Our Journey with Cartier started as you know in 2019, when we decided to create for the first time globally, a special order for Arab Watch Club redesigning the Santos Dumont and Santos de Cartier -> you can read about it here: Cartier

During our event at the beginning of the year, we sat down with the Cartier team and discuss a second project we wanted to collaborate on – this time using the iconic Pasha de Cartier. The twist was to make the design closer to the region and with attention to tiny details from numerals, dates, calligraphy and even pushing the boundaries to add an exclusive element to the offering.

We love to be the first to introduce such projects and we always thrived in all our collaborations to open the doors to our region and explore the unexplorable – for that matter, Cartier agreed to produce a very limited Stylo Santos SM pen for this project in only 100 pieces exclusively for Club members. This would count as the smallest pen edition ever made by the brand.

Let’s talk about the watch first.

The Pasha de Cartier comes in a steel case with a diameter of 41mm. It is 9,55mm thick and has a very unique Cartier red flinque dial with “Hindu Arabic” numerals for 12,3,6, and 9. Unlike the current Middle East edition, the AWC Pasha has also a arabic date wheel with the same dial color and numerals in silver to reinforce the contrast on the dial.

The fluted crown cap and crown are set with synthetic spinels, blued-steel diamond-shaped hands, steel bracelet with “SmartLink” adjustment system, second Cartier red alligator-skin strap, interchangeable steel deployant buckle. Both bracelets are fitted with the “QuickSwitch” interchangeability system. Water-resistant to 10 bar. The movement used is mechanical movement with automatic winding, caliber 1847 MC.

Looking on the left side of the watch we can observe a very unique calligraphy done in collaboration with young syrian calligraphy Hazem Kurdali, who has worked on our LIFE Hoffman edition before. The sentence says “الوقت معلم من لا معلم له ” and is an expression of how time is master of all no matter who you are and where you are from – it is a statement that keeps you humble and mindful of how precious time is.

Only 50 individually numbered have been produced and each owner has his initials/name engraved on the watch.

Now what about the pen

As I mentioned earlier, this project brings another first to the world of Horology and collaborations – we are proud to have crossed the boundaries and designed a special Stylo Santos SM with Cartier that reflects the same elements as our watch – the pen has a red laquer body and a Mashrabya pattern all over its silver parts that is quiet prevalent in our design and architecture in the region. the pin/ screw on the pen is in blue sapphire similarly to the crown on the watch. – both together complement each other in perfect harmony. Only 100 pens have been produced, individually numbered and allocated to the watch owners and club members.

Both watch and pen will be delivered towards summer 2022. Meanwhile, the club members are going on a manufacture visit to the heart of Cartier to explore their wonders and craftsmanship. We will report back to you shortly on our visit. Stay tuned.

The post Our Second Collaboration with Cartier: Pasha for Arab Watch Club appeared first on Arab Watch Guide.

The idea of this collaboration imitated when we first saw the release of the Sinn 556 Anniversary piece and we decided it is a perfect fit for our next summer edition. The watch size is perfect, small and classy; the MOP dial we have worked on is very unique as every watch would have its own shade.

So the adventure began early 2018, when we got in touch with the Sinn team with our proposed idea- initially we had a totally different dial colors in mind – an MOP more tending towards a pinkish shade then the one with settled for after over a month of back and forth with the manufacture designing the dial.

The aim was to produce a Limited edition of 50 watches for all club members with a very minimalistic design that is wearable in all occasions but also subtle and unique as most MOP dials ares. However , we decided to add a small twist to the dial at 6 o’clock where we wrote the name of our club in arabic as it appears on our logo – same font, same writing and same size.

The movement on this 556 is impressively finished and well taken care of by the brand; it is an ETA 2824-2, self winding mechanism with a special engraving of “Arab Watch Club” and the number of each watch out of 50 – the movement has also the second stop function , shock resistance and Anti-magnetism.

The case is a stainless steel case in 38.5mm with a satinized finishing – the dial is covered by a sapphire crystal glass with anti reflective coating on both sides. The transparent case back has also anti reflective coating on the interior. The pressure resistances is up to 20 bar.

The indices on the dial are coated with luminescent color and hour the hour and minute hands coated also. The case thickness is only 11mm and the watch weights 65 grammes without straps

As for the straps, we have had several options so we decided to let every collector decide on his own choice of colors and materials that fit his own taste.

The watches have been released in July 2018, however their delivery will be around September once everyone is back from summer break and factories operational again.

We are very thrilled of this collaboration as it has opened our eyes to many possibilities in the future in the non-swiss watchmaking world and the uniqueness and precision of these underrated brands.

The post Introducing the 7th AWC edition in partnership with Sinn Uhren appeared first on Arab Watch Guide.

The HM perpetual Moon was a model that many club members have admired and were very interested in for a while; so we decided to do our own take on this model and make it AWC customized.

The main drive behind the customization was the fact that we all agreed we wanted to have a dressy watch with a salmon dial that contrasts with the second dial on the moon phase. This is where we started working on the salmon guilloche dial. To be frank that process was quiet long as we wanted to get the right shade of salmon not too pinky or not too orange – so we kept iterating on the colors of the dials for quiet sometime until we reached the correct shade we were aiming for.

The same happened for the blue guilloche dial for the moon phase – once both dials have been selected, the rest was more about personalization of case back and the personal engravings of each watch.

We did 21 watches in steel and one in Rose Gold for myself all numbered 1/22 and with our names engraved.

For the straps we had 2 options; one in navy blue and one in grey that we also had to select carefully with our partners at Jean Rousseau to get the right texture and proper colors that match our dials.

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TAG Heuer partners with Arab Watch Guide (AWG) Founder Hassan Akhras as he prepares to power through his first IronMan in 2018

Sports and the values it conveys are deeply-rooted in TAG Heuer’s DNA. Furthering this strong association with the sports arena, the brand will be backing established local watch influencer as he gets ready to take on his share of #DontCrackUnderPressure moments

DUBAI, 9^th February 2017 – In line with one of the philosophies at the heart of its brand’s key positioning, Swiss Watchmaker TAG Heuer announced its collaboration with AWG Founder Hassan Akhras at a breakfast event at Pascal Tepper in Dubai Media City.

The announcement came as no surprise seeing as Hassan Akhras is not only a leading figure and influencer on the city’s watch scene but has also decided to take on a new challenge by competing in IronMan 2018, which comprises of cycling, running and swimming – three sporting disciplines that TAG Heuer is strongly involved with.  TAG Heuer has a strong link with cycling and this became evident after it unveiled its partnership with the BMC Racing Team last year and bore the title of Official Timekeeper of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi tour. The brand also has a long-standing association with prestigious marathons including the New York City Marathon, the Chicago Marathon and the Paris Marathon for which it has been the Official Timekeeper and Official Watch. Swimming too is relevant to the brand and its Aquaracer collection is perfectly suited to the sport.

TAG Heuer’s partnership with Hassan Akhras will mainly focus on his preparation in the build-up to the much-awaited event next year, while he retains his primary job of watch blogger. The brand has come to be known with icons who all reflect the common values of mental strength, a disruptive attitude and ambition. Hassan Akhras, is in this sense, a perfect fit as his year of training will be replete with its fair share of trials and extreme #DontCrackUnderPressure moments that will test the boundaries of his endurance.

What makes things more exciting is the fact that Hassan Akhras, while being athletic, is by no means a professional athlete. In terms of training, he is being coached by GROWINGS coach Trace Rogers and will be taking some trips to Ras Al Khaimah and Khor Fakkan to train. He has participated in a pre-triathlon two weeks ago in Khor Fakkan and is geared up to take part in more such events in the UAE to build stamina.

Speaking about this interesting partnership, Anne-Claire Richomme, Marketing Manager TAG Heuer Middle East, said, “Pushing boundaries and breaking rules are integral to our rich heritage and what Hassan Akhras is attempting to do with the IronMan 2018, is in that sense a perfect fit with our brand ideologies.”

Hassan Akhras too was extremely enthusiastic about having found a partner that supported him and said: “Since I decided to dedicate all of 2017 to the training and journey towards IRONMAN 70.3, I needed a partner that would share my vision, my goals and my beliefs. It also made complete sense that my main partner would ultimately come from the watch world as I am a collector and watch blogger. I was looking for a brand that believes in never quitting, never letting go under pressure, no hiding; an avant-garde brand. It was TAG Heuer that came to mind and I decided to pitch my idea to their team, hoping they would share my enthusiasm for this journey and get on-board. Fast-forward to a few weeks ahead and here we are announcing our official partnership for next year’s IRONMAN 70.3 Challenge Journey.”

About TAG Heuer

The Swiss Avant-Garde watchmaker since 1860. Avant-garde is in our culture and philosophy. Our unique heritage is built on pushing boundaries and breaking rules: harnessing mental fortitude to overcome technology restraints and create daring watches with real racing spirit and a performance touch. The brand has marked the history of watchmaking, especially in the field of luxury chronographs with an unequalled mechanical accuracy.

The new models reveal a new dynamic in terms of both the fast lead times and a completely transformed environment. TAG Heuer is currently one of the world’s rare watch brands to be able to communicate in the four different worlds: Art, Lifestyle, Sport and Heritage. Our ambassadors include the F1 Red Bull Racing Team, living football legend Cristiano Ronaldo, it-girl Cara Delevingne, electronic music icon David Guetta, Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, American quarterback Tom Brady, NBA Chinese Superstar Jeremy Lin and Chinese singer GEM all of whom reflect common core values of mental strength, disruptive attitude and ambition. Our slogan #DontCrackUnderPressure is far more than a claim – it is a mindset.

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