Don’t Fall in Love With This Watch. It’s Already Sold Out.
In Watches, the Shape Is the Thing
October 18, 2024The Watches of Switzerland Group Marks Its Centennial
October 18, 2024This post was originally published on this site
The Type 1-D model, created by the team of Mark Cho, Naoya Hida and Joshua Nathan Shapiro, won’t even be ready until early next year.
Before Mark Cho, a co-founder of the men’s wear retailer the Armoury, agreed to speak to a reporter about a new watch that he recently created with the independent watchmakers Naoya Hida in Tokyo and Joshua Nathan Shapiro in Torrance, Calif., Mr. Cho, a Manhattan resident, asked himself a question: “Were we meant to tell the world about this or not?”
His ambivalence — expressed on a three-way video interview with Mr. Hida and Mr. Shapiro in late September — made sense. Even though the hand-wound mechanical watch is not expected to be finished until early next year, all 15 pieces in the 37-millimeter limited edition — 12 watches in steel, called the Type 1D-4 East-West ($28,500), and three in gold, called the 1D-5 East-West ($49,500) — already are sold.
Collaborations, once rare in the secretive high-end watch trade, are so common that partnerships between brands and designers can seem a little clichéd. Still, a three-way two-continent alliance stands out — especially one involving two of the watch world’s most sought-after independents and a tastemaker who in 2022 realized $1.63 million when Phillips auctioned his watch collection in a single-owner sale.
The new timepiece, based on the Type 1B model that Naoya Hida & Company introduced in 2019, is a dress watch that pays homage to classics like the Patek Philippe Ref. 96. It features a design by Mr. Cho and his design partner, Elliot Hammer, and a guilloché dial by Mr. Shapiro, whose company, J.N. Shapiro in Torrance, Calif., specializes in the centuries-old decorative engraving technique.
“We are very lucky because we have Mark as a conductor,” Mr. Hida said.
The idea for the collaboration was Mr. Cho’s. He had discovered Mr. Hida’s brand in 2019, when he bought one of the seven Type 1B watches produced that year. Another was sold to one of Mr. Cho’s clients in Hong Kong. (The Armoury has locations in New York and Hong Kong.)
“Before he approached me by email,” Mr. Hida said, “I already knew about him because he is my iconic person in men’s sophisticated lifestyle.”
