Inspecting watches at fairs or presentations can be a revelation. Some pieces are revealed to be inspired - incredible even. Some, not so much. It will not surprise you to learn that most are somewhere in between. As with any sort of functional object though, there is a limit to what one can learn from handling them, even if one owns many and can do so to one's heart's content. Unless you are a watchmaker, or an inveterate tinkerer, even taking wristwatches apart - and putting them back together again - can only tell you so much about how they were made.
The above also goes for talking to the watchmakers who made the timepieces in question - leaving aside the problem of actually speaking with them, you are unlikely to know the specific language they are most comfortable with. Fine watchmaking happens in Switzerland, Germany, France and Japan, after all, to cover just the usual suspects. If you want the full picture, you will need to visit the manufactures that actually make the watches. Of course, given that there are many brands with many production facilities, it is impractical for the typical collector and enthusiast to visit them all. Most of the ones we are all interested in, dear readers, are in Switzerland but they are not so easy to gain access to.
This is where magazines such as this one come in. We undertake to visit as many of these manufactures as possible, both to document our experiences and to satisfy our own curiosity. WOW Thailand editor Ruckdee Chotjinda is perhaps the most curious of us all. Now, these visits have been restricted in recent years because of the pandemic, leaving the editors of both the Singapore and Thailand editions wringing their hands in frustration. Said frustration is amplified in the supply chain-restricted post-pandemic era we find ourselves in, with collectors old and new engaging endless speculation about what happens behind the doors of the biggest watchmaking brands.
Bu hikaye WOW Singapore dergisinin Issue 70 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye WOW Singapore dergisinin Issue 70 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
When Imitation Is Criminal
In the second part of our special on the phenomenon of counterfeiting in watchmaking, we look at some surprising reasons behind consumer demand
The Conversation: Greater Expectations
With Geneva Watch Week behind us, the editors exchange views on the novelty showcases, the novelties themselves and all the watch news that is fit to print and some that is not)
GOLDEN HOURS
The first timekeepers may not have been cased in any precious metal but, given how precious time is, gold and silver soon made their marks here
FINE TIME
Precious metals promise to put the fine’ back into fine watchmaking, after years of being overshadowed by more prosaic materials. This special section continues the journey we began last issue, with a deep dive into that most desirable of all metals, gold. Of course, platinum is also back...
RED DAWN
Grand Seiko celebrates the 20th birthday of Spring Drive with a special edition Chronograph GMT SBGC275 with a unique dial
NEW DEPTHS
Breguet surprises with the gem-set Marine Chronograph 5529, opening up new vistas for the collection
NEW AND NOTED
As you might expect, we have been covering Watches and Wonders Geneva since it began as a physical fair in 2022 and of course when it was confined to the ether, from 2020.
WORTH ITS WEIGHT
TAG Heuer scored an unexpected win with the Carrera Chronograph Skipper in the recent past, so the brand returned it to regular production in steel last year. For 2024, red gold marks the Skipper's triumph
OPEN SEASON
The world's biggest and most important watch fair gets a little bigger and a little better. As for the watches, they got more than a little precious...
GREAT LEAP FORWARD
With the Portugieser Eternal Calendar, WC demonstrates its mastery in the realms of the calendar and moon phase complications