Time suspended. The phrase is borrowed from our friends at La Montre Hermès, which in 2011 gave the French equivalent of this name (Le temps suspendu in French) to a model in the Arceau collection, whose hands ‘frozen’ in place on request appeared to indicate that time was standing still, while the patented movement continued to work under the dial. One press by the wearer on the dedicated pusher reinstated the time display, and “time suspended” resumed its normal course. The world of mechanical horology is indeed a thing of wonder. I have La Montre Hermès on the mind at this very moment as I was meant to be with them in Norway to discover their novelties for 2020.
Since the end of winter, time seems to have been suspended, and with it the functioning of our civilization. Will this period correspond to the time of an entire season? If only we could activate this pusher so that life can restart “as before”! Instead, we are witnessing the reign of the Crazy Hours introduced by Franck Muller in 2003. One is definitely tempted to make a mantra of the famous Don’t Crack Under Pressure slogan launched by TAG Heuer in the early 1990s and reactivated in 2014. Especially since, like entire sectors of the economy, our watchmaking microcosm is being put to the test. GMT, which has been at its side since 2000, is continuing its mission to inform and to highlight the creative treasures imagined by these talented artisans and the companies that employ them. Jaquet Droz’s credo, composed in 2017, seems more relevant than ever: Some watches tell time, some tell a story. GMT continues to be published in order to go on telling these magnificent stories to the grown-up children we all are.
We were supposed to be celebrating our 20th birthday at Baselworld with all its exhibitors. We will toast the same milestone to be reached by our little brother WorldTempus, in the hope that then will be a time for Chopard’s Happy Diamonds and Happy Sport. Meanwhile, for GMT’s 20th birthday, we will be lending a hand (duly immunized of course) to our cousin the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, which is preparing its 20th ceremony at the beginning of November, and we will be inviting all our friends from the watch industry to come and mark the occasion together. As Zenith says, Crafting tomorrow is a never-ending story, and there are still so many pages to be written! With this in mind, GMT and WorldTempus have been working since last summer on a flagship book on watchmaking in the third millennium, to which the world’s leading watch specialists are contributing: The Millennium Watch Book, a truly not-to-be-missed publication (I’ll talk more about that in a future column). This editorial’s nod to certain dates are no stranger to this tome, as this cult work is accompanying our respective 20-year anniversaries. May our readers find great enjoyment therein, so that Breitling’s #legendaryfuture may be perpetuated on the scale of the entire watchmaking planet, and that time may be Liberated as the brand Trilobe likes to proclaim.
