Baselworld/SIHH

Magnus

I really don’t know what fascinates me more about the DeWitt watches – the watches themselves or the discussion with their creator? Fact is, the latter is key to detect the finesse of DeWitt’s watch design since the watches represent the essence of Mr de Witt’s – often surprising and unconventional - personality. This is helped a lot by the unexpected openness and availability of Mr de Witt.

This is one of the most fascinating aspects of small manufacturers.

A case in point is the Academia Mirabilis which initially I was ready to reject as just another watch with exposed escapement. However, inspecting it closely and discussing it with Mr de Witt it was clear that this watch reveals a deep humanistic spirit, treating work time and leisure differently and associating the latter with ‘life’ and beat. In fact, I was entirely taken by this (technically) comparatively humble watch.

I also applaud DeWitt for going the extra mile each and every time the company participates in the OnlyOne charity auction. They do not only present a variation of a watch, they utilise all their resources and create a really unique and complicated timepiece from scratch. I am not the target audience for ultra-complicated pieces (neither financially not conceptually) and thus the X-Watch won’t get my ‘pick of the line’ distinction, but nevertheless I am impressed.

Having said that, my two points above demonstrate that the manufacturer makes intelligent use of the resources at hand and invests exactly where it is most needed to realise the founder’s creativity. 

As this concept does not follow the industry’s mainstream of 100% in-house movements but rather makes a different statement I cannot help but to voice praise and approval.

Oliver

To be frank, I never handled their watches in the metal before. Couldn’t participate at the IGOTT 2011, but saw lots of pictures and did read the report (link) from Magnus – several times. To make it short, I was really keen on to meet that (family owned and run) company and to see their watches.

It was not a specific watch that I was interested in. I just wanted to get the spirit of that brand.

Let me pick out two of the seen watches for personal comments:

1. Academia Mirabilis  - To me it was one of my personal highlights of the fair, because it made me smile and it felt very good on my wrist. To get Mr de Witt’s thoughts about that watch first hand was just the cream on top.
2. X-Watch - One has to be “mature” for that watch. Mature in the world of watches ☺ I liked a lot of the details shown – Chronograph, Tourbillon, rotary dials, interlocking arms …- but all together it was too much for a simple man like me. Maybe I have to experience with more watches and one day I will come to that level of appreciation.

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