Tales of Time – The Beginning

~300 words. 2 minute read.

I have developed a deep fascination for mechanical watches and it’s not surprising that I have!

Recording time accurately is a cornerstone of legal training. The billable hour is still the undisputed ruler in every law firm around the globe. Serving that ruler always being an integral part of my work, I also learned to appreciate the beauty of time in a different way.

Glancing at my wristwatch is different than reading the time from the laptop or iPhone screen. It goes beyond the gathering of temporal information, rather it is like a quick visit to a museum. It’s the difference between eating for nutrition and tasting the symphony of flavors in the great concert of a gourmet meal.

The appreciation of the artform that is a handmade mechanical watch has a ‘meta-time’ implication: The beauty of a mechanical watch stems first and foremost from the time it took to make it. The hours a watchmaker spends assembling several hundred tiny parts before the balance wheel springs to life, equates to the hundreds and thousands of words I compose when drafting a contract.

As is often the case, viewing the finished product (the watch and the contract) obfuscates the art and the science – and the time! – that went into their respective assembly. In times of digitalization and legal tech this may seem like romanticizing the past. But not only the creator will recognize the difference, the connoisseur will as well.

Both will cherish the handmade soul of a watch and a contract. Both will embody the spirit of their creators and both, if expertly crafted, will stand the test of time.