Case File 001
A mechanically distinctive alarm watch with period character and a history worth investigating.
View the Case File →Vintage mechanical watches, researched and preserved
Every Watch
Has Lived a Life.
Balance of Time discovers, studies, and restores mechanical watches from another era— preserving their history and preparing them for the next chapter.
BOT-001 / INVESTIGATION OPEN
Latest Case File
Case File No. 001
The Alarm
Still Rings.
LeCoultre Mechanical Alarm · c. 1950s
Decades after it left the workshop, the mechanical alarm still sounds. The question is not whether this watch has survived—but what it has survived.
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Case File No. 001 · LeCoultre Mechanical Alarm
01
The Philosophy
We do not erase a watch's past.
We preserve it.
A faded dial, a hand-worn case, an inscription on a caseback—these are not always flaws. Sometimes they are the evidence that a watch mattered to someone.
Balance of Time is built around mechanical history, originality, honest research, and careful restoration. We are interested in character before perfection.
Current Collection
Watches With Something to Say
Case File 002
A modest German mechanical watch whose survival is more interesting than its original price tag.
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Case File 003
Case File No. 003 has not yet been opened. The next watch and its story are still waiting to be discovered.
Case File PendingThe Workshop
Preservation Before Perfection
Every watch is evaluated as an individual object. Mechanical condition, originality, service history, dial character, and case wear are considered before any restoration decision is made.
“The goal is not to make an old watch look new. The goal is to let it continue honestly.”See the Workshop →
About Balance of Time
History, Mechanics, and the Camera
Balance of Time grew from a fascination with mechanical watches, history, photography, and the stories carried by objects that survive generations.
Founded by professional fine art photographer Eric Auffhammer, the project approaches each watch with a photographer's eye and an investigator's curiosity. The goal is simple: research what can be known, preserve what should remain, and document the watch with honesty.
This is not a claim of decades at a watchmaker's bench. It is a disciplined study of mechanical watches and the lives they have already lived.
Read the Founder Story →Sell or Share a Watch
Have a Watch
With a Story?
Some watches arrive with boxes and paperwork. Others arrive with nothing but scratches, an inscription, and questions. We are interested in both.