Horological Meandering

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Pre-event press release

GRAND PRIX D ’HORLOGERIE ASIA 2009

A SIA ’ S T OP W ATCH C OLLECTORS T O J UDGE A SIA ’ S T OP W ATCH C OMPETITION

Singapore, 25 August 2008: Edipresse Singapore, the publishers of Singapore Tatler , GMT XXL, Singapore Tatler Homes, Singapore’s Best Restaurants , and other leading luxury lifestyle titles, announced today that it will hold the one of the world’s most prestigious watch competitions the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie Asia (GPdHA) 2009 in Singapore.

Judges comprising of Asia’s top watch collectors and connoisseurs will nominate and select the timepieces they consider the year’s best, and present winners in six categories: The Watch of the Year, Best Men’s Watch, Best Ladies’ Watch, Best in Design, Best Complication Watch, Best Sports Watch and Best Jewellery Watch . In addition, two special awards will be presented: The Lifetime Achievement Award , for an individual who has made outstanding and enduring contributions to the watch industry through many years of his career, and the Trailblazer Award , in recognition of revolutionary and groundbreaking contributions to the craft of watchmaking. Last year, legendary watchmaker Rolf Schnyder , CEO of Ulysse Nardin r eceived the Lifetime Achievement Award and Richard Mille who created the watch brand named after him was presented with the Trailblazer award. This year’s winners will be announced at a gala awards ball on 25 September, at the Raffles Town Club.

In order to ensure that the judging process is transparent and credible, a specialist in voting systems, Dr Massimilano Landi, Associate Professor of Economics at Singapore Management University, is supervising and directing the voting process from judges across Asia. All watches announced or released between 1 September 2008 and 30 September 2009 were eligible for the competition. Of the several thousand watches, only seven top vote getters in each category will be selected as finalists.

The Asia competition is being held in conjunction with the public exhibition of the 70 nominated watches from the Geneva Grand Prix d’Horlogerie, valued at over S$15 million, which will be flown in from Switzerland. This is the only time that the watches from the Geneva competition will ever be shown outside of Switzerland. The Geneva Grand Prix d’Horlogerie is one of the world’s most prestigious watch competition and was the inspiration for the Asia Grand Prix d’Horlogerie.

“We are very pleased to organise the Asia Grand Prix d’Horlogerie, where the distinct preferences of the Asian watch collecting market can be recognised,” says Mr Gilbert Cheah, Managing Director of Edipresse Singapore. “By having Asian collectors as judges and make all the selections for the nominated watches and the prize winners, we give voice to the Asian watch market which is widely recognised as the world’s most important and influential. It is also especially significant that the contest be organised and held in Singapore, which is considered one of the world’s top watch collecting centres.”

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