AP's New Carbon Fibers Material for Their Watch Casing

Audemar Piguet would never stop giving you technical wonders as the Audemars Piguet’s Millenary Carbon One introduced in 2009 is an Example. The case is forged carbon, an ultra-light material developed solely by AP. The middle section of the case is created by placing a set of carbon filaments inside a mold. The wires measuring one millimeter in diameter, is itself composed of several thousand 7-micron carbon fibers held together by a resin wire placed end to end. The wire is approximately 1/3 the diameter of human hair. These thin filaments are equivalent to 22.7 meters of carbon wire and over 100km of carbon fibers.

The mold is then compressed at high temperature at pressures of over 300 kilos per square centimeter. This process results in a material composed of 76% carbon and 24% polyamide. The hardness of 626 Vickers can be compared with the 420 Vickers score for Alacrite, another highly resistant material. The case middle and lugs are made all of a piece. The bezel, crown and pushers are in ceramics. The high-tech materials and manufacturing techniques result in a very light timepiece indeed: the Millenary Carbon One weights just 69.44 grams which is much lighter than gold or steel. Since the case has to be made individually, the unique pattern of the fibre create an uniqueness of the watch pattern. That is one of the selling feature of this watch, Light, Durable, hi-tech and beautiful.

The Carbon One reveals caliber 2884, a completely proprietary movement equipped with a tourbillon, a chronograph, and a 10-day power reserve. Twin barrels actually store enough energy to power the watch for 12 days, but a locking mechanism allows the watch to run only during the 10 days when the power delivery is at the linear consistent region. Each movement is first assembled on a trial basis in order to set it into motion. This stage requires ten days of adjustments. Once the watchmaker is sure that it runs completely smoothly, he takes it apart and cleans the parts before final assembly and casing up. It takes about 15 days to assemble a finished movement, three of which are devoted to the 80-piece tourbillon.

The high-tech theme is not stopped here at case, it continues inside the movement. Eloxed aluminium is used for the bridges and carbon for the main-plate. It’s an isotropic material composed of carbon nanofibres injected at an extremely high pressure of 7500 N/cm2 and at a temperature of 2,400°C in order to achieve a material possessing mechanical, physical, chemical stability and internal stress free in all directions. This amorphous and chemically neutral composite material maintains its dimensions over a broad range of temperatures. Due to its minimal elastic deformation, this carbon provides a highly stable base for the metal elements attached to it. Watch changes it time accuracy on temperature changes due to mechanical expansion or contraction, this main-plate is totally eliminating this concern. Beside, it is light.

The Millenary Carbon One Tourbillon Chronograph were produced in a limited series of 120 pieces

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Millenary Carbon One Tourbillon Chronograph

Reference
26152AU.OO.D002CR.01
Forged carbon case, black crocodile leather strap
Limited edition of 120

Movement
Caliber : 2884 hand-wound with twin barrel and tourbillon
Carbon main-plate
Bridges in eloxed aluminium and blackened steel
Total diameter : 38.40 x 33.40 mm
Casing diameter : 37.40 x 32.40 mm
Thickness : 9.7 mm
30 jewels
336 parts
Up to 240-hour power reserve
Cadence of the balance : 21,600 vibrations per hour
Finishing : all parts decorated by hand.

Case
Forged carbon with black ceramic bezel, crown and push-buttons
Dimensions : 47 x 42 mm
Cambered glare-proofed sapphire crystal
Blackened titanium back fitted with sapphire crystal
Water resistant to 20 meters

Dial
Open-worked to reveal the movement
White hour-markers with luminescent coating
Blackened luminescent hands

Strap
Hand-sewn “large square scale” crocodile leather with AP folding clasp in blackened titanium

Functions
Hours and minutes
Chronograph
Power-reserve indicator

Where to Buy the Best valued pre-owned Rolex in HK!?

(The Pictures shown here on top is Kuen Kee and the Bottom is Lung Shing)

Where to Buy the Best valued pre-owned Rolex in HK?
This is a question from friends and fans of Rolex to me.
Well, to me, when I buy a pre-owned Rolex I have the following requirement.

1.The goods is original Rolex and Rolex parts
2.The Goods was bought from a Reliable legal source
3.The Goods is having no problem and having Rolex original Quality.
4.Come with Original Warranty certificates and Boxes.
5.The Price must be right and to me… I mean Cheap!
Well, as everyone knows that the first 1,000 Starbucks coffees for the day are made for paying for the rent in HK. As The rental fee in HK is likely Highest in the World. So when you enter the shop in Tsim Sha Tsui hotel shopping arcade to buy a pre-owned Rolex.. likely 10% is going to the pocket of the top-five Landlords of HK, through indirectly the Watch Shop.

So Where Can I buy good value for money Roles in HK!?
Well, My choice is Luen Shing and Kuen Kee in Sham Shui Po…

Why? As Sham Shui Po is HK’s poorest district in terms of People average annual income . The rent is almost lowest in HK, and the rent may be just 20% for that of Tsim Shan Tsui.

And They owe their shop. Meaning that they have intrinsic 20% tendency to be cheaper that other people running the same business.

That is True when you compare their price!
Another point is that they sell almost Rolex only, so you have a lot of choice.

They have been running almost 30 years under the same owner… So they have a good connection with Thailand, Malaysia, China, Singapore and Philippines buyers., In fact Kuen Kee does Whole Sales for Rolex….
On their other hand, their extensive experience to tell how good the Rolex watches are when they buy it.. Also since they owe the pawn shops they can some time get some very rare Rolex and they can dare to buy up!
So, next time when you think of buying pre-owned Rolex go to these shops!

Lung Shing is situated at Cheung Sha Wan Road 169. They open from 1200-1900 only
http://lungshingcentre.com/

Kuen Kee is situated at Ground Floor, 25 Pei ho Street, Sham Shui Po Kowloon.
Tel 27206632, 23864010. Website: http://www.kkwatch.com/ you can exit Sham Shui Po MTR Exit A2, go alone Pei Ho Street, across about 4 block of building, 200 metres away, you will find it. Not too difficult to find for Foreigner. If you are not too sure, go Google Map to take a look first. They Accept VISA… you can ask for some discount…if you are a good sweet talker… well, try to bring home a Good Rolex…
Ps. They display about 400 Rolex watches in the Kuen Kee Shops.

The DeepSEA is selling from HKD$39,000 to HKD$49,000, Submariner is selling HKD$37,000 to HKD$43,000. Explorer is Selling from HKD$29000-36,000.

In Luen Shing I have seen about 80 Rolexes Today.This is purely my personal comment only as I do not mean to say something bad about the shops in Tsim Sha Tsui, however the shop in Tsim Sha Tsui may have more other brands such as VC, AP PP, FM, RD, IWC, Cartier…etc

Sham Shui Po Snob

Asia First Tourbillon made by Kiu Tai Yu

In 1088, Su Song and Han Gong Lian, the scientists of China created an astronomical clock tower which was more than thirty feet high. The observing devices rotated mechanically and they indicated or pointed the mobile celestial bodies. Therefore we firmly believed that it was China who made history in the chapter of Clock making earlier than The Swiss.

The work of Kiu Tai Yu wanted to show the Western world that the rich heritage and skill of watch making is still present in china. Kiu Created his premier mechanical watch in 1970. He succeeded in fabricating the first Asian escapement sans pallets in 1978. The prolific watch crafter is the father of many innovative Kiu Tai Yu watches but his métier is in creating tourbillion. After making various types of tourbillion watch, he finally attained the job of uncovering world’s first ‘Mystery Tourbillion’ watch in 1993. This creation followed a series of other tourbillion watches. His passion for Kiu Tai Yu watches ultimately paved the path for achieving some patents of tourbillion invention in Switzerland.
However there was debate that Beijing Watch Co. and Mr. Kiu Tai Yu of Hong Kong's World Wide House both claim the distinction of being the first to make tourbillons in China. Indeed Mr. Kiu claims to be the first in Asia. In 1985, I started to buy watch from Kiu, the first one was a 14k Bubble back Rolex Oyster HKD$5,000.00.

And few pieces of watch like Repeater of the 18th Century in Sterling Silver cases, some 18K Yellow Gold IWC and Longines. etc. That was the reason why he bought house in North Point in cash, the day he showed me the money in a Envelope. He has a huge collection of Good watches… he is a Watch and Clock lover…Here shows the 1997 Mystery Flying Tourbillon No.12 is also full of Chinese classic decorative elements. Kiu is till active in watch selling, repairing and making, his watch atelier is in World Wide Centre.

He is a nice, polite and decent man. I hd just talked to his wife yesterday and Wish Kiu would recover from his illness soonest.
HK Snob

There are Only 5 Watch-making Companies who are producing 100% in-house Movements

There are 4 Swiss watch-making brands and One German who are producing 100% in-house movements are Patek Philippe, Jaeger LeCoultre, Rolex, A. Lange & Sohne and Roger Dubuis. Since A Lange & Sohne is manufactured in Germany, we classify this a German Watch though its mother comany is Richemont, Swiss. Amongst these, Roger Dubuis has increased the number of watch production to nearly 5,000 pieces per year; whereas PP is producing 42,000 pieces per year and Vacheron Constantin is producing 25,000 pieces per year. Rolex may produce as many as 1,000,000 pieces a year. Ferrari produces about 6,000 cars a year, so we are even more exclusive than them! Therefore, Roger Dubuis timepieces remain very exclusive when compare to other watch brands like Patek Philippe and VC. So if you want to purchase a watch, you should consider that these are the key factor that the brand name would not be eroded by OEM their movement to some other body. As for Collector’s mindset, everything should be the maker’s original design and product, or better off..do not collect!
HK Snob

Roger Dubuis Minute Repeater

Everything about Roger Dubuis is distinguished by the Fervent pursuit of Swiss Engineering Superlative Excellence.
I always appreciate Powerful, Bold, unique and Extravagance design, as it is a MUST for A New Borne Classic, there is not more stubborn atmosphere and environment for going so much to the slow mover of boring casing design with insertion of standardized calibers!
Watch for Today is a men’s Accessory, a piece of Art, time Keeping function becomes a side product gradually. Wearing a watch would represent your Glamour, taste and ability to Choose a new Class. As a successful business man who knows how to spend money wisely for a Watch you wear and that might become a Great Classic Tomorrow... Who want to have same watch that may be worn by another passing by sitting in the 5 star hotel lobby?
An exquisite uniqueness is a new criteria for those City Snobs to have…including watches. Imagine that Roger Dubuis produces less than 5,000 watches a year. Imagine that there are just limited 8 to 28 pieces of a Roger Dubuis model … who will be wearing the same watch with you when you travel, that is the uniqueness of yourself… from the day Roger Dubuis establish their own brand name in 1995, they have developed 31 Exclusive calibers in just 10 years. Imagine who can do that nowadays? So Be Calm, you still have a chance to select and buy by money on these watches of blue blood…World is Changing fast and who knows what will the top Auction items are after 15-20 years?
From what we see today at Roger Dubuis Opening of their new concept Boutique at Pacific Place, me as the one to be invited to join…People are nice and beautiful. Today I had a Chance to see this Beautiful example of the masterpiece.

A Platinum Minute Repeater Ref. EX45-08-80-00/0RR00/B,
Movement: RD08 Minute Repeater, Flying Tourbillon, Double micro-rotor automatic winding
Case: 45mm Platinum with Sapphire case-back
Dial: Grey Rhodium plated, black Roman numeral, III and VII embracing the tourbillon
Strap: Black genuine Alligator, hand-stitched
Platinum adjustable folding buckle.
Limited to 28 pieces
It moved my heart when I heard about its Crystal clear Dings and Dongs! Touching!
Would you spend HKD$4,680,000 for this masterpiecs?
HK Snob

Santos De Cartier 100 Extra Large Model

This is the Icon Watch of Cartier, the Santos 100 Extra Large Pink Gold version, i is not too common in Hong Kong. List Price HKD$184,000.00. I just have seen it at Cartier Shop, HKIA.

It is massive, large and Sportive have a sense of I don't care the size, this is Santos of Cartier.The Surface finish is so delicately polished to almost Perfect....Note that the AP Jumbo looks very Small and thin like a rasor blade when compared side by side with this Extra Large Santos! A Must De Cartier! Friend of mine offered me, I am thinking as I calcualte this way as an Old Chinese thought of Gold, It is almost 200 g of Gold,,, remove the movement which may be just 18gf, after 20% deduction because it is 750 Gold, The net gold is valed nowaday is about HKD$50,000.00! Gold is Forever! I love it...Don't say I am a gold Fever, Look at the Gold price...it is rising everyday. Watch DescriptionSantos 100 watch, extra-large model, flying 18K pink gold case, 18K pink gold octagonal crown decorated with a faceted sapphire, sapphire crystal, slate-grey galvanic dial, openwork satin-finished sunray grid with black transfer roman numerals, sword-shaped blue steel hands, alligator strap, 18K pink gold triple adjustable deployant buckle, workshop-crafted mechanical movement with auto winding calibre and individually numbered, diameter: 24,5 mm, thickness: 4,5 mm, including 19 jewels, balance: 21’600 vibrations/hour, transparent back with sapphire crystal, water-resistant to 30 metres / 100 ft (3 bars). Case dimension : 46.5x54.9 mm, 16.5 thick. HK Snob

West End Watch

One of this is tri-colour. looks like the National Flag colour combination of India., a Matching colour of leather strap for this automatic watch. Interesting for Inidan I think.

Another manual winding one is Arabic Figure on Dial, Which is quite rare but the watch is not as big as the average size of the Watch Today.

HK Snob

Longines Conquest Auto Vintage Retro

Longines has created this beautiful Watch in 1950, and I used to have a Yellow Gold plated Conquest which does have 5 star at top of 6 o'clock position, and I sold it to our second officer on board. Now this is a re-issue of the Longines Great Classic watch.

Automatic, and note the solid gold enamel seal at the bottom side of the watch.

HK Snob

Seiko Kinetic Watch Perpetual

Seiko Invented Kinetic which has both Auto watch rotor for winding up and accurate of Quartz Watch. The Kinetic Power was used to charge up a power capacity (Battery Cell) and the Battery cell is then drive up the quartz watch module.

However by right after 5-7 years we have to replace the Rechargeable Battery Cell.

One drsaw back is that the battery is expensive... It is about HKD$200.00 a piece, if you go through Seiko AD, it is more.. So Kinetic quartz is no more popular ...My Guess only!

HK Snob

TISSOT T-TOUCH TREKKING Watch

-TISSOT T-TOUCH TREKKING T001.520.44.061.00
WATCH STYLE NAME: TISSOT - T TOUCH TREKKING
OFFICIAL TISSOT MODEL #: T001.520.44.061.00

Price About: $6,200. For each function there are different movements of the hands (see: Meteo and Compass function) and various settings on the LCD display (see: Alarm, Thermo, Chrono, Meteo and Altimeter functions).
WATCH SPECIFICATIONS with
MOVEMENT:QUARTZ (TACTILE) CASE :Titanium
CASE SIZE : 42.mm. CASE THICKNESS :12MMDIAL COOR : CX green, Wife was able to entitlered BLue Us
ANTHRACITE
BRACELET : Titanium
CLASP : Titanium safety clasp
CRYSTAL: TACTILE SAPPHIRE

WATER RESISTANCE: 30 meters

I like this model as this Looks Like Transformer!

HK Snob

HK Watch market in the 60s'

This is a picture taken at Causeway Bay Tramway Terminus in 1962, note the Ad of Rolex and Longines

What is the Major bellowed brand of Watch in HK in 1960.
I my experience, these are the watch from Switzerland to be popular in HK. Note that Omega earned a better fame than Rolex in 1950 and 1960 because of the Success of Constellation series, and After 1960’s Rolex gained a lot of market share from the Success of Submariner, Explorer and Day Date Series.
This is my categorized watch ranking in 1960s’
Super Hi Class Patek Philippe, Audemas Piguet and Vacheron Constantin
Hi End Omega, Rolex,
Middle class Longines, Rado, Mido
Lower class E. Borel, Titus, Titoni, Tugaris
HK Snob

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Tradionnelle World Time Watch

This is a Beautiful Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time Watch Pink Sold gold, beautiful hand craft globe printing, displaying 37 cities for those Travelers walking through the SQ, CX, First Class cabinet, every time the stewardess asks your seat number, you just say “ 1A… 12C…. or Upper deck… Wow, you should equip this watch to show your world Traveler business man status…
But one thing I do not like… It does not display City “Hong Kong”! WHY?
Hong Kong is Under Beijing now!? Oh man, that is why those Northern Old Chaps say Yes, our Donald Dumb will say yes… Those Old Chap say “No” then Donald Dumb would dare not to say “Yes…” indeed he is a good Order follower… HK needs you… But Hong Kong People do not need you… the next Executive Office would be even worse… so as Chinese say “The new crab will be inferior than the previous one” HK Snob

The McIntosh Mantle Clock

A Simple Patek Quartz Clock disguised a Supper Hi End Audio Equipment.
I did not make mistake to put Hi Fi Amplifier on my Watch Blog!The Master Clock System from Patek Philippe the would-be love child of the venerable Swiss watchmaker and super high-end audio make McIntosh. It looks like McIntosh has answered our calls and actually made a clock of their own, without the help of Patek or anyone else. It is constructed with the same beautiful Lake Warm Blue panel and glass in the same dimensions of a McIntosh Power Amplifier. Price!? USD$2,000.00 Cheap as you know how much McIntosh build their Chassis? Or you can use this new McIntosh plinth to put your 1969 MC2100 Power Amplifier in.. Awesome!

HK Snob

Sheffield Cuff Link Watch

This is a Sheffield Cuff link Watch made in 1950. It was sold in New York. I have the original Warranty card. 17 jewels Swiss movement. One of them is a photo frame.

New York Snob

Roger Dubuis Will Be Tomorrow's Classic for your Hand Today.

Founded in 1995, ROGER DUBUIS did indeed receive the Poinçon de Genève for all watches. Its founding philosophy based on traditional culture and the most advanced technology. It soon occupies an original, exclusive position in the prestigious watch manufactures. It’s new Pacific Place show room is just renovated recently and I went to see last Sunday. Well the most attractive watches are display in the front window Double tourbillon Excalibur Watch.
The Reason why I like Roger Dubuis is their Super Bold design that is an Avant-garde and latest Manufacturing Technology with Swiss Watch tradition. It is quite different with Patek Philippe and Audemar Piguet, I would Rate Roger Dubuis the Tomorrow's Classic, that is right for your hand Today...if you could afford it!
Show Room:
Peninsula Hotel Gorund Floor , Tsim Sha Tsui,
Pacific Place 330, L3 Admiralty. Hong Kong
HK Snob

Wind power Watch

French Designer Julien Moise made this Eco Watch with power from a Puff of air that rotate the turbine for generation of Electricity to power the watch for Visual Display.
But I doubt that it should contain a tiny battery cell to keep the quartz timer to be in operative. If you can get rid of the battery, that will be great.

HK Snob