If I have $50K...

$50k ? I'd be happy with the pieces I have and bring forward retirement a fair wee bit 👍

Glad to see watches pulled ahead of drugs and hookers.

I was beginning to fear for our neighborhood. 😉

Okay I have never seen the Seiko in question, but having seen several Simplicity examples (I have had his personal Simplicity on my wrist), a Duality, and spent some time in Mr. Dufour's atelier, and I would take this claim with a huge grain of salt.

I don't know who made this claim, but unless you are very experienced at judging movement finish (which most people aren't really) I doubt most would be able to pick up on the subtleties. I spent the entire time there with him discussing movement finishing, and he even gave me a bit of training on how some finishes are accomplished in the traditional ways. The eyes can be deceiving when it comes to judging a finish, and he showed me examples of Geneva Seal watches (this seal is all about finishing essentially) that were quite frankly disasters compared to his work.

There are many ways to accomplish a specific finish (Geneva stripes for example), and you almost need to know how it was done to be able to fully judge it.

Sorry don't mean to be a rabid Dufour defender, but I consider him the best of the best after seeing a lot of high end work from independents and major brands. That's why a photo I took of him in his atelier hangs above my bench - reminds me of the high standards he has as I work....

Cheers, Al

Hi Ting,

I certainly agree it appears to be nicely finished, but I would say the finish on this watch is "simple" compared to a Simplicity. The plates cover a lot of the movement compared to the Simplicity, and of course this watch does not have a Swiss lever escapement with a pallet fork, pallet bridge, or balance wheel that have to be finished. The plates also have a very simple straight grain finish where the Simplicity has Côtes de Genève. As I mentioned there are many ways to produce these stripes, and although they are a very common decoration, seeing them done to the sort of standard that Mr. Dufour does is extremely uncommon.

This was the decoration I spent the most time discussing with him - the equipment used, the compound angles that he used on the spindle head, the wood used for the spindle, the specific carrier oil used for the abrasive, and the type and grade of abrasive itself. Then the finished result is determined by how skilled you are at moving the table by hand at the correct and constant speed. This decoration alone is one where you can judge a lot about how well the work is done on a movement. Most companies used stamped out abrasive paper in an automated machine, and that sort of work is instantly recognizable if you know what to look for.

I respect the views of the reviewer (who I am familiar with and who is certainly experienced) but in my opinion to compare two watches for such fine detail it would have to be done with the watches side by side in person. You can't rely on photos or memory to do such a comparison in my view.

I took this video while at Mr. Dufour's - at that time he had some others working with him to produce the watches. This shows a small portion of the effort required to simply polish one countersink - of course all done by hand The person doing this had only completed a few in the entire day - the time spent on these details is considerable:


I'm not saying it's not possible that the Seiko has equaled or eclipsed the Simplicity, but to be convinced I would have to see them both side by side.

It is nice to see people challenging the top makers though. I do agree with the reviewer that the movement leaves me somewhat cold, which is common with Japanese pieces for me. I certainly respect the effort that goes into a Grand Seiko for example, but they again leave me cold aesthetically - both dial and movement side.

Cheers, Al