Some years ago, it was fashionable for celebrity men to wear pierced earrings. Some diehards still wear them today, e.g. just recently, Morgan Freeman was seen wearing one on his right ear to his Lifetime Achievement award given to him by the American Film Institute. When it first started, it was intended to reflect the rebellious nature of the wearer. When it became a fashion statement, it was the rave and now in its slow end of its fashion value, fewer and fewer men are seen with one.

In contrast to men wearing women's earrings, today we have celebrity women wearing men's watches. It started out with Rolex sports watches some years ago but women are now gravitating to watches with cases over 44mm. The most popular of which are Panerai 44mm Marina models (I have yet to spot any women wearing the cushion case or submersibles). The other popular watch with women is the Cartier Santos 100 - a larger version of the square watch designed originally for men. This trend however seems to be growing popular - for now.

Is the trend of the rich and famous - and the trend of the fashion conscious - for more personal jewellery to derive from the opposite sex? I personally hope not. Just as the trend for men wearing women's hair bands disappeared (thankfully) some years back, I look forward to the demise of the fashion of wearing gear from the other sex.

Fortunately, many of the fashion houses that retail their house brands such as Hugo Boss, Fossil etc. do make large ladies watches with faux jewels.  Hopefully watches houses will satiate the demand for big watches for women - with designs specifically for women. That would seem to be an untapped market opportunity.

 

The new Bulgari Endurer Chronosprint ALL BLACKS is a watch that uses the Daniel Roth chronograph for the collaboration with the famous New Zealand ALL BLACKS rugby team. The key feature of this watch that distinguishes it from other limited editions is the distinctive dial that shows of a Maori design.


The watch features the in-house made DR 1306 automatic movement with large date display - is a comparatively large watch.


On the reverse of the watch is a dark translucent crystal etched with the fernleaf logo of the All Blacks Team. The translucent crystal shows off the automatic chronograph movement. 

Bulgari will be producing only 500 of these limited edition watches and the first piece just arrived at Dickson Watches in Singapore.

-HT

 

Urwerk's Felix Baumgartner was in town yesterday to show off the new Zeit Device.


The iPhone sized automatic pocket timepiece is the culmination of the achievements and innovation of the Urwerk brand. It keeps track of the seconds, minutes, hours, date, month, year and 100 year intervals with a record all the way to 1000 years. It also has a 5 year interval period indicator for a reminder to have the movement lubricant change. The annual calendar system featured in this timepiece results in the owner having to change over the date only once a year on February 28 (it is curious why this is preferred over a perpetual calendar - which is considered a more complete and a higher horological feature which would allow Urwerk to claim the device never need to be date adjusted for 1000 years).



The case is made of steel coated with Aluminium Titanium Nitride which gives it a raw feel - very much like those found in top quality industrial tools. In the hand, the Zeit Device feels like a mobile phone - especially due to its flip out backplate. The first thing that comes to mind is how heavy the Zeit Device feels in the hand. One would say that it is almost too heavy to be carried around as a pocket watch but that is not the Zeit Device's primary purpose. Its a object d'art - to be appreciated as one.


Only be 8 pieces of this device will be made and priced at S$666,000 - these mechanical art pieces will only be found on the table (with its docking station) of the very most  well heeled collectors with a penchant for working mechanical art. For more information on the Zeit Device - CLICK HERE.



CLICK on the images above to view them in high resolution.



-HT

 

Chopard LUC shared with its friends and collectors the secrets of the Urushi dials in July at the Chopard Boutique in Singapore. Master Minori Koizumi was on hand to demonstrate the painstaking process of creating Urushi and Maki-e dials. Here is a video montage of the images captured at the demonstration - where guests were also able to try their hand at painting on Urushi plates to appreciate the difficulties of painting in this form.