Watch Dandy

Auctions are funny things, and there is no telling what can happen. The most dramatic results can be influenced by something as frivolous as literally one man forgetting to set his alarm clock on time, but I suppose that is why we find them so fascinating. Since the big sales took place earlier this week in Hong Kong (Christie’s and Phillips, the latter with two separate auctions) I’ve been poring over the results to try to find a theme or two on which to report. Instead, I found a handful of occurrences that are, well, kinda silly – as in actually amusing. At least to me. I’m not saying they’re wrong, or anyone involved in making them happen is wrong or misguided, it’s just that conventional wisdom and reason might place a question mark in the margin next to them in the history books. Here are five silly things that happened in Hong Kong this week.

A few weeks ago, I took a slight dig at Zenith when it unveiled its latest co-branded effort: a sleek black chronograph created in partnership with Range Rover. This was not because I didn’t like the look of the watch; an all-black El Primero chronograph is exactly what I feel Zenith should be doing more of. Well, Zenith is back with another all-black El Primero, and this time, there is nothing on the dial other than name of the company which makes it and the designation of the iconic caliber ticking inside.

If you love watches and are not yet familiar with Romain Gauthier, we need to fix that right now. And we will. The eponymous brand launched in 2005 with its founder, a Vallée de Joux native who worked in high-precision machining, set on creating movement-first watches that truly innovated on old watchmaking techniques. To date, the Logical One is his most superlative creation and one that never fails to catch my eye. When Mr. Gauthier himself showed up at our offices in New York with a pair of titanium Logical One in tow, I simply couldn’t resist.