TIMELY Picks - Part I

[Oceanklassik]

This is lifted from today's newspaper - Straits Time, Urban:


1 Rebel At Heart quartz movement watch in stainless steel case with black dial and black alligator-printed leather strap, $398, from Thomas Sabo; 2 Quartz movement watch in 316L stainless steel case with sapphire crystal glass and leather strap by Cyma, $730, from City Chain; 3 Quartz movement watch in stainless steel case with leather strap by Hugo Boss, $350, from Level 3 Tangs Orchard; 4 Quartz movement watch in stainless steel case and leather strap by Titus, $235, from City Chain; 5 Classic watch with quartz movement in stainless steel case with amber dial and brown embossed croco leather strap by Emporio Armani, $355, from Level 1 Takashimaya Department Store; 6 Poljot 313 manual winding chronograph in stainless steel case with sapphire crystal glass and leather strap by Sturmanskie Strela, $1,403, from Red Army Watches; 7 The New 1815 mechanical watch in pink gold case and crocodile leather strap by A. Lange & Sohne, $28,200, from Sincere Fine Watches; 8 Champion quartz movement watch in rose gold case and leather strap, $268 from 25 Hours; 9 Sentry quartz movement watch in stainless steel case with textured polyurethane band by Nixon, $219, from Level 3 Tangs Orchard.

...

[Oceanklassik]

TIMELY Picks - Part II

The next time you ask a man for the time, watch his wrist and look for a sign of the times.

The trend for flashy wrist candy has gone the way of the It bag. Think discreet luxury instead.

On-trend guys are now wearing classic-looking timepieces with leather straps and buckles, a pared-down look favoured by the dandies of the 1960s.

Do not be deceived though. That simple timepiece may have a $20,000 price tag and bear the name. A. Lange & Sohne.

This top-tier German watchmaker grabbed the Watch of the Year honours at last month's Baselworld, the renowned watch and jewellery trade show that takses place every year in the Swiss city of Basel.

These haute looks, whose brand names include Ebel and Jaeger-LeCoultre, cost from $5,000. This does not necessarily mean they are cheaper than the bling watches of the good times. After all, such classic styles do boast complicated workmanship and precious metal cases which can cost more than the latter.

Expect vintage elements like Roman numerals on the dials and warm hues of rose gold or yellow gold cases to replace ornate gem faces at high-end watch boutiques such as Sincere Fine Watches and The Hour Glass.

SUBTLE LUXURY

Toned down luxury is in keeping with the tough times.

March figures from Singapore's Department of Statistics show that sales of watches and jewellery fell 12.3 per cent from February. However, high-end retailers are upbeat.

Interest in luxury watches will not dip as "watch lovers and collectors will never lose interest in the art of luxury watches", insists Gunawan Suparman, director of Singapore-based Bezel The Watch Collectors' Guild, a private members' club for watch enthusiasts.

Instead, collectors will resist the urge to splurge, going for pieces priced below five figures.

Patrick Tan, the principal adviser of the two-year-old horological education and appreciation centre, Sincere Watch Academy, agrees. "Customers (are still) spending on watches, albeit more carefully with an eye on value."

Francis Kan, editor of luxury monthly magazine The Peak and its annual edition of The Peak Selections Timepieces, says: "The brands are consolidating their strengths to focus on time-tested models."

BUCKING THE TREND

While some brands stick to the understated, there are those which buck the trend.

American vintage-inspired fashion brand, Fossil, for example, is still going big and bold, says Fossil Singapore marketing manager Janet Soh.

In fact, the sales of its trendy watches, along with others it is licensed to carry, such as DKNY and Diesel - priced from $100 to $500 - rose in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. She credits the increase to the fact that the watches "make edgy and fashion-forward" gifts.

The same goes for Red Army Watches, the Russian specialty timepiece boutique known for its whopper Soviet-inspired designs. Prices range from $400 to $2,000.

Its marketing director, Mabel Ng, notes: "Perhaps (it is only) in Wall Street where ostentatious jewellery and big-name watches are not too popular now."

Outside of style, price remains the biggest consideration. For those more tuned to reality, retailers like 25 Hours and City Chain offer pocket-friendly timepieces priced from slightly under $100.

At 25 Hours' soon-to-be-opened store at Orchard Central, for instance, "subtle and fuss-free" timepieces will be the staple, says its general manager Elaine Yue.

"Our direction has always been to create watches of distinctive styles at affordable prices, regardless of the economic conditions."

...

[Oceanklassik]

TIMELY Picks - Part III

JUST WATCH OUT

The Bencoolen: If that name does not ring a bell, you are not alone.

This is about the best place for watch deals, yet even an industry expert, who we invited along for this assignment, was unaware of the pink granite building in Bencoolen Street next to Albert Complex.

It is not hard to spot the watch vendors - just look for the crowd.

There is a comfortable mix of luxury watch vendors carrying second-hand ROLEX and Bulgari watches and commercial ones selling Seiko and Kenneth Cole.

We spotted some limited-edition buys which were going at prices 20 per cent lower than those at boutiques. These included the collector's coloured Omega Speedmaster range and the Swiss-made Corum Bubble GMT with its coloured dial.

The industry insider, who asked to remain anonymous as part of his job entails dealing with high-end watch labels, says brands offload their off-season models to the vendors here.

"The brands know that these watches are selling at low prices," he notes. "As long as the vendors do not go overboard, the brands will close one eye."

For those who would rather toy with the Japanese quartz-movement pieces, there are at least five stores that sell Casios.

Urban spotted a leather-strapped MTF 303 going for $49. The same model cost twice as much at a department store counter we cross-checked at.

Urban got Francis Kan, editor of The Peak and The PEak Selections Timepieces, and Sylvester Ng, lifestyle editor of annual watch guide Icon Moments, to give their tips on buying time.

Try it one

"Buying a watch is like buying a suit, you have to try it on," says Kan. Just because big watches are in does not mean everyone looks good in them. Adds Ng: "Wear it on your wrist, feel the weight, look at the size of the dial, colour and design."

Be practical

Not everyone needs a dual-function watch, unless they are jetsetters. The same goes for the chronograph, which suits the adrenaline junkie better as he would need a watch to measure his sky diving fall, for example, to the micro-second.

Understand value

Expensive does not mean better. As Ng puts it: "A $50 digital watch might not be less accurate than a $50,000 mechanical watch." Shop around for the best rates, says Kan.

[triton]

thanks for getting the article in from urban today.

[psee]

Interesting read! Thks for sharing

[Oceanklassik]

Try to share whenever I can.

[bbailey]

Buyers Guide To Decent Timepieces Below $1000.00

interesting read...i like to flip thru urban on every fri if i got the time and chance in office. maybe i missed out that article.

juz sharing what i have read during my quest (with a limited budget) to learn more about time pieces and admiring the story behind each tick-tock.

pls feel free to comment and recommend entry level watches to newbies like me.

thanks !!

p.s. this article was highlighted to me courtesy from my wifey as her subtle hint for me not to over-raid my "si-fang qian" in the milo tin.



Look around you, how many people are wearing a $1000.00+ USD timepiece? Since you are visiting MotoringExposure, we probably don’t have to explain why to spend more than $25.00 on a watch, which is probably going to run better (more accurate) than your precious mechanical timepiece. You don’t drive a KIA either, do you? However, there is a giant gap between a $25.00 quartz watch and a haute horlogerie timepiece with state of the art technology and innovative complications like the Grönefeld GMT06 we reported about a few weeks ago here at ME.

Last week’s Wednesday, we put a recession friendly Movado Bold in the spotlight. This Wednesday we are going to explore some more friendly priced timepieces under $1000.00. Since the watch market in the $25 – $1000 price range is so big, we have included some rules to play by.

1. It should be a (respected) Swiss or German brand.
2. A mechanical movement (Swiss/German origin), ETA2824 or ETA6498 for example.
3. No plastic parts on the outside (excludes Swatch).
4. Stainless steel casing.
5. Sapphire crystal.

During our quest for a cool -$1000 watch, we found that there are a lot of new brands that made name very quickly. We also found that brands like Omega, TAG Heuer and Longines, who still had low-level entry pieces in the 1980s and early 1990s, disappeared in this price range. One of the few brands from the past that we found active in this price range is Tissot. Tissot manufactures timepieces since 1853 and managed to survive the quartz crisis from the late 1970s and is currently trying to get a grip on the market of mechanical watches with their, for example, PSR516 Sports Chronograph. Although a code like PSR516 is never a good way to refer to your watches, it is actually a very interesting timepiece for a price of approx. $730.00 USD (retail is $1275.00, but we never pay retail prices).

The Tissot PSR516 Sports Chronograph is a 42mm diameter watch, comes with a leather strap, water-resistant to 100 meters (10 bar), sapphire crystal and a mechanical automatic chronograph movement ETA/Valjoux7750. This movement can also be found as a base caliber in chronograph watches from IWC, Breitling, Fortis and many, many more. A good choice for the sporty watch freak that needs a solid timepiece with a rugged chronograph movement.

A probably less known brand is Sinn Spezialuhren, although we found them advertizing in various watch magazines world wide. Sinn is a brand from Frankfurt, Germany and only a few decades old. Sinn entered the market with their functional timepieces and since then have been used by German special forces, fire departments, astronauts and with their Finanzplatzuhr showing multiple timezones, also by bankers. Our favorite $1000.00 watch by Sinn is the reference 656 with a leather strap (pictured with a stainless steel bracelet). This 38.5mm is suitable for every wrist size and with a height of only 10mm – which is almost unique these days – is will also fit under your cuffs. Inside ticks an ETA 2824-2 movement, also found in several famous Swiss highly respected brands.

The Sinn 656 has a stainless steel bead blasted case (and bracelet, in case you choose for this), a sapphire crystal and is water-resistant to 20 meters. The face of this watch reminds us of the navigation clocks and panels in the cockpit. The watch is also resistant to high magnetic fields, which may come in handy when flying an aircraft or working with machinery with strong magnetic fields.

Next one up is a Glycine. Glycine became famous during the Vietnam war, since a lot of chopper pilots were wearing the Glycine Airman which enabled them to read ‘24 hours’. These Airman timepieces of the 1950s actually are very valued amongst collectors. However, we selected the affordable (at just under $1000.00) Incursore ‘Black Jack’ timepiece. With a stunning 46mm diameter, this watch can’t be overlooked. This black PVDed wrist watch has a small seconds hand, a display back to see the ETA2895-2 movement, screw-down crown for 100 meter water-resistance and is limited to 350 pieces only. Given the history of Glycine and the current ‘hype’ of black DLC or PVD watches, we found this watch to be very interesting in our quest.

The black face with large numerals (filled with Luminova) and large hands with Luminova is probably a feast for the eyes when it’s dark. It is also the watch with a decorated movement, as both Sinn and Tissot use fairly basic finished ETA movements. The Glycine uses an ETA movement that has a “perlé” finish and blued screws, visible through the transparent display back. The front and back crystal are made of sapphire of course. You can choose between a leather calf strap with white stitching or a strap made out of natural rubber.

As you probably have guess already, our choice is the Glycine Incursore ‘Black Jack’ Automatic Small Seconds. A truely nice watch for just under $1000.00.

Of course, this is a very small selection of all available watches that match our criteria and perhaps we should do this more often. In the meanwhile don’t hesitate to use the comment field below to add your favorite timepieces under $1000.00.

[efgh918]

OMG！What's the matter!

That’s something. Every day a new day, but not for me. ：（

[overcrash]

hmmm where can we view these Glycine , Sinn or U Boat in display?