There’s an old saying that goes, “The facts speak for themselves.” Hyper-luxurious; complicated Swiss watches made by privately owned, prestige brands, however, rely on experts to speak their facts to the world. As Danny Goldsmith, owner of Goldsmith & Complications, an exclusive Del Ray Beach, Florida watch boutique explains, “One-of-a-kind and limited edition Swiss watches are marvels of engineering, technical innovation, artisanship and aesthetics. Because independently owned Swiss brands are driven by passion, technical and artistic innovation rather than shareholder expectations,” he continues, “their pure visions and ingenious labors produce the most innovative, distinctive, and therefore important timepieces available.”
Independent Swiss brands (and their watchmakers) who design and manufacture complex, artistic timepieces are heroes of horological art and craft for other compelling reasons, Goldsmith ventures. “Wearing a limited edition mechanical watch helps people balance out the hours they spend every day staring into screens, working and living digitally. Collecting, wearing and appreciating mechanical watches connects us emotionally and mentally to the analogue, tangible world,” he says. “My customers and I are committed to supporting the traditions of Swiss watchmaking. These stretch back hundreds of years, and today’s Swiss watch industry supports several thousands of people in Switzerland and tens of thousands of people worldwide.” What’s more, Goldsmith notes, “While fewer and fewer handmade luxury goods are exclusive or rare anymore, the watches that I offer are undeniably complex, intrinsically valuable and rare.”
Goldsmith’s commitment to offering timepieces of unparalleled exclusivity and rarity blooms in his first design collaboration with the Swiss brand, Purnell. Producing a handful of technically and aesthetically avant-garde watches per month, Purnell’s motto is, ‘More future than past’. The initial Goldsmith and Purnell collaboration is the one-of-a-kind, Escape II White Microfiber, which Goldsmith has christened the “Purple Haze”. While it embodies a deep purple, gender-fluid color scheme and keeps time in a kinetic spectacle that pulses with hypnotic grace, the Purple Haze, like the psychedelic Jimi Hendrix song it references, must be experienced to be fully appreciated. (Click on this link to see the Purple Haze in action.)
Goldsmith notes that, “The Purple Haze is housed in Purnell’s patented white microfiber case with a sapphire crystal caseback. The movement is a hand-wound manufacture caliber P03 and the purple double Spherions are complemented by a purple power reserve indicator. (The reserve amounts to approximately 32 hours.) The watch comes with three straps: natural rubber in white and black, plus a black sailcloth strap with purple stitching and a Velcro strap.
“The Purple Haze is a variation on Purnell’s initial timepiece, which was developed with watchmaker Eric Coudray and launched the brand in 2020,” Goldsmith continues. The Purple Haze features two spherical triple axis tourbillons (Spherions, in Purnell lingo) located in the bottom half of the dial, and these happen to be the world’s fastest tourbillons in existence. For those readers who wonder: what exactly is a tourbillon? Goldsmith offers these facts: “A tourbillon is a mechanism that continually rotates the watch’s balance wheel, balance spring and escapement while the movement is running. The tourbillon was patented by the Swiss horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801.”
While tourbillon is the French word for ‘whirlwind’, in a watch’s tourbillon mechanism, the escapement and balance wheel are mounted in a rotating cage. “The tourbillon in a watch,” Goldsmith relates, “helps counteract the effects of gravity, the inescapable force which creates a drag on a watch’s movement when it is in certain positions. By continually rotating the balance wheel, balance spring and escapement while the movement is running,” he continues, “the tourbillon compensates for the gravity-induced drag that affects all mechanical watches and helps increase accuracy.” Typically, the entire balance wheel and escapement assembly rotate at about one revolution per minute, which helps correct for positional errors. “Observing the balance wheel oscillating at the same time as it is turning 360 degrees is hypnotic and calming,” Goldsmith says. “It’s a mechanical ballet.”
Like other Swiss watch connoisseurs, Goldsmith is quick to note the technical breakthrough embodied by the Escape II. “While Eric Coudray had previously gained acclaim for creating the Gyrotourbillon for Jaeger-LeCoultre,” Goldsmith relates, “the Escape II’s Potter escapement made horological history by placing the balance in one cage and the escapement in the other. Coudray’s invention of the double Spherion is the world’s fastest triple axis tourbillon,” Goldsmith marvels. “Now that’s complicated!”
As Phil Ogle, president of Purnell North America, observes, “The Escape II is the most multi-dimensional timepiece in watchmaking history. Coudray’s genius lies in his micro-mechanical creativity. His ultra-fast triple axis tourbillon has redefined the technical and aesthetic possibilities of mechanical watchmaking.” Ogle adds that, “Coudray’s place in the annals of 21st century horological history is assured, and he’s only just begun. It seems certain that he’ll continue to astonish us with his ingenuity, imagination and artistry.”
The Purple Haze is accompanied by a pen-shaped, automatic watch winder, which is applied to the purple crown for what Goldsmith characterizes as, “A quietly humming and calm-sounding and fast wind.” Elegant and artistic in an otherworldly way, the watch also embodies Goldsmith’s longtime love for the color purple. “I love purple for its exuberance and intensity,” Goldsmith explains. “It’s a feel-good color; so much more alive compared to most other hues, and purple also has a rich, multi-cultural history.” Extremely labor-intensive and time-intensive to produce, purple dye was first made from the mucus glands of predatory sea snails by the Phoenicians circa 1500 - 1200 BCE.
“Because one gram of purple dye yielded just enough material to dye the border on the edge of a toga, only Phoenician, Greek and Roman royalty and nobles could afford to wear purple,” Goldsmith recounts. “Its costliness made purple dye one of the ancient world’s hyper-luxury goods.” Documents from the time confirm this. As the 4th century BCE Roman historian Theopompus detailed in one of his accounts, “Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon in Asia Minor.” Purple’s powerful symbolism also colored the finery of Roman Catholic popes and European Kings and Queens, who reveled in wearing purple to signify their political and social superiority. In the 8th century, the Holy Roman emperor Charlemagne’s courtiers wrapped his body in a purple silk shroud before burial. As 16th century Spanish colonizers noted admiringly in their journals, the Mixtec people of Mexico wore beautiful purple-colored textiles. These also owed their dye to mucus extracted from sea snails.
For those watch enthusiasts for whom the Purple Haze (retailing at $475,000) remains out of reach, Goldsmith & Complications is offering an exclusive, limited edition of Rolex Submariners with an eggplant purple dial and sunray finish that may well prove irresistible. The dial of this 41 mm watch also has a date function with a cyclops lens. “These Submariners are customized by Blaken, an independent German company that is neither affiliated with Rolex or licensed by them,” Goldsmith explains. In other words, Blaken created 50 Blaken Submariner Date 41 Aubergine models on demand, to expand Goldsmith’s purple reign.
While the watch’s luminous hands and markers are encased in Oystersteel and complemented with a purple rotating aluminum bezel, its Oyster Perpetual automatic-winding manufacture movement 3235 maintains a power reserve of approximately 70 hours, and water resistance to 300 meters. With a solid; screw down caseback and an Oystersteel bracelet made of flat, three-piece links, this purple timepiece comes with a five-year factory warranty from Blaken and is priced at $30,570.
Too discreet to disclose whether there are more purple watches in the pipeline, Goldsmith offers other kaleidoscopically-colored, high-end timepieces, some of which are new and others which are pre-owned. For instance, the new Purnell Escape II Treasure Baguette Rainbow comes in an 18-karat rose gold case glimmering with 247 baguette-cut diamonds, rubies, colored sapphires and verdant tsavorite garnets. With its baguette gemstone-set hour ring, rainbow gemstone-set double Spherion cages and vibrant blue crocodile strap, this gender-fluid watch looks like something a rock star from outer space would wear. Like the Purple Haze, the Treasure Baguette Rainbow comes with a factory warranty of five years. The price can be obtained by contacting Goldsmith & Complications through its website.
As for the pre-owned watches that Goldsmith offers, owing to their technical advancement, aesthetic rarity and small production runs, brands like Urwerk, Rolex, Audemars Piguet and H. Moser & Cie., are by their designs, materials, rare complications and intrinsic values, producing state-of-the art timepieces. Most of Goldsmith’s pre-owned watches are covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, and prices start at $5,750 for a 42 mm Excellence Louis Erard x Vianney Halter with an automatic winding movement in stainless steel case and blue nubuck leather band.
At the high end of the spectrum, prices max out at $70,000 for a Urwerk 105-M Iron Knight, a techno-futuristic timepiece with a 53 x 39.5 mm dial and stainless steel bezel with titanium case. Animated by wandering hours, retrograde minute, luminous hands and markers, the Iron Knight’s movement is the hand-wound manufacture caliber UR 5.01. “Although I sell a lot through my website,” Goldsmith confides, “my Instagram serves as a great gallery for my Asian, European and Middle Eastern clients.”
Although he’s too modest to say so, it seems that Goldsmith enjoys deep connections with customers in almost every time zone on earth because he loves discussing designs, materials and artisanal specifics with them. “As a connoisseur of high horology and horological art, I’m in the business of listening to my customers and giving them news and facts that they can use,” he says with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to support independent Swiss watchmakers and to help people select watches at all price points that they love. Whether they wear them their whole lives, pass them on to a family member or trade them in for another timepiece,” he concludes, “it’s all good. And that’s a fact.”
