Andrew McUtchen
As a journalist, you strive for a long-form commission. A piece to stretch your legs. That you can properly research. That your audience will be forced to create quality time to imbibe.I was reminded of this recently when Josh Shanks from our friends at Watchonista posted a shout-out to the greatest long-form piece of all time on his Facebook:?Frank Sinatra Has a Cold by Gay Talese. I hit the link, started reading and then – lo and behold – I stopped multitasking. I sat down. Ten minutes in, I got up and fixed myself a drink.Patek Philippe ref. 130 steel chronograph with black dial and luminous chapter ring; tachymeter scale (Image: John Goldberger)Fifteen minutes in, I actually took the time to set a fire (now that the bushfires have passed in Australia, we are being hit with sub 10-degree cold snaps, so, great). I lit it, arranged a comfortable chair nearby, set my drink next to chair. I was stalling, because this piece was so good, so utterly relishable for the reader that I didn’t want it to end. If you haven’t read this masterwork, you simply must. And after that, you can schedule in a second, or third Old Fashioned to accompany you through Wei Koh’s 8000-word dissertation on Patek Philippe chronographs.I suspect we have the pandemic to thank for this opus. In the same way that our latest feature video was over an hour long, the extra time we have as media teams in a lockdown is resulting in work that we probably – pre COVID-19 – just wished we had the time and presence of mind (an even more precious commodity) to create.1950 Patek Philippe chronograph ref. 1463 in steel with Breguet numerals (Image: phillipswatches )
10.05.20