WatchDossier Issue 15 - 2025
Capability, Conviction, and the Quiet Theatre of Modern Horology
EDITORIAL
This issue circles a simple truth: watches now reveal more about our desires than about time itself.
A diver that will never see depth; a tourbillon long freed from its original purpose; a resurrected maison asking us to believe in permanence again. Even the Studio Underd0g × Massena LAB collaboration—half-joke, half-serious—shows how irony and sincerity now coexist without conflict.
The words “sound industrial objective” exposes the unromantic backbone of independence, while the independents in our Classifieds prove that scarcity only matters when anchored in intent rather than marketing choreography.
What ties these pieces together is not mechanics but psychology: our need to feel capable, our longing for continuity, our pleasure in recognising the absurdity built into luxury. Watches remain the cleanest mirror we have for examining who we hope to be.
In that quiet tension, this issue finds its shape.
— The Editor
The Capability Illusion
Luxury’s quietest comfort may be the illusion of readiness — the serene reassurance that, should the ocean rise, at least one thing on your wrist could handle it.
The Tourbillon: Four Interpretations of Breguet’s 225-Year-Old Solution
When accuracy no longer matters, what does a tourbillon measure? Four brands answer a 225-year-old question—and reveal how value survives obsolescence.
Those Who Pursue a Sound Industrial Objective Will Survive
“Those who pursue a sound industrial objective will survive.” A Swiss watchmaker’s warning demands reinterpretation for 2025, when independence has transformed from counter-cultural resistance into a…
The Taste of Time: Studio Underd0g × Massena LAB 03SERIES “Champagne & Caviar”
A watch born from irreverence and indulgence, where British wit meets collector gravitas—and together they toast to the absurdity of taking pleasure seriously.
When Time Becomes Testament
In a quiet salon, the rebirth of a 250-year-old watchmaker becomes a meditation on belief, strategy, and the modern appetite for permanence.
THE CLASSIFIEDS (BUT NOT REALLY) Vol. 6
You won’t find full specs here. You will find intent, posture, subtext. These are horological classifieds for new releases from independents (this lot is from the 2025 GPHG nominations) — announcemen…
The next issue will be published on December 7, 2025.