Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i CROWN

Brian Jones Writer Brian is a freelance writer and editor who was born in the outskirts of Washington, D.C. and currently based in the outskirts of Seoul. Along with writing on all things horological, he’s been known to pen pieces on men’s fashion, sports and popular culture. When he’s not writing, he can be found travelling the continent, fumbling in his attempts to speak the local tongues. Charmian Leong Writer After seven years of full-time employment, four of them spent writing about luxury timepieces, Leong has gone the way of the freelancer and is now fascinated by a different facet of time: having it. When not labouring over a story with a leisurely martini in hand, she plays video games and takes naps in 8-bit. Zach Toh Writer A retired…

Nature never hurries and is infinitely beautiful. And though not often, man sometimes manages to harness this beauty and preserve it for eternity, demonstrated by the craftsmen behind the Chopard L.U.C XP Urushi ‘Year Of The Rat’. The gorgeous dial features the traditional Japanese lacquer art of urushi, hewn from Mother Nature and handcrafted by artisans with decades of experience. The lacquer varnish comes from the resin of the urushi tree, which is harvested annually, and it takes at least three years before the resin can be treated for use. The craftsmen then carefully apply the layers of varnish and finish their work with gold dust, to accord the sculpted dial a look that is deeply textured and nuanced in equal measure.…

I never drop the ball. My last two years at Zenith has been incredible. We have been following our road map, and we continue to grow and develop. We worked a lot on the brand image and improved awareness. Still, change takes time. You must be patient and continue working. Never give up and step by step, we are getting the results we want. Forget ‘Sleeping Beauty’. People used to call Zenith that, but it’s not asleep anymore. It has a beautiful story, and it is also very authentic. When you buy a Zenith watch, you have a Zenith movement. How many brands can say that? Not many, maybe four or five. The new generation cares about substance and content. Of course, you can do a lot of packaging around…

ROLEX ‘Paul Newman’ Daytona (2017) The perception of vintage watches was never quite the same again after the record-breaking sale of the legendary Rolex ‘Paul Newman’ Daytona Ref. 6293. Sold by mercurial auctioneer Aurel Bacs, the watch went under the hammer for a staggering US$17,752,500 in October 2017. Given to Newman by his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, the iconic Daytona was fitted with what Rolex termed an ‘exotic’ dial. It was also the brand’s first chronograph with a tachymeter engraved on the bezel to measure speed – something Newman had come to love. While filming the 1969 movie, Winning, where he played racecar driver Frank Capua, Newman developed a passion for motor racing. Following the production of the film, Woodward purchased the now-legendary Rolex for her husband and had it…

We don’t need to tell you that watchmaking is a craft that’s steeped in tradition. You’re reminded of that nearly every time a manufacture adds a new piece to a longstanding collection or creates a piece inspired by said collection. This reverence of the past comes as no surprise because history and tradition are the bread and butter of manufactures. Each time you purchase the wares of some venerable Swiss brand that markets its decades upon decades of watchmaking tradition, you’re buying a piece of that history. So, while you could certainly make the case that technologies like smartphones have reduced the necessity for watches as time-telling instruments, the fact remains that an intricate, impeccably designed work of horological art will never truly go out of style. Still, with all…

Like the proverbial white elephant in the room, the pre-owned watch trade has always been an integral but under-acknowledged part of the multi-million watch industry by the industry’s powers that be. And for fully justifiable reasons, too. Factors such as the commercial cannibalisation of current collections and the impact of price depreciation of older models on customers’ decisions mean that, for most parts, watch brands would rather shun the pre-owned market and its ostensibly roaring trade. After all, for watch companies to acknowledge the price differences and popular demand as presented by the pre-owned sector would be too much of a conflict of interest – and too messy to integrate into a brand’s marketing and retail strategies. Yet, the pre-owned watch trade continues to thrive, even more so today than…

Luminox has always sought collaborators who are not endorsement deal-hunting celebrities, but people whose work are actually compatible with the spirit of the brand. Which is why one is more likely to find the likes of ex-special ops military man-turned-marine conservationist Scott Cassell and the Icelandic Search And Rescue (Ice-SAR) team lending their names to a Luminox watch than say, Dwyane Johnson. But while the credibility that Cassell and the folks of Ice-SAR bring to Luminox has never been in doubt, these esteemed ambassadors are admittedly lacking in the fame game. With the signing of Bear Grylls as its latest ambassador, however, Luminox has significantly upped the ante. Certainly not a name that requires Googling, Grylls brings not only his reputation and skills as an extreme adventurer to the table…

Enough with the Cartier-is-actually-quite-good-at-watches rhetoric already. When the French Maison, renowned for exquisite baubles favoured by celebrities and royalty, first got serious about high-end watchmaking at the turn of this millennium, the outpouring of accolades that praised the company for punching above its weight was pleasant and justified. Now, after more than a decade of proven watchmaking excellence, Cartier cannot be perceived to be a horological David any longer. Thanks to the lofty standards that it has set for itself, the Maison is well and truly amongst the big boys – and with plenty to live up to. In 2001, Cartier founded its own in-house watch production facility, focused on developing proprietary movements and innovations. And for a large part of that decade, its fine watchmaking division went into overdrive,…

A. Lange & Söhne • #02-05A Ion Orchard Tel: 6509 1712 Audemars Piguet • #B2-207, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Tel: 6688 7595 • #01-03, liat towers Tel: 6836 4918 Ball Watch For enquires, please call 6235 1811 Baume & Mercier For enquires, please call 6510 2767 Bell & Ross • #01-15 Mandarin Gallery Tel: 6884 6471 Blancpain • #B2-237 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Tel: 6634 8771 Breguet • B2M-236 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Tel: 6638 6006 Breitling • #01-03/04, Palais Renaisance Tel: 6732 8582 Bulgari • #B2-200 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Tel: 6634 8313 • Level 1, Takashimaya Department Store Tel: 6735 6689 Cartier • #B1-39A, #B2-38 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Tel: 6688 7388 • #01-20, #02-10 Ion Orchard Tel:…

It does seem flippant either way: a watch magazine addressing the COVID-19 virus, or, as we are duty-bound, completely ignore the world’s most pressing health crisis and pay selective attention only to beautiful timepieces. But having preached so often that watch appreciation isn’t – and shouldn’t be - a bubble, we have decided to err on the side of the former. If not for anything, but to provide a timestamp of these early days of the 2020s. On February 7, 2020, watch resellers across in Singapore witnessed an unprecedented phenomenon. Their 5711s were no longer the most sought-after commodities on this land. Instead, crowds thronged supermarkets island-wide for the next best item that will ensure bragging rights (and perhaps, to flip?): toilet paper. On that day, the Singapore government raised…

ALVIN CHONG Given that elevated levels in watch appreciation are inadvertently tied to deeper understanding of what has come before, it is no surprise that, as a history buff, Alvin Chong expresses an erudite view of the hobby. “Horology and history share a mutual relationship with one being able to inform you of the other,” he says. “For example, watches can be situated in different historical contexts, such as the rise of military wristwatches during World War I. It is this intertwining relationship that I find endearing.” In fact, Chong is shaping up to be quite an authority on both subjects. A contributor to Singapore-based retailer The Hour Glass’ website, he is currently working on an academic project that traces the history of the Singapore watch industry, and he hopes…

Just because you were there first doesn’t make you the best. In Rado’s case, though, the brand’s pioneering status in the field of ceramic watches has been enhanced by its constant evolution and experimentation in the field of ceramic technology, ensuring its trailblazing was no flash in the pan. Rado’s journey in high-tech ceramics started in 1986 with the Integral, the world’s first wristwatch with a bracelet made of the said material. The breakthrough practically defined the brand’s DNA for decades to come. Since the Integral, many other brands from across the price spectrum have come to adopt ceramic as a choice material for constructing their cases, bezels and bracelets. In fact, despite being first to the game with ceramic watches, Rado’s shine was somewhat stolen during the early 2000s,…

When Tim Mosso popped by Singapore late-2019 to join WatchBox Singapore’s opening ceremony, the walking horological encyclopaedia was bestowed the rockstar treatment. Fanboys and watch geeks who knew Mosso from WatchBox’s hugely popular YouTube channel, WatchBox Studios, were literally stopping him in his tracks, eager to engage and bask in his enthusiasm about watches and watch collecting. Just as one would expect from watching Mosso’s watch reviews and ruminations on YouTube, the man is disarmingly genial, forthright and blessed with a seemingly endless capacity for watch-related information. More importantly, Mosso reveals himself to be a man who is always learning and more than happy to share his passion and knowledge. You recently started on a watchmaking apprenticeship at WatchBox’s in-house watchmaking department. What’s up with that? I want to increase…

LURE OF THE WILD Diego Böttger, director, Tempstation Diego Böttger’s watch design consultancy, Tempstation, is celebrating only its first anniversary in April 2020. But to the budding entrepreneur, this has been a fruition of a journey than has taken almost 15 years. Schooled in both mechanical engineering and industrial design, Böttger’s immersion into the watch business started with him taking on a summer job as a quality controller with Frederique Piguet, and subsequently working up the ladder to conceptualise and design watches for a wide variety of brands spanning youthful mid-luxury brands like SevenFriday to top-of-the-range niche marques like Jaquet Droz. By his admission, the years of working at different brands and companies had felt like “preparation” for branching out on his own – especially his last full-time gig with…

When experienced in real-time, the passage of time usually isn’t as dramatic as it seems when compared to catching it over large intervals. Nobody ever wondered ‘where did all that time go?’ when watching the seconds tick by. That same sentiment, however, is tiresomely echoed with the passing of each year. But we should be making a big deal out of it. As the cliché warns, time is precious. Every second is disappearing into the ether as you read so, of course, we ought to be more mindful about it. Though it has never been explicitly stated, we imagine that this is exactly why the best watchmakers have, over so many centuries, been channelling their efforts into making complications: timepieces that measure intervals, display phases of the moon, chime the…

Work flexbility is important. Especially with a small team of 12 like ours. There’s no hierarchy and bureaucracy, so you can get things done quickly. We now have a nice balance between function and responsibility. Less is more. There are only four watchmakers at Laurent Ferrier. They are very skilled with their calibre and know it well. Next year, there may be six as we want to increase our production to 150 watches a year. We have time to grow, so we take our expansion slowly. I enjoy customising watches. It’s usually just decorations and little complications, but still a change. We had a project that involved a major change in the complication, but it was abandoned because of the high cost it would have incurred. We always make estimates…

What a wait it has been, huh? Between getting busy downsizing its product lines, premiering avant-garde movements, and toasting a milestone anniversary of its iconic El Primero collection for the past two years, it seems that it has slipped Zenith’s mind that it, too, used to court women with the kind unabashed fervour that it had reserved for the aforementioned tasks. But as we like to say: better late than never. Collectors of an earlier vintage would remember those days – and those watches – that Zenith used to woo us with. Decidedly flamboyant, Zenith’s women’s watches were typically primed for attention; dials adorned with swirly Arabesque numerals, vampy colours and stones, and heart-shaped windows that offered a peek into the movements. With those watches consigned to memory, given its…

When Shu Qi announced her retirement from showbiz in 2017, there was a collective sound of hearts breaking all over Asia. Just like when the actress/model married her Hong Kong actor/director beau, Stephen Fung, in 2016. Such is the appeal of one of Asia’s most enduring names. Having starred in almost 90 films in the course of her two-decade career, Shu Qi is both a goddess to most hot-blooded males on the planet and also a well-respected actress and model in her own right. Born in Taiwan, she made her way to Hong Kong in 1993 to pursue a film career, landing her first role two years later. She has since gone on to appear in numerous Hong Kong movies and also broke into the international film industry with roles…