There are by now several independents with a couple of decades of accolades and reasonable financial stability, but I am referring to those who dare to go it alone some or all of the way. The purity and poetry of what they try to do is its own reward.
There's a copious four-part series in Orologi di Classi by Denny Grigolo from 2018. It covers much of the same ground as the ACM piece. When I pointed this out - purely out of a wish to share information on a watchmaker who doesn't receive an awful lot of coverage - ACM opted not to post my comment.
Chance encounters stimulate curiosity. Curiosity develops into study. Study gives rise to admiration. Head, heart and gut all play their part in transforming observation into action. So, in my case, it took the better part of a year to get to this point, and I'm much the better for it.
Daniel Roth did as much as anyone to bring Abraham-Louis Breguet's codes to the present day. As one Italian collector has put it: "English design; French conception; Swiss production. He ranks alongside Daniels, Genta and a handful of others as one of the modern greats.
This watch is of course from after Daniel Roth left the project, when he had to leave the use of his own name behind him. I find that quite - how to put it - unsettling? A case of artistry and commerce pulling something beautiful apart. So I actually have mixed feelings about this watch. It's certai