The Chopard L.U.C and the Watchmaker Who Insisted on In-House Movements
In 1996, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard, launched the L.
2025-10-09
OR
Oliver Ramsey
123 articles
Showing 1–20 of 123 articles
The Cartier Santos and the Aviator Who Couldn't Check His Pocket Watch Mid-Flight
In 1904, Louis Cartier's friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, the Brazilian aviation pioneer, complained that checking a pocket watch while piloting his experimental aircraft was impossible.
2025-09-27
How Lobb of St James's Has Measured Feet for Over a Century
John Lobb, a Cornish farmer's son who walked to London in the 1850s, established himself as a bootmaker of extraordinary skill.
2025-09-26
How Loro Piana Cornered the Market on the World's Finest Fibres
The Loro Piana family has traded in textiles since the early nineteenth century in Trivero, in the Piedmontese Alps.
2025-09-08
The Safari Jacket: Colonial Baggage and Sartorial Reinvention
The safari jacket emerged in the late nineteenth century as a practical garment for European hunters and colonial administrators in East Africa.
2025-09-08
The Fedora's Rise, Fall, and Stubborn Refusal to Disappear
The fedora takes its name from an 1882 play by Victorien Sardou, in which Sarah Bernhardt wore a soft, centre-creased hat.
2025-08-29
The Signet Ring: Power, Identity, and Wax Seals Through the Ages
Long before signatures carried legal weight, a pressed seal in hot wax authenticated treaties and papal bulls.
2025-08-26
The Story of the Safari Jacket
The safari jacket emerged from the practical demands of African big-game hunting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when European sportsmen required a garment that provided sun protection, ventilation, and ample storage for ammunition, maps, and field equipment while withstanding the abrasive conditions of bush travel.
2025-08-20
Why the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Changed Watchmaking
In 1999, Seiko introduced a movement technology that defied categorisation: the Spring Drive, which uses a mechanical mainspring for power but regulates timekeeping through an electromagnetic brake controlled by a quartz crystal oscillator.
2025-08-15
The History of Corduroy
Corduroy — from the French corde du roi (cloth of the king), though this etymology is disputed by textile historians who favour the English cord and duroy — has been woven since at least the eighteenth century as a durable, warm fabric suited to rural and working-class dress.
2025-08-15
Why the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Whispers Wealth
Vacheron Constantin, founded in Geneva in 1755, is the oldest continuously operating watch manufacturer in the world.
2025-08-13
How Gieves & Hawkes Survived Three Centuries
Gieves & Hawkes of No.
2025-08-08
How Edward VII Changed Menswear Forever
Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910, exerted more influence on men's fashion than any other monarch in British history — arguably more than any single individual before or since.
2025-08-04
Why the Omega Speedmaster Went to the Moon
On July 21, 1969, Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the lunar surface wearing an Omega Speedmaster Professional reference ST 105.
2025-08-02
The Evolution of the Cardigan from Cricket Field to Boardroom
The cardigan takes its name from James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who led the catastrophic Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854.
2025-08-01
The History of the Aviator Jacket
When the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903, their open-cockpit aircraft exposed pilots to wind, rain, and temperatures that dropped approximately two degrees Celsius for every three hundred metres of altitude gained.
2025-07-28
Why Hydration Is the Single Most Underrated Grooming Strategy
Every premium serum, every carefully selected moisturiser, and every diligently applied sunscreen performs measurably worse on dehydrated skin.
2025-07-22
The Shaving Creams Made by Companies Older Than Most Countries
While contemporary grooming brands measure their heritage in product launch cycles, a handful of shaving cream manufacturers have been perfecting their craft since before electricity, indoor plumbing, or the nation-states that now purchase their products existed.
2025-07-18
The Tongue Scraper and Other Small Tools with Outsized Benefits
The grooming industry fixates on serums, razors, and fragrances while ignoring the small, inexpensive tools that deliver disproportionate results.
2025-07-10
The Men's Skincare Brands That Started in Dermatology Labs
The most effective men's skincare brands did not originate in a marketing department — they emerged from clinical research facilities where dermatologists formulated solutions for specific pathologies before realising those same formulations could serve the broader consumer market.
2025-07-09