2. THE TUDOR BLACK BAY P01 AND THE STORY OF THE 1967 PROTOTYPE THAT INSPIRED IT
There’s a very good chance that the Tudor Black Bay P01 was the most controversial and talked about watch that was released at Baselworld 2019. Admittedly, it is a very unusual looking watch with an even stranger bezel-locking mechanism. The resemblance to certain watches from a Japanese watch company aside, it looks like nothing else we have become accustomed to from Tudor or even its parent company, Rolex. But to dismiss it simply because of the way it looks would be missing the point and an interesting and significant part of horological history. This is the story of Black Bay P01 and why it is noteworthy.
Source: Quill & Pad
3. ENCOUNTERING WATCHMAKER HAJIME ASAOKA IN TOKYO
There is a lot of romanticism to the idea of a watch made by a single watchmaker. But sadly, there are only a handful of people in the world with the skills and, perhaps more importantly, the perseverance of undertaking such a task. It takes a lot of work and patience to machine and finish all the individual components, and that’s before talking about other things like designing a functionally sound and aesthetically pleasing movement. Hajime Asaoka is one of the few watchmakers in the world who is capable of building a watch from scratch. Entirely self-taught, he started making watches about 10 years ago out of an apartment in Tokyo. In this video, he talks about his beginnings, his philosophy of watchmaking, and the psyche of Japanese collectors.
Source: TheWatches.TV
4. THE 6 MOST OVERUSED WORDS IN THE WATCH INDUSTRY
We watch writers and journalists can sometimes be lazy. And when we are lazy, we often fall back to one of these overused (and often incorrectly used) words. How many times have you read that watch X or watch Y is an “icon?” How many times have you read about brand X or Y being “innovative” or “passionate,” or that it has “heritage?” I’ll be the first to admit that I’m sometimes guilty of using some of these words. But I’m trying to reserve them only for watches and situations that are truly deserving of these words. More importantly, we watch writers and journalists need to hold ourselves to higher standards.
Source: Time + Tide