Credit Suisse The Financialist: The Return of the Pocket Watch Freitag, 03. Januar 2014 - 20:12
The Return of the Pocket Watch
By: Robert-Jan Broer
Published: January 3, 2014
When you think of a luxury watch, you probably think of something you fasten around your wrist. But that’s a thoroughly modern sensibility, as wristwatches have only been around for about 100 years. In the years before World War I, a wristwatch was as rare as a pocket watch is today. Back before the reversal, gentlemen kept theirs in the watch pocket of the vest of their three-piece suits. Even railroad workers used pocket watches to keep the trains running on time.
Today, of course, most men think of pocket watches as the kind of thing one inherits from one’s grandfather. Only a few collectors focus on them exclusively, and until recently there has been almost no interest in brand new pocket watches. But that interest is on the rise. And as remarkable as it may seem in a world overrun with iPhones, there are a handful of watch manufacturers that never stopped making pocket watches and a number of others that have recently introduced stunning new models.
In a special guest column from Fratellowatches’ Robert-Jan Broer, The Financialist has compiled a list of the best modern twists on this old-fashioned timekeeper, both from brands that have made them for more than a century as well as a couple of new manufacturers interested in getting in on an old game.
The Contemporary Interpretation
The UR-1001 pocket watch introduced in 2011 by Urwerk, an independent watchmaker in Geneva, brings the company’s method of indicating time through a system of moving satellites to a huge, heavyweight pocket watch made out of AlTiN steel with some titanium elements. The oblong watch is entirely handmade and measures 106mm long, 62mm wide and 23mm high. The dial side’s satellite system is the real showstopper, but the size of the timepiece has allowed the inclusion of other neat features and complications, including a display of seconds, minutes, hours, the date, month, year, century and millennium. Just like a car, this pocket watch has an oil change indicator to tell users when they need to get it serviced (every 5 years) and a linear running-time indicator that counts up to an optimistic 1,000 years. Production of the UR-1001 pocket watch is limited to eight pieces, and the list price is about CHF340,000 ($380,000).
The New Kid on the Block
In 2008, relatively new watchmaker Richard Mille hit the market with a very interesting spin on the classic pocket watch. The titanium RM-020 pocket watch features a tourbillon complication and a movement plate made of carbon nanofibers. The watch is also available in white gold and red gold. The titanium version starts at €400,000 (about $547,000).
The Pinnacle
An ultra-modern watch such as the Urwerk or Richard Mille makes a bold statement, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. For those looking for something a bit more traditional, Patek Philippe makes a few pocket watches each year for collectors, with or without traditional embellishments such as painted enamel miniatures and hand engraving. The pinnacle of the genre is the company’s Caliber 89 pocket watch, created in 1989, which still claims bragging rights as the most complicated watch ever made. With 33 complications, it displays, among other things, the moon phase, sunrise, sunset, month, year, decade, thermometer, and star chart. It takes two dials and an incredible 24 hands to convey all that information.
The Olympian
Omega’s Olympic Pocket Watch 1932 is a literal blast from the past, containing components used to make the official timekeeping stopwatches of the ‘32 Olympics in Los Angeles that the company recently discovered in storage at its headquarters in Biel, Switzerland. Omega made 300 of the watches, evenly split between yellow, white and red gold, a nod to the gold, silver and bronze medals given out at the games. The watch is priced around $109,000.
The Tough One
Panerai, a brand best known for creating wristwatches for military divers, introduced its own pocket watch this year, the Panerai Pocket Watch Tourbillon GMT Ceramica. The timepiece’s skeleton hand-wound movements are manufactured entirely in-house and consist of 277 components. Additional features include 24-hour indicators and a second time zone display. The ceramic case is also great for protecting against scratches. The company is making just 59 of the tourbillion. It’s priced around $223,500.
Author of the popular watch blog, Fratellowatches, Robert-Jan Broer also writes about watches for publications such as Chronos, WatchTime, AskMen and The Watches Magazine.
Above photo of the UR-1001 courtesy of Urwerk.
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