Wednesday 10 July 2013

Cufflink Craze - Watch Movement Collection

It started when I was working for The Royal Dutch Carrier KLM. Regular visits to Europe got me noticing cufflinks and the varied types available. My first pair was a quartz watch movement cufflink from Tateossian. Bought it from the inflight sales of KLM no less. That was the first pair of cufflinks and I never looked back since then.

Since I started collecting cufflinks in 1994, I have amassed more than 1,000 pairs of cufflinks. I house them in several cases - three custom made to house trays of cufflinks sorted by category. Among my favorites are mechanical watch movements and ceramic tiles. Some I made myself too. Today, I am featuring the first part of the mechanical watch movements.
Cufflinks in Tray photo Cufflink13.jpg

Many of these cufflinks come elaborately engraved and some skeletonised. One of my favorite is this pair of skeletonised movement cufflinks. Wind the crown and the balance wheel will oscillate.
Steel Skeleton Cufflinks photo Cufflink05.jpg

A close up of the movement.
Steel Skeleton Watch Movement photo Cufflink01.jpg

This one is the automatic version. See how the rotors are engraved? Not exactly Swiss standard of engraving but then again you can't tell from a distance. These cufflinks are made with China movements - likely Seagull movements. Each cufflink is 2cm across.
Steel Auto Movement Cufflinks photo Cufflink12.jpg

A pair of steel and rose gold plated automatic cufflinks. The balance wheel oscillates when the rotor winds the main spring.
Watch Movement Auto photo Cufflink07.jpg

There are those which is octagon shaped - AP looking pieces. Similar ST6 movements mounted on the cufflinks. Comes in four variations - steel, black, yellow gold plated and rose gold plated. Shown here are the steel ones.
Steel Octagon Cufflinks photo Cufflink11.jpg

These are some of the earlier pieces - round cufflinks with mechanical movements. This one without rim.
Round Watch Movement photo Cufflink15.jpg

And this one with the blue rim around the cufflink.
Round Watch Movement with Rim photo Cufflink14.jpg

Then there are the smaller oval shaped ones - also with moving balance wheel when fully wound. This one steel.
Oval Watch Movement photo Cufflink16.jpg

And this one rose gold plated.
Oval Watch Movement photo Cufflink17.jpg

Then there are those with gears - non-moving though. But a nice addition to any collection. This one here is a square piece.
Gears Square Cufflinks photo Cufflink02.jpg

And the round equivalent.
Gears Round Cufflinks photo Cufflink06.jpg

These are the first of the watch movements type and will be posting more of them periodically.

5 comments:

  1. You have an impressive collection Eddie. Looking forward to seeing more of it in the blog, since I can't possibly see all of them on your cuffs.

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  2. Thanks Massi. I shall be making regular posts of the rest of the collection. Hope you like them too.

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  3. Hi Eddie, I'm from Singapore too, and was surfing around trying to find cufflinks with functioning watch movements. The skeletonised movement cufflinks you have up there and the tourbillon ones in your other page are gorgeous. Do you mind if I ask where you got them, and if they are available in SG or online?

    Felix

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    Replies
    1. Hi Felix, thanks for visiting the blog. I am glad you liked the cufflinks. Tangs and Isetan carries some of these range under the Tateossian brand. I do have some available. Send me an email at eddiesng1011@gmail.com and I can show you what I have. I can meet you this Saturday after which I will be traveling for 3 weeks. Cheers!

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  4. Hello,
    Excellent post along with good information regarding Cufflinks singapore. I loved all the pictures. Best fashion for men. Thank you too much........

    ReplyDelete