW/ Blue Marine partnership, Loupe talks to Dan Crockett, oceans and climate director at Blue Marine, about 30x30, increasing ecotourism and why kelp is vital in the battle against climate change.
Hi Dan! Tell us more about the 30x30 target…
A couple of years ago, 196 countries agreed to the Global Biodiversity Framework – a series of ecological targets. That’s super-exciting, but there’s one word that is often forgotten – ‘effective’. As part of the GBF, countries agreed to putting 30 percent of the oceans under effective protection by 2030 – we’re at eight percent now. Considering we’re halfway through the decade, there’s still a long way to go.
What does a ‘marine protected area’ entail?
I imagine people think an MPA is somewhere where nothing bad happens and marine life recovers. But there are various grades of what ‘effective’ protection means. In the UK’s domestic waters, you’re still allowed to do a number of damaging things: you can conduct industrial bottom-trawling, which destroys the seabed and underwater ecology; engage in oil and gas drilling or open-pen salmon farming. All are environmentally disastrous.
Give us an example where it’s been successful
We’ve been working on the protection of 30 percent of the waters around the Dominican Republic, which were designated in April this year. The next steps are implementation to make sure that the protection is effective.
Then there’s your projects in Mexico…
We’re collaborating with partners to create something called the ‘Dos Mares’ – the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific. There’s massive support for the fishing industry and a growing artisanal fishing community, so we’re trying to create a model where shark-fishers transition to ecotourism and continue to sustainably fish for other species – and where industrial fishing is banned. This allows for the recovery of biodiversity and big fish to come back. We believe in the power of the ocean to feed people.
Anywhere else?
We see new opportunities all the time. If you take New Zealand, under one percent of its entire water is protected. That’s a massive opportunity. Likewise with Ireland – an extraordinary country with an extraordinary marine estate. At this stage they don’t have legislation to create marine protected areas.
You were set up to prevent overfishing. But you’re also looking at protecting a areas of the sea that actively fight global warming…
Every time we emit carbon – say, by driving or flying – habitats in the marine environment might sequester and store carbon. In the UK, that includes salt marsh, seagrass and kelp. Though kelp does it differently. As it grows, it sheds parts of its biomass. That’s then stored somewhere – and creates a carbon ‘sink’. The oceans capture 40 percent of the carbon emitted by burning fossil fuels – more people need to know about this.
Tell us about the partnership with Christopher Ward and how the company’s helping you achieve 30x30… It’s incredibly rare to find a small company that puts its money where its mouth is. It’s common for businesses to partner with charities for one year to create a great story and then move on.
Our partnership with CW has helped us to develop our climate unit – we now have a team of five people dedicated to using the ocean as a solution to climate change. The biggest challenge we face with the ocean is that people don’t see it, especially under the surface. And when you don’t see something, you forget about it. That’s why Christopher Ward and their partnership is so important.
Christopher Ward is championing Blue Marine’s mission to help achieve 30x30 by donating 2% of all Trident sales to the cause.
Human after all
The latest in the Portrait of Humanity photography series shows homo sapiens thriving, coping and coming to terms with life on this beautiful but brutal planet of ours
What does it mean to be human?
Especially at a time of such technological change that we’re struggling to cope with the ultra-connected world we’ve invented.
Every year, the British Journal of Photography attempts to answer this with its Portrait of Humanity series. Photographers from around the world submit portraits, 200 of which are chosen for the annual Portrait of Humanity book, published this year by Bluecoat Press.
The sixth - and latest - selection showcases the human experience in the most disparate (and occasionally desperate) locations. There are joyful kids on the way to school and proud dads with their
offspring, but also victims of violence, and refugees wondering how and why it all went wrong. There’s beauty, too – both in the faces of the subjects and the framing and composition of the photographers.
“The true power of photography is to make the everyday extraordinary,” says Mick Moore, CEO of the British Journal of Photography. “The winners of this year’s Portrait of Humanity have yet again succeeded in bringing a fresh eye to the world that surrounds us. The rhythm of life beats in these images.”
Portrait of Humanity Vol. 6 is published by Bluecoat Press
Photo book
Page 25 Tom Ringsby, Accra, Ghana
Page 26 Juliette Cassidy, skaters, Mazar-e-Sharif
Page 27 Irma Mauro, Harlem kids; Nora Obergeschwandner, lovers in Vienna; Vladimir Karamazov, On the border, Bulgaria
Page 28 Camille Gharbi, Matres Mundi, Paris; Jonathan Benjamin Small, Ebrima in Berlin; Dalila Coelho, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Page 29 Laura Pannack, Cape Town, South Africa
The road to
Endurance cyclist and Christopher Ward Challenger
James Hayden was a competitor in the 2023 Silk Road Mountain Race. In this gripping account, he describes what he put his body through in pursuit of victory
James Hayden
hell
It seems a long time since I stood, leaning on my bike at 3,400m, looking up the scree slope to the top of the Kegety Pass. The sky was clouding over and the temperature was hovering around zero degrees.
Kegety crests at 3,690m in the Tengri Tag (Tien Shen) mountains of Kyrgyzstan; Tangri Taga translates to English as ‘Lord of Heaven Mountains’: it might have only been 300 metres to the top but it felt like a thousand. I can still feel it now.
Having covered 1,700 of the 1,850 kilometres of the 2023 Silk Road Mountain Race, the chest infection I’d picked up earlier on the dry dust hills of Kazarman had really found me.
The loose gravel road had long finished. Now I was on the final slippery and steep shepherd track. I struggled to breathe and my throat wheezed as I tried to take in air. I couldn’t panic, I had to stay calm. I was stuck, going nowhere.
Slowly, I got control of my breathing and started to move upwards, step by step, the short distance to the top. Once I crested, I wasted no time and started the descent. I knew from here I would quickly get down to lower altitudes and be able to breathe well again.
That thought was bittersweet, for while I would soon breathe easier, to finish the race I would have to cross the highest pass of the race at 4,000m. I realised I shouldn’t. I knew I couldn’t.
‘Scratching’ from any race is a miserable thing. I was scared. I was sad.
Be prepared
In the months before, my preparation had been close to perfect. I’d spent most of July living at altitude near our home in Spain, parking my van at the top of a mountain pass at 2,100m and sleeping there, alone, for three weeks. Often, I’d go to sleep in the clouds.
I left for Kyrgyzstan in good spirits –healthy, fit and hungry. My expectations were tempered by knowing what was to come. This would be my fourth run at the race. My first attempt in 2019 I’d come fourth, while in 2021, I got into great shape and went all the way to Kyrgyzstan to sit in a hotel room, potentially having caught Covid. In 2022, after a tough year with our son being born in January, I had a great race and got on the podium for second place. How would I fare in 2023?
I flew to Kyrgyzstan 10 days before the race started and then travelled with a huge rucksack up to 4,000 metres. Our destination was the Arabel plateau, a beautiful high mountain tundra strewn with lakes. This was a point on the race course but also served as easy access
from the start in Karakol to a high altitude. My plan was to rest, sleep and acclimatise at altitude.
A few days later, we got underway. As often happens the nerves and excitement got the better of some. I saw previous winner Sofiane Sehili going down in a crash, quite hard.
The race unfolded normally for me, which is to say, not that well. I simply lacked ‘legs’, it was weird. I was fit, fed and watered, like a good rider should be, but my ‘engine’ didn’t respond. The balance between doing too much and too little in the days before the race can be a fine one. I can only assume I did too little and my body had turned off.
My body needed some time to settle into the familiar race cycle of effort and recovery so I stopped early that first night. I found a little dilapidated building previously used for a road checkpoint where I rolled out my sleeping stuff. Warm and dry, I slept for three hours. I knew that these races can turn into sleep deprivation challenges rather than sporting feats. It had been smart to sleep because I just wouldn’t have made it over the pass. In the morning I caught up with riders
who’d bivied out in the snow storm that I’d seen pass over. Thankfully, by the early afternoon of day two, my ‘legs’ were back.
I rode from Issyk-Kul Lake up to Juku Pass, cresting the summit at 4,000m around 2am, having spent the past few hours hiking over the landslide section. It was a clear night and I lay in my sleeping bag on the Arabel plateau where I’d ridden during my training. I had made good time on that climb, my body was back, and with the power that let me know my training had been just right. I was already closing in with the many riders in front.
The next day I made my way down against a strong headwind. I arrived in the town of Naryn – famed as ‘Scratch City’ as many riders give up there – around dinner time and was now feeling deflated. I knew I had a lot of distance to make up. Naryn nearly ended my race too, the voices in my head were trying to stop me. I went to a restaurant and bought a pizza, then cycled over to a guest house and got a bed and a shower.
The pizza and three hours in a bed worked as the next few days drifted by, blurring together as I found my real rhythm, heading towards Lake Kel-Su
Left: James’s C63 Colchester: Here: Not-so-easy rider
“These races can turn into sleepdeprivation challenges”
Pushing myself to the limit
and the second checkpoint. I’d been here before in 2019 and remember the slog. This time, the road disappeared under me and even pushing along the famed Old Soviet Road – once-navigable, now reclaimed by nature – after the checkpoint seemed nothing either.
I rode towards the third checkpoint, across the arid section featuring the gold mining town of Kazarman. In winter, Kazarman is largely cut off as the mountain passes around it are covered with snow. I was riding well but the dust was getting to me. My face buff couldn’t stop it getting into my lungs and I began coughing heavily.
Eventually, after spending time sitting at the side of the road knackered, I arrived at the Son-Kul checkpoint via the seemingly endless switchbacks which make the Stelvio pass look easy. I knew I needed to rest. I also took the opportunity to eat a good meal – bread and jam plus warm potatoes in a warm yurt – my first since the pizza in Naryn a blur of days ago.
Apart from that one meal I’d been subsisting on junk food, Snickers, sandwich in a packet (though I’d throw out the processed contents and just eat the bread), crisps, Jaffa cakes. From here, sitting again at the side of the washboard road trying to breathe and eat something, there were just two ‘hurdles’ still to go.
The first was the Kegety Pass, a long, hard climb from the north side. I remembered it being an absolute beast but actually the ride up the valley disappeared quickly and even the lower slopes were somewhat rideable.
As I got higher, over 3,000m, things started to go wrong. I found myself going slower and slower, and I was struggling to breathe. It felt as if mucus had filled a large portion of my lungs and the remaining bit was not enough for breathing at altitude. Then, around 3,400m, I started wheezing and felt panicky. I was worried I’d have a full asthma attack.
While creeping up the rough trail, I thought about turning round, descending the north side that I’d just climbed. I decided I should try to get over as I could descend to lower altitudes much faster on the south side. I moved slowly and tried to keep my breathing rhythmic and calm.
My breathing returned as I descended. I was glad to get off the mountain. At the top I’d known that I had to ‘scratch’ – give up – as soon as I got low enough. My life is worth more than any bike race and I knew that the final pass was not only higher by 300 metres, it was also even more remote – the cost didn’t bear thinking about. Cruelly though, here I was, at 1,000m, breathing just fine and enjoying the warm sun. I nearly talked myself out of it but it would be stupid to continue.
I knew how good I was, I had done my best and beyond. I was fulfilled, sitting there, 150 kilometres from the finish of a 1,850 kilometre event. That distance meant nothing and everything. My fourth and final attempt at the Silk Road Mountain Race had come to an end. It wasn’t the end I had dreamt of, but it was the end that perhaps fitted.
The 2023 Silk Road Mountain Race was won by Sofiane Sehili. You can follow James’ adventures on Instagram @jamesmarkhayden
Laura McCreddie-Doak
Laura McCreddieDoak believes the only watch you need is a diving watch. And she has the arguments to prove it…
dive
My husband, a watch journalist of 20 years, has several diving watches. And hates open water. You can coax him into a pool in very hot weather or maybe a paddle in the sea, but deep sea is a hard no. This is the man who went on an Oris press trip to celebrate the launch of its Aquis Depth Gauge where a chance to try free diving was on offer. He tried it for two metres, panicked and spent the rest of the afternoon nursing a beer.
This anecdote is not being included to ridicule but to illustrate a point – wearing a diving watch has little to do with diving. My husband continues to buy this style of watch because of two reasons – it’s incredibly practical, and it looks good.
Think about it. Which other type of watch can you wear with a dinner suit (thank you, Mr Bond) and to do the washing up? There’s an argument that a dive watch is the only watch you actually need.
“At the heart of luxury watches is the idea that a watch is more than the sum of its parts. It's bigger than its function, it’s the story that it tells,” say Christy Davis, founder of Subdial, the pre-owned retail and market analysis platform. “Perhaps no style encompasses this more so than the dive watch. Today we can think of watches as fragile objects that require an anxious touch but look at watch adverts of yesteryear and you realise they’re built for the summit of Mount Everest, the base of the Mariana Trench and the heights of the
moon. Dive watches embody this sense of adventure and possibility. They look and feel robust, and they're built for function first-and-foremost.”
Interestingly, the first dive watches didn’t have the functional and aesthetic codes we associate with this style – unidirectional rotating bezel, oversized lume-filled indices, and resistance to magnetism, shock, and chemicals. Rolex’s 1926 Oyster, considered to be the first water-resistant timepiece, had a screw-down crown and caseback but, much like Cartier’s Santos, the first pilot’s watch, bore little to no resemblance to what we would consider a diving watch today. It looked more like a dress watch. Same goes for the next
properly tested-at-depth diving watch, Omega’s 1932 Marine. Because it has a rectangular case that slides into an outer case in order to create a hermetic seal between the two, it looks more like a Reverso than a Seamaster. The first diving watches to really look like what we’d nowadays consider a diver were the ‘canteen’ timepieces made by the likes of Hamilton and Elgin during World War II. It is this aesthetic – pared-back, legible, era-undefinable – that has endured.
“Dive watches are such an iconic style as they have a ‘go anywhere’ appeal,”
says Daniel Todd, buying director at Mr Porter, an online men’s fashion retailer. “The design of the watch lends itself to a sense of adventure and discovery, it’s the watch you’d pick if you were stranded on a desert island but equally the watch you feel most comfortable in running around town. The chunky, masculine design gives the watch a sense of indestructibility – they’re meant to be worn every day and enjoyed.”
He’s not wrong, diving watches have an appeal like no other type of watch; they look similar but also there is enough variety to make you want to continue to collect. Take Christopher Ward’s C60 Trident line. Even within a single collection there are personality differences. The Pro 300 Bronze, has a Biggles-esque devil-may-care aura about it with its chocolate dial and distressed strap. It’s a completely different beast to the Atoll, with its Reef-Blue dial, which feels like the sort of watch Leonardo DiCaprio would have worn in The Beach. And that’s before
you open this out to other brands. Put an Omega Seamaster next to a Longines Legend Diver and, despite it being a watch that does the same thing, the aesthetic prospect is completely different.
And diving watches have the added bonus of having a real-world practicality as well. Divers do actually use them. Though, as diver, writer and adventurer Jason Heaton admits, probably more for romantic reasons.
“I know it sounds silly, but beyond the usual justifications people give (backup in case the dive computer battery fails, etc.), the truth is, an old-school dive watch ties a diver to a long legacy of explorers who wore similar timepieces,” he says. “There's a certain satisfaction and fascination that comes from being 30 metres underwater and observing the slow sweep of a seconds hand, driven by gears and springs, inside a waterproof case. It’s no place for something of such craftsmanship and
1926 Rolex Oyster
Elgin USN BuShips Canteen Watch
“It’s the watch you’d pick if you were stranded on a desert island but equally the watch you feel most comfortable in running around town”
precision and yet there it is. There really is no other item in our daily lives we can say that about. And it makes me want to go out and do more cool, adventuresome stuff again and again.”
Is there any other style of watch that combines romance, robustness, and such sartorial versatility that it can be worn with both a dinner and a wetsuit? Answers on a postcard please.
A dive watch adds a masculine touch to the most flamboyant of outfits
C60 Pro 300 Bronze
Clearly
Placing sapphire front and centre, Christopher Ward’s shimmering Aquitaine series delivers 1950s aesthetics with a timeless elegance that’s turning it into one of the company’s best-performing lines
One of the best ways to gauge the popularity of a Christopher Ward watch is to observe the wrists of CW staff. On any given day, you’ll see Sealanders, Twelves – currently very popular with our female employees – high-end models like the Bel Canto, and most recently, the ultraskeletonised Twelve X.
But over the last six months, one series in particular has emerged – spotted at marketing off-sites, sales team socials, and board meetings: Aquitaine.
If you need a reminder, the original C65 Aquitaine is a 41mm retro-style dive watch with circular indexes and a gorgeous sapphire crystal bezel. Released in spring 2022, and named after the birthplace of diver-filmmaker Jacques Cousteau, it takes its cues from vintage dive pieces like Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms (1953).
C65 Aquitaine
beautiful
Less than a year later, in winter 2023, came the C65 Dune, also part of the Aquitaine Collection. Inspired by Aqutiane’s Dune du Pilat – Europe’s tallest sand dune – the 38mm Dune is a field-watch spin on Aquitaine, swapping the sapphire bezel for an unadorned steel one.
Mike France, Christopher Ward CEO and co-founder, has watched the growth of the C65 Aquitaine with satisfaction. “Aquitaine is the ultimate ‘sleeper’ watch,” he says. “At first, customers didn’t quite ‘get it’ as they were only seeing it in online photographs. But this is a watch that has to be viewed in the metal. The sapphire bezel lends it a distinctive beauty that might be hard to appreciate in a picture, but as soon as people hold it, they fall in love with it.”
The Aquitaine Collection offers everything the vintage watch-lover could desire. There’s the newest model, the C65 Dune GMT, which boasts a rotating interior bezel; the ultra-accurate C65 Aquitaine Bronze COSC, the deceptively simple Aquitaine and Dune Automatics, plus the C65 Aquitaine GMT, available in both White Sand/Blue and Orca Black.
One person who’s proud to wear the C65 Aquitaine GMT is its designer, William Brackfield.
“The Aquitaine GMT in Orca Black is my go-to watch – I love how it shines,” he says. “It’s also a GMT, so handy for travel. I wear it on the bracelet most of the time, but sometimes the Tropic Rubber strap, too. And because the height is only 12.70mm, it’s slim enough to fit under a cuff on the rare occasions when I wear a shirt!”
With the trend for mid-century watches over the last few years, it’s no surprise that the Orca Black Aquitaine is so popular. “It’s
been such a strong watch for us,” says Jörg Bader Jr, CW’s head of product in Biel, Switzerland. “The Old Radium lume contrasts beautifully with the Orca Black of the dial, while the red GMT hand and red copy on the dial reminds the wearer of classic dive watches.”
Another nod to the 1950s and ’60s is the box-sapphire crystal. “It’s a custom sapphire,” says William. “We’ve designed its profile so it has that tell-tale, vintage ‘warp’ – the play between the outside and inside curves. It’s satisfying but doesn’t obscure the dial.”
If Aquitaine is a diver you want to take out for dinner, then Dune is the field watch you’ll wear for a hike the morning after. At 38mm, it’s smaller than its 41mm big brother and more utilitarian – with a brushed steel bezel that provides the perfect frame for the dial’s circular indexes. It was an immediate hit with CW fans.
“Dune came about from our love of field watches,” says William. “We wanted to combine the practicality of a field
watch with the vintage style of Aquitaine. From there, Dune was born. My favourite is the Dune Automatic in White Sand, as I love how the lume in the indexes merges with the dial – it’s subtle.”
Dune’s strength is its mix of wearability, style and ability to be dressed up – and down: it’s not for nothing that the campaign video featured a young French filmmaker exploring the pine forests around the Dune du Pilat.
For Mike, both watches represent a sweet spot between authenticity and innovation – and how word of mouth is the ultimate marketing tool. “Every time we show the C65 Aquitaine to people, they’re in awe of the engineering, especially for the price. You can’t do justice without holding it, seeing it and wearing it. And the more people buy one, rave about it to their friends and share it on social media, the more other watch fans want one for themselves!”
“Aquitaine is a diver you want to take out for dinner”
Culture that’s worthy of your time
A nocturnal trip through India delivers a range of unforgettable atmospheric images
Night fever
India has always had a special place in the hearts of photographers. Normally, the images they create focus on the vibrant colours, strange (to us) customs and ancient cities.
But photographer Trent Park has produced a book, Cue the Sun, a world away from this – one which focuses on the otherworldliness of India’s night as opposed to the technicolour ultra-realism of its days.
A week before the Covid pandemic, Parke took a whirlwind road trip across India. As he travelled through the night, he took photos from his transport, capturing images of early-morning workers, goods-laden trucks and deserted stretches of tropical countryside.
“I kept feeling as though I could have been in any number of other countries at a given time,” he says. “From the window of my time machine, I watched millions of people, humanity on the move.”
It’s not just the images that make Cue the Sun such an extraordinary book – its double-printed ‘concertina’ layout gives it a gravitas way beyond that of a regular book, with the large images revealing the most minor but most poignant details.
Cue the Sun is published by Stanley Barker; stanleybarker.co.uk
The book A History of Thinking on Paper
If you’ve any sort of creative or active mind, a notebook is essential. Inspiration often arrives when you’re away from your desk, so you always need a notebook on hand to get the important stuff down. But until now, no one’s written a history of these mundane but beautiful objects.
Author Roland Allen’s The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper sets the record straight with a biography of the notebook. He starts with the story of Moleskine – the hip notebook company that appeals to the ‘contemporary nomad’ – and then takes a deep dive into a story that goes from prehistory to the present day.
The notebook first really took off in early 14th century Italy, where Florentine bankers used a selection of different notebooks – giornale, memoriale, quaderni, squartofogli – for double-entry bookkeeping. From then, it became an essential tool for writers, artists and thinkers.
The beauty of notebooks is their imperfection. From Ernest Hemmingway to Leonardo da Vinci (who described his books as his “guides and masters”), if you want to see deep into the soul of the creative mind you go to the notebooks. And as the author points out: “Even though we have computers and iPhones and all the rest of it, notebooks are still one of the best ways of helping us think.”
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper is out now, published by Profile
The documentary
The Ascent of Man
One of the best things about the internet is the way classic TV series of the past can now be found in their entirety on the likes of Netflix, BBC iPlayer and YouTube. Series very much like Dr Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man
Made in 1973, the series tells the story of homo sapiens, from our early beginnings in the Great Rift Valley of east Africa through the development of tools and technology, and the impact of agriculture. You’ll also discover the impact of mathematics and see how the age of scientific discovery has shaped us.
“Man is a singular creature,” says Bronowski. “He has a set of gifts which make him unique among the animals, so unlike them he is not a figure in the landscape – he is a shaper of the landscape.”
As with Kenneth Clarke’s peerless Civilisation series, Bronowski can bring a subject to life simply by explaining it clearly – and with imagination.
Despite the fact the series is over 50 years old, The Ascent of Man is as relevant today as it was then – especially in how it covers our species’ relationship with the planet.
The album Brian Eno –Music For Airports
Former Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno invented the term ‘ambient’, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the most significant examples of this genre should be his 1978 album, Music for Airports. And while some music is made for tinny radios and phones, an album like this is best enjoyed through the highest-quality headphones.
The opening and most familiar track 1/1 is built around a repeating piano riff, and joined intermittently by strings, bass electric piano chords and uplifting synth ‘pads’. Taking the time to listen to it without distraction is hypnotic, calming and uplifting – all at the same time.
The rest of the album follows a similar path with abstract synthesiser melodies playing alonsgide moody orchestral rumbles. And thanks to Eno’s production skills, every element works perfectly together. If you want an immersive experience – without getting in the bath – Music for Airports is the obvious choice. Now, go and dig out those headphones.
The rebirth of cool
Ken Kessler continues his look back on the mechanical watch revival and how with the help of Swatch – the industry didn’t just survive the Quartz Crisis, but thrived in its wake
It stood to reason that the greatest appeal of quartz – at least, to non-enthusiasts – was pricing, and the brand that was credited with saving the Swiss watch industry exploited accessibility like never before. When Swatch appeared in 1983 with a collection of 12 watches, the company made it clear that they were not going to let either the Japanese or the American mass production brands hog the market.
For their debut, Swatches were priced between CHF39.90-CHF49.90, settling on a flat CHF50 that year. Don’t quote me, but I think that was approximately £20 (in 1983 values) for the first models sold in the UK. Whatever the price, it was so attractive and the concept so funky that Swatch was a runaway success. It still is.
But while Swatch certainly contributed to the health of the Swiss watch industry, not least by enabling the acquisition and future security of the dearer brands that now form the Swatch Group, it was not per se the salvation of mechanical watches beyond being the financial benefactor of Omega, Longines and the rest.
Crucially, there was an unforeseen positive side effect to the success of Swatch, battery-powered or not: it made wristwatches desirable to a massive demographic. Before that, watches weren’t even ‘a thing’ with a coterie of devotees like cars or fashion or hi-fi – they were just appliances that told you the time from your wrist.
W-a-a-a-a-ay before ‘unisex’ entered the watch vocabulary, watches were also gender-specific. Swatch certainly ushered in the unisex phenomenon, but unlike today, in 1983 there was no stigma about labelling watches ‘men’s’ or ‘ladies’’. Fashionable women in Milan and Paris certainly weren’t bothered by labels, as men’s Rolexes were found dangling from their wrists like bracelets. Regardless of gender, watches beyond the tool types were simply part of one’s attire, and these encompassed all price points.
Come the ‘Quartz Crisis’, it was the dearer end of the market which supported mechanical watches, not the Bulovas, Timexes or Accurists which by necessity dealt in volume. Think of Cartier, Piaget, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Chopard. Whether watch-only manufacturers or jewellery houses with a range of watches, their timepieces were luxury purchases aimed at the owners of expensive cars, handbags and tailored clothing – not watch enthusiasts.
Swatch made wristwatches desirable to a massive demographic
Further to that, one cannot overstate how, prior to the late-1980s, wristwatches fell into two distinct categories. You either bought a watch because you needed it as a tool, whether you were a doctor, a pilot, a sports coach, a teacher, a deep-sea diver or other individual needing precision timing, or you bought it as jewellery. As for the latter, it differed from earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, brooches et al only in that it had an actual active function beyond the decorative.
Even though watch culture had yet to establish itself to the degree we know it today, there were rules of a sort. As long ago as the 1930s, a captain of industry, a Hollywood star, a top athlete or a high-priced lawyer was not going to wear a $49 Timex. While there was an element of status attached to specific watches, it was only to those ‘in the know’.
Prior to the 1990s, the general public was as unaware of Vacheron, Patek or Audemars as they were of Ede & Ravenscroft or Cleverley: high-end watches were a well-kept secret for the privileged. They were so obscure outside of the moneyed classes as not to even qualify as aspirational.
That said, it wasn’t entirely a world devoid of watch awaRenéss. They didn’t shout out the status of the wearer as they do now, but the signals were there. As far back as 1978, the prop masters of legendary TV soap opera Dallas were cognisant enough of the statement a watch made
to strap a yellow-gold Rolex Day-Date on oil baron Jock Ewing’s wrist.
Before donning a Heuer Monaco in the film Le Mans in 1970 for authenticity, pioneering watch aficionado Steve McQueen wore his own Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox and a product-placed Cartier Tank Allongée (or Cintrée depending on the source) in 1968’s The Thomas Crown Affair. They were perfect choices for a multi-millionaire with taste a half-century ago – no bling, just pure style and class. But McQueen always was ahead of the cool curve… by decades. He also sported a Patek Philippe pocket watch in the film, but that tale is for another time.
We were still decades away from ‘watch culture’ and the turnaround in the mechanical watch’s fortunes, despite the prescience of known enthusiasts of the past such as FIAT’s Gianni Agnelli, actors Alain Delon and Stewart Granger, or especially Rudolph Valentino and rock deity Elvis Presley. A century ago, Valentino insisted on wearing his Cartier Tank in the film Son of the Sheik, even if it was historically inappropriate. Presley, another early watch enthusiast, insisted like Valentino and McQueen on wearing his own watch – in this case a Hamilton Ventura – in 1961’s Blue Hawaii.
houses and the mass-market brands.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hamilton, Tissot, Longines, Seiko, Doxa, Certina, Breitling, Heuer, Zenith and too many other survivors to list produced both quartz and mechanical watches, as if hedging their bets, and they’re all glad they did. These would become the brands that would form the entry-level for watch culture, for those who aspired to but couldn’t quite afford a Vacheron or AP.
By this time, brand-new high-end manufacturers were beginning to appear, formed by the watchmakers who learned their crafts just as the Quartz Crisis was taking place. Their arrival was timed not just to address the emerging hunger for luxury goods which had entered the mass consciousness beyond watches – they were primed to appeal to or even engender the first wave of enthusiasts.
Watches beyond the tool types were simply part of one’s attire
It’s not too hard, then, to detect the roots of watch culture through these isolated examples, but until the late-1980s, anything resembling collecting was restricted to clocks and pocket watches. Wristwatches still had a way to go to instil lust in devotees, both aesthetically and intellectually, and to grow into a multi-billion-franc/dollar industry, despite wristwatches having killed off pocket watches by the 1930s.
While Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, et al were able to continue serving a relatively exclusive clientele, having been elite brands before the Crisis, the birth of a global watch culture would require more populist, more egalitarian parents. Fortuitously, what also soldiered on after the arrival of quartz were mid-to-high priced mechanical watches, filling the gap between the high-end
Enter the houses founded by Daniel Roth, Franck Muller, Roger Dubuis, Antoine Preziuso, Svend Andersen, Michel Parmigiani, Philippe Dufour and others who would offer the most outré of complications.
Inspired by the giants of the past such as Breguet, Arnold, Leroy, Harrison, and Graham, they would revive classicism and ensure that master watchmaking capabilities would survive.
As noted in Part I, they were not about to abandon mechanical watches nor the skills they had acquired and refined, many of them learning their artistry working for Patek Philippe and the other great houses. Roth, for example, was the key to the rebirth of Breguet before it was acquired by the Swatch Group, while Parmigiani was a master at restoration for a major collection of clocks and watches. Not content to simply service surviving mechanical watches, these revivalists would elevate horology to new heights.
In Part III, Ken describes the arrival of the auteur watchmakers, watch magazines and watch-only auctions – watch culture before social media
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein knew a thing or two about time. He theorised that time is not an independent entity but is intertwined with the three dimensions of space, forming a four-dimensional ‘space-time continuum’. And that time passes more slowly the faster you’re going. So it shouldn’t be surprising that a man who thought so much about time was very particular about his watches.
Einstein’s first piece, which he wore from 1900 when working at the Swiss Patent Office, was an unbranded 49mm Swiss pocket watch with Arabic numerals, a small seconds dial at 6 o’clock, rose-coloured gilt bezel, and a nickel-finished keyless 15-jewel lever movement with bi-metallic compensated balance. It sold at auction in 2016 for £266,500.
But it’s his second watch he’s best known for. Given to Einstein by Rabbi Edgar Magnin at a lunch in Los Angeles on February 16th, 1931, this Longines wristwatch had a tonneaushaped case crafted in 14ct yellow-gold case with the words ‘Prof Albert Einstein, Los Angeles, Feb 16th, 1931’ stamped into the back. The white dial featured Arabic numerals with a subdial at six o’clock, and was powered by a 17-jewel manual movement.
When he received the timepiece, Einstein was already world-famous. He’d been awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1921 (for his work on theoretical physics) – and with his shock of hair was one of the most familiar faces in the world. As with his first watch, this too ended up at auction, fetching $596,000 when sold in 2008 by Antiquorum.
Einstein was renowned for his lack of interest in material possessions, but his love of watches was genuine as shown by his purchase of both a Longines pocket watch – bought in 1946 and bequeathed to his eldest son, Hans Albert – and a Patek Philippe (also a pocket watch). Such was the power of the Einstein brand that Patek used pictures of Einstein in its advertising in 1980, 25 years after he’d died.
For a man who valued timepieces so much, Einstein’s view of time itself was on the ‘elastic’ side. As he said, “The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, however persistent.”
Which makes you wonder why he bothered with a watch at all.
Everywatch™
We designed the Sealander to do-anything and go-everywhere. With this new 36mm GMT, the range now offers an anytime watch for everyone. Its perfectly proportioned, Lightcatcher™ (another trademark) case protects a precision
Sellita SW 330-2 Swiss movement, with 56 hours power reserve and dual time functionality. It sports highly legible, highly luminous indices and hands, contrasted against a black, white or dragonfly blue dial. Each Sealander is available on a wide selection of quick-release straps. Or you can opt for either our Bader Bracelet™ or Consort Bracelet™ (yup, more trademarks) or both. Neatly (and nattily) bringing us to its other complication: which Everywatch™?
Do your research.
CUSTOMER NUMBER
The C60 Trident Lumière, pg.12