#I mean technically it's a Swiss sphere

[langernameohnebedeutung]

"Owners desperate: Unknown culprits steal 1760lb stainless steel sphere full of gin from Lake Constance"

"Even specifically trained police divers could not find the sphere"

[1000sassa1000]

GARçONNE

KALTBLUT presents GARçONNE. Photography by Flavio Leone. Model is David Beer. Styling by Christoph Cong Fässler. All designs by „maison blanche by Yannik Zamboni“. The editorial was made the 100th anniversary of the „Textilerevue“ commissioned by the STF Schweizerische Textilfachschule Zürich (Swiss Technical Textile School Zurich). The assignment was to create a look with the inspiration of the decade 1920-1929. Project and idea by Noémie Schwaller from www.textilrevue.ch // @textilrevue_chmaison blanche believes it is necessary to address the discourse of taboo topics by means of conceptual fashion and to create a stage for interaction. Socio-political issues, the defamation and repression of minorities, especially the lgbtqia+ community, as well as gender issues and feminism, form the content of the collections. maison blanche makes queer anti-fashion. queer within the meaning of different, abnormal or not according to expectations. its subversive content is reflected in the deconstruction and deposition of codes. it forms a side-stream to the mainstream and serves subcultures. maison blanche`s anti-fashion takes the liberty to create its own (ab)normal. it shits on the maxims of action and codes of behaviour of the masses but influences them. it rewrites unwritten rules, completely detached from the oppressive ideas of social ideologies and the fashion industry. maison blanche condemns the common practices of the fashion industry and therefore wants to establish itself far away from this circus. maison blanche conceives fashion, especially skirts & dresses on a man‘s body and thus aims to expand the rules of conduct. As a wearer, it wishes much more than a certain gender, people of all genders with a similar mindset.

Garçonne:

The term „Garçonne“ refers to a twentieth-century fashion trend that manifested itself during the „roaring twenties“ (also called „les années Folles“ or „Golden Twenties“) between 1919 at the end of World War I and 1929, the beginning of the economic and social crisis. Beyond the specific style of the 1920s, the phenomenon of Garçonne that emerged from the emancipation of women and the demand for equality reflects a cultural mutation of the representation of the female gender that prefigures the contemporary woman (Wikipedia definition [French], freely translated by – maison blanche – )

GARçONNE is a cry to give space to gender, and indeed to all forms of gender, and to accept and value them. Not only do we already know the third sex, that of the intersex, but there are many different ways of perceiving and living gender. Gender identities range from agender, androgynous, gender fluid, non-binary, transgender, gender nonconforming, multigender, pangender, polygender, two-spirit and many more. We, as part of society, are responsible for the change. GARçONNE is meant to unite feminist people in the fight for equality of all genders in a society that is still patriarchally constructed and controlled and which teaches, normalizes and celebrates patriarchy. Human history has known more than two sexes since the beginning of time and isn‘t the simplification to two sexes and/or gender a curtailment of the rights of all others?

Inspired by the spirit of Garçonne, the energy and power of 1920s feminism for change, this look was created to break social norms and the binary gender system.

GARçONNE:

Is a breed of human being which is not conforming with the societal gender-norms and qualifications nor let themselves put into a binary system. GARçONNE likes to fuck the gender binary and expresses it by using whichever toilet they want, showing off on streets, dressed with whatever they feel comfortable with. GARçONNE is a species of different genders triggered by modern emancipation for all gender identities. They demand a change of societal behaviour, the binary gender system and expresses themselves according to fashion & style which is often referred to as „the gender fuck“.

Material concept:

Only materials where used which are second hand and/or vintage, stock and archive material and remnants. The idea was to get along with what is available already, not due to financial reasons, but due to the idea of sustainability. Conscious use of materials and the environment. In particular, a lot of wool was used as it was a standard material in the 20s, especially in winter clothing.

aspects of sustainability

in today‘s time of super consumerism and overproduction in a throwaway society, it is a must to design and produce sustainably. it is of great importance to acting sustainably during the entire textile cycle. for the areas of the textile cycle that affect the consumer, i.e. use, maintenance, and disposal/recycling, maison blanche makes a sustainable recommendation. for maison blanche, there are four spheres of sustainability.

ethical/moral

in principle, maison blanche only uses goods produced in Switzerland, if possible. nevertheless, raw materials often come from abroad. suppliers as well as producers must be able to prove that the materials are ethically/morally acceptable. this means it is known exactly where the raw materials come from (traceability) and there was no exploitation of humans, animals or the environment (fair wages, animal-friendly keeping and shearing of sheep/ animals and environmentally friendly dyeing and treatment of substances/materials). due to a design and production process which takes place entirely in Switzerland, these intentions can also be controlled and adhered to when realizing one‘s own collection. as a matter of principle, no furs or leathers are used.

socio-political

maison blanche does not produce clothes in the conventional sense, there are „en masse“, but conceptual fashion which should have a socio-political impact and thus be socially relevant and demand and promote a rethinking. by addressing taboo issues and/or manifested patterns of action, socially oppressive norms, rules and standards are questioned, expanded and/or redefined. maison blanche is committed to the interests of minorities, especially the lgbtqia+ community.

ecological

maison blanche uses only organic or recycled cotton and is committed to an ecological mix of materials. fibers such as hemp, kenaf, jute, flax and ramie are always used in the collections to reduce the importance of cotton. all used materials should be produced in an environmentally friendly way and should leave the textile cycle in exactly the same way. maison blanche is committed to up-and recycling and incorporates these elements into the looks and collections. for packaging & shipping, we always try to use the most environmentally friendly way.

economical

maison blanche produces in small quantities and only as much as can be sold. items which are not sold are recycled, up-cycled and reused. the collections are based on each other and do not compete with each other. the growth of maison blanche is controlled and if necessary slowed down so that ethical/moral, socio-political and ecological goals do not degenerate into commercialism. maison blanche produces and sources from small swiss entrepreneurs if possible and promotes them. it is a major concern to continuously respect and adhere to all four spheres of sustainability.

Project and idea by Noémie Schwaller @_noemies Photography by Flavio Leone / flavioleone.ch / instagram: @flavio.leone Photography assistant Chris Daeppen / www.chrisdaeppen.com / instagram: @chris_daeppen Model is David Beer signed @scout-model Zurich / Instagram: @david.banc Styling by Christoph Cong Fässler / christophcongfaessler.com / instagram: @cong.cf Styling assistant Yannik Zamboni / www.maisonblanche.swiss / instagram: @yannikzamboni

Credits Fashion & Concept: All designs by „maison blanche by Yannik Zamboni“ / www.maisonblanche.swiss / instagram: @yannikzamboni & @maisonblanche.swiss Designers assistant and right hand is Christoph Cong Fässler / christophcongfaessler.com / instagram: @cong.cf Sewing assistant Timéa Luana Panier/ Instagram: @was_bringts_mer Implementation of the screen printing by Martin Schlegel / Instagram: @tdstextildruckerei Conceptual inputs by Anna Rosenwasser / Instagram: @annarosenwasser Commissioned by the STF Schweizerische Textilfachschule (Swiss Technical Textile School Zurich) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the „Textilrevue“ / www.stf.ch / Instagram: @stfcommunity

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There is little optical difference between the March 2019 anniversary release date and the January 2019 regular size Lange 1 anniversary. But the technical differences are not obvious - for example, the concave corrector used to set the date, rather than the classic Lange 1. Push the slice.

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A blue ball occupies the left part of the case, which is magnificently staged by a sapphire crystal with a small dome and attracts attention. It has twelve engraved digits and rotates on itself by three axes of rotation to indicate the current hour. This hypnotic dance, which at first seems completely random, actually follows a strict choreography that is determined by four conical cogwheels that move around two crossed spindles that are inclined at an angle of 21 degrees. Two polished titanium cases with blue PVD treatment adorn this conical differential to create a yin and yang watchmaking composition that forms a sphere.

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[spiritualdirections]

The Church is a person

I stumbled across this interesting article from a few years back, by Ross Campbell in the British journal Faith: “Balthasar and the Rediscovery of the Marian Profile of the Church”. The author makes the point that if the Church is the Body of Christ, it is not an “it” but a “who”...

The Church should not be thought of purely as an organisation or as an institution. The Church is not a “something”, neither is the Church an “it”. The Church is a person. She is a somebody. A person knows and wills in a way that an inanimate object does not. For instance, a car does not know or will anything. The Church, however, unlike an inanimate object, is a subject: she knows and she wills. However, the Church is a particular type of subject. She is a collective subject but at the same time she has one single centre of consciousness. These terms are slightly technical and require a word of explanation. A collective subject is a body capable of knowing and willing that is made up of individuals who are individually capable of knowing a willing. An example of this might be a family.We might commonly say “the family has decided…”. And by this we mean the family made up of individuals as a collective unit has come to a joint decision. In the same way the Church is made up of different individuals (Mary, the saints, us).

But within these collective subjects, normally the individual members remain isolated in their individuality; that is, they do not possess a single centre of consciousness. The Church is different because her centre of consciousness is Christ. Christ pours himself out through his grace into his members – that is, the members of the Church – so that the content of what the Church knows and wills is Christ. For a Catholic, to think “with the mind of the Church” is not simply to parrot the teachings of Christ: it is to be touched by Christ’s grace in such a way that one’s mind participates in the mind of Christ and thinks Christ’s thoughts. Moreover, the will is that which leads us to act. And when the Church performs her acts as Church it is Christ who acts. When the Church baptises it is Christ who acts; when the church absolves from sin, it is Christ who acts. And, of course, the source and summit of the Church’s life, the Eucharist, is Christ’s body, blood, soul and divinity...

The Church is characterised by a concrete and enduring collectivity of subjects that surrounded Christ and with whom Christ established relations... so that humanity might continue to have access to Christ. Therefore, the purpose of the Church is to enable the believer, through grace, to experience and participate in her normative subject, her consciousness – Christ. 

For us to participate in this life of God we must be in Christ, which is to be in the sphere of the Church. To the degree that this sphere is Christ’s own, he is the consciousness of the Church. It is in this sense that we speak of the Church as being Christ’s body, and Christ as the Head. However, to the extent that we as the collective subject respond as Church, we respond as members of the Bride of Christ. This receptive response of ours finds its normative subjectivity in the fiat of Mary. Thus the Church receives her fundamental and constitutive feminine dimension. The feminine Church is not something abstract, but a real subject with concrete individuals, beginning with Mary, who through Christ have been given a share in the divine Trinitarian life.

The whole article is a nice summary of how the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar saw the role of Mary in the Church.

[not-a-space-alien]

Your Own Side Outtake #8:  The Further Misadventures of Maltha and Beth

Rating: G

Series masterpost

On AO3

AN:  Since I know none of you chuckleheads remember who tf Lirach is, might i recommend going back to Aziraphale’s Legion chapter 4 and doing a ctrl+f for her name if you wanna remember. 

Second AN:  This outtake provides context for Beth’s comment about “that night we spent together looking up at the stars” in Aziraphale’s Legion chapter 12.

Third AN:  It was Easter when I wrote this, so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   And if you’ve never stuck a Peep in a microwave, it’s an experience I highly recommend trying at least once.

“You like that?  You like that, don’t you? Yeah…”

In general, the attention Lirach lavished on her 1932 Cadillac V-16 bordered on manic.  It was a bright, sunny day, and she had decided to give the car a good wash, even though it had been painstakingly polished and waxed by hand a mere three days ago. The care with which she polished the hull of her precious car was unsettling to some passersby.

Lirach had not yet met Crowley at this point, but the truth was when she did she would think that he didn’t take good enough care of his car.  She insisted on doing everything by hand.  Her car’s engine would run under human hands, without miracles.  She even put gas in it, and not just to get goodies from the gas station.

She had bought it in a time when presenting as female meant people assumed you don’t drive. And it had had one owner since then, and that was Lirach.

Lirach’s angelic counterpart, an introverted, neurotic individual by the name Devi, did not understand a single thing about Lirach.

“Why don’t you just fly?” was the first question out of Devi’s lips when she saw the V-16 for the first time.

“Why don’t you just pay someone else to do that?” Devi had asked when she saw Lirach washing it by hand for the first time.

“Why don’t you just use a miracle?” Devi had said the first time Lirach had pumped gas into the car with Devi in the passenger’s seat.

Lirach would always smile gnomically and tell her it was better this way.  Devi did not understand it at all. There were a lot Devi did not understand about Lirach.  But most of all she did not understand…

“Why didn’t you tell me there was an archdemon coming into town?” Devi said, interrupting Lirach’s session with her car and scaring the hell out of her.

“Wh-what do you mean?” said Lirach.

“When we made our agreement we said we would inform each other when higher-ups came around.”

“There’s an archdemon come around?”

“Yes!”

“Wh-what?  I was never informed.”

A few minutes later found them crouching among some shrubs, making observations across the street with a pair of binoculars.  The binoculars weren’t strictly necessary, but they both knew you were supposed to have binoculars while making observations.

“There,” said Devi, pointing to something she had been looking at through the binoculars.

“What are you pointing at?” said Lirach, annoyed.

Devi handed the binoculars off, and Lirach looked through them.

A beat-up old silver car sat in the parking lot across the street next to the bed and breakfast.  A human was digging in the trunk for something. And standing next to her was—

“Oh no,” said Lirach, dropping the binoculars.  “This is bad. This is bad.”

“Who is it?”

Lirach had gone pale. She was thinking of the sweet old couple that ran the bed and breakfast.  “If she hurts them…”

“Isn’t that a human with her?” said Devi.

“Looks like it.  I didn’t think many demons really did that anymore.”

“Did what?”

“Deals for souls and such.”

Devi resolutely tapped her fist on her hand.  “It’s my angelic duty to get that human away from her.”

“Devi, no,” said Lirach.  “That’s far too dangerous.  That archdemon could snap you in half.”

Devi wrung her hands. They both kept watching, trying to decide what to do

Beth and Maltha were having a nice trip so far.  The sweet couple that ran the B&B had told them they were free to use the kitchen, and then left for the day.  Beth had found a basket of Easter candy with an invitation to help themselves on the dining room table.

It was a bit chilly out this morning, so Beth had stayed in her fuzzy pajamas.  She was making herself some cocoa when Maltha came into the room, likewise clad in sleepwear.

“What are you doing?” said Maltha, looking at the microwave.

It was then that Beth realised Maltha might have never seen such an appliance before. She opened the door and retrieved her mug.  “I’m warming up some cocoa.  Want some?”

“Sure.”

Beth poured her a glass of milk and pointed out the Swiss Miss packets to her.  She tore one open and dumped it in, then stirred it at Beth’s direction.

“Now go ahead and stick it in the microwave.”

Beth darted forwards to intercept her when Maltha tried to put the mug in the microwave with the metal spoon still in it.  “Hold on there, don’t want this going in there.”

“Why not?”

“You can’t put metal in a microwave.”

“Why not?”

“I…I don’t know! You’re just not supposed to!”  Beth licked the spoon.  “Go ahead and set it for a minute.”

Maltha watched with fascination as the liquid started to bubble.  “How does this device work?”

“Er….radio waves,” tried Beth.

“Radio waves?”

“You know. Microwaves. That’s why it’s called a microwave.”

“Oh.  I see,” said Maltha, as though Beth’s explanation could possibly be sufficient.

They sipped their cocoa and ate toast, playing with each other’s hair and giggling to themselves. When they were finished, Beth stood and announced, “I’m going to get a shower.”

“All right.”

“Would you like to join me?”

“I don’t particularly need to wash myself.”

“Oh,” said Beth.

They would have a conversation later about the exact motivation behind showering with someone else.  For now Beth moved off on her own, leaving Maltha alone in the kitchen.

Maltha stared at the microwave, tapping a butter knife.  “What secrets are you hiding?”

She got up and fiddled with the device. The buttons all seemed to do more or less the same thing, except for one that said TIMER and simply initiated a countdown without the usual light and noise.  She pressed the lever that opened it, and the door popped open and tapped her in the face since she had been crouching to look at it.

The next logical step was to see what happened when one put various things in it, of course.  She could not figure out any way to get it to activate with the door open, so her own body parts were out.  The cup hadn’t reacted to it at all, so the plates and dishware probably wouldn’t either. That just left food.

She fetched the basket of Easter candy from the table and put in a chocolate sphere. She chewed on a second one while the first melted into a sticky mess on the microwave floor, which she rubbed off with her hand.  She then retrieved a package of something labeled “Peeps,” which turned out to be marshmallows coated in some type of yellow dust that tasted very sugary on her fingers.

She stuck one in the microwave and activated it, then watched as the confection ballooned in size, skin cracking.  It stared at her morosely from one pasted-on eye in its swollen body.  When she opened the door, the smell of burnt sugar filled the air. She scooped up the blob of melted sugar and licked it off her hand.

Her eyes fell to the butter knife on the table.

The thing about demons is they have few scruples about doing things they’ve been told not to.  Being told not to put metal in the microwave only fueled Maltha’s desire to find out what would happen if she did.

She did not repeat that particular experiment after seeing the results, and settled for the less troublesome activity of gorging herself on the basket of sweets.  The fact that the microwave no longer worked was merely coincidental to her losing interest in it, she would have assured any observers.

When Beth came back in, hair swabbed in a towel, she wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell?”

“It’s nothing,” said Maltha. “Also, I have finished all the candy in this basket.  I hope nobody minds.”

“Maltha,” said Beth. “You’re not supposed to also eat the basket.”

Beth was referring to a spot in the wicker that evidenced obvious teeth marks.  Maltha gave her a small sneer. “Of course I know that.  That’s why I stopped after the first bite.”

Beth turned the basket so that the gap was facing the wall.  They both moved off to get dressed.

“You know,” said Beth, observing Maltha slipping back into her dress from the day before.  “It’s supposed to be cold today.  Is there a reason why you always wear a dress?  You can wear pants.”

Maltha ruffled her dress. “Aziraphale and Crowley told me pants were insufficient.”

“What do you mean?”

“They said I had to wear something else besides pants if I wanted to go out among humans.”

“Those transphobic assholes,” said Beth, hopping with one leg in her jeans.  “Don’t listen to them, Maltha. You can wear pants if you want to.  It doesn’t make you less of a woman somehow.”

Maltha frowned at her. She was not technically a woman, the same way Aziraphale and Crowley were not technically men, because they were all actually sexless, and she did not see how her mode of dress affected anything.  Nevertheless, Beth sounded solid in her resolve, and she thought perhaps there was some difference in etiquette that changed when you crossed the Pond, so she took Beth’s word for it.

“And I was starting to think they sounded cool from what you’ve been telling me,” said Beth, trying to pull her trousers up.  “Fuff.  I don’t know if I want to take you up on your offer to meet them now.”

“I’m ready to go.”

Beth turned around to see that Maltha was standing there in nothing but a bra and panties.  Beth nearly fell over.  “Wh-wh—Maltha.”

Maltha helped her up. “You can’t go out like that.”

“But you just said I could.”

Beth palmed her forehead. “Oh.  Aziraphale and Crowley are British, aren’t they?”

“How did you know?”

Maltha made her way out of the house in a pair of trousers borrowed from Beth, which found themselves mysteriously a few sizes larger than before.  Beth would not ask for them back.

They decided to go to the museum.  Devi and Lirach followed behind them as inconspicuously as anyone could travel in a vehicle from the 1930’s, which is to say not very inconspicuously.

“We should have taken your motorcycle,” said Devi.  “They’ll catch on right away that we’re following them.”

“Yes, a motorcycle would have been much less noticeable!” said Lirach.

Devi said nothing.  Truthfully, Devi just always wanted to ride the motorcycle so she would have a reason to wrap her arms around Lirach’s waist.

“All right, so what’s the plan?” said Lirach.  “We’ve got to foil whatever plot that archdemon is going to enact.”

“Why are you looking at me?” said Devi.  “I haven’t the faintest idea what we should do!”

“Isn’t thwarting diabolical plans kind of your entire job?”

The antique car followed right behind Beth all the way from the B&B.  The only comment she made about it was, “That’s a nice car.”  Beth was not a car person, but it looked like the kind of car about which a car person would remark, “That’s a nice car.”  

Maltha’s glare at it in the rear-view mirror was more knowing, but she said nothing.

They found the ticket machine for the museum’s parking lot was conveniently malfunctioning, so they got to park for free.  Maltha seemed inordinately disappointed that they didn’t stamp her hand and merely gave her a tag to display on her person.

Devi convinced the person working the counter to let them in without paying.  Devi was the kind of being who saw no problem in getting whatever she could for free which, as an angel, was quite a lot.  It annoyed Lirach to no end, but the demon also didn’t feel like shelling out $10 for admission when they wouldn’t even be enjoying the exhibits, so she didn’t complain this time around.

Devi and Lirach followed Maltha around the museum as inconspicuously as they could, which is to say not very inconspicuously. Their strengths really did lie in open work, not espionage.

“Who’s that?” said Beth, noting the pair hovering behind them in the far corner of the room.

“Dunno,” said Maltha. “Let’s just ignore them and enjoy the trip.  Shall we start with art or natural history?”

They made their way through an exhibit about ancient Greece.  Maltha gave an exclamation of surprise when she saw an amphora sitting on a pedestal.  “I remember these,” she said, walking over, reaching over the red rope, and picking it up by the handles.

Beth scrambled over and grabbed her arm.  “Maltha, put that down!”

“What?”

“Put it down,” said Beth, looking around frantically for any security guards nearby.

Maltha obliged.  “I don’t see what the big deal is.  It’s just a broken water jar.”

“It’s thousands of years old!”

“So am I.  That’s hardly an accomplishment.”

“Why don’t we go to the art exhibit,” said Beth, grimacing and pushing Maltha away from the artifacts.

That turned out to be an equally bad idea, because the first painting they saw Maltha moistened her finger with saliva and rubbed it on the painting to see what material it was made out of.

“All right,” said Beth, wondering if it was mere luck or a genuine miracle that they hadn’t been caught by security yet.  “Listen.  Darling.  Babe. Maltha.”

“Yes?”

“You’re not supposed to touch anything.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s all very old!”

“That doesn’t mean it’s valuable.”

“Just.  Just do it as a favour to me, all right? Just.  Don’t touch anything unless I also touch it.  All right?”

“All right, Beth.”

Devi and Lirach watched this conference from around the corner.

“It looks like Maltha is giving her human slave some instructions,” said Lirach.  “What are they going to do?  I can’t bear this tension any longer.”

They followed them into the modern art section, where Beth and Maltha stood staring at an exhibit that consisted of nothing more than a blank canvas with a single, bold line swiped down it.

“What are they doing?” said Lirach.  “This is tearing me up.  We’re all going to die.”

“Looks like they’re just enjoying the sights.”

“An archdemon wouldn’t come up to Earth to enjoy the sights! That’s something field agents do!”

“Instead of working, you mean?”

Beth and Maltha were absorbed in looking at this particular piece of art, which was titled “Enigma” and had been donated by a rich Swiss man.

“I don’t get it,” said Beth after a solid five minutes.

“Enigma,” said Maltha.

“Modern art is stupid,” said Beth. “This takes no effort or creativity.”

“The single line breaking the empty space represents the singular focus of the mind of a creative individual, which occludes all other thought to the point of obsession,” said Maltha.  “And the title represents how mysterious this way of thinking is to average minds.”

Beth looked around to check if Maltha was reading off a plaque, but couldn’t find anything.

“It speaks to me,” said Maltha.

“Well, I’m sure you and the artist would have a grand old time being pretentious together,” said Beth. “Let’s take a pic.”

They crowded together in front of the painting, and Beth snapped a photo.  “Oh, no,” said Beth.  “I should have brought my power bank.  I’m at 15%.”

“15% of what?”

“My battery.”  Beth showed her.

“Oh, so when this little meter reads 100% that means you have maximum power?”

“Yeah.”

Maltha concentrated on it for a moment.  Beth watched as the meter climbed back up to fully charged.

“Wow!” said Beth. “You’re awfully handy to have around. Thanks.  All right, let’s go the cafeteria. I’m starving.”

Devi and Lirach sat in the far end of the cafeteria sharing a basket of chicken fingers while Beth and Maltha ordered.

“We’re not going to be able to stop her,” wept Lirach.  “Our only option will be to run to save our skin.  We’re going to die as soon as she starts her nefarious plan.”

Devi took another bite of fries.

They both froze with panic as Beth approached them with her tray, clambering over the bench to sit next to them.

“Hey there!” she said. “I thought-”

They both bolted away as fast as they could move.

“Aw,” said Beth as Maltha sat next to her.  “I didn’t think I was that scary.  I wanted to have a talk with them.”

“Let’s look through the photos you’ve taken, Beth.”

She pulled out her phone and swiped through them.  They had taken the most photos together in the art section, mostly because Maltha couldn’t see what the big deal was for most of the historical ones.

When Beth’s phone battery reached 85%, it flashed a low battery warning and the screen shut off.

“It’s died,” said Maltha.

Beth leaned back, sighing. “Maltha.”

“Yes?”

“When I showed you my phone earlier.  Did you use a miracle to charge the phone up to 100%? Or did you just…use a miracle to make the battery meter display 100%?”

“I’m not sure what the difference is.”

Beth pocketed her phone. “All right. That’s fine, whatever, we don’t need to take any more photos.”

They finished their trip after lunch. Eventually, they got kicked out when Maltha tried to detach “Enigma” from the wall so she could take it home with her.

The exit from the museum found Devi and Lirach trailing the archdemon back to her lair, taking seats in their surveillance nest again.

Lirach was full-blown weeping.  Devi had gotten a second basket of chicken planks to go and was eating them.

“We’re doomed,” said Lirach. “Any moment she’s going to do something. I can’t take this tension anymore.  We’re done for.  We’re done.”

“Maybe she’s just sightseeing.”

“She’s not sightseeing.”

“What else would she be doing puttering around in a museum like that taking so many photos.”

“There doesn’t have to be a logical explanation for it!” Lirach cried.  “Every demon knows Maltha is stark raving mad! She’s liable to snap any minute!”

They both fell silent as they felt a presence approaching. A shadow fell over them.

They tried to bolt in opposite directions, but they found themselves yanked backwards by the scruff of the neck and held up.

“Put me down!” Devi yelled, feet flailing, indignant.

“Listen,” hissed the archdemon Maltha in a terrifying whisper.  “I don’t know what you’re doing following us around, but we’re having a lovely trip and you’re ruining it.  You were very rude to Beth at lunch and she was very disappointed.  I want you to be polite to her, do you understand?”

“P-p-p-polite?” said Lirach.

“Yes.”

“All right,” said Lirach. “W-We’ll do whatever you say.”

“You aren’t going to kill us?” Devi said.

Maltha put them down. “Truthfully I hadn’t planned on it, but I can if you prefer it.”

They fell over themselves to tell her that they were fine as they were.

“All right, then,” said Maltha.  “I’m glad we could have this talk.  Now, Beth thinks I’m in the shower and I assume she is going to try and sneak out here without me noticing to talk to you two.  You’ll indulge her, understand?  I’ll know if you don’t.”

“A-All right,” said Lirach. “Yes, lord.”

“Good.”

Maltha’s feet crunched over leaves and branches as she walked away from them.

They lay flat back down in the bushes.  “I thought we were goners,” said Lirach.

Devi noted with distaste that her chicken strips had fallen into the dirt.  She dusted one off.

“Oh shit, here she comes,” said Lirach with alarm, noting the blonde figure making a beeline for them.

Devi and Lirach scrambled to figure out whether they should stay and obey Maltha or flee for fear of bungling the interaction.  Beth reached them before they could make a decision.

“Hi!” she said with a friendly wave.

“Oh—h-hello!” sputtered Lirach. “How are you today?”

Beth had a blue and green basket under one arm, and she extended it forwards now.  “Happy Easter!”

They both looked at her.

“Er,” said Beth.  “I saw you surveying us and you looked tired, so I thought you might like something to cheer you up.”

“I’m not really supposed to celebrate Easter,” said Lirach. Devi elbowed her.

“That’s okay,” said Beth. “You can just say you’re indulging gluttony or something!  Please just take it!”

It was then that the two of them noticed that a side of the basket was destroyed.  “Er…” said Devi.  “Is something wrong?”

Beth sighed.  “Maltha ate all the candy from this basket, and I think she tried to replace it.  Tried.  And I wanted to get it out of the way before the sweet old couple that runs the B&B sees it.”

“All right,” said Devi. “It’s my angelic duty to nullify demonic activity.  I’ll take the basket.”

Beth handed it over. The contents looked more or less like genuine Easter candy, except the Peeps were red and dripping some unknown liquid, and a few of the chocolate eggs’ aluminum wrappers were moving faintly, as though something were squirming inside.  Devi held it away from her body.

“Anyway,” said Beth. “It’s nice to meet you. I wasn’t sure if you were following us around because you were worried about me, but don’t worry.  I’m having a good time and can leave any time I want to.”

“Oh,” said Devi. “Good.”

“Well, I should try and get back before Maltha gets out of the shower.  See you around.”

They watched her pick her way down the hill and move off.

Even with this reassurance, they were both grateful when the pair left town, though not before they had wreaked some unintended havoc at the local zoo.  Devi was displeased to find some of the chocolate eggs eventually hatch in the basket.

“Maltha.”

“Yes?”

“For the last time. You can’t just miracle the gage. If the gage is pointing to full, that’s doesn’t somehow put more gas in the car’s tank.”

“I’ve already apologised for that.”

“…I know, I just wanted to remind you every few miles how we ended up here.”

When it started to get dark in the wide-open desert road, Beth flopped over behind a cactus.  “All right. I’m done for the day.  You can carry me if you want to, but I’m not walking a single step further.”

Maltha lay down next to her, putting her hands behind her head.  

The stars started to wink on one by one.  “The sky at night is so beautiful, isn’t it?” said Beth.  “Without all the light pollution, you can see practically everything.”

“It is,” said Maltha. “I’m glad you’re here to see it with me. I know it’s been a lot of walking.”

Beth reached over and brushed her hand against Maltha’s.  “I think I’d go anywhere, even straight to the bottom of Hell, if it was with you.”

“Hell is nothing,” said Maltha.  “I would go into Heaven’s most secure stronghold for you.”

Beth rolled over, propping herself up to see that Maltha’s eyes, still fixed on the night sky, were brimming with tears.  And Beth smiled.  “Okay, no need to get all emotional on me.  Nothing is going to split us up.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes, I do.”  Beth patted her hand.

[dippedanddripped]

The right zipper or button isn’t the sort of detail you’d notice on a runway or in a street style snap; it is immediately obvious, however, when you touch and feel — and actually wear — a garment. Though not necessarily perceptible at first glance, the combination of engineering and artistry that goes into creating a single zipper can make the high prices of designer clothing far more understandable. And, in recent years, those small details and closures are also a place for menswear brands to create innovative styles unique to their labels and to display their logos; in essence, hardware is crucial for these designers to establish their brands.

That ranges from flashy pieces such as Louis Vuitton’s pin closures and chainlinks and 1017 ALYX 9SM’s signature buckle, to the small, nearly imperceptible branding details; take a close look at the cordends on an Off-White™ hoodie and you’ll see they read “METAL TIP” in tiny lettering on the bottom.

“They force us to think, to be better, to do something new, something different.”

“With menswear, they experiment more. This is where the streetwear contamination is coming aboard,” says Nantas Montonati, Group Sales & Marketing Director for Swiss manufacturer Riri, which creates everything from zippers and snap buttons to cordstoppers and eyelets at its production sites in Italy and Switzerland. Some of the company’s signature creations include the universal zipper slider and the zero snap button. “What we try to do with our zippers and our snaps, and everything is to have it look beautiful and be, really, a design element, as part of it rather than just a functioning piece,” says Ben Howell, CEO of Riri USA Inc. “Riri is the brand for the brands,” as Montonati puts it.

The company is tight-lipped about the brands it works with, but savvy shoppers can spot its products on garments from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Public School and Dries Van Noten. And streetwear brands in particular are helping Riri, which was founded in 1936, to push forward new ideas. “These guys coming from streetwear, they like us very much, but they have very uncommon ideas,” Montonati tells HYPEBEAST. “They force us to think, to be better, to do something new, something different. So I really appreciate them.”

In the streetwear sphere, few have made hardware as crucial to their branding as Matthew Williams, whose 1017 ALYX 9SM label has made technical gear-influenced details into a luxury good. His rollercoaster buckle has become the brand’s signature piece, appearing on everything from belts and bags to jewelry — even a poncho. Though inspired by equipment at a Six Flags theme park, the buckle makes reference to rock climbing gear, with a kiloNewton rating written on the exterior (its classic belt boasts a 24kN and 12kN rating, while the aforementioned poncho includes a 10kN and 5kN rating). Whether or not the €300 EUR belts are actually suitable for rappelling up a mountain is unclear.

Brands like Prada and Heliot Emil have followed Williams’ lead in that regard. But for his first Dior men’s show, Kim Jones went a step further and commissioned Williams to translate his signature rollercoaster buckle for the French fashion label. The new version loses the kiloNewton rating for all manner of Dior branding — not only in the form of the house’s logo, but with the CD initials transformed into the buckle’s shape. And like Williams, Jones has not shied away from adding the buckle to every accessory he can. Along with the new bee motif created by KAWS and the modernization of the house’s Oblique logo, it has become a staple of Jones’ rebranding of Dior for men.

Hardware as a form of branding isn’t attractive for all streetwear designers, however. “There’s a lot more hardware in general recently,” ACRONYM designer Errolson Hugh tells HYPEBEAST. “But this is more about a look than anything else; it’s hardware as an ornament or as an aesthetic for the most part, so it’s not really interesting for us.”

Innovative uses of hardware certainly isn’t new for ACRONYM, which Hugh founded with Michaela Sachenbacher in 1994. However the small brand’s profile has risen considerablysince Hugh was tapped to revive Nike’s ACG line, moving techwear as a whole from an underground subculture to a popular, Instagrammable style.

Hugh nonetheless remains focused on function over style, sourcing from whatever supplier can provide the quality and consistency he needs. “Material determines possibility. For example, the snap we use on our Gravity Pockets was originally engineered to last for ‘three generations.’ With this type of fatigue curve we felt confident that it could perform the way we need it to,” he says. Watching the label’s pieces in action, it’s easy to see why a high-functioning zipper or snap is so essential to making them work.

“We’re much more about the tested and true, even if we use them in unorthodox ways.”

It’s for that reason that Hugh in fact doesn’t commission any custom closures. “We’re not really fans of super brand new things in general, actually,” he explains. “We’re much more about the tested and true, even if we use them in unorthodox ways.” That attention to small details delights the brand’s devoted followers, such as the discovery that the ACRONYM x Nike Air Presto Mid includes a locking zipper. “I don’t know if they’re secrets, but there have always been non-obvious uses and functions built into ACRONYM garments,” Hugh says.

To stay ahead of the curve however, the zipper industry needs to not merely keep up with established houses, but establish close relationships with designers at the beginning of their careers. “We decided to place the showroom in London because there are three major fashion schools based in London: Central Saint Martins, London College of Fashion and Royal College of Art,” YKK PR executive Anna Stefaniak tells HYPEBEAST.

YKK’s products are found on everything from Levi’s to Yohji Yamamoto (though it too is quiet about officially confirming its client list), but its status as the number one zipper producer in the world means it is more associated with the mass market rather than bespoke production. However, in December 2015 the Japanese company opened its first ever showroom in London’s Shoreditch district, which Stefaniak says was a “revolution” for the company in allowing individual designers to interact with YKK.

“Before you had to be a big brand to place an order with us,” she says. Now freelance designers or fashion students can make an appointment and purchase small orders of YKK products. And considering it is facing increasing competition from Chinese producer SBS for the mass-market consumer, YKK is smart to showcase its more design-minded capabilities with the showroom. “It’s kind of like our dream to have this kind of showroom in every city,” Stefaniak says.

Developing relationships with designers early on is key for Riri as well. Though its products are likely out of most fashion students’ budgets (if you have to ask how much their zippers cost, you’re in the wrong place), the company forges connections by visiting schools like FIT to give students sample products. “We sponsor a lot of people,” Howell explains. “We need to help the industry and we need to help the young people starting out. It’s in their interest in and also in our best interest.” After all, the race for new styles never ends.

Currently, the manufacturer sees lacquered plastic as one of the trends in hardware that still poses the biggest technical challenges. As Montonati explains, lacquering plastic components in different colors can not only create a bottleneck in production, but the final product is also far more prone to chipping than the galvanic metal finishes more traditionally used in luxury products. “Durability of the lacquering, this is something we are working on a lot because it’s definitely a trend, and we have to make it much, much better,” he says. As menswear designers continue to send eye-popping colors and monochromatic looks down the runway, Riri is looking to car manufacturers to learn how to make more durable colored finishes.

Sustainability is also changing the industry; with more luxury brands going green, their partners and manufacturers need to as well. “They need to know what our carbon footprint is so they can put it into their calculations because they’re buying things from us,” Howell explains, and adds that Riri has appointed a sustainability manager to look at everything from air filters in their offices to dyeing processes in their factories. There’s also a trickle-down effect with designers using more sustainable products as a whole; according to Montonati, “green” leather can have extreme effects like oxidation on metal hardware, which means more research, more testing and more development to make products to fit with the new materials.

“The quality of product is our first step in sustainability.”

But durability — a zipper or button that will still work after thousands of uses — remains perhaps the most crucial factor in creating sustainable hardware. “The quality of product is our first step in sustainability,” Stefaniak says of YKK’s efforts in the arena, which she says have been part of its ethos since its founding in 1994. The Japanese company is also looking to accessibility as a new frontier for closures, with zippers that can be opened with one or no hands in production.

many of these details remain imperceptible for anyone but the wearer, the countless social media accounts dedicated to documenting fashion means young consumers are more discerning than ever before. “Millennials are going to Instagram. They see everything. There are some sites that, let’s say, make it evident, the difference. That’s good for us,” says Montonati.

That can influence as well how some designers choose to brand their hardware. “We have a lot of customers that rather than put their name on it would like to have the Riri name,” Howell says. For those in the know after all, the name means as much as the Louis Vuitton stamp.

[pomelowatches]

Can Rolex really stop a couple from California from selling customised vintage watches to the public?

With the news that Rolex has filed legal action against a customisation house in the US, is the end in sight for customisation houses?

News began circulating in mid-November that Rolex filed legal action against a customisation house called LeCalifornienne in the district court of California. LeCalifornienne specialise in offering customised Rolex and Cartier vintage watches for men and women in a playful design which feature colourful pinks, turquoise and yellows. The company was founded by Courtney Ormond and Leszek Garwacki - a couple from California - in 2016. LeCalifornienne reportedly turned over US$1.25 million in their first year and have since gone on to be stocked globally in major department stores in the US, Canada, France and UK, and, on Gwyneth Paltrow’s online website goop.com.

Whilst a lot of comment/anger online focused on Rolex’s claim that these were “counterfeit” products (there were actually three different claims made by Rolex) and that this was the big boy Swiss corporation bullying a smaller company into submission, the real question is whether Rolex will succeed and if so, what this means for other customisation houses out there? Customisation houses

Before we get into this, it’s important to note there are two types of watch customisation houses. The first type will customise a watch that you provide to them for a fee in line with your specifications. The second are those that sell you a product they have purchased and customised; and their price includes the original product (together with associated logo/brand of product being sold – hint, that’s a spoiler alert there) together with their fee for customising this. One thing to note, it is definitely not the case that if Rolex wins this case, they will have the right to shut down every single customisation house out there; this really only focuses on the second types of these houses.

What is Rolex alleging?

Having read the papers that were filed with the court at California, there are a number of allegations being made by Rolex: (i) trademark counterfeiting (not just selling a counterfeit product, as a lot of people have been focusing on) (ii) trademark infringement (selling a trademarked product without a trademark license from the owner of the trademark – here, Rolex); and (iii) false designation of origin, descriptions and representations, and unfair competition.

Whilst people are getting pissed off that Rolex has described these LeCalifornienne products “counterfeit”, this is not what Rolex is saying; Rolex is really focusing on trademark infringement. The court papers describe that Rolex inspected two LeCalifornienne products (one which a Rolex investigator bought, and the other which a customer had sent to them for service), and found that:

“The dial has been refinished by stripping the original dial surface, removing the trademarks and hour marks, painting it aqua blue and reprinting the trademarks ROLEX and OYSTER PERPETUAL and reattaching the CROWN DESIGN trademark”.

That reprinting of Rolex’s trademark “ROLEX” and “OYSTER PERPETUAL” without a proper trademark license is the counterfeiting of the trademark. The papers also mention the crystal is not original on these watches and the bezel is not properly fitted which is likely to lead to water leaking into the second-hand watches being sold. But, that’s neither here nor there. This is all about Rolex’s trademarks being infringed.

Is Rolex legally entitled to take this action?

As a consumer, it’s not illegal to resell an item that you have legitimately purchased. If you’ve bought it, you can do with it as you please. But, once you plan on launching a business that does this, it can get a bit more complicated, namely due to trademarks.

If you’re using a manufacturers' logo to advertise products you’re reselling with their trademarked logo and intellectual property across it, you need their permission to do so. Without it, you risk being accused of trademark infringement and of using the trademark to benefit your own business - especially if your business does well and no longer flies under the radar. Which is exactly what has happened to LeCalifornienne.

It’s worth highlighting that Rolex is legally entitled to take this action against LeCalifornienne. Any business selling a product with someone else’s trademark on it requires a trademark licensing from the owner of the trademark before it can do this. Using the trademark without permission would arguably be a way for you to unfairly profit and benefit by using the manufacturer’s established intellectual property - and advertising efforts - for your own financial gain (which is what Rolex has also alleged).

But if you take this approach, this could extend to all vintage watch sellers who are reselling Rolex’s products? Are they infringing Rolex’s trademark by selling without a license whilst using Rolex’s trademark. Yes, that’s right. Any business that is advertising their service using Rolex’s crown, or other trademarked license logos which have been listed in the LeCalifornienne papers (which include the image of the crown, the terms “ROLEX”, “OYSTER”, “PRESIDENT”, “DAYTONA” to name but a few of the long list in the papers) are, technically, infringing Rolex’s intellectual property. Now, would Rolex do anything about these guys? Probably not. They’re not altering Rolex’s original product, and, if anything, these sellers are probably enhancing Rolex’s reputation by advertising Rolex’s products through glamorous Instagram and website shots for free.

What now?

If we look at the car world, similar things have happened here. But, customisation houses in this sphere take a very careful approach. The car customisation house Singer comes to mind. They openly state that “out of respect for Porsche’s trademark” they simply “reimagine” the Porsche 911 which you have to bring to them to get it customised; they do not buy old Porsches, turn them around and resell them.

The LeCalifornienne case is yet to go to trial, and at the time of writing this the court is in the process of assigning a judge to hear the case. Interestingly, since Rolex filed their case on 15 November, there have been no posting of Rolex watches by LeCalifornienne on their Instagram page: they’re only featuring Cartier watches. Arguably, Rolex is on a winning footing here from a legal point of view. If this goes to trial, my money is on Rolex winning this one. Alternatively, before it reaches that point, the parties may confidentially settle on an arrangement out of court.

[watchilove]

De Bethune Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia – De Bethune plunges into the fantasy universe of designer and scenographer François Schuiten, nicknamed the “Watchmaker of Dreams”, while engaging in a dialogue with the enigmatic world of The Obscure Cities through signature motif highlighted on the very structure of its DW5.

Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

A reality shift, a parallel universe in which humans are often left to their own devices – even though the reality is never very far away – this imaginary world is composed of enigmas and mysteries. Through shadows and unusual reflections of our world subject to the principle of worrying strangeness, the authors of The Obscure Cities usher their readers into spectacularly extravagant settings while maintaining a distinctly human approach.

Within this retro-futuristic aesthetic free of any nostalgia, the stunning architecture, imaginary cartography, and oft heavy and imposing machines together constitute the driving elements of plots where science and engineering mingle with fantasy.

It is precisely in the context of this rich and extraordinary universe that De Bethune has taken an interest in Armilia: a submerged, almost entirely underground city. It is in this remote place in the far North of the imaginary Continent that the control of Time is handled, a concept oddly mingling chronology and climate disruptions.

Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia – Dialogue between two civilisations

De Bethune observes the exchanges permitted between the real world and the world of The Obscure Cities, recognizing that time does not have the same value in this parallel world. Raising the question of perfect and imperfect time, exploring this “white zone” of the work’s nonetheless incredibly rich universe, De Bethune has imagined a time measurement object, a watch directly inspired by the depiction of Armilia and its universe.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

As a watch movement, it refers to observing time from a different angle. The model was indeed almost called Reflet (reflection). A reflection of this non-human world, but into which humans make regular incursions.

The boundary between art and artisanship

A watchmaker’s work is mainly based on the search for precision, for all that is perfect, the ideal touch… This quest for perfection, this reference to the perfect and the imperfect, the acceptance of imperfection, the relative borderline between perfection and imperfection: it is this almost schizophrenic path that gives rise to emotions when facing matter. Matter that resists, that can be worked on, that can be tamed.

Watchmaker, and passionate about The Obscure Cities, has imagined a wrist-sized sculpture, engraved as a direct reference to a drawing of the City of Armilia.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Reflecting similar gestures, a dialogue was established between Schuiten’s pen & ink drawings and renowned Swiss engraver Michelle Roten, whose talents were enlisted for this particular project. The structure of the watch thus comes to life or rather creates a reflection of Armilia’s imaginary world, as if the watch were a ship setting out to explore this world. Bearing in mind the idea of achieving a depiction similar to the original drawings, it is no coincidence that De Bethune chose 18K pink gold. The warm colour of the precious metal recalls the equally warm colours characterising the drawings of the city at sunset.

Outside, a totally imaginary world. Inside this watch, the real world of precision and watch engineering.

With Armilia, De Bethune has created a fascinating work that it is placing like a landmark on the frontier between art and watchmaking. The watch testifies to a vision of unbridled creativity while remaining based on profound understanding and respect for the great master watchmakers of the past, whose work it transcends and magnifies.

Exploring the past so as to reinterpret it even more effectively, knowing its heritage, pushing its limits and finally inventing the future. Mastering its codes to the point of breaking free of them in order to transform expertise into emotion and technique into pure beauty. For De Bethune, the approach applies to both art and watchmaking. Armilia belongs to both worlds. It speaks of space, movement and speed as much as precision and complications.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Armilia is the result of extreme miniaturisation of its mechanism, entirely dedicated to design, of which time is only one element. A De Bethune interpretation appearing as a nod or a signature, a small two-coloured sphere indicates the moon phases. Composed of two assembled and polished blued steel and palladium half-spheres, it guides the eye towards the digital and minimalist display of the hours and minutes. All this is visible through a hand-cut cabochon-shaped tempered glass such as only a rare few are capable of producing, providing a chance to get a better view of this mechanism that counts off time, within a fantasy world that approaches it from an entirely different standpoint.

Denis Flageollet – Master watchmaker & Creative Talent

Denis is the son, grandson and great-grandson of watchmakers.

Known today as one of the finest watchmakers of his times, he promotes a contemporary vision of watchmaking: that of the founding fathers, meaning the mastery of a perpetually changing art. It is a case of age-old expertise dedicated to constant innovation. For him, tradition is not just about building conventional watches, but rather about remaining innovative on a daily basis while following tradition. He aims to continually rejuvenate the spirit of mechanical watchmaking.

A lover of science, culture and art, he is passionate about mechanics and quality workmanship, constantly building on the past while looking firmly to the future.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

It is in this spirit that he founded De Bethune in 2002 with David Zanetta. Their creative inspiration continues to be nurtured by several centuries of watchmaking history, interpreted through the prism of contemporary culture. Since its foundation, De Bethune has been distinguished by its capacity to create mechanical timepieces featuring vanguard technology. It has also demonstrated its ability to imagine a contemporary aesthetic. In bringing these watches to life, each mechanism is assembled with that same vision of marrying new technologies with the beautiful watchmaking expertise of bygone years.

Having majored in science at secondary school in France, he went to Switzerland to study watchmaking and micro-engineering. He then completed his training by joining the “Musée du Locle” as a technician in antique watchmaking.

He finally decided to launch his own method, and in 1989 he co-founded the THA society with François-Paul Journe. Together, they created the first “sympathique” clock inspired by the work of Abraham-Louis Breguet. During these twelve years spent developing THA, he set up the mechanical and watchmaking production workshops, handled technical management, as well as heading the R&D workshop where more than 120 watchmaking developments were successfully undertaken in the fields of watch exterior components, jewellery and horological mechanisms, including the development of numerous calibres.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Alongside his passion for manual and traditional technical work throughout his career, he has taken further watch construction training with a focus on learning 3D computer-assisted design (CAD) technology and he was one of the first to use it for watchmaking purposes. He has been lucky enough to live in a pivotal period enabling him to learn from the master engineers, watchmakers and jewellers, who in turn have helped him master the production of one-of-a-kind models or prototypes using traditional methods and machines. At the same time, he has shown a consistent interest in state-of-the-art technical progress, which has enabled him to leverage modern CAD and CNC technologies.

He has indeed developed his own method through which he combines necessary know-how and contemporary techniques in order to develop his design and prototypes. This applies both to the movement and to watch exterior components.

His work with De Bethune has been rewarded by two national prizes, 15 international prizes, and is research has resulted in eight patents and two registered designs. Today, in working to build a training course on “Mécanique d’Art” (artistic mechanics) with his fellow artisans, alongside his engagement with De Bethune, his main aim is to pass on his experience and knowledge to watch enthusiasts and the up-and-coming generation of watchmakers.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Keynote by Denis Flageollet – at the press conference “(Im)Perfect World” at Maison d’Ailleurs – Yverdon, 13 November 2019

I will spare you reading from the press kit you have in your hands. Instead, I will try to share with you, through our respective professions, callings, my personal vision of the ‘Perfect’ and the ‘Imperfect.’

Watches – “Time Pieces” – present a perfect platform for dreams and the idea one can conjure of a utopia. The origin of some of our watches aims to connect various worlds of technical and artistic know-how. When I designed the DW5, my desire was to leave plenty of room for the various possibilities of dealing with its external structure. I am pleased to be able to present to you, as a review, the Armillia, one of the unique timepieces resulting from this desire.

On one hand, I admire the extraordinary drawing talent which François Schuiten translates into a universe that allows us to escape from this world. On the other, I have a friend, Michèle Rothen, whom I consider to be the greatest metal engraver in the world. For 35 years now I have been asking her for the impossible; she has never failed.

That’s all it took to make me want to build a bridge between these two art forms. As craftsmen, it’s not about “more.” It’s better.” We always seek to push our limits. I will speak to you as a craftsman because, beyond the exceptional creativity of the works on display (works that challenge us to question ourselves in a clinical way about our human condition), there is the work of the craftsman – craftsperson –, the work done by his or her hands.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

We are on a daily quest for the perfect gesture, the perfect way of crafting something, which obviously does not exist. Very fortunately for us, however, these small imperfections that arise from an imperfect or not quite perfect gesture are what, in the end, make up the uniqueness of a handcrafted piece of work.

That boundary between perfection and relative imperfection is what we need to reach in order to bring out our emotion through the material we work with. A material that fascinates us and often resists us.

Although works that amaze us are not perfect in every detail, they conjure a sensation far beyond comprehension.

This is how I feel when I see the work of François Schuiten or Michèle Rothen. Or any object created with extraordinary know-how, regardless of the field or discipline. I feel this when I stand before such works because they are human, the result of having done one’s best, of having made it with heart, with passion, but also with slight imperfections. All this makes them human, and reassuringly so because they do not come out of machines and industries that format everything they produce.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

They are perfect in their imperfection. And it is because of these imperfections that their creator loses something fundamental: he or she can no longer be moved by their own work. Somehow, the creator leaves a part of him or herself behind in the work.

Ask Michèle or François and they will tell you that at the end of their work they only see the defects.

In my case, they haunt me, and I must wait for them to fade from memory before I can look at my work with more objectivity. This continuously forces us to question ourselves, pushing us to keep doing better next time. What drives us is all these phases and stages of concentration, failure, determination, doubt and success.

The strength great artists have is what enables them to build on this experience and to keep crafting a better result. That’s what I admire in their works. And when, like the works of François, they also question us, challenge us, and send us a message of hope but also of warning on the razor-fine border between utopia and dystopia, there is only one thing for me to do, and that is to try to capture it in a watch.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank François, who allowed me to work on Dream Watch 5 Armillia, and Michèle, who allowed me to take on this new challenge. Try to imagine, while you look at the piece and at the drawing, all the hours and hours (there are hundreds) that went into the slightest strokes of the pen, the slightest strokes of the chisel. By François, to transport us to other worlds with his strokes of genius. By Michèle, to miniaturize this universe and suspend it forever in solid gold.

At De Bethune, we spent weeks to manufacture each component with the greatest care, to finish it in the greatest watchmaking tradition and to assemble it into an object that indicates the hours and minutes through a window, and accurately displays the phases of our unique satellite, the moon, in the form of a sphere. This watch, which points towards our future, encapsulates an invisible know-how that goes back several centuries and involves 10 craft disciplines.

I would like to conclude with a wish: May we long have the chance to keep our crafts alive, and continue to awaken a sense of wonder. Far from industrialization and growth for its own sake. Far from the “always more” that every day seems to drag us closer to the brink of disaster.

De Bethune Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia Technical specifications

Name:

Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Reference:

DW5RMA

Functions:

Hours,

Minutes,

Spherical moon-phase indication

Movement:

DB2144V2

Type:

Mechanical hand-wound movement

Adjustment:

Spherical moon-phase adjustment and setting the time by means of the crown, adorned by 1-carat sapphire (3 positions)

Technical features of calibre DB2144V2

Number of parts:

320

Jewelling:

32 jewels

Diameter:

30 mm

Power reserve:

5 days, ensured by a self-regulating twin barrel De Bethune Innovation (2004)

Specificities:

Silicon annular balance encircled by a white gold ring De Bethune Patent (2010)

“De Bethune” balance-spring with flat terminal curve De Bethune Patent (2006)

Silicon escape wheel

Spherical moon-phase indication with an accuracy of one lunar day every 1112 years – De Bethune Patent (2004)

Frequency:

28’800 vibrations per hour

Adornment:

Hand-crafted finishing and decoration

Display

Display:

Jumping-hour aperture at 3 o’clock

Analogue minutes indicator on a dragging rotating disc

Spherical moon-phase indication in palladium and flamedblued steel with an accuracy of one lunar day every 1112 years at 6 o’clock – De Bethune Patent (2004)

Dial :

Frame of the jumping-hour aperture in blued grade 5 titanium

Case and strap

Case material :

Delta shaped in polished rose gold 18K

Case diameter:

lenght 58 mm

width 47 mm

Case thickness:

16 mm

Crystal:

curved Hard-mineral crystal cut by hand

Case back:

Closed and screwed down case back in black titanium with aperture on balance wheel

Hard-mineral crystal (1800 Vickers hardness) with double anti-reflective coating

Water resistance :

3 ATM

Strap:

Extra-supple alligator leather, alligator lining

Buckle:

Pin in rose gold and buckle in black titanium

De Bethune presents the DW5 Armilia, a unique piece from its Maestri’art collection De Bethune Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia - De Bethune plunges into the fantasy universe of designer and scenographer François Schuiten, nicknamed the “Watchmaker of Dreams”, while engaging in a dialogue with the enigmatic world of The Obscure Cities through signature motif highlighted on the very structure of its DW5.