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Review: Patek Philippe World Timer Ref. 5230

Watches

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November 2, 2016

Review: Patek Philippe World Timer Ref. 5230

One of the most agonising dilemmas, and also the most pleasurable conundrums, a watch collector could ever face is having to choose a Patek Philippe complication, especially if it is to be one’s first complicated Patek Philippe watch – that it wouldn’t be the last is another matter for the very fortunate individuals. Just when your heart says it should be an annual calendar piece, your brain tells you it can only be a chronograph model. Then there’s the world timer, which you’ve set your eyes on since forever…

Don’t bother asking Siri. Unless you want to send her straight into shut down mode – or a complete system meltdown. And don’t type this question into Google unless you want to break the Internet, which is far, far worse. OK, we jest. But it’s not like we have a solution and we have been debating for years. Just know this: there is no right or wrong choice. There is only the timely choice, like this Patek Philippe World Time Ref. 5230. Let us explain.

New for 2016, Ref. 5230 is poised to replace all existing world timers at Patek Philippe. This means that it is the latest and most updated version of the watch. Doubtlessly, the manufacture constantly updates all of its timepieces, but for the world timer, this is especially germane, seeing as the world is also constantly changing. In particular, indication of the world’s time zones would see all kinds of fluctuations every now and then. Some zones are now defined by new cities: Dubai instead of Riyadh, for instance, and Brisbane instead of Noumea (capital city of New Caledonia).

In 2014, Moscow switched from UTC +4 to UTC +3. As such, Ref. 5230 is the perfect platform to reflect all these changes, although, the world time display isn’t the only part of the watch to be updated. Patek Philippe took the opportunity to rework the case, dial, and hands, giving the watch a refreshing new look that, however, isn’t too far from its original mien.

While it comes with the traditional Calatrava case, its lugs and bezel deserve special mention. Winglet-style lugs lend it an old-school vibe and the narrow, polished bezel distinguishes it from the earlier world timers. Unlike Ref. 5131, this watch does not have the “Patek Philippe” and “Geneve” engravings on the bezel – for every one collector who would be pleased with this touch of refinement, another will bemoan the loss of a small but treasured detail.

The hands are another part of the watch that got an update. Before, the gold hours hand is ring-shaped. Now, it reflects the contours of the Southern Cross constellation. The minutes hand, too, changed from Dauphine to a lozenge shape. Both hands mark their individual paths around the dial, which features a hand-guillochéd center featuring an elaborate vieux panier basket weave pattern. This center portion of the Patek Philippe world timer is always a source of delight for watch connoisseurs, as it typically showcases exquisite guillochage in various styles (grain d’orge, sunburst, etc) or cloisonné enamel featuring, appropriately, a world map.

Otherwise, the core aesthetics remain unchanged, with a cities ring encircling the dial and the 24-hour ring with day/night indication. Local time refers to time in the city indicated by the red arrow tip at 12 o’clock, while the remaining 23 time zones can be deciphered at a glance. Control the 24-hour ring by pushing the button at 10 o’clock, which is synchronised with the hours hand. The minutes hand, however, can be adjusted freely by manipulating the crown – especially handy when you’re travelling to cities with half- or quarter-hour deviations.

Specs

Dimensions: 38.5mm
Functions: Hours, minutes, world time with 24 time zones
Power Reserve: 48 hours
Movement: Self-winding Calibre 240 with 24 time zones and micro-rotor providing 48-hour power reserve
Material: White or rose gold
Water Resistance: 30 meters
Strap: Hand-stitched alligator leather in black or chocolate brown with fold-over clasp

This article was first published in World of Watches.

Photographer Laxmi Kaul: “Beyond Boundaries”

Art & Design

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November 2, 2016

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Photographer Laxmi Kaul: “Beyond Boundaries”

In her new exhibition “Beyond Boundaries”, hosted at the Leica Gallery located within the iconic Raffles Hotel, photographer Laxmi Kaul presents her journey with the people and nomads of Kashmir. Over a two-year span, the self-taught photographer has been going through the beautiful but dangerous land, talking and bonding with locals to get to know their lives and narrate them through her photographs.

Despite being a heavily militarized zone, the border (more properly the Line of Control) between India and Pakistan is bursting with lively and joyful souls. She has been stunned by their simplicity, serenity and sincerity. “I have discovered there is something special in the everyday; for one, we are alive” said Laxmi Kaul.

Poised nomadic woman prided her way of life, Kashmir, 2015; Laxmi Kaul — Poised nomadic woman who prides her way of life, Kashmir, 2015; Laxmi Kaul

To her, photography “is a quest for capturing the emotion in a moment – silently, spiritually with pride and positive impulsiveness, as if telling a very human story”. “Beyond boundaries” illustrates her vision: the photographs are representations of unplanned yet meaningful moments – every single one of them mirroring Laxmi’s vivid memories of the multifaced territory.

Guest admiring the works from Beyond Boundaries

The collaboration with Leica allows the brand to showcase just how well the brand’s cameras capture emotions and passion perfectly — something that they were able to show us personally at the SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS as the official photographers. With the Leica Gallery, the brand is able to illustrate its role on the frontline of photojournalism.

The “Beyond Boundaries” exhibition will run at the Leica Gallery till December 5.

200 mph Club: McLaren 570S, Aston Martin V12 Vantage S

Wheels

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November 2, 2016

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200 mph Club: McLaren 570S, Aston Martin V12 Vantage S

The supercar market seems to be growing larger and larger every year, with new brands launching and well known marques drawing more horsepower out of ever evolving models. If you’ve got the money to spend on a supercar there’s only a few places you’d look. We’ve lined up the latest must-own supercars from two legendary British manufacturers. Combined, the McLaren and Aston Martin have more than 1,000 horsepower and cost several million dollars.

The selection of cars was specifically chosen to show how very different a driving experience one can have for a not so different price. The racey McLaren 570S features a mid-engine twin turbo V8, rear wheel drive and F1 pedigree. This is the car that’s meant to bring McLaren to the “masses”.

We also have the classy Aston Martin V12 Vantage S. About to go out of production in its current state, this may be one of the last times we’ll have the opportunity to hear that monstrous V12 in this sleek two-seater. It’s modern “tech de force” and old school muscle.

McLaren 570S

The 570S – the backbone in the McLaren line – was launched to much fanfare. As I open the butterfly doors and lower myself into the driver’s seat, I’m amazed at how much space is in the cockpit. The design is minimalist and everything is digital. You feel like you’re sitting in a car with a purpose, a 562 horsepower purpose and at only 3,200 pounds, she’s light too. Like all other McLarens, the 570S is running their now familiar 3.8L V8. The engine is turbo charged and there is some lag, but the way in which it makes you feel when the turbo is at full blow is incredible. The “little” McLaren by far feels the fastest car here.

One thing I do notice when I sit down, is how I feel like I’m much closer to the road than in the Aston, although there is a lot of visibility. The large front windshield makes you feel like you’re in a bubble cockpit. As the engine burbles to life, I select first on the dual clutch gearbox and we pull away. The car is noticeably quiet – even with the sports exhaust fitted. To give you an idea, at full acceleration in videos we recorded, you can hear me clicking through the gears on the paddle shifters. It’s a unique sensation, although the car is a lot louder for people seeing it go past, than it is inside the cabin.

A noticeable trait of the smaller turbo charged engine, you’re not going to get the same aural excitement as in the naturally aspirated larger engines. I thought this would bother me, it didn’t… You feel like you’re in a street legal race car in this thing. The car has a semi hydraulic steering system, which means you get a lot of feel through the wheel. When you’re pushing the 570S hard – and believe me, you will be – you’re going to love the feedback the car is giving you.

This 570S is in McLarens Sports Series range – the lowest range in the manufacturer’s line-up – although it still feels like a supercar to me. It doesn’t have the 650S and P1’s fancy suspension, but it rides incredibly well nevertheless and moves like there’s no tomorrow. For the price, it’s an incredibly cool car, although if I were purchasing one, I like the way the 570 GT looks a little more and McLaren could still work on the way that exhaust note sounds. I can only go so fast most of the time, so I at least want the car to sound like I’m going fast. The aural excitement is one of the main reasons you’d buy a car like this.

The car has got a lot of grip and the confidence it inspires makes you want to push and push and push. Just knock it down a couple gears, step on the carbon ceramic breaks, turn in, then plant the accelerator on the way out. It’ll push you back in your seat and make you want more. Priced at almost SGD 900,000 (approx. USD 660,000), it’s quite a car!

Aston Martin V12 Vantage S

The baby daddy in the Aston Martin range. A beast in sheep’s clothing, with only extra vents and badging giving away what’s underneath. Designed by legendary car designer, Henrik Fisker, the Vantage is a familiar site in the Aston Martin line-up, having been around in its current guise since 2005. This is definitely it’s last hoorah before a new model is introduced.

Up front you’ll find a naturally aspirated 6.0L V12 producing 565 horsepower and a roar from behind that’ll wake the neighbours a mile away. Power is put to the ground through two very wide rear tyres and an automated manual transmission. It’s no longer Aston’s most powerful production model, but it’s still its fastest.

Getting into the Aston isn’t quite as fun as the McLaren, but it still features some very unique swan wing doors. They’re not just for show either. The doors actually open at the same angle of degrees as the wings on the Aston badge and allow for easier clearing of street curbs.

As I push the centre console starter button the V12 burbles to life. The interior is beautifully appointed in typical Aston Martin fashion, yet the car has this raw edge to it. What else would you expect from one of Britain’s coolest brands. I select first gear and pull away.

It’s not the smoothest of transmissions to use around town, but as I get out on the motorway the shifts come with a lot more ease. The harder you drive, the better this car becomes. Many journalists have described this car as analogue in a digital world. It has an old style single clutch transmission, hydraulic steering and lacks a fancy suspension set up or digital dash display. Yet, who really needs all of this stuff anyway. Driving a performance car should be about feel, the way it makes you feel when you’re at full pelt blasting down a back road and the feedback you’re getting through the wheel while doing so. For that, this car checks all the boxes. It’s alive in your hands and the sound it makes puts a big smile on your face.

In this day and age though for SGD 840,000 (approx. USD 615,000), the consumer wants a lot more and the tech is part and parcel of the package. In this aspect it falls short. However, with a new model coming out soon and if the DB11 is anything to go by, the new car will be packed with tech on the inside and look gorgeous on the outside. Bond, I hope you’re ready…

This article was first published in PALACE.

Jessica Chastain Fronts Prada Resort 2017 Campaign

Fashion

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November 2, 2016

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Jessica Chastain Fronts Prada Resort 2017 Campaign

Jessica Chastain, the striking redhead famous for her memorable roles in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty is now a part of the Prada. Her first role as the face of the brand is a breakout performance in the Prada Resort 2017 ad campaign. Set in Milan and shot by Belgian photographer Willy Vanderperre, the campaign situates the actress at various landmarks in Milan, decked out in the brand’s latest threads.

Shot both in black and white as well as color, the shots showcase the elegance of Chastain as she channels the Prada woman as well as the contrasting elements of each outfit. The styling captures this clash well by mixing feminine and masculine styles effortlessly which, when paired with Chastain’s old school look, creates a sophisticated campaign.

Nuvola Brings New Edge to Rome Skyline

Design

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November 1, 2016

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Massimiliano Fuksas, the architect of the now-complete Nuvola convention centre illustrated here, described this as his most frustrating project, though he is proud that it had been completed as first planned. “We first thought of it in 1995,” the 72-year-old said. “I have been through so many mayors on this project I can’t even remember all their names. But we have not changed a thing. If you look at the first sketches we did, this is what it looked like.”

With funding predominantly sourced from taxpayers, Cloud – that’s what Nuvola means in English – is a convention center that will be able to host up to 12,000 people. Describing it that way robs this very striking building of its very striking story though. It is easily the most amazing new structure to go up in the Eternal City. The building is expected to be a potential game-changer for Rome’s visitor-based economy and EUR, the under-developed business district on the city’s southern edge created by none other than legendary bad hat Mussolini.

Seriously, this is Rome’s most significant architectural project since the 1960 Olympic Games. The city is plagued by a paralyzing cocktail of bureaucratic gridlock, corruption and the ongoing discovery of ancient parts of the city (something that persistently blocks new developments).

Basically, Nuvola is glass and steel box that houses a cloud-like suspended interior structure. This internal construct is no work of fanciful contemporary art though – this is where the main auditorium is so the structure is fully functional. It is reportedly the size of two giant zeppelin airships, as we reported previously. You might think the white, fibreglass-clad structure looks like a cloud, as Fuksas envisions but it could also be said to resemble a lung or another internal organ (use your imagination). Glimpsed from the outside in twilight it can seem strikingly like an ultrasound scan of a unborn baby.

The architect, who conceived of this project with his wife Doriana, does confirm however that his dealings with local officialdom have left him with no faith in the ability of public authorities in Rome to manage his masterpiece. “I wish they would give it to the Germans to run, they’d make it work – the Romans, no!” Fuksas won the competition to build the new center in 2000 but construction did not get underway until 2007 and was repeatedly interrupted due to a combination of red tape and cash constraints.

The building was finally completed thanks to additional funds raised last year by the sell-off of four Mussolini-era public buildings. How much it finally cost is a disputed issue but removing the legacies of Il Duce’s time in power are belated in the extreme. Fuksas says the Nuvola came in at 239 million euros ($260m), below the tender price of 275 million. Enrico Pazzali, the executive brought in to oversee completion, says the true figure is 353 million euros ($390m) but that he is nonetheless confident the Nuvola will prove a worthwhile use of public funds over time.

The former head of Milan’s hugely successful Fiera exhibition center, Pazzali shrugs off fears that congested, cash-strapped Rome is ill-equipped to cope with an additional influx of visitors. “Our research suggests that convention visitors generate at least twice as much per head as leisure tourists,” he told AFP. “We have the hotels and the Nuvola has the great advantage that it is close to the airport and it is on the Metropolitan (underground rail network).

“Our estimates are that the economic benefits to the city and the surrounding area could be between 250-350 million euros a year,” Pazzali said. The Nuvola is the biggest architectural project in Rome since the work for the 1960 Olympics.

It joins a short list of significant contemporary buildings in the city that includes Renzo Piano’s auditorium, the late Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI museum and the Richard Meier museum built around the Emperor Augustus’s altar of peace, the Ara Pacis. For Fuksas, the construction adds to a list of high-profile projects that includes Shenzhen’s airport and Ferrari’s headquarters.

Art Taipei 2016: Anchoring Asia

Art & Design

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November 1, 2016

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Since its conception in 1992, Art Taipei is the longest standing art fair in Asia, and has also become one of the most important art fairs in the international art market. Run by the Taiwan Art Gallery Association, the fair was conceived as a platform to preserve Asian heritage while embracing foreign art, as well as to establish themselves in the global art market as a key player from the Asian region.

Returning this year, from 12 – 15 November 2016, at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, Art Taipei 2016 aims to bring together works from both the Asian and European art scene, propagating East-West collaborations. The art fair will host a total of 150 domestic and foreign galleries: 67 from Taiwan, 11 from Europe, 42 for Japan and Korea, 19 from China and 11 from Southeast Asia.

Tim Eitel, Repetition - Art Taipei — Tim Eitel, Repetition

Taiwan Art Gallery Association’s Executive Director Rick Wang comments: “In the past few years, Western art associations have indeed grown more active in Asia’s art market. This means that they have also filled the many voids in our local galleries with their presence and their art. Therefore, we hope now to further consolidate Asia’s artistic perspectives, adapt to the new market state, and lastly assemble talents across Asia Pacific to voice a unifying cause alongside our foreign partners.”

Art Taipei 2016 will greatly surpass its 2015 numbers with an addition of 55 new galleries to its already impressive 150 international and local gallery line-up that the fair has built relationships with over the years. Furthermore, 62 returning galleries that were absent last year are also expected to participate once again this year.

In continuation of Art Taipei 2015’s feature sections, this year’s fair will be reintroducing the following areas: ‘Galleries’, ‘Future’, ‘Frontier’, and ‘Public Art’. On top of these recurring aspects, they will also be launching a new section called ‘Voice of Image’, hosting the likes of Gallery Momo (Japan) and Star Gallery (Taiwan).

Chen Chieh Jen, Realm of Reverberations - Art Taipei — Chen Chieh Jen, Realm of Reverberations

The main exhibition area ‘Galleries’ consists of 135 galleries in total. Of the extensive range of galleries, over 70 are considered by major art critics as important game players in the Taiwanese contemporary art scene. These include galleries such as Soka Gallery, Asia Art Center, Lin & Lin Gallery, Da Xiang Art Space, Gallery 100, LIANG Gallery, J.P. Art Center, Capital Art Center, Caves Art Center, Nou Gallery and AKI Gallery to name a few.

Some works to look out for include Soka Gallery’s Hong Ling’s revolutionary artworks, Gallery 100’s Inoue Yuichi most recent calligraphy masterpieces, as well as Chu Weibor’s collection from Asia Art Center. Lin & Lin Gallery’s Chieh-Jen Chen will also feature his photography series titled ‘Realm of Reverberations: The Ritual of Film Screening’. His video and photography series documents his personal study of a social movement supporting the preservation of sanatoriums. Finally, internationally acclaimed artists Xu Bing and sculptor Lee Kuang-Yu from the Chini gallery will return this year to display their latest works at the fair.

Words like snow painted camphor - Art Taipei — Words like snow painted camphor

Another exciting gallery to look forward to at Art Taipei is the celebrated German gallery EIGEN + ART. This will be their first experience at Art Taipei, joining the likes of other foreign galleries from US, UK and Europe. Founded in Leipzig during the 80s, Galerie EIGEN + ART emerged as an underground enterprise that fought against the establishment at that time. Their works reflect the multidimensional views within a system of change that is still highly relevant in today’s context. Other highly anticipated international works to be showcased at the fair include expressionist painter Tim Eitel’s ‘Répétition’, and multimedia artist Carsten Nicolai’s ‘Tired Light n Diagonale’.

Lee Ufan Correspondence - Art Taipei — Lee Ufan Correspondence

More galleries from Japan and Korea also hope to make their mark at this year’s art fair. Galleries like galerie nichido / nca | nichido contemporary art strive to establish a foothold in Taipei’s art scene, and will be bringing works by Japanese artists Ryo Yoshikawa and Ryuzaburo Umehara. Wako Works of Art has notably prepared a special visual collection of Turner Prize Winner Wolfgang Tilman including ‘Untitled (Carton)’ and ‘Flanke’. Korea’s PYO Gallery will be unveiling the beautiful paper creations of Chun Kwang Young, as well displaying monochrome painting master Li Yu Hwan’s large-scale composition titled ‘Correspondence’.

Art Taipei also welcomes back galleries that are no strangers to the fair, including the likes of Whitestone Gallery, Opera Gallery and GALLERIA CONTINUA; the latter from Beijing bringing the works of British sculptor Antony Gormley, German-American artist Kiki Smith, as well as contemporary Chinese artist Qiu Zhi Jie.

Wolfgang Tillmans, Flanke - Art Taipei — Wolfgang Tillmans, Flanke

As of 2015, the Taiwan Art Gallery Association has officially confirmed an alliance with the Asia Pacific Art Gallery Association (APAGA) – an association formed by galleries in Singapore, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, and China. The partnership is meant to support the expansion of the Asia Pacific art market and furthering art research. Art Taipei 2016 will serve as their main programme to strengthen the bonds within the Asian art industry, and to achieve a balance between promoting and trading art.

For more information, visit Art Taipei 2016

This article was first published in Art Republik.