Singapore launch of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Tourbillon at Old Parliament House - another excellent report by Tay Kok Choon.
More on haute horlogerie at our new horomundi site.
We thank Kok Choon for sharing his report here, for the same report and his excellent site, see here.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Launch of Master Tourbillon
Jaeger-LeCoultre Singapore has done it again!
Part I - Reception and Breakfast
It was an event that many of us enjoyed very much, thanks to the wonderful combined efforts of The HourGlass, The Revolution and Jaeger-Lecoultre’s Team in Singapore. Thanks to all for a wonderful time.
On a beautiful Saturday morning (11 November 2006), many Singapore watch fans gathered in the old Parliament House to attend the Launch of the JLC Master Tourbillon.
My wife and I arrived at around 08:55 in the morning and were surprised to see so many early birds have filled up the room designated for meals. Breakfast was already served and people have started to eat and talking about watches Yes, watch talks do not have to be in the evening, it can starts so early in the morning as well 
Scumptious Breakfast was served and my wife was very happy as her favorite American-styled Buffet Breakfast was served that morning. Food was delicious and what a great way to start the weekend……
The Revolutionary Wei Koh sharing a joke with the ever-energetic Jaw, who has just taken up a new post as the Chief Editor of Le Club, a new feature of the JLC web-site.
Prof. Wong Yew Wah sharing the experience of his JLC Reverso with Collin (left) and Peter Chong, the Lange Forum Moderator of Time Zone….
Natalia Tan, Sales and Marketing Manager (for Independents) of the HourGlass asking Timmy Tan when can his magazine be ready as everyone is looking forward to that.
Mrs.Kong was asking VL Kong if she could have the Lady’s Reverso Duetto for Christmas. Wong Chee Hoong (right) said that Kong should get her something more expensive….
On the left is the star of the day - The Master Tourbillon, it is symmetrical and asthetically pleasing. On the right is the complicated Gyrotourbillon 1 launched in 2004, comprising of a world first spherical tourbillon.
Part II - Watches on Display
Top Photograph is the star of the day - The Master Tourbillon, it is symmetrical and aesthtically pleasing, the lower photo shows Gyrotourbillon-I lauched in 2004, comprising of a word’s most elegant spherical tourbillon.
Top photograph is a vintage pocket-watch Tourbillon from 1948 kept by the JLC Museum. the lower photo is the amazing Master Eight Days Perpetual Calendar.
Reverso Platinum Number Two with the breath-taking movement side on display (top) and one of my personal favotite the Reverso Geographique in Pink Gold which is limited to 500 pieces.
On the top is the handsome Master World Geographic whereas the Sporty Amvox 1 R-Alarm featuring a dial carrying an alarm disc in the centre graced with a guilloché motif inspired by the radiator grille of the DBR9 car.
Of course these are not the only watches shown in the 3 Display Cabinets positioned in the Buffet Room. There are in fact more than 40 watches on display except for the Reverso Squadra series, which were supposed to be launched in the following week. Hope someone who has attended the launch to provide the report as I was out of town during the Squadra Luanch week.
Part III - 1st Session: Perspective on Collecting
After the breakfast, the guests were invited into the old Parliament Hall (Yes, where the Parliamentary Sessions were held in the past) for the event proper. It was an interesting venue to hold an event and I am glad the watch companies and retailers are becoming more creative in the venue selection.
The seminar-styled event was separated into s sessions, the first being a Panel discussion on the topic: Perspective on Collecting.
Maxime Labey, General Manager of JLC Singapore and S.E.Asia, giving a warm welcome to all the guests who woke up early on a Saturday morning to attend the event.
Maxime also announced the latest news in the JLC web-site, a blog-styled Forum under the main web-site of JLC known as LeClub and asked all who has not signed up as member to take a look in this new site, that is edited by none other than Jaw.
One of the co-organizing partner, The HourGlass’s Michael Tay (Executive Director) was very pleased to see some many familiar faces. He also gave an account on how JLC has become one of the most important watches in the whole industry.
Ng Tjeng Jaw, affectionately known as JAW to all the watch community here, were introduced by Maxime to the guests as the Chief Editor of the new LeClub under the JLC web-site.
Jaw also announced that his blog under the Revolution would be migrated to a new web-site (Horomundi) very soon and also broke the news on the appointment of a prominent collector, Duncan Wang, as its General Manager.
The first session of the seminar started at around 10:00 after all the introductions and annoucements on the latest news. A panel of four speakers Zach Toh (left), Dr. Bruce Lee (second from left), Duncan Wang (right) and Damiel Lim (second from right) touched on their personal experiences on watch-collecting, how they get started, which are their first watches, etc..
The session was moderated by Jaw, sitting in the middle of the four speakers.
Great to see some old friends. This is Peter Chong, Lange Forum Moderator of the Time Zone, the very first watch forum web-site that I’ve first visited many years ago.
Dr. Bruce Lee, sharing with the guests his unfortunate experience buying "The Deep One" by IWC some times ago through internet and was being ripped off.
Duncan Wang, said that he has never bought anything through the internet without seeing the actual watch. Duncan has a good collection of some exciting watches and naturally an excellent candidate to be included in the panel.
During the Q&A session, Kathleen Herzig, the new CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the Timecraft asked the opinions of the panel speakers on buying watches over the internet.
Part IV - 2nd Session: Theory of Tourbillon and The Master Tourbillon
The second session started after a shot coffee break and the topic being discussed is "The Theory of Tourbillon", which was presented by Jaw and later on Stephane Belmont, Director of Marketing and Development of Jaeger LeCoultre, presented the JLC Master Tourbillon…..
Jaw started the discussion with the definition of "Tourbillon" as being used in watch making, how is it different from Carousal. He stressed that the word "gravity" was never in the mind of Abraham-Louis Breguet when he first invented the Tourbillon.
The above is a four minute Tourbillon by Breguet, numbered 1176.
Stephane Belmont, Director of Marketing and Development of Jaeger LeCoultre, giving the guests a detailed account of the Master Tourbillon. The explanation was so convincing that Prof. Wong and Steven Tan asked me about the list price of the Steel Master Tourbillon on the spot (S$72,200), probably one of them have already placed an order 
Stephane Belmont, JLC Director of Marketing and Development, explained to Tan Puey Hiang and Joseph Koh the unique features of the Master Tourbillon.
Part V - 3rd Session: Perspective of Manufacturer
The third session followed immediately after the second one and the topic of discussion is "Perspective on Manufacturing".
The organizer invited a good mix of panel speakers to touch on this topic and how each define the term Manufacturing and what they think of the term "Manufacturing":
Stephane Belmont (left) - representing JLC and the industry, Michael Tay (right) - representing the retailer, Wei Koh (second from right) - representing the Press and Jaw who is a collector himself as well as hyper active on the internet.
Wei Koh presented a fantastic account of the word Manufacturing and what he considered a Manufactory. He was also very kind to provide some information on complicated movements suppliers like STT, Lajoux Perret, Claret & BNB to be featured in a future article in the Revolution Magazines. I found his presentation extremely informative and agreed with most of his points of view.
November 11, the day of the JLC event, is also the birthday for Wei Koh and his girl friend - what a perfect couple
The organizer surprised the couple by presenting a birthday cake to the couple. Song of Happy Birthday filled the air in the hall……
Part VI - The Master Tourbillon Movement
One of the interesting part of this event that I personally like very much is this watch-maker table with the magnifying scope to examine the Master Tourbillon movement in detailed.
JLC is also very thoughtful in stationing a watchmaker from the Richemont Service Centre to assist the guests in using the equipment as well as explaining any questions that the guests might have.
These are some of the photos that I have taken on the new calibre 978, that is fitted on the Master Tourbillon.
This is an amazing automatic movement developed by JLC in that there is a "smart" second time zone. Also, the date indication jumps between the 15th and 16th so as not to obscure the titanium tourbillon carriage from view. I have personally "played" with the watch some days before and was really an interesting sight to see the date indicator jumping in a few steps from 15th to 16th.
Part VII - Some wrist-shots and Conclusiona
I would like to end this report with some of the wrist shots I have taken during the event…..
I was surprised to see at least 3 Master Tourbillon during the event. This platinum Master Tourbillon belongs to a gentleman who has started collecting watches not very long ago under the "good" influence of his golf kaki, who himself is a well known collector in the Singapore watch community and familiar faces in watch events.
The Reverso is undoubtly the most popular JLC among the watch enthusiasts and fans who attended the event. I have spotted at least 10 Reversos on the wrists of friends and guests.
Maxime Labey was wearing a new Reverso Squadra himself
That’s all folks!
Thanks to Stephane Belmont, Maxime Labey and his wonderful team of JLC Singapore for the unique and memorable event.
Thanks to Michael Tay and his great staff from The HourGlass for the invite and organization of the event.
Thanks to Jaw, Wei and all at Revolution Press for extending the invite also to my wife and congrats on a job well done!
Hope that you’ve enjoyed the report.
Cheers
KokChoon
20th November 2006
p.s. Sorry for the delay of this report as I was extremely busy last week and could not find the time to process the photos and complete the write-up.