Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2018 i CROWN

Just in time for the festive season – Longines finally opens the doors to its spanking new 1,500 sq ft boutique at Wisma Atria. Stocking Longines’ latest and most popular offerings, the swanky flagship store invites visitors into a classy space, decked out with white walls, dark wood displays and opulent leather furniture. The boutique’s centrepiece, comprising five towering vitrines that house the brand’s best-selling models, sets the tone for the browsing experience, as does the ‘heritage’ section at the back of the store – a more intimate space decorated with vintage museum timepieces. “I’m confident that the boutique will grant an exclusive shopping experience to every customer,” says brand president Walter von Känel. And he is probably right. Longines Singapore boutique Wisma Atria #02-01A Tel: 6336 9495…

Nestled within the brand’s one-of-a-kind Parrot Repeater Pocket Watch – a horological marvel that recalls an 18th century objet d’art with its intricate technicality and high-brow artisanship – is a tropical backdrop depicted with lush, dense foliage and waterfall, set against a dusty orange sunset. Look closer, and one can even spot a Bengal tiger lying in wait, ready to pounce on an unseen prey. And if you think that the setting is epic, consider the work that went into creating it. The vivid scene is carefully hand-painted, using a brush thinner than a strand of human hair and applied, as most miniature paintings, with carefully orchestrated techniques using practised breath control and barely discernible strokes. As hard as it is to believe, this stunning artwork is a part of…

Alvin Wong, Editor-In-Chief ROLEX GMT-Master II Ref. 126710 BLRO Confession: I am a full-on fan of the GMT-Master II (it was my first ‘serious’ watch over a decade ago). Anyway, this darling of Baselworld 2018 had me at ‘Pepsi dial’. It might not seem like a big deal but the ‘Pepsi’ colourway is incredibly sought-after among collectors, since its debut on the Pan Am GMT. The only problem now is trying to get my hands on one. JAQUET DROZ SkeleT-One Jaquet Droz to me has always been a brand that goes the extra mile. Though not one of the ‘big brands’, it has amazing lineage and isn’t shy about expressing it. The SkeleT-One isn’t its most technically advanced or artistic creation, but it is bold in its own way. The…

Anyone who considers himself a ‘proper’ watch lover knows that there are a number of views pertaining to horology that are accepted as universal truths – one of the most popular of which is that quartz watches are inferior to mechanical timepieces. In fact, this sentiment is so widely and readily acknowledged, that one’d be considered a pariah if he dared so much as to suggest a contrarian view. Given this, we can only imagine the pushback that Longines CEO Walter von Känel experienced back in the late 1970s and 1980s. when he advocated quartz technology during the throes of what was then ominously known to the Swiss watch industry as the ‘quartz crisis’. At a time when his peers in the trade must have been lamenting about losing jobs…

For more than a few years, attention and praise have been lavished upon Montblanc’s Villeret and Nicolas Rieussec collections, the former featuring impressively complex watches from the venerable Minerva manufacture and the latter inspired by the French watchmaker who invented the first inking chronograph in 1821. But let us not forget the Star collection, which has garnered its own loyal following with accessible, timeless designs for the last 20 years. In fact, Montblanc is celebrating the Star’s anniversary this year by combining elements from Minerva and Rieussec to create the all-new Montblanc Star Legacy line. Since Minerva is also celebrating an anniversary — 160 years — it is fitting that Montblanc has borrowed some elements from old Minerva pocket watches. The Star’s stepped lugs, round case and onion-shaped crown remain,…

My favourite TAG Heuer watch is a toss-up between the Carrera and the Aquaracer. If I had to pick one, it’d probably be the Carrera that I’m wearing now. Blue is my favourite colour, so when they showed me this watch, I really liked it. I also love that it has a skeleton dial. My ideal watch for training would be one that’s waterproof, of course. I’d want a clear timing system, probably something digital at the bottom so I can see the time clearly. I also love rubber straps, so that’d be a really important feature for me. Kinda shallow, I know, but I love it! There are many TAG Heuer values that resonate with me. One of the things I like about the brand is they are super…

CHRIS ONG, FINANCE PROFESSIONAL Maybe it has got something to do with the numbers-driven finance industry that he works in, but Chris Ong’s navigation of the world of watch collecting has been methodical, to say the least. After a brief dalliance with plus-sized watches at the start of his watch buying journey, Ong remembers giving more serious consideration to his purchases after buying his first big-ticket timepiece, the Rolex Daytona Ref. 116520, to commemorate a promotion in 2013. “I started to appreciate the finer points of a mechanical watch beyond the aesthetics,” he adds. “There really is so much that goes into making a watch, from the R&D and manufacturing process, to the craftsmanship and finishing.” Since the Daytona, Ong has gone on to secure some pretty outstanding pieces –…

It’s that time of the year again when you are feeling festive. Perhaps even more so, if you have that year-end bonus or a promotion in your pocket. And if you are reading this, we assume that you must be in some way inclined to shopping for a watch – not just any watch, but a fine mechanical timepiece – to mark the occasion. Certainly, one of the most important questions to ask would be: “Is it going to be worth the money?” And for many, the follow-up question would be: “Which watch or brand should I invest in?” At CROWN, we are staunch advocates of buying watches and enjoying them for personal pleasure, as opposed to viewing them as a form of alternative investment. Because to do so, we…

THE ICE-SAR ARCTIC 1000 SERIES IS THE LATEST IN A LONG LINE OF LUMINOX TIE-UPS WITH HIGH-LEVEL MILITARY AND PROFESSIONAL FORCES Without trying to be snide, a Luminox watch can sometimes make one feel just a little bit inadequate. I mean, just look at the muscled-up military and special forces organisations that use the brand’s timepieces. The U.S. Navy SEALs is the most well-known among them, having chosen Luminox as its watch supplier of choice since 1993. Other partners include the Singapore Air Force and KOPASSUS (Indonesia Special Forces), the F.B.I, as well as U.S Secret Service and SWAT teams – and these are merely the tip of the iceberg. Speaking of icebergs, the latest cognoscenti of toughies to collaborate with Luminox is the ICE-SAR, Iceland’s official search and rescue…

The term ‘icon’ gets thrown around plenty in the watch world but any collector worth his weight knows that there are only a select few that can truly live up to the status; perhaps none more so than the Omega Speedmaster. It’s been 61 years since the Speedmaster collection was launched but it has shown absolutely no signs of slowing down, evolving and updating itself to fit the times. Introduced in an era that saw a scarcity in chronographs, the Speedmaster was the choice for men wanting something different. It’s safe to say that the Speedy truly made its cultural mark when the watch’s history intertwined with NASA and the space race, earning its reputation as the ‘Moon Watch’ after being involved in NASA’s Apollo-manned space missions. Since then, the…

Perhaps I had been showing so much love for the all-steel G-Shock GMW-B 5000 D-1 on social media that the Casio AE1200 started popping up on my Instagram feed. Intrigued by its retro octagonal case as well as its ‘Casio Royale’ nickname, I Googled the handsome world-timer with no inkling of what I would be getting myself into. First, let’s address its unofficial Bond-esque moniker. Die-hard fans of the long-running movie franchise might recognise that the AE1200 has a passing resemblance to the Seiko G757 5020 Sports 100 that Roger Moore brandished in Octopussy. In truth, no one can definitively pin down who first christened the Casio Royale (a wordplay on another 007 movie, Casino Royale) as such, but the name stuck, thanks to its online cult following. While the…

Just when we thought the Swatch Group couldn’t surprise us more (what could be more startling than their shock exit from Baselworld?), they go ahead and delight the watchmaking world with a brand-new invention, developed in collaboration with Audemars Piguet: Nivachron. For use in the hairspring, Nivachron is a non-magnetic compensating alloy made with a titanium base (which already tells you it’s super light) and offers a significant reduction in the residual effect of magnetic fields on a movement. Developed to optimise anti-magnetism of the watch calibre, Nivachron is also impervious to temperature fluctuations, meaning the watches it’s used in will be able to function well in any weather condition. But what about the industry’s darling, silicon? While it also boasts anti-magnetic properties and doesn’t need lubrication, not to mention…

At an age where many men would be happy to kick off their shoes and live out the autumn of their lives, Abraham-Louis Breguet proved to be a feisty 68-year-old who personified the term ‘active ageing’. In fact, retirement was the farthest thing from Breguet’s mind when he took on the prestigious – and not to mention, high-pressure – job of being the chief chronometer maker to the French Royal Navy. The year was 1815 when Abraham-Louis Breguet was assigned that position, one deemed to be as important as a state appointment. At that time, the French Royal Navy was in the midst of rebuilding. The country’s naval prowess, with dominance stretching back to the 14th century, had been severely dented by two significant events: the passing of Latouche Tréville…

Before the advent of smartwatches, the perceived value of a watch was rather clear-cut. With the exception of very few industries that actually needed timepieces to complete tasks, watches were quite simply wants and not needs. The functions a watch provided were simple: it can tell the time – and for the slightly more complicated, the day and date as well. More advanced creations can even tell you the home time while you are overseas, while others could measure elapsed time – in essence, all functions that could be found on a smartphone. But with the smartwatch, consumers began questioning why some would pay more for less functionality on the wrist. If everyone had a smartphone and a watch, would it not make more sense to increase efficiency by having…

Among the many collectibles belonging to the late-comedian Robin Williams, which went under the hammer at a Sotheby’s auction in October (an impressive stash that included artworks by Banksy and Andy Warhol), was a timepiece by Azimuth Watch, a Swiss-made, Singapore-conceived homage to World War II pilot’s watches. We could be wrong, but that was possibly the closest a homegrown horological talent has gotten to an unpaid Hollywood celebrity endorsement. “We heard from a retailer in San Francisco a long time back that he sold one of our watches to a movie star. We didn’t know it was Robin Williams until this happened. We feel happy and honoured, of course,” says Christopher Long, co-founder of Azimuth Watch. It is not as if the brand needs that sort of celebrity association.…

Flashback to March, Baselworld 2018. The CROWN team was at the Citizen booth and its representatives had just wrapped up a characteristically impressive presentation when they decided to unleash a knockout blow. A staff member surreptitiously let on that the brand would be releasing an Asia-only limited edition dive watch collection. “We think you’ll like it,” he said. After swearing to utmost secrecy, we were treated to a preview of an absolute gem of a sports watch; an offering that ticked so many boxes on our checklist that we immediately said ‘yes’ to pre-orders. The Citizen Promaster NY008 works on many levels but most appealing of which, for us, is the collection’s tantalising mix of exclusivity and accessibility. Not as incongruous as it sounds, the collection delivers on both accounts.…

Although the watchmaking world has long grappled with the age-old question of what women want, the past decade has seen brands gradually coming to a consensus. Judging by the number of mechanical ladies’ watches that have debuted during that span (and stopped us in our tracks at Baselworld and SIHH), the answer to that question is, shall we say, complicated. It’s no secret that the luxury watch world has long been a boys’ club. But that’s quickly changing. Female collectors are purchasing watches in record numbers, and the selections they’re making reflect a growing appetite for complicated movements. Does this mean that quartz movements’ ubiquity in women’s watches is nearing an end? Unlikely. But what we can say with certainty is that a growing number of female collectors are demanding…

An artform that predates that of mechanical horology itself, marquetry was already well advanced around 2500 BC, during the times of ancient Egypt. Legend has it that artefacts inside the tomb of the pharaoh King Tutankhamun comprised furniture decorated with marquetry work using all sorts of materials, from precious stones and gold, to wood and ivory. Apparently, one of the earliest evidence of marquetry work can be found on a casket that harks back to 2600 BC – a stunning blast from the past using bits of ivory artfully arranged to depict ancient royal life. It is confounding to even imagine that artisans of that time would fashion such a fastidious and laborious work of art; akin to piecing together an impossibly huge jigsaw puzzle, only that one had to…

This is a world record holder right here. You can’t tell from this picture, but the Calibre BVL 288 measures just 1.95mm in height, making it the world’s thinnest automatic tourbillon movement. Bulgari gets busy with advanced construction to ensure the record-breaking svelteness. There is a peripheral rotor, made of white gold and aluminium, to ensure winding efficiency; as well as a re-engineered ball bearing system for the flying tourbillon’s carriage. Adding to the movement’s cutting-edge construction is its sleek aesthetic; sheathed in high-contrast black-silver colour tones and combination of finishes that scream high-tech horology.…