Louis Vuitton sets sail for glory July 19, 2012 THE great fashion and luxury house Louis Vuitton is becoming an ever growing force – if a relatively niche one – in watchmaking. Its models, all based around a highly recogniseable “tambour” – meaning “drum” – shape, frequently exhibit something of a nautical theme thanks to the brand’s longterm involvement in the America’s Cup. As it happens, [...]
Tough, functional, stylish July 19, 2012 Default watch purchases used to fall into categories: “dress watch”, “sport watch” and “work watch”. There were numerous choices within those groupings, but few mattered. If you were looking at the quality sector only three or four brands counted. What they had in common were quality, reputation and – important for some – exclusivity. All [...]
English brand’s oh-so-English new HQ July 19, 2012 It’s not just a beautiful shop, it’s a tipping point.” That was the verdict of one connoisseur I spoke to at the opening this week of the first ever boutique by the British watch company, Bremont. A decade on from the moment brothers Nick and Giles English had the barmy idea of founding a luxury [...]
An equestrian classic July 19, 2012 It’s now an ubiquitous smart watch, but Jaeger-LeCoultre’s famous Reverso is one of the earliest examples of watches made with sports in mind. First launched in 1931, its stroke of genius was the way it could be slid to the side and flipped over – ostensibly to protect the dial from flailing mallets during polo [...]
I’VE GOT July 19, 2012 IT’S one of the great golf shots in recent memory. Bubba Watson, on hole two of a sudden death play-off for the US Masters in April this year, finds himself lost in pine trees off the tee. He hits an almighty hook shot that loops out of the trees, turns right and lands 10 feet [...]
Other watches the world’s best wear on the greens July 19, 2012 Rolex In the bag: Luke Donald, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson, Paul Casey, Ricky Fowler, Martin Kaymer, “the Big Three” Tour highlights: Still the undisputed king of golf, Rolex recently announced a 10-year extension to its long-running association with The Open Championship and the R&A Spike bar: Rolex signed former TAG Heuer ambassador Tiger Woods last autumn, [...]
Diving deep into the void July 19, 2012 IT’S dark side of the moon stuff, it’s like exploration.” So says Sebastien Murat, the free-diver, of life at the bottom of an ultra-deep plunge into the void. “There’s no one down there with me, and the idea of actually having air is really completely foreign.” Murat, a 43-year-old Australian, now lives in a tiny [...]
Marcus’s timely exhibition July 19, 2012 TAKE a walk down New Bond Street and you’ll tend to see people gawping at the window displays at number 170. “Is that a watch?” they’ll be asking. “What the hell are these?” What they are are some of the rarest, most remarkable and most perfectly made watches on Earth, mostly from independent brands specialising [...]
Watches to take to the ocean floor July 19, 2012 Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea When it comes to water resistance and endurance, Rolex really has no peers. In 1960 an experimental watch, the Deep Sea Special, was strapped to the outside of the US Navy’s bathyscape Trieste as it descended 10,916m to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, then the deepest known point in the ocean. Filmmaker [...]
From boom to bezzle: this banking scandal will run and run June 29, 2012 CAN it get any worse for Britain’s banks? Well, yes. Much, much worse. Not only is Barclays merely the first firm to settle when it comes to the despicable Libor scandal – others are also being investigated – but the FSA is about to announce that it will penalise a number of banks for a [...]