With the Festive issue of WOW Singapore, we make time personal again, with the editors sharing stories about their own wristwatch purchases in 2022, while showcasing the power of partnerships. The only rules for participating writers were that the timepiece had to be a traditional watch, and had to be something acquired this year — clocks are great, for sure, but not for this season. On that note, WOW welcomes pocket watches and vintage pieces for what is becoming an annual year-end special. This year, there is one discontinued surprise amongst the editors’ choices, and perhaps there will be more to come in future issues.

While the highlight for the WOW Singapore team is this very personal feature section, it is not meant to be an exclusive buyers-only club. That would be unsustainable, and some watches we decide on might be unsuitable for the magazine, for one reason or another. For this reason, we also include some attainable propositions that did not end up in any of our collections but could very well have. Look out for the continuation of this series in Spring 2023, when we look at some independent options as a spot of counter programming. This was meant to accompany the main story this issue but we ran out of pages.

The Festive issue is actually one of our biggest in years, even without all the stories we had to jettison. The editor literally talked himself into more interviews than he could comfortably transcribe, resulting in the most substantial interview section since 2016. Look out for our conversations with the bosses of TAG Heuer, Grand Seiko, H. Moser & Cie, and Sincere Fine Watches. We also had a smattering of industry leaders comment on the state of e-commerce in our trade, including the founders of Bremont and Serica.

“It is always a pleasure to discover that watch industry leaders remain committed to engaging with collectors and working with traditional retail partners, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic, and the new normal of omni-channel communication,” said WOW Singapore Editor in Chief Ashok Soman. “Without the faith that retailers and collectors showed in some important big name brands,  they would not be the big names that they are.”

As it happens, the cover of WOW Singapore this issue features what the team considers a future big name in watchmaking: Parmigiani Fleurier. The watch is the Tonda PF Annual Calendar SHH Edition, which is of course exclusive to the SHH store run by Sincere Fine Watches at Marina Bay Sands. The editors cannot think of a better example of a partnership between a brand and a retailer that promises amazing dividends for collectors.

For more watch reads, click here.