Quill & Pad
Elizabeth Doerr's entire world seems to have been following the Australian Open 2022 tennis saga over the last couple of weeks – even people who generally do not follow tennis. So as the first Grand Slam of the tennis calendar 2022 gets underway, she briefly examines Novak Djokovic and his pretty scandalous behavior as he relates to our watch world.
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There is a wide variety of criteria that Martin Green might apply to make a list of his top 5 watches of 2021, but he has chosen to follow the most important one: whether when he first saw the watch it brought a rush of excitement and continues to do so every time he sees it. Here he shares his five favorites of 2021, and some may surprise you.
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With a still-ongoing pandemic, some might think it quite fitting that the Pantone Color Institute chose Ultimate Gray 17-5104 as one of its two Colors of the Year for 2021. Check out these five elegant timepieces with gray dials that are available now and decide for yourself if gray brightens your day as much as that of Sabine Zwettler.
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While these days community building in the enthusiast realm seems increasingly the domain of brand-agnostic organizations, there remain old-school organizations whose members are devoted to the watches of a single maker. One such example is the Journe Society, a small, low-profile group of enthusiast collectors. GaryG sheds some light on the group and its specially commissioned group watch.
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When Ken Gargett first got interested in wine, he was warned about Burgundy. It was made abundantly clear that he (by which he means a bunch of friends with far more experience in wine than he had) drank Bordeaux. But times change and the greatest wines he has tasted have been Burgundies. Here he relates the region's fascinating history, including a historical war of words with Champagne.
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Some of the top watch manufacturers in the world have released special edition watches in honor of the 50th anniversary of the UAE for Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, who stages Dubai Watch Week. This collection of 35 models – which is also very likely already long sold out – makes for a very interesting chapter in the ever-evolving stories of the UAE and Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons. Check out five of the most interesting right here!
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Enamel dials are not as uncommon as they once were, and brands need to do a little bit more to stand out. Jaeger-LeCoultre has no problem with that as the Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel features eye-catching blue enamel over a hand-guilloche dial. Martin Green looks at what else makes this model stand out.
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Martin Green enjoys hiking to the Dutch beach in the winter. So when he borrowed a Tutima M2 Coastline Chronograph for a test he decided to put it through its paces at the coastline. The stormy conditions were challenging, but the M2 Coastline Chronograph proved its worth.
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Never let it be said that there was a bandwagon that Ian Skellern didn’t jump on. It looks like it’s the season for everyone to be sharing their favorite watches of 2021 so here are his top ten horological highlights of the last 12 months.
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Elizabeth Doerr was particularly pleased to receive a copy of 'Konstantin Chaykin: Haute Horlogerie With Russian Soul' and to discover it was expertly written by Alexey Kutkovoy, both of whom she has known and respected for many years. Her verdict? "There is nothing left to say but 'spectacular'.”
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The twelfth edition of Poland’s Watch of the Year by CH24.PL included all timepieces introduced in 2021 competing across six regular categories. Brands did not have to enter their watches; the shortlists were made by the jury. And the wonderful winners are . . .
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Ken Gargett recently had the good fortune to partake in a wine-tasting lunch with well-heeled friends and judge who brought the best wines. The best (though there was some controversy) was a 1989 Krug champagne. But there was no debate over the best red: a 2010 Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino from Tuscany. Here he shares some of the fascinating history of Biondi-Santi and its wines.
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In no particular order, Elizabeth Doerr shares eight random facts that she found interesting, entertaining, and/or educational that are mined from Quill & Pad articles published in 2021. Enjoy!
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Every year people working in the watch industry pass away, and brands come and go. Here Elizabeth Doerr highlights a special few of the people we lost in 2021.
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It was not an easy task for Sabine Zwettler to narrow down her favorite new launches from the last 12 months to just five models. With the plethora of truly well done and surprising watches, it would have been no problem for her to choose ten times as many! What did she end up with? Find out here!
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Hervé Deschamps has described the Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Blanc de Blancs as “the quintessence of Chardonnay with the brilliance and rarity of a yellow diamond.” Ken Gargett thinks it's hard to argue with that. Here he explains why and shares his experience with the 2006 vintage.
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Zeitgeist marks the five-year anniversary of the launch of Armin Strom’s patented resonance technology and focuses on the brand’s ideals and commitment to innovation in watchmaking by going back to the roots of watchmaking while remaining entirely cutting edge.
Quill & Pad
As read by you, here are the top ten most viewed articles on Quill & Pad this past year. There are definitely a few surprises. Drum roll, please: in no particular order, our top ten most viewed articles of 2021 were . . .
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In this video, Philippe Dufour and Claude Sfeir discuss the results of the November 2021 Phillips auction featuring the Grande et Petite Sonnerie No. 1 pocket watch (1989), the Grande et Petite Sonnerie wristwatch (1992), the Duality (1996), and the Simplicity (2004). And they drop a hint that something new might well be in the works.
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Ken Gargett describes the Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet 2018 as beautifully refined, elegant, and powerful with the structure and fruit to last and improve for another 10, 20, or 30 years. An exquisite Cabernet, one of Australia’s best, and his score reflects it. Here Ken also gives us more than ample background on Wynns, the premier producer in Coonawarra, South Australia.
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In honor of 'The King’s Man,' the next instalment of the entertaining Kingsman film series, which is finally getting released, Elizabeth Doerr takes a look at the watches that starred in each of the three films – three watches that are as diverse as if they had come from Marvel's multiverse!
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With twin orbiting tourbillons and a highly mechanical display, the Louis Moinet Astronef builds on stylistic spacecraft origins and creates something entirely fascinating. Joshua Munchow heads into space to take a closer look.
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How time flies! It seems like only yesterday that GaryG penned an article about wristshots. But that was back in 2015. And in 2017 that he posted thoughts and images on how to – and how not to – take watch photographs for sharing. It seemed to Gary that it's about time for an update on both – as while some things remain the same, much has changed.
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Launch yet another me-too blue-dialed steel sports watch today and you can expect flack. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Tourbillon is, you guessed it, a blue-dialed steel sporty watch. But as Joshua Munchow explains, it's much more than that. And you'll probably really like it.
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What does Patek Philippe mean to you? For GaryG, Patek Philippe is a firm both mindful of the traditions of horology and clearly focused on its own legacy. This is exemplified by the brand's Rare Handcrafts: watches and clocks displaying traditional arts, including engraving, enameling, micro mosaics, and a favorite of his: wood marquetry. Here Gary gets behind the lens to shoot Reference 5089G-018, a 175th anniversary limited edition with wood marquetry dial.
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Ferrari had already teamed up with quite a few different watch brands to feature the Prancing Horse logo on the wrist: Cartier, Girard-Perregaux, and Panerai are forces to be reckoned with, yet it was Hublot who enjoyed the greatest success in partnering with the famed car brand from Maranello. And Martin Green thinks that this might be the most successful car/watch partnership that the industry has seen so far. What do you think?
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At the recent premiere of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ in Los Angeles, Benedict Cumberbatch, aka Doctor Strange, had a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Perpetual on his wrist. Elizabeth Doerr explains the WIS-worthy significance of him wearing this particular model, which calls back to an earlier film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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To celebrate the 300th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Jaquet Droz commissioned a big, beautiful book written by Swiss historian Dr. Sandrine Girardier. Elizabeth Doerr reviews 'The Worlds of Jaquet Droz' here.
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Ken Gargett set out to review a wine that has been called an Australian First Growth, the Wynns Black Label Cabernet, and its flagship, the John Riddoch Cabernet. But it became clear to him that without providing some context and history in relation to Coonawarra that anything on those wonderful wines would be incomplete. And here he does just that.
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The Phillips watch auction in New York on December 11, 2021 sold a brand-new Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 5711/1A-018, double signed “Tiffany & Co”. The hammer fell at a jaw-dropping price of $5.35 million. The buyer’s premium on the sale was an additional $1.153 million. Brendan Cunningham reflects on that auction result and the possible wider implications for the market.
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