Watch Dandy

It might surprise you to learn that one of my favourite watches from this year’s SIHH show was the Dazzling Rendez-Vous from Jaeger-LeCoultre. The Rendez-Vous has been a strong women’s offering for some time, but this Dazzling version really ups the ante. This is thanks largely to that outer ring of 36 diamonds, which dominate the bezel. And while the size and clarity of these rocks is impressive, what really makes them shine is the setting — they use a griffe, or claw-like setting, which shows off much more of the surface of the stones and lets in more light, which equals … you guessed it, more dazzle.  And this latest addition to the JLC DRV (as I’ve taken to calling it) is more dazzling still, thanks to the fully set case and bracelet. Really, it’s outstanding. The bracelet boasts 310 stones weighing 22.27 carats, which is more than enough to sink your teeth into. And then there’s the profusion of stones on the case and the inner bezel. But even though this timepiece is positively dripping, there’s plenty of delicacy at play too. The mother-of-pearl dial is rich, with a finely detailed outer section that is ’tiled’ and, of…

The post The fully set Jaeger-LeCoultre Dazzling Rendez-Vous is fully awesome appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.

It’s somewhat paradoxical, but the explosion of interest in fine timepieces, fuelled by the internet and social media, has also resulted in the increased popularity of offline meetings. And they’ve always been there — before Instagram and Facebook were the prime drivers of the ‘watchfam’, it was the various watch forums, like Timezone and Purists, that resulted in that weird ritual of online-friends-but-offline-strangers meeting in public, and piling lots of watches out onto tables, much to the bemusement of strangers. More recently still, this get together culture has evolved again, thanks to events such as Fratello Watches Speedy Tuesday world tour and Worn & Wound’s Windup Watch Fair. These events bring together more fans, brands and other players in the space than is practical otherwise. To date, though, there’s not been a lot happening on this front in Australia, something that Paxton Wong is hoping to change with Watchfest, a collector event taking place in Sydney on the 6th and 7th of September. So, we spent a few minutes chatting to Mr Wong to find out more. What’s the idea behind Watchfest? “I wanted to bring the collectors together. I wanted to bring the collectors to influence the new people.…

The post We chat to Paxton Wong, the man behind Watchfest, Australia’s first watch convention appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.

It’s somewhat paradoxical, but the explosion of interest in fine timepieces, fuelled by the internet and social media, has also resulted in the increased popularity of offline meetings. And they’ve always been there — before Instagram and Facebook were the prime drivers of the ‘watchfam’, it was the various watch forums, like Timezone and Purists, that resulted in that weird ritual of online-friends-but-offline-strangers meeting in public, and piling lots of watches out onto tables, much to the bemusement of strangers. More recently still, this get together culture has evolved again, thanks to events such as Fratello Watches Speedy Tuesday world tour and Worn & Wound’s Windup Watch Fair. These events bring together more fans, brands and other players in the space than is practical otherwise. To date, though, there’s not been a lot happening on this front in Australia, something that Paxton Wong is hoping to change with Watchfest, a collector event taking place in Sydney on the 6th and 7th of September. So, we spent a few minutes chatting to Mr Wong to find out more. What’s the idea behind Watchfest? “I wanted to bring the collectors together. I wanted to bring the collectors to influence the new people.…

The post We chat to Paxton Wong, the man behind Watchfest, Australia’s first watch convention appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.