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This "iW Guide" is devoted to skeleton watches
and is eerily timed to coincide with Halloween, when in the United States skeletons roam
the neighborhoods in search of treats—or tricks.
We have
no tricks here. Just page after page of watches that open up their inner workings, allowing
a window of insight into the watchmaker’s art. Parts that are usually hidden under dials
must be made suitable for viewing. For it is the very gears, levers and springs that
are the centerpieces of skeleton watches.
In a way,
the modern skeleton watch says a lot about the state of mechanical horology today.
Savvy collectors understand to an increasing degree how watches work, and so they naturally
desire a chance to look under their watch’s hood and indulge their own horological knowledge
and curiosity. Viewing a fine skeleton watch gives certain collectors a chance to say,
"My understanding of fine watchmaking means that this amazing piece’s
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beautiful, intricate gearing is not lost on me."
With so many
fine brands competing for attention in the marketplace, the skeleton watch has become a way
for brands to prove their competence in elaborate decoration, to demonstrate the finesse
with which they can strip away every unneeded part of a base movement, turning a form of
engineering—watchmaking science—into art. (See this month’s cover for one new example.)
In recent
years, the popularity of skeleton watches has only grown, seeming to confirm what so many
watch lovers have long suspected: the most exalted part of a fine mechanical watch is what
lies beneath its surface.
If one
of these skeletal beauties strikes your eye, please visit the "Contacts" index
(pages 240-241) to reach the company that makes or distributes it.
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