I am constantly amazed to see the words and researches of thinkers of the past withstand the test of time, and it is an honor to see my own enduring in the most beautiful way. And today, dear art lovers, it is a joy for me to leave my words and thoughts in the hands of the ones whom understand me best, the new generations of art historians. Throughout their voices, they manage to keep my words and ideas alive, and enable my complex and intricate understanding of one of the most mesmerizing medium to last, painting. Beyond death, my love fort the art world lingers, and to discover some of the most emblematic paintings, coming from two of the most famous museums in the world, being reproduced on some of the most beautiful and complex watches ever created, can only fulfill my dreams. But here, everything lives in the detail. My analysis of paintings may have disturbed more than one of my readers. Oftentimes, I moved away from a painting in order to dive into it even deeper, I windingly walked through the canvas, in between the brush strokes, collecting details as I made my way through it. The detail, it is truly here that the art work lives. It is there that appears symbolism, there that you can discover the paintings’ secrets, its story, but also its painter, hiding away behind every brushstroke, revealing a little more of himself, hiding his face, mastering the paintbrush like no other. The beauty of Watch Museum lives in the necessity to create an encounter with the painting, not only to observe it from afar, like you would do in a museum gallery, standing behind the safety strip, or starring at them on the faded glossy pages of an art book. Choosing your detail, is choosing who you are, to find yourself in the picture, to go beyond the painting and make it yours. Until today, it did not seem possible to possess a detail, to make it your own, and we could not have dreamed of a better way to fragment an art work than to reproduce its details on one of the most aesthetically pleasing watch ever created. This encounter was still impossible in my time, yet today I would admire it with mesmerized eyes, unable to pick only one watch. So you, who have the chance to see this art lover’s dream change into reality, let yourself get lost in those master pieces and find yourself there. With art, to look at the surface is not enough. You have to dive deep into the canvas, because it is there, in the depth, that you will find the most precious wonders. Erwin Panofsky
