You won’t find a more creative and better valued watch on the market today. Quite a statement indeed but when you look at the Alexander Shorokhoff collection, you’ll see what I mean, writes JT Smith.
Founded in Germany a little over 25 years ago, Alexander Shorokhoff was born and raised in Russia. He moved to Germany in 1991 to further his education in economics and eventually became the distributor of Poljot watches. This just started his journey into watchmaking. There was something missing though as he needed a creative outlet. Alexander is an artist and the watch would soon become his canvas! I think of him as a bit of a spiritual successor to Alain Silberstein. (A French watchmaker who in the 1990’s, was daring in a way no other watchmaker was until then, sadly that company is no longer in business but his vintage pieces are still sought by collectors today) Alexander Shorokhoff has this same spirit and is adding some serious watchmaking credentials as well. One of the best parts, the pricing. With a bulk of the collection falling in the $1,800 to $3,500 range, Shorokhoff represents a tremendous value in a price segment that has been largely abandoned and collectors are noticing!
These watches aren’t just another pretty face. Shorokhoff’s strict manufacturing standards ensure that they are sound mechanical pieces as well. As opposed to the usual assembly line method of watchmaking, Alexander insists that each watch be built from top to bottom by one watchmaker alone. At the end of that process the watchmaker then hand writes a page in the owners manual with the timing results, pressure tests and quality control checks along with his or her signature. When you buy an Alexander Shorokhoff you then receive this so you have a complete record of who made your exact watch and what the performance is. Unheard of in this price segment! Of course now you are wondering what movements are used. Many are ETA based with some special models like the tourbillon using a special movement from Concepto. Foe the manual wind models they use a Poljot base but this is then heavily modified. The delivery certificates prove that many of these achieve timing results within chronometer specifications. Not just content with good performance, Shorokhoff then tops it off with hand engraving on various movement components with varying degrees depending on the price of the particular piece. That being said, even a piece that’s priced at only $1,300 still has some degree of hand engraving on the refined movement.
As for the dial and case designs, you can clearly see that these stand apart from the crowd. Many designs are inspired by Alexander’s Russian heritage such as the cushion shaped Kandy which is a tribute to the artist Kanditsky. Turn over the Kandy to look at the case back and you will see multi colored sapphire circles that not only reveal the engraved movement but also give a nod to Kanditsy who used colorful circles in his paintings. You’ll see the words “Avant-Garde” used often as that is the name of one of the Shorokhoff collections. (of which the Kandy is part of) These are the most colorful and stylish pieces in the collection, most of which are small limited editions. The Kandy Avant-Garde that was released last year in a limited edition of 100 pieces sold out instantly. This year a new black PVD cased version which is also limited to 100 pieces is being shipped to retailers now and will sell for $3500.
Also new for the year is the Revolution model with three dimensional elements Incorporated into the dial.
One of the most popular pieces has been the Babylonian which is limited to 500 pieces and features an ornate dial with signs of the zodiac on a black mother of pearl chapter ring, multi level dial and skeletonized center section revealing the sunburst pattern on the movement. Turn the watch over and you are treated to a completely hand engraved manual wind movement. This is all topped off with an ostrich strap and retails for only $2,850.
There are many more models as well with Regulators, Jump hours, chronographs and other interesting mechanical marvels.
