Next IMF boss shouldn’t be European May 20, 2011 FAR too much time and energy is being wasted on trying to work out who the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) new boss will be. The truth is that it is unlikely to matter that much: the individuals entrusted with the running of large transnational bureaucracies almost invariably find it impossible to break away from the [...]
Diving for treasure May 5, 2011 EVEN in the age of smartphones, iPads and all the other digital accoutrements that happen to tell the time among their other functions, the essential job of a watch is still intact. People who wear watches, whether it’s a £10 quartz job or something far more splendid, look at their watches to see what the [...]
NEWS FROM THE BOUTIQUES May 5, 2011 ROLEX COMES TO ONE HYDE PARK It’s got a slew of the most expensive properties ever sold in world, and now One Hyde Park, the Candy & Candy development in Knightsbridge where one flat is said to have gone for £136m, has also recently the home of Rolex’s biggest London showroom. Owned and managed by [...]
Keeping it in the Family May 5, 2011 FOR the collector or connoisseur, accuracy in a watch really is most important,” says Thierry Stern, president of Patek Philippe, when asked about his company’s core values. “At this level and these prices, if you’re going to buy a watch it has to be absolutely accurate.” Obvious, right? Maybe on the face of it – [...]
Three crucial Patek Philippe watches May 5, 2011 REF 5119J, 2007 – THE PERFECT CALATRAVA Simple, classic and timeless (so to speak), the Calatrava collection is named after Patek Philippe’s trademark cross motif. Introduced in 1932, its elegant lines lend copious scope to play with numerals (Roman, Arabic, batons), dial decoration (guilloché, lacquer, silvered) and size. On every budding collector’s wishlist. REF. 3700, [...]
An awfully big adventure May 5, 2011 IN the entire American continent, the Darien Gap is pretty much the last place you’d want to find yourself. A 250-mile stretch of hellish jungle and mosquito-ridden swampland between Panama and Colombia, it’s a place even the region’s native Indians generally steer clear of – though it does have an itinerant population of guerrillas, drug [...]
Novelty ACTS May 5, 2011 IMAGINE an enormous aircraft hanger turned into Bond Street, repeat that several times, and you’ve an idea of what Basel’s annual watch industry knees up, Baselworld, is like. The March event has thousands of brands on show, and tens of thousands of dealers, buyers and industry executives (oh and the odd journalist) eyeing them up. [...]
Extreme engineering: TAG Heuer’s Mikrotimer May 5, 2011 BASELWORLD wouldn’t be Baselworld without a scene-stealing unveiling by TAG Heuer – a trend started back in 2004, when the rubber-belt-driven V4 concept was revealed to an incredulous crowd. Five years later, the concept was a reality, and we all learned to treat TAG Heuer as a serious player in experimental horology. Last year’s magnet-regulated [...]
BECAUSE IT’S WORTH IT May 5, 2011 IF YOU ever hear anyone discussing whether expensive watches are really worth the money that’s charged for them, try this true story on them. While snorkeling off the Great Barrier Reef some years ago, a chap wearing a Rolex inadvertently knocked it against an outcrop. Torn from his wrist, the watch tumbled into the depths, [...]