A watch can say a lot about the person wearing it; it can also say a lot to the person wearing it. Watches are often a lot more than a simple accessory or a means of telling the time; they carry their own stories, and gather meaning through their lives.
A good mechanical watch is not like the cheap battery-driven timepiece you may have worn as a child, which lasted only a couple of summers at best; they are designed to last a lifetime and more, and are therefore often imbued with meaning as they are passed down from one generation to the next. Wearing your father’s watch, or your grandfather’s, gives you a tangible connection to your family; knowing that he wore it on the important days of his life, just as you wear it for the important days of yours, gives it far more significance than any outside observer could tell.
For this reason, many horological enthusiasts will admit that their favourite piece, their most meaningful watch, is often not the most expensive, the most well-crafted, or the most sought-after; it’s the one that they wore on those important landmark days.
It may be the watch worn on their wedding day, or when they walked their daughter down the aisle for her wedding. It may be the watch they wore at a good friend’s funeral, or the watch they wore as their first child came into the world. It may have been a gift, or it may have been a watch they chose for themselves to mark a particular occasion.
However, this meaning is not only for those who wear the watches. For the people who design and make them, the watch is also a channel for emotions and deep significance.
In the wake of the terrible attacks last Friday in Paris, it was learned that one of the victims was the younger sister of Emmanuel Dietrich, the founder of Dietrich Watches. On Sunday, he announced that he would produce a 13 piece limited edition OT-13 watch, strictly for family and close friends, in her memory. For a watchmaker, this gesture is a natural channel for his understandable anger and grief. We share the following image and message according to his open request:
Dear friends and partners, dear watch community,
I never wanted to produce an OT-13. I have nothing against this number, but wanted to respect the sensitivities of all. However, things changed dramatically this past Friday the 13th as barbarians shot down my little sister Lucie in the streets of Paris.
I will produce a limited edition of 13 pieces in her memory. They will be uniquely for my family and close friends. I do not want to do business with our pain.
What I wish is for you to share –if you can- this image and message. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use the blue, white and red of the French flag. Because I do not feel pain just for France, but for all our brothers and sisters in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and everyone around the world who has suffered through similar losses because of fanaticism. I finally decided to do so in honour of the value of the French republic I was educated with and hold so dearly: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
That is all we need today to make this world straight again and live together in peace
Thank you from all my heart for your support and compassion.
Kindly yours,
Emmanuel Dietrich
Our thoughts are with Dietrich, and with all the other families affected by these terrible events.