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

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 surrounding parts and it prevents non-authorized servicing or repairs. As this is unique to Romain, he has his "babies" to protect and doesn't want any old watchmaker working on his watches. He will not supply parts to independent watchmakers as he can only insure his watches are correctly looked after in his atelier. This may seem a bit protective, but I can appreciate and understand why he does this.
The "S" slot also is found in a mirror pattern, depending upon which direction they are to be turned. There are a few occasions when a watchmaker will use an opposite threaded screw, and in order to not have them screwed in or out wrongly, he uses opposite slot and different screwdriver for these particular screws. Again safety conscious and the engineers practical viewpoint coming into play.

He unfortunately cannot be an AHCI member due to not being a watchmaker, yes, he conceived and designed it himself, but alas as he would have to be a watchmaker in order to qualify.

Either way, he is a true purist and a very good guy, who has given us a lovely piece of his heart in his watch.

Cheers,
Tim

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

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

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 s...

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...