The Director’s letter: “I’ve seen things you people…”

Yes, the first sentence of the famous Tears in rain monologue delivered by replicant Roy Batty in “Blade Runner” – the 1982 film which entered the collective imagination – is perfect to describe the last months we lived through: unexpected, dramatic and paradoxical. I actually tried to describe this period in my new book, “L’arte della supercazzola” written together with Alberto Forchielli –coming out on May 28 under Baldini & Castoldi’s imprint.

And it is perfect as well – looking back at our daily lives as they used to be before the coronavirus and, hopefully, how they will turn back to be soon – in regard to watches, our passion. Or maybe watchmaking to us represents more than a passion, but a truly wonderful insanity, which also served as a little distraction during these terrible months.

A wonderful insanity. To us enthusiasts and collectors – how many insane things have we done to put the watch of our dreams on our wrist? (and then soon after started dreaming about another one!). True also for entrepreneurs in this domain, or for those who simply love horlogerie. In fact in a country like ours, caught into an everlasting structural and systemic crisis pushing many great entrepreneurs to disengage and relocate, how can Mariastella and Chiara Pisa’s important financial investment in the heart of Milan with the opening of their boutique – the most fascinating specialised store in Europe – only a few years ago be defined differently than “a romantic insanity?” And the same can be said of the Fratini family, with Sandro – whose two thousand vintage watches probably represent the vastest collection in the world – and his son Giulio, who even built three L’Orologio hotels – in Florence, Venice and Rome – out of their passion for time: filled with furnitures in the shape of hands and dials, entirely tailored to the watch world. 

Insanity, yes, but fortunately (and for wise entrepreneurial strategy) these two examples – amongst many that we could cite – are also great businesses, with Pisa Orologeria’s turnover amounting to almost eighty million euros, and L’Orologio hotels being 95% full throughout the year; and that, for sure, after the coronavirus lockdown, will be perfectly able to get back on track.

We quoted “Blade Runner.” As stated, it was 1982, the year in which our World Cup took place in Spain. Did you by any chance watch this movie again recently, or the final match won by Italy against Germany? Both, compared to today’s movies and sports games, obviously appear slow-paced. It’s normal. Time is running fast, just like today’s world, and it’s making us perceive things from the past as old-fashioned and obsolete.

With some exceptions, for example: our passion, which is challenging time to become eternal. The same is true for some watch models counting on a special aura, names that seem to have always been part of our life: Daytona, Speedmaster, Nautilus, Reverso, Royal Oak, etc.

Amidst this passion and today’s fast-paced world, I’m enthusiastic about this new adventure with Watch Insanity – with its website and social media platforms it represents the best way to feed our insanity; a mix that ever more aspires to please all aficionados. Through either independent brands or consolidated, historic companies; through either modern novelties (with some surprises to come soon) or, from now on, quality vintage – also reading the precious contributions of collectors of the caliber of Fratini and internationally renowned experts such as Stefano Mazzariol and Marco Di Falco.

In short: “We’ll see things us aficionados…” In the mean time, enjoy the trip in our company!

By Michele Mengoli