Horolonomics

Gerald Genta's creativity was the fountainhead for an astonishing array of watch designs. Gerald Genta's painting of a watch design, one described further below Many of his compositions of complications, bezel, dial, case and bracelet have stood the test of decades. Take, for example, Genta's vision for the Nautilus, which Patek Philippe introduced to the world in 1976. Almost a half century later, there is a nearly insatiable demand for this watch. The enduring popularity of Genta's Nautilus stands in stark contrast to then-contemporaneous fashion trends. As noted on Debbie Session's web page Vintage Dancer , the Nautilus was born alongside 70s disco dudes built on the Peacock Revolution of the 1960s, strutting the dance floor in all the trappings of the neo-dandy. Long hair, ruffled shirts, and gold jewelry were cultural mainstays. Jumpsuits and platform boots were popular with both sexes. Even hot pants were a perennial favorite. While 1970s clothing

Hello! I apologize if you signed up for email updates on Horolonomics but you haven't received an update since July or so. Google closed a service I was relying upon for those updates and I'm only now figuring out how to transition to a new service. The good news is that my next post is a big one and I figured all this out before that one went live. This isn't the code I had to fix but it is close. If you're reading this after receiving an email, I moved your subscription to my new service. Hopefully you are OK with that, if not, you should be able to unsubscribe on the new service. If you have any concerns please DM me on Instagram (@katimepieces) and I will fix things. Again, my apologies for the delay on fixing this. Horolonomics is a one man operation and sometimes it takes me a while to figure out the magic of tech. As always, thank you so much for reading and spreading the word. It means a TON to me.

This post started to form in my mind when I hit "search" on Instagram and out popped a picture of a curious item. The Heuer photocell in question. Credit @heuercollectors It looked like a closed-circuit camera. It was in a striking shade of red embellished by the Heuer mark and stood atop a black tripod. The poster, @heuercollectors, offered a caption: ... I bumped into this wonderful red colored racing track device, a heuer (sic) formule (sic) 1 photocell. Just couldn't resist buying it from a friendly Belgian owner. I can't find a lot of information on these devices so all additional info (when, where, how it was used) is very much appreciated! Challenge accepted. I almost immediately began to understand why the original poster was having such a hard time learning more. A metal tag on the base of the object provided a "Mod" number which read 2-21. I couldn't find anything about that model but I did find a model 2-31 photocell that loo

The watch industry has seen a fair bit of dynamism in recent years. An ownership share in Breitling has, apparently, changed hands. Richard Mille turned down an offer from Kering and, instead, Mille's children are taking an increasingly prominent role in the business. The publicly listed retailer Watches of Switzerland (WOS) is expanding geographically and diversifying their porfolio to include vintage . One of the more significant developments, though, is definitely the acquisition of the retailer Tiffany's by the luxury group LVMH. This change in corporate ownership, alongside the departure of a prominent salesperson , created some murmurs about whether a longstanding relationship would continue. The temptation to pull Patek Philippe from display cases and replace the crown jewel of Swiss watchmaking with one of LVMH's own brands may prove simply too tempting for Tiffany's new owners. Would Tiffany's and Patek Philippe find a way to continue their relat

This post has been subconsciously rattling around in my head since the very early days of Horolonomics. Never leave your wingman. For some reason it coalesced into something a bit more substantive over the past few days. The TLDR on this is that the existence of Veblen effects in the luxury watch market implies there are probably multiple equilibria. The economics of markets with multiple equilibria is quite different than the textbook view of markets. In such markets, expectations and herd behavior are extremely important. These can quite significantly change the price of a product, even if all market fundamentals are stable. Before we explore these results, let's begin with some first principles. Most markets follow the law of demand: as price goes up, the quantity demanded of a product declines. As I've discussed previously , luxury markets are different. They typically "break the law" when it comes to demand: when price increases, people may actuall

Dr. Robert S. Dietz was "one of the most irritating as well as influential geologists of the 20th century," at least according to a 1998 piece published in The Geological Society of America Memorials . Robert Dietz scuba diving in Japan, 1953. Source: UCSD archives. The same piece notes that, "a mountain in Antarctica, a tablemount on the Pacific Ocean floor, and an asteroid somewhere in orbit between Mars and Jupiter," were all named in his honor. This is the story of a period of time in Dietz' life and the watches he owned during that time. I first encountered Deitz' story when I read a piece by Jose "Perezcope" on the Rolex Deep Sea Special series of watches. The commemorative edition of the Rolex Deep Sea Special. Two examples of this watch are on the auction block this month. They have garnered a fair bit of media coverage. Jose's work is required reading for anyone wishing to learn about the "fog of history"