Independents

bernard cheong
7182

• Show profile
• Show other posts

Rebellion T1000 and MB&F4...I am the "intersect" and here are the images!

These photographs you are about to see, and really admire, are the work of one Nic Ong.

Nic has worked for me, and with me, on Ulysse Nardin's factory movement pictures in 2006. IWC's caliber 5000 in 2005 and again in 2007. Richard Mille, Renaud and Papi, Breguet, Chopard, Vianney Halter, Dufour, Urwerk, and Glasshute Original.

He has travelled with and documented my visits for several of the brands above since 2005 to 2010.

His speciality is shallow depth of field with white light from 1 or 2 sources. He works with my specified lenses, canon 100mm macro and Canon MPE 65. I have a specific requirement for his using such lenses, because I am integrating the overall flow of a project that I have been commisioned to produce for 2011.

The "project" is not a volume of words or pictures, but it will illustrate by emotions such as above, the evolution of many, possibly all, timepieces from 1998 to 2011.

They will include a large volume of pictures that flow from early Hamilton railroad watches and Omega field watches from WWII, to the Dufours and the Lange 1, into the Opus1,3 5 and Vianney eras...and then to MB&F and Rebellion's chains and so on.

I hope I am not appearing to be shilling for this work, because it is merely my concept, and the work of others, I am filling you in on what "is to come". It is a tribute, and a guide, thru my eyes, to the work of the first generation of the purists here (with Thomas Mao), who have made many things possible. The title...? It could well be "the purists"...I am not sure.

Please enjoy the T1000 thru the eyes of both myself and Nic Ong.

We had but only 1 hour at Basel to work on these, and of course, we have quite the best..saved for the future.

More shared thoughts further down...

I hope you have enjoyed the visual presentations.

Likewise...the images of many watches are amazingly beautiful if presented in a light that enhances the form and colors of a machine.

I have been extremely occupied with much JOY, to see the growth in the watch industry. I was very blessed to have Mr Richard Mille have me present his press talk to Asia last year, blessed to have been trusted by Max Busser and Rolf Schynder. Touched by Edipresse and Gilbert Cheah of Tatler to be a part of an Asian Grand Prix. I have learnt that I should always remember humility when I meet so many collectors who simply have a wealth of knowledge and generosity. I have learnt to TRUST retailers, like Alan Teoh as one fine example (moderators..I hope you dont remove his name)...and I encourage all to work with and trust their own retailers.

Why so much JOY and gratitude?

Because we have reached a watershed once again...the last one was when the internet forums were born and Lange & Sohne was resurected in the 90s, at least for me....

Now..it is the climax of the CNC and CAD machines, combined with the new economical climate that no one could have expected in totality...and this should form new branches of art.

It is NOT either or...but having more.

More choices. More areas to think about, than just deep polish and flat plates.

Is there form? Color? Identity? Relevance to our own times and our own history. What about cultural and social preferences? How can time telling be "owned" by one culture? Why should time be told and measured only in circles?

Should we work our minds to tell the time, at least for some occasions?

The T1000 is and will become an amazing machine for the mind and eye. Owners of other watches, not necessarily any of the ones I have picked above, but I have selected carefully a cross section that will bless and enrich any owner from a Grand Seiko to a Dufour to an IWC and to the MB&Fs.

You are now expecting to see MB&F 4. Thru the images above, you have already been "exposed" to MB&F 4...but only to a shadow of it. It is certainly there, and you will have seen it.

The concept of such evolved machines are not, at least to me, any challenge to the conservatives such as one man, specifically M. Parmigiani. Of course, with his limited command of the english language, I could not engage him intellectually for a broader discourse.

Parmigiani, when confronted with these evolved works appeared, at least to me, defensive and also rather perturbed and disturbed by these works.

I did not sense the defensiveness from Forsey, Dufour, the Sterns, the Hayeks, and even the President of Seiko. Parmigiani seems to be the only one, but there should be a few others. I wish only to be specific, and not to isolate him as an example...but it is my pet peeve to see a watchmaker dismiss change, with no desire to engage in any diadetic discourse. The old shadow of "old money" rears its head. It cannot be denied its day.

I, on the other hand, coming from the street, with no "old money", except that I must admit...I was privileged to have studied in my early years (1965 to 1976) with some of the old British teachers who taught me (aged 12 to 14) to appreciate Plato's Republic and later Focault as well. Those days, I worked to pay for my hobbies (fishing, model aeroplanes, and photography) by being the gardener for a church, and later as a maths tutor.

Henceforth, I am/was a child who had NO MONEY, but studied and was brought up by OLD MONEY...a true paradox.

My first job, was a dispatch rider for $5 a day in 1976.

I joined the army, looking for a career and a sponsor to pursue medicine in Dec1976. I began work as a doctor in a peadiatrics ward in 1982, earning $900 a month (singapore dollars). I had no old family wealth.

I collected watches, because I could not afford a hobby that offered me solitude and a sense of discovery, that I was learning something no one else was doing in Singapore in 1973. I started with inexpensive Japanese watches.

I was introduced to one Gunther Blumlein in 1996, because I happened to be saving money to buy an IWC then.

I began to learn and admire the work Blumlein did from then till his death in Oct 2001.

This is to explain that I am not "always about" crazy watches. In fact, my first "important" watches, bought with my hard earned savings, were IWC, Patek and Lange. By hard earned, I mean i spent almost 80% of what I earned to buy watches....and that's quite a lot.

Later, blessed with "much, much more wealth" than I could imagine...I explored ways to repay the one industry that made my life colorful....watchmaking. Not because I am generous, but because I wanted some fame and to make some noise, without using a baseball bat or a barrel of a gun. I, too, want and still do, to have my day..and my say.

My journey to contribute to watchmaking from an ORDINARY MAN's perpective led me to CITIZEN, SEIKO, SWATCH, and OMEGA and the exploration of color and shapes, and the philosophy of "inclusivity" rather than "exclusivity" when it came to ...simply philosophy.

To this end, the most fortunate encounters and friendships with Rolf Schynder, Ludwig Oeschlin, Thomas Mao, SJX, Vianney Halter, Dufour, Max Busser, Gerald Roden, and many more that I apologise not to recall spontaneously...led me to appreciate the possibilty that the RISE OF THE MACHINES, such as the T1000 and the soon to be seen MB&F 4 will support, broaden, beautify, and add an element of academic quality to an otherwise secluded world that lives off the glory of having $$$$$....and employs the armour of "exclusivity" to "possibly" defend themselves from insecurity....and the fear of challenge and change.

With the likes of the MB&F works, and soon...even more audacious (because it seems to lack sense and respect) the works of Artya by Yvan Arpa....at least I will enjoy and discover even more beauty in the Greubel Forsey, the Laurent Fleurier, the Rolex, the Bulgari...and so on.

Contrast brings challenges, the type of challenge that brings the industry forward.

It allows ALL MEN and WOMEN, of all social and economic classess to appreciate, not necessarily to own, but to appreciate and enjoy..without ownership..and that is what will make watchmaking "ART".

Thank you for reading this, I did not rant this time.

I took valium. Trust me..I wrote this spontaneously and did not cut and paste this from a worksheet after editing!!!

Honest words...and a tribute to T1000 and the MB&F 4 to come.

..I love you guys and gals..all! even those many that really hate my guts, yes you guys working over at "that" factory.

 Bernard

Site Info.