About
Meet the people behind The Crown Journal and see what changes when a watch moves from the catalogue to the wrist.
A watch should make you feel something.
The Crown Journal was created to bring watches closer to the people who want to wear them. We look beyond the controlled image of a release to the watch in natural light, on a wrist and in the world around it.
Sometimes that begins with time spent handling and photographing a watch ourselves. Sometimes it begins with a release that deserves a closer look. We make the distinction clear on every article. The purpose is the same: to understand what is worth our attention, and why.
Meet the team
The Crown Journal brings together Gabriele Ciervo's perspective on international watch culture, Jimmy Heneidy's eye for watches in the real world, and an editor who guides every article to its finished page.
Founder, Vertigo1983
Gabriele Ciervo
His ambition for The Crown Journal is an independent international voice in watch culture, with the depth expected by collectors and the clarity to welcome someone discovering watches for the first time.
From Vertigo1983 to The Crown Journal
Gabriele's journey into watches began as a personal passion alongside his work as a lawyer. Collecting led to study, and study led to Vertigo1983, where he developed a visual, direct way of talking about watches through the experience of seeing, handling and wearing them.
What began as a passion became an important part of his professional life. Through Vertigo1983, he has worked with watch Maisons, visited manufactures and attended international events, building relationships with executives, designers, watchmakers and collectors. He sees himself as a bridge between traditional watch culture and a new generation discovering it online.
His aim is to make high watchmaking engaging and contemporary while keeping its history, craftsmanship and substance intact. Together with Jimmy Heneidy, he sees The Crown Journal at the meeting point of traditional watch journalism and the way a new generation discovers, experiences and talks about watches.
First-hand experience is central to that vision. He wants the journal to draw on watches the team has actually seen, handled and worn, supported by original photography. It should give readers context, perspective and a clear point of view when the material calls for one.
“The watch world doesn’t need another website that simply reports watch news. Information is everywhere. What matters is understanding why something is worth our attention.
Gabriele Ciervo
Founder, LMC Flow
Jimmy Heneidy
His starting point is the moment a watch leaves the controlled light of a catalogue: on a wrist, in daylight and alongside what someone is actually wearing.
His approach
At the heart of Jimmy's approach is user-generated content, or UGC. It means seeing a watch through the eyes of a real person, away from the controlled environment of traditional advertising. In practice, that means putting the watch in hand, on a wrist and into the places where it will actually be worn.
The case reacts to natural light. Proportions are felt on the wrist. The watch has to work with what someone is wearing and the world around them. These details can turn an interesting watch into one you actually want to own.
That feeling matters to Jimmy. He wants the page to bring readers as close as possible to what it feels like to wear the watch. Whenever possible, the photography and video come from his own time with it. That access gives the page a point of view grounded in what was actually in front of the camera.
“Sometimes we will love everything about it. Sometimes we won't. Either way, what you read is based on the watch we actually had in front of us.
Jimmy Heneidy
Editorial
Jimmy Jonevret
Guides each article from its first brief to publication and signs hands-on pieces in his own name.
The role
Jimmy Jonevret is the named editor of The Crown Journal. He gives the journal continuity from one story to the next, bringing the reporting and perspective of each piece together on the finished page.
Outside the catalogue
The work happens before the page: carrying the camera, spending time with the watches and noticing the differences a press image cannot show. The photographs are part of that process, not a layer added once the opinion is already formed.
What readers can expect
Every article tells you how it was reported, what the journal saw for itself and where the information came from.
- Hands-on
- A hands-on piece follows time spent with the watch, supported by our own photography and, where they matter, our own measurements.
- Press-sourced
- Press-sourced coverage is identified on the page. We attribute the facts and never imply that we handled a watch we did not.
- Commercial work
- Commercial work is labelled on the page. Payment never buys a favourable verdict, and a brand never reviews our copy before publication.
We do the work needed to form a view, then give you the space to form your own.