East Eats West

China helps making genuine Rolex

Most of you I assume have come across fake Swiss watches. These are normally of the cheap and do-not-last-long variety. A more sophisticated way of copying Rolex I learned of is to take an original steel Rolex and then cover it in gold. Now in an ironic twist of history I was told that Chinese machines are used nowadays to produce genuine Rolex in Geneva! But now I wonder why they are still so expensive…

Are you tired of being nouveau riche? A shopping-guide.

 

Picture: If you carry a Louis Vuitton bag as a guy then your hormone therapy is really w orking (here a guy in Japan).

Do you feel too many teenage girls are carrying the same Louis Vuitton bag as you? Ever wondered about getting something else than one of the over 750000 Rolex watches sold every year? Are you tried to finance the Stern’s family fabulous lifestyle (they own Patek Philippe)? But do you still want to spend some hard earned money on quality products? What about buying some quality products, but not brands? Let me help you!

First every gentleman needs good shoes. If you look for craftmanship that last a lifetime, a comfortable as sneakers to wear and have the classical Budapest look, buy hand-made Goodyear-welted shoes from Heinrich Dinkelacker in Germany (for websites see at the bottom). Those handmade shoes are off the cushy and soft variety among the goodyear-made ones. For a sturdier look and a wide range of designs and leathers to choose from I can highly recommend hand-made shoes from Handmacher in Germany. You can even order your very personal pair if you are willing to wait for six weeks.

For fine wool ware like polos, jerseys and sweaters, the UK is still the place to look for. John Smedley produces among the best cotton on this planet and their polo-shirts are softer than cashmere. The style is basic and classic as they quality is in the cotton.

Besides good shoes every gentleman needs good shirts for business and casual. Here a producer from Germany deserves highest status: van Laack. The shirts use pure cotton without any chemical treatment that make you sweat. Its mother-pearl buttons are sewn own to perfection and the collar is 100% cotton without any plastic in it. The company produces its shirts in its own factory in North Africa and is still privately owned.

And if need protection from the rain a Scottish producer has been for over 200 years producing the best rain-gear there is: Mackintosh. Their rubber-coated cotton coats keep you dry anytime (the Scots must know).

So forget about the highstreet fashion brands and go for old-school quality. Quality that feels great and lasts a lifetime beyond fashion.

http://www.handmacher-schuhe.de/

http://www.heinrich-dinkelacker.de/ 

http://www.johnsmedley.com/shop/index.php

http://www.mackintoshrainwear.com/

My coming-out: I do not like wine!

Picture: Asahi, among the best beers in the world, from Japan.

I should have told you, my friends, long-time ago: I do not like wine! Do not get me wrong, I drink alcohol but I do not like the taste of wine (white, red or rosé, I can’t be bothered)! But I like beer, good beer, from Japan, Belgium and Switzerland, but no “Feldschlösschen” please. And yes, I have a weakness for champagne…

PS: I recently had a business lunch where wine was served. Several people wondered if the wine was not good (cork). They finally decided that it tasted a bit like cork and got a new bottle. I wondered if they really knew what the wine should taste like.

Where to dine in style in Lucerne

Picture: The Bam Bou restaurant at The Hotel in Lucerne.

Are you tried of Fondue and Raclette while sightseeing in Lucerne? Look no further and go to the fashionable Bam Bou restaurant of the The Hotel that serves Asian Western fusion kitchen in Lucerne. The Hotel also has a lounge, but book ahead, it is very trendy!

http://www.the-hotel.ch/

Labor Day in Zurich or the annual rite of stone-throwing

Picture: The riots heating up on Labor Day in Zurich (near Helvetiaplatz).

Zurich has many annual attractions like the very popular Streetparade and the ancient Sechseläuten. Another attraction for years now has been the 1st May (Labor Day) riots. Each year a wild bunch of teenagers and fun-seekers gather after the regular parade and start rioting. And each year cars burn, buildings get vandalized and sometimes people arrested. The riots have become an attraction even for vandals and onlookers outside of Zurich and I saw whole families with children trailing the riot-police for an eyeful. This year a BWM-dealership got ransacked even the police was close by. The over 300 persons strong riot police often seem disorganized and getting contradictory commands. And I learned from police officers that the police command is divided between city and cantonal police, both "talking" to each other. The left-wing city government apparently is secretly sympathising with the annual riots as it probably reminds them of their own “revolutionary” teenage-years. The police would have the capability and the legal rights to stop the rioting but apparently is held back by the salon-communists now running the city.

PS: And never mind you get a higher fine for speeding than rioting in Zurich.

Picture: Young rebels without a cause.

Do not eat from the streets in Zurich (anymore)

Picture: Teenagers drinking and littering at Bellevue Square in Zurich.

Tourists often were amazed by the cleanliness of Zurich’s street. Unfortunately this has changed recently as more and more teenagers take on the habit of drinking beer and wine in public on the way to the next party. Unfortunately often the empty bottles are left in the streets and end up broken. A popular place to go drinking in groups is the lake shore close to my house (I know as I see the teenagers walking in hordes past my house). A high consumption of alcohol at the same time leads to unruliness in public transport at night (buses and trains now have security staff on board). And a high liquid-intake also leads to frequent urinating, more or less anywhere. And to my very surprise I see nowadays the same messy and noisy behaviour by girls!

Back when I was a teenager we used to drink a lot, be noisy and messy. But what has changed is the affluence of teenagers with boys and girls sporting luxury bags and clothes. And that food on the go is also heavily wrapped and therefore leaves lots of garbage.

PS: Nevertheless is Zurich according to Mercer, a consultancy, worldwide the city with the best living quality! For more read here: http://www.mercerhr.com/summary.jhtml?idContent=1173105 

Raku-pottery from Switzerland

Picture: Anne-Chantal Pitteloud still practises the ancient Japanese technique of Raku Pottery.

No one would drink an expensive Bordeaux wine from cheap plastic cups, wouldn’t they? So it is only reasonable to drink expensive Japanese green tea from adequate cups, hand-made ceramcis that is. My favourite ones are the rustic types made from ceramics. An ancient technique used by the Japanese masters is called Raku and entails baking the ceramic at less than 1’000° Celsius and then burning them on wood or herbs in the ground. This technique is as rustic as the cups. I was therefore positively surprised to learn that also Swiss potters know this technique. Anne-Chantal Pitteloud is one of them and learned the trade in France. She displayed her artwork at the Galerie Meystre in Zurich.

Wicked Wiki

With career paths becoming more erratic and professionals moving about it becomes harder and harder to store information and knowledge in a company. And for modern-day knowledge workers the issue becomes amplified. Managers near and far increasingly complain about the lack of communication in their company. I discussed this problem recently with a friend of mine who works in IT and who experiences exactly this challenge in his multi-cultural and multi-location IT-team. His modern-day solution is as simple as beautiful: make employees use wikis (insert definition from Wikipedia). A wiki in short is an online forum that groups discussions into subject and therefore stores knowledge. But it does not only store knowledge it also encourages intellectual competition. Because as long people are not motivated or rewarded for sharing knowledge, they will not do it. Just telling them won’t do!

Has anyone already experience with wikis in corporate environment? If yes, please share your insights in the comment section. Thanks!

Go fast and clean at electric speed

Picture: And you won't even hear it, so fast it is!

As I live in the city I get a prime view of all the fortresses on wheels (aka SUV) that roam the city: from moms in their super-charged Range Rovers to investment bankers in their newest Porsches – wealth is on display everywhere (never mind the not existing parking space). As I can see every day when I walk to work, cars are territorial claims which are heavily defended by honking and bullying. If people feel more potent, important or successful because of a big or fast car, fine with me. What bothers me is the environmental damage those oversized cars cause.

So what would you say if you could buy now a car that accelerates in about 4 seconds to 100km/h, has a top-speed of 220km/h and looks super sporty (design by Lotus)? Nice? And what about if I told you that this car is purely electric (no hybrid) and produces 1/10th of the pollution of an equally powerful car? Impossible?

Well, this car already exists and hails by the name of Tesla Roadster. It was developed by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and is available here and now for about 92’000$. Its engine is a high-tech electric motor the size of a water-melon that weighs only 70 pounds. Yes, saving the environment and your status go now hand-in-hand. 

www.teslamotors.com