Footballer gives £36,000 watch to waiter

Most watch enthusiasts know about Vladimir Putin's penchant for expensive timepieces and of how, on 15 September 2009, the then Russian Prime Minister handed over his Blancpain Léman Aqua Lung Grande Date to Russian factory worker Viktor Zagaevsky when the latter asked for a momento of Putin's visit to the arms factory of Tula.

Well another random high profile watch giveaway has just occurred, though this time, it involves a footballer. According to British newspaper reports, 25 year old Tottenham Hotspur defender Vedran Corluka gave his £36,000 watch to a nightclub waiter who had admired it.

The Croatian international joined Tottenham from Manchester City in 2008 for a transfer fee of £5.5 million.

A club spokesman confirmed that Corluka was at Whisky Mist in Mayfair when the waiter complimented him on his diamond-encrusted Hublot watch. He took it off to let the waiter have a better look at it and then offered to swap it for the waiter's £150 Seiko. The waiter thought he was joking.

I can't find a photo or reference to the actual model, so if anyone has knows, please let me know!

[AP]

Stephen Forsey in Sydney

Although it wasn't until 1999 that they began working on a new generation of tourbillons, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have a working relationship going back some two decades. Four years after they started working in earnest on their tourbillon development, they unveiled Greubel Forsey, introducing their concept of horological 'inventions' at Baselworld 2000 with the Double Tourbillon 30° (DT30).

In 2006 the Richemont Group acquired a 20% stake in Greubel Forsey’s share capital.

To date, Greubel Forsey has released the following core tourbillon-based watches: the Double Tourbillon 30° (DT30°) in 2004, the Quadruple Tourbillon à Différentiel in 2005, the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Incliné in 2006, and the Invention Pieces 1, 2, 3. Also, in 2006, they partnered with Harry Winston to create the Opus 6.

I don't think that I had ever thought that one, let alone two, independent watchmakers, would make the long journey to Australia, so I was completely surprised when I received an invitation to not only see some Greubel Forsey watches, but to meet Stephen Forsey himself.

Happily, I shared this occasion with a couple of others. I rather think that these occasions are best when shared.

First up, we got to see the Double Tourbillon Technique 30° in rose gold and silver.  The Double Tourbillon consists of an inner cage inclined by 30 degrees that does a full revolution every minute whilst the outer cage fully rotates every 4 minute. It was Greubel Forsey's first invention. At 47.5mm this is one one hefty watch size-wise, but is less heavy than one would expect because of the absence of dial, which also gives the watch an incredible depth.

In fact none of the watches could be considered to be slim of build, but that is because of the constraints set by the design and watch architecture chosen by Greubel Forsey.

Hands-on with Hermes' Le Temps Suspendu

I had the pleasure, during a recent trip overseas, of getting hands-on with the Hermes 'Le Temps Suspendu', which simply means ‘time suspended’. The watch is based on the Hermes Arceau case and was a popular feature at BASEL 2011.

The watch houses a mechanism made by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, probably best known for his involvement in the engine for the MB&F timepieces Horological Machine No.2 (HM2) + Horological Machine No.3 (HM3), the Harry Winston Opus9.

So, what sort of complication is 'suspending time'? The philosophy is based on the idea that with the watch, you can simply activate the function, that is, 'suspend time'... and you will be in that moment for as long as you want. To achieve this, you simply press down on a button that is located on the left side of the watch case. And when held down, the hour and minute hands assume a “11-1” position. In the meantime, the watch is still ticking underneath...keeping precise time. And if you press the button again, the watch reverts back to telling the time... and it catches up from when it was pressed, meaning time is kept. And for as long as there's reserve power, the watch will catch up when released from suspension. Watches of this calibre are sold with a automatic watch winder too, which I thought was a great touch!

Ad Lib Bistro

'Ad lib' - to improvise and deliver without preparation. Improvised, impromptu.

Ad Lib the Bistro - perhaps somewhat misnamed, but in the best possible way.

Pymble is a bit further than I normally travel for a meal, but I had wanted to go to Ad Lib, and so to Upper North Shore I must go. Situated somewhere on the unending expanse that is the Pacific Highway, it is very easy to pass without noticing.

Upon our arrival, the bread and butter were already on the table. Enjoyable, but merely a prelude to what I had been eagerly anticipating.

Zoomin Watch concept

This is about a watch that is only an idea at the moment. It's not haute horology and it has probably barely rate a blip on anyone's watch radar, but I saw it and I quite like it.

It's called the Zoomin.

The name requires a bit of work perhaps, although it does get to the point - the idea of magnifying nubs on the hands.

This watch concept by Gennady Martynov and Emre Cetinkoprulu uses a pair of small magnifiers which also form the hands of the watch to bring the current time into larger and clearer focus.

In terms of the dial design, the minutes are located on the outside circle and hours on the inside, with magnifying hands on each.

Although I am keen on the idea, and it’s also quite a sleek good looking design, the time-telling part may need a little tweaking. If you look at the concept images, it may be difficult for some people to tell the hour, and I have already found numerous comments to this effect in some discussions about the Zoomin. 

The time is 1:50 as illustrated in these images. For many of us, it is easy to read the time, but it does remind me a little about jump hour time displays and how some designs are in fact more difficult to read for many people than we realise. As this watch would probably be aimed both at a ‘fashion’ market and to those who would genuinely like/ need to have a watch that is more legible (without going digital display), the latter’s needs may possibly be better met if the inner hour circle was made just a fraction larger, so that the distance between the hours was greater and the potential for confusion lessened.

If it ever goes into production, the designers intend for it be available in a range of bold and bright colours.

Whether or not this concept becomes a reality remains to be seen, but it occurred to me that it might be the perfect sort of project to link up with Kickstarter, for whom the iPod LunaTik proved to be such a success in bringing to fruition.

[AP]

Hands on with the Technomarine Cruise Steel Camouflage

TechnoMarine is a well-known Geneva based brand whose focus is on casual watches and which is known for a particularly strong use of bold colours. In fact one of their selling points about the Cruise Collection is encouraging people to swap straps and cases to match their outfit.

The Cruise Steel Camouflage series is Technomarine’s crack at the eternally popular “fashion camo” look, featuring a vivid camouflage design on the dial matched by a coordinating strap and contrasted by either a black PVD coated or pink gold case. 

This blue (they call it turquoise) model is Ref.110071 and comes with a date window and  chronograph function. Its unidirectional rotating bezel is stainless steel with a blue aluminium insert. The crystal is anti-reflective sapphire.

Not unexpectedly, it is quartz powered, courtesy of a Swiss Ronda 5040D movement, and its water resistance is 20 ATM (200m).

Assiette

Bread and butter. Why did I take a photo? It was there. That's about it, really. Oh yes it was good bread, the crust giving the requisite crunch, my plate a mess of crumbs, and all the rest. Right, let's move on then.

Friday set lunch menu : $35

Prix fixe - there should be more of it, really. Two of us chose this option, but in the meantime, there was the amuse bouche, an not-always-expected but pleasant surprise for lunch.

Amuse bouche : pumpkin soup

An ideal sort of an amuse bouche for a light lunch and for a soup lover. Light of taste, comforting, and boding well for the courses to come.