Richard Mille Launches a 38 gram Tourbillon Split-Second Chronograph
Richard Mille likes to push the boundaries of the impossible further away. That is also why they are such a natural partner to the McLaren F1 team. Every time you think that they cannot go any faster, they do it again. The same goes for Richard Mille who achieved something utterly extraordinary. With the RM 50-03 Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph Ultralight McLaren F1, they have created a watch that weighs only 38 grams, strap included!
The first day of any overseas watch fair is pretty much a blur of lights and (occasionally ticking) sounds for Felix and me. Don’t blame that on the boogie, blame it on the tyranny of distance. For the friends we are yet to meet this week in Geneva, here’s a pre-emptive answer for you: “We landed the afternoon before doors opened.” Stepping off a 24-hour flight from some mythical place known as Australian summer into a blizzard of snow and new watches means that few stand out from the maelstrom. These are the five that did from Day One of SIHH 2017. The Panerai PAM671 – the blue dialled Bronzo It lives! Some mocked our crystal ball skills when we published these predictions a few days ago, but critics should note we were profoundly right when we suggested Panerai might release a blue-dialled Bronzo to stand muscly shoulder to muscly shoulder with its rare and highly sought-after green-dialled brother. And choosing between them for most handsome is even more difficult than with the Hemsworth family. The combination of deep, navy blue dial with the gold-like hue of the new bronze, and then the luscious chocolate-rich brown strap… Be still our beating wrists. The issue…
Watch industry Presidents and CEOs are often conservative to the point of invisibility. The adage that seems to be uniformly and universally extolled is a variation on the idea that it’s “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.” Then, at the other end of the scale there is Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of TAG Heuer, Chairman of Hublot and Interim CEO of Zenith. In March 2016, one of the world’s top TAG Heuer experts, David Chalmers (who is founder of Calibre 11 and one of the two guys I started Time+Tide with three years ago), asked him about Heuer branded watches and whether they were helping or hindering TAG Heuer’s brand in the market. His response was scathing: “Very few brands have brought so much confusion than TAG Heuer. TAG Heuer is number one in the confusion. That’s where they were the best at. Create confusion. No consistency, no coherence, just confusion. No professionalism, no respect of yesterday. What TAG Heuer has done in the recent past is an example for any business school of what one should never do. At least now we know what not to do. That is what we’ve inherited from the past… I’m…