Independents

Greetings to all! This is my second attempt to post this set of photos, as the site ate my homework the first time. After some unusually colorful cursing, I have returned to the keyboard, but thankfully for you will not re-type the lengthy exposition on t...  

Hell of a watch and stunning photos The Finnish know how to finish!!! Sorry to hear about your homework problems! Did the site eat your dial pictures too? ;-)

The site didn't eat the dial side photos -- there just weren't any I took this time that I liked we'll enough to post... Agree with you about the Finnish finish! Best, Gary

Gary, I was looking just now at your fabulous photos on my big monitor and wonder is it just me, or are the crown wheel and ratchet wheel slightly different color in the first few photographs? The crown wheel seems to have more of a brass or yellowish tin... 

Hi, Michael -- I'm on the road right now so don't have the ability to pull my watch out of the safe and look right now, but by studying the photos and drawing on my recollection, my best sense is that the wheels are in fact different colors. As you note, ... 

Michael -- Here's another photo of the watch, taken a few months ago in natural light: Again in this shot, the wheels appear quite different to me. Part of it may be the way that the ratchet wheel is finished (deeply grained) vs. the crown wheel, and may ...  

:-)

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that he has a good sense of humour :-) Oliver

Again, these movement pics. are tops & demonstrates what can be achieved at the very high end. I understand your frustration with lost text and wasted effort as I have experienced the same, resulting in the utmost profanity. :) The solution: write len... 

This isn't the first time I have inadvertently navigated away from a draft post or hit the backspace key on a photo -- both of which kill the entire post! Thanks for the advice and kind words, Fernando. Best, Gary

But I'm glad you didn't! Spectacular macro shots, I assume with stacked images and some sort of tilt lens. You get better by the week, Gary. And you seem to be enjoying yourself. Hope you saved something for Macro Monday next week? :-) Andrew

Thanks, Andrew! Practice, practice, practice, as they say. Not entirely satisfied with this batch but thought that a few were "good enough" to share. You are correct in assuming that I have something in hand for Macro Monday :-) Best, Gary

painful to look at these pictures but we are talking about good pain here :) Thank you Gary Cordially Damjan

...is a great watch! Thanks for your note... Best, Gary

not only a great equipment. Your teacher seems to be good as well :-) Your computer must burn with stacked pictures like this - 10, 15 ...? Keep them coming, those photos are much appreciated by me. Oliver

So true, Oliver -- you can almost hear the gears grinding! Glad you liked these! I am having more success with correct color rendering and lighting as a result of my first lessons... Best, Gary

Love the detail. Is that a peanut shell I see? - SJX

Thanks, SJX -- I was successful in cleaning the Long Bar residue... Best, Gary

NT

Nt

... of an award-winning timepiece. Kari's work is top drawer. Thanks for the always excellent photos! - Scott

Always a pleasure to share a piece like this with fellow PuristS -- thanks for your kind words! Best, Gary

Gary, Your advances on watch photography are amazing. My sincere congratulations. I know (by failing) how hard is to take this kind of pictures. Cheers, Nilo

As I hope you know, I am a huge admirer of your photographs -- always very atmospheric and full of emotions and contrast. You are right that for me at least, it takes a lot of attempts to get a few output images that show a watch to good advantage! I will... 

Just one question. What did you do of the (not so anti-reflective) crystal? Best- Z'

Thanks for your comment and question! You are of course correct that Kari does not use external AR on his crystals, which can make it tough to get clear images. I do a lot of repositioning of watch, camera, and lights to eliminate direct reflections, and ... 

Thanks for sharing, a tour de force in watch photography, plus you have some pretty subjects to shoot! Cheers, Tim

It does of course help to have some great starting materials! Best, Gary

very crisp and illustrative shot. really bring out Kari's finishing to the tee. perhaps Kari should buy these images for his marketing materials!! stacking, shagging, stagging...all greek to me!! :)- best, Horo

As you know I am a big fan of Kari's finishing work! Don't worry about the stacking/shagging -- just leave it to me ;-) Best, Gary

I especially like 3,4 and 5 with neat highlights and great lighting that reveals the curves and fine finishing. Somehow I think these are all single shots with no photo stacking. Cheers,dreamer

You have a good eye, as I am sure that #5 is a single image and 4 may be as well (I am away from my computer so can't look right now). I included #1 not for its composition but because it may be the first photo I have taken of this watch that really shows... 

a real pleasure to discover them in detail. You're so lucky to be able to take care of her, thanks Gary! Cheers, Mark

I am indeed a fortunate man :-) Best, Gary

One awesome watch and excellent shots!

It's a real pleasure to be able to share this one with this community. Best, Gary

of a spectacular watch. I know how passionate you are about this Observatoire, and these photos are up to the task. I also observe that your posts seem consistently to raise the passion of fellow PuristS, so many responses of thanks for leading us deep in... 

...but I will certainly be pursuing this as an active hobby for a long time! And, of course, you are always welcome to join in on the process in whatever way you want, although to be honest I think that looking at the output has to be more interesting tha...