!!! F1 BOOMZ BABY !!! BOOMZ !!! Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2009

F1 is a party, a circus, the race is about the driving abilities of man in an amazing racing machine and the rest of the stuff surrounding it a celebration man ;) the concerts, the after race parties, the adulation of fans young and old for top racing drivers and driving marques... its all about having fun and getting into that vibe :) more should watch it live when it comes round, enjoy the race, the splendour and roar of these purpose built cars & the parties, fringe events and just soak in that wonderful atmosphere and let what hair you have remaining down and have a little FUN!!!

i drove into the zone for race day... together with some of my mates...

i hope u didn't get the impression that i drove in on one of the cars above :) none of these beauties are mine unfortunately :( but one can dream ;)

so what was the highlight of this years F1 for me? It was catching it in a nice room with a good mate and his cool friends. that was the highlight. hearing the roar of the engines below and watching tv coverage and portions of the track as the cars screamed and thundered past us! exhilarating and fun! :)

views from the room i was in... at nite...

in the day...

& nite again...

if at home watchin it on the telly, u can be forgiven for falling asleep as there was minimal overtaking and incidents... suggestion to the Singapore F1 committee, make the roads less bumpy please. i find the roads pretty horrible to drive in my soft and fluffy family saloon... can u imagine what it must be like in a F1 car?! do the words 'rickety rollercoaster' sound familiar? and widen the tracks for goodness sake, let them and us fans have at least 3 decent overtaking corners without fearing smashing into a concrete wall... ok end rant.

these were my best shots from the suite i was in on the 16th floor. i will get trackside tickets next year to take the cars for qualifiers probably and if my prayers get answered i hope to be in the paddock (well someday at least... babes + cars + drivers = excellent! :)

focus, raph, focus... we're talkin about fast cars baby... fast cars...

congrats to hamilton in mclaren on his win, glock for toyota for managing to snag 2nd and alonso for getting 3rd in renault. so onto the party then... and well i cant help feel a lot of it is star-spotting but there weren't any stars at where i was at for all the time i was there. i didn't have a lot of fun but heres some eye candy for yer ;) [no naughty captions as i don't want the wife to beat the living cr@p out of me if she comes across this :) keep the missus happy and don't show the 'after' pictures... ... ... DOH!!!]

but just to ensure that you know you are on a watch blog :) there were some watches on display that were not on the ladies above ;) AP was a partner for the event so some pieces were in the display outside.

lastly... shots with 2 people race aficionados may appreciate (to varying degrees of course)

Sir Frank Williams... he's been around hasn't he... from race car driver to team owner... and being knighted in the process... to my meekly asked question to his minder 'uhm is that mr. williams?' he boomed back 'thats SIR Williams to you' [kiddin :) that didn't happen and he helped take the pic too :) ]

alonso and the raphmeister... buddies hittin the bar after his podium finish ;) again kidding... but notice how our sling bag straps are perfectly aligned... hmm... 2 time F1 world champion... 2 time pizza eating champion... both from a country with the letters of the word 'p-a-i-n-s' in its name... the similarities jus keep on comin... :)

and thats all he wrote... hope u liked the coverage... note it ain't the greatest f1 experience and its not meant to be, it was just mine is all... some folks had more fun at the concerts and went to better parties and had much better skysuite, paddock club tix/passes etc but i did enjoy my fun filled 3 days and thought to share it... looking forward to the next one already :) cheers, raph

A Designare Richard Mille Closed Door Event...

Thanks to Frank Cintamani for the invite to this. After seeing some fantastic and utterly unaffordable RMs at the GPdH event (see the posts below) i had a hankering for more... so here's more coming right up ;)

oh before i begin though, i went down double wristed of course... the vianney halter antiqua got a fair bit of attention, from boutique staff (which is expected) and from some guests...

the casino watch was of interest to many and i showed them the roulette ball spinning a couple of times...

a look at some of the RM watches then... lets start with the Rm4v2... a very nice piece but i can't stomach the price... even if its renaud et papi split seconds chrono

the RM11... more affordable... a modular chrono, vaucher + dubois depraz and HUGE! the rubber strap is nice...

rectangular RM? nope, i'd stick with the tonneau ones...

a very nice wall :)

the RM009 Alusic...love that word... A-LU-SIC! love the watch too of course... ultra light and ultra impressive...

models exhibiting model behaviour...

and the transformer pocketwatch cometh...

it transformed into a table clock next...

its fun, but of course a wristwatch above pocketwatches for me... and even if i were to buy pocketwatches it would be in the 4 figure category and not the 6 figure bracket :)

hope u enjoyed the short report. cheers, raph

Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve Asia Edition 2009...Results and Thoughts

with a heel and a toe and some new friends found... got to know 2 watch nuts in the photo below this year... stole professori landi's wife for the shot below during his speech ;)

the 2 watches on my wrist that nite, both got a lot of attention... dolly's and my antiqua, and a mates RM11, he was wearing 2 and this third was strapped round his (uhm lets not go there ;) kiddin...

Before I begin this review and share my thoughts on this years event, I must congratulate all involved for the effort... Notable folks would be Dr. Bernard Cheong, Gilbert Cheah of Edipresse, Prof Massimiliano Landi who managed the voting system, the judges involved and the groups involved, Edipresse, Celton, SCB, Daum (hope i didn't leave anyone out but quite sure i did, unintentionally yuh). The effort and resources put in must have been substantial.

My initial thoughts were that this years affair was a bit more subdued and scaled down from last years but on to the positives :) the watches that the asian edition chose to be in contention were decided by the judges and had different choices from the geneve edition. a fair judging system was put in place by prof landi, a good group of collectors and enthusiasts were selected to be judges, and the watches in contention for the geneve edition (click here to see all of em) was in town and thats good enough for me :) unfortunately i couldn't get my grubby paws on them as they were behind glass protecting them from drooling aficionados like myself so the shots that follow won't be that great but i did try my bestest & of course there are no shots of their beautiful backs... sharing a couple here first before the onslaught of pics at the end ;)

watch of the year? i think not... my choice noted further down the post...

greubel forsey invention piece 3... very nice... but the look is not for me...

an ultra comp perhaps... hmm... minute repeater slide? check... jumping hour? check... a squelette beauty from AP

lets look at the asian winners then (based on memory)

the A. Lange & SohneRL PLM for best mens watch... [i m ok with this as a winner]

the RM 19 for best ladies watch [My choice too]

the Cartier Secrete Panthere for best jewelery watch [No thoughts on this]

the Greubel Forsey quad tourb for best complication [My fave from the lot]

the Urwerk CC1 for best design [this is sooo wrong in my view... the MB&F HM1 or HM3 for me, if pushed to a corner, probably the HM3 out of this group]

the Urwerk Tarantula for best sports watch [honestly how is this a sports watch? an Audemars Piguet should have won. They had listed the Survivor as a contender but had the picture of the Bumblebee ROO in its place instead... if the Bumblebee was the watch in contention, that would have been my winner out of this group]

the Watch of the Year selected from the winners was the ALS RL PLM [For watch of the year i would have gone with the Greubel Forsey Quad Tourb but noting a comment that its not really an accessible piece at over a dollar, maybe the Lange was the right choice...maybe...]

ok be prepared to reap the whirlwhind... more pics and some comments for some of the watches in contention in geneve...

a really nice ladies watch... may be a good gift perhaps? :)

a hockey puck with alien (transformer style) inscriptions and markings... not my cuppa

zeitwerk... an interesting werk but not something i would want to buy at its price point...

not a watch... a spaceship... not something i would buy too...

almost became blind when i saw this... Roger Dubuis... a 'fashion' watch house, the kind i like the least...

an interesting tag... not for me, but interesting...

chronAP didn't impress so much in the metal...

the opus 9 is a seat belt buckle, the claret is a mess, the de grisogono is a green monster, the RM boucheron was disappointing in the metal, the lange 31 is not a dress watch as its big and thick... i don't like the montblanc watch, the UN moonstruck watch, the AP survivor(which quite a number of the boyz like)...

no...

no...

really no...

ok enough about those u don't like what DID u like? i do like the VCs, the American 1921, the Patrimony Traditionelle and the chrono. I like the Corum golden bridge lady and ti-bridge, the MB&Fs & some of the RMs...

& MY 2 FAVORITE WATCHES IN THE RUNNING (ACROSS ASIA & GENEVE) THEN ....& RAPHMEISTERS TOP WATCH RECOMMENDATIONS IF YOU HAVE S$1.5mn TO SPARE ;)

the richard mille RM 019... celtic knot ladies tourbillion

stunning

greubel forsey quadruple tourbillon... i don't care if its accurate or not ;) this is horological art...