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Girard Perregaux: a grand dame of watchmaking. Making beautiful and magnificent watches. GP is famous for their Tourbillon on Three Golden Bridges. But recently, GP shook the horological world at its roots. After centuries of the Swiss Anchor escapement, they came up a new escapement. Constant force escapement. Beautiful, magnificent. Girard Perregaux Constant Escapement: extremeRead More
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The slowest escapement ever made: beating at 1 Hz. The Slowrunner by Antoine Martin. The brand is now defunct, but the watch still holds record for being the ultimate slow beater.
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The Opus project by Harry Winston features many watches with important horological features. I feature one of my favourite Opus projets, the Opus V, by Felix Baumgartner of Urwerk. Quite a superb piece. Photographed here during the Antiquorum preview in Singapore. The caseback
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Quick shot Friday focusses on the ultra high end Ulysse Nardin Gengis Khan Jacquetmart Minute Repeater Tourbillon with diamonds. I had the opportunity to see this piece at L’Atelier by The Hour Glass recently. A cool S$1.17 million on the wrist. Nicely finished…the Jacquetmart automata moves in sync with each strike. The watch strikes theRead More
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The HYT watches have been making waves…yes, pun intended…with their hydro mechanical watches since they were first revealed to the horological world. I covered the first in the series, the HYT1 in these pages before. See here, and here. It was a pleasant afternoon with Vincent Perriard, CEO of HYT. These are quite rare timepieces,Read More
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The JLC Gyrotourbillon 2 is an amazing watch, but for me, the Hybris Mechanical Grande Sonnerie is even more amazing. As usual, specifications can easily be googled, so readers are encouraged to do so, but I try and show the watch in its beauty, from a collector’s eye, hopefully with photographs which will stir theRead More
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The Jaeger LeCoultre Gyrotourbillon series is now nearing the completion…with the release of the Gyro3 this year. But the piece which still keeps its special place in my mind is the Gyro2. Round like a circle in a spiral Like a wheel within a wheel Never ending on beginning On an ever-spinning reel Not onlyRead More
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The super grail watch, perhaps of all time. The Dufour Grande Sonnerie, in white gold, with a sapphire crystal dial. Philippe Dufour Grande Sonnerie In this configuration, a piece unique. Beyond words, which become superflous. But allow me to try and express my joy of being sble to photograph and handle this legendary piece. TheRead More
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Then comes the modest Englishman. A devout follower of the late great George Daniels, Roger Smith is committed to make the entire watch, by hand, just as they did a hundred or more years ago. Rather elusive, as he is domicile in Isle of Man, but an effable gentleman. As he knew I had aRead More
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Continuing on the series on Watchmaking Grandmasters, today I feature the enigmatic Kari Voutilainen. Kari has a keen eye and a wicked, wry sense of humour. In other words, a barrel of fun. Seen here enjoying a joke with Philippe Dufour. Seconds later…posing for the camera A formal portrait pose… For Tues, I will featureRead More
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C3H5N3O9: what a curious name for a watch brand. The chemist amongst us will recognise this as formula fo Tri Nitro Glycerine…or dynamite. A horological experiment born out of the wickedly curious minds of Max Bussier, Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, this playful, whimsical and immensely interesting watch is based on the principle of theRead More
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Spending a day with one of the legends of Independent watchmaking – The Grandmaster himself: Philippe Dufour is always such a great pleasure. I count myself incredibly lucky to be able to own a Dufour Simplicity, and even more lucky to be able to call Philippe Dufour a good friend. So please pardon me forRead More
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Another one in the series of Quickshots…the Seiko Marinemaster Spring Drive. Also another one I count as fascinating value for money catagory. Seiko is one of the under rated companies in the world of high horology. While the world fusses over the Swiss and Germans…quietly, our Japanese friends in Shiojiri have been creating amazingly beautifulRead More
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Max Bussier…the man and the company which bears his name – Max Bussier and Friends, is always entertaing to watch, and his products always pushing the envelope. The Legacy One created quite a stir when it was introduced two years ago, and the followup, with the same team of Mojon, Voutilainen and Giroud with BussierRead More
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More Omegamania…with the Planet Ocean 600M Coaxial GMT There is much to admire of Omega. Not only is it part of a large multinational group (The Swatch Group), but on its own, it is a formidable force in watchmaking. But yet, it is not one to rest on its laurels, and continue to innovate. TheRead More
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As is now become tradition for product launches in Singapore, I will also offer the kind reader a little insight into the remarkable genius behind the watches. And today’s feature follows Tuesday’s Urwerk EMC launch with some portraits of Felix Baumgartner. The man himself…”you need an Urwerk!” Gazing with satisfaction at his new creation ExaminingRead More
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Every once in a whle, the folks at Urwerk unleash their creativity and rock the world with their amazing creations. When the UR103 hit the horology world, it caused tremors still being felt today. As did the UR202, and later the UR1001. Last week, the creative genii of Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frey unveiled theirRead More
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Omegamania continues…with the new Coaxial Speedmaster A watch which hardly needs introduction, is an essential piece in when a collector starts on his journey as a serious horology hobbist….the early version of this watch was selected, after vigrous testing by NASA to be the one which accompanies the astronauts to the moon…hence the black dial-edRead More
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Speake-Marin watches are aching beautiful. I have featured this watch before, but I cannot help but to show it again…so photogenic. Achingly beautiful. No other words needed.
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Featuring the Harry Winston Opus 12 by Emmanuel Bouchet. The twelveth editon of the Opus series, this watch is stunning. Original photographs within.
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Buben & Zorweg are famous for their fabulous watch winders. This year, they decided to make a winder for manual wind watches, and as a show of virtuosity, they also decided to launch a small series of hand wound watches, which are quite exquisite. The movement, designed and constructed by Antione Martin…by a good friendRead More
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Seiko watches are always interesting. I have featured some from my personal collection which are Grand Seikos…which I believe are probably the best value for money in the high end watch market today. But today’s feature is on a rather more modest Seiko. A dive watch, nicknamed by fans The Baby Tuna. Known officially asRead More
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Craftwork in art watches. Cartier has been at this game for a long time, and with great success. Today’s post shows several beautiful and artistic techniques by the marque, to show off the virtuosity of their craftsmen. The lion, with marquetry. The horse in enamel painting work The fish in cloisoine And the eagle inRead More
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I typically associate DeLaneau as a jewellery watch company. Mea Culpa, they are not only about jewellery, but also about high horology, as evidenced by their Amazone 1608 collection of unique artwork pieces, with an interesting movement. I show here a trio of interesting ladies timepieces… The movement is based on the Federic Piguet 11.50,Read More
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Roger Smith is the only disciple of the famous late George Daniels. Roger is a fine watchmaker, and works out of Daniel’s workshops in the Isle of Man. Designed as a watch by an English artisan craftsman, the approach is to make everything in the house…the dial, hands, case, and components of the movement areRead More
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On Tuesday, I showed the IWC Portugeiser Jubilee…today are the extreme macros of the same watch. Owned by my great friend Eddie…thanks for the loan of watch. Do note this is a well loved, and often worn watch…I take no additional precautions to remove dust and evidence of wear. Details of the watch… The barrelRead More
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Another IWC which was one of my dream watches in my early days in collecting. The Jubilee Portugese…what a beautiful, well proportioned watch. Though it was not always thought to be correctly sized. Twenty years ago when I first started collecting, the Jubilee was considered a very large watch. But these days, it is consideredRead More
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The IWC 5251 was a dream watch of mine when I was early in my watch collecting “career”…it was a grail watch, as even then, it was quite rare to find a piece readily available. Built on a pocket watch movement, it is a magnificent watch…large, flat case, with a beautiful movement. This particular exampleRead More
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The Opus series from Harry Winston was a project started when Max Busser was CEO at Harry Winston. One of the remarkable watches he commissioned during his tenure there was the Opus 3…a very special digital, mechanical watch to be made by Vianney Halter. Harry Winston Opus 3 by Vianney Halter A watch which wasRead More
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I was going to take the day off from blogging…as announced in my FB page, but I was working with a large print for a client. The print is for the full movement of the fabulous Lange L951 used in the Datograph. After finishing editing the image for the A1 print, I decided to showRead More
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