Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3 2022 i CROWN

A couple of months ago, over lunch at a fancy watch reveal, a fellow magazine editor eyed my steel Rolex GMT-Master II from across the table and asked: “Aren’t you tired of wearing this watch?” As obnoxious as he sounded, I can’t say I was surprised. I knew where he was coming from. It was one of my favourite watches, a memento I bought years ago to commemorate a decade of writing about watches and a rare… no, the most expensive watch I own. The said editor must have seen me wearing it many times. Perhaps too often for his comfort. Especially, you know, since I was an editor of a watch magazine and all. Maybe he expected me to have more watches. Maybe not just a Rolex. “No, I…

Greeting us inside the swanky VIP room inside A. Lange & Söhne’s ION Orchard boutique, CEO Wilhelm Schmid apologies as he requests that we stand with him for our interview. “It’s my back,” he explains. Schmid had just landed from a flight from Europe, and his first post-pandemic, long-haul flight had taken a toll on his back. It is no problem, of course. Not when the 59-year-old has always been accommodating, thoughtful, and generous every time he engages with us, as he is right now. Despite his niggly back and a packed schedule, Schmid is raring to go. There are interviews to conduct, customer dinners to be had, and meetings with his team, some of whom he is meeting in person for the first time. “First thing on my agenda?…

Whether the Colosseum in Rome or the Flatiron Building in New York City, the world’s most magnificent examples of architecture inspire awe – not just because they are massive feats of engineering and construction. Rather, they stir something in us because they are monuments that echo human ingenuity and evoke stories of time and space. “Architecture arouses sentiments in man,” opines Adolf Loos, a 19th-century Austrian architect and pioneer of modern architecture. “The architect’s task, therefore, is to make those sentiments more precise.” We are not sure if Greubel Forsey had encountered Loos’ statement, but it seems that the watch brand is in agreement. Certainly, it didn’t take the naming of its newest Tourbillon 24 Secondes model lightly. Bearing the suffix ‘Architecture’, the watch lives up to the name as…

Recently, a friend asked if I could recommend a nice watch for his wife. Model husband that he is, he wanted to gift her a beautiful timepiece and had been searching high and low for a particular model that was, unfortunately, out of stock everywhere. I asked if he would consider something outside of the brand that he had his eye on and suggested he take a look at the marque that’s been knocking it out of the park the past couple of years, promptly directing him to one of my favourite collections, the Cartier Tank. Said friend admitted he didn’t know much about Cartier but was happy to explore. As I’m writing this, I don’t know if he eventually ended up purchasing a Cartier watch, but he did reveal…

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the competition among luxury watch brands looking to stamp their mark on the then-burgeoning category of high-end sports watches was rife and intense. As these horological heavyweights battled to out-flex each other, the oft-quoted expression ‘iron sharpens iron’ was demonstrated to rewarding effect. Because when the dust finally settled, the brands and, indeed, the horological scene at large were all the richer for it. The short and intense rivalry yielded an exceptional harvest. Several of those watches that premiered in those decades are now considered icons of watchmaking. Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, Patek Philippe’s Nautilus and, of course, Vacheron Constantin’s 222 were among the then-newly minted stars of the field, challenging the status quo with fresh aesthetic approaches and non-traditional design codes. The 222 was…

You know how the saying goes: “It’s hip to be square.” It would’ve been a frivolous and tired cliché if it wasn’t the TAG Heuer Monaco we are talking about. Arguably the world’s most recognised square-cased sports watch, the Monaco had already arrived fully formed since 1969. Its signature profile aside, the Monaco boasted the requisite technical chops, too, to cement its stature. The original Monaco was the world’s first water-resistant square-cased watch, housing the Calibre 11, one of the world’s first automatic chronograph movements. Save for some far-out offerings over the years, like the Monaco V4 from 2004 and Monaco V4 Tourbillon from 2014, which premiered revolutionary belt-driven movements that endowed the watches with a futuristic aesthetic, the Monaco’s angular silhouette framing its bi-compax chronograph interface has been largely…

An artisanal, thoroughly legit, and affordable (well, by luxury standards) dive watch may seem like an anomaly that would confuse fans of either artfully decorated or robust sports watches. But Laurent Lecamp, Montblanc watch division’s managing director, is having none of that. In fact, the chatty and energetic Lecamp thinks that those seemingly disparate qualities are perfectly amalgamated in Montblanc’s new dive watch collection, the 1858 Iced Sea. Not only that, they also serve as a signpost to where Montblanc watches could be headed next. The 1858 Iced Sea is among a slew of new adventure-themed watches that debuted under Lecamp’s stewardship earlier this year, and it is a standout. Comprising three automatic date models, the 1858 Ice Sea looks robust with its sturdy 41mm steel case fitted with a…

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:…

The inner workings of a hand-wound chronograph movement are already one of the most captivating sights for any timepiece. With the added complexity of a perpetual calendar complication, as seen on the Calibre 1142 QP, the beauty and allure of a finely crafted mechanical engine become all the more fascinating. In the hands of a master such as Vacheron Constantin, the dual-complication not only astounds with its ability to measure interval timings and a full suite of calendar displays. Here, the thoughtful practicality of the Calibre 1142 QP is matched – superseded, almost – by the 324-part movement’s sophisticated, sculptural architecture. Hand-embellished with circular-grained Côtes de Genève motifs and bevelled and straight-grained finishing, it is a work of art thoroughly deserving of the prestigious Geneva Seal certification.…

We are not exaggerating when we say that Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II is one of the most recognised and desired two-time zone watches ever. And as it is common for Rolex’s sports models, the GMT-Master II isn’t a watch that you can simply rock up to a boutique to purchase. Waiting and priority lists for this model are par for the course due to its overwhelming demand. The watch began life as the GMT-Master in 1955 and first came into prominence when it became the official watch of Pan American World Airways, better known as ‘Pan Am’, the most prominent American intercontinental airline at the time. In 1982, Rolex endowed the watch with a new movement that allowed the hour hand to be set independently of the other hands.…

Long before watchmaking awards got all red carpet-y with the annual Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), the Academy Awards equivalent of the horological world, the avenues where watch companies would duke it out to determine who made the most precise and reliable watches were at observatory chronometry competitions. And it was at these dustups during the 19th and 20th centuries, where the timepieces were certified by astronomical observatories such as the Neuchâtel Observatory, Geneva Observatory, Besançon Observatory, and Kew Observatory, that Zenith reigned supreme. During what is now considered the golden age of these competitions, specifically between 1903 and the end of the 1960s, Zenith dominated its peers by snaring a staggering 2,333 awards while filing over 300 patents. And among Zenith’s most celebrated creations to emerge from these…

Sometimes we wonder if Bell & Ross is ever going to run out of flight instrument panel displays to transpose. Since its debut in 2010, Bell & Ross’ ‘Flight Instruments’ series has co-opted everything from radar screens to altimeters on the watches’ dials. In fact, if you had lined the watches up in an aircraft’s cockpit, we’d imagine that even trained pilots would have had second takes, as the timepieces really look like they belong among the legit aviation gauges. But back to our initial thought. The answer to that, we suppose, is not yet. Now, we don’t claim to be experts on aeronautical equipment, but if the new BR 03-92 Radio Compass is anything to go by, we believe that Bell & Ross’ cache of in-flight design inspirations is…

Whether on its own or paired with other complications, the Patek Philippe chronograph is a work of sublime beauty and performance. Appreciated with the same reverence and desired with equal fervour as the brand’s renowned world time and minute repeater complications, the Patek Philippe chronograph, though comparatively more modest in terms of technical functionality and complexity, is just as much of a grail watch as the rest of the brand’s top-drawer offerings. The Patek Philippe chronograph is beloved for its architectural magnificence, exquisite decoration, and, of course, peak precision performance, and its journey began over 167 years ago. In 1856, Patek Philippe introduced its first-ever chronograph, the Ref. 10 051 pocket watch with three totalisers that required a separate key to reset the chronograph counter. In many ways, the Ref.…

Louis Erard’s collaborative limited editions have taken such a life of their own that we are now having fun wondering which watchmaker, designer or horological entity will be up next to stamp their unique marks on the brand’s watches. What makes this guessing game all the more intriguing is that all of Louis Erard’s collaborators so far have been remarkable industry luminaries. Alain Silberstein, Vianney Halter, Atelier OÏ, Seconde/Seconde/, Eric Giroud, and now Massena LAB have been the surprising names who have crossed price segmentation perceptions and stylistic divides to work on Louis Erard’s watches. And each partnership has yielded fascinating timepieces bearing the collaborators’ horological perspectives while staying rooted to Louis Erard’s proposition of well-crafted, mid-luxury watches. The brand typically offers its day/date, three-hand and regulator models as blank…

The fervour for luxury watches with integrated bracelets appears to have well and truly caught up with Urwerk. The fiercely avant-garde independent brand addressed calls for this niche of timepieces last year with the UR-100V ‘Full Titanium Jacket’ and wasted no time with a follow-up in the UR-100V ‘Full Black Titanium Jacket’ this year. A brand that delights in blowing our minds as they challenge us with new and novel ways to display time, Urwerk is famous for sci-fi-looking timepieces that feature a unique rotary satellite display system that employs anything from rotating cubes and telescopic hands to display the time. More often than not, however, these futuristic horological objets d’art are complemented by leather or fabric straps. Now that we have seen UR-100V paired with metal bracelets, it seems…

Arguably one of the most egalitarian and well-considered watch boutiques in Singapore, Watch Wonderland chalks a well-deserved milestone this year as it celebrates its fifth anniversary. This is no small feat, considering the high concentration of watch stores in this tiny city-state that spans from long-established luxury chain boutiques and mono-brand flagship stores to swathes of tiny independent shops offering affordable tickers. Even so, Watch Wonderland has managed to carve a unique space for itself. A ‘sister concept’ of Red Army Watches, a stalwart in the Singapore retail scene since 2004, which also champions independent watch brands, Watch Wonderland stocks what it rightly proclaims as “cool indie watch brands”. From time to time, its expansive 2,000 sq ft boutique at Suntec City, which now also carries brands from Red Army…

What a refreshing switch-up this is for two of Longines’ most beloved women’s collections. The hugely popular DolceVita models, famed for their elongated and elegant silhouettes, as well as the La Grande Classique de Longines watches, which express timeless sophistication with svelte profiles, have long been go-to options for women who desire a touch of vintage-imbued sass in their daily wristwear. As much as we, too, are fans of classically inspired watches, they sometimes can appear staid and feel too entrenched in the past. This year, however, Longines shakes things up by lavishing a generous dose of colours on both collections, transforming the popular but failsafe timepieces into striking accompaniments that will invigorate any outfit. Right in step with the recent trend for bright and colourful watches – with the…