a new toy... the nikon D90

sometime back i made a quick recommendation of the nikon d90 dslr... i think nikon has really upped their game with this camera and have won the middle range lineup fight across the other camera lines (for all APS-C cameras)... going up a notch the Canon 5dMkii looks to be the king of the hill for full frame but that comes with a pretty hefty price tag.

Not wanting to spend more than the price of a Rolex on camera body and lenses, wide angle, macro, primes, teleconverters... (and flash, bags, tripods, dry cabinet, etc etc etc) i decided to go for the d90 which my luvly wife bought for me as a belated bday present... and its been a lot of fun so far... the right lenses play a part of course... so for now, I am happy with my kit lens and i just got the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and will be getting the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 for macros soon... fun times ahead :) some newbie shots to share...

my lovely wife... (shot with kit lens and sb800 diffused)

my wonderful son (shot with sigma 30mm at f/1.4)

bokeh all around...

and a watch macro... gotta relearn how to shoot macros with a dslr it seems
(shot with nikon 105mm f/2.8 and a strobist's home setup)

a vacheron constantin dinner with the quai de ille

the cool and friendly folks at vc invited us down for dinner at novus at the national museum on wednesday to discover more about their fantastic quai de ille here in Singapore.

our national museum

a pic of the home of vacheron constantin

the quai de ille is vc's most innovative product of late, having several interesting features from case to dial design and adding in personalisation to boot. my view of vc is that it may have lost its way in the past but now it is finding a more certain path forward. it will be interesting to see how their new lines do in the changing horological landscape.

the vc men gave a presentation on the watch, its innovations & security features

& the vc ladies were kind enough to bring the watches
around the room later that evening...

as with all get togethers, its always great to catch up with mates...

the dining area was decked out with nice large posters of the quai de ille

my dinner companions... a fine bunch of watch aficionados

dirk, raphmeister and stefano planning which VCs to acquire...

a nice songstress with band was present to serenade the guests

some fine vc watches were about that nite...

ooh i like this one.. malte chrono with nouvelle lemania 2310..the lugs are 2 cool..

apologies for the bad shot of the movement...

some fine non-vc watches were about too... IWC.. wrist and pocketwatch twins

some journes were in the house too...

but the main attraction of the nite were definitely these watches...

with the different combination of the metals and straps and dials it had
the range of classy to sporty and everything imbetween covered...

dark and sporty on a rubber strap...

light and classy in pink gold

dark dialled and fierce looking in palladium

david showing us how to customise the watches on
the configurator...

couple of clicks here... choose the metal here and here... and voila... the ZACH ;)
kidding aside, it was the table that decided on this pink gold, titanium beauty

and finally, the shot of the nite... George very happy as he places an order...
"one of each please!" :)

my thanks once again to the fine folks at VC for the wonderful nite. cheers, raph

Launch of a lifestyle Magazine… The Rake

I got the invite from friends at revolution for a lifestyle magazine launch and headed down wif my good mate george

george and me... stalwarts in financials ;)

For me the the one picture in the whole mag that sums up the title is this one... Sean connery.. The 'Bond' i grew up loving n still the best man who ever filled the Ian Fleming’s debonair, international man of mystery’s shoes.

Step aside Mr Craig, Sean’s in town.. "why pussy..."

The rest of the nite was filled with pics of some of the fine ladies there & watch shots of course. In no particular order then... i'll let the pics tell the story then :)

first off whats the rake about? its about a made man who has it all already and what are the things he should be checking out... or something to that effect...

stuff like... berluti shoes and other fine leather products

staff on hand showing some polishin skills... the cool thing is you can change
the color of the leather of your shoes to anything u want it to be...
anytime... at a price of course :)

these are real nice...

cool people...

bespoke suits

hot chicks... DAMN! where they'd come from ;)

hello there ladies ;)

but of course i am there to catch up with these guys :) my watch loving mates...

some wristshots follow... fp journe octa reserve and daytona steel black dial

super bling 'where your sunglasses or you might go blind' audemars piguet royal oak offshore ICED out to the max... i wonder who's wrist this is? ;)

urwerk tiain... 103.08... i love this watch...

a nice JLC in the house... not 1 u see everyday wif dual time

a cool Singapore F1 Limited edition cartier roadster chrono was spotted too...

some other parting shots from a fun evening :)

times must be worse than i thought...
some ladies coming without bottoms... hmm

not that anyone there was complaining... or me for that matter ;)

i hope u enjoyed the short report. cheers, raph

warning... shameless plug follows...

just go out and get a copy... nuff said ;) cheers, raph