AP KAWS Companion, Lange 1, Freak Diamond Heart, Opus 7 & Ferdinand Berthoud FB3

I got a KAWS Companion figurine along with a book that’s 250 years old. Find out what they have in common on this episode of What’s on My Desk. So, what do I have today? I have the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon, the Companion KAWS edition, and I also have the Ferdinand Berthoud FB3, hence the sculpture and the book. Among that, I have a ridiculous creation from the Opus line at Harry Winston, the Opus 7. And I have the Lange that started it all, the Lange 1, the very, very first Lange 1, along with a freaky watch. And that is a Freak. Now, I’ve talked about Freaks before, but this is a very important Freak. And I’ll explain why.

AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK CONCEPT TOURBILLON KAWS COMPANION

First, I want to jump in and talk about the concept watch, the KAWS watch. Now, look, this is not a watch. It’s a KAWS sculpture that tells time. Every once in a while, a watch comes along that proves that the industry is actually paying attention to culture outside of watchmaking. And this is actually one of those watches. Now, look, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Companion. And Companion is obviously the name of the figure, the very famous figure that you see here and also this guy. If you know KAWS, you’ll recognize the character immediately: the X-shaped eyes, the skull-like head, the Companion figure. It’s become probably one of the most recognizable characters in contemporary art.

Look, I’ve been a fan of KAWS for a long time. One of my favorite pieces actually sits in the lobby of the Brooklyn Museum. It’s called Along the Way. These are two humongous, massive Companion figures carved out of wood. They stand about 18 feet tall. It looks playful at first, but the longer you stare at them, the more emotional it becomes. I’m a frequent visitor to art museums and the Brooklyn Museum is one of those places that I visit, and every time I’m there I kind of stand there for a minute, just look up at these gigantic figurines, and it evokes an emotion. Now look, imagine shrinking that idea into a 43 mm Royal Oak. Instead of printing artwork on the dial like most collaborations would, Audemars Piguet built the entire watch around the sculpture. In the center sits the fully sculpted titanium Companion, pressing its hands and face against the sapphire crystal, almost as if it’s trapped inside the watch looking out at you. Can be a little freaky if you look at it long enough.

Look, the decision immediately created a mechanical issue. Normally the hands of the watch are right in the middle of the dial. This obviously wouldn’t work for this type of design unless you wanted a minute hand running straight through the character’s face. They kind of did that when they created the Black Panther watch, which was dubbed the BBC watch, and they also did it with the Spider-Man watch, where the hands kind of take away from that beautiful little sculpture they created of both characters. So in other words, in this watch, the art kind of dictated the engineering. So what they did is they moved the time out of the center completely. The watch uses what’s called peripheral time display, where the hours and minutes rotate around the outer edge of the dial as you see here, leaving the center open for the sculpture. And once you start looking closely at the watch, the KAWS details are everywhere. The classic Royal Oak bezel screws have the X’s in them. The ratchet wheel is skeletonized in the same X. And even the Companion’s eyes are engraved directly onto the titanium and filled with dark gray lacquer.

This watch is also a tourbillon. It’s a complicated watch. The placement of it at 6:00 is intentional. You’ll notice that it picks up from behind the Companion, resembling the heartbeat of the Companion. This actually didn’t come by accident. Normally you say, “Oh, what’s the big deal? The tourbillon’s always at 6:00.” No, this was actually influenced by the KAWS series called Dissected. This is where the characters reveal their internal anatomy. And so the beating heart of this sculpture is literally the tourbillon. They made 250 of these, but the collaboration didn’t come out of nowhere. KAWS actually stepped into watchmaking years ago with the Ikepod brand, which was founded by designer Marc Newson. And I happen to have the KAWS watch. So they released the Ikepod Horizon collection with the KAWS incorporated design as you can see here. And the way they did it there was a bit different. It’s the hands that make the X, which is super awesome. And you also have the gear teeth going around the dial. But we’re not here to talk about the Ikepod. We’re here to talk about the Audemars Piguet. So what they did versus the earlier Ikepod version that KAWS collaborated with is they took the idea much further. Instead of applying artist graphics to an existing watch, they redesigned the mechanics so the artwork could live inside the watch itself.

This is why this piece also sits inside the Royal Oak Concept line, because since 2002 the Concept series has been AP’s experimental platform for futuristic designs, new materials and unusual mechanical ideas. So whether you love it or hate it, this watch represents something happening across the industry today. A new generation of collectors grew up with contemporary art, sneakers, street culture, and artists like KAWS. These are the same people that are now collecting six-figure watches. And at the end of the day, you’re not looking at a watch with a character on it. You’re looking at a KAWS sculpture that just happens to tell time.

A. LANGE & SÖHNE LANGE 1 REFERENCE 101.001

Now, I don’t do this in any particular order. So, let’s go with the Lange 1. Now, I’m sure you’ve noticed that the collectibility of Lange in the last six months to a year has really risen. The prices have risen. People are going after important early Langes, limited Langes, because they are indeed important. And what I have is what I feel is the most important Lange, because it’s the first Lange 1 in yellow gold, reference number 101.001.

Look, the story of Lange & Söhne is arguably one of the greatest comebacks in the history of watchmaking. It officially began on October 24th, 1994, inside the Dresden Royal Palace, but the roots go back much further. The brand was originally founded in 1845 in a tiny little German town called Glashütte by Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who helped transform a small mining town into a center of precision watchmaking. But after World War II, the factory was destroyed and the company was nationalized by the East German government in 1948, effectively disappearing from the watch world for more than 40 years.

Everything changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. Walter Lange, the great-grandson of the founder, partnered with watch industry executive Günter Blümlein to bring the company back to life. On October 24th, 1994, at the Dresden Royal Palace, they revealed four watches that would relaunch the brand. The lineup included the Saxonia, the rectangular Arkade, the technically monstrous Tourbillon Pour le Mérite, but the undisputed star of the show was the Lange 1, which is the watch that I have here.

The most recognized feature of the Lange 1 is the date. It was inspired by a five-minute digital clock inside the Semper Opera House in Dresden. Instead of a single date wheel, Lange uses two separate discs, making the date dramatically larger and about three times easier to read than a typical watch. In fact, I’m going to go as far as saying this is the easiest date to read on any watch. This particular version, yellow gold, represents the classic configuration of the model, 38.5 mm, which was considered fairly large for a dress watch in the ’90s, giving it a very strong wrist presence while still maintaining an elegant profile.

Back when I started in the industry, whenever somebody wanted a dress watch, bigger was better. When my business got rolling, everybody wanted something bigger. And when it came to dress watches, there weren’t a lot of options. So I’ve always turned to Lange, because they were making bigger watches. They have watches as big as 42 millimeters, but they’re still dress watches, so you can put them on with a suit. Inside the watch, you have the manual caliber L901, one of the movements that actually helped establish Lange’s reputation when the brand returned. And it does feature the traditional German three-quarter plate made from untreated German silver. It has gold chatons secured with blue screws and a hand-engraved balance cock, where every engraving is done by hand, meaning that theoretically no two movements are exactly the same. Keep in mind that German silver is also much softer than the brass used in most Swiss movements, which means even a fingerprint during assembly can damage the surfaces. Now, because of this, Lange famously double-assembles every movement: building it once to test it, then taking it all apart, cleaning every single component, and assembling it once again for the final watch.

Today, the Lange 1 is considered one of the few true modern icons created in the last 50 years. To me, they fall into the category of those iconic watches. Just because something is not from the ’50s, ’60s, or the late 1800s doesn’t make it not iconic. Age has nothing to do with something being iconic. And for me, the Lange 1 is indeed legendary.

ULYSSE NARDIN FREAK DIAMOND HEART

I purposely put together things that are just different. There’s only so much one can talk about, Rolexes and specific Pateks. So I try to get things that are a bit different and sometimes freaky, pun intended, because I’m going to talk to you about the Ulysse Nardin Freak Diamond Heart in platinum. The reason I chose to go with this one, and I have probably six or seven other Freaks sitting in our safe, they’re actually a pretty good seller. This watch sits in a very specific moment in the Freak timeline, and most people don’t even know it exists.

Now, to understand this watch, we’re going to jump back a little bit to 2001 when the Freak was created. Ulysse Nardin dropped the original Freak. When I say things like they broke the rules of watchmaking, this is not a joke. This is a watch that has no dial, no hands, no crown. The entire movement rotates to tell time. The movement itself becomes the minute hand. The hours are shown on a rotating disc underneath. Even setting the watch is different. The bezel is what you have to turn to set time. You unlock it, you turn it to set time. And to wind it, there’s a winder in the back. But the real revolution came from inside the watch. The Freak introduced one of the first escapements using silicon components. And today, silicon components are everywhere in watchmaking. But Ulysse Nardin were the guys that pushed it into reality.

Let us fast forward from 2001 to 2005. The Freak 288 comes out with a high beat rate, variable inertia balance, and dual escapement. The whole thing gets more stable. But the same year they released something even crazier, the Freak Diamond Heart, which is what you see here. Now, while most people think that the diamond heart refers to the diamonds on the markers that show the time and obviously the diamond case, no. Instead of silicon, the escapement wheels were actually made from synthetic diamonds. Yes, actual diamond components inside the escapement. The goal was simple. They wanted to eliminate friction as much as possible and build something that doesn’t need lubrication. And we all know diamonds are pretty tough. The problem is manufacturing diamond components like that is incredibly difficult, which is exactly why you almost never see this. Very, very few were made. And that’s what makes the Diamond Heart a very important Freak. It’s a transitional piece, a moment where Ulysse Nardin was experimenting with extreme materials before silicon became the standard.

Now, right after that, they introduced the DiamondSil. That’s silicon coated with diamonds, the best of both worlds. And that technology still exists to this day. From there, the Freak kept evolving. You get the Innovation Concept, the Freak Diavolo, the Freak Lab, then the Freak Vision, and the Grinder automatic winding system was introduced. Eventually, the Freak X even adds a crown, opening the door for more collectors. And today we have pieces like the Freak S, the Freak One, the Freak Nomad continuing the story. And I can’t wait for Watches and Wonders this year because it’s going to be the 25th anniversary of the Freak. I don’t know what they’re coming out with, but if I had to bet it’s going to be something super freaky. The Diamond Freak literally sits in the middle of the entire Freak story that’s continued to this day. This represents the time when Ulysse Nardin did what they did. They pushed the boundaries of what an escapement could actually be.

HARRY WINSTON OPUS 7

Now, staying on the topic, something that’s pretty freaky, I have the Harry Winston Opus 7. Now, the Opus series, this didn’t just change watchmaking. It literally gave independent creators a global stage. Going back to when independent watchmaking was struggling, nobody knew who they were, nobody highlighted them. Even if you look at things today, you look at some of the major brands out there and there’s no watchmaker getting credit for an innovative design. It’s usually the brand. And rightfully so from the marketing perspective, you want to highlight the brand, not the individual. Kind of backwards if you ask me. But when Max Büsser, my favorite independent watchmaker, was at Harry Winston, he began the Opus Project in 2001 with a radical idea. Instead of developing watches in-house, Harry Winston would invite different independent watchmakers each year to create an experimental limited edition masterpiece. Something out of this world.

And there are big names in that lineup. Opus 1 was debuted by none other than François-Paul Journe. Opus 2 featured the sculptural tourbillon of Antonio Preziuso. Opus 3, the digital jumping porthole by Vianney Halter. One of the craziest independents out there as far as I’m concerned. A lot of people dubbed it the slot machine because it kind of looked like a slot machine. And fun fact, they didn’t deliver the Opus 3 until Opus 6 came out because they were having issues with it actually working. It was such a radical idea. Opus 4 saw the genius of Christophe Claret and a minute repeater, because Christophe Claret is known for his minute repeaters. And of course the Opus 5 was the wild satellite hour collab with Felix Baumgartner of Urwerk and Martin Frei, and that actually really put Urwerk on the map. Max Büsser left Harry Winston to start MB&F, taking on that same idea but now creating his own brand, which is why you see his watches today. They’re all collabs with various watchmakers and even designers. He even gives credit to those that designed the case or dial. Look, lucky for us, Harry Winston moved forward. They next launched the Opus 6. That was with Greubel Forsey. And then in 2007, they turned to master movement architect Andreas Strehler for the Opus 7, which is the watch we have here.

What was his motto? It’s complicated to be simple. Think about that for a second. It’s complicated to be simple. Most watches have hands. The Opus 7 has a single indicator that you see right here. And you notice there’s a crown here and a little trigger which you can press. And what that will do, it will switch and show you first the hours. Another click will show you the minutes. And the third click will show you the power reserve in the watch. You can’t see what time it is on the watch at a glance. You really have to interact with it.

And mind you, after Strehler, the madness continued. Opus 8 with Frédéric Garinaud gave us a programmable digital display. Opus 9 by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht used diamond chains to tell time that would move around. Opus 10 by Jean-François Mojon featured a rotating planetary display. Opus 11 by Denis Giguet had a shattering hour display. Emmanuel Bouchet used flipping markers for Opus 12. Opus 13 by Ludovic Ballouard featured 59 jumping minute hands. And the Opus 14 literally miniaturized a 1950s jukebox. But the Opus 7 remains the bridge. It proved that the series could survive without its founder, because the Opus 6 was already in the works when Max left and was launched while he was no longer there. The Opus 7 is the one watch that gave the world and watch collectors the permission to continue pushing the boundaries of mechanical watchmaking. Some of these Opuses, if you read the whole history of them, they’re mindboggling. The mechanics of this stuff is just simply mindboggling. Just think about what it took to achieve something such as this Opus 7. They made 50 of these. And to me, this watch is not just a watch. It’s a piece of history as it pertains to the Opus series from Harry Winston.

FERDINAND BERTHOUD FB3

Last but not least, I brought an old book with me, and I’ll tell you what it is in a second, because I’m here to talk to you about the Ferdinand Berthoud FB3. Look, most watches talk about heritage. This brand literally built its modern watches using this 250-year-old scientific book. This is the actual book. This book is 250 years old. And the story behind this watch starts in the 1700s.

Ferdinand Berthoud wasn’t just a watchmaker. He was the horological king of France and the French Navy. His mission was the 18th-century equivalent of the space race in the ’60s: solving the longitude problem to stop ships from crashing at sea. This book was actually published in 1773. This book is a literal blueprint for the movement inside this watch. The best part about this book is that it has models of every chronometer and every part of a chronometer that Berthoud ever created. And mind you, these things were large. But you get the idea. When you hold them together, you’re looking at a 250-year bridge between the original marine chronometers and modern horology. And the coolest part is that the philosophy inside it directly connects to the watch.

Look, the Ferdinand Berthoud name was revived in 2006 by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard. And after years of development, the brand officially launched in 2015 as Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud. Notice they use the word chronometry. But the goal wasn’t to build another luxury watch brand. The goal was to create a laboratory dedicated to chronometry. Instead of chasing trends, the brand focuses on precision, historical mechanism and traditional construction inspired by marine chronometers.

Let’s talk about production for a second, which is extremely limited. Ferdinand Berthoud produces only a few dozen watches per year, and the FB3 series itself is limited to roughly 25 pieces annually because of the complexity involved in manufacturing and finishing these movements. And I’ll tell you why. The FB3 represents the brand’s effort to take the DNA of an 18th-century marine chronometer and translate it into something wearable on the wrist today. And inside is a movement designed entirely around precision. The most important element is the cylindrical hairspring, only used in much, much larger marine chronometers. Unlike the traditional flat hairspring, this one rises vertically. And what I love about it is you have a window in which you can actually see it move. Because this was historically used on marine chronometers, it delivers extremely stable timekeeping, but it is extremely difficult to manufacture, which is one of the reasons watches like this are produced in such small numbers.

The design of these watches also pulls directly from marine chronometers. The port-hole window in the case makes the regulating system visible, and these are direct references to all those scientific instruments that Berthoud was building in the 1700s. And this is what makes not only this watch but the book so interesting, because it was written by none other than Ferdinand Berthoud in 1773. It is essentially a technical manual explaining how marine chronometers were designed and regulated. When I take this watch and put it on top of this book, you’re looking at the original research that shaped precision timekeeping and a modern interpretation of those same ideas. That’s what Ferdinand Berthoud is about. It’s not about hype. It’s not about trends. It’s the science of precision timekeeping translated into modern mechanical watches. I urge you to do more research on the brand and some of the other creations. Every single one of them is literally in this book.

Well guys, as always, I want to thank you for tuning in. I ask one thing: like, comment, share, subscribe, and I’ll see you on the next one.