An essay exploring the confusing meanings of In-House in regards to watch movement production, and how to clarify the use of the phrase in-house
Insight Clarifying In-House Movements for the 21st Century Watch Collector
Category: Grand Seiko
Hands-On Grand Seiko SBGX347 & SBGX349
The Skinny Size: 34 x 41.5 x 10.7mm Case Material: Stainless Steel Movement: 9F61 In-house, Quartz Water Resistance: “Splash” Strap: Leather, 18mm Price: $3,300 I appreciate the craftsmanship and value of Japanese luxury watch manufacturer Grand Seiko. However, the nearest Grand Seiko retailer is two hours away. That makes it hard to connect with the… Read more »
Podcast Insights E28 – Quantum Leaps in Collecting Watches
Allen explores his new directions for his own budding collection of Vacheron Constantin watches, centering on a near disaster of a purchase due to his unbridled impetuousness. Two friends saved him from repeating past mistakes. Related Articles
Podcast Insights E27 – Why I Sold My 50th Birthday Grand Seiko At Age 51
Horology Inc. provides us with a vast array of dial colors able to splash dopamine onto our opiate receptors. We often dismiss new colors as a superficial trend lacking horological innovation, but Allen argues that – because splashy dials spontaneously inspire joy, beauty, and emotions that, science has shown, replicate our experience of Love – great dials may be closer to the center of The Aesthetic Revolution than we ever imagined.
Curating the Collection How Storage Impacts Confidence in Collecting
Just admit it: you, like me, give more than two shits about what people think of your watch collection, and the reason is clear: our collections represent us. Every little detail that we’ve allowed past the velvet rope into our personal horological disco is out on the floor for others to judge. We really wouldn’t give two shits about that judgement if we didn’t understand that what’s being judged is not watches but our most intimate expression of our mostly solipsistic and, thus, often lonely subjectivity inner lives. You, dear reader of horological essays, like me who writes them, give two shits about how people judge you if not your watches, I’m sure of it.
Insight Relapping Grand Seiko – Honoring Taro Tanaka’s Vision
I suspect most people reading this article have heard about the Grammar of Design – Taro Tanaka’s 1962-drafted principles for designing Seiko watches so that they could compete visually when displayed next to their Swiss competitors in the Wako department store in Ginza. What might be less known is how many of Tanaka’s principles fundamentally… Read more »
Hands-On Grand Seiko SBGK007
The Grand Seiko house style of late has been the post-Tanaka, Grammar of designed influenced, ‘slabby’ sports watch, however the new SBGK models offer something altogether smoother.
Curating the Collection Allen Pares Back to Less Than 20 Core Watches
All activity on my personal watch collection has come to a grinding halt since I bought my two Cartier Tanks toward the end of 2020. Having invested in a stereo system and guitar stuff, both of which have been important for me during COVID isolation, my watch funds have been a bit tapped. But the… Read more »
Collector Guide Seiko Crown Special, An Alternative to Vintage Grand Seiko
“Whoa… What is that beauty?” asked Allen as I entered the woody, half-lit inner sanctum of BTD HQ; be-masked and reeking of hand sanitizer. The sanitizer stench was soon overpowered by the heady aroma of cigar smoke and reclaimed barn wood. I was wearing my 1962 Seiko Crown Special and Allen’s comment confirmed what I… Read more »
Curating the Collection Fewer, Better, Dressier
I started 2020 with eight mostly sporty watches. I finish with only four mostly dressy watches. A year ago I could not have imagined what a transformation my collection would have gone through, and I don’t mean ending up with half as many. In fact, after purchasing another dozen or so watches in 2020, of… Read more »