Strong corporate results cause the sharpest FTSE jump for four weeks November 1, 2012 B RITAIN’S blue-chip index made its biggest single session gain in four weeks yesterday as a number of firms posted solid results and investors took on fresh bets at the start of a new month. The FTSE 100 index closed up 79.22 points at 5,861.92, a rise of 1.4 per cent, the biggest gain since [...]
The man who fell to earth November 1, 2012 FELIX Baumgartner is sitting in a Parisian hotel room having a wry chuckle about the likelihood, when plummeting out of space, of your skin boiling – a certainty in the case of pressurised spacesuit failure – or blood pushing your eyes out of their sockets – a distinct possibility if you get into a flat [...]
A fine watch is a connection to a sublime tradition November 1, 2012 Last week, while London was shrouded in fog, I found myself up in the clean air and bright sunshine of the Swiss Jura – the mountainous home of Swiss watchmaking. Trace an arc upwards from Geneva, as the Jura mountains curve their way along the French border towards Biel Bienne 100 miles north east, and [...]
The magical mystery of a tourbillon wristwatch November 1, 2012 If such a thing existed, a game of watch Top Trumps would have a number of horological functions vying for best-card-in-the-pack status. But because of its spellbinding romance, you’d struggle to trump the tourbillon. For collectors of prestige watches, it’s a complication that’s in a league of its own. A tourbillon is a device that [...]
Whirlwind wonders November 1, 2012 Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon The sort of watch to wear as you pen an eight-figure deal. Aside from being filthy handsome, it’s also jolly clever – its titanium tourbillon carriage weighs a feather-like 0.33 grams and sits in an automatic movement that comes in at just 6.4mm thick. £46,300 www.jaegerlecoultre.com Frederique Constant Slim Line [...]
Laurent Ferrier swells the ranks of collector brands in Mount Street’s niche luxury enclave November 1, 2012 At last month’s European Watch of the Year awards, hosted in London by 0024 WatchWorld magazine, the prize for the best watch between £8,000 and £25,000 was awarded to a brand most people will never have heard of. Francois-Paul Journe, whose Chronometre Souverain took the gong, makes fewer than 800 watches a year, each of [...]
Parmigiani to open its debut London shop November 1, 2012 A little further up Mount Street from William & Son, across the road from Scott’s restaurant, Parmigiani Fleurier is shortly to open it’s debut London boutique. As such, it’s the first high-end Swiss brand to jump ship from the Bond Street party and choose Mount St as its natural London residence. Parmigiani, for those unfamiliar [...]
Exclusive IWC at Watch Gallery November 1, 2012 IWC’s Ingenieur range of watches are high-spec, highly engineered (as you’d expect from the name) pieces that are perhaps the ultimate tool watch: rugged, tough, adventurous, modern. Here’s one, though, that’s invested with a more old-fashioned sensibility. It’s called the IWC Vintage Ingenieur 2012, and there are just 36 available in the UK, of a limited [...]
The finishing touches November 1, 2012 The fashion for putting a transparent opening in the back of a watch is a relatively recent trend, but a pleasing one. While in the old days mechanisms were hidden from sight – in any case, the sapphire crystal didn’t exist that can now provide as strong a casing as steel – watch houses have [...]
Look after your watch November 1, 2012 Mechanical watches need to be serviced. Over time the oil inside the movement degenerates – if it thickens it can slow down the timekeeping, and if it thins it can speed it up. To ensure the watch continues to run reliably, you need to maintain it at regular intervals to prevent any damage. It varies [...]
