IN THE CENTER OF Geneva, on the fourth floor of his workshop, the watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi is staring through the loupe he's kept around his neck all day at the Chronomètre Antimagnétique, a piece of his that recently sold for $2.3 million at auction. It is Rexhepi's first to sell for over a million dollars, a landmark achievement for the 37-year-old. Rexhepi is examining the glossy black enamel dial, a unique finish made of powdered glass that's painted on the watch before it's baked in an oven at 700 degrees Celsius. He uses his thumb and pointer finger to expertly twist off the caseback revealing the watch's engine-the movement-glimmering like a diamond mine and organized in Rexhepi's signature symmetrical style. The piece's many wheels require so much hand-polishing, it takes Rexhepi an entire day to do just one before it's sealed completely off from view. Rexhepi closes the watch and turns it back over with a sigh. "It's a disaster," he says.
Rexhepi proceeds to enumerate all the defects on this $2.3 million watch, a one-of-one piece that he made and donated to Only Watch, a charity auction, in May of this year. The lugs are too strong from overpolishing, the hour hand needs to be bigger, the enamel dial is not up to his standards, and all of the screws need to be properly aligned. "But at the end, it's who you are," Rexhepi says, philosophically. "We are not perfect. Our girlfriends love us for who we are, and this is what people love."
Bu hikaye GQ US dergisinin September 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye GQ US dergisinin September 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
SHABOOZEY THE BIG SHA BANG
Shaboozey spent months at the tippy-top of the charts with a hit song about dealing with hard times the easy way: by hitting the bar. He sang on a couple songs with Beyoncé too. So we asked the one and only SHANIA TWAIN to help country's biggest new star make sense of his explosive year.
HANNAH EINBINDER BORN STANDING UP
With her star turn on Hacks, the comic turned actor has established herself as one of Hollywood's most exciting young talents-much to her own surprise.
Katt Williams The Man Who Opened The Portal
In January, the comic delivered an instantly iconic podcast interview that threw pop culture into crisis-and seemed to predict all manner of messy celebrity gossip to come. At home on his farm, Williams explains why he said what he said— and why he'd do it again, and again, and again....
JOHN DAVID & MALCOLM WASHINGTON A NEW HOLLYWOOD DYNASTY
The Washington brothers built their careers apart—until an irresistible project drew them together. In The Piano Lesson, they tackle a father's thorny legacy.
FUTURE & METRO BOOMIN'S HISTORIC Hit STREAK
What happens when the best rapper alive reunites with the hottest producer of the moment? You get a back-to-back-to-back run unlike any since the Beatles.
PHARRELL WILLIAMS Designer of the Year
Riding along from Paris to Hollywood to New York with the Louis Vuitton *men's creative director, whose prolific and often prophetic contributions to fashion, film, and music have once again thrust him to the center of the pop culture Venn diagram.
JOHN MULANEY. KID GORGEOUS GROWS UP
After immortalizing the whirlwind of the past four yearsrelapse, intervention, recovery-in his awardwinning standup special, John Mulaney has emerged as one of the most popular comedians on earth. For his next trick, he's embracing his surprising new role as a suburban dad.
DWAYNE JOHNSON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST Actor
It's hard for Dwayne Johnson to hide. Wherever he goes, there he is― as conspicuous out in the world as he is on the silver screen. But after two decades of playing a version of himself in huge movies, suddenly Dwayne Johnson is ready to do something entirely new: vanish.
How the WNBA Became the Most Fun, Complicated, and Exciting League in Sports
Caitlin Clark! A'ja Wilson! Angel Reese! This year, women's hoops emerged as a dominant popcultural force. But the road to sports-league supremacy has been long and winding. This is the inside story of how the W finally broke through.
A Companion for Your Wrist
Audemars Piguet's new release with artist Brian Donnelly, a.k.a. KAWS, brings high-art hype to the world of pop-watch collabs.
