u/Intrepid_Cobbler3487

That's an APSF made Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph 26240CE purchased from Steve at TheOneWatches and then placed on a rubber strap for the summer months. It sits atop my latest book -- "Borrowed Time" by Gabe Oppenheim, the story of how the Swiss spied on Waltham's technology in 1876 and later used the parts business they were in to strangle American watch companies (by the 1950s, if you were an American watch company and you wanted a spare Swiss part you could obtain it only by turning over control over all the details of your manufacture to the Swiss -- and they could dictate how many watches you made and where you made and what you charged). By 1960, a whole bunch of the 23 Swiss watch defendants charged entered into a consent decree promising never to interfere in US watch manufacturing again...excrpt that consent was given not to tamper in this antitrust manner way too late. The US companies were shells of themselves. Oh, and Rolex violated the consent decree as recently as 2006 (before they used their legal team to get the judgment thrown out). My book asks: how did the tiny nation of Switzerland dominate watchmaking for centuries -- fairly or not? By hook or crook? And it tees up the back end of the book -- when Chinese artisans in Guangdong province rip off Swiss IP, including the ceramic AP chrono. When they do to the Swiss what the Swiss seemingly had coming after ripping out the American watchmaking soul. Wear your reps proudly this 4th. Available everywhere, including Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Time-History-Espionage-Horology/dp/B0H3BYBKJG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2WTL24VTVDNJ7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-0thZJ59m-BGpsQyqKYymQbTIDQdSZGR9wDF7MgQm071PVp1vtOZ2Prc_UHFiStY.JmNYbCT0fLSPp0-CRG0mWtyLmYRYZP3GlQP7J0x7pfU&dib_tag=se&keywords=gabe+oppenheim+borrowed+time&qid=1783195966&sprefix=gabe+oppenheim+%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-1​

Oppenheim has previously written "The Ghost Perfumer," which went behind the scenes of the Swiss perfumery industry to reveal the true perfumer behind the brand Creed (the genius Pierre Bourdon, who also formulated/created YSL Kouros and Davidoff Cool Water). Now, Oppenheim has turned his investigative gaze onto the Swiss timekeeping cartel -- in particular, the way the Jura watchmakers (Longines, in particular) stole Waltham's horological intellectual property in the 1800s and then used monopoly power in the 1900s (denying parts to American watch companies unless they turned over control over of their production to the Swiss cartel) to gut the American companies and erode their independence.

The book concludes with a significant chunk on the rise of the Chinese rep industry, beginning with its Hong Kong roots and then its mainland birth in Shenzhen in 1980 (following which it settled more widely into the greater Pearl River Delta of Guangdong). No book published yet has ever gone into such detail about the workings of Noob, say. Or about the very comeuppance the Swiss are getting -- having stolen IP from America, they are now victims of the Chinese factories doing the same thing. It's kinda like the universe is in harmony.

Meanwhile, no author has gotten more access to secret Swiss watch cartel documents that were highly confidential for decades -- or better access to the Swiss point people who track the Chinese rep factories and work to bust them. This is the inside story of horological theft -- from the time of Breguet till now -- no punches pulled. Not only did Rolex commit antitrust acts that forced it to enter into a consent agreement in the 1960s, it further violated that agreement in 2006 -- but managed to get off by paying a paltry 750k to the DOJ -- in return for which the DOJ voided the agreement altogether -- essentially saying Rolex is allowed now to restrict access to parts, to use its vertical integration to deny the right to repair and to force indie watchmakers out of business. It's heinous that Rolex, having violated the law, essentially did it again decades later with full knowledge of the misdeed and managed to get off by having the rule voided itself (a necessary rule/agreement).

And yes, the OP here is the writer Gabe Oppenheim himself. Hope you enjoyed this post. The book is even better -- out on Amazon worldwide June 29 (the ebook can be pre-ordered, but the hardcover and paperbacks will be dropped all at once on rhe 29th in 11 days -- kinda like the Royal Pop drop, except online, non-violent, and without flippers.

And I'm wearing my VSF Cookie Monster today, in case you're wondering.

Coming in 17 days to Amazon, my new book: "Borrowed Time: A History of Espionage, IP Theft, and the Global War for Horology," an attempt to chronicle the systemic spying and IP theft that have secretly defined watchmaking from the time of Breguet till now.

This is not an ad. Just wanted all who are intrigued to be aware.

The book ventures beyond high-gloss boutiques to explore the very first Patek counterfeits in the 1800s, the way Longines heisted Waltham's machining and methods in the 1870s, the technical evolution of the high-end Chinese replica market as an outgrowth of the Communist establishment of the tech hub of Shenzhen in 1980, and the way a Swiss cartel that for years pushed the world around is now finally in the crosshairs of a worthy adversary in the mainland Chinese factories creating 1:1 Rolex and AP engines.

Finally, the Swiss, who conniving their way to pole position, are having their own IP stolen in a form of almost karmic/cosmic comeuppance... Happy Friday.

And I'm wearing my VSF Cookie Monster.

I hit up previously unreported-on secret Swiss archives to find memos filed by Swiss watch reps regarding which brands began sneaking off to have their watches made in Asia in the 1970s. Memos about how Omega was traveling to the USSR to try to stanch bleeding during the quartz crisis by making the Russian market its own (didn't work, obvs). And then how the Chinese took over watchmaking, after the city of Shenzhen was established in 1980...If you've ever wondered why Noob movements were so groundbreaking or daydreamed about the little grey town on the border of North Korea whence DDF movements come (and how is it that they're still alive -- is this a government-protected sanctuary factory? #Peacock), this is the book for you. If you wanna know how the Swiss managed to gut the entire American watch industry first via IP theft and later antitrust pricing control, this is the book for you. A narrative that believes we're seeing a certain sort of karmic payback. In reps not as individual pieces but as collective comeuppance. Out June 29.