‘Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.’ I think this is Gore Vidal’s most quotable line.
Typically mordant and cynical, it has the wasp‑like sting of Martial at his best. It works so well, primarily because, if we are honest (not always easy), it is uncannily, uncomfortably accurate. When I read a really great piece of writing (Spear’s is chock‑full of the stuff) and it happens to be the work of someone I know, or when I hear about university contemporaries joining the House of Lords, or becoming masters of Oxford colleges, or just becoming filthy‑rich, I would be lying if I said I did not see what Gore meant.
However, age takes the edge off ambition, and instead of corrosive envy I have been busy cultivating an attitude of gratitude, and you know what? I think it might be working.
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I have a very good friend who is a chronic over‑achiever, and if I allowed his successes to bother me too much, so many little things in me would be killed that I would die with them. If life were a Duracell advert, I am the bunny who ran out of energy and can only watch and marvel as the Duracell-powered lagomorph sprints ahead.
The friend in question is Wei Koh, and if you know watches you will know Wei. He owns what I believe young people call a multimedia, cross-platform, content-creation hub (or, as I used to know them, magazines) called Revolution; you will probably find a copy in the departure lounge of your local private jet terminal. He is also a one‑man shop, developing and selling limited-edition runs of watches.
Reading and retail are far from being the only strings to his professional bow (which is more ballista than longbow). If there is a panel discussion taking place at a horological symposium anywhere, you will find him on stage moderating the hell out of the topic. At Dubai Watch Week last November, he opened proceedings by moderating Messrs Dufour (CEO of Rolex) and Seddiqi (the main distributor of luxury watches in the region) – neither of them men customarily given to speaking publicly.
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However, most impressive for me was Bangkok Watch Week (who knew), where he moderated, compered, appeared on or otherwise participated in about half of the panels, debates and fireside chats.
This, I could deal with.
However, I must admit to wavering somewhat in my newfound attitude of gratitude as I watched his new eight‑part documentary series Man of the Hour. This octet of films examines the current fashion for ‘independent’ watchmaking and it has premiered everywhere from Geneva to Singapore as it is rolled out across the world.
It is, as they say in Paris, ‘vraiment pas mal du tout’, which is French for ‘absolutely fucking amazing’. Wei is not so much the star as the viewer’s cicerone. A bit like Lord Clark in his magisterial television series Civilisation; he guides the viewer through the intricacies of watchmaking. But what Lord Clark did not do was drive around in open‑topped vintage cars (Porsche Speedster, V12 Jaguar and 1920s Bentley). Nor did Clark pause in eulogising the artistic wonders of the Vatican to ride his Harley-Davidson.
Wei does all that and more. One episode sees him enter a boxing ring to trade a few punches with a particularly brilliant young watchmaker. With another he goes into the forest to chop wood. There is mountain biking, eagle husbandry, fondue, Hawaiian shirts and even a detour to Los Angeles, where he hangs out in the studio of the heavily tattooed Wes Lang (of course Wei has a tattoo or two as well).
It is so energetic that I felt quite agitated and found myself looking forward to the workshop sequences, which were instructive, sedate, almost meditative, capturing the tranquillity in which watchmakers work and the focus they require. Then, just when it was getting a bit too tranquil, the heavy‑rock soundtrack bursts back, accompanied by some spectacular drone footage of Wei white‑water rafting over Victoria Falls while wearing an FP Journe pièce unique. (I hyperbolise, but not too much.)
[See also: Worldtimers: the world around your wrist]
This is edutainment at its finest: you come for the extreme sports, the classic cars and the tattoos, but you stay for the minute repeaters, perpetual calendars and tourbillons.
I believe that a second season has been commissioned and will address the bigger beasts of horology: Rolex, Patek and the like. I am wondering just how Wei is going to amp up the energy on this one. I imagine him going to the moon to discuss the famous Omega Speedmaster that accompanied the first men to tread the lunar surface. Maybe he will also descend 11km beneath the waves to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, where Rolex sent one of its watches in 1960?
He is already known as the Anthony Bourdain of watches, but there is every chance that future generations may describe Bourdain as the Wei Koh of restaurants. Given all that, perhaps I can be forgiven for permitting a little something in me to perish?
This article first appeared in Spear’s Magazine Issue 98. Click here to subscribe
