Brummell Magazine April 2012

technology 2012

the little black book for the city

Future City bleeding-edge entertainment / golf and cycling: all the gear with big ideas sci-style: hi-tech fabrics & watches / adding lasers to your grooming regime

EL PRIMERO

CHRONOMASTER 1969

www.zenith-watches.com

Life is in the movement

CONTENTS | BRUMMELL

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Cover illustration

by Tweed Tom 42

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Show Media Brummell editorial 020 3222 0101 Editor Joanne Glasbey Art Director Dominic Bell Associate Editor Henry Farrar-Hockley Chief Copy Editor Chris Madigan Picture Editor Juliette Hedoin Copy Editors Sarah Evans, Cate Langmuir Fashion Director Tamara Fulton Creative Director Ian Pendleton Managing Director Peter Howarth Advertising & Events Director Duncan McRae duncan@flyingcoloursmarketing.com 07816 218059 showmedia.net brummell@showmedia.net

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Visit Brummell’s website for more tailor-made content: brummellmagazine.net

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Colour reproduction by Fresh Media Group, groupfmg.com Printed by The Manson Group, manson-grp.co.uk Brummell is designed and produced by Show Media Ltd and distributed with Financial News. All material © Show Media Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. 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 liabillity regarding offers.

Foreword There are people out there with brilliant ideas to generate business. So why are we still so timid (or ‘prudent’)? It’s time to hit the ‘restart’ button, says David Charters Money no object The fast and powerful, superlean and handsome new laptop from Samsung

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News Shape-shifting luggage; the new TAG Heuer smartphone; Montblanc’s Hitchcock pen and the chance to buy Ayrton Senna’s F1 car Social media How one hedge fund claims it is using tweets about pop stars to gauge financial moods and get ahead of the market Grooming For a fresher face, turn to the new, fast anti-ageing fixes – with no scalpels (and no downtime) required After the City The ex-equities trader and computer science grad who created a social gambling site

Features 28

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Watches Innovations in materials and technology are creating a new generation of timepieces Style Technical fabrics are no longer the preserve of hikers with Zegna and Loro Piana bringing temperature regulation and wicking to fashion Entertainment Instead of waiting for the ‘next big thing’, take time to enjoy the best TVs, speakers, cameras and smartphones available now Travel The luxurious Swiss clinic that offers the best night’s sleep you’ve ever had Cycling The cycling boom may mean more drunks wobbling around on Boris Bikes – but at the hi-spec end, amazing kit is coming through Golf The latest clubs, balls and gadgets to help bring out your inner Bubba

By George The new Harrods Technology Department – you’d never believe it was a Dixons

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BRUMMELL | FoREWoRd

Wild Geese 2: they fly again There are mavericks and geniuses out there – in the City and beyond – ready to help us make money. Now we need to mobilise our mercenary instinct and commit to letting them make money for us once again Words David Charters Illustration Brett Ryder

I like people who make me money. There is something about them that makes me happy just to be with them.

My latest best friend is called Corvin Codirla. He’s a new colleague and runs something called CCFX. He has a PhD in theoretical physics – yes, he’s a string theorist – and taught on Stephen Hawking’s team at Cambridge, before going off to Brevan Howard, Peloton Partners, BarCap and, eventually, Deutsche Bank.

What I really like about Corvin is the fact that he designed a systematic foreign exchange trading strategy that I’ve invested in and that makes me on average somewhere between three and five per cent a month, every month, with same-day access to my money if I need it. That’s the kind of friend I like.

There are others. I’m off to southern Africa shortly to look at a proposal for a cotton-trading scheme. It offers up to 50 per cent returns over a three-month period, but needs lots of local input and only works with small, nimble amounts of money. The man behind it is a Zimbabwean who learnt his trade in the City.

He could soon be another new best friend.

And there are yet more. In Turkmenistan, South Sudan and Somaliland. Yes, there are fresh ideas springing up in all those difficult places. And that’s quite apart from the things I’m looking at closer to home.

Here in the UK, I’ve joined the board of a company called LawVest, a holding company for Riverview Law, which offers a fixed-price service and direct access to barristers – for

those not involved in business law, a small revolution is underway since last October’s legal equivalent of the Big Bang.

All of this makes me feel extraordinarily optimistic at a time when, for good reason, a lot of people – especially those who don’t work inside the Square Mile – are feeling gloomy. My point is this: we may be down, but we are certainly not out.

However bad things may seem, those who work in the City are nothing if not resilient.

When one door closes, they open 10 new ones.

If the door doesn’t exist, they invent it. It’s not just new ways of doing old things, or new places to do them, like the emerging markets, but entirely new things altogether, that no one had even thought of.

My own experience this year is far from unique. Everywhere I go, everyone’s talking new business, new ideas, new plans. It’s as if there has been a huge collective sigh, and we’re finally saying, ‘We’ve had enough of all this gloom. It’s become boring. So let’s get moving again. Let’s trade our way back to prosperity.

Good people, properly led and motivated, will always surprise themselves and others

Politicians, usually not as smart as revenue generators, cut off a wing, then wonder why the goose isn’t laying the way it used to

with what they can do. Of course, politicians and regulators can mess it up. They always can, and often do. But because they tend not to be as smart as the revenue generators, it may take them a while to work out what the goldenegg laying goose is before they decide to take off a wing and a leg and then express surprise that it’s not laying the way it used to.

The technology changes, and the rules and regulations may too, but the people stay the same – and they are impressive, bright, creative and above all hard-working. The fact that the financial-services industry has released a lot of talent back to the rest of the country, and is no longer Hoovering up new talent on the scale it used to, is probably a good thing. Friends who have exited the City – voluntarily or otherwise – in recent years are not idle. Whether in business, charity or public service, they are having an impact.

So, perhaps it is time to hit the ‘restart’ button. Yes, it was certainly awful, but for how long are we going to wallow in some collective sense of guilt at being bankers, hiding in an attitude of timidity dressed up as prudence, or do we want to move on and prosper our way out of this mess? In the UK, we’ve been impressed at the ability of the US economy to reinvent itself and grow its way out of trouble.

Yet we have at least as much ability – if only we choose to apply it. So let’s hit that button and get moving again.

The Ego’s Nest, by David Charters, the fifth novel in the series about City anti-hero Dave Hart, is published by Elliott & Thompson, priced £6.99

Breitling has created the best selfwinding chronograph movement.

The inventor of the modern chronograph A chronograph specialist since its founding in 1884, Breitling played a crucial role in the development of this type of instrument. In 1915, as a pioneer in the field of wrist chronographs, the firm invented the first independent pushpiece. In 1923, it separated the stop/ start and reset functions, thus enabling the addition of several successive times.

In 1934, Breitling set the final touch to the modern face of the chronograph by creating the second independent pushpiece – a decisive innovation that was soon adopted by all competitors. In 1969, the brand presented the first selfwinding chronograph.

The authentic partner of aviation Breitling has shared all the finest hours in the conquest of the skies. Its famous onboard chronographs equipped World War II fighter planes and subsequently the airliners of the main manufacturers and companies, making the firm the “official supplier to world aviation”. 1952 brought the birth of the legendary Navitimer, with a slide rule intended for airborne navigation. In 1962, a Navitimer accompanied Scott Carpenter in his orbital flight, thus becoming the first spacegoing wrist chronograph. Today, Breitling perpetuates these special and authentic ties by cooperating with elite pilots, operating several exceptional flight teams, and associating with the greatest air shows worldwide.

The master of top-flight performances Having learned the hard way in the demanding field of aviation, where safety is of vital importance, Breitling displays the same obsession for quality in all its 100% Swiss-made “instruments for professionals”. Breitling is the world’s only major watch brand to equip all its models with chronometer-certified movements representing the ultimate token of precision. Its engineers once again made their mark on chronograph history by creating Caliber 01 – the most reliable, robust and high-performance selfwinding chronograph movement. A columnwheel caliber endowed with an original architecture, entirely developed and produced in the Breitling Chronométrie workshops.

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BR EIT LIN G .CO M

bRUMMELL

MONEY NO OBJECT Glossy, fast, lightweight and available with luxurious leather extras, the new Samsung notebook has the credentials of a supercar – it certainly performs like one Words Henry Farrar-Hockley Photography Bruce Anderson

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When Apple announced the MacBook Air in 2008, it set a benchmark – in the form of an elegant and powerful portable computer – that others have since struggled to match, let alone surpass.

Now Samsung has done just that with the second generation of its Series 9 laptop. Its appeal is manifold: there’s the tactile, sandblasted aluminium chassis, the self-adjusting 13.3in ‘HD+’ screen, and the impressively fast boot-up time (9.8 seconds from scratch or 1.4 seconds from sleep mode). Powered by a second-generation Intel Core i5 Processor and a 128GB solid-state drive, it hops between applications without breaking a sweat.

Frequent fliers, meanwhile, will find its dimensions attractive: at 16.3 mm thick, it is the most compact laptop in its class. And these days, if a gadget’s perceived impact can be measured by investment in accessories, that luggage brand Valextra has redesigned its Premier attaché case for the new Series 9, should tell you all you need to know.

From £1,199, samsung.com/uk; valextra.it

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NEWS | bEAumoNdE

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bespoke style counselling, designer digital cameras and the latest luxury luggage

Poison pens Brands paying homage to cultural icons run the risk of tarnishing the very people they are commemorating, but in the case of Montblanc’s Alfred Hitchcock writing instruments, the outcome is a fitting tribute to a master of the silver screen. Comprising two limited editions (including both a rollerball and fountain pen), the styli feature subtle references to the British auteur’s cinematic canon, from the spiralling lacquer finish on the barrel (Vertigo), to the knife-shaped clip on the cap (Psycho).

From £2,065; montblanc-alfred-hitchcock.com

World wide wardrobe What happens when you take a former Microsoft product director, the fashion editor of asos.com and the CEO of an internet systems development company? The answer is Style Pilot, an online shopping portal that matches men with the fashion that best fits their ‘style DNA’. First, you have to fill in a very brief survey that records your height, body shape, hair, eye and skin colouring. Then the site displays the menswear best suited to your characteristics, drawn from thousands of brands and retailers online. You can even ‘dislike’ recommendations as you go along, to further improve the accuracy of the service’s search engine. stylepilot.com

Urban legend Equal parts product designer, sculptor, architect and urban planner, Thomas Heatherwick’s work has never been easily definable. Now his design studio’s extraordinary body of work – including the breathtaking Seed Cathedral at the 2010 Shanghai Expo (above), the caterpillarlike Rolling Bridge in Paddington Basin, the new London Routemaster – is to be exhibited at the V&A’s Porter Gallery, from 31 May until 30 September, as part of a season celebrating British design.

Heatherwick Studio: Designing the Extraordinary; vam.ac.uk

Ayrton seller As anyone who watched the BAFTA-winning documentary Senna knows, the Toleman TG184-2 did not help steer the Brazilian to any of his three F1 World Championships, but it did put him on the map as one of the all-time greats. The 1.5l turbocharged original – in which Senna took his first ever podium finish in heavy rain at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1984 – goes on sale at Silverstone Auctions’ Spring Sale. Car stereo not included.

15-16 May; silverstoneauctions.com

20 BeAumOnDe | neWS

Brogue trader Already a staple of time-poor City aesthetes, Mr Porter has broadened its sartorial appeal through a new gift service it modestly refers to as ‘the ultimate shoe subscription’. The lucky beneficiary of this exclusive package receives a pair of shoes of their choice every month for one year. Naturally, the style site’s personal shoppers are on hand to lend their expert advice in order to help the recipient build their perfect footwear collection. £3,500; mrporter.com

Top Dror Luxury luggage maker Tumi has clearly been busy this year. Not content with merely wheeling out Tegra-Lite, an irresistibly lightweight and durable range made from a polypropylene thermoplastic composite ordinarily found in body armour, it has also collaborated with designer Dror Benshetrit to create the Dror for Tumi collection, an innovative new series of 11 travel bags – eight of which change shape to provide flexible use. Rising above an impressive cross section of laptop bags, backpacks, four-wheeled suitcases and overnighters is the collection’s signature piece, dubbed the ‘International Carry-On’. It’s the world’s first expandable hardside to permit a zipperless two-stage expansion via a ‘living hinge’ that can adjust the bag’s depth from 22.9cm to 35.6cm, almost doubling its capacity.

From £195; tumi.com

Speed dial TAG Heuer’s foray into mobile phones has certainly been more than fleeting. First came the Meridiist, then the Link, and now aficionados can enjoy the new Racer. A full touchscreen Android handset, it utilises the space-age materials found in its timepieces (titanium, carbon fibre, PVD) to craft an aesthetically uncompromising device that’s tough to boot. Inside are equally futuristic touches, including a bespoke TAG Heuer security app that banishes malware and blocks unwanted calls. The phone will come in three finishes: a rubber and steel Sport Classic, 18k rose gold Precious Gold, and rubber and carbon fibre Full Carbon Orange.

From £2,500; tagheuer.com

Old standard The vogue for retro-styled digital cameras shows no evidence of fading. This latest example, the Olympus OM-D E-M5, references the revered 35mm OM SLRs of the Seventies (O stands for Olympus, M for then chief designer, Yoshihisa Maitani). But the new model’s allure has as much to do with what’s inside: this 16MP Micro Four Thirds design has the fastest autofocus of any compact system camera, and comes with the world’s first 5-axis image stabilisation system and a 7.6cm tilting OLED touchscreen for tricky angles.

From £1,000; olympus.co.uk

22 beAumonde | sociAl mediA

Tweet shop You could dismiss Twitter as a platform for egotists… or do as one fund manager did and use it as an index for your investment strategy Take a random tweet: ‘I had a dream I was chilling with Bieber in his living room, real cool dude… then I woke up :((’ wrote Riccardo Ordieres, a radio host in San Antonio, USA, on 31 March. Asinine, sure, but potentially lucrative, too: Paul Hawtin, the founder of Derwent Capital Markets is using tweets like this as the basis for investment strategy. And, he claims, it’s helping him beat the market. ‘The old saying is that markets are driven by greed and fear. I’ve always believed that,’ says Hawtin. ‘The problem is we’ve never had the technology to quantify human emotion before. But now with Twitter, Facebook and the like, people express their feelings all the time, even subconsciously.’

Hawtin’s fund samples 10 per cent of the 100 million tweets posted daily and analyses the sentiment contained within them to predict market movement. Tweets as apparently uninformative as Ordieres’ can be useful, according to Hawtin: ‘I can tell that the author is frustrated, which is a mood state.’ Tweets become even more useful en masse, once they’re analysed. Part of Hawtin’s screen in his Mayfair office shows a sentiment score, similar to the VIX index.

‘If that number goes up, people are happy.

If it goes down, they’re not.’ When the ticker shifts a predefined amount, Hawtin and his

seven-strong team make a trade, buying or selling the FTSE 100 – usually one or two trades a day. ‘The hard part isn’t the trading strategy, it’s the sentiment analysis.’ For the first two months of February, the FTSE 100 Index returned 4.06 per cent. Derwent says its fund made 5.22 per cent in the same period.

The seeds for the social media fund were sown in late 2010, when Johan Bollen, a computational social scientist, conducted what he called ‘a psychiatric interview’ of Twitter. He used a psychological tool called the Profile of Mood States, often used ahead of clinical trials; people match their mood with different adjectives to come up with six mood states. On a whim, Bollen’s research partner compared the national mood with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and found that one emotion, calmness, correlated well with the peaks and troughs of the stock market – but a few days in advance. ‘It was one of those Eureka moments,’ Bollen told WIRED

The two researchers worked out a basic prototype and found they could predict stock movements with 86.7 per cent accuracy

in 2010. The two researchers worked out a basic prototype and found they could predict stock movements with 86.7 per cent accuracy.

That’s when Hawtin got in touch. He had been working as a Forex trader at Saxo Bank, before setting up a £25m seed fund. ‘I knew we were entering a period of high volatility.

And I try to be at the cutting edge of trading strategy. Then I saw this paper by Bollen.’

Over a holiday in St Lucia he agreed to buy Bollen’s model, hire him as a consultant and start tweaking it. ‘It took us six months to get the algorithms going,’ Hawtin says.

In July 2011, its first month of trading, ‘The Twitter Fund’ gained 1.7 per cent net of fees; the broader hedge fund industry was up 0.76 per cent; the S&P 500 lost more than two per cent. Hawtin says the sentiment analysis helped him time a short position on the FTSE; he was surprised at ‘just how valuable social media really is’.

Now, Hawtin is offering the fund to private investors willing to invest a minimum of £10,000. And he is looking beyond Twitter at new darlings of the scene such as Tumblr and Pinterest. The 30-year-old is sure the fund will only deliver better results: ‘It’s cutting edge technology. It’s continually improving.’ derwentcapitalmarkets.com Words Tom Cheshire

24 beAumonde | GRoomInG

Saving face Regain a more youthful look with fast results, no downtime and no surgery

If you’ve ever looked at your rumpled morning face in the bathroom mirror, wondered where your youthful good looks have gone, and perhaps then wondered whether there is anything you can do about it, here’s a little known fact. The whole anti-ageing… thing… the lotions and potions, the Botox, the skin peels… it’s not just for women, not any more.

Looking the part for the job never used to matter in the City, but the zeitgeist has changed. There is pressure to look good – not just to appear competent but to see off younger rivals for highly prized jobs. This is what appears to be driving many executives to the clinics where cosmetic doctors and dermatologists offer quick but long-lasting anti-ageing fixes.

‘We’ve seen a 100 per cent increase in our male clientele since the recession bit,’ says Dr Geoffrey Mullan, partner in the doctor-led medi-spa, Medicetics, and a maestro of the art of subtle rejuvenation. ‘It has less to do with vanity, and more to do with wanting to look relaxed and in control.’

Without going as far as cosmetic surgery, which often looks bizarre on men and requires weeks off for recovery, there is a raft of ‘non-surgical’ treatments that will give decent effects in minimal time.

‘With men, the most important thing is that it doesn’t hurt too much – men are wimps – and that there is no downtime,’ explains Dr Nick Lowe, a West End dermatologist who numbers Tom Ford among his elite roster of regular male clients.

Most popular is Botox which, when injected into overactive muscles, inhibits their ability to contract. ‘The key thing is to use it subtly,’ says Dr Mullan, ‘to ease frown lines and erase that haunted look, without making the face blank.’ Then there’s microdermabrasion – a mechanical sloughing-off of the dead cells on top of the skin to brighten a deadened complexion, and mesotherapy – multiple, tiny injections of vitamins and other skin-enhancing ingredients which help liven up the skin from within.

Dr Lowe finds that skin-tightening procedures such as Thermage and Intracel, which zap skin cells with radio-frequency

Pressure to look good is driving executives to clinics where dermatologists offer quick but long-lasting anti-ageing fixes

energy causing them to shrink and tighten, are popular and work well for men. He also uses Fraxel lasers to help erase pigmentation spots, which develop with age (they’re a result of cumulative sun exposure), and – being a dermatologist – is good at spotting and treating pre-cancerous patches among his 40- to 60-year-old patients.

And then there’s skincare. Many men aren’t in the habit of using any, though it will pay dividends both by making skin smooth and supple, and by protecting it for the future.

‘I can usually convert men to the wisdom of using a daily cream with sun protection, and perhaps stronger, prescription anti-ageing skincare,’ says Dr Lowe, adding, ‘I also point out that if they are smokers, their skin will look dreadful as it ages.’

Knightsbridge-based Dr Barbara Kubicka is also seeing more male clients, ‘especially the high-achieving ones,’ she says. ‘Botox is still the first thing that they want, as well as treatments to improve the look of tired, hollow eyes from too many hours in front of a computer screen.’ Dr Kubicka also does a nifty line in fat-dissolving injections that can melt away double chins.

If you are curious about all this but your work hours preclude visiting clinics, you might be interested in the latest at-home, skinimproving equipment such as the Philips RéAura, a home-use laser with enough power to give it serious skin-rejuvenation credentials – it can reduce fine lines and improve the skin’s tone and texture – and enough safety features for it to be let loose on the unskilled public. For best results, it needs to be used twice a week, for eight weeks, and it needs to be done at night since its stinging rays leave skin quite red for a few hours.

Look around you. The chances are that someone in your office is up to some of this. Just don’t expect colleagues to come clean. ‘Having this sort of work done is a closely guarded secret,’ admits Dr Mullan. The beauty of it is that no one can tell. They just see a fresher you. medicetics.com; drnicklowe.com; drbarbarakubicka.co.uk; Philips RéAura, £799.00 at spacenk.co.uk Words Alice Hart-Davis Illustration Parko Polo

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26 beaumonde | after the city

Smarkets’ online chat system has also moved online betting into the social arena, something betting had failed to pick up on

Odds job Jason Trost is introducing a touch of social networking to the world of online gambling

If your idea of a gambler is either the casino smoothie or the bloke with a broken pencil in the bookies, then Jason Trost doesn’t look much like a gambler. He would certainly take this as a compliment, not merely because his style – the blazer and jeans, trim hair and clipped accent of East Coast America – suits neither cliché, but because his aim is to change the face of gambling.

With his partner Hunter Morris, he set up Smarkets, an online betting exchange that is only comparable to online betting exchange Betfair because there’s little competition. This is not, to use the marketing phrase, a ‘me too’ so much as a ‘not like that, like this’.

Born in Connecticut, Trost is a computer science graduate and former equities trader and analyst, latterly with UBS. He first came across online betting when colleagues showed him a website called TradeSports. ‘Even with my background in computing and markets,’ he says, sitting in spring sunshine on the roof of his Clerkenwell office, ‘I couldn’t understand the trading interface.’ From this came Smarkets, set up in 2008 with two main aims: ‘The first is to make a better user interface – everyone

loves to bet but it’s still pretty painful to do online. The second is to make a cheap place for people to trade big bets with each other. Betfair is too expensive. They’ll trade at five per cent of your winnings; we charge two per cent.’

Smarkets’ online chat system has also moved online betting into the social arena, something betting had failed to pick up on. ‘The traditional place to bet online is with a bookmaker,’ he explains, ‘and that’s quite a flat experience – there’s not much else you can do besides place a bet. If you look at the rest of the internet, it’s gone way past that in terms of usability and fun.’ He would, he says, love to modernise betting but it’s no easy task. The first two years at Smarkets were spent building and testing the platform, and obtaining a gambling licence. Since going live in February 2010, he says, ‘It’s taking the path I wanted, but about two years slower than I’d have liked. The industry is very opaque. It’s just hard to see how it works.’

He’s been careful not to run before he can walk, holding off on marketing ‘because you don’t want to pop’. Control is a big issue – the chief reason he left finance. ‘If you have a vision in finance it’s very hard to get however many senior people there are above you to sign off on it,’ he says. ‘At UBS I created the software package that’s still in use today. When I said, “Okay, now I want to do something bigger in the company”, they went, “Woah! You need to keep working on this.” There’s a kind of institutional inertia that keeps fighting against you.’ Though Smarkets gave him freedom, it also meant moving to the UK – ‘the largest legal market for betting’. He’d visited twice and had ‘quite bad impressions. I think it took me a year to get to know London, but I love it now.’ A girlfriend came with him from New York, but she’s since gone. ‘I think a lot of entrepreneurs have failed relationships,’ he shrugs.

And he is very much an entrepreneur: Smarkets is not the end of the game. In the next year, they will launch a site that goes after the ‘casual punter’, pushing Smarkets further towards the professional side. From there, the plan is to build a technology company, taking on the banking and payments industry, and virtual currency, among others. ‘I won’t limit myself to the gambling space,’ he says carefully. ‘But one thing at a time.’ smarkets.com Words James Medd Photography Ivan Jones

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Photograph by Brett using a Leica M9 with Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. 1/1500s ISO 160

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Steps in time Technological progress and scientific development in the creation of luxury timepieces has led to some outstanding innovations words John Goodall The watch world has been enjoying a quiet but significant revolution since the turn of the century. It was last turned upside down in 1969 when Seiko became the first company to sell a quartz watch and for the next 20 years domination over the watch market passed from Switzerland to Japan. Manufacturing of traditional mechanical watches nearly died out, but since the late Eighties and Nineties, production has been revived in Switzerland and now high-grade mechanical watches have become very desirable once more.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, some significant advances have been made and they have created exciting possibilities.

Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), generally acknowledged to have been the greatest watchmaker ever, famously said, ‘Give me the perfect oil and I’ll create the perfect watch’.

Nobody has created the perfect oil: they all deteriorate and their consistency gradually changes. However, introduction of modern materials such as silicon (silicium) and some new manufacturing techniques (such as LIGA – lithography, electroplating and molding ) have led to substantial improvements in some of the world’s finest watches. Silicon can be used not only for certain parts of the escapement, but can also be used as an alternative material for making the hairspring. It has the advantage of being lighter and being non-magnetic, so the coils of the spring don’t try to ‘stick’ to one another – and above all it requires no lubrication.

Magnetism is one of the main causes of inaccuracy in modern mechanical wristwatches. The increasing use of powerful magnets led Bernard Fornas, president and CEO of Cartier, to claim a couple of years ago that the majority of mechanical watches of any brand returned because of timekeeping problems today have lost their accuracy because of magnetism.

Two years ago Cartier (cartier.co.uk) showed its first concept watch and some of its key features are expected to find their way into production models in the next year or two. The

revolutionary feature of this concept model is that it is designed in such a way that it will never need to be regulated, even when it is first assembled, and no provision is made for doing so because it’s never expected to be necessary.

With its use of silicon, it is antimagnetic and needs no lubrication. It could herald a new era of watchmaking.

It is significant that Omega and Breguet, part of the powerful Swatch group, have both introduced silicon components in their watches.

In 1999, Omega introduced its Co-Axial escapement, based on an invention by English watchmaker George Daniels and originally designed to eliminate the need for oil. It is now being used in most Omega movements, but now some models also benefit from the use of a silicon balance spring, too (omegawatches.com).

The modern Breguet brand is at the pinnacle of the giant Swatch group and it first used silicon in some models as early as 2006. It was used for the escape wheel and for a lever, and subsequently for the balance spring too. The company says that the use of silicon balance springs in various movements since 2006 has shown ‘totally convincing results’ (breguet.com).

For many serous watch collectors and aficionados, Patek Philippe is the Holy Grail of watchmaking. Last year, the company unveiled its latest movement using a silicon escapement, as well as a unique alternative to the balance wheel that has been in use for hundreds of years. Thierry Stern, the company’s president, described it as ‘revolutionary – a giant step ahead in performance’. He said he believed it marked ‘a huge jump, the biggest step forward

Abraham-Louis Breguet famously said, ‘Give me the perfect oil and I’ll create the perfect watch’

for the company in the last 50 years’. This revolutionary escapement is called Oscillomax.

Mr Stern said there is no rush to expand the use of silicon, because it’s essential to move one step at a time. But he hopes to use Oscillomax technology in most, if not all, Patek Philippe movements within five years. That is a huge change for a company whose fans admire it for its traditional watchmaking techniques.

However, the traditional personality and styling that fans adore has been retained (patek.com).

Richard Mille is a relatively new name in the watch industry, but his astonishing use of modern materials and construction techniques has led to the creation of some amazing timepieces. When Felipe Massa had his terrifying crash during the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009 he was wearing a Richard Mille RM 011. The car was a write-off, Massa was badly injured, but his watch survived unscathed.

Richard Mille also created a special watch that is worn by Bubba Watson, winner of the Masters golf title. It is able to withstand the shocks it receives during play by the golfer known as the world’s biggest hitter (richardmille.com).

TAG Heuer is another company at the forefront of innovation. In 2010 it introduced the Monaco V4, which used drive belts in place of wheels and pinions. In 2011 it produced the Mikrotimer Flying 1000, the world’s first chronograph with one of its two escapements beating 3.6 million times an hour – 125 times faster than a standard Swiss chronograph. It also announced a concept watch with a mechanical movement in which the conventional hairspring is replaced by magnets.

This year, TAG Heuer has gone one step further with the launch of the Mikrogirder, which eliminates the traditional balance wheel in favour of a ‘coupling beam/girder working with a linear oscillator’. This beats 1,000 times an hour, 250 times faster than a traditional movement, making it possible to time events to 1/2000th of a second (tagheuer.com).

Chopard has become a serious player in the high-grade watch business in the last few years and is one of the most recent to become what the Swiss call a ‘manufacture’, a company able to make and assemble all of the parts of a movement in-house. Although this company is entirely family-owned, it has kept abreast of the key players and its engineers are using silicon for certain escapement components and they have even developed a new means of attaching silicon to steel (patent pending). They have also conceived, developed and perfected a high-frequency escapement which is the first such chronometer movement successfully to have passed the rigorous tests of COSC (the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute).

It beats 57,600 times an hour (chopard.com).

These modern improvements in watchmaking are unlikely to find their way into mass-produced, inexpensive watches; instead, they represent the pinnacle of fine watchmaking and are sought after by discerning owners who appreciate the benefits they bring.

watches | BRUMMell 29

hand MoveMent Clockwise from top left: RM 055 ‘Bubba Watson’ watch, Richard Mille; Tradition 7047BR watch with silicon escapement, Breguet; 5550P watch with Oscillomax escapement, Patek Philippe; L.U.C 8HF watch; chopard; ID One concept watch, cartier; Co-Axial escapement, omega

30 BRUMMELL | TEchnicaL FaBRics

Technology isn’t just about adding performance to a fabric but can be about giving it a whole new quality

Get smart High-tech fabric is no longer the preserve of performance clothing as a new wave of fashion innovators make sci-fi moves in the material world Pick up an item in Officina Slowear’s new London store – the Italian multi-brand company’s first in the UK – and one might be forgiven for thinking that there was nothing radical about its wares. As the brand’s name implies, Slowear’s credo is clothing that lasts stylistically. But that is also the case in more temporal terms: and that comes from the fabrics, each proprietary, each developed over years, which is to say a timescale that cuts against fast fashion’s unsettling philosophy of disposability. Its Chinolino, for example, is a special cotton/linen blend that retains the breathability of the latter without its stiffness; Inkochino is special yarn-dyed gabardine with a three-way construction that took five years to create; more recently the company has launched Flexwool, combining merino wool and elastane.

‘More considered fabrics tend to give better performance over time,’ says Roberto Compagno, co-owner of Slowear, which even has a diffusion line called RED (Recerca e Distribuzione or research and distribution), given over solely to exploring the limits of fabric treatment and effects. ‘For one, they tend to be comfortable – and men like to look elegant but don’t want to suffer with their clothing. It’s why we’re seeing more stretch properties in menswear now when, to date, stretch has been the preserve of women’s wear. They work harder too, with technology providing durability.

In fact, I think if you want any garment to be special the manufacturer has to be there at the very conceptual stage of the fabric.’

Indeed, specialist fabric developers’ products may sometimes make it into everyday

and especially sports clothing through products such as Coolmax and Dri-Fit or so-called phasechange materials that, thanks to an invisible paraffin layer, heat or cool the body according to the climate.

But it is those few but increasingly influential fashion manufacturers who either have their own mills, or who have exclusive working relationships with artisan fabric producers, who can claim to be providing the most progressive developments in the field without sidelining style. ‘The demand for such fabrics is part of the fact that tech is increasingly part of our everyday lives,’ says Will Forrester, creative director of new performance clothing company UVU, whose race jacket uses C-change, a biomimetic fabric that closes and opens to trap or release warmth like a pine cone. ‘We expect our clothes to work in a smarter way – and the best textile equipment is becoming less expensive and making that more feasible.’

Brands such as Slowear, Ermenegildo Zegna and Loro Piana, with a more traditional customer perhaps, cleverly hide the science within outwardly pure, noble fabrics such as linen, cotton or even lotus flower, the raw fibres of which can be woven to create a silk-like yarn, an ancient process Loro Piana has recently uncovered and revived. Menswear still favours these, even though their reported strength and utility is more fiction than fact. Cotton, for example, isn’t that cool for summer, relatively speaking, with a typical moisture content of seven per cent, against four per cent for nylon and 0.5 per cent for the most advanced polyesters. So one might expect our clothing to be increasingly technological even though we may not know it.

Marks & Spencer is launching an apparently innocuous shirt this summer, but one that claims to be sweat-resistant, with all the promise of Dri-Guard and SmartWeave technology.

Perhaps that is an incentive to use technology, not only to give clothing a certain extra durability or functionality but to move it on, as much in terms of the way it looks as the way it works. This season, for example, sees Zegna launch Microsilk and Silkco, silk treated with resins and waxes to create unusual matt and creased effects. ‘Technology isn’t just about adding performance to a fabric but can be about giving it a whole new quality,’ says Zegna’s image director Anna Zegna. ‘In fact, innovation can give you a whole new fabric. You need to know what you’re doing to innovate: a small change and your silk ends up like cardboard.

But it is where fabrics get really exciting.’

Words Josh Sims Photography Andy Barter

Paradise Found Petite Anse Bay, on the south west coast of Mahe, is the location for one of the world’s finest and most exclusive beaches. The three - to six - bedroom freehold Four Seasons Private Residences nestle amid secluded plots averaging one hectare.

Each villa is uniquely designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Cheong Yew Kuan to harmonise with the dramatic granite landscape and panoramic ocean views.

Owners can take advantage of the Concierge Service and the extensive facilities at the renowned Four Seasons Resort Seychelles set in the middle of the 70 hectare estate.

Prices from US$7,250,000 LONDON: +44 20 8166 8122 sales@petiteansedevelopments.com www.petiteansedevelopments.com Four Seasons Private Residences Seychelles are not owned, developed or sold by Four Seasons Hotels Limited or its affiliates (Four Seasons). The developer, Petite Anse Developments Ltd., uses the Four Seasons trademarks and tradenames under a license from Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. The marks “FOUR SEASONS”, “FOUR SEASONS HOTELS AND RESORTS,” any combination thereof and the Tree Design are registered trademarks of Four Seasons Hotels Limited in Canada and U.S.A. and of Four Seasons Hotels (Barbados) Ltd. elsewhere.

SEE, HEar Now

Some of the most exciting gadgets are already in existence. So forget futuristic fantasies and focus on the here and now Words Henry Farrar-Hockley

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entertainment | BrUmmeLL 33 in his 1962 book, Profiles of the Future, prolific author and futurist arthur C Clarke opined: ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’

Fifty years on, his statement could hardly be more apt: in 2012 we’re surrounded by the sort of electronic applications that – as recently as 10 years ago – you could only find in a sci-fi film: self-navigating vacuum cleaners, touchscreen refrigerators that order your groceries for you, giant flatscreen tVs manipulated by a hand gesture alone. the downside of this rapid evolutionary curve in consumer technology is a creeping tendency to look ahead to the ‘next big thing’ instead of enjoying what’s in front of us. So here are eight new technological innovations from the future that we should stop and appreciate now.

Super SLrs ← With so much focus on the convenience and ever-improving image quality of compact system cameras of late, it was inevitable the veteran DSLR category would mount a counteroffensive.

Hence Nikon’s new D800 camera which sits somewhere between the brand’s juggernaut D4 professional model and its cute 1 series compacts. Top of the list of specifications is a staggering 36.3 MP full-format image sensor – DSLRs ordinarily weigh in around the 16MP mark – which allows for the kind of billboardfriendly image detail its diminutive pretenders can only dream of. Added to this is its ability to record half-hour bursts of broadcast-quality HD video, which can then be output to your TV via a built-in HDMI socket. From £2,400; nikon.co.uk

Digital audio redefined → Speaker design traditionally comprises a rectangular cabinet featuring one or more frontfacing drivers, but certain niche brands continue to experiment with imaginative shapes in their quest to improve function through form. To this end, British hi-fi pioneer Meridian has just unveiled the M6, a 92cm tall floor-stander that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Gherkin. Concealed inside its rigid, resin-based cylinder are a wide-range aluminium speaker cone and a larger, down-firing bass driver, both powered by built-in amplifiers. The result is a much wider distribution that fills the room with superb sound, wherever you’re sitting. £4,500 per pair; meridian.co.uk

Fully connected televisions ← A central theme of this year’s smart TV evolution is the ‘connected home’ principle, whereby all your domestic gadgets collaborate in blissful, wireless harmony. Loewe’s Connect ID TV, to be sold exclusively in Harrods from June, certainly lives up to its name. The 200Hz 3D screen, available from 32- to 46in sizes, can be controlled via an iPad, stream content to other Loewe TVs around your home, handle internet and apps, and ‘tape’ 3D video direct to an optional, integrated 500GB hard drive. As with the peerless bespoke service offered by the brand’s Individual range, you can also customise your set from a choice of 2,160 design options.

From around £1,395; loewe.tv/uk

Hybrid speaker docks →

Waterproof smartphones ↑

This striking sound-dock by Samsung features a novel, best-ofboth-worlds approach to audio reproduction. Inside the glossy wooden cabinet is a digital amplifier hooked up to an old-fashioned analogue, valve-driven pre-amp.

This affords the listener both the transparent clarity of digital audio and the natural sound performance of valve amplification, all in one convenient 100w, 2.1-speaker unit.

The DA-E750 is also its first product to feature a dual-docking system catering both for iOS and Android devices, as well as wireless connectivity via AirPlay and Bluetooth, and a USB port for playing music direct from a Flash drive.

Around £600; samsung.co.uk

Panasonic are not the first manufacturer to add a degree of liquid-repelling functionality to a mobile phone (brands like Sonim have been doing it for years). They are to be commended, however, for doing so without bulking up the design. At 7.8mm thick and 103g in weight, this NFC-enabled (Near Field Communication) touchscreen Android phone is not only dustproof but will survive being submerged in 1m of water for up to half an hour.

There are two types of person who will benefit from this technology: the first is the outdoorsman; the second is the fool who routinely takes his phone into the lavatory with him. £385 without contract; panasonic.co.uk

entertainment | BrUmmeLL 35

Quad-core telephony → Now that we multitask on our smartphones to an almost excessive extent, the need for impressive processing speed is all-important. Last year, dual-core phones promised to ease the delay when flicking between phone apps. This year, quad-core handsets – which contain four independent processing chips working in tandem – are set to become the norm. Our pick of the early models is the HTC One X, a 4.7in touchscreen Android handset that’s powerful enough to juggle full HD video, an 8MP camera and contactless payments (Near Field Communication) without struggling to keep up. £570 without contract; htc.com

Dual-screen viewing ↑

next-generation portable gaming ←

Two years after 3D TV was declared the be-all and end-all of home entertainment, manufacturers have begun to adapt this fledgling technology for alternative uses.

The most eye-catching of these is a feature that splits the 3D signal into two 2D ones to allow viewers sitting side by side to watch completely different feeds simultaneously on the same screen, without dividing it in half. LG has integrated this into its 2012 passive 3D sets (the feature is called Dual Play), while Sony is including the setting in its forthcoming 24in PlayStation 3 display, under the moniker SimulView. lg.com; uk.playstation.com

The PlayStation Vita didn’t receive the adulation it deserved when it launched earlier this year, but set against a harsh climate for retail game revenue and the rapid rise of inexpensive mobile phone gaming, it is hardly surprising. What is revelatory, however, is what this console is capable of: powered by a 32-bit quad-core processor, it balances the benefits of touchscreen technology with the accuracy of traditional joystick controls to offer an engaging antidote to commuter ennui. Its clever design features a rear panel that behaves as a secondary touch-panel, providing even greater interaction with your preference of pixelated fun.

From £199; uk.playstation.com

36 BRUMMELL | TRAVEL

MOUNTAIN HIGH The warm outdoor waters of the Tamina Therme spa at the Bad Ragaz resort

Sleepless in Switzerland Worried that you’re missing out on essential slumber time? A Swiss sleep diagnosis clinic at a luxury spa could put your mind at rest Words Ian Belcher

Hell, this boy’s good. Poised, smart, a real pro.

Andreas Karasch glides into my hotel room, a butler in tails and white gloves, bearing two silver platters of supper. Despite the fact that I am semi-naked and covered in electric sensors – 12 of them glued to my head – he doesn’t bat an eyelid. ‘Your raw tuna, sir,’ he announces, lifting the lid with a flourish.

Perhaps it’s the sensors, or perhaps it’s my shabby boxer shorts, but I feel an awkward, very British, urge to puncture the gravitas with a joke. ‘Don’t mind us,’ I say, gesticulating to my wife. ‘We’re just enjoying a romantic meal.’

He smiles. ‘Of course. I’ll be back in 15 minutes with the veal and our famous Pinot Noir.’

And he is. Acting as if it’s perfectly normal to provide room service to Frankenstein’s monster.

In a way it is. The groundbreaking sleep analysis that requires me to be wired up to computers and infrared video cameras, is just another cutting-edge medical investigation at Bad Ragaz, Switzerland’s largest wellness oasis, an hour’s drive south-east of Zurich.

As a regular, occasionally red-eyed, listener to the BBC World Service, I’m a willing volunteer for the intense scrutiny that comes with the resort’s Sleep Diagnosis Package.

Run by Dr Mark Däppen, a pneumonology and sleep specialist, it explores everything from heart, lung and brain function to breathing and overnight body movements in a bid to discover why a guest’s slumber is disrupted.

I’m not the first to place my mind and body into the hands of the therapeutic honeypot with its two five-star hotels. Roger Federer, Samuel L Jackson, Premiership footballers and Swiss ski superstars have blazed an A-list trail to the resort tucked into vine-covered hills beneath snow-kissed peaks.

My video-polysomnography – overnight video and sound recording – takes place in one of the state-of-the-art spa suites. Minimalist interiors are punctuated by vast monochrome photographs, Bang & Olufsen sound systems and floor-to-ceiling windows. There’s a top-notch Nespresso machine: handy for a Fortissio Lungo, terrible for a decent sleep.

My bathroom is equally whizz-bang, with a sauna, steam room, piped thermal water and huge Jacuzzi bath. It sits beneath a delicate chandelier washed with pink and blue UV light – the perfect spot for gazing into nearby Liechtenstein, contemplating the vulnerability of your numbered bank account.

Not right now. I’m off to the health unit.

A functional contrast, it offers treatments from rheumatology to minor plastic surgery.

My analysis takes place among the advanced fitness paraphernalia of its renowned Swiss Olympic Medical Centre. I feel like a chimp in an animal-testing lab. Seated in a glass box, I’m asked to breathe through a tube while my air supply is snapped on and off. It reveals my lung function is 37 per cent above average, my heart rate is slow, my blood pressure low.

‘You’re an athlete,’ declares Dr Däppen drily.

It kick-starts a gentle interrogation on my lifestyle to unlock the secrets of my slumber.

Do I smoke? Drink? Take medication? He does not just want answers, he wants blood. I give six tubes of the stuff, to check for the likes of liver problems, diabetes and iron deficiency – all can provoke leg movements interrupting sleep.

With a final reminder that sleep apnoeas (obstructed breathing) can be as risky as smoking for heart attack and stroke – ‘and you have the palate of a snorer’ – I’m handed over to nurse Carmen in my suite. It takes her 90 minutes to fit the 18 analysis sensors. At which point my wife walks in, and starts taking photos.

Given the wires and surveillance gear, including a heavy transmitter strapped to my chest, it’s not the best night’s kip. But I’m up early, unplugged and happy to explore while my data is evaluated. I fill my impressively

Superstars have blazed an A-list trail to the resort tucked into the vine-covered hills beneath snow-kissed peaks

over-sized lungs with Alpine air, catching the chairlift to Pizol for a snowy hike; I walk around the resort’s PGA Championship golf course and swim in the warm outdoor waters of the new Tamina Therme public spa. Its striking white wood interiors, massive oval windows and splatter of blue pools fuse Scandinavian design with New England materials.

After choosing the low-calorie, high-taste ‘cuisine équilibrée’ over the Michelin-starred delights of Bad Ragaz’s Abtestube Restaurant – I’m clearly a little sleep-deprived – I enjoy a second hit of serenity at the resort’s private To B Spa. The soap-sud massage and colonnaded thermal pool are glorious, but the steam room embellished with Swarovksi crystals is a little too Joan Collins for my taste.

The day knocks me for six. But, while I relax, Dr Däppen studies the seven-hour movie of my first night and analyses my brain waves, heart rate, muscle spasms and breathing efficiency.

At our final meeting, he can point to the murky infrared images, turn up the volume and announce ‘that slight pop at 11.16pm is the opening up of your airways.’ It’s a little eerie.

My 407.5 minutes of shut-eye contained five healthy cycles. But I experienced 200 arousals – abrupt reductions in sleep quality – woke up on 19 occasions, and kicked my legs a staggering 387 times: the fault of a condition called periodic limb movement and obstructed breathing. It’s terrible quality sleep.

We watch and listen. There’s snoring.

I gallantly blame my wife. The film proves it’s me. There’s no escape. But there is hope. Dr Däppen suggests a dopamine agonist drug for my nocturnal movement and a new statin, as my current cholesterol medication may cause muscle spasms. I depart as informed as I am refreshed. Weeks later a wedge of graphs, figures and analysis arrives through the post – the most hi-tech holiday album of my life.

Sleep Diagnostics at Bad Ragaz (+41 (0) 81 303 3030, resortragaz.ch) costs £2,213pp including two nights’ B&B, consultations and analysis. Fly to Zurich from £130 return, ba.com

ROAD TRIP Cycling has never been so popular, which has seen bike and kit companies upping their game in every way imaginable Of the many transport innovations Britain has given the world – the locomotive, the double decker bus, the commercial jet airliner – the most commonly used, and certainly the one with the fewest downsides, is the ‘modern’ diamond-frame bicycle.

In the same year that Karl Benz ‘invented’ the car – 1885 – Rover (later a car maker itself) gave the world its most brilliant creation.

The modern bicycle was stronger, lighter, faster and simpler than anything before.

Although it has evolved mightily, it is still recognisably the same machine first designed

by Rover founder John Kemp Starley and built in his workshops in Coventry.

No country has seen a greater boom in cycling than Britain in recent years. Overall, UK cycle use has increased about 12 per cent over the past decade. In London, however, it has more than doubled over the same period, and the goal is even more ambitious: a 400 per cent increase by 2026 compared with 2001.

Online retailers offer tempting kit and an array of cycles – hybrids, mountain bikes, single-speed urban bikes, tasty Tour de France style racers – some costing up to £10,000. Bike retail chains such as Evans and Action Bikes are growing, while upmarket bike shops such as Condor Cycles – whose handmade road bikes typically cost more than £2,000 – report booming business. Sales at Condor grew from 2,500 bikes in 2010 to 3,500 last year. This year, Condor expects to sell more than 4,000 bikes.

And Mayor Boris Johnson’s Barclayssponsored bike hire scheme has been a huge

cycling | BRUMMEll 39

40 BRUMMELL | cycLing

success. So far London has seen more than 11 million cycle hires (the most popular docking site is Waterloo Station).

But it’s not just bikes. It’s bike apparel.

Rapha, launched in 2004, makes premium cycling gear aimed at urban and road cyclists.

Its kit includes merino base layers, jerseys and, new-for-2012, hand-cut Yak-leather cycling shoes.

British cycling booms because it is often the fastest, cheapest and most enjoyable – not to mention healthiest – way to commute. It also blossoms because, to a fitness-conscious middle class, cycling is a good way to keep fit as well as own a tasty piece of machinery. Plus, unlike running, it doesn’t pound ageing knees, ankles and hips.

Inspired by the likes of Mark Cavendish, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton – and by the popularity of events such as the Tour de France – men and women are donning their Lycra and pedalling skinny-framed racing bicycles with newfound zeal.

I admit to being an addict. Two Étape du Tour races – in which amateurs compete on one (always mountainous) stage of the Tour de France – one Raid Pyrénéen (a 720km challenge across the Pyrenees), numerous UK cyclosportives in the UK, and three racing bicycles in the garage, are testament to my obsession. There is, quite simply, no form of transport so sublimely simple or beautiful as a racing bicycle.

The technology is part of its multifarious appeal. The modern racing bicycle has come a long way since beefy swains first undertook the Tour de France on heavy steel-framed single-speed bikes (with different-sized sprockets on either side of the rear wheel, so a rider could stop and turn the wheel, depending on whether he was climbing a hill or descending). These days most bikes have light aluminium frames, 10-speed rear cassettes and usually two (sometimes three) different-sized front chainrings. Gear-shifting is effected in an instant thanks to the modern

FRaME acadEMy Previous page: The Factor 001 from bf1systems, the most hi-tech bike ever made. Above: Ultra-light tubes from Cannondale’s new Evo, left to right, head, rear and seat

dérailleur, previewed in the late Twenties, widespread from the Sixties.

Now electronic gears – in which electronic shifters are used, rather than conventional control levers attached to cables – are winning favour. The Japanese manufacturer Shimano was first to hit the market. Italian rival Campagnolo recently launched its pricier but classier rival.

Advantages include faster shifting and less maintenance. The key disadvantage is cost – a Shimano Di2 groupset costs from £1,500 while Campagnolo’s new Super Record EPS costs around £4,000. That’s before you fit it to a bicycle. You also wouldn’t want to run out of battery power half way through a ride.

Nonetheless, this is a technology that’s catching on fast, and will no doubt soon filter down to top-end commuting bikes and simultaneously come down in price. Next on the market will be a totally wireless system – Shimano and Campagnolo boffins are working on it as you read this.

The other great revolution has been frame and wheel construction, thanks mostly to the lightweight high-strength wonders of modern carbon fibre. Nowadays, carbon fibre front forks are common – even in inexpensive commuting bicycles – and most racing bicycles costing more than £1,500 will have full carbon frames. Carbon is also increasingly used to make bars, stems, seat posts and even wheels.

The racing bicycle has come a long way since beefy swains first undertook the Tour de France on steel-framed single-speed bikes

Cannondale’s new Evo racing bike supposedly has the lightest mass-made frame ever built, just 695g for a 56cm size. Fit a decent set of wheels, gears, handlebars and tyres, and you’re looking at a total bike weight of just 6.5kg.

(That compares with an early Tour de France racer weighing in at about 16kg.) As a complete bike it costs from under £4,000 – astonishing value.

For around six times the price – £23,400 – you can buy what is probably the most hi-tech bike ever made. The Factor 001 is the brainchild of Formula One supplier bf1systems, and showcases its electronic and materials technology in particular. The frame is a twin-vane design, made from carbon, which offers unusual strength and stiffness.

The wheels are full carbon, too. Hydraulic disc brakes are also unusual for a road bike.

But it is the electronics that most distinguish the Factor 001 from conventional cycles. This bike measures things that no ordinary cycle can measure, such as useful pedal force versus wasted effort (where there is tension but no torque). It can measure cornering force, lean angles, gradients, cadence, and many other things, all of which can be easily downloaded to your laptop.

The Factor 001 is not meant to be a Tour de France winner. Rather, it’s meant to be the ultimate training tool, to help Messrs Wiggins, Hoy and Cavendish win the big races. A new version of it, marketed as the Aston Martin One-77 Cycle, is aimed at those who may fancy the ultimate road bike as a partner to their high-speed sports car. It costs £25,000.

The bf1systems techies looked at every single component of the typical road bicycle and redesigned the front forks, the frame, the brakes – most bits. One component they didn’t touch was the chain, which is still not so very different from John Kemp Starley’s day. It remains the best way to transmit power from leg to rear wheel. Sometimes, the old-fashioned way is still best.

Words Gavin Green

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IN THE BAG Although steeped in tradition, golf is a sport that revels in technological advances.

Here’s a round-up of the latest course workers Words Jeremy Ellwood

1

Golf may still seem a bastion of tradition, but its equipment has undergone near-constant evolution and innovation from day one. And as we all know, innovation pays scant regard to tradition. Where drivers were once crafted from wood right down to their hickory shafts, now they’re a mix of titanium and graphite; where balls once had rubber windings inside, they are now a high-tech blend of polymers and elastomers; and where golfers once used just their eyes for judgement, gadgetry now tells them exactly how far, and which part of the course to aim for. Purists may object, but undoubtedly it helps millions derive ever greater pleasure from this often bewildering sport. Here are five of the latest clubs, and four accessories to help improve your game.

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1. Mizuno JPX-800 irons Mizuno, the king of the classic-looking iron, may be the choice of world number one, Luke Donald, but few of us can hope to hit small-headed blades and relatively unforgiving shallow cavity-back irons with any great consistency. Mercifully, Mizuno is all too aware that most need a little help on the forgiveness and distance fronts, hence this JPX-800 model. An extraordinarily thin clubface pushes energy transfer to the maximum permitted levels, while a deep rear cavity enlarges the sweet spot and lowers the centre of gravity for extra forgiveness when the middle of the clubface proves elusive. Add an extremely versatile sole design, and it’s clear that Mizuno is equally eager to satisfy the playing demands of both poor and pure ball-strikers. £75 per iron (steel shaft); golf.mizunoeurope.com

2. Adams Idea Super XTD Hybrid In the mid-Nineties, Barney Adams’ revolutionary Tight Lies clubs turned fairway woods on their heads – by making the sole rather than the crown the most curved part of the clubhead, to help golfers sweep the ball away more easily from any lie. The firm has since diversified, and gone on to become the most played hybrid brand on the PGA Tour. This latest Idea Super XTD takes innovation to another level with a multi-material head – titanium in the face and crown and steel in the sole – to generate extra ball speed, and therefore distance. Velocity Slot Technology – a cutaway channel in the sole – boosts launch angles and reduces spin rates, creating a deceptively powerful little beast, and uses technology more akin to that of a driver than a hybrid. £229; adamsgolf.com

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3. Nike VR Pro STR8-FIT driver Once upon a time you chose a club off the shelf, paid your money and headed off to the first tee.

Then came custom-fitting, as manufacturers realised golfers came in all shapes and sizes, with idiosyncratic swings that required different ‘specs’. Today there are even clubs you can adjust yourself to fine-tune things yet further.

The VR Pro’s astonishing levels of selfadjustability come via Nike’s ingenious STR8-FIT system, which lets you set the head to 32 different positions via 0.25˚ increments, varying lateral ball flight dispersion by up to 45 yards.

So if you struggle with a slice, you can dilute its damaging effects without major swing surgery.

Such technical wizardry would have had Old Tom Morris shaking his head in disbelief! £360; nikegolfeurope.com

4. Odyssey Backstryke putter From classic head shapes to space-age mallets, via all manner of grips, shaft lengths and face materials, pretty much anything goes on the putting green, where the simple task of rolling a ball into a hole can prove surprisingly perplexing.

Odyssey’s unusual-looking Backstryke putters plough a different furrow by attaching the shaft to the very back of the head rather than the front.

This places the shaft axis more in line with the clubhead’s centre of gravity, pushing the hands forward to promote a more balanced, upward stroke – thus generating extra roll-enhancing topspin. It also helps prevent the wrists breaking down, a major cause of missed putts. So does it work? Just ask Thomas Bjørn, who’s returned to winning ways in style since popping one in the bag. £170; odysseygolf.com

5. TaylorMade RocketBallz RBZ fairway wood Golf clubs have long been christened with macho-sounding names to graphically convey their power-enhancing credentials, but few have made quite such a bold statement of intent as TaylorMade’s latest RocketBallz range. These fairway woods have created a stir on tour with even prodigious bomber Dustin Johnson bagging himself an extra 20 yards or so. The power comes from a variety of sources, primarily the Speed Pocket – a slot in the sole behind the face – designed to boost ball speed at impact. Add an ultra-forgiving, high-launching clubhead, plus a lightweight shaft and grip, and you’ve got all the ingredients for rocket-like power, especially if you also arm yourself with an accompanying RocketBallz golf ball. £179; taylormadegolf.com

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6 6. Titleist Velocity golf ball Titleist has long reigned supreme among golf balls with its Pro V1 dominating ‘ball counts’ on tour since its early 21st-century launch. But premium performance comes at a premium price (around £45 a dozen), which many mere mortals can’t justify given how many balls they’re prone to lose. The new Velocity seeks to help by offering near-premium performance at a friendlier price.

Traditionally, less expensive balls have delivered oodles of distance, but at the cost of feel around the greens. An ultra-responsive LSX core means the Velocity still delivers distance in abundance, but a groundbreaking NaZ2 cover promises added greenside accuracy without the distance trade-off. Perhaps you really can now have it all without breaking the bank. £28 per dozen; titleist.co.uk 7. SkyCaddie SGXw GPS rangefinder Modern golfers have developed an insatiable desire to know everything possible about the demands of the shot in hand before hitting it.

Neither 150-yard markers nor well-designed yardage books are enough now for many in the increasingly sophisticated world of GPS distance-measuring devices. The latest SGXw from SkyCaddie, a major player in golf technology, goes a step further by letting you download course maps and analyse your stats wirelessly. With its brilliant full-colour display it can do myriad things, from providing precise yardages from any point on the course, to displaying intricate detail of the contours on the greens via its IntelliGreen function, or letting you track your scores and analyse how far you hit each club. The only thing it can’t do is actually play the shot for you. £330; skygolf.com

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8. Gee-Swing electronic swing training aid Many golf instructors now use high-tech launch monitors to analyse swings and pinpoint areas of weakness, via a wealth of important data from clubhead and ball speed, to launch angles and spin rates. But they’re prohibitively pricey for average club golfers, so this inexpensive gizmo may provide a partial solution. It attaches to the shaft near the clubhead and measures G-Force throughout the swing, feeding a million-plus readings into a microprocessor to reveal clubhead speed and highlight whether or not peak acceleration coincides with impact – as it should do for optimum ball speed and distance – or elsewhere. The accompanying DVD provides tips to improve clubhead speed and tempo. £75; gee-swing.com 9. Golf GameBook smartphone app Information overload is an outdated notion these days, with social networking sites proving how much we long to know about the minutiae of others’ lives. So a free smartphone app to help you keep up with the exploits and achievements of your golfing comrades comes as no great surprise. The app boasts both on-course and off-course elements. On-course there are live leaderboards, chat facilities, an in-app camera and a scoring facility to keep check on each and every side bet you might have with your friends, leaving you to concentrate on trying to beat them. Off-course, in the virtual clubhouse, you can analyse the scores and statistics of anyone in your circle, send out automatic game invites, post comments and create your own mini leagues and tournaments. Facebook for golfers, and much more besides.

Free download; golfgamebook.com

THE MOST COVETED ADDRESS IN GOLF

hamilton grand With an unparalleled location set by the 18th Green and fairway of the world’s most famous Golf Course, Hamilton Grand is being sensitively restored with an “Art Deco” interior. Offering a truly exhilarating and uniquely Scottish experience.

This is a unique real estate opportunity for those who want to own a home in the birthplace of golf and in a premier destination that is rich in history.

To discuss the opportunity to buy an apartment at Hamilton Grand, please contact David Vaughan at Savills L&P Ltd dvaughan@savills.com +44 (0)20 7016 3740 HamiltonGrand.co.uk

This is not an offer directed to residents of any state in which registration is required, but in which registration and/or licensing requirements have not yet been met. California residents please refer to the Hamilton Grand website (HamiltonGrand.co.uk/legal) for further disclaimer. This advertising material is being used for the purpose of soliciting sales of vacation membership timeshare interests.

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BanG fOR YOUR BUck B&O’s store-within-astore at the new Harrods technology department

power play The new Harrods technology department has the potential to be such a big hitter in consumer electronics, it comes as quite a surprise to discover who runs it

The department is full of carefully picked top-of-therange products, including a good sprinkling of exclusives

If you were looking for a brand to symbolise cutting-edge consumer technology, Harrods may not spring to mind. Similarly, if you wanted a technology store where you could rely on high quality and helpful customer service, Dixons might be some way down your list. It is paradoxical in the extreme, then, that pretty much the best – and most upmarket – technology store in London is, since its recent re-opening, to be found in Harrods and is run by… Dixons.

The new technology department on Harrods’ third floor is no ordinary Dixons. In fact, you’d have to be observant to realise that it’s a Dixons branch at all. In an attempt to slough off its cheap yet cheerless high-street image, Dixons Retail plc has in recent years rebranded itself to the point where almost nobody knows what it’s called.

Among these paroxysms of increasingly desperate rebranding (most of the high street stores becoming the sublimely awkward ‘Currys and PC World’) one brand has emerged unsullied by the unfortunate image of Dixons: its support and service business Knowhow. It’s this not-atall badly conceived Knowhow brand that is visible all over the new Harrods technology department – and it sits well in these smart and confidenceinspiring surroundings.

The new Harrods technology department is expansive at 22,000 sq ft – not as big, of course, as a ‘Currys and PC World’ megastore, but is

far more interesting because it’s full of carefully picked top-of-the-range products, including (at the time of launch at least) a good sprinkling of exclusives. Over half of the products here are not available at any normal Dixons store, even the airport outlets. Harrods was, for example, the first place it was possible earlier this year to see ritzy German TV maker Loewe’s new smart 3D television range, Porsche Design’s special edition P’9981 BlackBerry and Fujifilm’s brilliant new semi-professional X-Pro1 camera with three lenses and accessories, all in a limited edition Globetrotter case.

If that doesn’t convince the sceptical that this really is different from a run-of-the-mill Dixons branch, the roll call of other brands prominently on show should do. Filling the mouth-watering retail acreage you’ll find a super-abundance of Apple, Sony, Leica, Pentax, Audiolab, Geneva, Parrot, Carl Zeiss, Nikon, Sonos, Panasonic, Canon, Samsung, Toshiba, and even Hasselblad– a rarity outside rarefied professional photography stores.

Dixons’ Knowhow offering, in Harrods, translates into a bespoke suite of services, including same-day delivery, in-store tutorials, complimentary set-up services and custom installation, including bespoke design and fit of multi-room audio, home cinema and networking.

Beyond the Dixons outpost there is a second room, connected by a marble-lined tunnel. In the ‘lifestyle’ room can be found storeswithin-a-store by Porsche Design, Loewe, Bang & Olufsen, Vodafone, James Bond-style accessory specialist Spymaster, and Osim, the Singaporebased makers of a remarkable range of relaxation chairs and other vibrating accessories.

‘The most important thing about Harrods’ new department,’ explains David Miller, the Knightsbridge store’s director of home and technology, ‘is that we get the newest, best and most innovative products. Our customers have an insatiable appetite for anything that’s new, so we need to be sure we’re at the forefront of technology.

‘Additionally, with the intense competition in this market, we need to have staff with the knowledge to meet, and over-meet, customers’ expectations.’ Price-wise, Miller points out, Dixons aims to equal its normal prices – there should be no premium for buying products just because the customer happens to be in Harrods.

All the signs are that Harrods’ technology department – the branch of Dixons you never thought you’d see – will become an institution for gadget fans from all over the world. harrods.com Words Jonathan Margolis