The Sarpaneva Korona K1 Emali tells more than just time. This timepiece is actually a tribute to Stepan Sarpaneva’s late father, Pentti Sarpaneva, and “centuries of enamelling in fine watchmaking.” Pentti Sarpaneva (1925 to 1978) was a Finnish designer well-known for his jewellery, bronze and glass objects and he had used vitreous enamel that was “fired” for his jewellery designs … More
When viewing Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Grande Tradition à Quantième Perpétuel 8 jours SQ or the skeletonised perpetual calendar watch with 8 days of power reserve, do take note of three main handcrafted elements: the skeletonising, engraving and enamelling. The skeletonised movement is apparent and so is the transparent blue enamel work on the rim of the dial where the hour indexes … More
Is the complete assembly of a mechanical watch on a fully-automated production line an abstraction? At this juncture, it is good to recall that just over 30 years ago, Swatch produced a simplified quartz wristwatch comprising 51 component parts on a fully-automated assembly line. The result was affordable Swiss-made watches. After 30 years, progress would have been made in watchmaking … More
Italian jeweller Bulgari has opened a new store at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands covering 477 square metres over two floors. The brand has just launched a new jewellery collection known as the MVSA which pays tribute to the “muses of ancient Greece – nine legendary sisters who ruled over the arts, poetry and music.” Among the striking jewellery pieces is … More
“In the end, who would have thought that substitute Götze would score the winning goal?” a good friend and staunch supporter of the German team during the recently concluded 2014 FIFA World Cup asked rhetorically over lunch. He was of course, referring to Germany’s Mario Götze, who slotted in the historic winning shot that downed Argentina and secured Deutschland as … More
In 2014, the Bell & Ross BR 03-92 collection gets a new protective layer of skin – a ceramic matte black case. Four new model references in ceramic were introduced: the matte black, Commando, Heritage and Phantom, all housed in 42mm cases. As ceramic is a hypo-allergenic material, what the good folks at Bell & Ross did is to have … More
While on a stopover in Singapore, we ran several video arcade games by RJ-Romain Jerome’s chief executive officer Manuel Emch and among those chosen were iconic ones like Space Invaders and Pac-Man. The choices were not surprising as these two video arcade games of yesteryear are now closely-linked with RJ-Romain Jerome. Why? In 2011, the brand created Space Invaders watch … More