THE JAPANESE HAVE LONG HELD a fascination for Patek Philippe’s timepieces. In the watchmaker’s customer registers, records of patrons from the Land of the Rising Sun date as far back as the late Edo period and the Meiji Restoration, corresponding to the earliest decades of the Manufacture’s activity.
It all began when statesman and Ambassador Iwakura Tomomi led a delegation of over 50 senior government officials to the United States and Europe in 1873. The goal was to learn more about the political, military and educational systems of the Western world in order to revise the Unequal Treaties and re-establish themselves among the dominant world powers.
Part of the itinerary of the Iwakura Mission was a visit to Patek Philippe’s Geneva headquarters. Guided by its visionary Founder Antoine Norbert de Patek, the meeting was reported in detail across three pages in the official journal Beiou-Kairan Jikki. Soon, Japanese dignitaries were acquiring Patek Philippe’s watches – directly in Europe or through the intermediary of European trading companies active in Japan.
This admiration for the Swiss watchmaker only grew over the years, prompting the brand to officially import its timepieces into Japan in the 1950s and establish its Japanese subsidiary PP Patek Inc. in 2003. Today, Japan represents a key market for the brand – a market of connoisseurs that treasures rare handcraft and appreciates the savoir-faire contained in a Patek Philippe timepiece. The snaking queue of about 200 people that formed outside its Watch Art Grand Exhibition in Tokyo on the opening day is further proof of the Japanese’s reverence for the brand.
The One That Started It All
Girard-Perregaux celebrates 49 years of the Laureato, the timepiece that helped to kick-start the popularity of steel sports timepieces.
Return To Mont Blanc
Wes Anderson Brought US To Montblanc's Fictional Headquarters Several Months Ago. Now, He Shows Us More From The Collection.
Manners Maketh Man
The Principle Of Style Is Character, And The Core Of Character Is Conduct.
Slow Travel In Switzerland
The Swiss public transport system certainly aces the luxe factor with eye popping train rides, indulgent multi-course meals on a Belle Epoque era steamship, and even efficient luggage transport services.
A NEW DAWN IN SOLAR ENERGY
AUGUSTMAN SPEAKS TO MANDALA CLUB CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER LILLY GILBERT ABOUT THE MOVEMENT THAT COULD CHANGE HOW BUSINESSES IN KEONG SAIK ARE POWERED THE MANDALA SOLAR COLLECTIVE.
THE POWER OF THREE
ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC IMAGES IN SINGAPORE TOOK THE FORM OF KOKILA PARVATHI, SITI AMIRAH (ALSO KNOWN AS CAMIRA ASRORI) AND SOBIKUN NAHAR ON THEIR WAY TO COURT. AUGUSTMAN SPEAKS TO THEM ABOUT THEIR IDEAS ON COMMUNITY ORGANSING, AND ABOUT RETHINKING OUR THOUGHTS ON POWER.
FLIGHT OF THE NARISAWA BEE
The esteemed Chef Yoshihiro Narisawa shares with us the intimate details of his brand's expansion into Singapore and what having the Mandala Club as its permanent address means to him.
DRINK THROUGH SPACE AND TIME
Preferably with a dram of The Macallan, in hand. The famed whisky maker celebrates 200 years of making perfection.
AND BUTCHER'S BLOCK MAKES IT THREE
SINGAPORE'S CHAPTER OF THE DOM PÉRIGNON SOCIETY HAS INDUCTED A THIRD MEMBER, RAFFLES SINGAPORE'S BUTCHER'S BLOCK, GIVING DISCERNING DINERS BETTER ACCESS TO THE EPICUREAN SAVOIR FAIRE THAT COMES WITH THE MARK OF THE SOCIETY.
AMERICAN SPIRIT
ROB SAMUELS, THE EIGHTH-GENERATION WHISKY-MAKER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MAKER'S MARK, EXPLAINS WHY THE BRAND'S CELLAR AGED EXPRESSION IS A PEAK INTO THE FUTURE OF BOURBON.