Member Spotlight: Stumpelriltzchen
Stumpelriltzchen
Chapter: I am head of the RedBar Switzerland chapter.
Instas: @Stumpelriltzchen
What was your introduction to horology?
I’ve liked watches since I was a kid. I remember pressing my nose against the windows in Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich, looking at those fantastic mechanical things. I always wanted a speedy because that was the watch that defined my generation: space as the new frontier and nothing is impossible. Many, many, MANY years later I bought one.
What was your first watch?
An automatic Tissot that has long been lost in the chaos of puberty. I never new the reference, but I remember looking at it for months before I got it. I know exactly how it looks, but I have never found one again.
What fascinates you most about watches and/or horology in general?
Mechanical watches are anachronistic. They've fallen out of time. It's a technology that has long been obsolete. But the people that create them, and people that appreciate them, have so much dedication for them. A mechanical watch is, in essence, contrarian. It is a statement to the world that old, superfluous things can be just as good, and for that reason, so much more impressive.
What are the kiss, kill, and marry of your collection?
Kiss: Maybe my Longines 5982. Liked it very much initially, but we've grown apart somewhat.
Kill: I did purchase watches I later regretted, but I got rid of them a long time ago.
Marry: The Th Picard Fils Monopoussoir with an early version of the Valjoux 22. And a fantastic looking anonymous rectangular watch with exploded Breguet hands and red 12.
Name one watch that got away.
I was bidding on a Cartier Santos Dumont 1913 ReIssue from 2005. But I got steamrolled pretty quickly.
What watch do you wear most often?
That would actually be a Marathon Limited Edition with a manual Benrus movement and tritium gas tubes. I wear it at night (almost never during the day).
What is the first thing you notice about a watch?
I honestly don't know ... I do very quickly notice when someone has bad taste in watches, though. (And it's not about the monetary value of the watch at all.)
How were you introduced to RedBar Group?
Read something online, I guess, and participated for the first time at a meeting with the London chapter.
How has RedBar affected you as a collector?
It has broadened the range of watches I have been exposed to, and despite this, has helped me become more focused in my collecting.
Outside of collecting how has RedBar impacted your life?
Well, I have experienced enthusiastic people who enjoy what they do. This is an inspiration for life in general, I think.
