Despite lolling in the doldrums between last month’s LVMH Watch Week and April’s flagship Watches & Wonders trade show, the watch world marches on! From a 17-year old watchmaker to a 150th anniversary Piaget, and from new watchmakers in Dallas to Parisian timekeepers of old, this month’s roundup spans both time and place. Our friends at Monochrome give the definitive explanation of leap days, while aBlogtoWatch founder, Ariel Adams, caught up with Long Island Watch founder to talk all things affordables. Let’s get to it!
1 – It’s February 29th… What Exactly is a Leap Year? And What Does it Mean for Watches?
Before it fades from our collective consciousness for another four years, let’s bid a farewell to Leap Day 2024. In what may have seemed a (relatively) slow news day, headlines inside and outside the watch world were crowded with discussion of the how and why Leap Days occur. Brice Goulard at Monochrome masterfully connects the historical with the horological, lucidly explaining why on earth we go so crazy for February 29th’s watch of the moment – the perpetual calendar.
Source: Monochrome Watches
2 – New Release: Piaget Revives Polo 79 Watch In Gold For 150th Anniversary
Auric Goldfinger, eat your heart out. As if the revival of the most retro-luxe watch imaginable wasn’t enough reason to celebrate, the return of the Piaget Polo also marks the return of the word “gadroon” to the watch lexicon. Celebrating 150 years of the Piaget brand, Senior Editor Sean Lorentzen explains why the Polo puts down stakes for yellow gold’s rally to the fore of watch discussion.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
3 – Tudor Joins Forces With New Visa Cash App RB F1 Team
No longer content to be merely the official timekeepers of Formula 1 racing, Rolex has found its way back to the F1 paddock for 2024 through its sister brand Tudor. In a pre-season announcement featuring drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, F1’s worst-named team now has some of the best watches on the grid. Tudor also teased a blue-dialed black ceramic watch that’s as-yet unavailable to the public.
Source: A Timely Perspective
4 – Taylor Swift May Have Just Started a Watch Choker Trend at the Grammys
The year is 2056. President Taylor Swift has just won re-election while her husband, UN General Secretary Travis Kelce, positions himself for a future White House run of his own. Most historians point to mid-February 2024 as the moment the power-couple began their meteoric rise to political prominence, carried by the unstoppable momentum of Kelce’s third Super Bowl victory and Swift’s record-breaking fourth Album of the Year Grammy award. While accepting the award, she donned a chic watch choker, thus kicking off a global craze that breathed new life into the listless Swiss watch industry. Thanks, Taylor.
Source: Variety
5 – New Podcast! Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry
Just four episodes in, the new Openwork podcast from Collective Horology brings a refreshing view of the business end of the watch business. Speaking candidly and with a unique perspective brought by years of watch enthusiasm followed by the harsh reality of watch retailing, Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective, take on dimensions of the watch industry not often discussed. Topics include why rubber straps actually cost $50,000 and why watch journalists are actually skilled tightrope-walkers. Well, most of us, anyway.
Source: Openwork Podcast by Collective
6 – Renowned Mountain Climber, Adventurer, Photographer Jimmy Chin Joins Bremont as Brand Ambassador
Jimmy Chin, the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-all has lived lives as a photographer, climber, conservationist, and Oscar-winning filmmaker so successful, he makes the rest of us wonder if he secretly has 25 hours in the day. It was only a matter of time before brands began beating a path to his door, and among watchmakers, Bremont was ultimately the one to bag him. A natural fit for Bremont’s new “Take it Further” campaign, Chin’s involvement could mark a new era for the British brand.
Source: A Timely Perspective
7 – Rolex Wants to Send You to Watchmaking School for Free
Last year, Rolex officially opened its multi-million dollar Watchmaking Training Center in Dallas. In February, the Crown opened applications for its first batch of candidates and competition will surely be stiff, thanks in no small part to the offer of free tuition for accepted individuals. It’s an exciting development for U.S. watchmaking, as at least much of the expertise developed in Dallas will surely stay in the Stateside watchmaking world.
Source: Robb Report
8 – SUPERLATIVE: Marc Frankel of Long Island Watch
aBlogtoWatch founder Ariel Adams spoke earlier this month with Marc Frankel, font of watch knowledge and founder of Long Island Watch. Over the course of an hour, Marc shared insights into the retail side of his operation, and explained why the expiration of the Seiko SKX007 opened the door for his own creations. As fans of Marc’s YouTube channel know, his honest, humble style is a down-the-pipe fastball in a world of spinning curveballs.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
9 – Just 17 and his First Watch Already Sold Out… Here’s The Story of Indie Watchmaker J.S. Elliott
In case you were getting a little too complacent about your own achievements, Monochrome presents the story of Elliott Kim, the 17 year old progenitor of the Theory One. Starting the design when he was just 15, Kim designed and developed the 38mm dressy timepiece himself, using 3D printing and working with component manufacturers to deliver the pieces. Finished and assembled in the U.S., he’s already begun work on the Theory Two.
Source: Monochrome Watches
9 – The Underground Clocks of Paris
In less than ten minutes, YouTube channel PrimalSpace describes in dazzling detail the workings of Paris’ revolutionary 19th-century pneumatic clock system. In a cohesive public-works project that seems laughably impossible today, the City of Lights became the City of Clocks, bringing accurate timekeeping to the masses and simultaneously negating any excuse for being late because of unsynchronized clocks (a lamentable problem that persists to the present day).
Source: PrimalSpace
10 – Hands-On Debut: Zenith Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar
Although it’s still early days, the new Triple Calendar Chronomasters are easily one of the top releases of the year. In a how-did-it-do-that architecture, Zenith crammed a triple calendar chronograph into a 38mm case. Paired with near launch-day availability and scads of dial/strap combo options, there’s little excuse why these small watches won’t make a big splash.
Source: Watch Time