Something cool this way comes... Grand Prix d'Haute Horlogerie de Geneve in SIN

i wrote about it in an earlier post but its definitely time for an update :) the Singapore F1 GP is coming to fever pitch but there is another grand prix of note happening in Singapore in the coming week... its the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve - Asia Edition

i take back what critique i had on this piece... it RAWKS!!! ;)

Its the first time, this is coming to Asia and Singapore has been chosen to be the place for it. its gonna be a prestigious nite, honoring some of the finest watches and watchmakers for the year and it also gives the raphmeister an opportunity to get up close and personal to some of these beauties... seeing watches in the metal is so different from those horrible press pics or cgi rendered stuff from the brands...

i feel that its a great event to attend for the watch lover and enthusiast who wants to learn and experience more on their journey. it celebrates the innovation, creativity and artistry in time pieces and the people responsible for realising them and thats enough for me :)

the gala dinner slated for 30th Sep will be the highlight and tix may still be for sale... drop an email to general @ singapore tatler. com (no spaces) to find out if they are... Kudos to all the organisers and backers of this event, from the Edipresse Group to Daum Boutique to the Singapore government...

A sample of some of the nominated watches on display
at the Daum boutique in Paragon, Orchard Rd

dewitt

greubel forsey

concord

cabestan rj

hublot bat bang

vacheron constantin

zenith

harry winston

70 watches in the pre-selected list of which 60+ are on display at daum... the full list of watches can be found here -> click here

within the categories... these were my original picks seeing only the brand provided pics of them

ladies watch - harry winston
mens watch - vc quai de i'ile
design watch - cabestan
jewellery watch - cartier
complicated - greubel forsey or jlc gyro II
sports watch - seems quite a weak list... out of the lot i'd probably go with the jlc diver
full calendar watch - Jules Audemars Equation du temps squelette

after seeing most of them in the metal... changes in red...

ladies watch - van cleef and arpels
mens watch - vc quai de i'ile
design watch - cabestan ... close 2nd being the AP carbon concept
jewellery watch - cartier panda
complicated - jlc gyro II
sports watch - jlc diver
full calendar watch - Jules Audemars Equation du temps squelette or the Harry Winston

a shot of the gyro II on my wrist it wins out over the greubel forsey for me...

Singapore F1 Commemorative Watch... and the issue with AP's forged carbon

a live shot of the piece... AP's proprietary forged carbon
case with a steel bezel...

the world needs more limited editions... NOT!

as in the best borat fashion of a not joke ;) ok LEs are overdone... and AP with the ROO line are purveyors of a seemingly ever increasing number of limited editions... these 'false limiteds' so termed because the brands falsely limit the number that can hit the market, are just a lot of marketing fluff... hyping watches with a few color changes here and there and not much real innovation or new value in movement or case design and build.

So the simple logic to buying LEs is this... If you like the watch for its looks, hotness, what it says about you, then buy it. Not just because its an overhyped LE. after the hype wears off its just an Offshore with color changes...

Singapore F1 LE... Limited to 250 pieces...
limited as it helps justify the premium :)

The team alinghi was the first to feature AP forged carbon cases and now the SGP F1 commemorative watch has it too for the case but with a steel bezel

Issues with AP's Forged Carbon in the Team Alinghi
(Info from the purists and friends TA experience)

Of course when new materials are introduced, one would hope the manufacturers would field test, stress test before releasing it, but of course they need to recoup the money pumped in to making these new materials and processes/machinery to making them, so shortcuts may be taken...

AP came out with the forged carbon team alinghi to much hype in 2007 to tie in with the TA defender team in the Americas Cup challenge. While the watch was interesting and started becoming super hot selling at a premium, there are some shortcomings in the actual pieces that are coming to light.

While AP touts that forged carbon has a hardness of 626 vickers (Alacrite 420 vickers and steel 200 vickers), it has been shown that what they are using can wear quite a bit, chip, dent, scratch etc... Interesting enough, at a watch gathering, a young sleight Chinese lad managed to break a piece of AP's forged carbon disc with his bare hands. Try doing that with steel :)

Owners have commented on 'chips/dings/dents', 'scratches', 'worn/flattened corners and edges', 'roughened surfaces' etc. Some have termed it 'fragile', 'not durable'... Another noted that he knows of new pieces coming with uneven edges.

Of importance too is that there is no way to refinish forged carbon and replacement is the only option. This would cost quite a fair bit so 2nd hand buyers of AP's forged carbon watches need to keep this in mind. For the TA as the crystal is integrated with the bezel, a replacement will cost even more as you have to pay for the crystal as well.

Read more about owners noting issues with their TAs here

ADDITIONAL NOTES

A) Ceramic has to be replaced too (eg RBII Ti bezel and for other brand's ceramic watches) and can't be refinished. Owners of Rubberblad ROOs, your rubber bezel of course can't be refinised and has to be replaced at quite high cost. All issues on the outer case of watches are not covered by warranty so you foot the bill.

B) If you own a TA and want them to replace a worn bezel for free, they will do so if there is water vapor in the watch as they will believe the bezel and crystal to be the issue for the presence of the water vapor.

C) If you have a AP rose gold, note that the rose gold color is made by adding copper & silver to bond them. If this goes into salt water or pool water, have it rinsed out with tap water or it may fade to yellow gold but can be refinished back to rose.

________________________________________________

In other news, congrats to the Revolution team for penetrating
the French market... Doing it in style too, with the gorgeous
Monica Belluci on the front cover of the 1st edition...

5070P pics... cool as can be...

the stuff you get from the patek web site which is a pretty
decent site btw so do check it out if interested in their watches

the stuff u get when a collector/enthusiast lays their hands on
the real mccoy :) lovely

Vintage Watch Buying Advice... uhm pointers...

IWC Portuguese... not exactly vintage but it looks the part don't it ;)

There are many great things to purchasing vintage watches. Some of the advantages of buying vintage include:
- getting good value for money. eg. significant movements at a reasonable price. Valjoux 72, 22. Lemania CH 27, Venus movements as some examples
- none(or less) of the marketing hoopla and limited edition bs to hype up a watch

At the same time, there are some factors to consider in your vintage watch purchase decision and here's a couple (totally non-comprehensive yuh, just some pointers :)

1. Condition... Condition... Condition...

If u havent got it already, condition is everything when buying vintage and is a key determinant in the price of a vintage watch. Always try and verify the condition of a vintage watch before you buy it. 

If the watch is in a distant land than get LOTS of pics. Its good to get pictures of the watch from multiple angles, dial side, case side, with and without its caseback and of its caseback to assess condition and if theres any corrosion on the watch you are eyeing if you can't see it in the metal.

For eg. U have yr eye on a vintage sports Rolex... U check it externally, it all looks fine but on opening the case back u see corroded metal and pitting. Now corrosion in older watches can be seen as to be expected but how much of it that's there and how much u r willing to pay for a badly corroded watch come into play. 

My advice is wait for a better example if you are faced with buying something in a shoddy state. Bad corrosion and pitting of the case for a Rolex watch should be a no-no and in terms of dial condition and hands condition, its really based on how you like the look of the aged dial/hands and what kind of condition of these are acceptable to you.

Rolex GMT 1675

2.getting access to a reliable servicer is key

these are vintage watches with vintage movements. not everyone can fix em unlike common eta work horses. So do check around and find a reasonable watch servicer who knows how to handle and fix old movements from the pocket watch variety to the vintage wristwatch movements and classic chronos as I mentioned earlier.

also try and find out when it had it's last proper service as then you know when abouts you will have to activate the reliable servicer you have found. 

Cal 321 Speedy

Side note: Why Some authorised dealers aren't that great at times 

Some service centres just aren't setup to service vintage watches. They either don't keep the old parts long enough or they don't guarantee they won't replace your patina'ed tritium dial and hands and replace them with new superluminova replacement versions. replacement of which total wrecks any value of your vintage watch. I believe for some countries RSC actually can guarantee they won't replace the dial and hands if requested for by the owner but that it's not the case for Rolex Service Centre Singapore. 

Vintage Rolex Submariner

3. authentic and original

Authenticity is important so do get the authorised service centre or a good watch servicer who knows their stuff to check everything is as authentic and original as claimed to be. Whether the dial, hands, etc are their original parts and not touched up, redone or relumed etc, matter as well.

Replacement parts, relumed parts, take away alot of value from a pre-owned or vintage watch.

the 1st Omega Speedmaster Professional

4.what's the price

its hard to determine whats a fair price for some pieces as they seldom come up for sale. The going rate for some vintage pieces will be based on what is it you are comfortable to pay for it.

Do your research on what it transacted for in recent times if this information is available at all and factor in condition to any estimated 'market price' based on past transacted prices. eg ebay you can search by completed transactions to get a gauge on some watches. for others that don't go the ebay route, the auction houses can be a reference but some of their pricing is inflated because of brand's participation at auction. 

5.trusted sellers

It's good to get a vintage piece from a trusted seller, be it a brick and mortar, click and mortar shop or an individual seller. trusted folk will more likely tell you if anything has been done with the watch before if they are the honest sort or have a reputation to maintain.

& thats all for now. I will update this post from time to time as i continue on the journey. All the best on your next vintage/pre-owned watch purchase! :) cheers, raph

OT: non watch related products i am into :)

first off the samsung omnia...

its a treat. I have had mine for over 2 months now and i use it for surfing, accessing emails, IM etc. Cons include the stylus not being in the body. the 400*240 thing which prevents programs written for 320*240 showing up right. i can surf and sms one handed. to write longer emails, messages, or jot down my tots, I have to break out the stylus. i can't make a comparison to the iphone 3g as i do not have that to play around with.

UPDATE* I just saw my friend's iphone 3g in action and it is da bomb ;)
cool device...

Next up ... the Nikon d90

its a semi-pro/advanced amateur type offering and sits in the middle of the entry level and prosumer pack. it and the d300 totally rock and trump canon's dslr offerings based on the specs on paper. My mate bought one and his pics are looking pretty good to date. stock lens for the d90 is the 18-105mm VR Lens which is pretty decent kit. this thing takes HD video and has proper live view.

only thing preventing me from buying it RIGHT NOW is this one... Canon SX1 IS

the sensor size is still a piffling 1/2.3" but its using their cmos sensor and its the first time they are doing that in the powershot range. this allows for an impressive 4fps shooting. not sure about high ISO performance though and noise impact but am interested to see if it can take decent pics and if it can, its gonna be snapped up really quickly :) expected to hit singapore shores in nov i think... will have to wait till then. if it doesn't rock than the nikon d90 will be on my to buy list.

get your FREAK on!!!

"what the FREAK!"

... was the exclamation and i was ready for battle... heckles up, until the following words came forth from my would be protaganist "... is, is a work of contemporary horological art." kidding on this of course... just noting how speaking about a watch called the freak could put the person commenting about it in mortal danger if they don't complete their sentences quick enough ;) I am in full agreement with what was said though...

i'm a super-freak... super-freak

the freak is a horological marvel and has to be seen to be truly appreciated i feel. prior to my encounter with it though, I had heard a lot of good things about it and how many were in awe of its wholly new approach to time keeping... but there was the bad too... the fact that some owners of the first freak found that it doesn't keep good time which I believe is supposed to have been addressed in the later freaks... but all in all... horological art and something one can lose oneself in for sure.

what time is it... uh does it matter... its like a ballet...

Something like a Pheonomenon... Singapore Paneristi GTG 6Sep08

GTG in full effect... Cool people... Cool watches...
& the raphmeister gettin his hands on some PAMs ;)

I remember a time when i spent a fair amount of my surfing time on paneristi.com and other sites with lotsa panerai content. It was interesting to observe the camaderie n the clique-ishness of the members on some of these sites... In general though, paneristi.com seems to exist to promote the passion for the brand, the purchase of more and more of its product and the continual upgrade of models until you hit the hot pieces with a lot of straps thrown in for good measure.

What is interesting to note as well is it also seemingly decides whats hot and whats not from time to time. So sometimes(or nearly always) the fiddy is in play, sometimes the cali is in play..then the turn of the 217, 232..the base models get love..logos get love, pre-A n pre-Vs n the 203 gets love... n cycle, wash, repeat...(note i think all models have their day in the sun or is it suds ;) and of course the constant refrain... 'you wont be complete without a t-dial or ceramic/pvd panerai'

t-dial rules as always... this luvly piece on cool python

Other than this, there is also the gtgs. Where they meet up, do shots of prized pieces, may do giveaways n chat abt their passion for panerai. I tink some other brands would love to have this same type of following behind their watches but its not so easily created. panerai somehow had all the right elements ... the military history, clean, rugged looks, marketing power mixed together produced the fever and the passion...

Although panerai has in recent times focused on its manufacture credentials, i believe that to be a waste of time. Check it..The hottest pieces in recent times have eta bases n 1 can easily conclude that its nearly all abt the looks n their similarities to historical pieces. The watches wif minerva movements r just confused. They would hv been just as popular if they had eta movements given the small number made. Basically panerai wants to make as much as they can from potentially hot pieces rather than let flippers n the grey market make dat money n they cant go too crazy on the list price if its just an ETA inside. So in the name of profit maximisation, do anything other than eta/valjoux/unitas.

For me and some others I know then, panerai is about the looks and its very little about horological significance. For me personally, it doesnt make any sense to pay anything above US$5k for a simple ETA based watch that i'm getting coz it looks nice... but this is a very personal choice of course as I have friends who have spent US$10k to >$30k on watches with ETA bases. (not referencing those with greater complications piled on top of them)

whatever the case, panerai look to continue to reel new people in and it wouldn't be wise to bet on this steamroller slowing down anytime soon... even if i am critical about moves they have made in recent times :) with that i leave you with more pics of the singapore paneristi gtg... nice guys and gals enthralled in the spell woven by this brand from firenze...

the organiser with the crooked brow taking his shots

george spied something he likes

ooh its 'purdey'... as in the panerai purdey blackseal or pam 76

count em ... 1,2,3... 3 217s in da house

some radiomir cased luvlies too... the calis and the 232

some cool special editions pieces...

Fun with a capital F! ;) gerald genta mickey f1 racing LE launch

gerald genta fantasy mickey mouse f1 racing singapore limited edition

this was a fun nite(the 'F' word will continue to appear numerous times through this post... fun that is.. what were u thinking? ;) )... the only downside is that nobody was grooving to the music so it was mostly me catching up with my friends, chatting on horology and gerald genta timepieces interspersed with some fine lookin ladies demanding pictures with us... (or was it the other way around? hmm...) anyways, i digress...

i have always found GG to be a fun brand with the mickey mouse range and those are the pieces in their lineup that call to me most because they're light hearted, don't take themselves too seriously and in a reasonable enuff price range... anyways on to the nite with pictures to tell our salacious tale... i mean fun tail... whatever ;)

the venue was the ultra cool MINI habitat where they sell these iconic cars...
tones of cool brittania ... and very scary staircases in the dark ...

it packed out very quickly... finger food, wine and hunnies were flowing ;)

some of the watches downstairs were these cool 8 sided ones... the octo biretro

octo chrono quattro retro

and the octo 48month perpetual calendar moon phase
out of these 3 pieces, i personally like the biretro the best...

these aren't genta creations but they're pretty fine too...asia mtv vjs
may and choy wan... these ladies know how to strike a pose...

gerald roden, dr. kenny chan and erm... some ladies

i caught up with some other fine ladies as well that night...
first up, ching wyin, top gal in hour glass' marcom team

next up is the luminous Irin Gan... here you see us promoting
MINI(kiddin yuh)...i had a nice time chatting with Irin as she
spoke passionately of the interesting brands she's looking at...

and then to more watches... the arena spice

fantasy mickey sailor

fantasy mickey aviator

fantasy mickey racer

and the cooler singapore F1 LE piece

tried to grab a wristshot of it from a friend who has it... it didnt turn out well
but you can see that the dial aint flat.. and the silver in the middle works...
not sure about that merlion at 12 o'clock though

u probably will need some serious dough if u want this
mickey tourbillon...

and what's a watch party/event without catching up with some mates ay?
raphmeister, elgin, george and stefan

george, alan and me... alan is at the hour glass millenia walk and one of the
top guys to help one get their mousy paws on these genta creations in singapore

bernard (watchprosite moderator for GG and
overall watch supremo / guru... I hail you), me and george...

jim, me and tjeng jaw... shooting the breeze...

bernard, me and model(in pic)... we(sans model) went on to speak about non-GG
stuff... notably on the cabestan and vianney's past involvement with it... bernard is
a font of knowledge on so much watch related stuff especially AHCI...

ok... it was great catchin up with mates but one of the reasons for my swinging by was that i did come to see these fantasy pieces(again i m not referring to the ones
on 2 legs)... as i was thinking it may be a fun piece to get someday... but the hands
don't have that much contrast to my eye and may make it tough to tell the time...

so i went away thinking about this one as a possible genta choice... its again fun,
easier to tell the time with the white gloves...
and the different clouds/sun designs on the moving dial is a treat too..

to end off, I would like to extend my thanks to the fine folks at the hour glass and gerald genta for the invite and the great night. it was good catching up with all at this fun event. hope you enjoyed the post ;)

cheers
raphmeister