Independents

Another release from young watchmakers. L'Atelier Bernard "the Owl" Nice but very traditional as most of their colleagues... Focus is on finishing, as usual nowadays. It seems that we'll have more and more guillochage, perlage and anglage. Source : Instag...  

Their young, hungry, and have... time. The parts/layout looks really nice, symmetric 😊

The more the merrier. Heck, could it be that even mere mortals like me could get truly custom even on the minute decoration level (while still keeping one of my kidneys).

but due to CHF 150,000 I will admire it in pcs only lolol

Amazed by the skills of the young watchmakers and what they achieve but they totally lost their minds. Come on ! Let's have a pragmatic approach : Development costs : almost 0 for this type of very, very basic movement. This could be a montre école. Stain... 

I’d buy the Aston Martin. At least I know that the Aston Martin is worth something if I’m going to sell it. I don’t know who Bernard is lol. Best Gatsby

Et voila

The guilloche on the 2 barrels wow!

Now, suddenly, a new independent brand shows up with exactly the same model but it would cost 100K, and all those caught up in the independent hype (who seem to accept anything) would praise it and consider the price completely reasonable.

Good for them if they sell through these, but for the same money there are many, many more interesting pieces available...

I do think the gold inlay is quite cool from a construction perspective but not an aesthetic that I really care for. Lots of open access holes on both sides makes this feel very much a young/immature work which it is and would be fine if it wasn't priced ... 

…at which point do some of these projects begin to fail? Is it that watches number one and two will sell through (be pre sold) and then things become more challenging? Or if your production is sufficiently low (like here) one can sustain demand for a deca... 

We entered a vicious circle. 2 weeks ago Atelier Aubert & Ramel released the same kind of 'tradition' watch at 72K CHF. I guess more to come, unfortunately.

The perpetual MB&F (not EVO) is like ~$115k - $125k, which is SO much bang for buck. An amazing perpetual calendar movement, excellent finishing and a completely novel design.