Why do I care so much about watchmaking? There’s just something about Switzerland — the people, the vistas, the Alps, the lakes, the chill to the air on an October morning. It draws you in. And watches do much the same. I love that this industry has survived tectonic shifts in technology and continues to be relevant.

We are all obsessed with time, living and dying by our work calendar, and obsessed with how to use our time wisely. It’s the one asset you cannot buy more of, and it’s the one thing that we all worry about how we spend it.

Auction Fatigue, New Releases, and What’s on the Horizon

What’s happening, watch fans? 2023 has already held plenty of excitement in independent watchmaking and in the watch industry broadly. Auction season got off to an incredible start this year and it seemed like there was an auction every other week. Auctions in Geneva, Hong Kong, and New York dominated the scene and from what I saw, and have personally experienced, there is a lot of auction fatigue setting in. In Hong Kong, it seemed that many bidders did not show up to the first day of auctions.

On paper, I wasn’t sure about this watch. Seeing De Bethune’s DB Eight in person changed my mind.

Simon Brette is protecting the future of watchmaking with his humanistic approach. Partnering with amazing artisans whose work often goes unnoticed has helped him to achieve his first watch, the Chronomètre Artisans, which is a striking combination of a marine chronometer and avant-garde watchmaking.

Attending Windup Watch Fair in Chicago two weeks ago was a breath of fresh air. It’s taken me a little bit of time to digest the changes occurring within the watch ecosystem.