Whoever thought watches are a men's hobby cannot be more wrong, especially when surrounded by Jaeger-LeCoultre's horological creations. According to Iñigo Ohlsson, its managing director for Southeast Asia and Oceania, the brand boasts an equal share of male and female connoisseurs, which shows that the watchmaker is popular with both men and women. Besides sharing this fact at the Jewels & Time 2019 event held in partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre on Tuesday, he also took the opportunity to highlight some interesting products, including a few of this year's novelties to watch enthusiasts in the crowd.
The Reverso Tribute Duoface joins the Reverso family and sports a handsome blue leather strap made by Casa Fagliano, the storied polo equipment supplier from Argentina, while the Dazzling Rendez-Vous Night & Day shows why it's a hot favourite among the ladies with its combination of functional complications and feminine aesthetics. But the watch that stole the show that evening was not something new but the Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon, an amazing horological creation which houses a 4.8mm-thick self-winding movement inside a 7.8mm-thick white gold case. The watch, the 11th instalment of the brand's Hybris Mechanica project, was first unveiled at Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2014 but it is finally available in the Ion Orchard boutique for viewing. When Ohlsson brought the watch out of its display case to demonstrate the chiming of the minute repeater, everyone was blown away by its chimes—clear, intense and rounded.
Besides being impressed by the watches and given a deeper insight into the universe of Jaeger-LeCoultre, the guests had an enjoyable time hand-painting macarons, an activity that required patience and persistence—very much the same personality traits required in watchmaking.