Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2018 i CROWN

HERE’S HOW: 1. Download the FREE ‘HighEnd Media AR’ from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. 2. Open the app and point the phone at the image on the facing page. 3. See the timepiece pop up in 3-D. 4. You can also place your wrist against the page, ‘try’ the watch, and snap a picture to share it instantly on social media! TO VIEW THE WATCH IN 3-D, DOWNLOAD THE FREE ‘HIGHEND MEDIA AR’ FROM APPLE APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY STORE.…

So we know by now that all 2,012 pieces of the Omega Speedmaster Limited Edition 42mm ‘Ultraman’ were reserved as soon as it was launched online on 10 July – in one hour, 53 minutes and 17 seconds, to be exact. The second edition of the #SpeedyTuesday line, which birthed from an online phenomenon that started as a social media hashtag, and morphed into a clever idea for a limited edition spin-off last year, was expectedly hot off the bat. The question is why, and whether such an e-commerce strategy is sustainable. Capped at 2,012 pieces and priced at S$9,180 each, the Speedmaster Limited Edition 42mm ‘Ultraman’, in theory, would have made more than S$18 million for Omega in under two hours. Not a bad day at the office, and…

Is there anything Joseph Schooling can’t do? Apparently not. First, he made history by being Singapore’s first gold medallist at the 2016 Olympic Games. Then he scored a stylish Hugo Boss campaign and now, the swimmer will front TAG Heuer’s Aquaracer (but of course) collection. But this is more than just a random partnership of world-class swimmer and world-renowned watch brand. The Schoolings have a long history with TAG Heuer (parents Colin and May own an Aquagraph – the Aquaracer’s predecessor – and a vintage Heuer Monaco) and the first Swiss watch Joseph owned was also a TAG Heuer timepiece. “As a professional athlete, I face many different types of situations, some of which push me into a corner and to the brink of cracking,” Schooling admits. “But only the…

If you had to list some watch brands off the top of your head, we’d bet the big names such as ‘Rolex’, ‘TAG Heuer’ and ‘Patek Philippe’ would roll off your tongue with no problem. But aside from these stalwarts, another group of watchmaking start-ups have been slowly, but very surely, making their mark on the local horological landscape. Enter the microbrands. Microbrands are exactly that—micro. What this means is a small production team where the owner often doubles (or triples) up as the marketing department, the design studio and the customer service counter. Production is kept small, with the numbers ranging from around 200 to 3,000 pieces (for the slightly ‘bigger’ microbrands) made annually. Speaking to the owners of some Singapore-based microbrands, we discover that many of them start…

The revamp of Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas collection two years ago saw a new line of sporty yet elegant travel-themed timepieces that exude a previously dormant casualness overshadowed by the brand’s heritage of refinement. Christian Selmoni, Vacheron Constantin’s style and heritage director, even went as far as to opine that the collection could be “a possible entry point into the universe of Vacheron Constantin, especially for younger collectors”. With the addition of a completely new model and a line extension at SIHH 2018, however, the Overseas has clearly come into its own. In two years, the newly revamped line has matured and as Selmoni predicted, serves both as a gateway into the brand, and as a display of Vacheron Constantin’s fine watchmaking expertise. First up is the Overseas Dual Time, which…

Before smartwatches were a thing, there was Citizen and its Eco-Drive watch. In fact, the Japanese brand was so ahead of its time that it often saw much further into the future of modern watchmaking than any of its peers ever did. From the company’s founding, which was built on a promise to make ownership of watches accessible to all (hence the name, Citizen), to its meteoric rise from the 1970s onwards, where it unleashed world-first technologies as its peers battled to near-death as they waged war during the decade’s mechanical-versus-quartz divide, Citizen was always looking over the horizon. As a result, the company was constantly developing intelligent, implementable technologies that would change the way people make, use, and enjoy contemporary wristwatches. Watch historians will tell you that the brand…

The case for selling watches online has found yet another supporter in Breitling. The recently revitalised brand, which unveiled a revamped repertoire under new CEO Georges Kern, has announced a new e-commerce partnership with luxury lifestyle retail portal, Mr Porter. In time, the online platform is slated to stock a "curated selection” of 31 timepieces from Breitling. To kick things off in a grand way, Breitling is offering a limited edition of the Navitimer Aviator 8 B01 Chronograph, which is capped at 1,000 pieces. Available now, the timepiece sports a high-contrast black-and-silver ‘panda’ dial that is all the rage these days, and is powered by Breitling’s automatic COSC-certified B01 chronograph movement. The exclusive edition, along with subsequent Breitling watches on Mr Porter, ships to Singapore.…

Over US$300,000 raised for charity – all thanks to an enduring partnership between Longines and tennis greats, Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf. To celebrate 10 years of ambassadorship of the two sporting superstars, the Swiss watch brand popped the champagne in style and with a lot of heart by doing its bit to help underprivileged children. To commemorate the occasion, Longines introduced the ‘Conquest V.H.P Stefanie Graf & Andre Agassi’ at a charity gala dinner at the Musée Rodin in Paris in June. Capped at 10 pieces each in both men’s and ladies’ versions, the watches’ combined virtues marry ultra-high precision with exclusivity – the limited editions, which feature special orange accents and signed casebacks, and come in special presentation boxes – helped nudged the auction figures up north. Longines…

Ask any casual shopper about what he or she knows about the appreciation of luxury watches, and we assure you that one of the most common yardsticks they’d use to measure the prestige of a brand or timepiece would be if it came with the ‘Swiss Made’ stamp. And why not? After all, it is an understatement to say that Switzerland is at the forefront of high-end watchmaking. Today, the country produces about 30 million watches a year. It is not a lot, considering the number makes up only about 2.5 per cent of watches produced globally. But when it comes to the mid- to high-end sector, Swiss brands reign supreme, accounting for more than half of the world’s luxury watch output. And believe it or not, the Swiss have…

TAG Heuer’s Carrera celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, and it’s been quite a ride, to say the least. Designed by Jack Heuer, great-grandson of the brand’s founder Edouard Heuer, the Carrera’s defining feature was its simplicity. Even the name itself, inspired by the Carrera Panamericana Mexico Road Race, was a lean-mean emotive machine. “Just the sound of the name itself - elegant, dynamic, easily pronounced in all languages and charged with emotion. I knew then that my new chronograph was the perfect tribute,” said Jack Heuer. As for the watch, all superfluous details were removed from the dial, which contributed to a clean, legible look that has endured up until today. Although the watch was discontinued for a few years from the late-1980s, it’s made a roaring comeback in…

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Yes, Lang & Heyne (pronounced ‘lahng and high-nuh’) does immediately recall another German manufacture with a somewhat similar name but no, this is not an offshoot of A. Lange & Söhne, even though one of the founders was an apprentice there and both manufactures are headquartered in Dresden. “Lang & Heyne was founded in 2001 by Mirko Heyne and myself, with a focus on making wristwatches in the Saxon style of pocket watches,” Marco Lang explains. Although Heyne left the company a year later to join NOMOS Glashütte, the brand retains its name as an homage to him. But there are also practical reasons. “We had a trademark on the name,” says Lang, “and besides, if it were just my name alone,…

When it comes to luxury brands, the haughtiest names in the business can count on a number of things to elevate their pull: quality, exclusivity and, for a lucky few, heritage. Hermès has all these attributes, but what makes it one of the most revered brands in this category is its ability to tell a good story. Not just with words, but through the very fabric of its business. The artistry and craft that go into Hermès’ wares, be it handbags or equestrian accessories, is rich with the poetry of the human hand and imagination. Its timepieces are no exception. One such example is the Arceau Lift Millefiori, which combines the brand’s first tourbillon movement with the millefiori glass technique. If you think those are black alligator scales adorning the…

Once an exclusive, state-of-the-art material privy only to the most prestigious brands with financial muscle to properly invest in R&D, silicon (or silicium, to use its French name) has become relatively more commonplace today. Billed as a next-gen material in mechanical watchmaking, silicon is lauded for several physical properties. It is non-magnetic, friction-free, lightweight and hard. This makes it really suitable for components that need to be super robust, and are most susceptible to wear-and-tear – which is why silicon is now most commonly used to make a watch’s regulating parts such as the escape wheel, escape lever, and balance spring. Just as importantly, silicon can be produced in enormous quantities with each and every unit being identical with remarkably tight tolerances, a feat unachievable with traditional alloy parts. That…

Though no larger than the size of a postage stamp and thinner than your latest smartphone, this automatic winding Patek Philippe is a heavyweight in the arena of high complications. The Calibre R27 HU is the engine that drives Patek Philippe’s groundbreaking Ref. 5531R, which features, for the first time in a wristwatch, a combination of a world time and minute repeater function. This is also the first world-timer with the ability to strike the local time instead of just the home time. But that’s not all. The 462-part movement packs many other ingenious features, including gongs attached to the caseband for more pristine chimes, and a safety mechanism that prevents the city selector from being activated when the minute repeater is in action.…

I was born into the trade. I’ve not known anything else my whole life. My father worked in a watch manufacture 200m from home and everyone knew everyone else. I love working on the products, explaining them and having the chance to travel the world to present what we make. There are worse industries to be in. Work, work, work. You have no choice. And don’t be stingy with your time. If I have to be in three continents in one week, I’ll do it, not a problem. Surround yourself with smart, motivated people. For me, this trade is my life. But for others, it’s not always the case. So you need guys who are really motivated and ready to fight. Because at the end of the day, it’s a…

When all’s said and done, at the heart of everything Harry Winston does, whether with fantastical baubles or high-value horology, lies a spirit of derring-do, a predilection for adventure that sets the 86-year-old company apart from its peers. And it seems like the company’s knack for taking the proverbial bull by the horns has existed right from the start, back when the brand’s eponymous founder, as a precocious 12-year-old, spotted a two-carat emerald in a pawnshop. He bought the stone for 25 cents and sold it for $800 two days later. From one boy’s natural instinct, Harry Winston’s fearless embrace of creative risk-taking has been carefully honed to permeate his company’s culture today. Yet, it is often overlooked in light of the space the brand operates in, and the wares…

Consult any Omega watch aficionado on the merits of the Omega Seamaster collection, and he would probably ask you if you had all day. The line, which turns 70 this year, is not only historically significant to the heritage of Omega; its continued evolution also mirrors that of the brand’s own journey till this day. As it were, the Seamaster was Omega’s first product ‘family’ that heralded the brand’s transition from using reference numbers for its watches, to naming them as distinct collections. The original Seamasters from 1948 were civilian versions of military watches that Omega had produced for the UK military. This meant that the first Seamasters were proper tool watches that placed a premium on practicality, robustness and functionality – virtues that remain an integral part of the…

Blancpain’s savoir faire in watchmaking is multi-faceted. For a start, there’s its expertise in movement development and production, from offering innovations like having both the carrousel and tourbillon in a single timepiece, to developing movements for sister brands within the Swatch Group conglomerate. But it is not all about science and engineering with Blancpain though. The brand does balance the left side of its brain power with its right – and with equally stupendous results too, evident in how it applies various distinctive métiers d’art techniques to elevate the aesthetic brilliance of its watches. Blancpain’s expertise in decorative crafts came into strong prominence perhaps in a pair of watches that it released in 2015 and 2016 – the Villeret Shakudo ‘Ganesh’ and Villeret 8 Jours Manuelle ‘Battle of the Queen…

THE GRAND STATEMENT For an anniversary as important as a 280th milestone, Jaquet Droz appropriately pulls out all the stops and put its entire repertoire of watchmaking metiers into a single statement piece – the Parrot Repeater Pocket Watch. The timepiece’s main highlight is the naturalistic scene on its dial depicting a family of macaws. Activating the minute repeater brings this scene to life, with the birds at the dial’s centre each enlivened with a unique animation amid a lush tropical backdrop populated by tigers, lush foliage, and a waterfall. Technical wizardry aside, the pocket watch’s dial, as well as its front and back, is a canvas for Jaquet Droz’s decorative prowess that include grand feu enamelling, miniature painting, engraving, and gem-setting. The front cover of the watch, in particular,…

How does Hermès decide on what kind of métiers d’art to feature in your watches? It is very intuitive. A lot of times, we get inspiration from our travels. For example, miniature porcelain painting, which is inspired by the same Japanese technique, was a surprising source of inspiration to us. It is very important to be curious to the world around us, in order to get fresh ideas. However, the goal is not to constantly discover new techniques. The goal is always to give our customers something different. We understand that leather marquetry is one of the unique crafts that Hermès offers. It is new to watchmaking but not at Hermès. We want to show that we have something distinctive and unique to offer in the field of decorative watches.…

WHO Bell & Ross WHAT Regional launch of the Bell & Ross BR92-02 Dive Watch collection in Langkawi WHEN 6 July 2018 WHERE UNESECO Global Geopark Langkawi WHO Sincere Fine Watches and IWC Schaffhausen WHAT IWC celebrates its 150th anniversary with a cocktail launch of its Jubilee collection hosted by Sincere Fine Watches, with special guest, Kurt Klaus WHEN 8 May 2018 WHERE Sincere Fine Watches Takashimaya boutique WHO Glashütte Original and Jaquet Droz WHAT Presentation of Baselworld 2018 novelties and whisky appreciation WHEN 27 July 2018 WHERE Saint-Louis House WHO Franck Muller WHAT Dial painting exhibition by master artisan Sébastian Lecocq, in collaboration with Watches of Switzerland WHEN 8 to 14 June 2018 WHERE Paragon Shopping Centre WHO A. Lange & Söhne WHAT House of Lange exhibition showcasing the…