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Tuesday 26 February 2013

The new COE, TAX, ARF and CAR LOANS

These drastic changes will drive even more to the rewarding collecting of watches!
Right now...I am at my desk, I have 10 minutes to shower and go down to the office...but a peek at three things I want to rant over:



The new car prices...so these are my VERY lucky doctor friends last saturday, before the announcements...note my car number is now 4420.


The arrival of my Sevenfriday, which cost exactly 100x less than my Opus 3!
Square watches are a rare experience.
More later on both the unboxing/purchases of the two watches.




Saturday 16 February 2013

When you are finally going to buy an expensive wristwatch..think MOJO



Perspectives of why collectors see UN as a valued gem.

Intellectually speaking, it takes a very farsighted, daring, and connected person to evaluate what UN really does, and how it will fare without its real leader.

With the use of silicium, and the values of being the only company to discover a truly new and untried technology, one must see Ulysse Nardin exactly like the makers of todays ruling Japanese camera makers. These early prewar camera companies were laughed at, undervalued, as trash when compared to the Germans. Likewise, the electronics companies of the very same country.

Like Japan, Ulysse Nardin is much more than a company. It is, if it charts the course set by their late leader, a force that will shift watchmaking into a commodity that is an aspiration to own, whether it be a Rolex or a Omega or a Cartier.

The young, before the invention of cars and roads, had no car to aspire to.

I will dare to predict that based on status and on aesthetics, the watch will become EVERYTHING the auto industry failed to deliver, and 10x more!

If you have small means, it will pay to collect watches, used ones of value.

If you have larger means, it pays to buy even at prices that are higher than what the same watch sold for 10 years back.

Some brands, some makers, will excel…just like cars.

You need a box the size of a shoe box, and Louis Vuitton will see that its old trunks can now be remade smaller, and become valuable items again.

 




THE MOJO
You can spend even 10k++ for a FREAK or a watch made with specific silicium parts that are/were Ulysse Nardin’s great build quality and exceptionally good metal and gold work — above all, however, the wristwatch feels unique and the “super watch” land makes you part of a great heritage that inspires creativity and living a life.
Of course, these watches give you nothing that’s way better than the rest of the market, but they all share that mojo.

What serious customer or consumer has never asked him or herself whether to take the plunge into serious money mechanical watches? Point is, if deliberations are based only on methodical analysis, you’ll never find convincing arguments to really be assured that you’re taking the right road, and buying something that will not reward, but rather hurt you financially.
High end watchmaking and serious companies at the levels of Patek, Rolex, Richard Mille and Ulysse Nardin are not all about rationality, it’s about life, living, seeing, leaving behind legacies and on the longer terms of 10 years, often much less during these rocky times, it is about asset preservation. Keeping your hard work and money safe, and employing them to enrich your life. The same way that going to school, reading and visiting history will always touch your soul, and often, if your eyes are open, your mind.
More simple or less costly watches paired with steel or precious metals can produce exceptionally remarkable watches these days, even though the history and story behind these machines will never be as relevant to your philosophy that you shared as ideals to people who believed in you.
Even the less well-to-do is finally able to enjoy some of the magic at a fraction of the price. Still, I have no problems spending 10k for a wristwatch with history, art and most of all ideals. Because it’s at least as important how it was conceived and why I connect to it. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it’s not only the workmanship and movement. It’s also the principles behind the brand.
Never happened to you that you had a great watch but somehow it didn’t feel right? Looking at it was more routine than joy? And soon you didn’t feel like picking up the watch from its box and showing it to your children or friends? This will not happen with a watch you can connect to.
A wristwatch lends its own mojo, and that can play an important role in your business and life, the way others will see you. You’ll be able to produce way better results, project way better ideas.
It’s not only the feel, but also sound of the crown as it clicks back and winds, the form factor and certain something of the curves of the casework and printing and finish of the dials that connects together to enable an experience that another watch simply cannot.
Understanding why watch collecting and collectors are so much more than the finish, movements, brand image and a zillion complications
Chances are, once you start working with a watch you’re really longing for, the more it will complement your whole philosophy and life. This was always so, especially when you reflect on old photographs of the great leaders and achievers before us, and notice that they never wore inferior or poor quality timepieces.
Fact is, today, with almost all things being out dated or redundant, or victims of trends and fashion, the wristwatch is the ONLY material man made item that holds value, and even increases its worth over a decade or less. Even the world has paid attention to it by advertising. No magazine or high profiled web page is without wristwatch advertising money today, and this was not so before 1998.
And that’s what these watches offer. The prices are hideous — but only if you ignore the mojo. Somehow these watches turn every owner into a personality. You will feel like you have changed in your very own footsteps. Yes you pay for a different experience with a high level of inspiration juice bundled in the package.
It’s a personal connection to the watch and system of collecting more that inspires a totally different mind.
Because in the end, all watches today are technically good enough to tell time.
 
But the experience itself, of owning and seeing a work of man, with the interaction of art and engineering can be so much more rewarding. The watch has the power to change your perspective of life and decision making entirely.
Chances are you keep that watch with a mojo. So you might pay more in the beginning, but with no need to upgrade, who cares about the newer, the faster, the better?
The fact is that NO watchmaker has ever mastered their work. Instead they allow the work to master them and go on an endless exploration from one cog to a new pinion to a new lubricant to a new lever, never staying with one long enough to discover its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical puzzles that is a Pandora’s box.


 

Friday 8 February 2013

AFTER buying the MB&F 4, repay all the love that your parents gave to you

Just buy them the 911 Cabrio.



Then, buy a humble, but fun Nissan Nismo Juke with 196bhp.

I did all of that.

In a country where cars are DAMN expensive...I have no regrets.

My mum and dad are 82 years old...maybe more!


APS C sensor NEX 7 on the MB&F machine 4

Forget looking after watches for the next generation!

They will sell them for 20% of what YOU paid for in sweat.

When YOU can enjoy and sell it for 200% of your sweat.






 
 
 
 
 
 

The SONY NEX or RX1 shows you the MB&F 4


THIS is a good watch.
Now tell the guy who just showed you his uber expensive branded thing on his wrist to go away.

SEE this for more rude posts:
http://bernardcheong.com/general/if-any-hunk-bully-showoff-know-it-all-boy-bullies-you-and-tells-you-he-knows-about-watches-sony-nex7/

Thursday 7 February 2013

House Renovation or thinking of living on a boat?


You may find this VERY interesting if you have a small plot of land.

I am thinking of using this as an extension of a home.

It is way cooler, and if moored properply, it will occupy maybe 100 sq feet of land.

after 6 years..Bulgari 303 and the Opus V


Monday 4 February 2013

Of history, the Swiss, Malaysia, watchmakers, influence and opinion..."bernard cheong" in the past

Articles that pop up from as way back as 2007 to 2011..
From
The New Straits Times
 
 
Dr Bernard Cheong
NST, December 9, 2011
...
Every watch has a fascinating story, the official ambassador for Foundation De La Haute Horlogerie tells Aneeta Sundararaj, as he unravels the tales behind some magnificent pieces.
SOME people collect stamps. And some collect coins. Then, there's Dr Bernard Cheong.He collects watches, to the point where he says, "Practising medicine has become something I do in my spare time."
 
 
Born in Kuantan, Pahang, Dr Cheong's parents chose to make Singapore their home when the city state left the Federation of Malaya. "My parents insisted that I go to a good school and enrolled me in ACS (Anglo Chinese School)."
New to the social dynamics at play, he felt totally out of place.
...
It is a limited edition timepiece which has, "a part of Malaysia in it; there is a fossil from an oil palm tree embedded in the design," explains Dr Cheong.
"When such watches were first made, serious collectors didn't see the brilliance in them. I wanted to be instrumental in helping watchmaking companies like this achieve success."
Malaysia, Dr Cheong insists, has a treasure trove of people who are interested in the watchmaking industry. The person who comes easily to his mind is the late Datuk Rolf Schynder. "His love for Asia was reflected in his work."
Dr Cheong then pulls up his right shirt sleeve to reveal the gift from his friend.
...
Dr Cheong is also one of the judges for this year's A Journey Through Time Watch of the Year 2011 award.
Surprisingly, Dr Cheong also gives credit to the Malaysian people.
...
Dr Cheong's collection of watches seems to mirror such evolution: his first watch was a Seiko stopwatch. "It cost me about SDG130 (RM316 ). That was a lot of money in the 1970s."
Today, wearing two watches all the time, he does find it difficult to pick a favourite from his vast collection. Eventually, he settles on the "master watch" (a prototype of sorts) given to him by Vianney Halter. Such admiration, it appears, is mutual as Dr Cheong says that Halter thanked him in his acceptance speech when Halter was awarded the title of The Best Watchmaker of the Year 2011.
 
...
In the end, Dr Cheong is looking for, "that Wow! factor in any watch.
Starhill Gallery
www.starhillgallery.com, 5 Dec 2009 [cached]
The forum will include highly esteemed watch collector, Dr Bernard Cheong, Maximillian Busser, CEO of MB&F; Malaysia's astronaut, Datuk Sheikh Muszaphar; Prof Massimiliano Landi; watchmaker Peter Speake-Marin and YTL's Chief Environmental Officer, Ruth Yeoh.
...
Dato' Sri will lead the group, which will include Dr Bernard Cheong, the very influential watch collector; Maximillian Busser, CEO of MB&F; Malaysia's first astronaut, Datuk Sheikh Muszaphar; Prof Massimiliano Landi; watchmaker Peter Speake-Marin and my Chief Environmental Officer, my daughter Ruth Yeoh.
 
 
 
 
The Starhill Gallery Active Lifestyle Watch Award 2007, was presented by Dr. Bernard Cheong.Internationally recognized by Tatler, Harper's Bazaar, Chronos Japan, The International Herald Tribune and WatchTime USA, as among the most influential collectors in the world, Dr Bernard Cheong MD, has widely been acknowledged as instrumental in defining the new era of watchmakers as artists versus artisans through his championing of the independent watchmakers.
...
Our world renowned watch critic and avid watch expert and collector, Dr Bernard Cheong said of these fine works of art, "Today, we do not buy a watch just to tell the time anymore as you can tell time easily from your mobile phones.
 
 
I continue to have a good time, well spent...creating an industry that would allow many who are now priced out of luxury homes and cars, to play and to aspire.
Watch collecting has not even begun!
I think we are seeing about 1% of its growth....and when China hits the market...a 20% rise will shake the world.
Forget titanium/steel and alloys...gold and platinum will be great again.

Sunday 3 February 2013

Please...even if you HATE Rolex, and even if you happen to be a woman. The PLATINUM 303gram Rolex Day Date

This is ONE watch which will not make you take any risks financially.

Platinum is RARE.

The ore for this watch alone MAY be the VOLUME of 7 football fields.

Almost ALL platinum mined for the last 200 years will never even fill half a container truck.

YES. Platinum is just almost the equivalent of diamonds..pink diamonds.