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Continue reading →: When a watch tells more than the timeWatches, perhaps because they are so much more personal than almost any other artefact, have a knack of telling stories that bring the past vividly into the present. Here’s one of them… In the gathering darkness of the evening of September 28th 1944, a group of 12 German Kampfschwimmer (military…
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Continue reading →: The irony – presenting school prizesAs well as the day job and a bit of scribbling about watches, I work with the splendid Speakers for Schools organisation. In February ’17, John Marston, the headteacher at St. Birinus school in Didcot invited me to speak to some of his students. I talked to them about how…
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Continue reading →: A year onOh, look – MMC’s posting pictures of watches again. Yes, it’s a rather nice GW-5000, the one with the proper screwdown back and metal inner case (G-Shock nerds only need apply). But it’s the time on the screen that’s significant, not the watch. Why? On 10 December last year, just…
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Continue reading →: Singing at ChristmasAt this time of year, for me, as the temperature goes down and the decorations go up, there’s always a ‘Carols for Choirs’ shaped gap. As a six year old boy treble and then as a young counter tenor and bass, the weeks from September onwards meant only one…
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Continue reading →: Charging ahead or still on the grid?Electric cars need to be plugged in every now and then. But what do you do if you haven’t got a driveway? As the countryside around Bampton fills with huge new housing estates and commuters, even the lanes that lead to major routes are rammed in rush hour. Traffic on…
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Continue reading →: Driving from the back seat.I’ve not worked as an advertising copywriter since June 2013. I’m rather relieved about this. A recent Twitter post about difficult clients reminded me why, so I dredged this out of my ‘drafts’ folder. It’s a piece I wrote in March 2008 to try and illustrate why the traditional client/agency…
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Continue reading →: The 241 year old pendulum clock that’s more accurate than your watch241 years ago today, John Harrison, one of Britain’s finest clockmakers died. He left behind designs for a clock that makes the accuracy of that quartz watch on your wrist look pretty average. Chances are, your quartz will be be reasonably sharp. Probably just +/- 15 seconds a month. Not shabby, given…
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Continue reading →: Happy Birthday, M. Breguet
Today will pass in most people’s diaries with never a thought for the man behind so many elements of the watch on their wrist. Abraham Louis Breguet was born 270 years ago today in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Automatic winding, tourbillons, gong-repeaters, more accurate escapements, better hairsprings, shock-absorbing escapements, lubrication-free escapements… Breguet was…
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Continue reading →: Rare vintage watch turns up in auction.How a rare, early Heuer 2447S turned up in a regional UK electrical goods auction.
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Thanks for dropping in. There’s all sorts of stuff here, from reviews of watches to thoughts on driving and riding. And you’re welcome whether you agree with any of it or not.
MMC Musings 