Panoramas of the Singapore port

The Singapore port is one of the busiest in the world...here are two panoramas I took recently on a recce for a commission project for a Swiss company.

And one from a very high vantage point

As usual, panoramas are too small to be displayed on a regular computer screen. Click on the images for one wider....1920 pixels wide, which allow a glimpse into the effect produced by stitching multiple frames together to form the panorama. But best results are when printed large - for the second panorama, probably about 3m across.

Vatiations on a theme: The amazing Urwerk UR-110ST

I have shown the amazing Urwerk UR-110 ST before...I have a piece in titanium on loan from the factory (thanks Yacine, Felix, Martin). And I thought to do some partial macros to show the beautifully sculputured watch.

The watch is rather slim, as shown previously...see my SIHH report, but somehow Urwerk found enough space within the dial to create a 3 dimensional effect with the satelites.

Particularly so, when in the dark, the luminous nature of the paint on the markers just glow ever so brightly at different levels...

And flip over, the little turbines look like the watch is batting her eyelashes at you...melts the heart...:-)

More UR-110ST pictures to come in the following weeks. And I will put up a living with UR-110 report soon.

Details: Gronefeld One Hertz

I earlier featured the Gronefeld brothers and their amazing work here.

But today, I dig a bit deeper, and show some extreme macros. All these images are magnified to the full frame size of the Hasselblad H3d-39, whose sensor is 48mmx36mm, and will stand upsizing to prints which can cover a wall 3m in width with little loss in resolution and detail.

Detail of the dial, showing the seconds hand track, seemingly to float over the dial.

And the beautiful handwork to craft the bridges and cocks, which are made of stainless stell, into these magnificent works of art.

Now even the Vietnamese Speake-Marin

The Vietnamese market is a slippery one, for many foreign businesses. I have personal experiences of mis-adventures, but particularly so for the high end horology business. One of the few independent watchmakers who have made inroads into this former Communist market is Peter Speake-Marin. I continue focussing on Peter today, with his interesting, and quite unsual offering and success in the Vietnam market.

Based on the highly successful Picadilly model, with the beautiful movement, especially the engraved, stylised rotor of the Eros 1 movement, the Dong Son is a design based on the motifs found on the traditional Vietnamese bronze drums, known as Dong Son. The edition is limited to 18 pieces, especially for the Vietnamese market.

The special dial is made by a lost wax etching method, leaving an etched area of 0.3mm deep, and a mat finishing of natural red gold.

Do you Speake-Marin?

Peter Speake-Marin...one of the few English watchmakers living and working in Switzerland. I have known Peter for perhaps 10 years, since he was starting out as an independent watchmaker. He cut his teeth in Renaud et Papi and at one of the great London vintage retailer's restoration atelier. He was recently in Singapore to showcase his latest collection. I met up with him to photograph the iconic new piece.

Peter's work is classic. The design, the attention to detail, the finishing are first rate. I show today, just two photographs, but I feel these 2 images speak volumes of Speake-Marin as a master watchmaker and an arbiter of taste.

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The dial is cutout, skeletonized to only retain the essential structural elements to support the dial, and reveals the intricate, and very beautiful movement within. The effect of the cutout dial makes this a very special watch.

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And a closeup of the tourbillon, showing the tourbillon carriage with his characteristic logo. Magnificently beautiful.

And Peter himself...now without his shaven head

Gronefeld One Hertz, the brothers and another watch

The Gronefeld brothers in Holland are one of the secrets of high end horology. Independents, they were both trained in the stables of Renaud et Papi. And have been making their own watches, as well as contracting for others from their little workshop in The Netherlands. I had the opportunity to meet them several times in Geneva, and recently at their short stay in Singapore.

Their speciality watch is the One Hertz...so called because the seconds hand tick once every second. The French term for this style of watch is second morte or literally translated to English - Dead Seconds. Looking like a quartz watch, but much more complicated than most mechanical time only watches, this style of watch is rare, and the brothers chose to showcase it as a ultra large seconds indication with a floating chapter ring.

The S and W indicators are not to show your significant other that the watch tells you its time for "sex" and "wine", but an indicator to the intricate mechanism, managed by pushing the crown to toggle between S for setting and W for winding. The watch is normally left in W state, and a gentle push of the crown...like activating a chronograph...indeed the pressure and sensation is similar, the watch switches to timesetting mode. Another push, returns to the winding state. Ingenious.

As beautiful as the dial and this special mechanism is, the beauty of the movement steals all when one flips the watch over. The layout of the bridges and the finishing absolutely stuns. Request for larger pictures for those marked so to admire the work.

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The beauty fo the bridges, and the special finishing makes this a beautiful sight. The bridges are made from stainless steel, acid etched, laser engraved and hand polished.

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Detail of the cocks, and their magnificent finish. The movement is conceived and designed by the brothers, and realised in cooperation with Renaud et Papi. All finishing and assembly is done inhouse.

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I also had the opportunity to photograph their repeater tourbillon...

And the hand finished movement is sourced from Christophe Claret, but totally finished and assembled in house in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands.

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And a picture of the brothers

Concorso D'Eleganza 2012: Impromptu portraits

People at the Concorso...these are impromptu portraits of some of the beautiful people at the Concorso D'Eleganza della Villa D'Este 2012

Begin with the models...

Close up on one of them

Car owners who took the trouble to dress in period dress of the era of their car

And a proud Ferrari owner's wife, who was taking photographs of their car.

One of the spectators...

And a young photographer...

Concorsa D'Eleganza 2012: the small cars...I mean really small....

The 2012 Concorso d'Eleganza della Villa D'Este is not only about exotic, and super luxurious cars. It is also about concept cars and recently, small cars. I don't have much information on these small marvels, but please just enjoy some pictures..

And a cheeky comparison between one of these small cars and the lead car for the Concorso...the magnificent Rolls Royce from the Peterson Museum...a real monster of a car! More on this magnificent car in a later post.