HALDEN & VEY
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Chapter II The house

In 1984 a watchmaker and a dealer took two rooms on Delaware Place.

Forty-two years later, the bench is where it was and the rule has not changed: say what you see.

A watchmaker bent low over a movement in its holder, a double loupe clipped to his glasses.
The bench upstairs. Ilse Halden's first screwdrivers are still in the second drawer.

Watchmaker

Ilse Halden

Trained in Glashütte, she came to Chicago in 1979 to service watches for a jeweller on Oak Street, and found that nobody in the city would tell customers what was wrong with their watch in plain words.

Dealer

Daniel Vey

A collector who sold watches from a briefcase to friends of friends. He believed a dealer should be able to show you every scratch on a watch and still make you want it.

A watch tells you the time. A good dealer tells you the truth about the watch.

Daniel Vey, 1984

Window light and the shadow of a plant falling across a dark panelled wall.

Since 1984

  1. 1984

    Two rooms on Delaware Place. One bench, one display case, one rule: say what you see.

  2. 1991

    The atelier moves upstairs and takes on a second watchmaker.

  3. 2003

    Our first written condition reports for pre-owned watches. Every mark recorded, nothing polished unless asked.

  4. 2019

    Calibre 84, the house watch. Fifty pieces, silver grained dials, hand-finished upstairs.

  5. 2024

    Forty years. The salon is rebuilt around a single lamp and a single tray.

  6. 2026

    Calibre 84 returns with a slate dial. The bench is still where it was.