Vintage Eye for the Modern Guy: Atelier de Chronométrie Watches
This week, as “Vintage Eye” returns from a brief summer hiatus, we?re going to delve into a market segment seldom explored in this series ? the haute horology microbrand scene ? with Atelier de Chronométrie. This Barcelona-based manufacturer isn?t one frequently making headlines ? a natural result of its filling a very narrow niche ? but it is nonetheless producing some fascinating work in the luxury sector, and thus carving a name for itself, one handmade piece at time.
Atelier de Chronométrie, often referred to by its initials AdC, was founded in 2015, and has from the beginning specialized in hand-crafted, vintage-inspired models, each individually developed for the collector. Part of the watches’ appeal lies in their manufacturing: the brand uses primarily manually powered hand tools, eschewing some of the modern mechanized processes such as CNC (computer numerical control) machining, which is used to standardize specific metal work in production. This manufacturing philosophy means many hours of work put into every piece ? much more than those of similarly positioned watches produced using more contemporary methods ? with the ultimately result being beautiful, exclusive one-off pieces.
Each new watch is typically inspired by one of eight base designs (the AdC #1 through #7, plus an additional AdC #88), all of which take their own inspiration from the famous historical-formal watches from the 1930s and ?40s. This week we?ll be taking a look at a fe...
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