Results for Côtes de Genève

Happy Hour: Follow The Leader

Take A Cue From The French Emperor’s Foremost Selection To be a leader, in whatever field and whether born or bred, one requires just as much fortitude as he does the respective skill and acumen. It’s not just about possessing the intellect to make the right choices for yourself and, more importantly, those following you; […]

Strike Up The Band

A minute repeater is a percussion instrument. A series of (most frequently two, sometimes three or four) hammers strike gongs that have each been tuned to produce a certain note, composing a melody that can be translated into a report of the time by those initiated into the discipline of repeating watches. Its matched hammers […]

Bottom Time: Rolex Submariner

A quarter-mile offshore and 80 feet below the surfaceof Lake Superior, my friend, Chris, and I found the Madeira’s pilothouse - standing upright, its compass binnacle still intact, belying the violence of the ship’s demise. The rest of the wreck is strewn over an acre of lakebed - twisted bollards, winches torn free and the […]

Shaping A Century

Vacheron Constantin’s tonneau-shaped watch, the Malte, celebrates 100 years with two new models It’s been a century since Vacheron Constantin introduced its first tonneau-shaped wristwatch - which was probably among the first series-produced wristwatches ever made, as 100 years ago, in 1912, the wristwatch was still very much a novelty, tonneau or otherwise. The tonneau shape […]

Riding The Sea Change

The Rise Of Patek Philippine’s Nautilus The year of the Nautilus was 1976. Out in the wider world, the space race had recently culminated in the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission that saw a US Apollo craft dock with the Soviet Soyuz 19 in space - an extended act of diplomacy. The Cold War was at the uneasy stage of hiatus known […]

True Blue

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Grande Reverso Blue Enamel sings the blues like no lady ever has The color blue has often been associated with the most iconoclastic work of the 20th century’s cultural contributors. “Rhapsody in Blue” established George Gershwin’s reputation as one of America’s seminal composers. “Blue Train”, John Coltrane’s 32-bar form masterpiece and also the name […]

The Last Word

REVOLUTION PUTS ERIC GIROUD (OWNER AND DESIGNER, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS) AND JEAN-MARC WIEDERRECHT (FOUNDER AND WATCHMAKER, AGENHOR) UNDER THE LOUPE FOR SOME QUALITY Q&A; Eric Giroud and Jean-Marc Wiederrecht are no strangers to each other, having collaborated on projects such as the gem-clad Harry Winston Opus 9 and MB&F;’s Horological Machines. Together or apart, the […]

Van Cleef & Arpels Bals De Légende

William Cowper’s poem, The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk, popularized the phrase “the monarch of all I survey”. And in some ways, the world’s most legendary balls, which the iconic Parisian jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels has seen fit to pay tribute to with a series of exceptional watches, are each expressions of one individual’s remaking of […]

Watch Words: The Governor

The governor is one of the most critical components in a chiming watch. It’s responsible for setting the tempo at which the watch chimes and ensuring that it’s neither too fast nor too slow. If the hammer and gongs are the orchestra, the governor is the conductor. Ideally, the governor of a repeater does its […]

Roger Dubuis: Back Where He Belongs

Ring In The New: The Evolution Of The Minute Repeater

Glashutte Original Cosmopolite Tourbillon

Glashutte Original is one of the few truly self sustaining watchmakers in the industry. The value addition and self reliance was born out of neccessity, when they operated as GUB during the GDR times. And continued to the modern GO re-founded by Pfeiffer in the early 1990s. For BaselWorld 2012, GO announced a very complicatedRead More

Rare Watches: F.P. Journe Tourbillon Remontoir d’Egalité with a gorgeous mother of pearl dial

Francois Paul Journe. A talented watchmaker. I had the pleasure of meeting with FP way back when he was yet a nobody…and had just made his first tourbillon remontoir d’egalité. The original looked like it was made in his garage, and indeed it was. But recently, I had the pleasure of spending a week withRead More

Watchmaker portraits: Stephen Forsey and Robert Greubel

A series of portraits I took, with the intention to create a set for an exhibition. Master watchmakers are the soul of the industry, I wanted to capture some of that powerful character which makes them enigmatic to the watch collecting public. These are great genii who know how to work with their hands. Today,Read More

A, Lange & Sohne Tourbograph

I was encouraged with the response to my post on the Parmigiani watches on tools, so today I decided to dig into my archives and offer some photographs of Langes on tools. These photographs appear in my book: “A, Lange & Sohne: The Pour le Merite Collection” available here. Today, I show the magnificent LangeRead More

Parmigiani Tonda Annual Calendar

I recently mentioned that I am very proud to be writing and doing the photography for the Parmigiani blog, today I highlight the first article appeared on the blog On 8 August and featuring the Parmigiani Tonda Annual Calendar. So today’s post will redirect you to the article in the Parmigiani blog. Please click hereRead More

Details: Gronefeld One Hertz

I earlier featured the Gronefeld brothers and their amazing work here. But today, I dig a bit deeper, and show some extreme macros. All these images are magnified to the full frame size of the Hasselblad H3d-39, whose sensor is 48mmx36mm, and will stand upsizing to prints which can cover a wall 3m in widthRead More

Do you Speake-Marin?

Peter Speake-Marin…one of the few English watchmakers living and working in Switzerland. I have known Peter for perhaps 10 years, since he was starting out as an independent watchmaker. He cut his teeth in Renaud et Papi and at one of the great London vintage retailer’s restoration atelier. He was recently in Singapore to showcaseRead More

Gronefeld One Hertz, the brothers and another watch

The Gronefeld brothers in Holland are one of the secrets of high end horology. Independents, they were both trained in the stables of Renaud et Papi. And have been making their own watches, as well as contracting for others from their little workshop in The Netherlands. I had the opportunity to meet them several timesRead More

Breguet Double Tourbillon

When Breguet announced the Double Tourbillon in , I was skeptical. Skeptical because it sounded more like a showoff watch than one which has true horological significance and beauty. But recently, I was reacquainted with the 5347, and came away quite impressed. Breguet Classique Double Tourbillon Ref. 5347 The watch features a double tourbillon, eachRead More

Introducing Movements of Asia: Singapore brand

Introducing Movements of Asia. A home grown Singapore brand. Designed by Sean Wai…a tactiturn architect turned watch brand do-it-all in Singapore, assembled in Singapore with Chinese parts. I first came to know Sean from his other hobby company…Soul Bikes. The only titanium bicycle frame brand to be based in Singapore. The frames are completely designedRead More

Ladoire Black Widow

Ladoire’s Black Widow Photographed on location in the Geneva Time Exhibition. I had some time to photograph the interesting Ladoire Black Widow. Known various as Mr. Green, Mr. Black according to the colour treatment of the bridges, the watch is quite interesting in the way it tells time…openworked dial, multilayered three regualtor off set hours,Read More

Feature in Heuer Suisse

My portfolio featured in Heure Suisse I was greatly honoured to be given several pages of the permier industry magazine Heure Suisse. This is the leading Swiss magazine read by almost everyone in the industry. The magazine is published in both French and German editions So instead of the regular blog post, please allow meRead More

Hublot Key of Time

Faster or slower by flicking a switch…the Hublot Key of Time Known variously as Hublot MP-02 and Key of Time, the concept of willfully being able to make your watch go faster or slower is an interesting, and conversational subject. Initially conceived by Mathias Butlet at BNB Concept (now owned by Hublot), I was notRead More

Urwerk 2012: Golden Shield and Extreme Closeups of the rotating pods…

Urwerk watches lend themselves to my work very well. The movements and time display system is 3 dimensionsl, with beautiful angles and curves. And they are quite a work of art. This issue, I focus on one of their newer watches. The Urwerk U-110 nwo with a new gold bezel…known as the Golden Shield. ComfortableRead More

SIHH 2012: Audemars Piguet reinvents the Royal Oak

SIHH 2012: Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Royal Oak with beautiful re-issues. Has it been 40 years since Gerald Genta had this brilliant idea of putting a octagonal bezel in a stylized tonneau case? Indeed it has been, and yet, the Royal Oak looks as fresh today as it didRead More

SIHH 2012: A. Lange & Sohne novelties

  This year’s SIHH lacks real horological punch. Yes, there were many beautiful timepieces being shown, but no horologically exciting developments. Many were revisions of golden oldies. Audemars Piguet celebrated their 40th anniversary of their Royal Oak and showed many new and very beautiful pieces. Vacheron Constantin revised their Malte line, making them even moreRead More

Girard Perreguax La Esmeralda: historically important watch

Up close and personal with the Girard Perregaux Esmeralda, pocket watch with three golden bridges. I reported on the remake of the famous Tourbillon with 3 golden bridges pocket watch some time ago during the exhibition of the GP treasures in Singapore. What I did not say then, was I was privillaged to be allowedRead More

Parmigiani Fleurier Pershing Openwork Tourbillon

Parmigiani Fleurier Pershing Tourbillon One of the watches which caught my jaded eyes last year (2011) was the Parmigiani Fleurier Pershing Tourbillon with open work dial. Beautifully finished, fully in-house production (movement, dial, case, finishing all done within the company) Parmigiani is an amazing company. Started by watchmaking genius Michel Parmigiani some 30 years agoRead More

Independence The Art of Horology…a visit to the store in Hong Kong.

Independent Watchmaking Salon in Hong Kong March of the Independents It is no secret that I am an ardent admirer of independent watchmakers. I was one of the first to invest in Philippe Dufour, by purchasing and writing about him. As early as 1999, I wrote an early article which appeared in The Business TimesRead More