Baselworld 2013 Highlights for the raphmeister... Tudor knocks it out of the park again :)

Rolex managed to bore again this year... blue and black bezel on a GMT? Pepsi Bezel please! On a side note, Patek has some reasonably decent black dialled pieces out but at those price points you need them to be more than just decent. setting these key brands aside, Tudor which is a brand deserving of attention and renewed interest, gave us another quality offering. monte carlo all blue and orange and alot of touches true to the vintage. LU-VER-LY! ABSOLUTELY LOVE-R-LY ;) 

42mm ETA2892 workhorse with chrono module with a 42 hours PR... and in a tale of 42s... the price is 4.2k CHF or about S$5.5k. The dial features three-dimensional bevelled hour-markers filled with superlume. Heritage Chrono Blue is also distinguished by its two counters appearing inside blue trapeze-shaped surrounds. The middle of the dial is not so greyish compared to the vintage and is lighter, brighter... opaline it be called 

bidirectional rotatable 12-hour graduated (48 positions) steel bezel for second time-zone display, blue disc. 45-minute totalizer at 9 o'clock and the small seconds at 3 o'clock with date at 6 o'clock

"The Monte Carlo was launched in 1973, it has now been renamed Heritage Chrono Blue. The watch is inspired by the original spirit of the model and innovates on both aesthetic and technical levels so as to provide a resolutely contemporary interpretation. The royal blue of the historical version combines with a slightly lighter grey than the original to give life to a watch that is both earthly and aquatic, expressing a typically Mediterranean warmth and atmosphere." at least that's what the marketing boys told me :)

Steel with folding clasp, delivered with additional strap in blue, grey and orange fabric with buckle... yummilicious

Baselworld 2013 Highlights for the raphmeister... Omega shares some nice Speedys!

Basel rolls around again and somehow it feels this took longer than usual...now you know i love me some Speedys and the 2 watches from Omega this year that has my attention are the 57 and the Dark side of the moon. Can't wait to see them in the metal and ceramic :) for other Basel Omega news click HERE

Omega Dark Side of the Moon... case is in black zirconium oxide ceramic and is a good sized 44.25mm. The hands and applied indeces are 18kt white gold. Movement is the Omega in-house Co-Axial caliber 9300 automatic and it's equipped with a Si14 silicon balance spring for added stability, allowing Omega to offer a 4 year warranty on the movement. The strap is black Cordura fabric with a black ceramic buckle. sadly the price is a bit steep. chf 10.7k or about S$14k-ish.

Speedmaster Moonwatch “57” – tribute to the original Speedmaster with the straight lugs extending from the watch case and bracelet just like the very first OMEGA Speedmaster from 1957. It has a Speedmaster Broadarrow effect on right counter and the timepiece is also updated with the 9300 movement (launched in 2011, Omega's first calibre to incorporate a chronograph movement). It will be available in various case materials including steel, gold, titanium and interestingly bi-color – which had a recent revival in demand.

Other offerings will be coming our way too... such as the highly anti-magnetic Aqua Terra Anti-magnetic 8508 watch, new additions to the staples in Omega collection, including the Seamaster Aqua Terra Day-Date, De Ville Ladymatic Bi-color, Sedna Gold and a new addition to Seamaster Planet Ocean collection, the Good Planet watch.

I hope to share live pix of the 2013 Novelties soon :) cheers, raph

Antiquorum April Results and Some Nice Pieces Upcoming in May... I NEED MORE $$$ :)

Antiquorum did well in their April auctions. if you scroll a couple of posts down you will see some pix of some of the really cool watches in this auction. 

Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph (lot 99) stirred exceptional excitement in the auction room, on the phones, as well as on the internet. After several minutes of intense bidding, the outstanding timepiece sold for an impressive $794,500, almost twice its low estimate

For the rest of the April highlight click HERE and for the full price list click HERE

May is upcoming and some really nice pieces are up this round too... some of the pieces i wish i could get below and for the full highlights click HERE

Full auction catalog HERE NEED MORE $$$$$$$$$$$

Richard Mille “Perini Navi” RM014, sold circa 2008. Inspired by the extraordinary sailing vessels of the Perini Navi yacht builders, this is a very fine and rare, tonneau-shaped and curved 18K white gold wristwatch with visible one-minute tourbillon regulator, torque indicator, 70 hour power reserve, carbon nanofiber movement baseplate

Rolex Ref. 6263 Gold Daytona Paul Newman prototype with lemon dial and graphics

Patek Philippe Ref. 3970 in white gold

MB&F HM3 Re-engineered... The MEGAWIND is here!

 in terms of beautiful rotors, the battle axe one of MB&F and peter speake marin's one are some of my faves. MB&F have made the rotor in the hm3 bigger and all the better for it. this rotor is a thing of golden beauty ;)

From MB&F: "Horological Machine No.3 is one of our most iconic Machines, no doubt. After the shocks of HM1 and HM2, it hammered home the message that MB&F was resolutely different. HM3 is designed like a spaceship, escaped from the science fiction movies we loved as kids. And it literally turned traditional watchmaking on its head: its automatic movement is flipped upside down, displaying MB&F’s signature “battle axe” winding rotor on top of the case.

No wonder, HM3 has become our best-selling series ever. Time therefore to introduce… HM3 re-engineered !

The new giant rotor has extended its reach to the very limits of the case – giving this Machine its name, ‘MegaWind’. The rotor’s centre and arms, crafted in lightweight and tough titanium, are firmly riveted to the 22k gold blades on either side. The hour and minute indicators have been optimised too: taking inspiration from the HM3 ‘Frog’ variants, we’ve changed the previous static construction and opted for revolving, paper-thin aluminium cones. Combined with much larger numbers, this system improves legibility significantly – and adds an extra dose of “kinetic” to the Machine.

MEGAWIND is available in red gold, with matching red gold rotor, or in white gold with a striking sky-blue rotor."

I WANT BOTH OF THESE!! :)

Non-watch Post: Life, Boba and Bak Chor Mee... (You have been warned ;)

if u came by to read about lux timepieces, skip this post :)  

a chap posed the question to me recently, what are you passionate about these days? 

i think i will always have a love for great/fine/fun/kicka$$ timepieces but my focuses right now are on my family, particularly my son who has a high functioning form of autism. the challenges my wife and i have with raising him are significant(parents who have survived meltdowns will understand but of course there are other behavioral challenges) but we do our best for him. i can have diversions but not ultra costly ones like lux watches are as a lot of my income goes to his therapy sessions, schooling and family... time spent with my family is also the priority outside of my work.

 a happy moment at my son's 6th birthday party :)

next up is my passion for vinyl art... a less costly but still slightly pricey diversion... other than low cost watches i may purchase time to time(read gshock), from posts before you may know that i love star wars[i have also recently gone slightly lego star wars crazy] and i also do love the work of kaws aka brian donnelly. so when kaws drops Japan exclusive star wars figures, even though its a biznatch to get them... i kinda gotta get all of them :) fett retailed for like maybe above S$300(sold out immediately ~ long queues and raffle tickets and lots of flippers) if you picked them up from original fake shop in person in Japan but cost over S$1k on the market now. the fett is probably the last release Original Fake Star Wars release as they are closing, it was sold early this year and it is an amazing piece. this stuff RESONATES with me :)

 

wonderful details and colors... great battle damage on the helmet and bones...

 

great details... 

  chilling on tattoine

 

i am kaws star wars complete :) well kind of...

and then we come to food. i love good food... a good steak once in awhile (i'm a Morton's filet mignon kind a guy), good Nonya(my family's cooking especially), Chinese, American, Italian(pizza over pasta for me but love em both), Japanese food(salmon sashimi comes to mind but i love the katsu and prawns at katsukura, yakitori and foie gras at kazu) etc etc etc. one of my favorite dishes though is bak chor mee which is of Teochew origins, and i am a mee pok lover. 
i recall when i was a young boy and several days a week having nice mee pok(more tomato based then as i was young) with my family at a small market in front of Jalan Kuras, where the current James Cook university stands on Upper Thomson Rd. my kindergarten used to be about there too. fond memories overall...

so the best bak chor mee for me is... Tai Wah Pork Noodles at the 2nd floor of Hong Lim Market and Food Centre

i had discovered Tai Wah in 2003(gosh it's been a decade) when I started working for the Monetary Authority of Singapore. opposite from the MAS building was Bestway Building and there was a food centre there where one of the stalls with always the longest queues was Tai Wah. then it was prepared by an older gent, Mr Tang, who you can see in the pics at the stall and at their site. the younger chap at hong lim is his son. I must admit, dad's bak chor mee tasted better based on my memory of it vs the sons but this is still ultra excellent stuff.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle - 531A Upper Cross Street, #02-16 Hong Lim Food Centre

Googled a bit and found their websit which has their history... interesting... check it here LINK

what's great about it? wonderful zingy spicy robust flavor... the black vinegar, the 'liao' or ingredients in the $6 big version do it for me every time... the fried dried sole, minced meat, meat balls, pork slices, dumplings, chives/spring onions, my added chilli... DAMN SHIOK! note i order mine without pork liver 'mai de gua' but it comes as standard. i normally have a cup of sugar cane juice with it which balances it all out wonderfully. hmm may have to swing by tomorrow...

& a few mins later... ;)

hope you liked the short diversion and i guarantee next post will be a watch post :) cheers, raph