Go grab a copy of today's Business Time!

[Oceanklassik]

Hi,

You may want to get a copy of today's Business Times, where they have a 48-page supplement on watches.

Happy reading.

[pegasi]

Go grab a copy of today's Business Time!

It comes with a 48-page supplementary section "The Business of Time". Full of pics and articles (and ads of course) of nice (and ex) watches. If you subscribe to BT you wouldn't miss this cos the cover page is a pull page ad of the green hulk!

I am going to get myself a cup of coffee now...

[Oceanklassik]

We posted at the same time!

http://sg-roc.com/showthread.php?t=46082

[pegasi]

haha, me too excited and eager to share this

[Oceanklassik]

Mods, you may want to merge both threads. I'm Ok if you want to delete mine.

Tx.

[triton]

hope someone can bring a copy for tonight gathering. i will be bringing a chinese copy version about 1-2 weeks ago.

[Paneraii]

Delete

My bad

[triton]

3rd to start a new thread on this.

[5218-201/A]

3rd to start a new thread on this.

It will be a multi-thread merge.

[breitling77]

Thanks for the notice, just managed to grab last copy from my nearby 24hr NTUC. Dream hulk!

[Oceanklassik]

Just to share some articles

All watches great and small

Whatever the argument, case size boils down to personal preference; if you like the watch, don't let its size get to you, says ARTHUR LEE

A senior vice-president at DBS bank more than occasionally takes her husband's "big" watches mounted on leather straps to wear. She explained that with them, she can read time more easily since she is now the mother of two children who are of tertiary-level age. The best part of this is that it probably allows her hubby to indulge in buying more watches! Another female friend is very happy with the three ROLEX Submariners in her collection.

They are not alone in preferring big watches as one female government minister was spotted wearing a 36 mm ROLEX DateJust. It is fairly common these days to see women spotting (ROLEX) Daytonas, Panerais and (Omega) Planet Oceans. Occasionally, one sees a lady wearing a Lange Big Date or even a large U-Boat.

Breitling too has just entered the fray with their new Galactic 36 automatic that comes in a choice of six different dials, two bezels and four kinds of straps or bracelets. Its website says that women who wish to fly Breitling no longer need to resort to choosing a man's watch or borrowing that of their significant others.

The shift in consumer preferences towards big watches is also evident among men's pieces. About 20 years ago, a 40 mm case was the common maximum size for a man's watch, while ladies often wore those that were about 26 mm, such as the ROLEX DateJust. Some have attributed the "up-sizing" to Panerai's common 44 mm size, but even this is now sometimes considered small as U-Boats and some pilot style pieces currently come in 50 mm.

Market leader ROLEX has for several decades stuck to the same case size of 40 mm for its venerable Submariners and GMTs.

The new Subamariners do look slightly larger, but it is because if a new case design with more angular crown guards and bigger lug-ends. It has increased the size of its ever popular DateJust and President models last year to include the 41 mm size.

This year, ROLEX has also up-sized its all time classic, the original Explorer first introduced in the 1950s from 36 mm to 39 mm. The very popular Tag Formula Ones were also up-sized last year from 41 mm to its new "grande" cousin at 44 mm.

But, not everyone likes a big watch and medium built Asian men and women are often happy with watches of moderate size. A smaller case size and slimmer profile also sits comfortably beneath a long sleeve shirt or blouse, which perhaps explains why slim dress watches will never go out of fashion.

Technology-driven German watchmaker Sinn this year decided that it was time to offer a slightly smaller size U series watch. Lothar Schmidt, CEO of Sinn watches said that they received a lot of customers inquiries for a diving watch as professional as the U-models, but with a smaller diameter. They decided to create the U200 with the same Sinn-Technologies that made the Sinn U series so popular.

The U200 at 37 mm, is seven millimetres smaller than the popular U1 and U2s, but boasts a water resistance of 2,000 metres. It also has a patented Ar-Dehumidifying Technology to solve the basic problem of mechanical watches: aging of oils due to moisture in the air contained inside, or diffusing into the watch.

The movement is mounted in a nearly anhydrous atmosphere with EDR seals and protective gas filling. All these greatly delay the aging process. It also eliminates the fogging of the crystal from sudden cold and makes for reliability and accuracy under extreme conditions. The U200 joins the range of medium-sized dives watches such as the Omega Seamaster, but has upped the ante with superior specifications

A big case does have some disadvantages. For it to maintain symmetry, the bracelet has to be equally big, which translates to weight. Large watches are also more likely to get a higher percentage of accidental knocks and can look out of place if the design is not sleek.

Indeed, public opinion is divided over the ROLEX Deep Sea, with some camps stating that its bracelet is on the skinny side in proportion to its solid 43 mm case. On the plus side it has good legibility, is an imposing presence and the case is more spacious so the watchmaker can make it more robust.

But case size is still very much a personal choice and if you like the features of a particular piece, it should not influence you in a big way. A weight-lifting colleague is very happy with his 36 mm ROLEX President, even though he weighs 105kg. Worldwide, the 36 mm ROLEX DateJust continues to sell very well and it also offers a very much wider range of dials to suit your liking. But the general trend is towards larger sizes and if you are thinking of selling that piece somewhere down the road, size does count.

[KuchingKu]

Miss this years...hope my wife office copy still there on Monday.

My wife has lately changed from wearing omega constellation to rolex explored 2. I have also seen more ladies in sub lv and pams. Way to go.

[Oceanklassik]

Are big watches here to stay?

They may be a fashion trend or an evolution over time, but ultimately there's a physical limit on how large they can get, says WONG WEI KONG

The first thing that strikes you about a watch is arguably not the type of case, or the dial, or the materials used. It is size, which immediately establishes in the mind whether the timepiece at hand is a sports watch or a dress watch, a men's watch or a lady's watch. Only then does one start to pay attention to other details, such as case shape, finishing and functions.

And the one observation that can be made about size is that on average, wrist watches today are larger than those a generation ago (the generalization excludes specialist watches, which have always tended to be large because of functional reasons). So a typical men's watch is now 40 mm in diameter, and increasingly common too are watches that are 44 mm and larger.

Indeed, what was considered men's size in the past is seen as girls' size today (this discussion also excludes women's watches for two reasons: men's watches are almost always bigger, and so define the extremes in size; many women wear men's watches, but not the other way round).

Generally, few would dispute this trend towards larger watches, whereas there is much debate concerning the factors behind the shift, and whether it will continue.

The most popular view is that big watches are nothing more than a fad. Those who share this perspective attribute this to the success of Panerai, and the start of the Swiss-owned Italian brand's ascendency around 2000. It has to be noted, however, that Panerai did not set out to create a new fashion statement by making big watches.

Panerai started by making watches for the Italian and other navies back in World War II, and they have always been big (and luminous) because they had to be legible underwater. The first Panerais were 47 mm, and the standard Panerai size is 44 mm. Indeed, while others were starting to make their watches larger, the brand introduced smaller 40 mm watches to cater to the growing Asian market.

But, while the origins of Panerai had nothing to do with marketing, the success of its big watches make the other brands take notice. Most brands today offer 44 mm watches, and even tradition-steeped manufacturers such as Patek have nodded in the direction of larger sizes (for instance, the Patek reference 5970 at 42 mm replaced the 36 mm reference 3970).

And so did conservative ROLEX, which replaced its 40 mm Seadweller with the 43 mm Deep Sea, and its 36 mm Explorer I with a 39 mm new model, and moved its dressy DateJust line up to 41 mm.

One can read this as simply a case of watch companies making what consumers seem to want. If the fashion is big watches, let's make them, even if there is no real reason for watches to be larger.

If big watches are nothing more than fashion, then the trend could reverse. To some observers, there were early signs of this in the watches launched in 2010. Post the financial crisis and recession, which started in 2008, it was felt that consumers were retreating from the excesses of the past decade. So they no longer wanted to make big, brash statements with large watches. And watch companies seemed to be reflecting this mood. Even Panerai launched a new line of "smaller" 42 mm Radiomir watches (although they also pushed the other end of the extreme with new 50 mm and 52 mm models).

But, should big watches be seen merely as a fashion trend?

Some will argue that the growth in size is actually more secular in nature. Since the making of wrist watches began in the early 20th century, there has been a slow, but inexorable trend towards larger cases. Men's watches in the first half of the 20th century were usually between 30-34 mm, including military watches used in combat.

In the 1950s, most men's watches grew to the 32-36 mm range. The advent of the ROLEX Oyster case established the 36 mm size, and from the 1970s, watches grew steadily larger before reaching today's 40 mm norm.

Those who see a secular trend in larger watches point out that it has something to do with the human condition. The average human has become taller and bigger with better food and nutrition. Hence, larger watches are no different from how the average size of cars, homes, clothes and shoes has grown over the years.

As more people live longer, and societies age as a whole, legibility - an issue that once concerned pilots and divers - becomes an everyday concern. Large watches are usually easier to read when the eyes start to dim (there are caveats, of course: A large watch with a cluttered dial will probably be harder to read than a smaller watch with a clean dial.).

If one follows this argument, then big watches are here to stay. Even allowing a pullback from extreme sizes (perhaps this is the part accounted for by fashion). average watch sizes are unlikely to shrink by much.

Still, regardless of whether it's down to fashion or more secular factors, there's probably a physical limit to how big a watch can get in terms of comfort, weight and proportion. For most people, the maximum size is probably around 44 mm. For many, 40 mm will probably be ideal. It's no wonder that as far as ROLEX is concerned, the iconic Submariner and GMT II should remain at that size, nothing more, nothing less.

[Oceanklassik]

Figure this out

R SIVANITHY shares some interesting observations about three often overlooked watch features.

Watch lovers spend an inordinate amount of time studying watch faces, scrutinising the hands, colour of the dial, the material used for the bezel, the fonts and so on. Yet, how many notice that three features of watches are consistently the same in promotional pictures across almost all brands - the time, the un-Roman numerals on a Roman numeral watch and the date?

First, the time. Almost without exception, promotional pictures of watches show the time as around 10 minutes past 10 (in ROLEX's case, the exact time is 10.10 and 31 seconds).

Nobody knows the exact reason for this, although the most popular theory is that with the hands so positioned to depict 10.10, the watch dial resembles a smiling face that offers the added advantage of not obscuring other important features such as the manufacturer's name and the model description.

Next, Roman numerals. We all know that the sequence goes I, II, III, IV, V and so forth, with the "III" missing when the watch has a date function. But instead of "IV" for four o'clock, every single Roman dial uses "IIII" instead, surely a very off break from convention. Why is this?

Again, no one knows for sure, but the most plausible explanation is that it's to ensure the dial presents a balanced appearance. Directly across from four o'clock is eight o'clock, which Romanised is VIII - that is, four characters. So, in order to ensure there are also four characters on the opposite side at four o'clock, designers have traditionally used "IIII" instead of "IV".

Finally, the date. Here we enter slightly more difficult territory, because not everyone uses the same numbers. There are, however, certain common threads, such as the presence of the number eight.

Patek Philippe tends to use "8" or "18". Jaeger-Le-Coultre uses "18", while Sinn and Girard-Perregaux use "8". This is most likely because the digit "8" is considered a lucky number to Asians, of course, is a hugely profitable market for all watch companies.

Not everyone uses "8" though - A Lange & Sohne and Glasshutte Original (both German brands) and IWC favour "25" while Breitling tends to use "12". Girard-Perregaux, in the meantime, has also used "24" and "25".

But, by far the most common date used in promotional pictures is "28", which is used by big brands such as ROLEX, Panerai, Omega and Chopard. Some watch fans might also recall that the boutique watchmaker Roger Dubuis initially made only 28 pieces for each of its models, though this has now been increased to 88 or 288, depending on the metal used.

So why the fascination with 28? We know eight is popular with superstitious Asians, but why 28?

My theory is that the number is popular because in mathematics, 28 is a "perfect number". The ancient Greeks were the first to define perfection as a number whose factors excluding itself add up to the number. So six is the first perfect number because its factors one, two and three add up to six.

The Greeks were so enchanted with six that they called it "marriage, health and beauty". St Augustine believed the perfection of six existed before the world came into existence and that God created the world in six days because the number was perfect.

The second perfect number is 28, whose factors less than itself are one, two, four, seven and 14, which add up to 28. After that, perfection is very hard to come by. The third perfect number is 496, the fourth is 8,128 and the fifth is 33,550,336!

Eagle-eyed and/or mathematically inclined readers might have noticed that the numbers listed so far all end in "6" or "28" and in fact, it can be proven mathematically that all even perfect numbers end in these numbers. Unfortunately, no one knows for sure if odd perfect numbers exist or even if the list of all numbers is infinite or not.

For our purposes though, it's enough to know that if a watchmaker wanted to appeal to its Asian customers as well as imply that its designs are in some way perfect, there is only one number that can be used - "28". Is this why "28" is by far the most popular date depicted on watch advertisements?

[exxondus]

Thanks Ocean bro for sharing the interesting read!