Watches and Politics

Most watch books tell the story of a brand. Some tell the story of a watch. This one tells the story of a movement . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore Vacheron Constantin: Calibre 2755 , a book dedicated to one of the most sophisticated mechanical movements ever created by the historic Geneva manufacture. Introduced in the early 21st century, Calibre 2755...

Some watches become icons because of complications. Others become icons because of design clarity . The Bvlgari Bvlgari watch is one of those rare cases where a simple idea changed the visual language of modern watchmaking. In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore Bvlgari Bvlgari Collection , a book dedicated to one of the most recognizable watch designs to emerg...

What happens when watchmaking stops chasing precision… and starts pursuing beauty ? In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore Time Is Art , a book published by Vacheron Constantin that examines the relationship between watchmaking, artistic craftsmanship, and cultural expression . Rather than focusing only on complications or engineering, this book highlights the...

What makes a watch collectible ? Age alone is not enough. Rarity alone is not enough. In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore The Collectibles , Jaeger-LeCoultre’s remarkable book dedicated to the vintage watches that helped define the identity of the Grande Maison. But this is not simply a catalog of old watches. It’s a book about heritage as strategy . Through...

Behind every extraordinary watch is not just a brand — but a person . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore Watchmakers: The Masters of Art Horology , a book that shifts the focus of watch history away from companies and toward the individual craftsmen whose ideas shaped modern horology . This is a book about people who refused to follow the rules . The watchm...

Some watches follow fashion. Some follow engineering. The Cartier Tank followed history . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore The Cartier Tank Watch — a book dedicated to one of the most recognizable and culturally influential watchdesigns ever created. Introduced by Louis Cartier in 1917 , the Tank did something almost unprecedented: it translated the geomet...

Before time was optimized, quantified, and monetized, it was contemplated . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore The Beauty of Time — a book that approaches horology not through brands or complications, but through art, culture, and the human relationship with time itself . This is not a technical reference. It’s a cultural meditation . In this episode, we dis...

The structure of watchmaking has changed. For decades, authority flowed in one direction — from brands to media, from media to collectors. Today, that flow is no longer linear. Collectors have become creators, platforms have become institutions, and influence is increasingly decentralized. Halim Trujillo, founder of Watch Collecting Lifestyle, represents this shift. What began as a collector-drive...

Some watchmakers build machines. Others build culture . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore Vacheron Constantin: Artists of Time — a book that frames watchmaking not as industrial production, but as artistic authorship practiced over centuries . This is not a technical manual. It’s a meditation on craft, continuity, and creative identity . In this episode, w...

Some watch books document history. Some celebrate design. Hybris Mechanica documents something rarer: what happens when a manufacture removes its own limits. In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore Jaeger-LeCoultre — Hybris Mechanica — a book that serves as both archive and manifesto for one of the most ambitious complication programs in modern watchmaking. This...

Some watch books tell the story of a brand. Others tell the story of a watchmaker. A Voyage Through Time tells the story of a collector’s eye . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore A Voyage Through Time: The Masis Collection of Horological Masterpieces — a book that documents one ofthe most important private collections of historical watches ever assembled. T...

Not all watch books are about movements, calibers, or complications. Some are about time as culture . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore Sevan Bıçakçı: The Timekeeper — a book that sits at the crossroads of jewelry, craftsmanship, symbolism, and storytelling . Sevan Bıçakçı is not a traditional watchmaker. And this is not a traditional watch book. This episo...

In watchmaking, knowledge is often mistaken for information. But knowledge is slower. It is structured. It accumulates — through books, through research, through conversation. Roman, known as @TimesRomanAU, is part of Fifth Wrist — acommunity-driven platform built explicitly outside traditional brand influence. Through his Independent Thinking series, he hasfocused not on releases or trends, but o...

Before there were icons, before there were independents, before there was modern watchmaking as we understand it — there was Breguet . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore The Art of Breguet — a book that doesn’t just document a watchmaker, but explains how modern horology itself was invented . This is not a brand celebration. It’s a study of ideas made mecha...

Some watch books explain history. Some explain mechanics. Rare Watches does something different:it maps the upper edge of possibility . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore Rare Watches: Explore the World’s Most Exquisite Timepieces — a book dedicated to the watches that exist at the very edge of craftsmanship, rarity, and ambition. This is not a price guide....

Some watches become icons because they dominate culture. Others endure because they adapt without losing themselves . The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is the latter. In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore Reverso by Nicholas Foulkes — the definitive modern book on one of the most intellectually rich and quietly radical watch designs ever created. This is not just a...

Collectors are often treated as participants in a market. But collecting, at its deepest level, is something else entirely. It is a process of selection, rejection, revision — a way of constructing meaning over time. Mitch Katz is a collector and author whose work shifts the focus away from watches as status objects and toward the inner life of collecting itself. In his book Time on My Hands, he f...

Not every important watch book is about innovation, mechanics, or brand power. Some are about people . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore A Man and His Watch by Matt Hranek — one of the most influential books in modern watch culture, and arguably the book that helped make personal watch stories a genre of their own. This episode isn’t about complications or...

Some watchmakers perfect tradition. Others reject it. De Bethune does something far rarer: it rebuilds tradition from first principles . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: Watch Books , I explore De Bethune: The Art of Watchmaking — a book that documents one of the most intellectually radical and visually distinct independent manufactures of the modern era. This is not a brand cat...

In most industries, power is measured by growth. In watchmaking, there are rare exceptions — institutions that derive authority not from expansion, but from refusal. From limiting production. From resisting compromise. From maintaining standards that cannot be scaled. Michel Nydegger, CEO of Greubel Forsey, leads one of the most uncompromising houses in modern horology at a pivotal moment in its h...

“Invenit et Fecit.” He invented it. He made it. Few phrases in watchmaking carry as much weight — or as much audacity — as the words engraved on the dials of F.P. Journe . In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I explore F.P. Journe: Invenit et Fecit — the book that documents one of the most important independent watchmakers of the modern era. This episode is not a price...

The Royal Oak is more than a watch. It’s a rupture. In this episode of Watches and Politics — Series 3: WatchBooks , I break down Royal Oak: From Iconoclast to Icon , the official book dedicated to one of the most influential watches of the modern era. This is not a review. It’s a contextual reading . We explore:• why the Royal Oak was shocking in 1972• how steel became a symbol of modern luxury•...

Auction results are often treated as facts. But are markets all neutral? Markets are systems — with incentives, hierarchies, and gatekeepers. Collectors play a pivotal role in them. Paul Boutros is Head of Watches, Americas at Phillips, one of the most influential auction houses in the global watch market. Over the last decade, Phillips has not only set records, but has actively reshaped which wat...

Watches are not just designed. They are written . I n this video, I’m introducing Series 3 of Watches and Politics — a new chapter focused entirely on watch books . As an academic and lifelong watch collector, I’m constantly asked:• Where should I start reading about watches?• Which books actually matter?• What’s real history — and what’s just beautiful marketing? This series is my answer. Each ep...

In watchmaking, power does not always sit with brands. Sometimes it sits with cities. Sometimes with collectors. Sometimes with retailers who decide what deserves attention — and what does not. Jacopo Corvo is co-owner of GMT Italia, a Milanese retailer whose history stretches back to the 1950s and whose modern influence is deeply felt across independent haute horlogerie. Under his family’s stewar...