Horological Meandering

[Fellow tragics: AndrewD may be travelling, but being the thoughtful moderator that he is, he has taken steps to ensure that we do not suffer too much by his absence. It seems that he had his next 'Purist Of The Week' post all ready to file, and it has turned up mysteriously here. This week's POTW is our very own Amanico, aka Nicolas, aka Vlad Dracul!  Enjoy….]

1. What watch are you wearing today?

Eeeerm, today I wear a very rare mint condition platinum 'Tribute to Comex' Forty-nine Fathoms which is going to be a vampire on my wrist for seventeen minutes. I find this one from a good hermano: it was made for three French Comex divers to wear in the Icelandic Cod war of July 1964 – a very good year, yes? ;-))). It looks so right on Nato but I am having thirty or forty straps made from vintage narwhale leather and Cod skin in rainbow colours. LOL, the Devil is in the detail, my friend!

2. How do you usually choose a watch to wear?

This is easy. The one I buy in the morning I wear in the morning. The one I buy at lunchtime I wear to the brasserie and I keep it on until I see my dealer for coffee in the afternoon. Then I wear the one I buy from my dealer until I get home, when I switch to my beater MMR so that the bells help me to stay awake while I post through the Vlad Dracul hours. On the weekend I pick one for rotation from the selection on the bedside table –

3. How did you discover PuristS?

I was banned everywhere else: my post count exceeded server capacity.

4. What does it mean to you to be a Purist?

I have found a home at last! Here I have many, many friends from the whole world over and some of them even like my jokes!!!

When I was a 'Paneristi' I could only post about OP watches and legal affairs, but here there are so many boards to read and to keep up with. My favourite board is A. Lange & Soehne, AHCI, Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet, Bvlgari, Cartier, Chopard, Gerard Perregaux, Glasshutte Original, Harry Winston, HoMe, Jaeger Le Coultre (have I mentioned JLC here before?), Montbanc, Officine Panerai, Omega, Patek Phillipe, Piaget, Richard Mille, Rolex, TimeOut, Ulysse Nardin, Vacheron Constantin, WristScan, and sometimes when nobody is looking I access the closed Jaquet Droz and FP Journe forums, but do not tell Thomas the Magnum!

I do not ever visit the Collectors' Market because that is like the heroin, and because I would never, ever, ever use my access as a moderator to see what watches I can buy before you can all see these. No; not ever. If Bill says any different, who must you believe? Have you seen Bill's Rolex collection, heeeerrrrmmmm? Did you see that matching numbers triple lock big crown no guards metres first double red gilt lollipop maxi dial 1530 Series 111 transitional Pepsi Bowie on Jubilee bracelet (that Bill got and I did not) come up on CM? No, you did not! I ask again: who must you believe?

5. Is there a single element in a watch that is most important to you, and why?

This is not in a watch, it is in a clock, and in one very special clock. It is the going mechanism for the 'Atmos' clock by Jaeger Le Coultre (have I mentioned JLC here before?). It is fantastique, is it not? It goes and goes and goes and goes, but it does not need the winding or the batteries -

I, too, like to go and go and go, so I ask my good friends Jerome and Magali to talk to their people at Le Sentier to see if maybe they can make for me a heart that is like the heart of the Atmos. Watch out here, friends – maybe I will be on display at SIHH this year!

[Here is a photo gratuit of Mlle Metrailler; why would I not post a photo of Mlle. Metrailler???]

6. What other hobbies do you have?

Zut alors! There are so many! I enjoy most my time with la famille, and we take photos of watches at the beach together, photos of watches at the markets together, photos of watches at all the motorway parkings (this is the English word, yes?) and photos of watches on all the rooftops we visit together.

I adore the motor racing and the polo, because these are the favourite hobbies of my uncles Antoine and Edmond.

I adore to drink the good wine (because it is like blood!!), but this is not really a hobby because everyone in France adores to drink the good wine. I make lots of the GTG in Paris but this is when my hermanos from other countries, like the 'Mussels from Brussels' and that Freeeeeaaaaakieeeee Englishman, they make me drink the beer from their countries and then it feels like I have the UN Jaquemarts behind my eyes.

I like to collect some of the boxes in which I receive my watches –

I have also been learning to fly –

7. You mention the 'Freakie Englishman': the English and the French do not always get along. How are you two?

I am sometimes hurt when he calls me a cheese-eating surrender-monkey (I do not eat a lot of cheese…), but we usually get on well because he makes me look so good (who would think that for him 64 is also a good year?).

If he gets too clever I remind him that this his queen is on the right and our 'queen' is on the left -  

Besides: have you seen his feet???? Incroyable! –

8. If you could keep only one watch in your collection, which would it be?

I have very simple needs, but before I make this choice I make the trade with the Devil (I am a lawyer also – it is a professional courtesy, no?). Then he can keep my watches and I keep his Hybris Mechanica. I will get this one day, for sure.

9. Is there a watch you love, but would never buy? Why?

Daaaaang, there is a watch like this, and I would not buy it because I do not need to. I have a client, he does not remember to pay all his taxes, so the authorities pick him out for special treatment. He wears a lovely AP Equation of Time and it is not too big on his wrist. He kills me with this one! Maybe he will not have money left to pay my fee, so I tell him we rely on the great French tradition of "liberté, égalité, fraternité" . He asks what this means: my English is more catastrophic, but I think this means "If my judge sets you free, you give me your Equation of Time, brother."

9. Which watch has most recently captured your attention and why?

Damn, this is not so easy! I like the Amvox DBS by JLC (have I mentioned JLC here before?) because of the accessory supplied by the partner, Aston Martin. They give me one of these to test, but I have trouble testing the WR and the five positions -  

Watch here, my friend, for the review I will make soon.

Now, adieu - I must fly! 

Vlad Dracul!

[Disclaimer and acknowledgements: some names have been disguised to protect the guilty. OK, it is just a little bit possible that not all of this interview is completely genuine. No harm, no foul. Photo credits are all embedded in the photo URLs; right click to view. No animals (except maybe the odd bat) were harmed in the making of this post. Cheers, pplater.]