FRIDAY WIND DOWN: 23rd June, 2017 – Anyone for a climate pun?
Felix ScholzIt’s that time of the year when we start making Jon Snow/winter puns, but they’re getting a bit long in the tooth, so I’ll try and find a new, more topical climate-based pun. Actually no, all I can think of is climate change gags, and that’s all a bit too real. So I’ll just stick to watches. Speaking of, here’s what’s happened this week, for your Wind Down pleasure.
What happened
That auction train just keeps on rollin’ – the latest significant piece to go under the hammer is a Jackie Kennedy Onassis Cartier Tank, which sold for $379,500 at Christie’s. The watch has a great story, as it was gifted to Kennedy by her brother-in-law Prince Stanislaw Radziwill in 1963. And honestly, it’s just a great piece of Kennedy history – because what would she wear if not Cartier?
Peter Speake-Marin, founder of Speake-Marin watches, announced that he’s leaving the brand he founded in 2002. This should be somewhat contextualised by the fact that Peter hasn’t been a stakeholder since 2008. Peter’s recognised as one of the nicest guys in the business, so it’s sad to see him go. But we haven’t heard the last of Peter, who’s moving on to a digital watchmaking education venture called the Naked Watchmaker (maybe Jamie Oliver is involved?).
What really mattered
Custom limited editions are hot news these days, and it seems like the heavyweight e-commerce platforms are getting involved, with Mr Porter partnering with Ressence to release two versions of the Type 1: 12 in titanium and six in white gold. The titanium model with a blue dial has already sold out. Yet another sign of the times?
The week in numbers
8: hurtful comments about my arm hair on a FB video of a Rolex
225: other comments on the video, not involving my arm hair
1500: likes of the video
83: loves of the video
1: appropriate video to link to the above eight people