The first time I met Claude Sfeir — jeweller, gemologist, watch expert and collector nonpareil — I was starving hungry (of course, we had met many times before, in that glancing, incidental way that people who occupy the same sliver of universe often do, but this was not one of those times.) It was my first year serving on the jury of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, and we were mid-way through a surprisingly exhausting morning assessing the watches in competition.
It was cold and I was hungry, two things that no one from Singapore — tropical gastronomic paradise — should ever be. The rest of the day could have gone very differently if Claude, who is a fellow jury member, hadn’t noticed my alarming state and given me his emergency stash granola bar. We’ll never know how close we were to having an entire room of esteemed horological experts and high-value watches subject to the murderous rage of a redheaded Asian with low blood sugar. This is a good thing.
The first significant conversation I had with Luc Pettavino, founder of Only Watch and indefatigable champion of research and development for a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, was in the King Street auction rooms of Christie’s London. We were there for watch-related reasons, but we ended up talking about so many things beyond horology.
Over the last ten years, I’ve met a veritable legion of people, from top-tier collectors and newbie enthusiasts to independent watchmakers and high-powered CEOs. I can say with some certainty that there is no one with quite the ability to bring individuals together like Luc. You don’t have to take my word for it (although you should), just ask anyone who’s ever met him. Only Watch is known as the biggest charity auction of luxury timepieces in the world, and one of the strongest factors that enables it to be that way is the energy and conviction that Luc possesses and — more importantly — is able to make others feel as well.
These are people who care: people like Claude and Luc. These are people who want to help those in need, who want to bring the world together, who want to share the things in life that motivate and drive them. My first article for WorldTempus is a double-sided take on the double-sided Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime “Only Watch”, and the decision to speak to both Claude Sfeir and Luc Pettavino for this article was based on two reasons. Not only are they two of the most important voices that can be heard on this particular watch, but they also represent the purest essence of the spirit behind Only Watch.
Bringing people together and sharing the stuff we care about are also things we try to do at WorldTempus. I’ve only been here a week, but I already see this so clearly (and anyway, I already knew it before.) With your support and constant readership, my team and I look forward to doing even more.
