A nice extreme

that he has taken finishing to. Finishing every single surface, because he can! One almost thinks he has overcompensated due to his beginnings.

I am not the biggest fan of his work, I must admit, but I am an enormous fan of his story. I, too, started as something else- and among other things,
was also a CNC programmer and operator at one point. I was editing thousand line programs poorly written by engineers who cheated using MasterCAM
by myself at the machine, I can only imagine Mr. Gauthier running into similar instances. Sometimes engineers are not the brightest machinists.

What strikes me as most remarkable is just that- that he was skilled enough to run the particular CNC machines he did, for the company he did, and he
wasn't satisfied. He refused to let the "good ol' boy" network of horology keep him down, and keep others from telling him he could never do it. He learned,
and he has been successful. Even better, Dufour mentored him. Dufour really stands out to me for this, showing there are people who recognize the power
of sheer will to learn. The myth that only established brands or watchmakers can make a watch should be rubbish by now. If you are determined enough,
you can learn anything.

I would love a formal PuristS interview with Mr. Gauthier someday soon. Until then, excellent review, your frankness and candid opinion was refreshing.

💰3 Marketplace Listings for Philippe Dufour›

Gauthier HMS Review

By: gfoo : November 21st, 2012-21:54

(This is my first 'review' – I’m a little long winded so please bear with me and forgive me if this review is deficient - i promise to improve! All watch pix taken with an iPhone , unedited.) The road leading up to my acquisition of the HMS was an interes...

Nice report, gfoo...

By: RobCH : November 22nd, 2012-02:24

...don't be modest ! (Okay, your photography needs work, but hey !! :-) Romain is a great guy and his work deserves to be recognised, beatiful as it is. Congrats on the acquisition ! Cheers, Rob

Truly Wonderful Piece!

By: Whirling : November 22nd, 2012-07:25

I have had an opportunity to handle a couple of Romain Gauthier watches at a local AD. Everything you say is true. They are beautiful watches with a level of finishing that is second-to-none. I'm not sure why we don't hear more about Romain Gauthier, but ...

firstly, welcome to Puristspro and the AHCI n Indie forum.

By: Hororgasm : November 22nd, 2012-13:29

thats a very nice report. Gauthier was on my shortlist, but i wasn't convinced then. I went with DeBethune instead. but its about time to re-look his work again. either that or Alan/THG has a lot of explaining to do :)- You considered the Breguet relative...

thx!

By: gfoo : November 22nd, 2012-17:37

Thanks dude! I already own the De Bethune DB28 aig'dor - that watch is unbeatable and i'll do a review on that soon. I did take a look at the Vingt-8. And honestly in terms of finishing Gauthier wins hands down. One has to see it in the metal to really ap...

Excellent review!

By: radone : November 22nd, 2012-22:59

Thank you for the time you took to write it! Excellent choice, too! Wear it in good health.

Great report, happy to hear your reaction to Romain's creation.

By: Tim Jackson : November 23rd, 2012-13:38

You have acquired a very special piece, well done! Couple of points to make, the screws with the "S" slot, are there for several reasons, one of which you mention. the others are for safety, the screw driver blade cannot slip out and scratch the surroundi...

thanks tim

By: gfoo : November 25th, 2012-21:10

thanks for the info - helps greatly. personally I'm opposed to 'proprietary'. At this level, sending back the watch to its maker for servicing etc is a given. But it's also reassuring if any competent watchmaker can work on the watch - owners should have ...

KV uses proprietary screws on his case back, same reason I believe.....

By: Tim Jackson : November 26th, 2012-11:04

As with Dufour, I'm pretty sure these guys do not want others working on their babies. I know this may seem wrong to some, but if a "competent watchmaker" were to mess up in any way the finish or a part, as does on rare occasion happen, they owner is then...

Passion

By: VIP : November 25th, 2012-22:00

..sounds like he is extremely passionate and persistent man of horologerie..

A nice extreme

By: Ophiuchus : November 29th, 2012-18:59

Well Gfoo, wow!:) thank you for your very interesting...

By: Sandgroper : November 29th, 2012-22:58

review, for someone totally new to the watch collecting to give us such detailed and well written review, bravo and thank you. I guess you meant corundum and not conundrum when describing the jewels:) Very interesting watch, would love to see it in the me...

Great report and stunning watch!

By: bjacknot : November 30th, 2012-11:20

I really love the movement side where it appears a lot of black polishing was done. I am not a fan of locating the crown to the backside because of both aesthetics and hygiene, too. Finally, I empathize with your lack of local watch buddies. I too feel re...