Vicenzaoro Highlights, January 2023: Andrea Casalegno, Young and with Clear Ideas
Andrea Casalegno, well-known influencer on Instagram as @IamCasa, is one of the new faces at VO Vintage
How and why did you get into the watchmaking world?
From the first watches I saw in my drawers at home. I have always found the timepieces and their design intriguing, but it was the stories and the people I met that introduced me this world. When I was 15, a classmate helped me bring my first vintage watch back to life and accompanied me to the Basel Show for the first time in 2015, sparking a passion that has now become both my work and my whole life with @IamCasa.
Could you tell us something about your talks at Vicenzaoro?
These are the first two talks in English in the history of VO Vintage. The first, “Collecting out of the box”, will spotlight the careers and thoughts of three young people working in the sector, highlighting a new way of collecting and unprecedented perspectives: Alessandro Fanciulli, aka @mr.a, Joel Laplace, assistant manager at the Zenith Heritage Department, on IG as @jololamontre, and Lorenzo Maillard, content specialist at Watches and Culture, to be followed on @watches_cltr. Sunday's talk will feature one of the industry's international protagonists, Jaspers Lijfering (@jasper_lijfering), owner and CEO of Amsterdam Vintage Watches. I have chosen themes and personalities to be of inspiration to my peers and also to give them voice and recognition.
What attracts a young person to vintage?
Some would say the price, and they are not far wrong, but I like to think it is the history. A vintage watch tells something of the past and is unrepeatable by its very nature, as well as often being cheaper than most modern products of equal quality.
What new things can young people bring to the watchmaking world that is new?
In regard to communication, they have already conveyed the importance of social media, snubbed by companies until a few years ago. From product aspect, young people should help us bring concrete innovation and they should be helped and supported by creating a context of dialogue, openness and widespread culture, less corporate-oriented and more passionate.
