Category: history

The History of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas – The Other 1970s Icon

In the 1970s, the post-war global economic boom came to an end. The new, accurate quartz watches gained popularity and plunged the Swiss watch industry in a deep crisis. As the inexpensive electronic watches began to flood the market, the competition from foreign manufacturers created a major economic turmoil, and with it, the need for Swiss brands to reinvent themselves, making necessary disruptive changes. And that includes the Vacheron Constantin Overseas, a watch born in that exact period.

8 years ago

How Japan’s Thomas Edison Built the Nation’s Most Complicated Clock

Tanaka Hisashige was a genius of epic proportions, perhaps Japan’s greater inventor ever. He built the country’s first steam locomotive, steamship, and telegraph, but is best known as the founder of electronics giant Toshiba Corporation. Often cited as the Thomas Edison of Japan, Tanaka was a remarkable figure whose career spanned a crucial era in Japanese history – […]

8 years ago

Sound Investments: The Genius of Patek Philippe Minute Repeaters 1.

When the little known Patek, Czapek & Cie first founded the now eponymous Patek Philippe in 1839, it was with scant knowledge that their humble maison on Quai de Bergues, Geneva would become a purveyor of high horology. After all, the year of their founding was likely reminiscent of our own witnessing of the first iPhones; we had taken…

8 years ago