Rhode Island Horological Society

Rhode Island Horological Society Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Rhode Island Horological Society, Jewellery & watches shop, Newport, RI.

Rhode Island Horological Society (RIHOSO) locally preserves the history, tradition and art of watchmaking and horology through community outreach and continuing education.

03/15/2026

F.P. Journe doesn't advertise.

They don't need to.

The Chronomètre Bleu is a 38mm or 40mm titanium case housing a brass movement — an unusual material choice Journe defends on acoustic grounds, arguing brass produces better resonance for the escapement. The dial is tantalum, grown to produce that unmistakable blue.

On the secondary market: $50,000. Easily. Often significantly more.

No celebrity endorsements. No mainstream magazine campaigns. No sprawling boutique network. Just a small Geneva atelier producing a limited number of pieces for a collector base that sought them out entirely on their own.

That's the most powerful kind of brand. One built entirely on the work.

If you know, you know. And if you've worn one, you understand why $50K feels like the beginning of the conversation.

03/14/2026

The watch you bought at 25 vs. the watch you want at 45.

At 25, it was about the look. The statement. The brand name on the dial. Maybe a big case, a chronograph, something that announced itself across the room.

At 45, it's different. The case shrinks. The complications get quieter but more meaningful. You start caring about who made the movement — not just who put their name on the dial. You find yourself obsessing over details nobody else notices: the anglage on a bridge, the color of a particular lume plot, the feel of a crown.

Your taste evolves because your knowledge deepens. A grey dial you would've walked past at 25 becomes the only thing you want to wear.

Where are you in that journey? What's a watch you owned early on that you'd never buy now — and what are you chasing today?

03/13/2026

A new Patek Philippe depreciates the moment it leaves the boutique.

A 30-year-old one sells for multiples of its original retail.

This isn't an accident — it's the result of intentional brand stewardship. Patek controls supply ferociously. They produce far fewer watches than the market demands. The family still runs it, across generations, prioritizing long-term reputation over short-term volume.

Scarcity plus provenance plus brand discipline equals a store of value. A watch that becomes rarer over time — not more common — as the best examples get consolidated by serious collectors.

But not every luxury watch works this way. Most depreciate. The collector has to understand the difference before they buy.

What makes a watch a store of value versus a depreciating luxury? And which brands have genuinely earned that status — vs. the ones that are just marketing like they have?

03/12/2026

It's not mechanical. It's not quartz. It's something else entirely.

The Grand Seiko Spring Drive uses a mainspring — wound by hand or rotor, just like a mechanical movement. That energy drives the gear train. So far: mechanical.

But instead of a lever escapement, the Spring Drive uses a glide wheel. That wheel is governed electromagnetically by a quartz oscillator circuit powered by the movement itself — no battery required.

The result is a tri-synchro regulator that achieves ±1 second per day accuracy — better than almost any mechanical, competitive with quartz — with the fluid, sweeping second hand motion that no quartz can replicate.

Seiko calls it a third category of timekeeping. They're right.

The engineering is genuinely original — not an homage, not an iteration. Something new.

Have you worn one? The Spring Drive experience is hard to explain until you see that hand move in person.

03/11/2026

Here's the question nobody wants to sit with:

Can boutique watchmakers survive in 2026?

The costs are real. Movements, cases, dials, labor — all up. The authorized retailer network has compressed. The collector base for truly high-end independents has always been small, and it's not obvious it's growing.

We're not doom-and-gloom about it. The craft is extraordinary. Some of these ateliers are producing the greatest watches ever made — right now.

But between them and the collector sits a long chain of economics that doesn't get easier.

What gives you optimism? What worries you? The RIHOSO community skews knowledgeable — we want to hear how you're thinking about this.

160 years ago, a group of watchmakers in New York gathered because they believed horology deserved a community.That soci...
03/11/2026

160 years ago, a group of watchmakers in New York gathered because they believed horology deserved a community.

That society — the Horological Society of New York — is celebrating its 160th anniversary this year. And they're doing it properly: a gala presented by Sotheby's, with auction lots that reflect a century and a half of craft and collecting.

160 years of monthly meetings. Of knowledge passed down. Of people who cared deeply about what makes a watch worth wearing.

Sound familiar?

Here in Rhode Island, that same spirit is what built RIHOSO. Horological societies aren't relics — they're how watch culture survives, generation to generation.

Whether you're a seasoned collector or just starting to fall down the rabbit hole: this is your community.

Follow along → and check the link in bio to learn more about RIHOSO.

03/10/2026

Real question. No right answer.

Movement finishing you'll never see, or a dial you can't stop staring at — which matters more to you and why?

One collector buys a watch and immediately pulls up the caseback photos. The anglage, the polished chamfers, the Geneva stripes. Never even glances at the dial.

Another buys a watch because he hasn't been able to stop thinking about that dial since he saw it three years ago.

Both are correct. Both are collectors.

Where do you fall — and has your answer changed the longer you've collected?

"Finding my Seiko UFO 6138 taught me humility, patience, and rediscovery." — Fratello WatchesEvery collector has that wa...
03/10/2026

"Finding my Seiko UFO 6138 taught me humility, patience, and rediscovery." — Fratello Watches

Every collector has that watch. The one that got away, came back, or humbled you along the way.

What's yours? Tell us in the comments. 👇

📸 via

03/10/2026

"Finding my Seiko UFO 6138 taught me humility, patience, and rediscovery." — Fratello Watches

Every collector has that watch. The one that got away, came back, or humbled you along the way.

What's yours? Tell us in the comments. 👇

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Newport, RI

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+14019467070

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