A two-day event dedicated to Breguet took place last week in Manila, organised by the watch retailer Lucerne, with SJX as the guest speaker. The purpose of the event was to detail Breguet’s unparalleled status as one of the most important historical names in watchmaking, while today being a manufacturer of exceptionally innovative, even cutting edge, complications.

Over 50 key clients of Lucerne and two dozen journalists attended the three sessions, hosted by Ivan and Emerson Yao. The brothers run Lucerne, the Philippines’ leading retailer of fine watches. They were joined by Martin Ganz, Breguet’s Vice President for Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Mike Lou, the watchmaker’s PR consultant in Hong Kong.

The event took place in the New World hotel located in Makati, the Philippine capital’s business district 

Emerson Yao (right) and Martin Ganz (centre) with a client

Emerson Yao explaining the magnetic pivots of the Breguet Classique Chronometrie

Each session opened with a 30-minute talk by SJX in two parts. First was telling the stories that fill Breguet’s past, like the saga of the Marie Antoinette pocket watch stolen by an international thief.

That was followed with a rundown of the brand’s crucial complications, including the landmark Classique Chronometrie 7727 and ingenious Tradition Chronographe 7077, which are amongst the most technically interesting wristwatches on the market today, but not widely appreciated or understood.

SJX

The Breguet showcase was the first event of its kind organised by Lucerne, but it won’t be the last. According to Emerson Yao, the retailer plans to repeat such events to further enhance knowledge and appreciation of mechanical watchmaking in the Philippines.

Urwerk‘s entry-level wristwatch, the UR-105 gets a bit fancier with the limited edition Raging Gold. This sports a red gold front plate finished with a Clous de Paris, or hobnail, surface. While the motif is reminiscent of the recent UR-105 T-Rex, the look is distinctly more luxe.

Gold fascia aside, the UR-105 Raging Gold is identical to the ordinary UR-105. The case measures 39.5mm wide and 53mm long, with the 18k gold front plate on a black-coated titanium back, and the UR 5.02 movement in between.

Featuring turbines to regulate the automatic winding speed, the movement has the Zenith Elite as a base and boasts Urwerk’s signature satellite time display that shows the hours on swivelling discs that also point to the minutes.

Price and availability 

The UR-105 Raging Gold is limited to 22 pieces.

In Singapore it’s priced at S$126,700 including taxes, while the Swiss retail is will be in the region of SFr66,000.