By Ben Marks — Even though 2014 is poised to be the year of the wearable, everyone’s talking about the glassholes who wear them. That’s the writes-itself pejorative for the 10,000 or so people who’ve coughed up $1,500 to beta-test a pair of Glass, the awkwardly singular brand name Google has given its interactive spectacles, which lets wearers take photos, shoot video, get driving directions, and perform any number of verbal searches on Google, all while staring into space like a data-drugged...

Early Ladies Wristwatches: When Beauty Came Before Function

By Maribeth Keane and Brad Quinn — I was living in New York and helping my landlord get some things together for a local garage sale. As I was going through all the stuff, I came across a pretty Tissot wristwatch. I didn’t know anything about watches. The only watch I had was a Seiko that I got for high school graduation. The Tissot watch didn’t run but I bought it anyway for $5 and took it to a watchmaker. I found out that it was a quartz watch and all it needed was a battery. Vintage Tissot watches cost a few hundred...

Don Levison on Cartier Tanks, Rolex Oysters, and Hamilton Venturas

By Maribeth Keane and Brad Quinn — I got interested in pocket watches from working on mechanical things. I had an old car, and working on it gave me immediate satisfaction. It’s a thrill to fix something and get it to run. But I realized that keeping an old car in San Francisco wasn’t the most efficient thing to do, so I guess pockets watches became a substitute. From pocket watches I moved into wristwatches. Pocket watches are still my primary interest, but I love classic wristwatches, like old Rolex Bubblebacks and things...

Jonathan Snellenburg Ticks off the History of Watches and Clocks

By Ben Marks — I grew up outside of Philadelphia. I didn’t have any particular interest in clocks or watches as a kid; that came after I started working at Christie’s East, where I ran the Jewelry and Silver Departments. When I arrived, I found watches basically sitting on my desk, so I began studying them, cataloging them, and doing watch sales. I don’t collect watches myself; I have more than enough clocks and watches that pass through my hands. It’s my own sort of virtual collection. I’m not an...

Elgins, Patek Philippes, and Other Timeless Wristwatches

By Maribeth Keane — I started with pocket watches as a child, watching old movies on television, watching the cowboys occasionally pull out an old pocket watch. I collected pocket watches until my grandfather gave me his old wristwatch when I was about 18. It was a real funny-looking, old thing, and I thought it was an interesting design, a little bit different. I wore it and was surprised at the amount of comments that I got from people. So that was my first bit of interest. I really got hit hard in my late...