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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
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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
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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
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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
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Max Bussier’s MBF is rather innovative…that’s an understatement. The watches coming out from his stable is truly stretches the imagination, and the wonderful stories he can tell to describe them equally wonderful. It is with great interest that I can now present the HM3 Frog Moonmachine. A variant of the HM3 Frog, with its bulgingRead More
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Exclusive pictures of the Stainless Steel Lange Tourbillon “Pour le Merite” In the early days of the manufacture, the leadership of the company, principally Mr Gunter Blumlein made some difficult decisions to make special edition watches for special customers…he subsequently stopped this practice, as it creates considerable headaches for the company to dedicate resources toRead More
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Malmaison by The Hour Glass in Knightsbridge stands as one of the most beautiful stores purveying luxury in the world. A brainchild of Michael Tay, this store is a treasure house to showcase luxury. Not satisfied with just offering the world’s best watches, Malmaison now also offers a beautiful line of menswear, luxury perfumes andRead More
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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
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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
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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
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One of my favourite watch making house is the often overlooked Seiko. They have a long history and tradition of making fine timepieces as well as of innovation. But most collectors focus too much on Swiss timepieces. But yes, Virginia, excellent watches do come from outside Switzerland. Germany, and increasingly England, and of course Japan.Read More
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Beauty of the DeBethune DB25T I had the opportunity to view and photograph the magnificent DB25T again… Truly a magnificent piece, beautifully conceived, finished. Jaw drapping beautiful. The dial, hand flamed titanium to achieve the deep blue…nothign short of amazing. And the second morte complication is nicely emphasized with the large sweep seconds making itsRead More
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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
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Ludovic Ballouard: innovative genius? Ludovic Ballouard is a funny, quirky fellow. His humour extends to the location of his show during the SIHH – the Hotel du Midi – with its quirky furniture in the lobby and large, loud sculptures, to the watches he makes. Formerly working at Francois Paul Journe, Ludovic was formerly inRead More
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The Booths at the SIHH get more and more amazing each year. This year is no different. As with last year, I took some time to go around to photograph the booths. Here is a selection I omit the largest display – the one by Cartier, because it is spread across several booths…in fact itRead More
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Greubel Forsey’s continued exploration of the tourbillon is a fascinating one. Incline double tourbillons, quadruple tourbillons, inventions with tourbillons, secrets with tourbillon, and now a GMT with a 3 dimensional rotating globe with an incline double tourbillon. So they take their wonderful 24 incline tourbillon, moved things around a bit, so as to createRead More
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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
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Laurent Ferrier is a very small firm based in Geneva. They practically burst into the scene with a ultra classical watch featuring a tourbillon and immaculate finishing in 2010. That was the Galet Tourbillon. They added a peek-a-boo style dial to the Galet in 2011. And this year, they introduced the Micro Rotor –Read More
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2012 might be the year of the re-issue. For JLC, the strategy is not different. They reissued and revised the Master Control series with aplomb. And reissued some Reversos…but do note that JLC might perhaps be seen as leading this trend, having started the 1931 Reverso re-edition in SIHH 2011. However, in addition toRead More
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SIHH 2012: Vacheron Constantin. The rise of the new Malte and the continuing saga of the Metiers d’Art. 2012 seems to be the year of the reissue. Many brands reworked their classic offerings and modernized their collection. This was seen in JLC with their 1930s Reverso (yes that started in SIHH 2011), AP with theRead More
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What to get your significant other for Valentines? How about the magnificent Lange Saxonia? OK, so perhaps not possible for this Valentine’s as the watch is not yet available in the stores…but its a nice excuse to introduce this beautiful piece. Of course, I am assuming your Valentine is a lady…if it happens to beRead More
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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
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Following up on last Friday’s remarks using DeBethune’s remarkable DB25T as an example, today’s post I use the same combination on the Voutilainen Vingt8 (28). Also photographed in L’Atelier by The Hour Glass using my usual set-up. I have featured the Vingt-8 before. As I described earlier, this is a magnificent watch. As mentioned inRead More
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Following up on my walkabout impressions of the quite remarkable Leica S2, here are some photographs I made in L’Atelier by The Hour Glass using my usual set-up. I have featured the Db25T before, it is a remarkable watch. I particularly love the jumping seconds hand, and the beautiful Caliber 2109 with the magnificent bridgeRead More
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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
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Roger Dubuis Excalibur Skeleton Double Tourbillon. Interesting watch. I was commissioned to photograph this watch for Revolution Magazine. The final approved photographs appeared in Revolution Asia 28. The electronic version is available for free download of Revolution magazine issue 28 here. I photographed the watch with my trusty Hasselblad H3D-39 with the HC 4/120 macro.Read More
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Store Visit: Malmaison by The Hour Glass: Emporium Extronaire The Malmaison by The Hour Glass is not quite new…in fact, it opened its doors just after SIH 2011…almost a year ago. But the store continues to amaze me. This is a veritable temple of luxury, conceived and created by Hour Glass’s intrepid Executive Director MichaelRead More
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I’d like to present some of the watches made by Moser. The Perpetual 1, which I have covered before in a bit detail is still one of the most outstanding perpetual calendars in production. Seen on here on the wrist of my good friend Eddie Also available with a fancy dial…rose gold case Also, aRead More
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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
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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
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