Wow. Just wow. I have always extolled the exquisite craftsmanship that goes into each William Henry Studio knife, but having just watched this video of Belgian engraver, Gert Mathys, engraving a design for one of their pocket knives, my appreciation for their work has just been taken to a new level.

The video is almost 8 minutes long, and as intrigued as I was, I'll admit to skipping ahead throughout the video. However, what you see in 8 minutes makes it quickly clear how many hours were actually spent on just the engraving for this knife. The result is not a knife, but a piece of art.

If you want to see more of his engraving, he has uploaded a handful of videos to his YouTube channel.

I'm in New York for the week for Market, with appointments with all of our major vendors. We added Dunhill accessories late last year, and will be adding much, much more this year. It's things like this that get me really excited about expanding their storied brand.

Introduced two years ago, Visconti's Homo Sapiens pens have proven quite popular (or as popular as any exquisite, and expensive, writing instrument can be). This success undoubtedly has much to do with the pens' unique material: they're made from volcanic lava take from Mt. Etna, Sicily. It doesn't get much more old school than that.

 

However, a segment of the writing (as opposed to typing) public clamored for the same pen, albeit with silver trim in lieu of bronze. Ask and ye shall receive: we can now offer the Visconti Homo Sapiens Steel Age collection.

Prices start at $325. 

The best shoe shiners in San Francisco -- A Shine & Co. -- have now officially introduced a "Saphir Shine" at all of their locations. Saphir, as you may know, makes --arguably-- the finest shoe polishes and waxes on the planet Earth. While Meltonian and Lincoln make fine products for fine shoes, if you're spending north of $400 on a pair of shoes, you probably shouldn't protect them with anything less than the best.

KeaLani, the General Manager of the location across from our store in downtown San Francisco, always kept some Saphir products in a secret stash for her favorite customers, but now it is officially on the menu at $25/shine. Yes, it's steep. Yes, it's worth it. The photo is of a freshly shined pair of Michael Toschi Lucianos in Black Calf trying to keep up some holiday GTH pants: Bills' Khakis Fall Limited Edition Country Woolen in Red Plaid. 

Join us on Friday, December 2nd for an event with William Henry Studio. In addition to the couple dozen knives, pens, money clips, and divot tools we have in our store, customers will see an additional 30+ products available for purchase, including some very Limited Edition pieces. 12pm-5pm at the downtown store and then from 5:30-8pm at Wingtip.

For the uninitiated, William Henry Studio is considered one of the top knife makers on the planet, earning award after award from its peers. Each knife takes 6-8 months to make, and involves dozens of different artisans to make components for each knife. Photos on a website will never do them justice, but it is safe to say that once a gentleman owns one, he has to fight the temptation to become a collector.

Their exquisite pieces do not come cheap -- pocket knives start at $400 and can pass the $10,000 mark for some of their One-of-a-Kind pieces. "Heirloom quality" is almost an understatement for WHS.

For the second year in a row now, On The Fly will have a temporary "pop-up shop" open in 1 Embarcadero Center in San Francisco's Financial District, right next door to our original store on the Street Level. It will feature leather goods from Mulholland, Martin Dingman, S.T. Dupont, Barbour, Dunhill (coming Tuesday), and maybe another brand or two before Thanksgiving...

The store is chock-full of luggage, wallets, business cases, a few leather jackets, and small gift ideas like flasks, valets, domino cases, corkscrews, and wine bottle carriers. 

The lease was signed last Tuesday. We got keys on Wednesday. The store will open Monday. And while it will only exist for 46 days, we did come up with a name we like:  Baggage Claim by On The Fly.

If you like the smell of leather, come on by -- the air is free!