Watch Dandy

You most probably remember the Swiss Mad watch from H. Moser – you know, the one with a case made out of actual Swiss cheese (pasteurized Vacherin Mont d’Or, if you were wondering). Well, now you can bid on this unique piece at Christie’s upcoming Geneva auction in May 2017. H. Moser and Christie’s have announced a partnership and will host an annual sale to benefit the Foundation for Swiss Watchmaking Culture, and it will kick off with a pair of watches, including this cheesy number.

Humpty Dumpty famously says, in Alice In Wonderland, that words are nothing more than pieces in a game, where you can change the rules any time you want. “When I use a word,” he says, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” To which Alice replies, tactfully if skeptically, “The question is…whether you can make words mean so many different things.” In all of watchmaking there’s probably no word that this applies more to than “chronometer,” which first burst on the scene in 1714 – or so many people think – and has been shape-shifting ever since.

With Baselworld just a few days away, pre-Baselworld press releases are coming in daily and one of the latest is from Arnold & Son, who are presenting a new tourbillon wristwatch they say is based on the movement layout of a chronometer made by British watchmaker John Arnold, in 1778, and which is now part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum in the UK. That particular watch is a bit of a linguistic milestone as well, as it was the first watch to be called a chronometer – though of course, back then “chronometer” didn’t mean COSC certification; it just meant a very accurate timekeeper. The Arnold & Son Tourbillon Chronometer, on the other hand, is indeed a COSC-certified tourbillon chronometer wristwatch, which isn’t something you see every day.