GOODIES for the GUYS (Singapore)

30 may 2004

GOODIES for the GUYS
LARRY WEE introduces some of the gents' show-stoppers at this year's Swiss watch fairs

AS promised, we take great pleasure in presenting our readers with a first snapshot of new gents' watches from this year's Swiss watch fairs. We struggled to select 15 from so many, but the good news is that we will show many more in our August watch supplement.

World Premieres. One of the most talked-about pieces was Tag Heuer's Monaco V4, a concept watch inspired by a car engine - energy is stored in four barrels, visible through sapphire bridges mounted at 15-degree V-shaped angle to the dial, while 13 drive belts replace pinions in the transmission of the watch movement.

The watch is wound by a 4.25 gm platinum ingot-shaped mass which slides up and down, rather than oscillates. To reduce friction, traditional synthetic rubies are replaced by 39 cases (called ball-races) which house rotating micro-ball bearings made from a top-secret polymer alloy.

Next, a watch which makes normal split-second chronos look dead boring. With the Lange Double Split Chronograph, it's now possible to time laps longer than a minute, for up to 30 minutes in fact. Housed in a 43 mm platinum case, the exquisite movement boasts 465 parts, versus 390 for their simpler Datograph chrono. Both the extra second and minute rattrapante hands are fly-back, and reset by the push-piece at four o'clock.

Equally exciting, the double-split pioneers the use of Lange's own in-house balance spring, which incorporates the use of beryllium to enhance resistance to temperature swings. Coincidentally, Richemont stable-mate IWC premiered a titanium split-minute fly-back chronograph from their Aquatimer range. We're told that divers from the famed Costeau Foundation asked for this to help them time mandatory decompression stops after deep dives.

Porsche Design's Indicator created another exciting chrono sensation. For the first time ever, we get a mechanical chrono with digital read-out for hours and minutes, made from more than 800 parts, half specially-developed over more than three years of ground-breaking work. The 49 mm case houses a zero-reset stop-watch function which can time events of up to nine hours and 59 minutes in a window at three o'clock: single digit for hours on the left, double-digit for minutes to the right.

Complicated Pleasures. Push-pins have now been replaced by more convenient pushers (at last!) to adjust the second time-zone in Jaeger-LeCoultre's new Grande GMT Reverso. One dial displays an eight-day power reserve and the GMT time offset. The other displays a big-date window, a day-night indicator, and a second time zone. For another exquisitely-handsome GMT watch, consider Chopard's GMT Regulator. Also with at least eight-day power reserve and push-piece adjustment - plus COSC certification and the Geneva Seal.

This year too, we saw two different renditions of a 3-D moon-phase feature in Basle. One was in new name De Bethune's Perpetual Calendar, complete with a Batmobile-shaped bridge visible through its caseback.

Dress Watches. Patek Philippe's Gondolo Calendario boasts full calendar functions, and is powered by a newly-developed auto movement which Patek boss Philippe Stern told us will be the basis for future Patek developments. Richard Mille also presented a brand-new auto, the RM005. Featuring ceramic ball-bearings to reduce friction, its auto-rotor is crafted in tungsten cobalt, and can be personalised to the user's lifestyle - sedentary: winding speeded up; if active, it can be slowed.

From Breguet, a new Regulator, its only dress watch in pink gold, we're told. It 'quietly' screams Breguet: engine-turned dial, pomme hands, and secret signature. Vacheron Constantin, meanwhile, presented the first two of eight Explorer masterpieces in precious enamel art, limited to small numbers. We showcase Admiral Zheng He. The series replaces traditional watch hands with hour pointers which move through a 132-degree arc to describe passing minutes in the lower dial.

The Big Boys. Omega's severely simple 49.2 mm Railmaster houses the biggest movement in their stable, an automatic with 60-hour power reserve and 150 m water resistance. The all-new automatic Cartier Santos 100, meanwhile, marks the 100th anniversary of Cartier's first wrist-watch, and is appropriately water-resistant to 100 m. Girard-Perregaux's Vintage 1945 GMT chrono is now available in XXL king-size, and a choice of black or silver dials. Finally, a giant among giants which isn't even a watch. The very limited Panerai Blackseal Compass, housed in an oversized 60 mm titanium /steel case, with a 50 mm plexiglass dome which is 23 mm high.

Article by: The Business Time (Online Edition)