Do you Sinn?

The Sinn U1 for The Hour Glass is a special run of 250 watches for the 2007 Hour Glass Tempus event. What is different from this edition and the normal U1 is the all black Tegimented process on the entire submarine steel watch and the orange dial accents.

The U1 did not appeal to me in pictures and the images I've seen at the various online sites. I've an ex-colleague who once commented that it would be cool to wear the "Sinn" brand. There's another colleague who was considering between the U1 and U2, but gave up after the price hike. Still, their interest did not pique my curiosity in the brand. It was only until last friday when I saw it in the flesh from a distance that I realized that it looked much better in than in pictures.

A lady was wearing the Sinn U1 at Raffles City, much like a bangle on her wrist. We were at the toy section of Robinsons. I was there with Lucas after dinner. The clean face, 4 o' clock crown position, rubber bracelet and the U1 buckle is unmistakable. I can only wonder how the Tempus version would look like. I immediately arranged to view the brand new in box Sinn U1. It was a hefty piece! But somehow, it did not look anywhere near the published 44mm diameter... maybe because of the colour. My Radiomir definitely looks much bigger than it. Being an automatic watch, I expected to feel the balance wheel in motion when the watch is shaken... like what I experience on my Speedmaster. However, it is devoid of any motion. This could be attributed to it's large mass. The butterfly clasp really takes some getting used to.

More details of the Tempus version can be found here, but I think there is one inaccuracy. The original U1 only has Tegiment treatment on the bezel, not the entire case. This is mentioned on Sinn's site above and also here. This also accounts of the difference in price between the original U1 and the Tempus U1.

Btw, I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but the german translation for Sinn in english is Sense.

More pics here.

Coral Bass Reflex in the making

I brought my Beta 8 drivers to Robert some time last week. He asked me to bring them over so that they can cut the hole for the cabinets, but when I was there, the cabinets were being redone. Only the cut marine plywood was there. I guess it would take around 2 weeks before it will be finished.

I'm not in a rush since our baby will be due in around 2 months' time... I will not have time to listen to the Beta 8s...

In the meantime, I'm looking to trade of sell my pair of Kanazawa vintage speakers The sale thread can be found here.

Frustrations of a parent

he plays with his friends in the pool after his swimming lesson
this goes on for an hour, close to lunch
he cannot touch the bottom of the lap pool with his feet, but they venture into the deeper section, his friend towing him on a kick board
your mind goes thru the motion of a rescue..
remove wallet, jump in, but only when he is struggling under the water..
he has to learn from his lesson...

but instead, you warn them to turn back

you tell him that his 5 mins was up
he bargains with you for another 10

his other friends are ending their lesson and you fear that he will not leave the pool
you pack up and ask him to leave
he shouts and throw tantrums
he sprays you with his water gun
you get wet on your clothing, you reiterate that his play time is up
he sprays you again

he prepares to move further into the pool
you removed your slipper and in split-seconds stepped into the pool and yanked him out with one arm onto the deck
he was caught unawares, he throws tantrums, shouts and demands for mummy
his friends are probably stunned, but your attention is only on him
you instruct him to follow you back home, but he just wants mummy

you left him to cry, walking towards home
people at the pool are left talking about a father who over-reacted
they glance at him and you
you continue walking home, instructing him to follow
he continues crying for mummy

you try to reason with him again, but he keeps crying for mummy
you feel like closing the gate with him outside, but he rushes to it
you keep it open for him, he continues crying for mummy
you wait for the lift, he continues crying for mummy

in the lift, he continues crying for mummy
you raised your voice at him, telling him about the time, that he has played for so long, that he never listens
your voice gave him a shock, he continues crying for mummy
you tell him to shut up, he continues crying for mummy

he reaches home, finally
you are really fuming...
because he did not listen, because of what they thought, because of the way you reacted

you wonder if you are being a good parent...
you promised him to teach him to play a new psp game, but you feel he did not deserve it
you ground him from playing with friends after swimming lessons in future...
he looked sad, but did not reply

you wonder with the second one, how much worse could it be...
you have not gone on a real holiday since his birth, and would probably not go for one anytime soon
you long to go to japan to visit sakuma-san at the concord, to plough through piles of lps, to marvel at esteroic audio gear, to buy a yamamoto amplifier
even if you went, disney had to come first
you long to visit a beach resort to enjoy the beach, the pool, the spa, the massage
even if you went, it may not be child friendly
you want to visit the architecture of russia, experience the uniqueness of the place
even if you went, the long haul flight experience with children would have killed you first

you wonder when...
but it's only the beginning
you think of your parents and your nonsense they had put up with...
you only wonder how they did it

Silence before the storm

Channel News Asia sent an SMS to my handset regarding the morning showers yesterday at 7:51am.

It read "Heavy rain with thunder and gusty winds expected over many areas between 7am and 10am. PUB warns flash floods may occur in low-lying areas".

It seemed serious. While ironing my shirt in the morning, I can see the weather changing quickly outside the balcony. The morning sun on the landed properties against the dark clouds was an interesting contrast. I ran for my camera just to capture this.

The above shot was taken using my Ricoh GX100, but the shot was actually over-exposed by the camera because of the multi-area mode. I had to lower the exposure a little to capture what I saw yesterday morning.

The heavy rain came and went quickly. By the time when I am on the way to the office, it was a slight drizzle.

The actual shot here.

Panerais and cuff size

The one big downside to owning a Panerai is that it most probably would not be able to fit into the cuff of a shirt easily. My shirts are all done to accommodate my Omega Speedmaster. With a calf strap of around 4mm thickness and one of those large PAM buckles, it is not possible to wear the PAM nicely.

I got a shirt done just for this purpose... I opted for a slightly smaller diameter, but with the cutting of the cuff more pronounced so as to show the side of the strap and watch. At least it is a different style from my other shirts.

My tailor suggested that I bring back the other shirts and they will redo the cuff if they still have stock for the material. Perhaps I will take up their offer for some of the shirts... especially my favourite Thomas Mason fabric ones.

Some wrist shots here.

Not so great carnival

We went to the UTES Carnival 2008 at Fort Canning Park on Sunday. I did not have any expectations that it will be great or even matching our local Pasar Malam standards, and yes, I was not disappointed. There will not be another trip next year. hahaha...

It was a hot day to climb up the slope to Fort Canning Park, but we made it eventually. The inflatable bouncing "castle" was supposed to be the main draw for Lucas, but it turned out that the surface was so hot due to the sun that it was not possible to climb and jump all over it.

We then took a walk round the game stalls and also to the food area. Lucas was content with eating junk food such as pop-corn and bags of chips. We then went off the The Legends to finish the remainder of the pop-corn before going off to my in-laws's place.

When we went home that night, after "Batman Begins" on tv, Lucas told us he had a fun day... I guess junk food is all a kid is after. ;)

Some pics here.

At Amelia's

Nicky is Lucas's friend at home. It's a male mixed terrier. Amelia's the owner. ;)

We always see them since they are staying at the lift level on the ground floor. Nicky will always run out to the gate when he hears Lucas's voice.

More pics here.

Strap Works

Got one Strap Works 1950 Ox Blood calf strap for the 183G. The website is quite slow, so patience is advised. Quality is good, but I seem to be between 2nd and 3rd strap holes. 2nd is too tight, and 3rd is slightly loose... sigh... 3rd hole works better for me in extended wear...

It's a real nice color. The strap is also quite thick.

Delivery and ordering process with Jonathan Kiu was a breeze. Email exchanges were at instant messaging speed.

More pics here.

Radiomir Black Seal

The Panerai Radiomir Black Seal, PAM183G. Only 1500 pieces of G series produced, with the "Black Seal" wordings just above 6 o'clock, making it a little more collectible that the other later series.

More pics here.

Broken in

Not my audio components breaking in from a new state, but my home... yes... 14 levels off the ground and the perpetrator has the guts to do so in broad daylight... What kind of Singapore are we living in today?

And you would have imagined that a condominium managed by Knight Frank would provide adequate security for the residents.

The person climbed in via the fire hose parapet outside my unit, stepped onto the aircon compressor and onto the window ledge, leaving a few foot prints on my bermudas that I left to dry on the ledge.

I wore my Speedmaster and left my Panerai at home, my Macbook was lying in plain view in my audio room, the audio equipment and my LPs are at stake, my wife's jewelery are in the drawer, a mix of USD, GBP, SA Rand and Ringgit is in another drawer, my passport was in full view... but... nothing was stolen. Perhaps we were lucky that the intruder did not see anything worth stealing.

He rummaged thru the drawers and actually closed it before leaving... And he did not use the front door, preferring to climb out to the parapet that he came in from.

The whole floor from 17 till 3 had some footprints on the parapet, indicating that he may have tried his luck at the other floors of the units that were next to the fire hose.

We only knew of this when a neighbour from the 4th floor came up to inform us of the incident.

This happened during the afternoon of 30 June 2008. I made a police report the following day. The management is indifferent about this and is not going to alert the other residents about the incident.

I learnt last night that an opposite block also suffered the same fate.