A journey to the coldest RedBar meeting on earth – Part 2
Editor’s note: If you missed the first part of this story, you can find it here, and enjoy as Bruce tells the tale of his journey through the frigid trees of the Calgary countryside to a watch meetup with the RedBar crew. Here is the second part of his epic adventure. I quickly discovered a logistical challenge in that the pub tables were so long, it was difficult to mingle with people who weren’t in my immediate area. My photographer sidekick had already gotten up and was making the rounds and snapping pictures, so I proceeded to get into a conversation with the gentleman on my immediate right-hand side about Seiko and his love for dive watches. I got out my watch roll and showed him the new Seamaster among others. About half a beer later, I chatted with the person to my left and we were comparing his white dial Grand Seiko with my white dial Datejust and the finishing differences between the two. The person to his left also got in on the debate and, before I knew it, my Datejust was making its way to the far end of the long table. I looked to the right…
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It’s been a very busy month in Sydney’s watch retail space with a number of brands opening their doors, and an exciting Swiss brand has entered the fray with the first ever standalone Australian Hublot boutique in Sydney. Located in the heart of Sydney on King Street, the new space embodies the brand’s motto of “The Art of Fusion”, blending marble and glass in the form of alchemy that only Hublot has mastered. Throughout the boutique, the walls are covered in mirrors and pop-art, expressing a playfulness of light and space that is also expressed in Hublot’s watches, especially through their use of different case materials. The new Sydney boutique also features a private suite for VIP entertainment, which aims to reflect the values of Hublot, which CEO Ricardo Guadalupe describes as “a young, dynamic and contemporary brand”. Most importantly for fans of the brand around Australia, however, is the watches that will be offered at the new location. The new boutique will receive priority allocation of some limited edition stock, giving Australian Hublot enthusiasts unparalleled access to the brand, never before seen in the country. Hublot are also working on a special edition Sydney watch, which will only be…
The first major awards ceremony in 2020 for film and television, the 77th Annual Golden Globes, was held yesterday at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. I was keeping my eye out for any notable timepieces on the wrists of the attendees and I spotted a few of the best watches of the 2020 Golden Globes. Here are the top six: Ellen DeGeneres and her Patek Philippe Reference 5271P Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Ellen, as we know, is a mega collector of watches with a mixture of modern and vintages pieces from Rolex and Patek Philippe. Ellen received the Carol Burnett Award and on her wrist was the Patek Philippe Reference 5271P Perpetual Calendar Chronograph. She has owned the watch since 2018. In addition to the complications of a perpetual calendar and chronograph, the watch features 58 baguette diamonds on the lugs and bezel, and the folding clasp has 22 baguette diamonds. Taron Egerton and his Montblanc Star Legacy Automatic Taron Egerton took home the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of Elton John in the bio-epic Rocketman. Egerton wore a Montblanc Star Legacy Automatic in stainless steel, featuring a white dial…
Today is a first in our home state of Victoria. It is the first day ever that a state of disaster has been declared by our Premier, Daniel Andrews, ahead of an “unprecedented” fire threat over the coming days. I mentioned this in my Editor’s Letter. Since then, it’s gotten worse. In our state alone (and it’s an even more dire situation in NSW), 800,000 hectares have been burned by more than 50 active fires, four people have died and 28 are missing. And this is not to mention the number of Australian native animals that have been lost. In response, a small thing we’d like to do to help is offer a DOXA SUB 200 with orange dial for sale at auction (no reserve), with all proceeds donated to the Bushfire Disaster Appeal, which has been set up to help fire-threatened regions in Victoria and New South Wales. Included with the watch will be a Time+Tide lapel pin in sterling silver (an item that is not for sale) as well as a Tuscan leather travel pouch in our famous burnt orange. ABOUT THE WATCH Released at Baselworld 2019, this SUB 200 diver’s watch, which is based on a DOXA…
The Horological Society of New York, the oldest watchmaking guild in America, formed 1866, is one of the world’s leading educators on all things watchmaking and horology. For the first time ever they are coming to Australia. We are proud to be the official media partner for the tour. We are joining with event partner, The Hour Glass, to make this maiden voyage a smashing success. Classes will run on February 29 and March 1. Buy tickets here. The esteemed guild will be offering classes in Melbourne on how your mechanical watch works — covering everything from how the escapement works to the setting mechanism. It will be hosted in the new eight-storey The Hour Glass building on Collins Street, which is in its last stages of renovation, and is due to reopen early 2020. When we say it will be an exclusive opportunity, we are not overstating things. Just 32 chairs will be available — and we know that several of those have already been snapped up by the watch addicts in the @timetideclub, which you can join (and by doing so gain access to the Closed Insts group) at www.timeandtide.club if you haven’t already. Early heads-up on all kinds of things…
For the first time ever, Jaeger-LeCoultre is opening a stand-alone boutique in Australia, which aims to offer greater access for their Australian enthusiasts than ever before. The brand is also quietly confident that the Australian market has reached a level of maturity that a complex and nuanced brand such as Jaeger-LeCoultre can capitalise on the growing wave of interest in luxury watches. In comparison to nearby markets in Asia, Australia has often previously fallen behind in sales; however, more recently, there has been a resurgence that has not gone unnoticed in Switzerland. With the brand opening their new Jaeger-LeCoultre Sydney boutique on Friday the 13th of December, they are also showing their level of commitment to the region as one that will increase in importance in the future. I spoke to Justin Devaux, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Country Manager of Australia and New Zealand, about the opening and he explained that the idea was to “immerse the customer in the brand universe”. Any genuine level of immersion is challenging in a multi-brand store, which is one of the reasons to create a stand-alone boutique, as well as that the “people working in the boutique would have a deeper training in the brand,…
I’m fortunate to be able to say I’ve met a couple of world number one tennis players in my time. Ash Barty, current women’s number one, is not like any of them. She has no star vibes as such. No X Factor. No celebrity aura. What she carries with herself, which comes across in person, is more powerful – and rarer – than that. It’s total ease with herself. And a level of self-belief, to back herself in every word she says. It’s borderline frightening. All answers are direct, honest, sincere. This one, for example. I’d asked, “Is Serena Williams intimidating to play against?” The response was instantaneous: “She is,” and with this a squint and a nod. “The first time. But not the second.” This answer frames exactly why the 23-year-old Australian is the best player in the world. She has a rock-solid self-belief. She has no doubt she is up where she belongs. The Number 1 seed for the Australian Open next month, who lists Alicia Molik, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin as her heroes, has steel in her eyes. Friend of Time+Tide and tennis commentator Miguel Seabra describes her this way: “She’s a great player. Or should…
I recently had the privilege of attending an event with Seiko that focused on their Save the Ocean collection, and the work that can be done with the funds raised. While the event itself was an interesting blend of experience and information, I’ll explain exactly what the Seiko Save the Ocean collection is first. If you’ve ever been in a boutique that carries Seiko, while you were browsing the cabinets packed with their latest releases, you might have noticed a range of dive watches in the Prospex family with gradient blue dials that have an almost metallic quality. If you looked closer again at these blue-to-black fading dials, you would have seen an irregular stripe pattern, which was inspired by the lines that run along the bellies of humpback whales. It is these watches with gradient blue dials that sit within the Seiko Save the Ocean collection, and are made separate from the rest of the Prospex family, as a portion of the sales are donated to ocean conservation efforts around the globe. Aligned with this, Seiko are working with filmmaker Fabien Cousteau as an official Save the Ocean ambassador, who is also none other than the grandson of the…
In a city as affluent as Dubai, it isn’t a surprise to see some pretty wild watches come out to play at the city’s own Dubai Watch Week. While there are some of the usual suspects to be seen, such as Rolex and Patek Philippe, Dubai also showed its sophisticated side with some less common contemporary pieces and even rarer vintage watches. So while I wasn’t able to capture anything close to the full spectrum of interesting timepieces donning the wrists of those wandering the exhibiting booths, this is a small smattering that shows just how varied and articulate the tastes of Dubai Watch Week attendees are. A piece from independent watchmaker F.Rozon. A powerful A. Lange & Söhne duo on the wrists of @mjbiercuk. A collection of watches shown at the launch of the FERO 150 Steel Chronographs book, written by Andrea Mattioli and Franco Basile.
Dubai Watch Week is in its fourth year, and is hitting a scale that should be making the other watch fairs around the world take notice. In the context of Baselworld being in some of the worst trouble it has experienced in its 100+ year history and SIHH (now called Watches & Wonders in 2020) losing the commitment of some of its largest brands, and both of the fairs changing their dates in an attempt to make them more convenient to attend (though this was cited as the reason for both Seiko and Grand Seiko pulling out of the 2020 fair), Dubai Watch Week is gaining significant traction and attention. But what exactly is Dubai Watch Week? Is it a trade show like Baselworld or SIHH, where new watches are released? And if it isn’t, what’s the point in going, and who is it for? Baselworld and SIHH have always traditionally been trade shows, where brands can meet with their retailers, retailers can place their orders for the year having seen the new watches, and members of the press can attend to offer coverage and commentary on latest releases. They aren’t designed for members of the public (SIHH was an…