For Hermes, holding things on is more complicated than it seems.The Bienne workshops of the Hermes watch company have recently seen the opening of a new workshop. True to their leatherwork legacy, the brand has opened a watch-strap workshop with attention to detail and process that might make pale by comparison the assembly of even some simpler wristwatches. Hermes entered the horological world in the 1920s through its production of high end and quality leather watch straps. Growing demand to fit their premium straps onto special timepieces, as well as growing demand for their own wristwatches, has brought together the two components of saddlery know-how and watchmaking creativity in the new facility in Switzerland. The attention given every single leather watch strap Hermes produces is quite surprising. We were given front row seats to what they call a “twelve act ballet” that starts with specially chosen leathers and ends with one exquisite hand made leather strap.

Three hundred might not sound like that much in street terms, but we were in a full on race car in which what made that power was the heaviest thing it had to propel. The tubular chassis of this Solution F Touring Cup racecar was meant to keep rigidity to a maximum and weight to its barest possible minimum. Also, there were no nods to comfort and convenience here. No sound deadening material, no comfy padding of seat or shell. So yeah, it was justifiably jarring especially when we pitched into the curves while only making a fleeting acquaintance with the brake pedal.I began in the passenger seat, with the pilot’s seat being occupied by Philippe Charriol. For those who know only his brand, he is a popular watchmaker and designer. For those who have met him before, in person or in the pages of Calibre, he is a hard core car guy. This is his racecar, and he is shaking it down and getting some serious seat time in preparation for his assault on his latest motorsports campaign.

The functioning of a fountain pen is relatively simple ... the pen holds ink in a reservoir and delivers it to the nib via gravity and capillary action. The earliest successful fountain pens are often called eyedroppers. Simply because you unscrewed the part that held the writing point, or nib, and used an eyedropper to fill the barrel with ink. Without a sac or a filling mechanism to take up space in the barrel, they held a lot of ink and wrote for a long time. The barrel itself was made of hard rubber. And therein lay the problem.

ADVENTURE UNLIMITED'S ATV ExperienceTest Drive: The C! boys in action.Core of the Matter: The Suunto that we pounded during the trek.Together with Kookie Ramirez, AG Puyat and Kim Liu from sister publication C! Magazine, guys who were not hung over after several days of merrymaking, Calibre EIC Carl Cunanan and I buckled up in a Mitsubishi Strada 4x4 and left the metro at the crack of dawn. We were headed up North to rendezvous with the guys from Adventure Unlimited, who wanted to give us a taste of a different kind adrenalin boost than what we have been used to. Making our way through the NLEX was a breeze. The group was chatting away about the comfortable ride afforded by our ride and the smoothness of the Strada’s new turbo-diesel powerplant when we chanced upon a Ford F-150 hauling a custom-made trailer loaded with quad bikes and what looked like a sand rail.

The new face of luxury timekeeping. Do take the time to stop and stare. The name and the brand Hermès has always been synonymous to luxury and quality craftsmanship. First established by Thierry Hermès in 1837 as a harness workshop, the product lines of the company soon grew to include clothing, leather goods, handbags, perfume, tableware and jewelry. Today, Hermes is a multi-million dollar firm with hundreds of boutiques and franchises across the globe, and continues to provide nothing but the highest-quality goods for its clientele. In the year 2000, La Montre Hermès approached Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier with the intent of developing its own watch line. The company chose its partner well, as Vaucher Manufacture had a long and distinguished tradition of creating superb-quality mechanical watches. The collaboration resulted in the Dressage wristwatch, featuring the highprecision H 1928 calibre, which debuted in 2003.

DELIGHTFUL DERIVATIVE The revolutionary Panerai P.2005 watch movement set a standard for diving watches, thanks to world-reknowned accuracy, a GMT function, manual winding and three spring barrels that accumulates enough energy to operate the watch for at least six days. One delightful derivative of this calibre (the movement of the watch) is the Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT 47 MM Titanium. This watch combines tradition, sports qualities and exclusivity, along with durability characterized by a strong yet light case created in Grade Two titanium. The new Luminor is distinguished in particular by the tourbillon, a device invented by horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet at the end of the 18th century in order to eliminate errors of rate (faster or slower variations in time indication) caused by changes in the center of gravity, inaccurate workmanship, the thickening of the lubricating oil and the consequent varying friction in the different positions assumed by the watch.

RADO SINTRA XXL CHRONOMETER Rado steps up its game and comes up with a sleek COSC-certified, ETA-powered timepiece.The Rado Sintra XXL Chronometer is made from enhanced, scratch-proof ceramics. A COSC-certified ET A 2892-2A automatic movement powers its 21-jewelled automatic movement.The combination of black (case and bracelet strap) and rose gold (indexes, hours, minutes and seconds hands) gives the watch a modern, sophisticated flair.Rado Sintra XXL ChronometerRef. 629.0663.3.

MAURICE LACROIX PONTOS RECTANGULAIRE RESERVE DE MARCHE The Pontos Rectangulaire Réserve de Marche may not be Maurice Lacroix’s most complicated timepiece, but it is—unquestionably—one of its best designed. LEFT: Ref. PT 6157-SS001-110 comes with a stainless steel case much smaller than Ref. PT 6167-SS001-330 (39.50mm). Its silver dial has Roman numerals as opposed to the latter’s linear indexes. Its date aperture, meanwhile, is positioned at 2 o’clock. RIGHT:Ref. PT 6167-SS001-330 has a broad 42.85mm stainless steel case.