The Insanity of staying Sane

  Have you ever thought of just letting go, going absolutely bonkers with no care whatsoever about the things around you? But then, you realise that its impossible to do so, because of the effect it might have on everyone around you. Sucks doesn't it?

  Which is why there's something called controlled insanity, you go mad with a few close friends, drink, smoke crap, have a mad ass party, then in the future, talk about the good old days. In fact, we should do this more often, going mad occasionally is a great stress reliever. You laugh your balls off (if you have any), until your sides ache, throat goes sore, feel like puking, have a back ache etc. Having all the above symptoms at the same time guarantees it was damn good fun that will keep you smiling for weeks. People would probably think you were smoking weed or something due to that perpetual smile thats plastered on you face.

  In creative terms, I suppose the insanity is usually suppressed. Boss doesn't allow too mad an idea to be fitted into work, even though its mad enough to get a positive reaction. I would say being your own boss would be good, freelance, check out the reception of madness in work. Basically this would apply more to graphical jobs, again, an assumption of mine.

  I'm a watchmaker, I admit though, I could be one of the more volatile, mad ones around. If there are any mad ones around at all. I admire the work of MB&F, thats Maximilian Büsser and Friends to the people who don't know. His work, his timepieces, are like controlled insanity.

  The HM1, a juggernaut of a watch, 4 barrels, 7 days power reserve, a central tourbillon, 81 working jewels.

  

  First view of it (me just reading magazines and going online) gives a good kick in the head and makes my jaw drop. I thought only mad people with money would buy that, it must be true. It is art on a wrist. Something only watch aficionados would love and appreciate.

  Heck, give me a bottomless bank account and I would get myself one too. 

  Then he came out with the HM2. A Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor designed and powered by a Girard-Perregaux oscillator and gear train. The Balance oscillates at 28,800 bph. 22K Rose Gold Double Hakken automatic winding rotor. 349 components including 44 jewels ( a headache to assemble, trust me).
Functions:Left dial: Retrograde Date and Bi-Hemisphere Moon Phase. Right Dial: Jumping Hours and Concentric Retrograde Minutes

The Watch

The Movement

Next came the HM3, looking like a spaceship. It is visually stunning, it smack you on the head, you stare at it in disbelief. You think, is this a toy or a watch? I might probably run around with it, making it shoot at imaginary bad guys, but I'm whack, so its normal.

2 versions are available: the Starcruiser (cones in line with arm) and the Sidewinder (cones perpendicular to arm)

Both versions available in 18K White Gold/Titanium or 18K Red Gold/Titanium.
Screwed-down crown
Number of case components: 53 - Starcruiser, 57 - Sidewinder
Movement

Three-dimensional horological engine designed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor;
Girard-Perregaux oscillator and gear
Balance oscillating at 28,800 bph.
22K Rose Gold battle-axe shaped ‘mystery’ automatic winding rotor
Hour and minutes information transmitted via ceramic ball bearings to laser-cut hands.
36 functional jewels, 304 components.
Functions: Hour and day/night indicator on one cone, Minutes on second cone, Date around the movement

The HM3 watch

Movement

Looks like a damned battle cruiser, doesn't it?

So you now probably know, MB&F produces movements that are extraordinary. What is the HM4 going to look like?

Well, pictures of the movement are all over the web. The call it the Thunderbolt, calibre for HM4. There's no watch yet, movement only. 2 winding stems? Central balance wheel. Each winding stem to a barrel I suppose. You will see 2 barrels on either side of the Balance wheel.

Look at the second picture

See the brass shaft/pinion at each end of the movement, looks like a vertical time display, hours and minutes at either side. Like wheels rolling on the side. Hours and minutes able to be set independently because of 2 winding stems. Underside of the movement you see what looks like a tiny double-axe shaped rotor with small pinion. Could be the automatic winding system.

This is just a speculation/assumption/wild guess etc. You get the idea. I can't wait for it to be revealed. Fingers crossed, I'm sure it's going to be a stunner. Hope you enjoyed reading this.

Pictures taken from The Watch Lounge and various other internet sources, non of these pictures are of my own. I would apologise for copyright infringement and remove this if an email or message is sent to me. :)

Armin Strom - Handmade Skeleton watches

Like the title says, the topic is about Armin Stroms watches.

I was recently introduced to TheTimeTV.com, might have been around for awhile but I'm new to them.

According to Armin Strom website, he began skeletonising pocket watches in 1983  (the year i was born, yiipeee!), going on to wrist watches.

Limiting each creation to 25 pieces, he maintains exclusivity. Armin also personally delivers the watches to his customers, bonding with them in the process. What a great way to meet more people, gain some ground and appreciation of his art.

Here is a video taken from TheTimeTV.com, its very nice, with a cute soundtrack. Would appreciate it if anyone can name the song title and performer for me :)

Armin Strom Video

Hair-surprising...

I've been absent, i keep wanting to jot something down here, but keep running out of time. When i'm free enough to do something, i get the runs, and sit on my throne away from the com...then its not my turn to use the com anymore. Well we have to share usage rite?

We've started messing with hair-springs, coiled spring roughly the width of a strand of hair. So it's really thin, and really easy to bend out of shape

But being bald and without hair, i suppose i've forgotten how easy it is to style your hair, so i did mess up with hairsprings a bit. Btw i actually stole this pic of the internet...not my own.

What is a watch?

Recently my brilliantly bright mind figured out some similiarities of a Watch, and a Woman.
It is not necessarily correct or accurate, and will probably get some flak.
Its a very simple note I jotted down and can be considered incomplete.
Here's what I think
A watch (mechanical one, mind you)is like a woman,
Can look simple on the outside but complicated on the inside (minute repeaters-naggy, perpetual calanders-remembers dates, tourbillons-pretty but a high maintanance etc :p)
Both require gentle handling and lots of care, otherwise any kind of hurt feelings will be carried like a scar.
Treat her nice and she'll be by your side forever (this is subjective, if there isn't an auction, divorce etc)
She'll (if you want to call you watch a "she") be keeping you company, recording every moment in time and every occasion you spend together.

There should be more to add but I've been too busy to think, being a watchmaker that can't arrange time properly, this isn't really a suprise. Isn't it?

Nothing better to do

Tmn Aman Bball Team in Carlsberg cup 2008 ended with less than a fizzle. 2 weeks ago we lost to a team named "Waterboy" 46-61. I scored a fluke ass 3-pointed that didn't mean a thing. We had lousy movement, no aggresiveness. Once again out-rebounded by a shorter team cos our tall players don't know how to box out or see the floor well. We don't have training, so with a losing record, we did think it was expected. Maybe that's why we don't play that hard. Next match against Kepong Bball team was to be on 27th Dec, after X'mas.

23rd Dec, had buffet dinner with my watch-school mates and Sir at Jogoya Starhill. Honestly, it wasn't worth the money we paid. We did had a fun night tho. The blardy line to Haagen Daaz ice-cream was long. Some peaple scoop ice-cream for their whole table, hence holding up the line. Was a bit of a waste of time lining up, felt that New Zealands ice cream was tastier. Haagen Daaz is just overpriced and promoted better, thats why they have a better market. We went back to hostel all bloated,full and sleepy. Been a long day. Bathe, talk cock with Alvin then sleep.

24th Dec - Half day at N.G. Hayek Watchmaking School, suppose to be 8.30am-12pm. Clean up day. Took apart my lathe to clean the rust out with rust-removing liquid. The liquid smells like the loo, probably has some ammonia in it. After that was done we vacuumed, mopped,wipe everything that potentially had dust on. That done, hands hurt and sweating we waited for Sir to say "go home". Had a pep-talk, QnA session and then its off for a 10day holiday. 25th Dec 2008 til 4th Jan 2009. Had a feeling of sadness leaving the workshop for 10 days, and its just 10 days. Maybe I realised I have nothing to do at all, but it is fun in the workshop. The day before i just made my Winding Stem, altho not a good one in my eyes, I'm happy i made one.
After that it was back to the hostel for a shower and suppose to go watch movie, but Sorpor was lazy, so just end up playing with Mika Chuah Mikmik the Toy Puddle.
Christmas Dinner was at Aunty Alice's place, she makes good lamb stew. Had a nice dinner there, some wine that made me dizzy real fast. Then it was time to dish out the gifts. Seeing i was wearing red, (the same shirt i wore for a 2 Christmases), I became the choice for Santa Claus. Minus the white beard,round tummy, kit, hot young elf lady, I still enjoyed being Santa. Was thinking bout getting real Santa Claus outfit for the next Xmas, but think the heat,stuffiness and humidity in KL will kill me.

25th - had lunch with SorPors family n aunty, quite filling. then it was buffet dinner while i was still not feeling hungry. Ended up with indigestion, lost 2kgs in weight due to lack of appetite. Still feeling the effects of it and appetite hastn't really returned yet.

26th, Went shopping in KLCC and Capsquare. Capsquare has cool auto doors that open outwards instead of sliding. Still wasn't feeling well, went back at 8pm and slept from 8.30pm to the next day.

27th- suppose to play the last match of Carlsberg cup, but wasn't feeling good, so told captain i'm out. Found out the team lost 56-99 to Kepong Bball team. Everyone expected a loss, so... i guess there wasn't much fighting spirit as usual. It takes more than one player to make a diffrence, if the team doesn't function properly, your hopes are all gone.
While the team was playing, i was watching Ip Man, it is a kickass show, R-E-S-T-E-C-P to the man, Ip Man, but duno was Miura actually beaten like shit like that. Hopefully more la. Kudos to Donnie Yen for a good performance. I'd watch it again.

Finding something to do in my free time. But without money, can't even go out for coffee, anyone wants to treat me?

Chemistry??

I got an SMS recently from my uni lecturer, saying that my paper has been accepted and will be published soon. Thinking he sent the wrong person a message i called him to find out. Turns out my Final Year Project report was submitted to some Chemistry research body and it was accepted. Wonder what kinda ammendments were done to it. As far as I know I wrote a really crappy report.
So now I get mentioned in a journal, does that qualify me for a chance at pursuing a Masters in Chemistry? Wonder if my ex-uni has part-time Masters program for busy people like me.
oh yeah btw i almost forgot what my FYP title was, something along the lines like umm...Electro-analysis of Zinc Sulphide Thin Films in Varying pH ranges...or something, could actually be a longer title if I remember correctly...nuts...
again...yippie yay yay! It feels good altho not as good as finding out I got accepted into watch-making months ago...that was more exciting.

Carlsberg Cup Dec 2008-report

Last night i played in the Carlsberg cup basketball competition in USJ something, court 8 i think. My team was from Tmn Aman, i was an import to fill up the bench :) Bench warmer la, with all my gas coming out, sure the bench is warm.
We got the early for warm up shots. had a pep/team talk then the game started. Up against a team name "Friends", we had a height advantage over them. 6-4 Franklinstein and 6-3 Vinod. and a host of other players. For the first 5 minutes of the game we looked like a very organized team. Positions were being played well on offence but still lacking on defence. We had the opening basket with a lay in by Vinod, his hoisting the ball high and letting defenders smell his armpits, or bump into his big belly. What happened after that was anyones guess. "Friends" got the lead with a 3-point shot, and stretched that lead to 6 points up to the half time.
After the half time break, we manage to keep within 10 points of the opponents, but at the 4th quarter, it all went downhill, two 3 point attempts (i think) by the opponents stretched their lead over us to 10. And they maintained it til the end.
Physically we were the bigger team, but with lack of game knowledge and proper movement we were screwed over by a smaller sized team. They should be laughing at us by now. Guess we have to buck up and prepare ourselves better for the next game on Saturday 8pm.
I intended to scare them with my superior quickness (yeah right) and jumping ability, but i was running too much that my team-mates couldn't find me to pass. And i made bad plays. Out of 40 mins, i play about 5mins. So much for that. Will try to play better on Sat. sorry no pics. bleh