Subverting Expectations: the Papar Watch Company and their Debut GMT, the Anillo
As a journalist in the watch industry for over a decade, I’ve received dozens upon dozens of emails, DMs, LinkedIn messages, and even WhatsApps from unknown numbers pitching me on new watches and brands. I remember the thrill of these messages early in my career, but after twelve years and thousands of timekeepers later, it’s hard not to become a bit jaded. A couple months ago, one of these messages popped up in my inbox about a new brand coming to market and the model that would be their debut offering. After a few weeks of writing back and forth, I begrudgingly relented and agreed to get together over drinks to see what the brand and watch were all about. Admittedly, I walked into the meeting ready to be thoroughly underwhelmed with the arrogance that I’ve already seen it all, and it would take a lot to really blow my socks off. I was prepared to politely nod and smile, provide a few encouraging words welcoming the brand to the community, and be on my way to the event I had later that evening. But after just a few minutes with Josh Blank, founder of Papar and creator of the Anillo, the brand’s inaugural timepiece, I was eating my words. Josh’s watch story and approach to watchmaking is anything but ordinary. He’s a lawyer who splits his time between his home in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico-a lifestyle he and his wife/business partner Emily have built for their daughters to be bilingual. These elements of p...
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