Oharmony

Harmony

S/O EQUILIBRIO

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TO BREAK THE RULES, YOU MUST FIRST MASTER THEM. THE VALLÉE DE JOUX. FOR MILLENNIA A HARSH, UNYIELDING ENVIRONMENT; AND SINCE 1875 THE HOME OF AUDEMARS PIGUET, IN THE VILLAGE OF LE BRASSUS. THE EARLY WATCHMAKERS WERE SHAPED HERE, IN AWE OF THE FORCE OF NATURE YET DRIVEN TO MASTER ITS MYSTERIES THROUGH THE COMPLEX MECHANICS OF THEIR CRAFT. STILL TODAY THIS PIONEERING SPIRIT INSPIRES US TO CONSTANTLY CHALLENGE THE CONVENTIONS OF FINE WATCHMAKING.

ROYAL OAK SELFWINDING IN STAINLESS STEEL AND PINK GOLD

S/O ARMONÍA

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Facundo Pieres y Agustina Wernicke

shop.etiquetanegra.us/ S/O ARMONĂ?A

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S/O ARMONÍA

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Staff

Summary

Director Mimi Kohen General Director Mercedes Quintana Assistant Director Lucía Barro Quintana Editor in chief Mariana Riveiro art director Enrique de Azcuénaga proofreading Adriana Kogan

14. The Chosen Ones. How do you maintain harmony? Three leading figures from the business and art world answer this question and more.

20. First Class. Much more than tourism, five destinations to get away from the city and find yourself.

26. Kaleidoscopic. A retrospective of the work of Rogelio Polesello, the great op art and kinetic art figure.

32. Marketing Memories. A selection of seductive objects that build a bridge between the image of the past and the technology of the future.

36. Column. Carlos Álvarez Insua’s hilosophical reflections and personal notes on harmony.

40. Ménage à Trois. The elegance of black, just a couple of white touches, completed to perfection with the best jewels and watches.

54. At The Top. Martín Auzmendi muses on Philippe Petit, the Frenchman who crossed the abyss between the Twin Towers on a steel cable.

58. Purity to the Forefront. Watches that tell you the hour, minutes and seconds. When complexity is removed, classic looks emerge.

66. Julián Bedel. We interview the man behind Fueguía 1833, who thinks creating a perfume is like composing a melody.

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74. In Praise of Tidiness. Profile of Marie Kondo, author of the global bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, based on the idea of joy as a guiding principal.

76. Daniel Piazzolla. A chat with Astor Piazzolla’s grandson, a drummer who has left his mark on the Argentine jazz scene.

82. Le rouge et le noir. From the 65th floor of the Rockefeller Center in New York, a chronicle of a unique night that saw Montblanc celebrate 110 years of excellence and prestige.

86. Deus ex machina. Watch expert Carlos Álvarez Insúa chooses the most stunning tourbillons from the Swiss haute horlogerie fairs.

98. Niki Nakayama. The thoughts of this Japanese chef who has mastered the culinary art of kaiseki, a technique based on the combination of flavours in perfect balance.

104. 5 cars that made history.

When a design achieves the epitome of perfection, the rules change forever. So it was with the launch of these cars.

112. The urban explorer.

Checking out Montblanc’s new collection, Urban Spirit.

Translator Diego Tunnard Printer Latingráfica Contributors Florencia Zielinski, Luciana OlmedoWehitt, Maxi Poter, Martín Auzmendi, Andrea Cukier, Carlos Insúa, Gabriel Silveira Photographs Javier Picerno, Lobo Velar Photo retouching Sebastián Cúneo y Tuco Studio Illustrations Carlus Rodríguez Make Up Mauricio Camilo for Sebastián Correa Estudio Hairstyling Juan Olivera Photography assistant Julio Rodeyro Thanks to Hotel Club Francés, Rodríguez Peña 1832, CABA. Hotelclubfrancés.com.ar

S /O is a publication of Simonetta Orsini S.R.L. The total or partial reproduction of the contents even mentioning the source is prohibited. The editors are not responsible for the opinions expressed by the employees, those interviewed or advertising messages. Intellectual Property Registration pending.

A RT E SA N OS DE E T E R N I DA D D E S D E 1 755 260 años de historia ininterrumpida reflejan la transmisión de nuestro savoir-faire relojero.

PAT R I M O N Y F E CH A - D Í A R E T RÓ G R A D OS

Certificación Sello de Ginebra

Argentina Posadas 1101 – Buenos Aires +54 11 4811 1409 / 1353 – www.simonettaorsini.com 11

Editorial

Cover watch Our pick to capture the harmony concept is this Royal Oak chronograph by Audemars Piguet, a celebrated model renowned for its octagonal bezel. This timepiece has an 18-carat pink gold face, 41mm diameter, sapphire crystal with antireflection treatment and screw-lock crown. The black dial with “Grand Tapisserie” motif has Royal Oak applique hour markers and hands in pink gold with luminescent coating.

The calibre is 2385 automatic movement, featuring hours, minutes, date and small seconds. It has a 40-hour power reserve and is waterproof to 50 metres.

harmony comes in many forms. while the concept expresses primarily a musical phenomenon, it can be extended to many other concepts: a lifestyle, a state of mind, or even a system of order. In this edition of S/O we bow down to the power of balance, of perfect equilibrium, the ideal condition, and we do so in different ways. We search out those universal destinations that tourists make a pilgrimage to, paradoxically, to find themselves; we take a look at the work of Rogelio Polesello, the craftsman of lines and shapes in equilibrium; we find the technological objects that strike an ideal balance between past and present; and we choose the five automobile models that revolutionized the industry with their combination of power and safety, aesthetics and engineering, form and function. And we highlight the perfect harmony and elegance in the Ménage à Trois dress collection.

Two main themes run through the long articles on watches: the strength of the classic line, and tourbillons, those haute horlogerie pieces dedicated to countering gravity.

Our interviewees have one thing in common: the perfumer Julián Bedel, the drummer Daniel Piazzolla (grandson of tango legend Astor Piazzolla), and the tailor Nicolás Zaffora represent three ways of pursuing the same goal: attaining harmony through a method that is organic, inexact and intuitive.

Direct from Geneva and Basle, we drop in at the Swiss watch fairs to check out the most perfect timepieces launched by the leading brands.

As well as all that, Martín Auzmendi shares his reflections on the history of Philippe Petit, the French funambulist who in 1974 tensed a cable between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City and walked across. A subversive act that shows something inherent in mankind: the willingness to take risks and find a balance to make a dream come true. This edition is all about that utopia of perfect balance and supreme harmony. ¶ Martín De Leeuw Simonetta Orsini President

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the picks A department store CEO, the art director of a studio for leading international fashion houses, and one of Argentina’s biggest bartenders talk about harmony.

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What activity makes you feel balanced?

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What is the perfect marriage of food and drink?

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What design product that you use every day do you think has just the right balance of functionality and aesthetics?

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In which city do you feel most comfortable?

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What works of art interest or inspire you?

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How do you handle the passing of time?

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A piece of music, a musician or a band that centres you and reminds you who you are.

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What is the best time of day?

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What drives you mad and why?

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What do you call success?

the picks | Gabriel Brener, CEO of Editor Market.

1. Training and practicing taekwondo makes me feel balanced.

2. The perfect marriage is grilled beef and wine.

3. iPad+external keyboard is perfection.

4. I feel comfortable in Buenos Aires.

It will always be my home.

5. I connect most with modern art, twentieth century and onwards.

6. I handle the passing of time with gratitude and a little psychoanalysis.

7. Gustavo Cerati grew at the same time I was developing. There’s always something of him at any time for me.

8. The best time of the day is dinner with MarĂ­a and my children.

9. Making the same mistake twice drives me mad, or seeing other people do it.

10. Success to me is having given everything to be better. Father, husband, friend, sportsman, businessman, partner, student, teacher, adversary.

Ultimately, a person. And that that should have a positive effect on me and others.

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THE PICKS | Sofía Sánchez Berrenechea, Art DIrector.

1. Work 2. The perfect marriage is sushisake-sake-sushi-sake-sake-sake.

3. The iPhone is perfect.

4. In New York.

5. I’m inspired by works of art that take me back to a captivating moment, or remind me of a loved one, a wonderful place or a hidden feeling.

6. I enjoy life more and more, with greater perspective and security.

7. Grupo Ráfaga make me remember that there is no music more joyful than cumbia, and that I should always dance like a girl with no modesty.

8. Dinnertime, the best meal!

9. The lack of ethics and professionalism drives me mad. I don’t like dealing with dishonest and ignorant people.

10. Happiness.

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We assemble every single watch twice.

Because perfection takes time.

For us, perfection is a matter of principle. This is why, on principle, we

cleaned and decorated by hand with finishing and polishing techniques,

craft all timepieces with the same care and assemble each watch twice.

followed by the final assembly procedure. This assures long-term

Thus, after the Lange 1 Time Zone has been assembled for the first time

functional integrity and the immaculacy of all artisanal finishes.

and precisely adjusted, it is taken apart again. The movement parts are

Even if this takes a little more time. www.alange-soehne.com

Posadas 1101· Buenos Aires, Argentina · Tel: +54 11 4811-1409/1353 · www.simonettaorsini.com

THE PICKS | Tato Giovanoni, Bartender.

1. The sea. Being close to it, looking at it, listening to it and being able to sail in it.

2. Seafood or raw fish with Cyn Tonic (Príncipe de Apóstoles gin, Cynar, Pulpo Blanco tonic and a sprig of eucalyptus.)

3. A graphite pencil. It’s a very simple thing but I have a soft spot for graphite. Hehehe.

4. In Río de Janeiro, where I’ve lived for the last two years. I feel really comfortable here, I felt that way before I arrived.

5. Various. A book that Fernando Trocca gave me for my birthday, Jorge Luis Borges, Autobiografía; The Physician by Noah Gordon; Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi, by Donald Spoto; In the Mood for Love, by Wong Kar-Wai. I could go on for hours, ha ha ha, but I think that’s enough.

6. Knowing to be patient.

7. There are a lot of songs, but the other day I realised it was years since I’d listened to my favourite band from when I was young, Midnight Oil, and just then a song came on: “The Power and the Passion” and these very nice images came to mind of sitting by the sea in Pinamar, in winter. It was a picture of peace and harmony.

8. Night time is the best time.

9. Envy and selfishness, people who waste time watching and criticizing what others do instead of following their own dreams or focusing on what makes them happy.

10. Doing what makes you happy every day. Being happy with yourself is success in itself.

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Inside just like the outside

From a paradise of thermal springs and a surreal landscape of geysers and turquoise waters, to an ashram to find yourself in meditation, anything goes when you’re looking for balance. Five trips that are much more than tourism.

txt Luciana Olmedo-Wehitt

There’s no obligation to undergo the Freudian transfer that Julia Roberts’ character goes through in Eat, Play, Love to see that in the stress of modern life it’s vital not to lose touch with our desire, the source of primordial energy.

For some years we’ve been aware that we alone are responsible for keeping our own Wi-Fi antenna straight, giving us the fundamental balance to live well. Some people, like Julia, prefer to make adjustments softly, softly. Starting with cucina italiana and other hedonistic pleasures until they reach into the depths of their being. The bravest, on the other hand, are keen to take a leap in the dark, looking for their own enlightenment in the chinks of light. The roads, like those who travel along them, are unique and varied. There are no magic formulas but there are fantastic places where you can find your best version of yourself.

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Blue Lagoon, Iceland

What we know about Iceland is that it’s an island still being formed in the middle of the Atlantic, rich in volcanoes and glaciers, that during the summer the sun sets at dawn and that in winter there isn’t so much light. However, few people know that paradise on earth is to be found there. Named by National Geographic as one of the twenty-five wonders of the world in 2012, The Blue Lagoon is just twenty-four miles from the capital Reykjavik, one of the most visited destinations in the land of Björk. Amid lava fields and surrounded by imaginary columns of steam, this supreme sight envelopes us and, like in childhood, brings back to us that pre-socialization instinct that makes us commune with nature without questioning anything.

In the mid 1970s, when a geothermal power plant was built here, a stream of water sprang unexpectedly nearby. Alerted to its curative powers, psoriasis sufferers started to come and visit. Over the years, new visitors came to the lagoon, drawn by its blue algae and the mineral composition of the mud (rich in while silicon and sulphur), substances with exfoliating, nutritional and rejuvenating powers. In 1999, the lagoon was moved to an 800-year-old lava field on the Reykjavik Peninsula.

There it continues receiving water from the Svartsengi power station which, along with water from the ocean, makes a total of 9 million litres of geothermal sea water which is maintained at an average temperature of 37-39ºC all year round.

Wellness tourism is the forte of this resort which, year after year, gains new amenities, including a hotel, a covered lagoonswimming pool, a sauna, steam baths, massage services under the water and a silicon bar. All this in a paradisiacal setting, set against cliffs whose volcano black contrasts harmonically with the green blue of the glaciers, waterfalls and a lagoon whose waters have to be drunk.

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Rishikesh, India

From the Alps to the Himalayas, and from the perfect purity of Evian to the sacred and highly contaminated waters of the River Ganges, we come to Rishikesh, the universe’s yoga centre. Since the 1960s, when The Beatles travelled to India to learn transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the city has been in the mouths and minds of the western world. One of the most productive experiences for the Beatles, which culminated in the The Beatles (“The White Album”), was a direct result of their time in these eastern lands.

Most of the ashrams are to be found a mile and half up river, divided in two by the hanging footbridges Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula, frequently inhabited by the monkeys that inspired the song “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” (the same ones that keep leaping impertinently from one side to the other, making the bridges swing quite frightfully.) The best people who

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cantell you what meditation to do and where are the sadhus, the living saints of Hinduism who, disconnected from all family and caste ties, gave up their material possessions to devote their lives to one of the three gods of the Trimurti (Shiva, Visnu and Brahma).

Every day at sunset, a large part of the town moves to the temple of Parmarth Niketan, the largest ashram in the area. The ganga aarti takes place there, a ritual of singing, meditating and lighting candles as offerings to the Ganges. There is healing with crystals and you can take sitar and tabla classes. Your stay at this retreat, which like most ashrams operates from donations, with no fixed price, includes two daily yoga classes and teachings on the Vedic philosophy and religion. The Sivananda Ashram also offers free yoga and meditation classes as well as free lodging if booking in advance. And at the Omkarananda Ganga Sadan, specializing in Iyengar yoga, based on the technical precision of the positions, you can attend readings of the sacred text Bhagavad Gita.

Kōyasan, Japan

Octavio Paz once referred to Japan as a country that “lives off of its own substance”.

In other words, a place where we are not taught to think but to feel. Like in haikus, where from one seasonal word a whole poem is conceived and instants recreated; the idea of the part representing the whole is one of the maxims of the Land of the Rising Sun. Processes, then, are much more important than results. For this reason the garden paths leading to tea houses, museums and pagodas are built with fountains and rests, stops and curves, so that visitors are aware of their steps, feeling their being here and now.

The undisputed spiritual path for anyone looking to secure themselves to the present is that of Mount Koya, or Kōyasan, the most important centre for Shingon Buddhism, a religion introduced into the country in 805

by Kobo Daishi (Kukai). Declared a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2004, over 15 million travellers walk the pilgrimage roads in Kōyasan every year, varying between one and a half and fourteen miles. For these travellers, the world is not just there to be observed but also to immerse oneself in experience. This remote refuge, 800 metres above sea level in the forest-covered Kii mountains, leads you to conceive the space as a continuum between artificial and natural. This subtle limit is fundamental for the Japanese tradition and is internalized both in the architecture of its towns and in la vita nuda of its inhabitants.

Over 100 temples can be seen along the famous Kumano Kodo road in this double journey (to the distance and to the bottom).

Highlights include Garan Temple, built by Kobi Daishi and surrounded by grandiose pagodas, the Okunoin mausoleum, accessed via a road full of headstones and monuments, and Kongobuji, the central, temple of Shingon Buddhism. Most function as shukubo, offering accommodation and the opportunity to live with the monks, attend morning meditations and try vegetarian dishes (shojin ryori).

The visit to Kōyasan stimulates a shift in perspective, integration of oneself with the diverse, and the “praise for shadow” that, as Junichiro Tanizaki made clear in his manifesto of the same name, is the only place where the other feelings can grow stronger.

Évian-les-Bains, France

On the shores of Lake Geneva, surrounded by hills in the middle of the Alps is the town that gives its name to the most famous mineral water in the world. In the eighteenth century, European royals began to enjoy the therapeutic properties of its medicinal waters, and they’ve been coming back to this town in the department of Haute-Savoie in southeast France ever since.

Renowned for developing hydrotherapy treatments that caused notable improvements in digestive and metabolic illnesses, in the twentieth century Évian-les-Bains grew to be one of the most celebrated spa towns in the world. It was soon home to luxury hotels, opulent mansions and extraordinary villas. The Hotel Royal, home to the renowned Evian Resort, and the Hotel Ermitage with its Quatre Terres Spa, offer guests physiotherapy treatments, decontracture massage, shiatsu and facials, reflexology and lymphatic drainage. The most popular spring in the area is Cachat –which flows continuously at 11.6ºC– as hundreds of years ago its waters cured renowned French political figure Baron de la Rochette of a mysterious disease.

As well as these aesthetic and medicinal benefits, the town gives visitors the chance to visit other places for relaxation and inspiration. Summer beaches and winter ski resorts, villas such as the one once owned by the Lumière brothers (a former spa and now an art gallery) the neoclassical-style theatre built by a student of Charles Garmier (architect of the Paris Opera), the Casino d’Evian, a seventeenth-century palace with a magnificent neo-Byzantine dome that was bequeathed to the town in 1877, and the spectacular Art Nouveau Cachat building. are all must-sees.

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Koh Samui, Thailand

Known as “the land of the free man” (prathet thai), this eastern country in the shape of an elephant’s head is enormously open to foreigners (farang). But tradition has unbreakable ties in the life of each of its citizens.

In the poorer north, native mountain peoples (chao knao) of diverse ethnic groups live side by side. They have different beliefs and speak several languages. These are mostly refugees on the run from the dictatorship in neighbouring Burma and they make a living from the sale of rice, other grains and opium. Around these tribal villages, as we explore further into the tropical vegetation surrounding the landscape, we find thermal waters, waterfalls and canyons. The south, in contrast, offers exotic beaches whose white sand ends in an incredible range of jade, emerald and turquoise waters.

The islands of Koh Phangan (famous for its full moon electronic parties), Koh Tao (one of the best scuba diving spots) and Koh Samui are some of the best beaches.

The latter is an explosive cocktail of the first two (parties and great food + scuba diving) with the addition of untouched beaches in the nearby Ang Thong National Marine Park and the best spas in the area. All this makes

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this old fishing village—the island’s 77 square miles can be covered in a couple of hours if you rent a motorbike— an ideal destination for tourists of all budgets.

The Kamalaya Koh Samui was awarded the best holistic spa in the country, and it offers 75 wellness programmes tailor-made for each guest. Detox, anti-stress, nutrition and yoga are just some of the specialities of this sanctuary on a cliff, in a cave where Buddhist monks used to meditate. The emphasis here is on integrating body and mind, and to achieve this, the excellent naturopathy staff will smoothly guide you in putting together a personalized routine.

Life is short and youth is tyrannical, as Paolo Sorrentino reminds us in his latest, delicious film, La Giovinezza, filmed entirely in a Swiss spa. The reach for wellness in these places where the reconnection with nature and attentively listening to the silence invariably occur, is much more profound than perhaps one expects when booking the flights and hotel. It’s a question of reaching the destination to turn it into a new starting point.

Pioneering since 1906.

For the pioneer in you.

Para celebrar sus 110 años de constante innovación, Montblanc rinde homenaje a una de sus primeras estilográficas emblemáticas, con la Montblanc Heritage Rouge et Noir, adornada con su icónica serpiente.

Lea la historia completa en montblanc.com/pioneering.

Crafted for New Heights.

25 Av. Alvear 1920 · (C1115AAJ) Buenos Aires · Argentina Tel.: (5411) 4804-7924/6781

Hexagon (1974-1975)

Circles (1968)

ka lei dos co pic

Frame (1968)

His work reveals the tension of the geometric line, movement and the refraction of light in pieces that pioneered Op Art and Kinetic Art. A look at the vast body of work of Rogelio Polesello, an artist who redefined forms.

TXT Luciana Olmedo-Wehitt

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t takes a great deal of childhood to dare to continue playing. For Rogelio Polesello, it all started with a crystal. As a boy, as well as exploring the harmony between the different tones of one colour, he would amuse himself by putting a piece of glass over his eye and looking through this prism at his mother’s drawings. Through these simple kaleidoscopes he gradually discovered the way the light fell on the objects and revealed their shadows. Unknowingly, he was drawing his first monochromes, and sculpting in his mind the impressions that years later would return in the form of paintings, sculptures, designs and murals: the optical and kinetic works that would become his trademark.

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Polychromy (1968)

Rogelio Polesello was born in Buenos Aires in 1939 and went to the Escuela Manuel Belgrano. In 1958 he graduated as a teacher of printing, drawing and painting from the Prilidiano Pueyrredón National School of Fine Arts. That same year, the Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely (considered the father of Op Art) came to Buenos Aires at the invitation of the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA). The impact of his works on the local art scene was admirable. Polesello always acknowledged this influence and when, in 1959, he had his first individual show at the legendary Peuser Gallery, the paintings he hung there evinced his concerns about the still latent and unexplored possibilities of geometric compositions related to the constructivist school. Optical illusions and kineticism were the chosen instruments to carry out this expedition that ultimately made him one of the local pioneers in both movements.

Although aligned to concrete art at international level, his new awareness of the existence of these undeveloped areas in geometric art led him further beyond: out of frame. The study of the aesthetics of movement—with Julio Le Parc in the vanguard locally—allowed him to recognise the limits of human blindness—victims of the world of appearances—and transform it into a source of inspiration in the creative potency that expanded his outlook. In this respect, his beginnings in the advertising sector added an important value to his trajectory. From very early on, advertising immersed him in the world of consumerism and revealed to him the power of the subliminal. The latter served as a trigger for him to go deeper into all the possibilities that one single plain— of a homogenous appearance—offered on being observed from different perspectives. In this way, in this search, Polesello took advantage of the apparent hardness of the geometry of the language that ena-

Polychromy (1968)

I SPY

bled him to narrate the camouflaged plasticity of the human mind. He was able to get back the innocence lost in childhood, that temporality in which man dares to understand life as a game, and he took it as a constitutive origin of experiences. Where others saw one colour or one shape, he multiplied them.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE The speeds that today accelerate the relationship between perception and technique are unprecedented. However, in the 1960s, when modernity was just getting started on the first symptoms of this connection, Polesello started to decompose the images of his paintings, prints and acrylic objects. He enlarged the format and obliged the spectator to assume an active attitude to them: he made the spectator a participant.

The 1960s were also the years of psychedelia and of exaltation of the senses, a period when reality could be deformed, questioned and, more importantly still, reinvented. Polesello’s imaginative strength did not deny it, but extracted from it its primitive potentialities. His geometric abstractions were then able to operate from a background of absence, as a novelty and as an opportunity to break with traditions inherited in the artistic relation between object and subject.

His works—exhibited during this period at the 2nd Latin American Art Biennial, sponsored by Industri-

as Kaiser (Córdoba, 1964), at the São Paulo Biennial (1965) and at the Instituto Di Tella (1969), among other places modified reality without needing to describe it. They provoked new perceptive sensations that put feeling in a state of shock, questioned it and showed the gap between perception (of experience as life) and the technical leap caused by its oscillations between figure and background, by its combinations of order and randomness, by its chromatic vibrations and by its constant search for movement in what is static.

The connection with advertising design also gave him a starting point so that his work was transversal and interdisciplinary. This flirtation with worlds located on the periphery of the plastic arts made him inquire into possible connections between these and architecture, design, body painting, urban interventions, cinema and fashion. These combinations led to the tapestries for the Galería del Sol; graphic designs for posters; art catalogues; experimentations with air guns and overlays (like in the Volkswagen 1500 that Guillermo Maldonado raced in his TC2000 races); the monochromatic murals facing each other at José Hernández station on Line D of the underground (which capture the lights and speeds of the space, and which are a product of his latter period in which— now closer to minimalism—he undertook an emptying of the canvas); the monument in the town of

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Zodiac (1966)

San Pedro to the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado (where, on a concrete base, a semicircle of chains symbolizes those used in 1845 to stop English and French ships from getting through); the sculpture in tribute to the Olympic Games in Plazoleta Barón Pierre de Coubertin (in which the colours create a sensation of movement); the drawings for the large windows in a building on Lima and Humberto Primo streets; the magnifying glasses in their pieces of carved acrylic (which gradually took on a greater size over the years and whose main mission was to deform the space or the paintings hung around it); and the great acrylic plaques which, with multiple concave and convex carvings, controvert the space.

A forerunner in the innovation of new supports and with materials coming from other fields (such as Perspex and the abovementioned acrylic), the singular product of these daring hybrids earned him, among other awards, the Premio Konex on two occasions and in two categories: in 1982 in the discipline “Objects” and in 2012 in “Painting”.

HOPSCOTCH

Untitled (1969)

His work can be found in the collections of the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York), the Guggenheim in New York, the Art Museum of the Americas, the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas, the MNBA, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires (MACBA), the Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires (MAMBA), and the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA), which paid tribute last year with the retrospective “Young Polesello”, designed in collaboration with the artist himself. Structured into five thematic cores, the show covered all this work—including early sketches, inks, temperas and oil paintings never previously exhibited.

Rogelio Polesello passed away in his home in Belgrano in July 2014. He was a modern artist who cut across contemporaneity and managed to transcend his own material plain with his creations. He managed to alter geometry, set it out of true with the optical illusion and replace it in perfect balance. The laws with which he configured that new world allowed him to continue inventing others. Furthermore, externalizing the vision that those early prisms revealed to him as a boy made it possible for all of us to access his augmented reality.

In giving a new content to the artistic object, Rogelio Polesello reconfigured us as artistic subjects. ¶

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Montblanc 1858 Small Second and Hugh Jackman Crafted for New Heights Paying tribute to its manufacturing roots in Villeret, Montblanc presents a collection inspired by the legendary timepiece crafted by Minerva since 1858, and gives its vintage character a fresh, contemporary twist.

Like its historic predecessor from the 1930s, this timepiece comes with a black dial, traditional-shaped hands and a large small-seconds subdial. Visit and shop at Montblanc.com

31 Av. Alvear 1920 ¡ (C1115AAJ) Buenos Aires ¡ Argentina Tel.: (5411) 4804-7924/6781

emotional Wish list Past and present come together in a selection of gadgets that combine current technology with vintage image, design and aesthetics. This is what happens when memory drives desire.

txt Maximiliano Poter

Kodak Super 8 If vinyl’s back, why not bring back the Super 8 format? Kodak surprised everyone at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year with a new camera that brings together the best of analogue and digital worlds. It uses a traditional film, but includes a LCD viewfinder (instead of an optical one) to give you an exact idea of what you’re going to record before you expose the film.

It also has a microphone to capture digital sound on a microSD card. Kodak manufactures the films and the price of each “cartridge” will include processing, digitalization and uploading the film to the internet. It is expected to go on sale in late 2016 at a price of 500 to 700 dollars.

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Science and Sons Phonofone III Inspired by old phonographs, this is an iPhone-specific speaker created in ceramic that allows you to amplify up to four times (about 60 decibels) the volume of the music coming out of your phone. It’s handmade and compatible with all generations of iPhone.

US$195*

CURVED/labs Mac A conceptual model to commemorate thirty years of the Apple Lisa computer, taking the concept of the original style to present day technology and forms. The design includes components from the MacBook Air, but with an 11.6-inch touch screen. It comes with a camera, speakers, microphone, USB ports and Lightning Bolt, while a microSD card reader takes the place of the old disk drive at the front of the old Mac. Tim Cook, what are you waiting for?

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Imixid USB Hub Music-loving techies can give their desktops a retro touch with this USB port multiplier in the form of this audio cassette. Available in yellow and violet, it doesn’t come with a tape or music, of course, but it is pretty cool.

US$20*

LG Classic TV 42 Don’t be fooled by appearances. With its metal channel dial and wood sides, it looks like one of those old cathode ray televisions from the 1970s. But this TV comes with a 42-inch full HD LED screen, offering a viewing angle of 178 degrees, plus USB and HDMI ports.

US$1100*

Snowball Mic A professional microphone for Mac or PC with a retro appearance to make you feel like a classic crooner, regardless of whether you’re doing a podcast or recording your band’s demo in the garage.

Comes in three colours and is plug and play.

US$100*

Crosley Rocket Jukebox This beautiful jukebox has a mechanism for loading 80 CDS and blasts 300 watts of power. It includes additional inputs and outputs for up to six speakers, as well as a remote control and Bluetooth connection for playing music from a remote location.

The cabinet comes with wood details and fluorescent lights in a rainbow effect, giving shape to this 1950s nostalgia piece with twenty-first century technology.

US$9,995*

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Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A9 This Danish company’s creations always strike a balance between the cutting edge and tradition, and their A9 audio system is a clear example of elegance and functionality. Using AirPlay or Bluetooth, it can play music with direct access to Spotify, Deezer or TuneIn. Multiroom technology makes it possible to link it to any other B&O systems in the home to play different songs in each room or just one song in all your speakers. It comes in black and white with maple or walnut legs (respectively), and can also be hung from the wall.

US$2,500*

Smeg Fab 28 This Italian electrical appliance company is renowned for its products inspired by 1950s designs, including everything from toasters and blenders to cookers and washing machines. But what has made its name the world over is its line of retro fridge freezers, with traditional curved edges and vivacious colours.

The old stuff is only on the outside, since the fridge comes with the latest technology in efficiency and low energy consumption.

US$1300*

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II Limited Edition This is a limited edition of 3,500 of the celebrated vintage Olympus model, with details and accessories in fine brown leather. It comes with a 5-axis image stabilizer to present blurred shots, even in low light. For video buffs, it offers 4K recording, capturing and reproducing movements that would usually be imperceptible.

US$1000*

Qwerkywriter Authors of today and tomorrow can relive typing at a typewriter with this wireless keyboard that mimics those old beloved Remingtons. Made from aluminium, it connects via Bluetooth to computers or tablets. It offers the classic sound of mechanical keys and a return bar that functions as an Enter key for a new paragraph.

A gadget for writing the future with the experience of history.

US$350*

* Pice in the USA

On harmony and its tensions Balance, simultaneous chords, fairy tales and monads; from Wilhelm Leibniz to Bertrand Russell, notes about the battle against gravity that lurks in every perfect escape. txt Carlos Álvarez Insúa Illustrations Carlus Rodríguez

The word harmony refers,

in outward appearance, to a situation of balance, calm and serenity that occurs for a while, for a moment, or forever.

Etymology can be boring sometimes, but in this case it reveals something essential about this word, which is derived from the Greek ἁρμονία (armonia), meaning agreement, concord, and from the verb ἁρμόζω (harmozo), to fit, to connect. If no parts are in conflict, agreement is not necessary.

Polyphonic music Let us briefly go over the use of harmony in music. In music the pitch (tones, notes) or simultaneous chords are at play, the balance of proportions between the different parts of a whole. Its study entails observing the chords, their construction and their progressions, considering the principles of connection that govern their interaction. Harmony refers to the vertical (simultaneous in time) aspect of music, distinct from the horizontal aspect, as the melody is formed by the succession of notes over time.

I make this reference to polyphony to remember that man has been many men, to the rhythm of his evolution in history and with the utterances man made to the comprehensible world in each epoch. So, until a given day no one heard harmony, whether its musical connection occurred or not—as they could not grasp or enjoy those closely-placed notes or chords—as they were lacking the word that would bring their sensitivity into play as a nutritious operation.

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Leibnitz: first journey to planet Harmony In the Monadology, the German philosopher and mathematician Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) uses the word “monad” (from the Greek monas, monados, meaning unity) to refer to the ultimate components of reality, something like metaphysical atoms: indivisible substances that have not been formed from other more basic elements and cannot be destroyed, and whose existence and possible disappearance depends only on God’s creating or annihilating them.

They are independent, and their dynamics and changes are not causally determined by one another, as their activity lies in themselves. As they are simple and nothing can enter or leave the monads (Leibniz expressed this idea with the famous line “the monads don’t have windows”), there is no real or direct communication between them. However, the experience appears to suggest order in the universe: they interact with each other. To solve this problem Leibniz put forward his famous theory of “pre-established harmony”, as since the beginning of creation, God has established a coherence of movement, and the changes in a monad perfectly match changes in others. So it is that Leibniz relates monads with body and soul, which while they cannot really interact, they still do so, since my wish to move my arm is followed by the action of stretching. Such coherence and compatibility is similar to that of two chronometric watches that can show the exact same time independently of each other. So God must have arranged things so that each bodily activity corresponds to a psychic activity of the monad-soul. In the system everything is close and harmony prescribed, the predicate contained in the subject, all the actions of a man come from substantial monads. Leibniz writes: “For if some person were capable of completing the whole demonstration by means of which he could prove this connection of the subject (which is Caesar) with the predicate (which is his successful enterprise) he would then show that the future dictatorship of Caesar had its foundation in his notion or nature, that a reason can be found there why he resolved to cross the Rubicon rather than stop, and why he won rather than lost the day at Pharsalus; and why it was reasonable and consequently assured that this should happen […] Thus when we well

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consider the connection of all things, it can be said that there are at all times in the soul of Alexander traces of all that has happened to him and marks of all that will happen to him, and even traces of all that happens in the universe, though it belongs only to God to know them all.” To Leibniz, reality is made up of substances, monads: “The monad is nothing more than a simple substance, which enters into compounds; simple, that is, without parts.”

A fairy tale Bertrand Russell claims that monadology seems to him a fantastic fairy tale, coherent perhaps, but completely arbitrary. And the present author is inclined to share Russell’s assertion. Yes, it is a marvellous fairy tale constructed within a notable castle of logic that sees harmony as a rational invention of a wish, and not as a journey of happening in the world. But this device functioned as a thinking mechanism while the word was guaranteed by God, the first and last maker.

Although one day Friedrich Nietzsche declared his fall as a guarantee of thought and freed the sound of the ancient gods.

Another harmony For CFN, what is human is the product of the dialectic game between impulses that occur in the body. On the one hand, Apollo, god of youth, beauty, poetry and the arts, representing clarity, harmony and the norm, offers us serenity, balance, moderation, restraint, coherence and perfection. A collection of delicate values where Nietzsche sees a negation of life from reason.

The figure replaces the matter. Thus, the brilliant German perceives that the Apollonian charm represents what is apparent. His words demand that we distinguish between one lot of things and another in order to observe relations, equalities and differences that lead us to measure, quantify, simplify. The Apollonian predominates the Dionysian because ontologically the beautiful Apollonian severity is better and morally righter than music, dance and inebriation… Rationalist philosophy is constructed by denying the god of wine, feasts, harvests and drunkenness, the god of boundless joys and horrors. What Nietzsche defines as confusion, chaos, night, risk, darkness is what we silence.

Dionysius is titanic, barbarous, a necessity

equivalent to Apollonian serenity. The Dionysian emerges from being and does not renounce life.

The will to power is tied to what, in principle, Nietzsche called Dionysian spirit, and the tension that this contradiction generates.

The Greek tragedy declares this battle from the choir. It is from this place that the choir observes and comments on the characters struggling against their passions and Apollonian destiny. Tragedy represents the Dionysian and its irresistible power, and it is an attempt at flight from excess.

Furthermore, in different periods of Nietzsche there is a distinctive feature proposed right from his first work, The Birth of Tragedy, the antithesis between two principles of origin: the Apollonian and the Dionysian. These forces are present throughout his philosophical creation, without ruling each other out, but rather needing each other symbiotically. How does Nietzsche manage to play them off without them destroying each other? The answer lies in oscillating between opposites, as if in an eternal play between reflection and action.

Returning to music for a few lines, each sound includes within itself various sounds at a lower volume (called harmonics); if the combination of sounds played includes various notes with harmonic sounds in common, such a combination will be perceived as consonant ones that could be discovered and harnessed for the benefit and progress of mankind.

However, it isn’t just physical factors but also cultural factors that intervene in human perception. What a fifteenth-century man perceived as consonant might surprise the twenty-first-century man; and a combination of sounds that suggests a sensation of rest to a Japanese may not suggest the same to a Mexican.

On the other hand, history, the concept of harmony depends on each culture and every era, that is, what was harmony in the fourth century may not be so in the twenty-first century, what is harmony in Bali may not be so in La Paz or Paris.

Harmony as an expansion of the domain de la lutte (battlefield) Although I believe that the guarantees have fallen in 2016, making Nietzsche’s prophecy true, and that Dionysius dances on the web and in the crazy streets while the word drifts, the present author conjectures that there is more material in the world than signifiers to name it and organize meaning, which only saturates in each body stuck to the Earth… Pacts, contracts and mechanisms invent a harmony that fabricates an order but which must not forget its dialectic root and his provisory condition.

Thus, and after wandering around my thoughts I will note that a watch is a harmonic mechanism, a set of cogs and pivots that administer a movement that, in entering a perfect escape, achieve that chronometric harmony that Leibniz referred to… but this harmony occurs in a fierce battlefield hidden behind Apollonian forms, in which each cog does battle against gravity, as Dionysius clamours for them to return to the land of life, orders each gear to fall and stop. ¶

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Winter textures Plumetis, lace, muslin and transparent fabrics. The power of the colour black with just a few white touches. With the most sophisticated dresses from the Ménage à Trois collection and Simonetta Orsini watch and jewellery pieces, a unique night at the Hotel Club Francés.

PHotos Lobo Velar de Irigoyen

All jewelry by Simonetta Orsini.

All shoes courtesy of Carmen Steffens.

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CrĂŞpe dress with pleated muslin and translucent pleated skirt. Culotte Cuore].

Suede stilettos.

Vestido largo [Caro de seda natural Watch: Luminor 1950 42mm magenta, conPanerai, amplia falda y tajos.

GMT. WhiteCronĂłgrafo. gold and diamond Reloj: IWC, Portugieser earrings with circular Anillo estilo Lady Di de oro design. White gold ring with diamond baguettes. blanco, esmeralda y brillantes.

Aros de oro blanco y brillantes con diseĂąo de cascada.

Short lace see-through plumetis dress. Leather peep-toe shoes.

Watch: Calibre de Cartier Chronograph. White gold and diamond single earrings Princess Collection. White gold and diamond rings.

See-through lace dress.

Watch: A. Lange & Sรถhne, Grand Lange 1. White gold and diamond earrings with interlinked ring design.

Set of white gold and diamond rings.

Halter neck dress.

Watch: Jaeger-LeCoultre, Geophysic Universal Time. Single ring in white gold and diamonds Princess Collection. Small ring in white gold and diamonds. White gold and diamond earrings, with mobile diamond.

Long-sleeve Chantilly lace dress with slit skirt. Suede stilettos with ankle band.

Watch: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak Chronograph 41mm. Antique yellow gold and diamond earrings with leaf design. Set of pink gold rings and diamond baguette. Small ring in white gold and diamonds.

Pink gold and diamond ring with bombĂŠ design.

LamĂŠ dress with cellophane tassels.

Watch: Vacheron Costantin, Matching white gold and VestidoPatrimony. largo de seda natural diamond chokerfalda and bracelet. magenta, con amplia y tajos. White gold and diamond earrings. White Reloj: IWC, Portugieser CronĂłgrafo. gold Di and pave ring.

Anillo estilo Lady dediamond oro blanco, esmeralda y brillantes.

Aros de oro blanco y brillantes con diseĂąo de cascada.

Georgette dress with deep v neck, plumetis sleeves and bow.

Patent leather shoes.

Watch: Zenith Captain. White gold and diamond bracelet and snap-rings.

LamĂŠ dress with side and front necklines.

Watch: Hublot Spirit. White gold and diamond pave snap-rings. White gold and diamond ring and choker.

Cady silk dress with bows and inlays.

Watch: IWC Big Pilot Top Gun. Pearl bracelet with white gold clasp.

In praise of quality A profile of Amelia Sabán, the creator behind the Ménage à Trois label dressing the most elegant women in the country. Thirty years of style and sophistication.

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melia Sabán belongs to a generation of creators who can still tell by touch the quality of fabric. She is part of the universe along Avenida Alvear with clients loyal to the label’s style who understand the value of impeccably-made clothes and have been shopping at the boutique for years. Amelia knows that it is this that sets her store apart.

The scion of a textile business family, for the last three decades Amelia has been dedicated to making women look as beautiful as possible.

“Thirty years ago I made clothes for wholesale.

I started to sell so much that I needed a space of my own,” she recalls. She now works in her emblematic store on Avenida Alvear, where she dresses the city’s most sophisticated clientele.

Renovated last year by renowned architect Javier Iturrioz, her store has character, with a touch of art deco and mid-century velvet couches. It is her that she thinks up her next collection, accompanied by the team that has been with her almost a lifetime.

Although Amelia has always been renowned for dressing the country’s most beautiful, elegant women, including Valeria Mazza, Andrea Frigerio, Patricia and Rosella della Giovampaola, Dolores Barreiro and Araceli González, her work reached a wider audience when she dressed first lady Juliana Awada on various special occasions, including the gala at the Colón Theatre when Mauricio Macri became Argentine president. Of course, that wasn’t the first or last time that the first lady had chosen one of Amelia’s exclusive models, but Juliana was the most famous of them all.

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The fashion editorial that precedes this article includes a look at some of the winter collection that Ménage à Trois presented at the Alvear Palace with a conceptual line that explores the hypnotic, using sequins, shiny fabrics like lame, and embroidery. Loosely inspired by 1980s style, the collection includes mini and maxi dresses, fitted at the top and ending in delicate flared skirts, some with maxi slashes. The textures also added to a captivating flow with see-through pleats, plumetis and a lot of flair. ¶

CLASSIC FUSION RACING GREY CHRONOGRAPH TITANIUM

On the rope In 1974, a Frenchman called Philippe Petit stretched a cable between the WTC twin towers and walked across that abyss made of much more than height and vertigo. In light of the premiere of the Robert Zemeckis film The Walk, some reflections on the balance of making a dream reality. txt Martín Auzmendi

1.

France is a country of traditions and revolutions, constructed in balance between the imperial past and the republic, between its central position in Europe and the ashes of a ferocious empire, between the light of its culture’s constellations and the sheen of its cultural mix, between libraries and wars, palaces and heroic deeds.

Between its vanguards and its conservative constancy. France is a country where, in 1949, Philippe Petit was born, juggler, magician, tightrope walker, the man who continued in the funambulist tradition and walked, steadied himself, and laughed between the two towers in August 1974. The forty-five minutes he spent crossing from one side to the other on the cable joining the two towers meant the eyes of the world were on him. An instant celebrity, Nixon left office saying he’d like to have good press the Frenchman had. He was offered advertisements, movies, objects with his face on and all the gold the world always has to offer those heroes they can turn into business. “It wasn’t me, and I can’t stop being me”, he said about that moment and defined the exact point where he centred his balance. His exploit was an act of bravery and fearlessness, and includes the way he fell in love with buildings, his way of being someone else to get into them, the way he told the story in the 2008 documentary, the fiction of 2015 filmed by Robert Zemeckis, the fall of the towers in September 2001, and his own construction as father of the exploit and an inspiration to many.

Since 1974 the city has grown, been transformed, swallowed itself up, been attacked, seen its towers fall and then be reborn as a mythical monster. New York is a world capital, a beacon of the West, it is made from everyone’s eyes on it, from the shadows of the dreams projected from any place in the world and part of its history will forever be a Frenchman balancing between two towers that seem to be part of a dream. Or a nightmare.

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2.

to petit, the towers weren’t towers, they weren’t two buildings, objects standing in a city that had to be conquered. He speaks of the twin towers like Alpinists speak of mountains, as living beings, monsters to be feared and venerated. But Petit speaks of love, of the way he entered the towers like one enters a beloved body, one of fascination and dreams, fear and ecstasy. The two buildings that were still at the planning stage when Petit saw them in a magazine and were still being built when he started to put his own plan together. If we’re all somehow tied to New York, my first memory of the sensation of vertigo was on the island of Manhattan, on one of the twin towers. I don’t know which one it was, I was thirteen and had gone to New York with my parents for a few days. It was Christmas Eve, Manhattan was ringing with carols, and the sharp, icy sound of the wind. In the words of my parents, the trip was an escape from Argentina’s economic collapse in 1989. Before inflation claimed them, they spent the last of their savings on flights to the USA to visit family and spend Christmas there. It was that or nothing, and that was the trip that led me to discover vertigo. Everything seemed fragile in the family balance of my adolescence. New York was the Manhattan skyline with the towers standing out against the sky, a legendary sight that I’d made for myself from 1980s cinema, from super action movies, cartoons and VHS. It was height, dreams, chaos, adventures. The speed of the lift in the tower shook me, opened a hole in my stomach and gave me a slight headache. I don’t know what floor I made it to, but when I looked out over the city from the tower my legs turned to jelly, I got dizzy and sought out my father to hold me up. I didn’t remember any of this until I saw the Man On Wire documentary in 2009. The towers had come back on the scene one morning in September 2001 when they made the news again.

From that day the city changed and Petit’s walk became part of a more fragile, wild and mythical story.

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3.

4.

in one interview, petit remembers a new york that is dirty, old and full of skyscrapers. “It was a call, they came looking for me, I think it was something romantic”, he says in an interview about the moment when he came across the towers in a magazine that he found in a waiting room in a doctor’s surgery. The towers were still in planning, New York a dreamlike city, but Petit had a path and a dream. Every project has an origin and a story, and then it is told and in the telling the elements come together in a way that is new, genuine, random and spontaneous.

Memories always tell another story. Petit’s master work can be told from the moment when he has a foot on the tower and another on the cable on 7 August, 1974, or when at the age of six he learns to make a card disappear while with his hands he follows the seven steps in a book, or when he gets hold of some clubs and learns to juggle. The morning when Petit started to walk between the twin towers came and went eight times, he did not cross from one side to the other. His work was constructed in a fragile, voluptuous balance, which is understood better if one avoids thinking about a line, in a story from the origin to the achievement of the dream, on a path from beginning to end. Where does the story of the crossing of the towers begin? The day when he got up on a rope for the first time, when he walked between the towers of Notre-Dame, when the towers disappeared amid the flames, smoke and dust?

Where is the balance centred? In the walk while the rope vibrates and swings and arches under his own weight, when he rejects the hero’s prizes, when he sets himself up as a juggler of his own story to inspire the world with talks and lectures?

in one story of the french magician, juggler and funambulist there appears the fascinated and romantic view of the towers and of a city that came into being, grew and still lives sustained in the world in a luminous, fierce imaginary.

Not even Petit appears to be able to explain why the desire to enter the towers and cross from one to the other carried such intensity for him, as he goes surrounding the knot of his work speaking of love, passion, tenacity, inspiration, of pushing the limits, of flowing. To be able to walk between the towers he had to enter incognito, avoid the police, steal access codes, get an investor and put together logistics befitting a bank heist. As if nothing could be done in New York without a master plan. As a celebrity he spoke many times about the sensations he had the day that he set off to walk on that cable. Of all his statements, anecdotes and stories, in one he talks about how the spine-tingling power of the towers could no longer be felt when he balanced on the rope. And he talks about the smile that can be seen in the photos, a look of freedom, plenitude, joy shining in a grey city. That sensation of taking off from the magnetic power that lay in what he loved and obsessed him.

That sensation that you get when a dream comes true and life enters a new, happy, sensual and voluptuous balance. That perfect balance between a dream, the work and one’s own desire caressed in solitude, in the sky of the world.

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LEGENDS ARE FOREVER EL PRIMERO

www.zenith-watches.com

I Chronomaster 1969

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The beauty in simplicity Pure lines, geometric forms, baton hour markers, Roman or Arabic numerals. Classic signs that harmoniously construct the anatomy of watches that only show the hour, minutes and the date.

Here’s our pick of seven 2016 watches to wear every day.

CARTIER, DRIVE

A new icon has arrived from Maison Cartier. A watch with a marked masculine presence that is launched straight off the bat in steel and pink gold versions with guillochĂŠ dial in black, grey or white, Roman numerals and sword-shaped hands.

Taking its inspiration from the lines of vintage cars, the guillochĂŠ on the dial is like a radiator grille, the little second hand is like the speedometer, and the crown takes the form of an old-fashioned engine bolt.

This collection is available in two kinds of functions: the first with hours, minutes, small second hand and date with the calibre 1904-PS MC; and the second with second time zone display, a day/night indicator, large date and small seconds, with the calibre 1904-FU MC.

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IWC, PILOT’S WATCH AUTOMATIC 36

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In a year when the IWC Manufactory pays tribute to pilot watches with its new Pilots collection, this model with a 36mm case makes its debut. An icon now in a smaller case for those who prefer a more discreet size.

This is the smallest watch in the current IWC portfolio and is available in five models with three different dials. The S/O favourite comes with a silver dial and figures printed in deep blue, hour functions, date display and central hacking seconds. It is available with a blue alligator strap by Santoni or fine steel bracelet.

Although conceived as a watch for everyday use, it is waterproof to 60 metres and is highly apt for flying, as IWC lines the mechanism with a soft iron inner case for greater protection against magnetic fields. The 35111 calibre automatic movement inside guarantees a 42-hour power reserve.

VACHERON CONSTANTIN, PATRIMONY

The Patrimony collection is inspired by 1950s elegance, with new models from this sober and sophisticated legendary line unveiled at this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie.

One of the highlights is the arrival of three models with 42mm cases, a wider diameter available in platinum, white gold and pink.

The three 42mm models have a minimalist design, the product of a harmonious combination of design and mechanics. A small seconds counter at 6 o’clock breaks the sobriety of the dial, which is lightly converse on the outside part and adorned with circular, pearl minute markers.

The calibre driving the functions is the 4400 AS, a manual winding mechanical movement developed and manufactured by Vacheron Constantin, whose handcrafted finish in haute horlogerie can be seen through the transparent sapphire crystal back.

The three models have received the prestigious Geneva Seal.

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F.P. JOURNE, ÉLÉGANTE 48MM

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The firm F. P. Journe renews the Élégante collection, created for women only in 2014, with the arrival of a men’s version. This large watch comes with a revolutionary electromechanical movement inside with a system that makes the hands stop when the watch is not being worn and start working again automatically when it is put on again.

This means a battery life of up to eighteen years. When the watch is on standby, the microprocessor continues ticking over and keeping time, while the other components rest. When the watch returns to the wrist, it starts again. This F.P. Journe 1210 calibre combines 126 mechanical components with a low-consumption processor and a 32,768 Hz quartz frequency.

The Élégante luminescent face guarantees optimal legibility even in the dark. The strap is blue rubber with deployment buckle in steel or titanium, depending on the version. The watch has hour and minute functions, and small seconds wheel at 6 o’clock.

HUBLOT, CLASSIC FUSION RACING GREY

Hublot dress their new Classic Fusion collection with a colour grey softer than black and more timeless than blue. This neutral, universal grey reinforces the versatile elegance of this chronograph.

Elegant, sporty and casual at the same time, the case for this model is available in different sizes: 33, 38 and 42mm, with three hands and date at 3.

The 38 and 42mm models have a HUB1110 automatic winding mechanical movement with 42 hours power reserve. The 33mm version has a HUB2912 quartz movement.

And in 45mm it comes with or without chronograph. Pictured is the 42mm titanium model with automatic movement.

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CHANEL, BOY FRIEND

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Simplicity that captures everyone’s gaze. A mysterious blend of confidence and daintiness, boldness and restraint. This is how Chanel presents the Boy.Friend watch.

With an octagonal 37mm steel case and black numberless guilloché dial, the watch has hour and minute hands and date display at 6.

There are two versions of the mechanism: the large model has a manual winding mechanical movement and the mediumsized version has a high-precision quartz movement. A watch inspired by masculine design, but created for women.

BAUME & MERCIER, PETITE PROMESSE

The Swiss firm Baume & Mercier introduces a simple, petite, pure and utterly feminine watch created to be the must-have of a new generation of women.

Its miniature 22mm diameter makes it above all a style object. It retains all the codes of its big brother, the Promesse launched last year, but at the same time cunningly reinvents the rules of play with a wraparound bracelet that generates a jewel effect.

The bracelet is available as polished steel or in blue or vibrant orange leather. A feminine, young, modern watch that seeks to adapt to fashion trends.

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“Creating a perfume is like composing music” Developing fragrances in accords, seeking the crystalline purity of an essence or the exact combination of many. From his laboratory in Milan, Julián Bedel, owner of Fueguia 1833, tells us why choosing a scent is an act of beauty that brings him close to art.

TXT Florencia Zielinski photos Fueguia 1833

W

hat do the Borges’s short story “The Library of Babel”, a whale sleeping in the middle of the Pampas, the battles that Cándido López painted and the Zonda wind have in common?

A great deal, at least in Julián Bedel’s universe, where all these elements can be smelled and worn on one’s skin. Because these concepts are some of the “existential arguments” that bring life to the perfumes of Fueguia 1833, the laboratory of signature fragrances that Bedel founded five years ago in the neighbourhood of Palermo and that today has the world at its feet, with stores in Stockholm, Zurich, Moscow, Tokyo and, coming soon, Dubai and Hong Kong, among other cities.

An outsider to the perfume business, Julián Bedel entered the scent universe with all the enthusiasm and curiosity of a newcomer, and with a love for craftsmanship that, he says, he got from his upbringing in an artist’s house (his father, Jacques Bedel, is an artist and architect). “In perfume I found this vast medium of molecules and ingredients to create.

It’s like having a palette of infinite colours, it’s a lot

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of fun,” he says from his office in the new laboratory in Milan, where the walls are covered in pictures of botanical species and some of his favourite guitars, handcrafted gems, can be seen.

The adventure to the senses that is Fueguia, which came to life under the sign of exploration and with a strong scientific background, has no limits. Especially now, with his operations base in Italy, where available resources and time allow the perfumer to concentrate on creating new formulas. He knows his clients are with him (they include Elton John, Mick Jagger, the artist Marina Ambramovic and Gwyneth Paltrow), and his creations, with their references to Argentine identity, are increasingly valued.

“This is the first perfume laboratory in the history of Milan. We decided to come here because it was getting complicated to stay in Argentina if we were to produce and grow the way we wanted to. You can’t have a power cut when you’re in the middle of production, for example. But Buenos Aires is still my town; my house and my cat are still here. Now we produce the essences in Milan with ingredients from Argentina, and we do the bottling over there,” he says.

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What is the secret to your perfumes’ success?

On a world level, it’s interesting that we have an absolutely vertical integration. We do the botanical research into South American species and we distil some ourselves. We do the maceration and the maturation of the perfume, the filtering, the seasoning, the bottling. And I’m the perfumer. This high level of integration in a luxury product is rare. Generally things are outsourced: the perfumer on the one hand, the company producing the essence on the other, and then the people that bottle it, the company that sells it, etc. The companies that produce essences work with catalogue ingredients, there’s little innovation. In contrast, our scents are natural and we use synthetic ingredients to substitute those of animal origin, such as musk. And since I wasn’t even a fan of perfumes, my approach is more tied to the identity of the essences. I’m more interested in achieving the highlight of a jasmine than a mix of weird ingredients.

You have nothing to do with the industry. How did you come into the world of perfume?

As my father is an artist, I grew up in a house where I always had an atelier space to do my thing, whether it was painting or sculpture. My brother and I had a lot of contact with workshop work typical of painters, cooks and perfumers, activities where ingredients are mixed together. Getting into perfumery was a continuation of that, it was familiar to me, easy from a practical point of view. And various things happened at the same time.

On the one hand, about six years ago my dad gave me a paper to read by Linda Buck, the 2004 Medicine Nobel, who postulated what happens in the brain when we’re exposed to volatile aromatic molecules. Basically, it just totally lights up. The body’s sensitivity to these molecules is such that they can change your mood. That blew

me away and showed me how little we know about how to use our sense of smell. At the same time I’d moved in with my now ex-girlfriend, it was the first time I’d lived with a woman and this female universe of perfume was opened up to me. Connected with my love for nature, for the woods I used to make guitars, and my interest in botany, I wanted to create a brand that spoke of Argentina’s idiosyncrasy, culture and biodiversity. At that moment Amalita Amoedo, who was my first business partner (we bought out her share) wanted to invest in a project and she invited me along. I’d already started to work and that was when the opportunity came up to start something in earnest and bring Fueguia to life.

What excites you the most about this world?

Perfume is intangible, it lives in the head of whoever wears it and breathes it, it is a very intimate thing. Wearing it is an act of beauty that we choose to face the day. It’s very nice to create something that has to do with improving someone’s mood, relaxing them and improving their self-esteem. Also, it’s like composing music. Aside from the chemical aspect, in perfumery there’s a sensorial and artistic part that depends, as in music, on the degree of accord you want to compose. It’s very hard to make good music, or to create a work of art. I found in the perfume a medium in which I had better chances. It’s very satisfying to see the little bottles of finished perfume and see someone make them their own.

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What’s the creative process like?

It depends. There are perfumes that come about from an inspiration that might be Borges’s “The Babel Library”.

The existential argument is the library, and from there I start the research to see how to bring it to life. Another perfume might come about from a plant that has caught my imagination, such as a Patagonian species called yakeñ. I start with the formula, which I write as I travel, or when I’m at home. Then I look for the ingredients, the natural molecules, and I start to think about the accord.

The most interesting thing is when you create an unexpected accord. Once, I thought up a perfume called Whale in the Pampas, which came about in a dream.

The whale produces an ingredient, ambergris. In this perfume the note is of ambergris with grass, straw. It’s an extremely rare, unique accord. You might like it, you might not. Starting from an idea, I think up things that have to do with that.

And then, the work in the laboratory begins…

Right, I start to do trials, opening up bottles and mixing. I do three or four versions, and I come back the next day or a week later. If I like one of the trials, I send it to different stores, to Buenos Aires, Russia or Japan. I see what the sales staff think, and if they like it, we put the little bottle on sale. If it goes down very well, we make more. Little by little. All the perfumes are limited edition and numbered. Every batch has

its own identity, because the essences are natural and can vary. We do very precise work. We polish it up like it was a jewel.

How long does it take to make a perfume?

I’m taking more time now, about a year. Before I launch it I make several versions of the original. The more knowledge and ingredients it has that can improve that history and that accord, I reformulate and polish. I work with many concepts at once.

Do you have any favourites?

I’m always wearing perfumes to try them out, before launching them. Right now I’m wearing one called Muskara a lot, which hasn’t gone on sale yet. We developed it based on a scientific paper, it incorporates very well with your skin and amplifies your own scent.

The interesting thing is that when a woman is exposed to this molecule, depending on the stage of her cycle she’s at, it stimulates her to produce more oestrogen. It makes the woman feel very good, it generates a sense of emotional stability. It only works with women.

Apart from perfumes, do you have any other ventures at the moment?

Right now, all I do is make perfume, play the guitar and cook. ¶

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The industry is booming From Switzerland, a review of the two haute horlogerie fairs that set the industry bar over the year: SIHH and Baselworld. Boldness, legacy, excellence and innovation all in a trip to what’s coming up.

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From the offices of H|M|S – Horas, Minutos y Segundos.

Special report for S/O.

T

he swiss watch industry functions in a similar way to the stunning mechanisms that bring its timepieces alive: always several steps ahead. Just as the master watchmakers go to obsessive lengths so that their creations measure precious time accurately, so too did the industry show at the 2016 editions of the two most important fairs in the world (SIHH and Baselworld) that the way to face up to a stuttering world economy is to direct the imagination in the same direction as the hands of the watch.

Respecting the sacred chronology, we begin our review with the first big date of the year, the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva. This is an exclusive event, attendance by invitation or special accreditation, and the chance to walk its corridors is a unique experience.

Innovation showed its boldest face with the launch of Audemars Piguet in yellow gold. “This material has been out of everyone’s collections for six or seven years. We’d already announced that we were bringing it back. It’s a gamble, rather than a trend, because no one is asking for yellow gold. The reaction so far has been very good,” said AP CEO, François Bennahmias in an interview with H|M|S – Horas, Minutos y Segundos.

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For Montblanc, celebrating their 110th anniversary, the weight of history made its entrance at the fair with the second generation of their 4810 collection, ten years after its first appearance.

“The most outstanding is probably the Slim Exotourbillon. An automatic movement with an incredible micro rotor system with a new and reinvented Exotourbillon,” were the words of CEO Jérôme Lambert.

Panerai is one of those companies whose watches you can always spot a mile off and with no fear of getting it wrong, such is the strength of their recognisable identity in each of their timepieces. Even so, they never fail to throw up a few surprises in their space at the SIHH. This time, it was their new creations, the Radiomir 1940 3 Days. With movement of their own, the three days’ power reserve is indicated on the dial or the back of the watch, depending on the version.

For A. Lange & Söhne, there are no simple timepieces or watches that can be explained in a couple of lines. Each piece is a fascinating story, and so the standout piece for this report is the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon, about which this edition of S/O goes into further detail. “The quirk is that the Tourbillon is in the back of the watch. The reason is simple, on the dial there’s a lot of information, and if our watches didn’t clearly show the time, we wouldn’t be doing our job,” said CEO Wilhelm Schmid.

The ladies also had a starring role at SIHH. From the fantastic Reverso models made with Christian Louboutin of Jaeger-LeCoultre, to the Blossom Velevt by Roger Dubois, to the Piaget Emperador Cushon-Shaped XL 700P, excellence in women’s designs was certainly on display.

There were also two important relaunches of iconic collections. IWC Schaffhausen redesigned its aviator-inspired Pilot line with a clear concept. Latin America Director Michael Cheval said “It’s a more commercial line in which we’ve reduced the size of the timepieces. We’ve also expanded the Little Prince and Miramar collection.” Similarly, Vacheron Constantin, the oldest Swiss company with uninterrupted production, launched a new generation of Overseas, with twelve new models to underline the travelling spirit of this line.

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BASEL The hands of 2016 continued ticking and in March we adjusted our time zone once again and travelled to Basel for Baselworld, a monumental fair that each year brings together over 2,000 luxury brands from around the world, and which is open to anyone willing to pay the entrance fee, as well as press and guests.

Historic luxury icons Chanel showed that they aren’t treating watchmaking as an accessory as they unveiled their first in-house calibre. “We’re unveiling the stone that was missing from our house, which is a movement of its own. Five years ago we decided to incorporate everything necessary to produce it and this year we finished it,” said Nicolas Beau, Chanel’s International Director of Watches. Keeping beauty intact, this new calibre brings life to a sober and elegant Monsieur watch.

Rock n roll got on stage at the fair in the Zenith space with its Christophe Colomb tribute to the Rolling Stones, a timepiece that proves that haute horlogerie can be just as elegant while joining forces with a popular phenomenon such as the legendary British band.

This 2016 also marks the tenth anniversary of a watch that challenged the basic precept of watchmaking, that strong principle that the most important thing for a watch is to show the time clearly. We’re talking about Hublot’s All Black, in which the colour black floods the dial and spills onto the case and strap. “This is what we call invisible visibility, having a watch on which you can’t see the time clearly,” said Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe. “And this year we’re marking the anniversary with an innovation. We took this incredible material, sapphire, and played with it being transparent and black.”

The scent of a woman took us to the Chopard space, where they were celebrating four decades of Happy Diamonds, an icon in the world of luxury and an innovation that incorporated diamonds to the watch dial, covering it in a unique fashion.

The celebration of the anniversary shined with the new Happy Diamonds Joaillerie.

In 2015, Baselworld greeted its visitors with big news: Tag Heuer had partnered with Google and, more surprisingly still, Intel, the world’s largest manufacturer of integrated circuits.

The objective, at once evident and worrying, was to create a watch that brought together the craftsmanship tradition of Switzerland with its antithesis in Silicon Valley. And this year, the watch was ready and unveiled.

At both the fairs in Geneva and Basel, the Swiss watch industry showed its cards and opened up an exquisite display of precision and elegance. ¶

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Tidiness Superheroine Starting from the premise that if we are organized on the outside, we’re organized on the inside, Marie Kondo goes into the homes of millions of people who adopt her organization method to change their lives. A huge publishing success, her ideas promise short-term results if we only keep the objects that bring us joy. txt Florencia Zielinsky

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arie was a special girl. As a child in Tokyo, where she was born in 1985, she wasn’t just an ordinary kid. While her classmates would run raucously to the playground when break started, she would ask permission to stay in the classroom and do the thing she liked the most: meticulously organizing the bookshelves. Her favourite magazines, which she devoured passionately, were the same decoration and home style magazines that her mother and her friends read. Later, at home, her obsession with perfect rooms moved into her siblings’ bedrooms, as they delegated to her the task of tidying up their mess. Nothing made her happier.

Marie Kondo, who became world famous in the selfhelp world with her bestseller The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (Ten Speed Press) was five years old when she realized that she loved organizing everything. Very soon she found out this was a case of katakuze, the art of cleaning and organizing. And when she was nineteen, she revolutionized her family with her obsession with tidying, started giving seminars on the subject at university and founded her own company.

From that moment, Marie has been going into the homes and companies, rolling up her sleeves, opening wardrobes and cupboards and dark nooks. Always dressed in white, she runs her plan with an affectionate but implacable hand. Today, at the age of 31, she is considered an authentic tidiness guru. In 2015 Time magazine named her one of the hundred most influential personalities (that year there were only two Japanese on

KonMari tips • Tidy everything in one day, not in various stages, so that the change in mentality is drastic.

• Start tidying by eliminating. Kondo advises that we always give thanks before eliminating anything, to put an easier end to our relationship with these objects.

• We have to take each object and ask ourselves if it really brings us joy in order to decide whether to throw it away or not.

• Tidy by categories, not locations. And one thing at a time, from lower to greater difficulty: first clothes, then books, papers, souvenirs, and last of all, photos. Clothes should be divided into subcategories (shirts, trousers, skirts, accessories, coats, etc.)

the list: Kondo and the writer Haruki Murakami). Kondo says that her KonMari method is a rehab for hoarders, and helps clingers to let go, such an in vogue concept these days. Because, she maintains, if we’re organized on the outside, we’re organized on the inside.

Aside from this insight, Kondo’s plan is simple, radical, and promises results. Her highly attractive proposal speaks of a magical immediacy. “I call it the magic of organization, because it’s such a profound change that will affect your emotions, your way of thinking, and your habits. Once you discover the method, the results are immediate: so it’s near impossible that you’ll want to return to anarchy. Ninety-nine per cent of my clients have never rebounded”, she says, as she sells her plan with great confidence and conviction. And we buy it.

But what is the KonMari method, which has become almost a religion for the millions of people who have read the book in the thirty-three countries where it’s been published? Firstly, it is a mix of Shintoism and eastern philosophies such as feng shui, which aim for spiritual growth through material purification. The background to it came from what Kondo learned in her adolescence, when she worked as an assistant at a Shintoist shrine, where she immersed herself in the religion’s ceremonies and rites. So it is that every time Marie comes into a house to tidy up, she kneels down, presents herself in silence, and offers a prayer and a bow.

It is a made-to-measure method to tame even the messiest person. The process must be fast, passionate, and it must be done in a single day. “The best way of knowing what to keep is to figure out whether something’s going to bring me joy. My aim is to teach you to live in a space that only contains things that bring you joy”, says the influential Kondo, who has flooded YouTube with addictive tutorials explaining her secrets for folding t-shirts and trousers to their most minimal expression. The idea that she preaches is that everything is possible if lifestyle is transformed even in the smallest details, such as how we put away our things. If our environment is tidy, we can focus on our real problems. She explains: “Once your mind has made that click, you start to distance yourself from what doesn’t make you happy: you don’t just throw out that sweater that you never wore, but also that boyfriend who made you suffer.”

This not simple a matter of getting rid of excess, but also bringing order to the past, to one’s personal relationships, and pending business. In this way, Kondo says, we will be able to see more clearly what we need and what we don’t.

Today, Marie lives in New York, she’s married and has a baby daughter. And although she is a publishing phenomenon, she still puts on her tidiness saviour suit, but now she only rings the bell in the homes of the rich and famous. And like any superhero worth her salt, this heroine also has her enigmas and secrets: no one has ever been to her house; and least of all, her wardrobe. ¶

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Discipline and talent Having a famous grandfather never weighed him down, it just drove him further.

Seventeen hours of practice a day and a lot of studying made Daniel Piazzolla, grandson of Astor, a drummer with a style of his own, putting Argentine jazz on the map.

txt Florencia Zielinski photos Javier Picerno

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aybe it was when he first heard the records of Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and Michel Camilo, recommended by his teacher. Or when he was twelve and discovered murga and drums at River Plate’s stadium and an obsession with percussion began. Growing up in a house full of music also played its part. What we do know is that when Daniel “Pipi” Piazzolla came across jazz and incorporated it into his drumming, everything changed.

Astor Piazzolla’s grandson found his lodestar and set off on a journey that is still ongoing. With Spartan discipline, Pipi practiced as much as seventeen hours a day over a year to stand out and get a place at the Musicians Institute of Los Angeles. He says he lost twenty-six pounds, and that he gave it his all. It was worth it, of course.

Over the years, that determination to live up to his surname made him a leading name in Argentine jazz, leading to tour the world with heavyweights like Ute Lemper and Paquito D’Rivera, and win major awards, including the 2012 Gardel de Oro with his band Escalandrum, for Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla. But above

Why did you choose the drums?

In 1984 I started going to football matches. And that’s where I came across the murga. I’d never seen one before, democracy had just returned and until then Carnival had been prohibited.

From that moment I started to tap out rhythms everywhere, at home, at school. And I thought I’d better study drums, because I realised that playing the drums was like playing all the percussion instruments that I liked. So I started and to this day it’s my passion. I still remember buying my first pair of drumsticks and the smell of wood coming from the bag.

What’s the show like from where the drummer’s sitting?

The drummer is like the goalkeeper of the band, because he can see everything. He’s goalkeeper and captain, the one who orders the whole pitch, who keeps the team in position. The drummer can determine where a song goes. If he starts to play quietly, everyone has to play softly; if he starts to play loud, he can eat them all alive. And if he loses control, it can be absolute chaos. We have control (he laughs). I always try to help so

The music my grandfather made sounded natural to me, it didn’t seem complex. I lived it.” all, it allowed him to dedicate almost the whole day to one of two things he likes the most in life: playing the drums (the other is going to football matches, in case you were wondering.)

His daily routine is bewildering: “In the morning I practice in my home studio. I don’t usually have breakfast, and sometimes I’m up and playing at eight. I teach about six hours of classes a day, and when my first student arrives I’ve already practiced a good while. Then, at around seven or eight at night, I go out and play at Boris Club, Roseti, Virasoro, Thelonius” He’s in so many groups that he says he’s lost count: Escalandrum, Pipi Piazzolla Trío, Pájaro de Fuego, Fernández 4, Mariano Sívori Trío are just some of the musical projects he’s involved in. He also has his radio show on the Nacional Rock station every Monday night (Ángulos, from 9 to 11.)

In constant movement, he says inspiration comes to him when he’s on holiday, away from the drums. “I have to sit down at a piano to compose.

If there’s a drum kit, I sit down and play. It’s kind of addictive, I need to play.”

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that we’re all together. We play very complicated music and there are times when someone gets lost, and a lot of the time I sort it out.

You started out in music at a very young age, was that because of jazz?

I always liked everything: rock, Latin rhythms, funk, pop. I started out with classical music, studying piano for about five years. And when I was a teenager I started with the drums. Obviously I liked Pink Floyd and The Police, I know all their songs by heart. Then my teacher, Rolando “Oso” Picardi, gave me a Miles Davis live album, Four and More, Time Out by Dave Brubeck, and one by Michel Camilo. That really opened my mind and I started to realise that you could do so much more with the drums. The music my grandfather made sounded completely natural to me, it didn’t seem complex. I lived it. Jazz was something else. And although a jazz pianist, Art Tatum, was played a lot at home, it was something completely new to me. It was like discovering a different way of looking at music that has to do with improvising all the

time. Rock is vertical, it goes from up to down, and it’s always the same. They say jazz is a horizontal style because it never repeats. And that horizontality, that infinite, blew my mind. It was like coming across a new mathematical formula.

Does jazz give you more opportunity to explore, to play around?

Jazz always sounds different. Today with Escalandrum we rehearsed a version of “Adiós Nonino” that involves all the versions of “Adios Nonino” that my grandfather wrote. It sounded very nice. Maybe later we’ll play it again and it’ll sound different. I listen to a lot of music and maybe I find new ideas that I then apply. Jazz is synonymous with freedom.

You can mix it with tango, folklore, ethnic rhythms, Latin, Brazilian, electronic, funk. No one’s going to point the finger, it’s all good. And in Argentina what’s happening is that jazz has been Argentinized. Today you go and see a jazz band and almost all their music is original, composed by them. I think this means that we’re attracting more people to the shows. People have started to identify with jazz, and that didn’t use to happen.

When do you think this movement started?

After the 2001 economic crisis I think a lot of us started to look inside. We started to evolve and show what our own ideas were like, not just us in Escalandrum. It’s a very strong, lasting movement. I think today, in the land of tango, there are more places for playing jazz than for playing tango. I think young people want to express themselves and jazz is the style for them.

You also decided to follow jazz in 2001.

Yes. That year I decided to change the drum kit for a jazzier one and defend it to the death. It’s something I’ve sustained ever since. Before I was more of a session drummer. I’d get calls to play on a heavy metal record and I’d have to set up the drums for that. Or pop, whatever. In 2001 I said to myself “If they want to record with this sound, they can call me. If not, see you later.” It wasn’t a cocky thing, I needed to have my sound. Just like singers, we musicians need to find our own voice at some stage. The singer is identified by the voice, but drummers aren’t. We’re like a tool. But to me, the drummer is the key to a band working. And I thought it was a good idea to stick it out with something that I wanted. Now a lot of people acknowledge that. It seems arrogant, but I’m really conscious that you only get one life and I want to live it well. And if I’m a drummer, I want to play

my instrument, my way. I think I developed a good ear thanks to my grandfather and my family background, and I can use that in music.

Have you ever felt any pressure because your name is Piazzolla?

No. For me it was positive because it made me study more. I took it as a healthy, serious responsibility. I didn’t feel like it was a pressure that was suffocating me. If I hadn’t studied ten hours a day, the surname would weigh down on me. But I did all I could to be in a position where I can resolve the situations that I have to live through. With a lot of discipline.

What are the most important challenges you’ve faced in your career?

The biggest one was playing Piazzolla’s music with Escalandrum. It was astonishing to play it in the Gran Rex Theatre with Paquito D’Rivero as guest. And then winning a Gardel de Oro with that record. That’s a very rare thing for a jazz band,

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They say jazz is a horizontal style because it never repeats. And that horizontality blew my mind. It was like a new mathematical formula.” a band without a singer. If you look at the list of winners, there’s Mercedes Sosa, Gustavo Cerati, Charly García, León Gieco. And then, suddenly, there’s Escalandrum. The night we won, I reckon 80% of the room didn’t even know who we were.

It was amazing. We gave it our all and it paid off. If the planets had aligned differently, maybe people wouldn’t have liked the record. Or maybe they would have said that it was disrespectful to play “Adiós Nonino” with saxophones. Because we didn’t bring in any bandoneon players, we improvised a little, we maintained our sound and tried to maintain the essence of my grandfather’s music, which luckily I know like the back of my hand. It was great to get that recognition. I think it’s a very

important story for Argentine music that Piazzolla’s grandson should have won the Gardel de Oro with Piazzolla’s music. We couldn’t believe it. At that moment I felt peace for myself, for my family, for my mum and dad, who would have felt quite hurt if that project hadn’t been received well.

When you aren’t playing, what do you do?

I spend time with my family and go and see River Plate. It’s all I do apart from playing and listening to music. I don’t read. I might watch the odd series, I like The Walking Dead a lot and now I want to start Game of Thrones. I like fantasy movies. I’d rather see a zombie eating some guy’s head off than a real life drama. My grandfather was like that too, he liked more commercial stuff like Rocky, Rambo. He was really into that.

What cities do you recommend for their jazz circuits?

As well as Buenos Aires, New York. When I go there I see five shows a day. I think in Chicago and London there’s an interesting scene. Paris, of course. And there’s a lot of movement in Oslo, Norway. In Chile there’s a bit of a jazz scene, but I don’t know if it’s as big as here, where there are fifty places to play. But to me, Buenos Aires is the best city in the world.

What is it you like about Buenos Aires so much?

Everything. Feeling like a local. Walking down the street and knowing where to go and where not to. Having that control over what belongs to you, knowing the shortcuts.

Isn’t jazz just for connoisseurs?

Not any more here, because it’s been Argentinized.

But yes, before it was quite elitist. Now it’s more open and I think that’s spectacular, because we musicians come from different experiences, but we’re not these guys who are always in suits. I play jazz, but one day a week I go and see River Plate, dressed in all the kit. And I don’t care about a thing. I forget about it all. You play jazz because you want to bring into real life everything you’ve been practicing at home. You want to show it. It’s mostly that. ¶

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C E L E B R AT I N G E L E G A N C E S I N C E 1 8 3 0

CLASSIMA STEEL 40MM SELF-WINDING www.baume-et-mercier.com

Red and black symphony

From the 65th floor of the Rockefeller Center in New York, Montblanc marked 110 years of excellence and prestige with an evening for an exclusive few: celebrities, models and friends looked out on the Big Apple with pioneers’ eyes.

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it all started in 1906 with the sound of fountain pen on paper. inspired by the latest mechanical developments he’d seen during a trip to the USA, Alfred Nehemias, a salesman from Hamburg, and the engineer August Eberstein partnered with Claus Voss to work on an idea. The result was an implement that would revolutionize the art of writing. And that great idea, now embodied in one of the most renowned luxury labels in the world, is celebrating 110 years.

Of course, such an anniversary requires a celebration to match. So, 110 years after the founders returned from New York to Europe with the beginnings of what would be their brand, Montblanc decided to go back to where it all started and celebrate it in the Big Apple. For just one night, the Rainbow Room, the restaurant on the 65th floor of the legendary Rockefeller Center, was the place for a unique night full of surprises. Like on the mountain that gives the brand its name, from high above you can get a new perspective of the world.

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From high above

There weren’t many more than 110 guests, but they were carefully chosen. The firm’s ambassadors, Australian actor Hugh Jackman and Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of Caroline of Monaco, along with actress Kate Bosworth, socialite Olivia Palermo and her husband, model Johannes Huebl, blogger Adam Gallagher, models Sara Sampaio and Emily DiDonato, actor Matthew Morrison, model Jasmine Tookes, and other guests celebrated Montblanc’s anniversary. They were thus privileged witnesses to the launch of the new Montblanc Heritage Collection Rouge & Noir, inspired by the original Rouge & Noir fountain pen, the first series of products launched by the company in 1909.

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Chronicle of a unique evening

On arriving, guests were invited to sign the digital guest book, helping to write the latest chapter in the history of Montblanc. As they walked among the pictures framing the history of Montblanc over the years, with original photographs, advertisements from each period and images of the great friends of the brand, they became immersed in a journey to Planet Montblanc. With classic cocktails from the 1920s and 30s, and to the sound of the Chris Norton quintet, guests walked over an exhibition space arranged around six stations, each of them dedicated to one of the six glaciers of Mont Blanc that can still be seen in the brand’s identity. Each station was designed to capture the universe of the “Montblanc Man” and as they walked the guests could discover the watches, writing implements, leather articles and men’s accessories from the 110 years collection, including the Steamer Bag, the Montblanc Heritage Collection Rouge & Noir Limited Edition 1906 ebonite fountain pen, limited edition solid red gold cuff links, and the Meisterstück Soft Grain Collection of leather pieces.

To immortalize their presence, the guests had their photographs taken with a special filter in red and black. Tinted in the same colours, the space was a faithful reflection of the Heritage collection, which combined with the Art Deco style of the restaurant and views of the city lights.

Company news

During the dinner, Montblanc CEO Jérôme Lambert unveiled the new Montblanc Heritage Collection Rouge & Noir, The Ultimate Serpent Limited Edition 1, a unique fountain pen with a serpent coiled around the cap and the body set with pavé sapphires and a 6.15-carat Montblanc diamond to crown the piece. This is a major collector’s piece, costing around $1.2 million.

There was also the premiere of the advertising campaign with Hugh Jackman, directed by the award-winning director Andreas Nilsson. Filmed in Budapest, the film journeys through Montblanc’s pioneering past and present.

From the 65th floor, always at the height of prestige and quality, Montblanc celebrated their anniversary and paid tribute to the pioneering spirit of New York. One hundred and ten years of excellence on, with a toast for many years to come! ¶

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The antidote to gravity Here are some of the tourbillons that impressed me at the Geneva and Basel fairs. My selection is open to debate and is half down to experience and a certain knowledge, and half down to the way these ten watches set my pulse racing when I held them in my hands. txt Carlos Álvarez Insúa

It has been suggested to me that I note down some ideas about harmony. First, a question: why can’t we manage to jump over the Kavanagh building? Indeed, what is stopping us from flying?

The answer can have philosophical diversions, but there is a question of physics at the beginning, a law that makes things fall, and no matter how much in shape we are, the leap in question is impossible: the force of gravity that keeps us on the ground and demands that we develop our muscular strength to move. This comment suggests a principle of forces in opposition and animation as a synthesis of these opposites.

The history of watches is the chronicle of a fight against gravity, the evolution of the struggle of a collection of gears, cogs and pinions to document the pact of measured time and its passing in a perfect flight.

In the late eighteenth century, major advances in watch precision occurred, but terrestrial gravity continued and was the central problem for master watchmakers, as it made the balance wheel oscillate at different rates, as the centre of gravity of the whole system did not always match with its axis of rotation.

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The leap from quantity to quality of precision, attacking the core of the problem, is the tourbillon. Breguet’s genius lay in placing the regulating organ and the escapement inside a metal cage that revolved on itself, at a rate of one complete revolution per minute, and thus annul the deviations in the running caused by the watch’s vertical position, something very common in pocket watches.

The tourbillon’s rearguard began on 7 Mesidor, in year 9 of the French Revolutionary Calendar, or on 26 June 1801 for the rest of us. This was the day when the brevet (patent) was granted to Breguet, the French Minister of the Interior. This date can be brought forward five or six years, as AbrahamLouis Breguet (10 January 1747-17 September 1823) made some earlier prototypes, but it can only be said that the tourbillon is a non-experimental controlled complication, from the date of its patent.

The basic idea behind the tourbillon is quite simple: to prevent a watch from going slightly fast or slightly slow, depending on the position it is in vertically, the cage and its rotation. That is, it was the implement for harmonizing the various demands of gravity.

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Panerai

Lo Scienziato Luminor 1950 GMT Titanio47mm A Panerai is a Panerai, that is enough. What la Officine has achieved in around twenty years is remarkable, both in its success and its legitimate identity.

It is inevitable that we should refer to the story weaved by Panerai, with their case designed for Italian frogmen which at first carried inside a 16-line Rolex calibre. Only a handful of watches were made to meet the demand of the Royal Italian navy, but a legend was born. Then, decades of silence, and a watch with Angelus calibre, to then disappear again until the watch’s true birth in 1990 through the Vendome Luxury Group which would then incorporate Richemont. But enough history, the point is a Panerai is a Panerai and the whole world knows it. So let’s talk about my 2016 tourbillon. The PAM 578 with calibre P.2005/T is made of titanium and has a very Panerai diameter of 47mm. There inside, in a skeletonized movement with a tourbillon and second time zone indicators, with 24 hours power reserve. This is undoubtedly a watch of haute complication, but it is not this watchmaking feat that led me to choose it, but its contemporaneity, beauty and constructive originality. The Scienzato is moving and expresses, like few objects can, harmony between design and function, which is, I suspect, the gold standard for defining aesthetics in watchmaking. Carry on, Italian, beyond the laborious knowledge of the Swiss. This is a very, very Panerai tourbillon.

Richard Mille

Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph RM 50-02 Richard Mille plays to the limit. It is near impossible for him to imagine a watch that does not contain a tourbillon, or that the materials should not be complex, surprising alloys to provide sturdiness and lightness. I can still see, if I close my eyes, the 2015 Magnolia, and reminisce about the surprise that watch gave me. Inevitably, that memory is accompanied by two seminaked girls covered with dresses of magnolias walking along the corridors of the SIHH 2015.

Mr. Mille’s flair is connected to his way of finding the most extreme watchmaking with audacity and transgression.

But let’s go to the 2016 watch, with that mechanical Magnolia running in my mind.

This is the RM 50-02 ACI. It includes a beautiful tourbillon, but there is also a stupendous split-second that underlines the sporting identity of this notable specimen with its oval tachymeter surrounding the bevel.

Severely limited to just thirty pieces, this refined, crazy, genial watch is once more a declaration of Richard’s principles: uniqueness, reinvention of luxury, and the DNA of high-speed automobiles.

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A. Lange & Söhne

Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon On the outside, elegance, aerodynamics and discretion; on the inside, extraordinary, exciting calibres with secret surprises and beauty: thus is the great German manufactory. Each Lange & Söhne retains the sober appearance of a beautiful watch on the outside with a movement that plays on the limits of what is possible in watchmaking. Lange showed us the updated Datograph Perpetual last year, but hey, this is Lange; and Lange doesn’t do anything the easy way. This limited edition block is essential, pure watchmaking. Three top-of-the-range complications in one.

So imagine the calibre of—possibly—the best chronograph in the world, hooked up to an instantaneous perpetual calendar, with indicators of the phases of the moon and the date with the possibility to advance on each screen, while pressing the 10hour button. But here again, it isn’t like Lange just took the same line of the existing Datograph Perpetual, but they also moved the power reserve indicator to the end of the tachymeter scale.

Cool. And the tourbillon… is found behind the 12 hours, and the escapement turns on its own axis once a minute within a cage of exemplary filigree. As for eccentric weights, with the rotation the forces of gravity upon it are eliminated.

Audemars Piguet

Royal Oak Tourbillon Extra-Thin Openworked Yellow Gold Different tonalities in a range of greys in the movement, surrounded by thin plains of 18-carat yellow gold, sometimes polished, generate a play of simply adorable colours, dimensions and depths in the Royal Oak Tourbillon ExtraThin Openworked. Yes, the openworked is back for 2016, but in yellow gold. I’ve always loved the skeletonized Royal Oak, but this version in yellow gold is indescribable, showing the powerful and solid future of yellow gold for the shine to come, living side by side, but also replacing, the near-red pink golds.

Every piece is an essential part of this limit of skeletonization.

And so it is that the tourbillon reveals itself not only as a technical prodigy, but as an aesthetic contribution to transform the watch into a real visual show.

From the technical side, this piece has also faced a severe challenge: integrating the features that it seemed impossible to bring together, extra-thin, skeletonized and making the tourbillon mechanism turn. But this has Audemars Piguet’s signature on it, so nothing should surprise us, as the challenge is in his DNA. The watch comes equipped with an 18-carat yellow gold case, crystal and sapphire back with anti-reflection treatment, waterproof to twenty metres, 41mm in diameter. The calibre has a 70-hour power reserve and one hundred angles treated with the l’anglage technique, showing the delicate hand finish.

A beautiful crown tourbillon almost impossible to imagine. The openwork dial has yellow gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands, with luminescent coating.

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Jaeger-LeCoultre

Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon Allow me to point out one technical feat: the more time passes from the conception of the Gyrotourbillon, the prouder the Le Sentier manufacturer will be of it. Eric Coudray developed the Gyrotourbillon several years back now and while it appears that it is moving like a gyroscope, it’s actually a very cleverly designed two-axis tourbillon set within a spherical cage. It features a spherically shaped balance wheel and ball-shaped hairspring. Again, it’s really not a surprise at all that JLC would update the Gyrotourbillon in their birthday tribute to the Reverso.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon watch, has a brand new Gyrotourbillon movement in their new inhouse manual winding Calibre 179. It’s 30% lighter than its predecessor and has an external driving mechanism that has it perform its rotation. The bi-axial flying tourbillon has two carriages which perform an external rotation in one minute and an internal rotation in 12.6 seconds. A really novel approach Jaeger-LeCoultre has taken is the inclusion of an anchorshaped balance wheel designed to evoke the brand’s logo.

On the front there is a white hour and minutes dial on the upper section. At 11 o’clock, you’ll see the day/night indicator.

On the reverse side of the dial, you find the engraved movement, showing the extreme thinness of the movement, the information on the dual time display and day/night indicator. 75 pieces available.

Greubel Forsey

Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision, red gold The Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision won the Aiguille d’Or at the last Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

At SIHH 2016, this Anglo-Swiss watchmaker offered a completely new declination on the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision. For the Salon, the white gold cage has made way for red gold, while the dial has adopted an anthracite hue—a striking contrast. The case keeps its slender proportions, while in order to house and display the Tourbillon 24 Secondes, a sapphire dome has been carved out on the timepiece’s display back, which forms a subtle vertical asymmetry. The enamelled indications on the solid gold dial, the hand-finished hands, and the lower tourbillon bridge define this watch’s excellence.

In truth, few watchmakers have more right to express their craftsmanship and pride with each one of their pieces. Thus, their satisfaction with the result is expressed in the discreet signature on every bridge.

This piece features a red gold case and an eye-catching sapphire dome to show off the Tourbillon 24 Secondes. The incredible watch created by Greubel Forsey is truly refined and surprising.

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Montblanc

4810 ExoTourbillon Slim For SIHH 2016, Montblanc has returned to the 4810 line, which refers to the brand’s 110 years. It is so called because the height of Mont Blanc is 4810 metres.

The big news is the 4810 Exo/Tourbillon, a veritable ambassador of these 110 years, a powerful and unbeatable history in the construction of leadership and absolute hegemony, in their top of the range stylographic pens, notable development in leather goods from their own manufactory in Florence, and a young and powerful trajectory in haute horlogerie. In this latter respect one cannot help but mention the takeover of Villeret, one of the most exclusive Swiss manufactories which Jermone Lambert, in a conversation we had in New York six months ago, called “the NASA of Montblanc’s haute horlogerie.”

The beautiful and intelligent ExoTourbillon escapement is constructed fundamentally differently to other tourbillons. Its construction allows a large balance wheel to be placed outside of the tourbillon cage. The Exo in the name is derived from Greek and means “external” or “in the exterior”, and refers to the great balance of the screw, which is situated outside of the tourbillon’s rotating cage. This original, patented construction allows a smaller, lighter cage, with an energy saving of 30% compared to a conventional tourbillon.

The ExoTourbillon balance wheel measures 9.7mm in diameter and includes eighteen screws, four of which are gold and can be adjusted, while the other fourteen are fixed for precise timekeeping. One relevant fact is that a large balance wheel has better inertia and offers a more stable “swing”.

The 42mm white gold case houses the calibre MB 29.24 automatic movement, which is powered by a micro-rotor for the first time.

A red arrow on the tourbillon cage indicates the seconds and features a practical quick stop-second mechanism. This function is made possible thanks to the construction of a whip, which halts the large screw balance and restarts it on demand.

The ExoTourbillon continues working with a rapid time second window, which is indicated on the tourbillon cage with a red arrow.

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Cartier

Tourbillon Mystérieux Azuré This watch combines high watchmaking and the complication of the astro/mysterious tourbillon in a virtuous way. Once again the SIHH was excited by Cartier’s creativity and ingenuity. Only they can work beyond the limits, a tradition in their extreme jewellery, but for the last decade the watch complication has reached the power of surprise in the light of gems and the art of setting them.

Few can imagine anything like the Tourbillon Mystérieux, but only the Cartier team can add it to the list of magical objects of the world. This is an indescribable butterfly, resembling something invented by the Yellow Emperor, who in China created the real butterfly, in hatching its essence with a spell 5000 years before Christ, according to the story by Salvador Elizondo. The Cartier butterfly has sapphire wings and a pavé diamond body. The heart of the transparent dial is fitted with a mysterious double tourbillon calibre 9463 MC, suspended in the void.

The chain has geometrical motifs set with diamonds; the pendant is part of Cartier’s tradition of transformable jewels, as the Sri Lankan 25.93-carat oval sapphire is perfectly detachable.

An incredibly complex object that crystallizes the meaning of life of the art of jewellery where all the mechanical elements are invisible. This master timepiece has required over 2050 hours of work. With manual winding, this is a unique piece.

Suffice it to say that this magnificent piece of work was also the most expensive watch presented at the SIHH 2016, priced at $1,305,000.

Zenith

Academy Georges Favre-Jacot The Zenith Academy Tourbillon Georges Favre-Jacot is a notable watch offering a futurist reading for haute horlogerie. Its design and innovative materials bring into play an explosive calibre. The Primero 4805 brings with it two complications: the tourbillon and a fusée and chain transmission system remind us of the experience in Zenith’s in-house production. The Georges FavreJacot tourbillon flaunts its mechanism in an entirely transparent manner. A black ceramic case houses the new movement. Such is this El Primero with tourbillon and fusée and chain transmission.

These two watchmaking complications are here together for the first time in a high-frequency movement. Winds manually.

I have to say that this watch, limited to 150 numbered pieces is, I suspect, the most interesting technical feat presented in Basel.

The watch measures 45mm diameter and 14.65mm high. The crystal is bombé sapphire on both faces and makes the movement behind the case visible.

The Primero 4805 is a manually winding movement running at 36,000 VpH (5Hz) and has a power reserve of approximately fifty hours.

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Tourbillions

Vacheron Constantin

Maître Cabinotier Retrograde: Armillary Tourbillon Here is the first use of the Reference 57260 mechanism in a wristwatch.

Perhaps the most important news of 2015 in watchmaking complications was Vacheron Constantin’s presentation in Geneva of the most complicated watch ever, challenging Patek Philippe’s legendary reference 89. I was fortunate to be invited to this celebration and see this surprising watch before it travelled to New York, where its owner lives. I don’t think I exaggerate if I say that this pocket watch redefines the watchmaking complication, typologies aside. This kind of claim must come with reservations, as the reference books differ on what is and what isn’t a complication. As for me, I dare to go with what Giulio Papi once told me: “Anything that is added to the hours, the minutes and the seconds, no matter how simple, is a complication.” However, there is no argument that the reference 57260 was an impressive achievement. And many of those who were there wondered whether it would ever become a wristwatch.

Now our question has been answered. The Vacheron Constantin Maître Cabinotier Retrograde Armillary Tourbillon is a derivation of the 57260. As well as the tourbillon, perpetual calendar, indication of sidereal time, and the equation of time, it also has something truly unusual: a Hebraic perpetual calendar, which is extremely difficult to construct due to the complex interaction of both lunar and solar cycles. This is a unique piece and it’s already sold. The owner and the price are confidential.

Such a secret leads to speculation and it seems reasonable that the owner of the wristwatch is the same person who commissioned the 57260. But if the owner of the Retrograde Armillary Tourbillon is not the same as the owner of the pocket 57260, that person is nonetheless the owner of a unique, singularly beautiful and complicated wristwatch.

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The Complements of Dressing Well Nicolás Zaffora is one of the few new generation tailors dedicated to bespoke wear: made-to-measure, handcrafted menswear. After a meeting with his Montblanc clients in his boutique on Avenida Alvear, we had a chat about style and dressing well. txt Mariana Riveiro photos Juan Huerta

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he story behind a particular profession is always hidden in a different life story. This is the case of Nicolás Zaffora, one of the few Argentine tailors dedicated to bespoke menswear.

Nicolás grew up among leather belts, needles and fabrics. Nicolás spent his childhood with his grandparents, who were dedicated to leather goods and bespoke tailoring, and he got his sartorial practice in a monastery, where he was a cloistered monk. There he took care of making his companions’ attire. But one day, his fate changed forever. Inspired by Savile Row ateliers, he left the monastery and started his own business.

Nicolás wears fitted clothes, speaks with a thick voice and has clear opinions. Humour is a clear resource when he speaks about image advice, mistakes and good decisions. Perhaps because the tradition of bespoke tailoring is passed on from father to son —just like Montblanc timepieces— he was invited by the firm to chat with their most select clients about luxury fabrics and garments. It was an unhurried, relaxed, masculine encounter in which the Montblanc accessories complemented bespoke tailoring to a tee. Montblanc cufflinks, card holders and belts were accompanied by tips for dressing well from one of the country’s most exclusive tailors. Today, Nicolás is the father of two girls and from his atelier at Arroyo 961 he attends to the most discerning national and international clients.

What typical mistakes do you find in menswear?

First you have to divide men into two groups: those who cover themselves up, and those who dress. We won’t talk about those who just cover themselves, because they’re a world of mistakes. They just look for comfort and to get through the season, cool in summer and wrapped up in winter. That’s it. They’re not interested in anything else. Then, among those who do dress, maybe one of the most common errors is that they pay a lot of attention to matching colours, but not to combining the lines and cut of the garments. So sometimes they wear very tight-fitting jackets with trousers that are too baggy, and vice versa: not so tight-fitting trousers with jackets that are too tight around the sleeve and the shoulder.

What do you consider a serious error of protocol?

The first thing that comes to mind is the question of black trousers in the daytime. Especially when the whole outfit (jacket, trousers and shoes) is out of place. The only time you can wear a black suit in the day is at a wake, a cemetery, a funeral. But not to go to work and less so to walk in the street.

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great experience for them; and then it extends over time indefinitely.

How do you build up a wardrobe?

Well… with a lot of garments. White shirts, there should be at least two. Two or three light-blue shirts, in different tones. Two suits, minimum, even if they’re not used regularly: one dark blue and another grey pinstriped for different occasions, and for afternoon wear. One or two pairs of jeans. Chinos, one beige and one blue. Also a blue blazer and grey trousers. A checked jacket, a cashmere sweater and some linen summer shirts.

There should also be quality white t-shirts, which are very hard to find.

As a man, are you critical when it comes to analysing women’s wear?

Argentine women make a lot of effort, they’re welldressed. Not exaggeratedly so, like the Italians, for example. But they’re tidy, they combine well, they generally show off their bodies. They have attractive, smooth curves. But there’s one widespread fault that I see more in women, and it’s that they don’t look out for quality and are more interested in colour, the design, they’re more concerned about how it fits them instead of looking out for the quality. That’s my criticism.

What’s the most complimentary garment?

Is it possible to check for signs that clothes don’t suit you?

The best garment for the male image is the tailored jacket in all its guises. Whether it’s ready-to-wear, made-to-measure or bespoke. Any of these options are perfect for building the male image. There are more comfortable or warmer options, or with other uses, but there’s no other garment that compliments better. The question is that when it looks bad, it produces an ugly image. In general the large sizes create a lot of volume that you can see, and the small sizes generate creases and shadows in the alteration and the button, on the shoulders, on the back, and of course in the pants.

What does the bespoke concept imply?

As I was saying, there are different versions of the tailored suit. The top of the range is madeto-measure, hand-crafted, which is what bespoke means. The client who dresses made-to-measure, except for casual clothes, generally has all his formal wear handmade. The relationship with clients is always long-term and it also has two parts to it.

The first is when the garments are made, this is a

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Your work is timeless, do you take tendencies in male fashion into account?

In classic clothes the fashion trends aren’t every six months or every year, they last for decades, or at least five years. It’s not as quick-changing as women’s fashion. It has more to do with style and there aren’t these sudden changes: for example, trousers get shorter or jackets get wider. It makes it possible to avoid the necktie if you add a load of condiments. Fashion is what brands bring out every six months and style is what each individual can express in themselves with their body and their clothes, how they reflect their personality in their outer image.

How was the encounter with the Montblanc boutique?

The experience was great because we talked about luxury fabrics, about style, and Montblanc has all the accessories to wear with classic menswear: cufflinks, the watch, which is the main jewellery for men, the pen, etc. Also the money clip, the briefcases, mobile cases, everything. So the Montblanc collection complemented my speciality very well, so it was very nice. ¶

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The mastery of balance She has reworked traditional Japanese cuisine by mastering and adding her identity to the culinary art of kaiseki, a technique based on the combination of flavours and preparations in perfect balance. Fronting a successful restaurant in Los Angeles, chef Niki Nakayama talks about the difficult task of finding your own voice. txt Andrea Cukier photos Zen Sekizawa

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he totality of a food is as important as the sum of its parts. this sums up the philosophy of n/naka, a restaurant where traditional kaiseki cuisine is fused with western ingredients to reflect the changing rhythms of the land. Behind this gastronomic offering is chef Niki Nakayama, the first—possibly only—woman in the world to offer a menu under the concept of this ancient Japanese culinary art.

Kaiseki cuisine dates back to the sixteenth century. At first, it was part of the tea ceremony, and over time it gradually became a byword for Japanese haut cuisine. The meal includes up to fourteen small but succulent dishes, and respect for nature is the foundation of this seasonal cuisine. It is only possible to serve seasonal foods grown in the region where the dish is served.

However, what sets Niki Nakayama apart, apart from her successful reinterpretation of the kaiseki, is that she was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. At the age of twenty-two she began her career at Takao, one of the most important Japanese restaurants in her home town, and after a symbolic trip to Japan that lasted three years, she rediscovered her roots and deepened her love for cooking.

On her return she opened two successful restaurants, but Nakayama had the feeling that her food had no soul and decided to shut up shop while she trained in the art of

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The people I love the most are the people who motivate me the most”.

the age of forty-two, she enjoys spending time with her family and is married to Carole, who as well as being her partner is also her sous-chef at n/naka.

Nakayama’s commitment to providing the best experience possible led her to create menus that promise a veritable experience for the senses. Visually stunning, her dishes are decorated with flowers and plant species that reinforce the minimalist spirit and an absolute reverence for the ingredients.

kaiseki. The secret to this tasting menu is that the food has a specific order that alternates boiled dishes with fried, steamed and grilled. Sweet also mixes with savoury and sour, rice and miso soup. After mastering this technique, she opened n/naka in 2011 and it soon became one of the most innovative restaurants. Her steamrolling success made her one of the protagonists of Chef ’s Table, a documentary series created exclusively for Netflix that focuses on the life and work of various international chefs, including the Argentine Francis Mallmann. On the show, Nakayama talks about the demands of her family, her origins, about her struggle as a woman to find a place in Japanese cuisine, and how that suffering became an obsession with doing her work to perfection.

Nakayama also talks about the feeling of kuyashii, a Japanese word that describes the need to prove wrong someone who looks down on you. Nakayama candidly opens up about her fears about letting down her loved ones, and shows that passion overcomes prejudices. Today, at

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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Japan?

I have the most wonderful memories of my time there, and without a doubt, the weather and the seasons of the year are very present. One day, in the middle of summer, I was taking cooking classes in the countryside and, when the class ended, a group of us decided to have a getaway. It was night by the time we got to a nearby pond and you could see hundreds of fireflies lighting up the place. It was a magical moment. There were many moments like that during my stay in Japan when I was able to appreciate all the beauty that nature has to offer.

During that trip you learned the secrets of kaiseki. What was it that amazed you about this culinary technique?

There’s a very profound sense of appreciation and gratitude in this ritual. I love how the technique constantly reminds us that we have to honour nature and that we have to be very grateful for all that she provides.

When did you decide to become a chef?

When I visited my aunt and uncle’s ryokan, a typical Japanese inn. That’s where I had my first kaiseki dinner and I was

I love how the kaiseki technique constantly reminds us that we have to honour nature”.

captivated by the sensation of interpreting food as something delicious, artistic and carefully thought out for the occasion.

Where do you find inspiration for creating a dish?

Nothing motivates me more than thinking up every ingredient individually. I need to take the time it takes to understand all that each product can offer and that allows me to create all kinds of wonderful ideas that come to life and bloom when I put together every dish.

What’s the most important dish in your cooking?

For me the dashi (Japanese fish stock) is fundamental. The quality of the dish depends one hundred percent on how the dashi is done. In Japanese cuisine, it’s the one ingredient that can totally ruin or improve your dish. n/naka has to do with the balance between your creative personality and the traditional style. How do you strike

that balance without using your own identity in the process?

What I love about this ritual is that, as well as being traditional, it also has to do with the philosophy of honouring nature by using only the ingredients you have to hand. My definition of tradition is that my food represents my place of origin, Los Angeles, California, without losing the soul of Japanese cuisine. To strike that balance at n/naka, I always give myself permission to explore the ingredients that interest me, while still respecting the kaiseki culture.

What impact did filming the episode of Chef’s Table have on your life?

Thanks to that documentary, people were able to understand how we work at n/ naka, what our vision is and what we’re trying to get across with our food. Also, all of us who work in the restaurant make a far greater effort so that every person who comes to the restaurant goes away with the same memorable experience they saw in the documentary. On a personal level,

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I think what I found hardest was always getting the work I do to speak for me”.

In the documentary you showed that you keep an archive system where you note down what every customer eats. How do you apply that in the day to day?

The most interesting thing about serving a tasting menu with so many steps is that each dinner is created so that each diner is captivated and surprised by each dish.

When we note down what each person ate who came for dinner at n/naka, we can keep a detailed register that means that if that person returns, they don’t eat the same as last time. It’s a big challenge, but it forces us to keep up to date constantly.

Do your clients appreciate that level of detail?

Yes! They love to know that we’re going to that trouble so that every one of them has the best possible experience and I’m sure that the variety of dishes is one of the reasons they come back several times a year.

What’s the hardest experience you’ve had to face as a chef?

I think what I found hardest was always getting the work I do to speak for me. The most important thing is to build up credibility.

getting so many messages of support had a big impact on me, it made me feel that, at some point, we’re all connected by the experience of being humans.

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Who inspires you to improve your work?

That’s a very difficult question, because I have many sources of inspiration. Firstly, all the chefs responsible for the dishes I’ve tasted. I could also name as an influence all the cookbooks I ever read. Basically, I feel like the people I love the most are the people who motivate me the most. ¶

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History in five moves

These designs changed the course of the automobile industry, whether because of their social and political context, the way they were assembled, their design, their power, their functionality or a combination of all these things. txt Gabriel Silveira

Marques, models, versions.

A lot of cars have come and gone ever since Karl Benz received patent number 37,435 from the German government, after registering his tricycle with internal combustion engine, considered the world’s first car.

But there are five cars that left their mark way more than others. This doesn’t mean that they were the most technically evolved or the most advanced in terms of design, but they were transcendent in their time, whether from a technological, economic, social or even political point of view. Here are the five pillars of the automobile industry.

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Ford Model T: the world on wheels Although the Model T was first manufactured in October 1908, five years after the foundation of the Ford Motor Company, it wasn’t until 1913 that it began to take on an importance that would change completely the nascent automobile industry and change once and for all the way mankind moved.

The initial boom was in the United States, but the shockwaves would cover the whole planet.

Henry Ford, the company’s founder, was sure that a worker assigned to one position and with a specific task to do would get the car built faster and save more man hours. This would lead to greater capacity and lower production costs, among other things. To demonstrate his theory, he had a Model T chassis move through different assembly stations pulled by a rope in the Highland Park plant in Michigan. The assembly line production model was born.

With this method, Ford cut production times from twelve hours to just one and half hours per unit. Since this would allow him to increase productivity and sales, Ford doubled his workers’ wages to five dollars a day, establishing an 8-hour working day. He used to say that his employees had to be capable of buying the product they themselves were making. The sales price was halved. Part of the success of the Model T was that its mechanisms were simple and reliable. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable car, but it was faster and more efficient than horses, the most popular means of transport in the early 1900s. Other attractions were the optional elements that could be added, and thus use the Model T for all sorts of things; it was common to see one ploughing the fields.

Until 1927, when it was replaced by the Model A, over 15 million cars were made, a ridiculously high figure for the time, and which to this day makes the Model T one of the most widely produced vehicles in history. The Model T Ford was the car that led the way business was done in the automobile industry, and the model that got the world onto wheels.

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Volkswagen Beetle: a post-war icon History isn’t exactly sure whether the original idea was Adolf Hitler’s or Benito Mussolini’s. What we do know is that both carried out a near identical plan to develop an economical car for the people, Hitler with the Beetle, and Il Duce with the Fiat 500.

In the early 1930s, Hitler met with Ferdinand Porsche, who would later create the marque that carries his surname.

Hitler asked him to develop a simple, economical car that could carry two adults and three children. He put him in charge of the People’s Car, the Volkswagen.

After perfecting several prototypes, everything was in place to launch this popular model in 1938. Some 336,000 people had already signed up for a purchase plan to drive away one of the first units to hit the street. But the outbreak of the Second World War changed plans and production was given over to the military. During the war, 50,000 units were made of the Kübelwagen, an adaptation that Porsche devised to be used on the battlefield.

Once the war was over, it was the British who took on the financial administration of the Wolfsburg plant, home today to the Volkswagen Group, and who restarted production of the Beetle. By late 1945 only 55 units had been assembled, mostly for Allies’ use during the occupation and to provide health services in rural areas. Monetary reform brought in new buyers and saved from stagnation the thousand units that were produced per month until 1948. So it was that in 1955, just ten years after the end of the war, the millionth Beetle rolled off the assembly line.

The Beetle was a key element in the development of democracy and mobility in post-war West Germany, and it also went down well in many other countries, acting as a major ambassador in the promotion of a positive image for West Germany.

The last place where the Beetle was manufactured was in the city of Puebla, Mexico, at the end of July 2003, when the model was discontinued definitively. With over 21 million cars made, the Beetle had become a symbol of the German marque and an icon of the world automobile industry. New versions of the Beetle would come, based on that unmistakeable design. But that’s a different story.

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Mini: the little big car The 1956 Suez Crisis that pitched the UK, France and Israel against Egypt set oil prices soaring. The crisis led the British Motor Corporation (BMC) to set about developing a small car with low fuel consumption, and this led to the birth of the Mini.

The task was entrusted to Alec Issigonis, creator of the Morris Minor, another small car. The definitive version rolled out of the Cowley plant in Oxford on 26 August, 1959. They were initially offered under the two marques that made up BMC, and were sold as Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minor.

The secret to the success of this model was in its design: 80% of the 10-foot long body was given over to the four passengers it could transport and their luggage. To get this distribution a structure was designed that had never been seen before: the 4-cylinder, 848cc engine was fitted in sideways and drive transmitted to the front axle. This configuration is now used by most car manufacturers, because of the significant saving in space that it brings. Small 10-inch cogs were also used.

The Mini wasn’t received with much enthusiasm by the consumers, until John Cooper came along and spiced up the engine. He raised the capacity to 997cc, gave a few aesthetic touches and in 1961 the Mini Cooper was born.

Victories at the Montecarlo rally played a key role in improving this little British car’s sales performance.

Including makeovers and special versions, over 5 million units were produced or assembled in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Chile, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia. The legend lives on in the hands of BMW, which since 2002 has been producing a more modern, chic Mini that still retains Issigonis’s original lines.

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Citroën DS: the technical revolution Also know as the Shark or the Toad, the Citroën DS wasn’t as popular as these abovementioned vehicles, but it was revolutionary in terms of design, technology, and evolution of construction techniques.

Unveiled on 5 October 1955 at the Paris Car Show, the DS 19 (the name of the first version) was stunning. Its aerodynamic shape and its unprecedented proportions made a mockery of the rest of the vehicles on show there. It was from another era. The design was the work of the Italian Flaminio Bertoni.

But its futuristic forms weren’t the only thing that surprised the public. This Citroën came with a pneumatic suspension system that could modify the height of the car and which provided an unprecedented level of driving comfort. The DS also brought with it smooth assisted steering and disc brakes on the back wheels.

Just fifteen minutes after the car’s unveiling in Paris, Citroën’s sales staff had already received 743 orders, and by the end of the first day of the show, demand had risen to 12,000. The DS was made until 1975 and a total of 1.5 million cars were produced. The DS name now belongs to a new car from the PSA Peugeot Citroën Group, looking to be distinguished and cutting-edge, taking on the legacy of that model that brought Paris to a standstill in 1955.

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Porsche 911: Timeless design At the 1963 Frankfurt Car Show, Porsche unveiled the prototype 901, a model that was intended to replace the 356, The German marque soon came up against an obstacle: Peugeot had registered all combinations of three figures that had a zero in the middle. So it was that the team from Stuttgart had to call it the 911. But that would be the only inconvenience for this living legend that continues today to be one of the most desired cars on the planet.

The creator of this legendary model was Ferry Porsche, son of Ferdinand, who developed the VW Beetle and founded the Porsche company. The 911 came with a flat-six engine, known as a boxer engine, and located in the rear of the coupe. To this day this continues to be an unmistakeable hallmark of the 911.

The car’s personal touches are found in its body, which time hasn’t modified. A Porsche 911 today is recognised even by those who don’t know about cars. The configuration of its interior hasn’t changed with time either and it’s still a 2+2, meaning that its little rear seats are only good for carrying children, and not in the most comfortable manner.

But that matters little to whoever owns one of these.

Different types of body have been offered over time. The traditional coupe has been joined by the Cabriolet and Targa shapes, a convertible with a stunning steel arch. These two options currently form part of the 911 range.

There are Porsches with rear traction, integral traction, “sports” versions—as if conventional Porsches weren’t sporty enough already—motors with over 700 horse power, limited editions, etc. Porsche have trusted in variety and the technological cutting edge to keep alive a legend that’s been going for over half a century, and which is the pillar of a whole company: any model that the Stuttgart factory offers today—including the Boxster, Cayman, Macan, Panamera and Cayenne—started on the drawing board with the 911 shape.

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Urban Tribute The hectic cosmopolitan life, the manhole covers, the car lights and the spirit of the exploring man is the focus of Montblanc’s Urban Spirit Collection, twenty-two pieces ready for adventure without losing a modicum of style.

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en in movement. explorers of the everyday. Urban adventurers. It is to them that Montblanc dedicates its latest launch: the Urban Spirit Collection. This is a set of leather pieces that has just been presented at Montblanc’s Urban Spirit Gallery in Paris.

Actor and friend of the Maison Rodrigo Santoro and his girlfriend Melanie Fronckowiak, along with actor Alex Pettyfer and Victoria’s Secret models Thayna Silva Santos and Bruna Lirio, and other select guests were all present to find out about these pieces that put functionality before all else.

“The setting we have created inside the Montblanc Urban Spirit Gallery evokes the Urban Spirit, the active mindset that drives the everyday explorer’s perpetual voyage of discovery from city to city or around his own city,” explains Jérôme Lambert, Montblanc International CEO. After enjoying cocktails, guests walked through an urban setting exhibition area to discover the Urban Spirit Leather Collection including small accessories and larger pieces made from black Italian leather with a light sensation of wax and a sophisticated matt effect. The pieces are the result of one of the highest levels of leatherwork made at the Pelletteria Montblanc in Florence, Italy, a space that maintains the traditions and skills of over a century of experience.

One of the details that characterizes these pieces is that, for the first time in the Maison’s history, the traditional Montblanc emblem is replaced by a metal edge along the corner of the small leather articles, a characteristic that identifies this line.

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Guests interacted with Montblanc artisans while a street artist applied his art to the personalization of leather pen pouches using spray paint. Nicolas Ouchenir was on hand to demonstrate his own unique street calligraphy, an unconventional twist on traditional calligraphy.

For the final chapter of the Urban Spirit experience, an intimate dinner was held in a room where Montblanc CEO Jérôme Lambert presented the new Limited Edition Urban Spirit Backpacks, one of the most interesting developments.

The special thing about these backpacks is that they have a rainproof cover decorated with transit and transport maps of some of the largest cities in the world, including NYC and Seoul.

From car lights to manhole covers, the variety of polished stainless steel cufflinks evokes the unmistakeable elements that bring together cities around the world, bringing them to life with unexpected materials.

The tote bag with its dumbbell zip to the sides allows the shape of the bag to be transformed for different uses.

Elsewhere, a pair of cufflinks are inspired by the manhole covers of the streets of Tokyo, reflecting an intricate pattern with a black onyx inlay under the patterned surface. A matching black leather bracelet with PVD finish features the circular manhole design to complete the set.

Another model is a technical feat, creating a mesmerizing visual effect thanks to the innovative use of pixelated optics.

By rotating the snowcap on the camouflage cufflink, the Montblanc emblem mysteriously disappears from sight.

One of the most eye-catching develops was the motorcycle helmets, inspired by 1970s racing style with a modern touch.

This design combines the Urban Spirit tactile look with the perforated leather of racing gloves. One of the models has a black visor while the other is open face with a mirrored visor.

The small accessories bring more functionality: a selection of wallets with outer pockets for quick access to the most frequently used cards.

The Collection will be available from September 2016 in Montblanc Boutiques around the world. ¶

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