Ok, I'm going out on a limb and I'm going to assume that the metal case and dial are made out of solid platinum which has a PVD coating of graphite and the leather is from the last known surviving Buffalo on the planet. The movement was manufactured by Patek Philippe. The clock not only tells the time, but will also arrange and purchase all travel and accommodations at a substantial discount, will make reservations at any and all Michelein 3 star restaurants, provide complete security from all forms of theft including but not limited to cyber, financial, and property, and can also be used as a sex toy when your significant other is not present or when your significant other is present, and is a complete traveling companion that offers advice not only on the best tours, bars, restaurants, and hotels , but also will give excellent stock tips, and, finally, will answer any question you have while on your journey or at home.
There's a blast from the past - I've flown a lot in the F27 and the Aussie cousin HS748 - not great if you wanted to get anywhere in a hurry
I wonder if it's this guy: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2240587/valley-morning-star-harlingen-texas/
Wow, what an amazing find TDBK, Thanks . This helps me understand a little more of who Charles Lodwick was as I had nothing previously. I always found if strange as the clock came to me from an estate clearance in the USA which I assumed was Mr. Lodwick's home. What I couldn't put together was the fact that The Fokker F27 was built under licence in the USA by Fairchild Hiller from 1956, so why was he gifted this from Fokker and not Fairchild. Perhaps he flew outside of the USA as your article clip shows. I now have renewed interest to find more info on the good Captain. Flying Ford Tri-Motors over the jungle with zero accurate navigation aids and landing on dirt strips was real flying. Today it's "Gear up, Flaps up, Shut up" for most co-pilots. I wonder what watches they wore.... I have spent the last ten years mounting and sanding the below Fokker F27-100 prop blade. I only work on it when I am feeling inspired, the rest of the time it sits in the cellar. I am almost finished and today I have renewed energy to tackle the hand polishing because I don't have a polishing machine. The base is quarter inch mild steel that was a nightmare to get right. I intend to artificially rust it so it has that deep red/brown rust look. I will then mount it on a 1 inch piece of glass/plastic cut to the same diameter and install led lights in the base so light comes from the base underneath the mild steel. The prop needs to be mirror finish and I have left all the dents and deep gouges in it as thats part of its working life. I might be finished before I retire in twenty years .
obviously age is catching up with my eyesight. All emojis should read thumbs up. Apologies for the error.
Don’t worry guys it’s sold out already. Actually, I’m not as hard on them. The free market spoke and they wanted this clock. At least 96 of them... i do have more of an issue with them mixing editorial content with store drops. It does feel less objective after they started carrying all these brands. But many blogs also have affiliate links. They are still producing excellent content though, so... ♂️
How do we know 96 sold ? Coincidentally I needed to eBay search for Hodinkee a few days ago, and I thought why not search for the travel clock at the same time. There were none listed and no completed listings as far as I could see. This is very unusual for a Hodinkee release as normally there’d be a handful of flippers trying their luck. Or maybe they haven’t been delivered yet, but I think it said somewhere that a batch were already produced so I guess those would have been delivered by now. And just looked now and there aren’t any on chrono24 either.
There is absolutely no chance of Hodinkee having sold all 96. If that was really the case it would be, as @w154 says, the only time none were bought by flippers and immediately - before receiving said item - put for sale with a mark up. A pitiful example of fragile, hurt egos.
There's a lot going on here and I'd be lying if I claimed to have read through all 18 pages making fun of this ridiculously priced clock, but I figured I'd add a little something. A few month ago I picked up an Oris clock intending to fix it up and give it to a buddy of mine at work, he's an Oris guy and if we still worked in an office building instead of all being remote I thought it would make a nice desk clock. I paid about $20 after shipping: Spent a little time trying to clean it up a bit and find a new crystal. Ended up finding a pocket watch crystal that worked great ($8) + a little jewelers glue to keep it in place... $35 well spent. I left some of it's layers of paint and age on the case, it let it show some of it's history.
Forgot to update OF about this.... So even though the crazy fallout of this whole bizzare episode of Hodinkee selling a travel clock for a huge sum of money... I decided to try and find myself something similar. I stumbled upon this for not alot of money. Its a nifty Seiko Travel clock at about 34.5mm in diameter. The case back has some engraving stating it as a long service reward to employees... The heft of this little watch is nice and the finishing on the backedge seems to be hand-hammered. Alot of work done on this watch for under a 100USD.
Oh wow, T, that is a complete stunner! Your clock, to my eyes at least, is the most beautiful piece in this entire thread. All that despite its inferior local design and sub-standard Asian finishing ("Instead of doing a mass product with automated manufacturing in Asia, we made a decision to do a small batch production run using a movement we thought was special, assembled by hand in Switzerland....." ) https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/a-quick-note-to-our-readers-travel-clock-edition
I had an old Le Coultre 8 Day with damaged leather kicking around and was inspired to have a little fun with it. The pistachio leather is a little loud but I’m loving my updated Aide Memoire. Looks great on my bedside table.
If only they can put more attention and invest more on making it something more unique like this.... https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/cartier-lot-334-46?page=1&q=cartier