11 DAYS OF LONDONERS: Day 9 – Dumi Oburota, the man who launched Tinie Tempah, has a collection to envy
Editor’s note: A few months back, we announced that former Editor of GQ Australia, Mike Christensen, was to be our first European Editor. In this series, ‘11 Days of Londoners’, Mike will be sharing the stories of a few notable local collectors, starting on Day 1 with King Nerd, and with a stellar lineup still to come. Lastly, you might ask, why 11 days? That, friends, will become clearer over time … If you’re going to drop out of university, you’d hope it was for a good reason. What if that reason was launching the career of 16-year-old Tinie Tempah when you were 21? That’s exactly what Dumi Oburota did, which started his days in the music business, where he still remains with a joint venture with Warner Music in London. He’s also one of the best-dressed gents on the planet – if you’re ever wondering what to look for this season, just check out his Instagram account. The story behind the watch you are wearing today I am wearing a Casio G-Shock x Bamford, which was given to me on my birthday by Tinie [Tempah]. We love what the Bamford team do with their watches. George is a good friend and this…
The post 11 DAYS OF LONDONERS: Day 9 – Dumi Oburota, the man who launched Tinie Tempah, has a collection to envy appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Truth be told, a lot of watch writing is often a bit dry, technical and, well, dull. Time+Tide’s Contributing Editor Luke Benedictus takes a different approach. In the latest issue of Good Weekend, the Saturday magazine inserted into The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Luke offers a word of warning to any vintage-watch obsessive who’s about to splash the cash. As usual, Luke considers the subject from an unorthodox angle. “Obituary writers were traditionally hailed as the masters of euphemism,” he writes. “The squeamish reluctance to speak ill of the dead prompted the use of tactful doublespeak where ‘bon viveur’ was code for ‘alcoholic’ and ‘notable vivacity’ implied nymphomania, while ‘tireless raconteur’ meant a crushing bore you’d try to avoid at parties. “Yet such verbal chicanery is now eclipsed by the vintage watch trade, which has elevated the art of understatement to staggering heights. A watch dial faded by sun damage is knowingly described as ‘tropical’. Old diving watches are hailed if they have ‘ghost’ bezels (translation: heavily discoloured). Dial patina makes a watch more ‘collectable’, despite being a sign of decay. “What’s more, in a shameless act of successful marketing spin, such features even raise a watch’s price. These…
How many watches have you seen in the metal this year? My personal tally would surely be an all-time low. The COVID pandemic cancelled watch fairs while product viewings turned into digital affairs where white-gloved reps waved their timepieces at you over live video streams. There’s no real substitute for any of this, of course. To truly appraise a watch you have to hold it in your hands to feel its heft, click its bezel, watch how the sunlight bounces off the dial. But when you’re denied that opportunity due to a merciless pandemic keeping you house-bound for months on end, then you have to find other ways to scratch that horological itch. Luckily, great watch writing brings timepieces to life and makes their intimate details almost tangible. I’m fortunate to work alongside some mighty talented folk who can do that better than most. Here are some of my favourite pieces from Time+Tide’s archives from 2020. HANDS-ON: The virile vitality of the Hublot Big Bang Millennial Pink – Fergus Nash Fergus annoys the hell out of me because he makes it all look so bloody effortless. He’s not even a full-time journo, but he writes with such fluency and ease…
