Brummell Magazine Horology November

Horology 2014

Eye on the time Watch special, featuring makers, masters, mavericks and returning old faces • Usain Bolt stops the clock London auctions and boutiques • Horological philanthropy • The watch brand backing electric motor racing

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Welcome to Brummell In this dedicated horology issue, we explore the world of cogs and complications. In some ways the watchmaking world seems to move as fast as the second Ice Age, but it takes many years to patiently develop the tiniest of mechanisms that will prove innovatory. Now with the introduction of the Apple Watch, the watch industry is having to move faster. Debates are opening up about the purpose of a timepiece: is the wristwatch a functional accessory that denotes your taste and status, and is sometimes used as an investment vehicle? Or is it a tool that collects personal physical information, gives access to apps and pays for lunch? With the Apple Watch appearing on the cover of Vogue China’s November issue, the signs are that it’s a keeper, and one that will apparently

also be available in an 18ct gold version. Also hoping to avoid the slab-of-plastic look, some makers are collaborating with tech companies to come up with watches that are compatible with iOS and Android devices, while taking aesthetic cues for their watches from more traditional territory.

Some in the watch world are of the opinion that these are two separate needs and the traditional will always be desired. The clincher for them is that classic watches will always be chosen as individual statement pieces, and that mechanical watches with their analogue technology will prevail over gadgets that are prone to obsolescence. Timepieces of character, with beating hearts and big souls: it’s the future.

Joanne Glasbey, Editor

We perfect this watch by hand.

Even though you will probably never see many of the levers,

one is endowed with a specifc type of fnissage and must comply

wheels, and springs in the movement of the Grand Lange 1

with the most stringent artisanal and aesthetic standards. This

Moon Phase, Lange’s master watchmakers meticulously refine

also applies to the lunar disc made of solid gold. It shows the

them by hand. No matter how tiny or hidden a part may be, each

earth’s companion amid the stars of the nocturnal sky. A patented

Even the parts that you can’t see.

coating process is responsible for the brilliant colours and the

diferent sizes are cut out with extremely sharp contours, produc-

crisp texture details. Interference effects – the superposition of

ing a miniaturised image of the Milky Way. The smallest stars on

light waves – absorb all non-blue colour spectra of the incident day-

the lunar disc have a diameter of merely 0.07 millimetres – less than

light. The result is an intensely blue surface on which 382 stars of

the average thickness of a human hair. www.alange-soehne.com

George Pragnell 5 and 6, Wood Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Tel. 178 92 67 072 · Harrods 87–135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London, Tel. 2 07 73 01 234 · Watches of Switzerland 155, Regent Street, London, Tel. 0207 534 9810 Wempe 43 – 44, New Bond Street, London, Tel. 207 49 32 299

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Contents • Brummell

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Cover illustration: Ryan Todd Show Media Brummell editorial 020 3222 0101 — Editor Joanne Glasbey Art Director Dominic Bell Managing Editor Lucy Teasdale Chief Copy Editor Chris Madigan Deputy Chief Copy Editor Gill Wing Senior Designer Jo Murray-Bell Editorial assistant Jemima Wilson Picture Editor Jamie Spence Style Director Tamara Fulton Copy Editors Nicky Gyopari, Katie Wyartt Creative Director Ian Pendleton Managing Director Peter Howarth — Advertising & Events Director Duncan McRae duncan@fyingcoloursmarketing.com 07816 218059 — showmedialondon.com brummell@showmedialondon.com — Visit Brummell’s website for more tailor-made content: brummellmagazine.co.uk

Contents 18

Watchword More than the big Swiss watch fairs, London’s SalonQP is the place to go for those who truly love the science and art of horology

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BEAUMONDE News Timepieces that can stand up to a tank, are inspired by musicians or sports cars, and are brought to you by the number eight Revival Tudor rose to prominence in the Fifties but later abdicated its position. The brand’s reformation is good news for retro lovers Complications On its 175-year anniversary, Patek Philippe’s renowned technical skill is ably demonstrated in a standout watch with 20 complications

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While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions.

The information contained in this publication is correct at the time of going to press. £5 (where sold). Reader offers are the responsibility of the organisation making the offer – Show Media accepts no liability regarding offers.

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Sport How Hublot persuaded the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt (‘never much of a watch fan’), to endorse a timepiece Mavericks Richard Mille, the watchmaker for those whoappreciate pushed boundaries Philanthropy Blancpain’s expertise in diving timepieces helps save the oceans Motoring British success story Bremont works with Jaguar on a Lightweight E-Type watch London Once British watchmakers led the way; now only a few remain – but the capital is the global city for horological shopping FEATURES Women’s watches A light touch when it comes to jewels and decoration give these pieces an appealing subtlety of style Design Inspired by the Italian harbour town, IWC’s latest iteration of the Portofno collection is celebrated in a photo shoot with Cate Blanchett and Emily Blunt Men’s watches On the face of it, these classic timepieces are plain – but they’re far from simple Motor racing TAG Heuer found its fame in the oily, dangerous world of Seventies F1 – now it’s bravely backing electric grands prix Auction Watch auctions are achieving record prices, but are still accessible for those on a more modest budget Style Suits, outerwear, accessories and watches for the modern businessman Need to know Saving time with Jet Partners and being smart with ‘empty-leg’ private jet travel

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A passion for horology

Watchword • Brummell

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SalonQP is not a place for naive watch romantics who fall for bling and patter, but for horology lovers with experience and discernment who recognise true quality when they see it

Words: Eleanor Pryor Illustration: Jean Jullien

From self-confessed watch geeks and long-time connoisseurs to those newly caught by the collecting bug, horology enthusiasts from all over gather at the Saatchi Gallery this week for the annual exhibition SalonQP. A carefully curated boutique compared to BaselWorld’s cavernous halls of stands, the event is an opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the most accomplished and rare timepieces – and their watchmakers – right here in the UK. Opening up the sometimes secretive world of Swiss watchmaking to all, visitors can see some of the industry’s biggest names exhibiting at the event, such as TAG Heuer, Chopard, Zenith and Bell & Ross, which will bring its B-Rocket motorbike and accompanying watches, created in collaboration with Harley-Davidson.

SalonQP regular Jaeger-LeCoultre will reveal the intricacies behind one of the most revered watch complications – the minute repeater – in its ‘Sound Lab’, including the chance to assemble one of these chiming contraptions yourself with a masterclass taught by watchmakers from the Vallée de Joux. Meanwhile, for the frst time, the winners of the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève are on show at the event; this annual celebration of the fnest in watchmaking – likened to the Oscars of horology – awards prizes across a variety of categories, culminating in the muchcoveted Aiguille d’Or for best overall watch.

But it is perhaps the independent brands showcased – and there are more than 50 of them this year – that truly sets the event apart. ‘Part of SalonQP’s appeal,’ says its founder James Gurney, ‘is that it draws the most creative brands regardless of size. Our visitors tend to be quite knowledgeable about watches and appreciate that creativity isn’t necessarily determined by scale. Having this mix gives SalonQP a unique atmosphere, markedly distinct from Bond Street, for example.’

With the minimalist designs of Nomos Glashütte, the technical mastery of Urwerk and the outright

Our visitors tend to be quite knowledgeable and appreciate that creativity isn’t determined by scale

bizarreness of MB&F’s creations on display, there is certainly plenty to intrigue afcoinados at the Saatchi Gallery this year. And for those looking beyond even the more established independent names, SalonQP also acts as a launchpad for new brands still to be discovered by a wider group of enthusiasts – those such as Alexandre Meerson, Bonhoff, Struthers, Emmanuel Bouchet and Valour.

As ever, the event continues to champion the leading lights of British watchmaking. Christopher Ward is making its SalonQP debut on the event of its 10th anniversary, while Burberry showcases its latest models, having made its successful transition into the mechanical-watch market with 2012’s Britain. The diverse seminar schedule will see a talk by Giles Ellis, the enigmatic founder of Sussex-based Schofeld Watch Company, who will help us understand the subtleties of design, and historian and author James Nye, who will tell the fascinating story behind one of the UK’s most infuential 20th-century watch manufactures: Smiths. Elsewhere, when you’re not catching up with Bremont founders Nick and Giles English at their exhibition booth, a watch from the brand’s Chivalry collection – a limited edition created in partnership with Chivas Regal whisky – will be sold by silent auction, with proceeds going towards the Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme.

SalonQP can always be relied upon as a barometer of the watchmaking industry, and this is just as true as the event enters its sixth edition.

Collectors have been eagerly awaiting Tudor’s

return to the UK market, and not only will this stablemate of Rolex exhibit this year, leading authority Ross Povey is hosting a seminar looking back at some of the more quirky and collectable models from its history. But this year’s programme also refects a more seismic shift in the way top brands are approaching timepiece design: the emphasis on women’s watches – something explored in an exhibition called Gems of Time.

‘The creativity that has gone into designing for the women’s market has been extraordinary over the past few years,’ says Gurney. ‘The default of making watches that are simply smaller and more sparkly is, thankfully, a thing of the past for most brands at SalonQP.’ A testament to this renewed vision, Gems of Time will bring together a dedicated collection of outstanding women’s watches for the frst time at SalonQP. Iconic pieces such as Bulgari’s Serpenti, which was famously worn by Elizabeth Taylor, and the 101 mechanical movement by Jaeger-LeCoultre, which formed part of a watch presented to HM The Queen, will sit alongside groundbreaking new designs from the world’s most esteemed jewellery and watchmaking maisons. Among these will be the Harrods Princess by Backes & Strauss – a special piece created to commemorate the store’s own Biennale jewellery fair, held earlier this month. Cartier will display a selection of its high-jewellery designs – a reminder of its prowess in all things bejewelled – and Piaget will display its chic new line of vintage-inspired cuff watches and sautoir necklaces. Meanwhile, De Beers will showcase its Aria collection, created by Hollie Bonneville-Barden, one of the new generation of jewellery designers.

Whether you’re more interested in gems or gears, this year’s SalonQP looks set to be bigger and more full of surprises than ever before. l Salon QP runs 6-8 November at the Saatchi Gallery, King’s Road, SW3 4RY; salonqp.com

Beaumonde Pens that are as mighty as a watch; music in triple timepieces; behind the wheel with a sports-car watch

Silver tongue ↑ Mentioned regularly in the literary works of illustrious writers such as Balzac, Stendhal, Pushkin and Dumas, Breguet is now so deeply rooted in European culture that the name has become a sine qua non of a luxurious and elegant lifestyle. Paying tribute to literature and the authors who have honoured Breguet throughout its history, Breguet’s range of crafted silver writing instruments conveys a touch of refnement for lovers of art. Also, refecting the skill of its watchmaking artisans, a collection of cuffinks reveals intricate elements of the celebrated Breguet engine.

From grand feu enamelled dials to a miniature oscillating weight, each one-of-a-kind cuffink design embodies the precision of the brand’s distinguished timepieces. breguet.com

Tough time ↑ It has taken 400 prototypes and three years of François Nuñez’s life to create a watch so rugged, it can withstand a 10m fall, two hours in a washing machine at a tropical 90 degrees, or being repeatedly driven over by a 64-ton tank.

The product director of Victorinox came up with the Inox – a timepiece as sharp in design as it is resistant to damage.

The 130-year-old family company behind the Swiss Army knife (‘your companion for life’) has made watches for 25 years and the same philosophy is applied: consumers want to buy iconic pieces that really last. victorinox.com

Woman’s hour ↑ Tag Heuer’s Carrera collection, named after the Carrera Panamericana road race, frst arrived on the motor-racing scene in 1963. More than half a century later, the Carrera has a women’s collection designed in collaboration with Grand Slam tennis champion Maria Sharapova. Featuring faceted horns, a wide-open dial and a thin bezel, the sporty Carrera Lady is engineered for high performance but, for added femininity, the 28mm Calibre 9 Automatic standout piece is available with either 12 diamonds on the dial or 56 diamonds on the fxed bezel. tagheuer.co.uk

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Beaumonde • News

Cogs and gears ↑ This year, two iconic Italian brands celebrate key anniversaries: Maserati turns 100, while Bulgari reaches its 130th birthday. Already partners, their enduring style and creativity have been combined to mark the milestone occasion with a distinctive sports watch, the Octo Maserati, a chronograph driven by a movement nicknamed Velocissimo – ‘the fastest’ – and with a 50-hour power reserve. The design sleekly echoes Maserati’s world, celebrating power and performance, and incorporates the marque’s famous trident. bulgari.com

Perfect pitch Parmigiani has been involved with the prestigious Fleurier Dial up the music ↑ Raymond Weil has enlisted the help of three very different musicians to create a new range of sonically inspired watches, each bringing an aesthetic drawn from their genre. The Freelancer Cello Music Special Edition Watch takes cues from virtuoso Croatian cello duo 2Cellos, incorporating subtle design features such as the four strings of the instrument wrapped around the dial, paired with a bow-shaped chronograph hand. Classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglic has inspired a timepiece defned by its design reminiscent of a fretboard, while the Freelancer Electro Music Special Edition – infuenced by chart-topping British artist Labrinth (pictured above) – has a contemporary feel, with a graphic equalizer motif around the dial. Two of each of the special-edition timepieces will be auctioned off, with proceeds going towards charities chosen by each of the artists. raymond-weil.com

Quality Foundation certifcation since 2004, and the new Tonda Qualité Fleurier is the latest piece to meet the certifcation’s rigorous test criteria. Built on the Parmigiani Fleurier Fêteing the eight ↑ Eight has always been a lucky number for the house of Dior, signifying the date the Christian Dior couture maison was created on 8 October 1946, the name of the frst Dior collection ‘En Huit’ and its birthplace on Avenue Montaigne in Paris’s eighth arrondissement. The new Dior VIII Montaigne collection embraces classic Dior codes – the shape of the iconic Bar suit or Dior’s emblematic colour grey. The impressive Dior VIII Grand Bal honours the brand’s couture heritage, featuring an oscillating weight on the dial to evoke the movement of a swirling ball gown. dior.com

calibre 4000 with a power reserve of 55 hours, the reworked design features a series-mounted double barrel to stabilise energy distribution and ensure perfect timekeeping. parmigiani.ch

IWC. The fuTure of WaTChmakIng sInCe 1868.

Portuguese Perpetual Calendar.

Ref. 5023: One thing at IWC always remains the same: the desire to get even better.

Here is one of the finest examples, with the largest automatic movement manufactured

by IWC, Pellaton winding and a seven-day power reser ve. The perpetual calendar shows the date and moon phase, and the

year – until 2499 – is shown in four digits. In short: a watch that has already written the future. i wc . e n g i n e e r e d fo r m e n .

Mechanical IWC-manufactured movement, Pellaton automatic winding system, 7-day power reserve with display, Perpetual calendar (figure), Perpetual moon phase display, Antireflective sapphire glass,

138 NEW BOND STREET OPENING WINTER 2014

Sapphire-glass back cover, Water-resistant 3 bar, 18 ct red gold

24

Beaumonde • Revival

Tudor dynasty Even though Rolex doesn’t like to talk about its more modest but equally reliable sibling, the return of Tudor is good news

Words: Ken Kessler

Rolex – quite justifably, some would say – can behave somewhat regally, and not just because its logo is a crown. What does this have to do with the return of the estimable watch brand Tudor?

I risk jeopardising my relationship with the parent company, but there is no way one can honour its request to not mention Rolex in connection with Tudor. It would be like talking about Stella McCartney and pretending her dad wasn’t a Beatle, or denying Porsche and the VW Beetle are family.

Actually, that’s not so: Stella has done her own thing very successfully for years, and Porsche is so far removed from its humble origins that one no longer needs to mention its birthplace. But Tudor exists precisely because it is the sibling of Rolex, and that is a truly wonderful thing. Rolex should sing the praises of Tudor.

To understand Rolex’s curious reticence, one must look to a past remembered only by those at whom the new, edgy Tudors are not aimed.

What once stung Rolex was the idiotic shorthand description of Tudor as ‘a poor man’s Rolex’, which is a bit like calling Alfa Romeo ‘a poor man’s Ferrari’. Quite what is wrong with that is impossible to comprehend, for the virtues remain intact.

Who doesn’t love Alfas?

To compound the matter, most of Tudor’s new models are either utterly retro in look or unashamedly referencing the past, thanks to the use of the term ‘Heritage’ in many of its watch names. And that heritage is birth as a stablemate of Rolex.

Tudors were conceived by the company’s genius founder, Hans Wilsdorf, as watches that offered the reliability and dependability of a Rolex, but at lower prices. The Oyster cases were Rolex-made and said so on the back, while the

The Black Bay is a modern take on the 1954 Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner diving watch

movements came from a respected outside supplier. Nothing wrong with that – especially as Tudors were always different enough from Rolexes to prevent confusion.

Tudor-branded watches frst appeared a century ago, and the brand started trading in earnest in 1946, but the current line-up uses 1954 as a reference point. The year denotes the arrival of the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner diving watch, and the current Black Bay is a modern take on it – a handsome sporting timepiece so utterly and undeniably ‘cool’ and desirable that at least four UK watch journalists have dug deep to actually buy one. Another model, the Heritage Ranger, looks like the classic Fifties Rolex Explorer, as worn by Ian Fleming, and it doesn’t get much more suave than that.

Tudor’s remarkable return to the marketplace is paying dividends. The brand has already infuenced many rivals, while shaping the tastes of the fashion-conscious. Tudor has ftted certain models with cloth over-under straps, or ‘NATO straps’ as they are often referred to, and they have become the fastest-growing watch accessory for aftermarket suppliers, with many brands now using similar straps for their edgier models.

Thus, an open plea to Rolex: get over it. No more apologising, no arm’s-length denial. Tudor is a wholly admirable, covetable family of wristwatches. My wife wears one. Two of my best friends wear them. To paraphrase James Brown, who probably would have adored a watch with the name ‘Black Bay’: say it loud and say it proud. l tudorwatch.com

Art of the renaissance Clockwise from left: A 1952 advert for the Tudor Oyster Prince, fronted by Rolex boss Hans Wilsdorf; The current Heritage collection; the Heritage Black Bay, from £2,120

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Beaumonde • Complications

Patek Philippe is known as the watchmaker’s watchmaker. It’s one of the so-called Big Three (with Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet in the supporting roles), the name behind all but a small handful of the 20 most expensive watches ever sold at auction, and owner and promulgator of a memorable strapline. Few brands have such reach.

In watchmaking terms, it’s a low-volume brand, making just 55,000 watches a year – a drop in the ocean compared to the luxury-watch industry’s other giant, Rolex. Annual production fgures don’t make it beyond Rolex’s factory doors, but educated guesses are never less than a million. Omega, TAG Heuer and Breitling are among the other household-name brands that far outstrip Patek Philippe by volume.

Yet Patek has such dominion. Many of its lines are heavily oversubscribed, and it enjoys knowing its latest innovation will attract the attention of a bevy of suitors, among them the world’s wealthiest people.

Behind the rise of Patek Philippe is a classic watch-industry tale. Throughout the 19th century, Switzerland’s reputation as horology’s natural home fourished, luring expert watchmakers from all over the world, many of them to Geneva. It was during this period that the notion of a watch house – or brand, as we now call it – emerged. Entrepreneurial watchmakers, backed up by a cheap yet skilled workforce, set up business along the mercenary path known by cartographers as the Swiss Jura – and custom soon followed.

Patek’s story begins in 1839 with a pair of Polish immigrants, Antoni Norbert Patek and his business partner Franciszek Czapek, whose involvement in the company lasted just fve years. He was replaced in 1845 by Jean-Adrien Philippe, inventor of the keyless winding and hand-setting system, and in 1851, Patek, Philippe & Cie was born.

By the turn of the century, the young company had made some of the world’s most complicated timepieces – or ‘supercomplications’ as it would later dub them – including the Stephen S Palmer pocket

Time lord As Patek Philippe celebrates its 175th anniversary with the most complicated wristwatch it has ever made, we look at how its reputation has been won

Words: Robin Swithinbank

It’s complicated From top: a part of the complex inner workings of the Grandmaster Chime Ref 5175; the 5175’s impressive front dial

watch of 1898, for the prominent US industrialist.

It counted a minute repeater, grande and petite sonneries, a perpetual calendar and a split-seconds chronograph among its complications.

The theme continued into the 20th century with the all-singing pocket watches made for American car manufacturer James Ward Packard and Henry Graves, the fnancier whose 1933 Supercomplication remains the most complicated watch ever made without the aid of a computer. It is also the most expensive ever sold at auction, going under the hammer in 1999 for $11m – a fgure likely to be dwarfed on 11 November, when it is auctioned in Geneva by Sotheby’s, with a $17m presale estimate.

Such is the power of the Patek Philippe name.

Today, with an annual turnover of around $1bn and some 2,200 employees, Patek is a powerhouse – and it’s still making pioneering watches. The most recent example of this is the Grandmaster Chime Ref 5175, which headlined Patek’s epic 175th anniversary collection launch in October. With a total of 20 complications, it is the most complicated wristwatch Patek has ever made, but also the frst Patek wristwatch with a grande sonnerie and the world’s frst watch of any kind to feature both a date repeater and an acoustic alarm that sounds the time.

Whether the world needs a watch that can ding and dong the date or sound out the hours and the quarter every 15 minutes is irrelevant. In the watchmaking world, this is art. Only seven 5175s will be made, one of which is bound for the brand’s Geneva museum, while the remaining six will fnd homes with long-standing collector-investor types, each of whom will part with CHF2.5m to become an owner of a piece of Patek history.

And it’s this as much as anything that gives Patek its leverage – the inference that every time you buy one of its watches, you’re investing in history. That, I suspect, is why they still call Patek Philippe the watchmaker’s watchmaker. l patek.com

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Beaumonde • Sport

I just run as fast as possible. I don’t go out there to break records.

But sometimes it happens

Timing is everything Hublot maintains its horological momentum with the Big Bang Unico All Black, inspired by the world’s fastest man

Words: Josh Sims Illustration: Isaac Bonan

For a man whose working life is centred around milliseconds, Usain Bolt was, as he admits, ‘never much of a watch fan’. For one, unlike his Jamaican 100m relay teammate Yohan Blake, he wouldn’t run wearing a timepiece, he says – not when those milliseconds matter. And then there are the brushes with the authorities. ‘I went to an Olympic ceremony in London and they told me I couldn’t wear my watch,’ says the six-time Olympic champion, not to mention the fastest man to have ever run 100m and 200m. ‘But I did anyway. I mean, I wanted to look good.’ At 6’5”, with size-13 feet, perhaps the athlete’s proportions have mitigated against his forming a deep interest: ‘I did try watchmaking once, but it’s so hard,’ he says admiringly, ‘and it would be especially so with hands this big...’

But Bolt has come round to the pleasures of timepieces: he is now an ambassador for Hublot, whose modern classic, the Big Bang, is as apt a description for his explosion out of the blocks as any. The self-described ‘serial shopper’, who has a particular penchant for shirts – particularly if they’re actually long enough for his arms, such

that he is even hesitant to strike his signature lightning-bolt pose lest he rip the sleeves of the one he’s wearing – has been touring the brand’s frst collection of watches created exclusively for its boutiques, the frst of a planned annual release.

Star of the show is the Big Bang Unico All Black, which is, as it says on the tin, all black, and all matt.

However, far from having the usual celebrity relationship with the company, it is Hublot’s apparent integrity that most impresses the sportsman. ‘We get given stuff all the time, of course – just because who you are makes it look good,’ he says. ‘Someone told me a big celebrity picked two watches in a Hublot store and expected them to be free, but they said he’d have to pay. And that’s the kind of level of product I want to work with – it says it all.’

Excelling is, of course, what Bolt is all about.

Indeed, misquoted as proclaiming himself to be the greatest athlete of all time, the 28-year-old showman is instead quick to stress that he wants ‘to be one of the greatest athletes of all time, like a Pelé or a Muhammad Ali – a great name when people talk about sport in general. That’s what I want and that’s what I’m aiming for. It’s not about being cocky. If you want things in life, you have to go for it. It doesn’t mean you’ll always get it, of course. But you have to try.’

And that he certainly is doing. While Bolt defnes his success as natural talent honed by an endless amount of training and precision techniques – his coach tells him he now needs to work on being fve degrees off the centre of gravity when he leaves the blocks – he says he is resting more, cutting back on the junk food and even indulging less in his beloved Sony PlayStation (‘though I did read that it really helps with your refexes,’ he says, rather unconvincingly). And, above all, he is trying his best to stay injury-free.

‘I want to go sub 19 before I retire,’ Bolt says, inevitably back on the subject of time, and referring to his wish to run the 200m in less than 19 seconds – a feat some have suggested is impossible. ‘Doing that is going to be all about not getting injured.

My coach says you have to run with pain, to push through it. But we also know that little things can prove to be a big problem months down the line. I had a pain in my toe, but I could still run.

Then, I had constant pain in my toe. And then I had the doctors telling me I had to have surgery.”

But even with the problem-free season he so desperately wants, are there any more milliseconds to shave off the clock? ‘I guess there’s a human limit to how fast a distance can be run, but never say never,’ he says. ‘I just go out there and run as fast as possible. I don’t go out there to break records. But sometimes it happens.’ l £14,500; hublot.com

NEW BR 126 SPORT HERITAGE GMT & FLYBACK 路 Limited edition of 500 pieces Bell & Ross: UK +44 207 096 0878 路 www.bellross.com Download the BR SCAN app to reveal exclusive content

Mavericks • Beaumonde

Shock value

31

Mille mouthed From top: Outspoken watch entrepreneur Richard Mille; the RM63-01, aka ‘Dizzy Hands’, £89,500; the RM 029 All Grey Boutique Edition ‘Yellow Flash’, £63,000

His approach to watchmaking is uncompromisingly daring and innovative, so what exactly is it that makes Richard Mille tick?

Words: Josh Sims

Many watch dials are so cluttered with complications that it’s hard to actually tell the time. But it takes a special breed of watchmaker to create a watch that deliberately obfuscates telling the time completely.

The creator of the RM63-01, Richard Mille, is one such watchmaker. Launched this spring and better known as ‘Dizzy Hands’, the RM63-01 has a button that freezes the hands but then sets the dial turning, thus disorientating the wearer as to the true time; another press of the button reveals it again.

‘Whether a watch sells well or not, there is accomplishment in just having overcome the technical challenges and created a memorable watch,’ says Mille. ‘It’s also why we don’t spend forever wondering if a new idea is technically feasibly before launching a project. The result takes as long as it takes and ends up costing whatever it costs.’

Mille concedes that the opportunity to take such a devil-may-care approach stems not only from the company’s independence – the former CEO of jeweller Mauboussin found the report-writing, focus groups and lack of grit so frustrating he left to set up his own company in 2001 – but the fact that it only makes some 3,000 watches a year. A bigger company would, he suggests, be forced to stay in what he calls ‘more comfortable’ territory.

‘The industry can seem stuck inside something of a ghetto when it comes to its creative outlook,’ argues Mille, outspoken when discussing the unadventurous nature of high-end watchmaking.

‘There’s this notion that history is all you need for legitimacy – all these companies that have been around for centuries but have not really done anything new for centuries either. Perhaps because we’re relatively new, we have to create legitimacy through what we make. Besides which, I’m not a watchmaker, so I’m happy to look everywhere for ideas: sport, technology, art, day-to-day life. Too many big companies are afraid of moving forward in case they lose what they call their “personality”.’

Mille’s watches – love them or hate them – are not lacking in personality. From the tourbillon piece designed with sprinter Yohan Blake – made of super-light carbon nanotubes, and in the colours of the Jamaican fag – through to that created for Rafael Nadal to wear while playing – in which the entire movement is suspended on 0.35mm-thick steel cables in order to take the punishing shock of ball on strings – little of Mille’s output leaves room for an indifferent reaction. Small wonder,

Mille jokes, that his employees refer to him as ‘the dictator’ in his unblinking pursuit of a new idea.

Certainly Mille’s watches are a long way from the Patek Philippe notion of classicism, of heirlooms in the making. But it would be wrong to dismiss them as gimmicky. In 2012, he won SIAR watch of the year – the industry’s Oscar – for the frst all-sapphire crystal, totally transparent watch.

‘Don’t get me wrong – Patek and the like make fantastic watches,’ says Mille. ‘But I have a friend who has fve Pateks and says he won’t buy another one because he no longer gets excited by them.

Collectors are passionate about watches but perhaps they now need something more extreme, more directional, in their looks as in their movements.’

How about, for instance, a watch that records the number of jumps a basketball player makes?

‘I’d love to do that,’ says Mille. ‘That would be a challenge. That’s what we’re about. We want to build watches from the battlefeld up. Not just pose alongside sportspeople, but develop a watch they can wear when performing. But ones that are remarkable too. There are more and more addicts of the brand – and thank God for that.’ l Richard Mille’s frst UK boutique opened this summer at 90 Mount Street, London W1; richardmille.com

32

Beaumonde • Environment The tide is turning Blancpain’s Ocean Commitment Limited Editions Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback, POA

The new wave Three other ocean-friendly brands

Sea change

Blancpain’s commitment to ecological causes has brought about a reinterpretation of one of its most celebrated timepieces, says Ken Kessler Many watch brands are philanthropically disposed.

Counterbalancing their support for sport, flm and the arts and other enjoyable (if not necessarily humanitarian or green) sponsorships, some make efforts to do their bit in saving the planet. The latest to join the fold, as part of a select group that validates the production of diving watches with efforts to save the oceans, is Blancpain. And if any brand owes much to the sea, this is it.

Blancpain is responsible for the game-changing Fifty Fathoms of 1953. Intended to be a strictly professional offering, it was designed by and for French navy divers and ran neck-and-neck with Rolex’s Submariner in defning the modern wristwatch. Indeed, so historically important – not to mention achingly cool – is it that last year’s 50th-anniversary edition ended up launching a new family of watches.

As the Fifty Fathoms name graced numerous models in the past, Blancpain has access to many inspirational designs. The latest reinterpretation is the covetable Bathyscaphe chronograph. In its standard form, it will excite collectors, but a special edition is set to render it even more desirable.

The frst model to be released in the Ocean Commitment Limited Editions sub-genre, 250 of the Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback will be made, and Blancpain will donate €1,000 to oceanic environmental initiatives for each one sold.

Introduced three years after the Fifty Fathoms, the Bathyscaphe was designed as an alternative for more comfortable daily use. This reinterpretation

is a full-featured underwater chronograph, but, at 43mm, is smaller than the collection’s core models.

It is powered by the in-house F385 movement – a completely new column-wheel chronograph movement running at 5Hz, or 36,000 vibrations per hour, which is desirable in a chronograph because it enables the watch to divide each second into 1/10 second intervals.

Divers will appreciate the sealed pushers, which enable use of the watch to depths of 300m.

It also features a fyback function – a Blancpain speciality – which avoids the standard requirement of three pusher actuations to time back-to-back events. A fyback’s single push of the return-to-zero pusher stops the frst event, zeros the timers and restarts the timing for the second, which is useful for decompression stops.

It is housed in a grey ceramic case, with a ceramic crown and pushers and a unidirectional blue ceramic rotating bezel marked with liquid metal indexes. The dial, too, is blue. The rotor, visible through the case back, is decorated with the Ocean Commitment logo.

Each Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback is individually numbered and comes with a certifcate of membership of the Ocean Commitment Circle. Owners will also receive a copy of Fifty Fathoms, The Dive and Watch History 1953-2013 – a book that charts the milestones in the fascinating 60-year history of the watch that was at the very start of it all. l blancpain.com; blancpain-ocean-commitment.com

IWC Since 2009, IWC has supported the Charles Darwin Foundation to help protect the Galápagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It has issued a series of watches supporting the venture and, through a three-tier membership package, encouraged the public to donate to the foundation. Among its latest models is the Aquatimer Chronograph Edition ‘50 Years Science for Galapagos’ (limited to 500), the Aquatimer Chronograph Edition ‘Galapagos Islands’ and the Aquatimer Chronograph Edition ‘Expedition Charles Darwin’. iwc.com Omega With James Bond wearing an Omega Planet Ocean, awareness of the family of diving watches is near-universal.

Appending its name to any project is thus hugely benefcial, and Omega teamed up with photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand to make a 90-minute flm, Planet Ocean, which premiered at the Rio Earth Summit in 2012. It drew on the talents of leading aerial and underwater cinematographers, oceanographers and biologists to change the way people look at the oceans and encourage them to imagine conservation and stewardship as responsibilities to be shared by all. omegawatches.com Rolex In support of James Cameron, whose groundbreaking work with the remains of the Titanic revolutionised underwater flming, Rolex was part of a recordbreaking solo dive, 10,908m below the surface of the Pacifc Ocean, on 26 March 2012. Piloting the Deepsea Challenger submersible, he remained on the ocean foor for three hours, exploring, collecting samples and capturing ‘the frst-ever high-resolution images of this last frontier’. Samples taken led to the identifcation of 68 new species, paving the way for a new era in exploration of the deep. While Cameron’s specifc watch is a unique piece, a Deep Sea with graduated blue dial has been issued to commemorate the release of a flm covering the dive. rolex.com

170 New Bond Street, London W1S 4RB 020 7290 6500

www.marcuswatches.com

34

Brummell • Motoring

Time and motion

Only 12 of the intended 18 Lightweight E-Types were made, leaving the remaining six chassis numbers on file

British manufacturing success story Bremont has incorporated a national treasure, the Jaguar E-Type, in its latest watch

Words: Simon de Burton

Regular Brummell readers will occasionally have seen Bremont watches featured in this magazine, but might not be aware that the Henley-onThames brand is on track to becoming one of British industry’s more unlikely success stories.

Despite having sold its frst watch only in 2007, the company – run by the appropriately named brothers English, Giles and Nick – has attracted a worldwide following and appears to be riding the crest of a wave in which all things British seem to be coveted.

Bremont majors on pilot watches because aviation is a subject about which Nick and Giles are passionate, having inherited a love of fying from their late father, Euan English, a celebrated display pilot. It’s a highly competitive sector of the watch market, and one in which a newcomer such as Bremont might have been expected to founder. Yet it has enjoyed an impressive rise to success, evidence of the brothers’ ambition to return large-scale watch manufacturing to the UK more than 40 years after it ground to a halt when Smiths Industries closed its Cheltenham factory during the Seventies.

The brothers set about realising their ambition in early 2013 with the opening of a 5,000sq-ft green-oak facility built specifcally with watchmaking in mind and therefore fooded with natural light and equipped with the latest dust-extraction systems.

The frm still works closely with Swiss suppliers, but an increasingly large number of the parts that go into a Bremont are now made in the UK, and all of its watches are assembled on-site.

Now, with production up to more than 5,500 units per year, plans are underway to construct a new 25,000sq ft factory on the opposite side of the River Thames, which is set to open in December 2015. It will employ up to 150 people and be equipped with state-of-the-art machine tools that will, eventually, enable Bremont to make the majority of its components on-site.

‘From the day we launched Bremont, Giles and I knew this was what we wanted to achieve, but it seemed a long way off,’ says Nick English.

‘Our expectations were to sell around 50 watches per year. But it wasn’t until we saw the watchmaking benches lined up in our own building and people sitting in the chairs that it really hit home we had reached that goal. It’s just very satisfying to be able to give a few of the country’s many very good watchmakers the

British engineering From top: The back of the Bremont Lightweight E-Type reveals a winding rotor designed as a miniaturisation of the Lightweight’s steering wheel; the winding crown is engraved with a Dunlop racing tyre tread pattern from the time

opportunity to actually make watches rather than just repair or service them.’

One of Bremont’s strengths as a brand is building partnerships, most recently with Jaguar.

Following news earlier this year that Jaguar will build six ‘continuation’ Lightweight E-Types to add to the original 12 made in 1963, Bremont has teamed up with the historic marque to create a series of six wrist chronometers to complement each of the newly constructed cars.

It was announced in the spring that Jaguar Land Rover’s elite Special Operations division would complete the Lightweight E-Type project which, 51 years ago, resulted in the creation of a series of highly focused racing versions of the car (offcially called the Special GT E-Type) featuring all-aluminium bodies and engine blocks, stripped-out interiors and numerous other weight-saving deletions.

Only 12 of the intended 18 cars were ever made, leaving the remaining half-dozen allocated chassis numbers on fle. These will now be used

by Jaguar to build the ‘missing’ Lightweights, the frst prototype of which was unveiled in August at California’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – along with the frst Bremont ‘Lightweight’ watch.

Once completed, the series of six unique wrist watches will initially be offered to buyers of the continuation Lightweights – and it seems unlikely that any of the well-heeled owners, who are expected to have to part with up to £2m for each car, are likely to turn down the opportunity to own the ‘matching’ timepiece.

Drawing inspiration directly from the car, the 43mm watch features a black dial based on the look of a Lightweight rev counter and featuring a subtle ‘red zone’ quadrant. The chamfered hour and minute hands replicate the instrument’s tachymeter needle, while the chassis number of the relevant vehicle is printed at the six o’clock position. The central band of the white-gold case, meanwhile, is made from aluminium saved during the construction of the new Lightweight body panels and will be anodised to match the colour of the car it is designed to complement. The back of each watch also carries the engine number of the car with which it is paired.

Next year, Bremont is expected to unveil a limited edition of 500 further watches designed to honour the ‘regular’ Jaguar E-Type road cars. l bremont.com

Q U A T T R O P O R T E

MASTER

OF

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MASERATI QUATTROPORTE DIESEL FROM £69,235 ON THE ROAD Maserati has a long tradition of surprising the automotive world with innovation and unconventional thinking. The introduction of our new state-of-the-art V6 diesel engine in the Quattroporte is just the latest example. This 3.0 V6 unit produces 275 HP and the performance that befts the company’s fagship, whilst clever engineering has managed to reproduce the distinctive and much loved Maserati exhaust note.

For more information on the new Maserati Quattroporte Diesel, call 01943 871660 or visit maserati.co.uk

Offcial fuel consumption fgures for the Maserati Quattroporte Diesel in mpg (l/100km): Urban 36.2 (7.8), Extra Urban 54.3 (5.2), Combined 45.6 (6.2). CO2 emissions 163 g/km. Fuel consumption and CO2 fgures are based on standard EU tests for comparative purposes and may not refect real driving results. Model shown is a Maserati Quattroporte Diesel at £71,647 On The Road including optional metallic paint at £660, electric sunroof at £1,560 and extended key-less entry at £192.

www.maserati.co.uk

London • Beaumonde

Watch central We may no longer be a country of horological innovators, but as a purveyor of fne watches, London is ahead of the game

Words: Joanne Glasbey Illustration: Neil Webb

The UK has history when it comes to fne watches.

Great Britain’s list of eminent men of cogs and complications include Thomas Tompion in the 17th century, who mentored George Graham, inventor of the lever escapement, followed by 18th-century watchmaker John Harrison, who solved the problem of how sea captains could establish their precise longitude. Then there was Robert Hooke, creator of the balance spring, Daniel Quare, who introduced the minute hand, and John Arnold, Thomas Mudge and Thomas Earnshaw.

Collectively, these men developed every escapement design and around 75 per cent of other horological innovations that can still be admired today. But then the Swiss got in on the action, and British watchmaking was relegated.

The relevance of the country in the world of timekeeping holds strong, however, and British watchmaking expertise is kept alive in the hands of individuals and small companies around the UK. And now, with the horological retailscape recontoured, London has emerged as the global capital in which to buy high-end watches.

Mayfair’s Bond Street, Mount Street and Regent Street areas, along with Knightsbridge and Sloane Street, have become the watch world’s epicentre.

A large number of standalone boutiques have added to the allure of the capital’s swankier thoroughfares, and the city’s multibrand timepiece stores are increasing their offering with special editions, pop-up events and concierge services.

Watch lovers travelling down Bond Street will encounter mono-marque boutiques from the likes

37

of Hublot, Breitling, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Blancpain, Montblanc and Omega.

Then there’s Cartier, Graff, Chopard, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Chanel and Chaumet with outlets dedicated to watch and jewellery collections, and, opening in early December, a much-expanded Patek Philippe store. Over the other side of Mayfair, down Mount Street way, there’s a Parmigiani Fleurier standalone boutique, plus the newly opened Richard Mille, both joining the Bremont store around the corner in South Audley Street.

Over in Knightsbridge, should you require a Rolex, One Hyde Park is your destination.

Multibrand retailers have been upping the stakes, too: this summer saw the opening of the new Watches of Switzerland emporium at 155 Regent Street.

Europe’s largest showroom devoted to luxury watches, it houses 12 in-store boutiques and another 20 collections from other brands over three foors.

Over in Knightsbridge, Harrods’ Fine Watch Room continues to expand, with more luxury brands and special-edition pieces. Then there’s the infuential Marcus store, owned by the legendary timepiece tsar Marcus Margulies, one of the world’s leading curators of fne watches for more than 12 years.

This is heaven for watch afcionados. The standalone boutiques become ambassadors for their marques, displaying their entire collections in a dedicated space, while the multibrand stores are handy one-stop watch-shopping destinations.

With the capital’s reputation for retail luxury and bespoke, London’s status as a global hub for high-end watch retailing looks set to continue. l

THANK YOU, BERNARD.

In the 1940s, if you were the pilot of a fighter plane and you got hit, you had two choices:

And it was he who became the very first person to complete a mid-flight ejection, on 24th July 1946.

Our latest model, the Bremont MBIII, is a beautifully-engineered mechanical chronometer.

1. Stay in your stricken plane and risk certain death.

Bernard went on to complete more than thirty ejections.

2. Jump from your stricken plane and risk certain death.

The Martin-Baker seat was an immediate (and very welcome) success.

It’s been certified as 99.998% accurate by no less an authority than the official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute.

Not ideal, to say the least.

At the last count, the company’s ejection seats have saved more than 7,400 lives worldwide.

Surely, the experts argued, there had to be a way to get a pilot out of his aircraft and bring him safely back down to earth?

The British company Martin-Baker were among those seeking an answer.

One of the co-founders, Valentine Baker, had died trying to land a crippled plane in 1942, and his partner James Martin had committed himself to the cause of pilot safety.

Within a couple of years, a prototype ejection seat had been built, using small explosive charges to send the pilot clear of the aircraft, and a parachute to land him safely.

It seemed to work on paper. But would it work in the air?

Clearly, somebody needed to test the seat. But who?

Step forward Bernard Lynch, a fitter at Martin-Baker.

It was he who bravely climbed into the very first Martin-Baker ejection seat.

While GMT movement means you can keep time in two different time zones (disproving the old adage that you can’t be in two places at once).

And though the present day models are rather more sophisticated than the 1946 model, everybody who uses one owes a debt of thanks to Mr. Lynch.

And it features a bronzed aluminium barrel, inspired by the anti-reflective coating found on cockpit canopies.

When we at Bremont came to design our pilot’s watch, the first thing we did was enlist the help of Martin-Baker.

The Bremont MBIII is a tribute to both the craftsmanship of our home-grown watchmakers, and the engineering ingenuity of the Martin-Baker company.

A true pilot’s watch, we reasoned, should be able to withstand everything the pilot does. Including ejection.

Martin-Baker obliged by strapping our watch to the vinyl wrist of a crash test dummy, then shooting it out of the cockpit. Subjecting it to forces of up to 30G in the process.

Next, dummy and watch underwent a vibration test simulating 30 years in a helicopter. (More than most helicopter pilots ever experience.)

And if all this suggests a watch that has been built for endurance at the expense of performance, nothing could be further from the truth.

But it also owes something to one brave man, who strapped himself into his ejection seat on that July day, nearly 70 years ago.

So. Thank you, Bernard.

Constellation Pluma Quartz 24mm, with stainless-steel bracelet and painted mother-of-pearl dial set with 12 diamond indices, ÂŁ3,980, OMEGA

Light touch

A subtle dusting of decoration puts these women’s watches in the style spotlight

Photography: Andy Barter

Women’s watches • Brummell

Opposite, from top: Reine de Naples in 18ct yellow gold, with white natural mother-of-pearl dial and a bezel set with 139 diamonds, £24,300, BREGUET.

Ultraplate in red gold, with a diamond-set bezel and an opaline dial set with further diamonds, on a gold mille mailles bracelet, £20,000, BLANCPAIN.

This page: Bohème Date 27mm with blue leaf-shaped hands, £2,850, MONTBLANC

41

This page: L.U.C XPS 35mm in white gold, with a mother-ofpearl dial and diamond-set indices and bezel on a black satin strap, £17,480, CHOPARD.

Opposite, from top: Noemia 32mm in two-tone stainless steel and yellow gold, set with 62 diamonds, £1,395, RAYMOND WEIL.

Dior VIII Montaigne 32mm in pink gold and steel, with mother-of-pearl dial and a central ring set with diamonds, £9,350, DIOR

Opposite, from top: Cape Cod Tonneau PM silver watch, with diamonds on an ‘ultraviolet’ smooth alligator strap, £9,100, HERMÈS.

Britain 38mm in stainless steel, set with 124 diamonds, on a ‘trench’ alligator strap with ardillon buckle, £2,775, BURBERRY.

This page: RM 037 WG, with an onyx and diamond dial, white-gold case band and red-gold pushers, £98,000, RICHARD MILLE

From top: Midnight Diamond Second 39mm in 18ct rose gold, with champagne-rose-toned dial set with nine diamonds and a case set with further diamonds, POA, HARRY WINSTON. Admiral’s Cup Legend 38 Chronograph in stainless steel and 18ct red gold, set with round diamonds, £21,600, CORUM

M ESUR E ET D ÉMESUR E *

TONDA METROGR APHE Steel Automatic chronograph movement Hermès calf strap Made in Switzerland www.parmigiani.ch

ATELIER PARMIGIANI 97 MOUNT STREET, MAYFAIR, LONDON W1K 2TD, TEL. 020 7495 5172 EDINBURGH LONDON

ROX DIAMONDS AND THRILLS

| KENT

RIZON JET UK LIMITED

SELFRIDGES, THE WONDER ROOM | ARIJE | HARRODS, MONTREUX JAZZ CAFE WATCHES OF SWITZERLAND | FROST OF LONDON WINDSOR ROBERT GATWARD JEWELLERS

Design • Brummell

49

Portofno passion From top, left to right: Emily Blunt, Zhou Xun and Cate Blanchett, all wearing watches from IWC’s Portofno Midsize collection; Midsize Automatic Moon Phase in white gold with 174 diamonds

Riviera chic Photographer Peter Lindbergh gathered several famous friends of IWC in Portofno, Italy, to celebrate a new generation of the watch family of the same name

Words: Joanne Glasbey Photography: Peter Lindbergh

A destination for the international jet set since the Fifties, Portofno on the Ligurian coast continues to attract the world’s glitterati to its pretty harbour and sophisticated scene. And for three decades the elegance of the Italian Riviera haven has been expressed in IWC’s collection of timepieces named for the picturesque fshing village turned high-end resort. This epitome of Italian style is refected in the Portofno watch family’s clear-cut proportions, and understated, timeless design.

This month saw the family grow into a new generation with the launch of the new Portofno Midsize collection. The slightly smaller dimensions and more luxurious pieces are aimed at those with ‘slimmer wrists’, specifes Georges Kern, IWC’s CEO. Which means that IWC’s ‘engineering for men’ strapline will need to be amended to take into account women – many of whom are IWC afcionados already – who will be interested in these very attractive timepieces. Kern says that IWC has noted the global trend and increasing demand for watches set with diamonds: ‘They will appeal to anyone with a preference for wristwatches that combine understated design with a touch of luxury.’

The fagship of the new collection is the Portofno Midsize Automatic Moon Phase in white gold, featuring a total of 174 white diamonds and a jet-black dial achieved through layers of lacquer. The dials of the red-gold and stainlesssteel versions boast mother-of-pearl in white or black, with bezels subtly encrusted in diamonds.

Christian Knoop, IWC’s creative director, claims that the brand’s take on luxury is a modern one: ‘For us, it is discreet and unpretentious.’ The Midsize Automatic Day & Night’s second time

The Portofino Midsize collection is aimed at those with ‘slimmer wrists’ – essentially, women

Brummell • Design

Ligurian lifestyle From top, left to right: ‘Frends of IWC’ Emily Blunt, Cate Blanchett, Zhou Xun, Ewan McGregor, Christoph Waltz; Zhou Xun wearing a Portofno Midsize Automatic Moonphase in white gold with diamonds; a vintage full-size IWC Portofno

zone and 24-hour day/night display also present the diamonds and mother-of-pearl pairing, while the Midsize Automatic features a 37mm case in four red-gold and six stainless-steel versions, each with or without a diamond bezel. This three-hand watch with date display has a sun-pattern fnish to the dial. With the exception of just two models, which have a special Milanaise mesh to complement the case, all timepieces are accessorised with fne alligator leather straps created by renowned Italian shoe manufacturer Santoni. The product of their artisan craftsmen, each hand-fnished strap has an exclusive patina-like shimmer with its own individual colour tones, and the wide choice of colours is inspired by the brightly coloured facades of the houses in Portofno which lend the harbour its distinctive character.

To mark the launch of the new collection, IWC teamed the celebrated photographer Peter Lindbergh with a cast of friends of the brand – Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, Zhou Xun and Christoph Waltz, plus supermodels Karolina Kurkova and Adriana Lima. They gathered in Portofno to shoot a series of black and white images amnd the striking results portray a characterful and beautiful crowd – alluring, informal and accessible – enjoying each other’s company around the port. Lindbergh’s portfolio has been curated in an exhibition called Timeless Portofno, currently travelling the world.

For other jet-setters, the new Portofno Midsize collection is an ensemble cast of star turns: charming, discreet, coolly intelligent – typically restrained IWC style that will appeal to many discerning women. l iwc.com

© Peter lLndbergh

50

m

Po ke rf ac e

e y l t im e e Ph ha s, W oto nd sim or gr ds ap t h pl e :S h an , im y: A u on n sh n d de dy B ou e Bu ar ty rst r t ter on pi a t e ec d es el w eg a i th n w ce hi is st le a c l s an ear e d be r s lls t a t – em go en al t o li n f th fo r c e st oo re l a ng nd t h re of fn yo ed ur

So

st

Opposite from left: IWC Portofno Chronograph; Bell & Ross BR123 Sport Heritage; Panerai Luminor Base Acciaio This page, from left: Chopard L.U.C 1937; Breitling TransOcean Day and Date; Omega De Ville Tresor

54

Brummell • Men’s watches

IWC Portofno Chronograph ↑ Like many historic Swiss watch houses, IWC was almost destroyed by the so-called ‘quartz crisis’ of the Seventies, but it came through, thanks to a visionary called Günter Blümlein, who was appointed managing director to the then-ailing frm in 1982.

As part of his re-positioning strategy, Blümlein created the original ‘Portofno’ models, which combined the style of IWC’s larger-diameter ‘wrist pocket watches’ with a smaller case size in a bid to broaden the maker’s appeal. Thirty years on, the Portofno has a distinct air of being a thinking man’s IWC – as demonstrated by this 42mm version. £11,450; IWC.com

Bell & Ross BR123 Sport Heritage ↑ For a brand that was only launched in 1992, Bell & Ross has a good grasp on the ‘vintage’ look – as demonstrated by the BR123 Sport Heritage, designed to emulate the appearance of an aviation piece from the Sixties. The retro style comes through the use of buff-coloured dial markings and military-style ‘sword’ hands, combined with a heavily domed crystal that stands proud of the rotating outer bezel. Featuring a 41mm steel case and a choice of rubber strap or metal bracelet, the BR123 contains a simple and reliable ETA 2892 self-winding movement. £1,950; bellross.com

Panerai Luminor Base Acciaio ↑ Acciaio translates as ‘stainless steel,’ but has a broader meaning because it was also the name of a class of submarine used by the Italian navy during World War II – a refection of Panerai’s origins as a manufacturer of nautical instruments and, from the late Thirties, military wrist watches. The P5000 movement within the 44mm case is a further nod to the brand’s history, since it features an eight-day power reserve, just like a small series of watches made during the Forties for Italy’s naval commandos.

Original Panerais containing these so-called ‘Angelus’ movements now fetch six-fgure sums. £5,200; panerai.com

Chopard L.U.C 1937 ↑ ‘L.U.C’ stands for Louis-Ulysse Chopard, who founded his frm in Switzerland’s Jura mountains in 1860. The other part of the name, ‘1937’, is the year Chopard moved to Geneva. This 42mm watch contains the ‘01.01L’ automatic movement launched in 2010 to mark Chopard’s 150th anniversary.

Made in-house at the manufacture established in 1996 at Fleurier (back in the Jura), it features a stop-seconds device for accurate time-setting and is chronometer-certifed for accuracy. The mechanism is renowned for its robustness – useful for those who wear a ‘dress watch’ day and night. £12,270 (rose gold on alligator strap); chopard.com

Breitling TransOcean Day and Date ↑ Breitling’s TransOcean range harks back to the early years of intercontinental air travel. The line includes GMT, chronograph and world-time chronograph models, but none quite captures the elegance of Fifties aviation as well as this ‘Day and Date’ model which features a slim, 43mm case with a nicely bevelled bezel. Inside, there’s the chronometercertifed Breitling 45 self-winding movement.

The watch is available in steel or red gold and on various coloured leather straps, the perforated metal Air Racer bracelet or, best of all, the Ocean Classic mesh version pictured above. £4,180 (steel); breitling.com

Omega De Ville Trésor ↑ Omega’s Trésor dress watches frst appeared in 1949 and were characterised by elegant, slim gold cases, superb movements and (sometimes) interesting, textured dials. Now, 65 years later, the deliciously understated Trésor is back, but with a wealth of 21st-century horological science. The hand-wound, chronometer-certifed, co-axial movement is one of the most accurate and is enhanced by a silicone balance spring. It is also ultra-antimagnetic, capable of withstanding 15,000 Gauss. The honeycomb dial is topped with exquisitely curved hands, while a domed crystal provides the fnishing touch. £8,730; omegawatches.com

Electrical grid From top: Close racing in the early stages of the Formula E race in Beijing; the circuit passed the Olympic ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium Opposite: Formula E has attracted some high-profle sponsors

A new formula

Motor racing • Brummell

57

TAG Heuer’s association with motorsport now extends to the world’s frst electric racing series. But is the timing right?

Corbis

Words: Robin Swithinbank

There are plenty of people out there who will argue – quite forcibly – that Formula E will never catch on. It’s far too slow, they say, nowhere near noisy enough, and really, who needs such a thing when you’ve got Formula 1? Not that any of these is a duff argument, but speaking from personal experience, you would have to have had a heart of stone to stand trackside at the series’ frst race in Beijing and not feel moved, or at least that you were witnessing the beginning of something historic.

I was there, fortunate enough to fnd myself milling about in the pit lane with all the freedom of a Seventies F1 hack, that blue-sky day in September when Formula E began its proselytising march into the future. And I got sucked in.

Ever since, I’ve been trying to fgure out why.

Certainly, there is something in it being the world’s frst fully electric race series and at the sharp edge of technology that could one day shape our lives.

If nothing else, Formula E sensationalises principles that began life at the end of a boffn’s biro – principles I can only begin to appreciate once they take the form of a race car. If, one day, we share a collective view that electric cars are sexy – and with cars such as the BMW i8 now on the market, that day is coming – some of the credit will belong to Formula E. The people behind it must take some credit, too. It’s very hard not to be impressed by the polyglottal founder of Formula E, Alejandro Agag.

A former Spanish MEP and one-time chairman of Premier League football club Queens Park Rangers, he is charming, charismatic and shrewd – and raised $100m to get his race series off the

ground, bringing the talents and reputations of McLaren, Williams F1, TAG Heuer and Alain Prost into the mix at the same time.

One of the smartest things Agag has done is to arrange the 10 races in this inaugural season to take place on street circuits, bringing the action and the glamour (there are 12 former F1 drivers on the grid) right under the noses of affuent, environmentally aware city folk all over the world.

Kicking off in China – a huge potential market for electric cars – was particularly astute. The Beijing circuit wove around the city’s Olympic Park, in the shadows of the sinewy Bird’s Nest stadium and the Water Cube, evocative Olympic monuments that capture the imagination now as they did during the 2008 Games.

Having taken in Berlin, Los Angeles, Monaco and Buenos Aires along the way, all being well, the series will culminate on the streets of Battersea Park, London, next June. Forget racing on a track

stuck out in Northamptonshire – this is how you get people’s attention.

Good ingredients, yes, but it must surely take more for the recipe to work. To draw a crowd, you need great sport and you need great drama.

That race in Beijing had both. The drivers – 18 male and two female – reported that the track was slippery and uneven, and that the cars (which have no discernable aero package) were sliding around despite the warm, dry conditions, making them very diffcult to keep on the track. Watching the drivers sling them about, nose-to-tail on the bumpy Beijing road surface, it was clear how skilled they are. There were a number of dicey overtaking manoeuvres, and then the race’s water-cooler moment, as Nico Prost and Nick Heidfeld collided on the fnal corner of the fnal lap, sending Heidfeld up into the air and into a wall. That spectacular, terrifying smash gave Formula E its headline moment and its frst real red-blooded rivalry.

It was a good day’s racing.

But for all this, the question remains: ‘Will it work?’ No one can afford to lose $100m, which, according to Agag, is what had been spent just getting the cars to the start line in Beijing. Talking to those with a vested interest in the sport, there’s a feeling it has to work.

Backers such as TAG Heuer, the Swiss watch brand most closely associated with motorsport, are prepared to take a punt on it. ‘We had to take a bit of a risk,’ admits Stéphane Linder, the company’s chief executive. ‘The world of car engines is going to change a lot – the question is timing. We thought that having been part of motor racing for so many

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Brummell • Motor racing

Pitting wits Clockwise from above: A mechanic works on one of the Japan-based Amlin Aguri team’s cars; former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jnr driving for Team China; a TAG Heuer motorsport-inspired watch, the Formula 1 Calibre 16, £2,495

years, through McLaren since 1985 and Ferrari before that, that trying to do something avant-garde and pioneering would be interesting.’

Alain Prost, a man they called ‘The Professor’ in his racing days, has thrown his considerable weight behind Formula E, a brave decision for a four-time Formula 1 world champion. ‘It’s good to be involved in this project at the beginning,’ he says standing outside the e.dams Renault Formula E team garage, of which he’s principal and for which his son drives. ‘When you start something like this, you obviously take a risk. We know that.

But the impact is very clear – it’s a way to develop new things and get more experience.’

Those new things will trickle down to road cars and into the realm of normal people, with quantifable benefts to the environment.

‘Everybody should think about the future and what’s going to happen,’ says Linder, whose company has adopted an active environmental policy in recent years.

Agag, for his part, acknowledges he’s unlikely to win an award from Greenpeace, but believes companies should fnd ways to do business that have a positive impact on the planet at the same time. ‘I’m not a tree-hugger,’ he says. ‘But I think it makes sense for everybody, in their own space, to do something related to sustainability and to the environment. My space is motorsport, so that comes frst, and as a consequence, I want to do motor racing in a cleaner way.’

Agag has also said he wants Formula E to be ‘social’. This is the language of the next generation – measuring impact via the number of interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on, rather than television viewing fgures. According to the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which has backed Formula E, the frst race in Beijing pulled in a billion such interactions – a stunning fgure for such a young enterprise.

Linder sums it up: ‘Formula E is exciting because it will appeal to future motorsport fans.’ l faformulae.com; tagheuer.co.uk

Alamy

If, one day, we share the view that electric cars are sexy, some of the credit will belong to Formula E

‘What gives you the licence to do this?’

T HE CE O O F A M AJO R SW I SS WATC H BR AN D O N H E AR I N G ABO UT C AL IBR E S H 21, C HRI S TOP HER WA RD ’ S F I RS T I N - H O US E M O V E M E N T.

The chronometer-certified C9 Harrison 5 Day Automatic, with 120-hour power reserve, is the first watch to house our own movement. Conceived and designed by our master watchmaker Johannes Jahnke and manufactured by some of Switzerland’s finest watchmaking craftsmen, it is destined to be one of the most talked about watches in years. And, yes, you do have the licence to own one.

CA L IB R E S H2 1

EXC LUSI VELY AVA IL A B L E AT chris to pher w ard.co.u k

Specialist salerooms are offering good-quality watches at prices considerably below their retail value

Lot one Patek Philippe’s Henry Graves Supercomplication, to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in Geneva on 11 November, has a pre-sale estimate of $17m

Hammer time Watches may routinely fetch seven-fgure sums at auction, but those with a lower budget can still bring the gavel down on a good deal

Words: Simon de Burton

Lot two Reinhard Furrer’s Omega Speedmaster Professional, to be auctioned at Bonhams on 10 December, is estimated to reach £20,000–£30,000

Classic-car fans will have noticed some of the huge prices being achieved lately by the top specialist auction houses, one of the most high profle being the £22.8m paid for a Ferrari 250 GTO this summer at a Bonhams sale in California. But it might come as a surprise to learn that seven-fgure sums are now regularly paid for individual watches at auctions around the world – and it’s highly likely that, on 11 November, Sotheby’s Geneva will set a new record for any timepiece, when the legendary Henry Graves’ Patek Philippe Supercomplication pocket watch, with a pre-sale estimate of $17m, comes under the hammer.

Yet such stellar amounts shouldn’t deter those with far less to spend from seeking out a bargain at auction – especially here in the UK, where there are an increasing number of specialist salerooms offering good-quality watches at prices that are often considerably below their retail value.

Auctions • Brummell

Sotheby’s

Lot three TAG Heuer’s Classic Autavia had an estimate of £1,000–£1,500 when auctioned last month at Fellows, but far exceeded that, achieving an impressive £3,000

One of the market leaders is, again, Bonhams, which operates two tiers of watch sales in its London salerooms. It offers more affordable pieces at its Knightsbridge rooms in Montpelier Street, reserving the best-quality examples for its New Bond Street headquarters where, on 10 December, everything from entry-level, modern pieces with estimates in the low thousands to a Patek Philippe minute-repeating, perpetualcalendar wristwatch worth up to £220,000 will cross the block.

One of the most interesting watches on offer, however, will carry a relatively modest estimate of £20,000–30,000. It’s an Omega Speedmaster designed for use in outer space and worn by German astronaut Reinhard Furrer during the 1985 Space Shuttle Challenger mission. Buzz Aldrin famously made the Speedmaster ‘the frst and only watch to be worn on the Moon’ when he took his small step for man during the

Lot four A rare 18ct gold c1940 Patek Reference chronograph, which will be auctioned at Bonham’s on 10 December with an estimate of £25,000–£35,000

1969 Apollo XI mission, after which the ‘Speedy’ became standard equipment for many astronauts.

‘The Omega Speedmaster has long been associated with space and it’s a privilege to have in our sale such a rare watch with offcial NASA numbers and Omega verifcation,’ says Bonhams’ watch department head, Paul Maudsley. ‘After more than 30 years, it is still in excellent working condition and will make a fascinating trophy for its next owner.’

Another London-based specialist is Watches of Knightsbridge, which stages around fve sales a year, all comprising affordable, good-quality watches in the lower- to middle-price ranges. Its next auction takes place on 22 November and will include more than 500 watches, among which will be an example of Vacheron Constantin’s truly delectable Reference 4178 chronograph.

Featuring an 18ct gold, 36mm case (which makes the watch entirely practical for daily usage),

61

Lot fve This striking Offshore Bumblebee

by Audemars Piguet achieved a hammer price of £10,800 last month at Fellows, having been estimated at £9,000–£15,000

unusual ‘teardrop’ strap lugs and a nicely patinated appearance, it’s a timepiece anyone with some spare cash to invest should seriously consider – not least because, with a pre-sale estimate of between £10,000 and £15,000, it seems seriously undervalued compared, for example, to an equivalent Patek Philippe.

Watches of Knightsbridge will also be offering a rare and highly collectable example of a Rolex Submariner, which is one of only a few made during the late Fifties and early Sixties with the so-called ‘explorer’ dial in which numbers appear in the three, six and nine positions rather than the usual plain line markers. It’s the sort of nuance that sends Rolex collectors into a frenzy and, in 2010, resulted in a similar watch fetching £78,000 at Bonhams – around 10 times more than an example with a standard dial would be expected to fetch.

Head north to Birmingham, meanwhile, and you’ll fnd Fellows auction house. Based in the

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Brummell • Auctions

Buyer beware In 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story claiming some of the leading brands attempt to infate the value of their products by bidding up vintage examples in order to make their contemporary watches seem like great investments. It focused on Antiquorum’s Omegamania sale, at which Omega itself was one of the main buyers and did, indeed, purchase some vintage pieces for unexpectedly large sums.

This is not unusual among major brands, which are often willing to pay whatever it takes to acquire pieces for their museums – and it should certainly not discourage private buyers from attending auctions. However, there are a few golden rules that novices should remember before raising a hand to bid: Lot six Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Offshore Montauk Highway achieved a very respectable £10,000 in July at Fellows

city’s jewellery quarter, Fellows welcomes a steady fow of horological consignments from the country’s dealers and pawnbrokers, which it offers in its ‘bread-and-butter’ jewellery and watch sales, which happen on an almost weekly basis. Every three months, however, the house holds a Vintage and Modern watch sale for better-quality items, the latest of which took place in July.

Of all the auctioneers specialising in watches, Fellows has surely made the most effort of late to develop a really impressive level of customer service, notably through its sophisticated watchauctions.co.uk database, which promises to serve as a one-stop-shop for collectors as well as those in the trade.

Launched in February 2012 as a relatively basic tool for providing broad valuations and monitoring the market, watchauctions.co.uk has been systematically upgraded to make it one of the most advanced databases for pre-owned watches on the web.

The system provides average-achieved auction prices for the top 23 watch brands sold by the house during the prior 24 months, and these can be further fltered to account for condition and the presence of boxes and paperwork. The service can be trialled for 48 hours, after which you’ll need to pay an annual subscription in order to retain access to all the facilities. It’s defnitely worth a look – not least because it can help the hapless frst-time buyer avoid paying seriously over the odds. l

Get the lie of the land First attend a few auctions, but don’t bid – just get a feel for what goes on.

Go where the experts are Buy only from a reputable auction house that holds regular wristwatch sales. Smaller regional salerooms offering the odd watch are a source of bargains, but they won’t be experts, and there are no comebacks.

Scout out the prize Attend the pre-sale viewing, examine closely watches you’re interested in and quiz the auction house’s specialists – they are there to help, not sell you something you don’t need.

Look at the Ts & Cs Read the smallprint in the catalogue, including the information at the back about taxes, import and export arrangements, the conditions of sale and payment rules.

Do the maths When you’re ready to buy, set a limit and stick to it, remembering to budget for buyer’s premium (up to 25 per cent of the bid price), VAT on the buyer’s premium where applicable, and any repair or restoration work you expect the watch to require.

The watchauctions.co.uk database serves as a one-stop-shop for collectors as well as those in the trade

Seal the deal If you can’t attend a sale in person, you could always appoint an agent, leave a commission or telephone bid, or buy via one of the leading auction houses’ real-time bidding systems. bonhams.com; fellows.co.uk; watchesofknightsbridge.com

Boodles Boucheron Bvlgari Cartier Chanel Fine Jewellery Chopard De Beers

WHAT’S THE BUZZ? THE FINE JEWELLERY ROOM

De Grisogono Faraone Mennella Garrard Graff H.Stern Harry Winston Mikimoto Piaget Theo Fennell Tiffany & Co. Van Cleef & Arpels

www.harrods.com

+44 (0) 20 7730 1234

Tools of the trade Show you mean business in this season’s fnest outerwear, tactile accessories and standout timepieces

Photography: Marius W Hansen Styling: David Hawkins

Men’s style • Brummell

Opposite: Felted-wool reversible bridge coat, £695; wool-fannel single-breasted jacket, £450; cotton shirt, £95; and wool trousers, £195, all HARDY AMIES.

Etrivière II calfskin briefcase, £3,740, HERMÈS. Roma limitededition watch, £15,650, BULGARI

This page: Three-piece wool pinstripe suit, £1,000, and cotton shirt, £130, both PAUL SMITH LONDON. Tonda Metrographe watch, £9,800,

PARMIGIANI FLEURIER. Calfskin tablet cover, £1,190, HERMÈS. RNX fountain pen, £475, CARAN D’ACHE. Cedric desk, £1,995, SCP

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Brummell • Men’s style

This page: Harris tweed coat, £995, GIEVES & HAWKES. Leather bag, £1,109, FERRAGAMO. Dressage L’Heure Masquée watch, £13,200, HERMÈS

Opposite: Wool hooded jacket, £225, VICTORINOX. Leather driving gloves, £175, KENT & CURWEN. RM 036 Tourbillon G-Sensor Jean Todt, £365,000, RICHARD MILLE AT HARRODS.

Air 9.2 DI2 cycle, £2,800, Boardman Elite

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Brummell • Men’s Style

Men’s style • Brummell

Opposite: Lamb shearling biker jacket, £3,595, and wool jumper, £450, both BALLY. Wool-cashmere trousers, £495, BURBERRY PRORSUM. Leather monk-strap shoes, £345, HACKETT. Suede leather

bag, £1,195, TROUBADOUR X THOM SWEENEY. Midnight Moon Phase Automatic 42mm watch, POA, HARRY WINSTON This page: Wool coat, £1,199, PAUL SMITH. wool-blend check

suit, £730, and cotton shirt, £130, both PAUL SMITH LONDON. Tie, £90, PAUL SMITH. Calfskin passport holder, £410, HERMÈS. Freelancer watch, £1,195, RAYMOND WEIL

Photographer’s assistant: Okey Afuba Model: Stuart R at Hired Hands Stockists details on page 70

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Brummell • Need to know

Plane simple Empty-leg booking and the internet and have made private-jet travel more convenient and widely available – it’s the smart and time-saving way to fy

Words: Lucy Teasdale Illustration: Brett Ryder

Arrival at the airport 15 minutes before departure time? Brief security and passport checks carried out with a smile? A fexible luggage allowance?

Welcome to the world of private-jet travel.

Set up in 2010 by air-charter brokerage veterans Patrick Zunino and Antony Rivolta, Jet Partner is the frst real-time online platform dedicated to ‘empty-leg’ fights. Its innovation has clearly paid off – within two years of trading, it had taken €7m.

Jet Partner’s aim is simple: to allow business travellers easy access to heavily reduced fares for seats on the empty legs of private-jet fights.

Every month, more than 3,000 privately owned aircraft make around 135,000 trips, and on about 30 per cent of those, they are empty – be that because the plane is en route to collect passengers, returning to base or required to be in another location for its next fight. However, while empty-leg seats have always been available to purchase, for those in the know, trying to fnd them was until recently an arduous task.

At jetpartner.net, fights from 230 operators can be viewed and bought via a straightforward booking system that works in just the same way as that of a commercial airline. According to Rivolta, ‘Eighty per cent of private-jet owners are happy to allow their planes to be chartered. It’s not a means to generate revenue, but it does provide them with a contribution towards their ownership costs.’

Whereas, previously, business travellers might have booked a business or frst-class seat, it is now possible to travel in the privacy of a private jet for about the same price. ‘Empty-leg fights typically cost about 40 per cent less than if the aircraft is specifcally chartered,’ says Rivolta. ‘Most of our passengers will pay the equivalent of the price of a frst-class scheduled ticket, but, for that, they will enjoy far greater fexibility.’

Working on the basis that a typical empty-leg fight will equate to £2,500–£3,000 per aircraft per hour in the air, if there are multiple passengers, the savings will be greater. For example, Farnborough to

Nice in a Citation XLS would cost from €7,900 instead of the usual €11,900, with a return journey to London in a Learjet 45 costing from £5,900, rather than £10,000. What’s more, the painless check-in and security procedures can save you signifcant time at the airport.

Passengers have access to, among others, a nine-seater Cessna Citation XL, an 18-seater Gulfstream G650 and a 15-seater Bombardier Global 6000, which has a bedroom with en-suite bathroom. Jet Partner’s routes include fights to and from airports all over the world, with options in the South East that include London City, Luton, Biggin Hill, Northolt and Farnborough.

If there isn’t a suitable empty-leg fight available, Jet Partner will try to pair you up with a traveller seeking the opposite route. As a member, you’ll be notifed when matching or partly matching legs become available, all of which makes fying any other way seem altogether last century. l jetpartner.net

Stockists Bally 020-7491 7062; bally.com Bell & Ross 020-7096 0878; bellross.com Blancpain 0845 2732500; blancpain.com Breguet 0845 2732400; breguet.com Breitling 020-7637 5167; breitling.com Bremont 0845 0940690; bremont.com Bulgari 020-7872 9969; bulgari.com Burberry 020-7806 8904; burberry.com Caran D’Ache 00 41 22 869 01 01; carandache.com/en Chopard 020-7409 3140; chopard.com Corum 020-7434 7540; corum.ch Dior 020-7172 0172; dior.com Ferragamo 020-7629 5007; ferragamo.com Gieves & Hawkes 020-7434 2001; gievesandhawkes.com Hackett 020-7939 6865; hackett.com Hardy Amies 020-7734 2436; hardyamies.com Harrods 020-7730 1234; harrods.com Harry Winston 020-7907 8800; harrywinston.com Hermès 020-7499 8856; hermes.com Hublot 00 41 22 990 90 00; hublot.com IWC 0845 3371868; iwc.com Kent & Curwen 020-7432 6420; kentandcurwen.com Montblanc 020-8332 4552; montblanc.com Omega 0845 2723100; omegawatches.com Panerai 020-7312 6894; panerai.com Parmigiani Fleurier 020-7495 5172; parmigiani.ch Patek Philippe 020-7493 8866; patek.com Paul Smith 00800 22244455; paulsmith.co.uk Raymond Weil 01428 656822; raymond-weil.com Richard Mille 020-7123 4155; richardmille.com Rolex 020-7024 7300; rolex.com SCP 020-7739 1869; scp.co.uk TAG Heuer 0800 4580882; tagheuer.co.uk Thom Sweeney 020-7629 6220; thomsweeney.co.uk Troubadour 020-7370 1434; troubadourgoods.com Tudor 020-7024 7300; tudorwatch.com Victorinox 020-7647 9070; victorinox.com

DA K S .CO M

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C E L E B R AT E S

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B R I T I S H

E XC E L L E N C E

hermès. time reinvented.

dressage l ´ heure masquée hermès imbues time with a resolutely hedonistic touch by providing a space of infinite freedom. the dressage l’heure masquée watch keeps the hours hand hidden beneath the minutes hand, making its appearance only with a deliberate press on the crown-integrated pushbutton. the fleeting apparition of the playful hand vanishes as soon as the pressure is released. this delightful great escape from daily routine is entirely conceived and constructed by the manufacture hermès, and orchestrated by the self-winding h1925 movement, equipped with an exclusive patented mechanism.

HERMES.COM

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