May 12, 2019

TIME TO REFLECT

by AHMED SEDDIQI & SONS

As Ramadan begins, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons invites you to escape the pace of everyday life with a selection of accessories designed to help you appreciate every moment

Life moves fast. From the moment our phones wake us up in the morning to the last email we send before turning out the lights, we’re ‘always on’, running at breakneck speed not just to get ahead, but to stay on top of life.

This past Monday, the month of Ramadan began, a time to slow down and to devote ours energies to what really matters in life. To stop the clock, take five, reset.

Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons is pleased to present a selection of watches and writing instruments that encourage us all to be present and enjoy this holy month.

De Bethune DB25 Moon Phase

Many of De Bethune’s designs belong with the avant-garde, but its line-up includes some models that are more obviously inspired by the watchmaking heritage it has such an immense respect for. Such is the case with the whimsical DB25 Moon Phase, an elegant rose gold piece with hollowed lugs, the brand’s signature flame-blued steel hands, and a spherical moon phase at 12 o’clock surrounded by stars. It’s powered by an intricately finished hand-wound movement.

CVDK Real Moon Joure

This piece, created by Christiaan van der Klaauw(hence CVDK), claims the world’s most accurate three-dimensional moon phase. It’s so accurate it needs adjusting by just one day every 11,000 years, time we can scarcely begin to comprehend. Compare that to conventional mechanical moon phase watches, most of which will need the same adjustment every 100 years or so, and you start to appreciate just how impressive this watch is. The same automatic movement behind this function also tells the time and has an impressive 96-hour power reserve.

Ludovic Ballouard Upside Down

Recognised as one of the most brilliant and eccentric watchmakers of his generation, Ludovic Ballouardcreates pieces that play with the idea of time, usually with a generous helping of good humour. His quirky Upside Down watch turns time on its head. The numerals for each hour are set upside down on individual discs that rotate through 180 degrees to be the right way up to show the correct hour. In this special edition, the numerals are in Arabic. The spectacular complexity of the movement that delivers this unique function becomes clear when you flip the watch over.

Bell & Ross BR-X1 Black Titanium

At its most rugged, Bell & Ross’s BR series of square-cased pilot’s watches are fit for serious adventure – a proper escape. The BR-X1 Black Titanium is a case in point. Its 45mm case is cast in lightweight titanium and ceramic, complemented by rubber inserts and rubber coated chronograph pushers. The smokey dial offers a faint glimpse into the watch’s skeletonised chronograph, which features an ‘X’-shaped bridge, hence the name. A black rubber strap completes the action-man getup.

Concord Impresario Gent Moonphase

Concord’s latest marries the practical functions of a calendar watch with a voguish steel and blue colour palette. The sunburst blue dial’s two counters show the day, date and phases of the moon, an elegant complication that many consider to be the most poetic in watchmaking. Where most Impresario pieces feature a smooth bezel, this model takes a fluted design, a traditional look intended to underline the ageless feel of the watch’s function. The watch has a quartz movement and comes on a stainless-steel bracelet with polished and brushed links.

MeisterSinger Lunascope

The spirit behind each of the German watch company MeisterSinger’s single-handed watches is of a life lived with a little perspective. What matter five minutes here or there, is the message of a watch that displays time so intentionally inaccurately. With its gaping moon phase window at 12 o’clock, the Lunascope variant magnifies that story, inviting us to enter a dream-like state while staring at the lifelike detail of the display’s printed lunar surface. The 40mm steel watch has an automatic movement that also provides it with a date function, tucked away at 6 o’clock.

Frederique Constant Classics Art Deco Ova

By industry standards, Frederique Constant is still in the first flushes of youth. It was founded in 1988 by a Dutch couple who wanted luxury they could afford. The principle of ‘affordable luxury’ this led to has inspired everything the brand has done since, including this exquisite, Art Deco-inspired piece. The oval-shaped case and beaded bracelet are stainless steel, while the bezel is set with sparkling diamonds. Inside it is a Swiss Made quartz movement.

Bovet Flower of Life

So much of the magic of Bovet’s classical Flower of Life ladies’ watch is in the ingenuity of the company’s Amadeo convertible caseconcept it’s built around. This means the watch can be converted from a wristwatch to a pocket watch to a pendant watch and even to a table clock – all without needing a tool. The 39mm piece is indulgently large by ladies’ wristwatch standards. Its case is rose gold, and it features a mother-of-pearl dial with diamond hour markers, a diamond-set bezel and an alligator leather strap.

MB&F FlyingT

Maximilian Büsser, the brains behind the rock star independent watch brand MB&F, had never made a watch for women before this year’s FlyingT. Given how mesmerising it is, perhaps he should do more. Underneath its spectacular domed crystal is an exposed movement whose parts have been piled high on a black lacquer dial in a three-dimensional pillar said to represent the fortitude of the women in Max’s life. The tiny dial is designed so only the wearer can see it, while the fluid white gold case is set with diamonds.

Rolex Lady-Datejust

The most iconic of all ladies’ watches? Rolex’s Lady-Datejust is one of the world’s most recognisable watch designs, a timeless classic. This elevated model comes in bi-colour, with a steel and Everose (Rolex’s term for rose gold) gold case and bracelet. The dial is mother-of-pearl and set with 10 diamond hour markers, allowing for the Rolex gold crown at 12 o’clock, and the date at 3 o’clock, which sits underneath Rolex’s famous magnifying ‘Cyclops’ lens. The 28mm diameter may suggest this is a delicate watch, but its reputation indicates it belongs to a woman who is anything but.

Moritz Grossmann Tefnut Lady

It may only just have celebrated its 10th anniversary, but German company Moritz Grossmann has rapidly earned itself a reputation for excellence with its obsessively manufactured and finished watches. This Tefnut ladies’ piece has a 36mm rose gold case shielding an in-house hand-wound movement. The mother-of-pearl dial is enlivened by a radial guilloché pattern, bursting upwards across the dial from 6 o’clock. Look closely and you’ll notice a single diamond nestled just underneath it, a signature of the Tefnut Lady line. A warm burgundy satin strap complements the case beautifully.

Ulysse Nardin Classico Jade

In the 19th century, Ulysse Nardin was one of the great makers of marine chronometers, ship’s clocks used by navigators to plot their position. The maritime spirit continues to inform the brand’s watches today, even in its more conservative designs, as is the case here with the Classico Jade mode. It’s 18-carat rose gold case has a diamond-set bezel, a treatment also applied to the wave-like swirl that floats sympathetically across its white mother-of-pearl dial. Its mechanical movement is automatic, and it sits on a grey leather strap.

Writing Instruments by Visconti

This trio of ornate pens created by Visconti is inspired by three of Islam’s holiest sites. On the left is the Al-Aqsa Tribute to Jerusalem, a piece that celebrates the city that gave birth to the three monotheistic religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It’s made of an exclusive vegetal resinand ceramics, while the clip is encrusted with a semiprecious stone made of a similar material to the Al-Aqsa mosque’s foundation stone. The finishing touch on this exquisite object is the cap’s top, which is engraved in the shape of the mosque’s dome. To the right and in the center are two models inspired by Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birth and life, the Makkah and Medina pens, part of Visconti’s Mystic Pen Collection. The Makkah fountain pen is cast in black lucite, it has a palladium nib and each of its four sides is scrimshawed with Arabic verses from the Holy Quran. The Medina roller ball has a body turned from ivory-coloured resin, and a green marbled cap recalling the green dome covering Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) tomb. The intricate microcast artworkis inspired by the detailing on the doors leading to his tomb. In honour of the Hijrah, Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) migration in 622 from Makkah to Medina, only 1,622 pieces in silver will be made of the Makkah, and 622 of the Medina.