REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CALL COLLECT: AUSTEN CHU The collector and self-made man better known as @horoloupe to the Instagram community caught up with Revolution in Singapore to talk about how he got into collecting, his love of innovative design, and why Audemars Piguet is his first and long-time love when it comes to luxury watchmaking. WORDS WEI KOH Austen Chu a.k.a @horoloupe on Instagram, wearing the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Chronograph Openworked Selfwinding in sandblasted titanium case with blue rubber strap. 162 VINTAGE
Wei Koh: Welcome Austen, to our new office in Singapore. We’re so glad that you’re here to talk about a brand that’s incredibly close to your heart, and that is Audemars Piguet. I think it’s safe to say that it’s also a brand that you’re incredibly passionate about even before that relationship started. Austen Chu: Audemars Piguet was the first luxury watch brand that I actually got into that’s in the conventional “Holy Trinity” that everyone knows. I was mainly drawn into the brand because of the Royal Oak. So when I was 18, I had saved up a little bit of money and I was looking at watches online, as we do. I was looking at the Nautilus because I’ve always liked sporty watches and the Royal Oak just really screamed out at me like, “yo, you have to buy me right now”! I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Back then it was a reference 15400 that was the regular entry model and I was trying to decide between white, black and blue. And obviously blue was the one that spoke to me the most. So I just went to the AP boutique and back then there was no waitlist, I walked in and there was one just there, a blue-dial 15400 on the day of my 18th birthday. So I decided I was gonna buy it and I did. So how does an 18-year-old walk into an Audemars Piguet boutique and buy a Royal Oak for himself on his 18th birthday? I started my first company when I was 15 and sold it when I was 19. We started off by doing marketing and I guess we made our own parties and promoted our own parties pretty much, facilitating the filling of the void between the foreigners living in China and the Chinese. Coming to that, let’s talk about a watch that was launched quite recently, the China limited-edition perpetual calendar Royal Oak. It’s an homage to the motherland and if I’m not wrong, a watch that was created in collaboration with you. How did that come about? So that conversation started very organically. I pretty much just called François [Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet] one day and said to him, “Hey, you know Chinese customers make up a fair amount of your demographic. Maybe you guys should do something for them, you know, to show your appreciation, show your love for Greater China.” And because, personally, I think the “Pride of China” watch that they made over 10 years ago, you know, it’s not my thing. And François said, “Oh if you’re such a know-it-all, why don’t you propose something?” It was a very casual conversation and I didn’t think much of it. But I went home and I was thinking about what would be a cool watch. My personal favorite complication is a perpetual calendar because if you’re meeting someone who doesn’t know watchmaking and they’re asking like, “how much is that watch on your wrist”? And you tell them and they’re baffled, “why would you spend so much money on a watch”? You explain it to them. And when you’re explaining it to them, I think the best complication to actually get a non-watch person into watches is to explain how a perpetual calendar works. You tell them that there’re no batteries, but it knows how many days there are in every month, and every four years it even knows that there’s an additional leap day. You tell someone that and they’re like, how the f**k, you see their brain starts spinning. They’re trying to understand how that’s possible with no batteries. They think that’s interesting and so it’s always been my favorite complication. That’s why I picked that watch. And with titanium it’s half the weight of steel. Look at how light it is. Half the weight of steel and it has a gunmetal finish. Audemars Piguet’s finishing is stunning. If you look at it, you see the level of quality in the brushing contrasted by the razor-sharp polishing. At the same time it feels so tactile, it’s amazing. Yeah, absolutely. That’s why I picked titanium and they’ve also never really used titanium on the Royal Oaks. With the Royal Oak it’s always platinum and titanium and I’ve always wished that certain watches would have the full titanium From left Austen’s travelling collection includes: the Royal Oak Jumbo reference 5402 A-series in steel; the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked in steel; the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Chronograph Openworked Selfwinding; the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar China Edition; the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in ceramic and Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked in ceramic. VINTAGE 163
Page 1 and 2:
CELEBRATING THE MACHINE WITH A HEAR
Page 3:
BREGUET BOUTIQUES - NEW YORK 646 69
Page 7 and 8:
COLLECTION Fifty Fathoms ©Photogra
Page 9 and 10:
HOME OF FINE WATCHMAKING SINCE 1833
Page 11 and 12:
CALIBER RM 67-01 RICHARD MILLE BOUT
Page 13 and 14:
SEVEN DAYS V45 S6 SQT 212.463.8898
Page 15 and 16:
intentionally allowing the majority
Page 17 and 18:
Tangente Update. Made in Germany. T
Page 19 and 20:
CALIBER RM 07-01 RICHARD MILLE BOUT
Page 23 and 24:
Piaget Altiplano 38mm Bulino Engrav
Page 26 and 27:
On Niclas Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
Page 28:
THE GREAT INNOVATOR — THE INCREDI
Page 31 and 32:
CEO of Bvlgari, Jean-Christophe Bab
Page 33 and 34:
I should also pause to reflect on t
Page 36 and 37:
The Octo Finissimo Automatic Sandbl
Page 38 and 39:
TIMELINE 2014 OCTO FINISSIMO MECHAN
Page 41 and 42:
2018: OCTO FINISSIMO TOURBILLON AUT
Page 44 and 45:
The Bvlgari × Revolution Octo Fini
Page 46 and 47:
2020: OCTO FINISSIMO AUTOMATIC SATI
Page 49 and 50:
THE MODERNIST At the attic of Zenit
Page 51 and 52:
THE GAME CHANGE - LVMH WATCH FAIR I
Page 53 and 54:
with an integrated bracelet. While
Page 55 and 56:
BVLGARI SERPENTI SEDUTTORI TOURBILL
Page 57 and 58:
In 1983, Land Rover created one of
Page 59:
LVMH WATCH WEEK DUBAI MADE OF STARD
Page 62 and 63:
This page, clockwise from top left
Page 64 and 65:
ZENITH × REVOLUTION AND THE RAKE T
Page 66 and 67:
64 THE MODERNIST
Page 68 and 69:
This page, from top The crowd watch
Page 70 and 71:
THE ABSOLUTE ZENITH OF MANUFACTURE
Page 72 and 73:
THE FIRST FULLY INDUSTRIALIZED WATC
Page 74 and 75:
72 THE MODERNIST
Page 76 and 77:
WHEN THE STARS ALIGN One of the bri
Page 78 and 79:
76 THE MODERNIST
Page 81 and 82:
INTRODUCING THE ZENITH X THE RAKE A
Page 83 and 84:
THE MODERNIST 81
Page 85 and 86:
ZENITH X REVOLUTION CHRONOMASTER RE
Page 87 and 88:
THE MODERNIST 85
Page 89 and 90:
staying too deep for too long. It c
Page 92 and 93:
THE CARRERA, 1964 (LEFT) VS 2020 (R
Page 95:
BACK TO THE FUTURE Combine a French
Page 98 and 99:
n . it was always for me and how fa
Page 100 and 101:
significant technological advanceme
Page 102 and 103:
LA GRANDE DAME As Grand Seiko celeb
Page 104 and 105:
A NEW SPRING DRIVE Last year when w
Page 106 and 107:
This page, clockwise The SBGW263 in
Page 110:
Next, housed in yellow gold and wit
Page 113 and 114: In January this year, when Oris bro
Page 116 and 117: This page, clockwise from top left
Page 118 and 119: INNOVATIONS IN THE INDUSTRY: HUBLOT
Page 120 and 121: INNOVATIVE MATERIALS Hublot’s inn
Page 122 and 123: A TRUE SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY This m
Page 124 and 125: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING RETAIL-SMAR
Page 126 and 127: smell what is going on, they can fe
Page 128 and 129: A SPECIAL HOUSE Parmigiani CEO Davi
Page 130 and 131: 128 BACKTOTHEFUTURE
Page 132 and 133: STRIVING FOR HONESTY A Breitling am
Page 134 and 135: 132 BACKTOTHEFUTURE
Page 136 and 137: to California to visit Joshua Tree,
Page 139 and 140: VINTAGE Bona fide style icon and fo
Page 141 and 142: VINTAGE 139
Page 143 and 144: changed color through the alchemic
Page 145 and 146: this. As a comparison, of the Ferra
Page 147 and 148: HOW LASER WELDING WORKS 1. A series
Page 149 and 150: adage that “you don’t buy the w
Page 151 and 152: Left The Day-Date 36 reference 1803
Page 153 and 154: Above left A reference 18238 “Gol
Page 155 and 156: A-Z OF DAY-DATE STONE DIALS Agate A
Page 157 and 158: The 18188A ‘Lucky Wheel’, featu
Page 159 and 160: CALL COLLECT: MARK CHO Founder of T
Page 161 and 162: VINTAGE 159 chronograph I ever boug
Page 163: I couldn’t get over the big Bvlga
Page 167 and 168: Above The Royal Oak Perpetual Calen
Page 169 and 170: the knowledge or the know-how to di
Page 171: www.grand-seiko.com/us-en
show all

REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?