| Basel Watch Fair |
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Page 1 of 2 And with a $100,000 watch strapped on, do you really care? 
Photo by Jeff Harris
(click image to enlarge) Perhaps that’s because this year’s BaselWorld watch fair was over-run with big pieces loudly announcing their complications—that is, not neuroses, but special features—like the Krieger Mysterium. At 51 millimeters, it spans the forearm like a suspension bridge over the San Francisco Bay; it’s fitting that this Mysterium is also known as the Shaq. Surprisingly, though, a diesel is not required to lift it, nor will heavy doses of Icy Hot need to be applied to your supinators after wearing the massive watch for extended periods. The Mysterium is made of a material called invisible aluminum. Aluminum’s lighter weight makes the watch easier to wear—it’s pleasantly shocking how much lighter the Mysterium is when picked up than you anticipate; all of your arm muscles can be heard sighing with relief. The invisible aluminum’s see- through quality allows you and possibly everyone else you know in your zip code to see the intricate workings of the watch; it’s often also called a skeleton watch, and many of them have inner works called a tourbillon, a special mechanical movement designed originally for pocket watches to ensure accuracy no matter what position the watch is kept in. As a film aficionado, I can’t help realizing how the delicacy of the tourbillon and the watch’s largeness give the Mysterium a wide-scale, stylized masculinity recalling the films of the thoughtful noir filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the director best known for Batman Begins, but whose other equally noteworthy films include the American remake of Insomnia and the tricky machinations of Memento; its inner works are readily apparent, but it’s best to just let it run instead of trying to figure out how it works. |
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