amanico[JLC Moderator]
341401
A Trip To Asia. Part One, Singapore.
Jun 26, 2014,17:21 PM
First of all, I have to say that this trip is my first trip in Asia.
You can imagine how excited I was when, a bit less than one year ago, Jaeger-Lecoultre proposed this trip.
From Asia, what did I have in mind? A wealthy Financial world, a very far country, Marguerite Duras book " L'amant ", André Malraux " demential " passion for this continent, and many virtual friends.
Well, some pictures seen here and there, a fantasy, and the promise to be deeply disoriented, as I knew nothing about Asia.
Singapore, Hong Kong were only names which made me dream, as any long distance trip.
My first stop over was Singapore. A 11 000 kilometers trip. A night flight. A first sleepless night, surrealist, as I spent it sepaking Football and World Cup with a crazy mexican guy.
When I arrived, no time to breathe. Just the time for a funny check in in an hotel, with a funny hotel room number.
Then, just the time to take a shower, and a first GTG, in Sentosa Marina, with a big majority of virtual friends, new and very old friends.
A first magic night, I must say... A delicious one, for sure!
The day after, we had a long visit of Singapore, and we faced the " Watch reality ", which can be summed with one number: 300.
300 is the number of Watch shops, " corners " and Boutiques dedicated to watches! All the brands are here, have to be here.
Just breathtaking.
Among these brands, Jaeger-Lecoultre, of course, with the same concentration of Boutiques. From an european point of view, it is difficult to understand, how it can successfully work, but it seems that it works! Madness...
Another part of the decorum, the malls, big and top luxury commercial centers, but I have to say that I already saw that, in South California, or in Las Vegas. So to say, I was not disoriented by that.
Some malls:
And the famous Orchard Road... A name which sounds familiar to me since it has been the name of a limited edition I loved and still love a lot, the eponymous Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Off Shore wit its delicious tantalum case, or the place were some famous retailers are located: Sincere, which offered, some years ago, a limited edition of the Master Minute Repeater in platinum with the same dial than my beloved Titanium. Cortina is another big retailer, as well as the not less famous " The Hour Glass ".
Orchard Road made me think about another I visited, though... Rodeo Drive, in Los Angeles ( Beverly Hills )
Another thing which surprised me a lot was this frenesy and excessiveness in the architecture, the buildings.
A view on the town:
Marina Bay Sand is certainly a good example of this excessiveness:
The hôtels are in the same vein. Some are very charming, I must say, like the Fullerton and even better, the Raffles.
A small disappointment, though... I thought that such a town had an important night life, and was very excited to live that as a notorious insomniac I am... In fact, most of the night bars and clubs close quite early, between 1 and 2 AM...
I tested the Altitude bar, in one of the higher tower of Singapore, which offers an impressive panorama of the town, and the Marina Bay Sand sky bar.
I managed to take a night picture of the city:
Another regret is to not have had the time to visit the old Singapore, with its colorful houses, along the river. I loved what I saw!
The other purpose of my trip was to spend more time with some of the watches I saw at the SIHH, earlier this year, the Tribute To Geophysic, to feel them outside the ambiance of a Watch Fair.
I just could not miss this opportunity, and wore them a lot, during my stay in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Here are the Singapore shots, of the Platinum version, first:
Then of the Rose Gold...
Honors to the ladies, and especially to Alethea, who organized the GTGs in a brilliant way.
My hairy wrist cannot compete, in beauty...
And, last but not least, the Stainless Steel:
Alethea, once again...
And my wrist... Sorry, guys.
A last picture, a static shot of the stainless steel version:
Among the three versions, I must confess a big weakness for the stainless steel one, which I wore the most.
This is a Watch I would well see in my collection, for its " coolness ", its presence.
The platinum is superb, with its more conventional dial, but the cross hair is very elegant, too.
I was positively surprised to see how the rose gold fitted a lady's wrist. Alethea agreed with me on this point, and loved this Watch a lot.
To end, I would like to post two pictures of a Watch I had the pleasure to see on a friendly wrist, during our second GTG in the Marina Bay Sand Boutique. A Watch I always loved, the Reverso Platinum Nr 2, Tourbillon, undisputably an examplar beauty!
There is another Watch I also had an immense pleasure to wear during these days, but I will dedicate a special thread to it...
I will not end this article without thanking a lot the SG JLC Team for the warm and friendly welcome... Alexis, Alethea... Thank you so much!
All the Best.
Nicolas
This message has been edited by amanico on 2014-06-26 17:23:36 This message has been edited by amanico on 2014-06-26 17:31:54 This message has been edited by amanico on 2014-06-28 08:08:32