Louis Vuitton has been busy of late. An ambassador announcement, a recent AW24 Menswear showcase and now, an LV-launched chocolate shop on our shores. It seems odd that the brand known for their steamer trunks would dip their toes (or fingers) into chocolate. But having taste the results, it'd seem that the Maison has another winner on its hands.
The opening of Le Chocolat Maxime Frédéric at Louis Vuitton at Marina Bay Sands, marks the debut of the confectionary store beyond its French borders. Created and produced by Maxime Frédéric, the celebrated Chef Pâtissier of the Cheval Blanc Paris, the chocolates are made with premium ingredients in the heart of Paris.
Hailing from Normandy, Chef Frédéric draws from the wisdom of les secrets de nos vergers (the secrets of the orchards). From his farm's chicken breeds to the special hazelnut variety he cultivates, each ingredient is chosen for its distinct flavour. When not sourced directly from his farm, he opts for top-tier supplies, like milk from his friends operating a dairy farm in Normandy. Chocolates are also sourced from small-scale cocoa farmers in Vietnam, Peru, Madagascar, Dominican Republic and São Tome.
Chef Frédéric met with the artisans behind the emblematic LV trunks at the historic home of Louis Vuitton in Asnières. Seeing how the brand upholds craftsmanship, Chef Frédéric said that he saw "a lot of similarities between his work in patisseries and the work of the LV artisans". "Whether it’s a woodworker or a locksmith for the trunks. It’s about handcrafted workmanship," Chef Frédéric says, "and that’s completely in line with our work as artisan pastry chefs, bakers and chocolatiers.”
With prices starting at SGD30, these exquisite chocolates offer an unexpectedly accessible taste of luxury. Like the Damier-shaped Chocolate Tablets, Monogram Flower... even the Chocolate Bar, each piece is inspired by Louis Vuitton's iconic motifs. They bring across a sense of child-like wonderment and are as delightful as they are indulgent.
His centrepiece creations—Vivienne on Malle and the Petula—showcase his ingenuity and mastery in chocolate craftsmanship. Inspired by the Vivienne music box, the Vivienne on Malle (SGD420) is confection wonder. Made of intricate chocolate gear mechanisms thanks to Chef Frédéric's construction, a twist of the chocolate key, Vivienne pirouettes.
The Petula (SGD230), another iconic mascot from Louis Vuitton, also brings an enchanting surprise for clients. Designed like a piñata, each Petula chocolate figure is generously filled with coated hazelnuts. Whack one open and watch the contents spill out.
Look. When a season that's all about giving rolls around, you tend to keep your options open. You've people on the good list that you wanna play Santa to. So, you've secured that iPhone 15 Pro for dear ole dad and that Tefal wok set for your sis (it's not misogynistic if she actually asked for it, mmmkay). But then your Significant Other drop hints about "something that doesn't break the bank but yet still make a statement", you start to put out feelers. Especially, when you're a cis-male, who works for a male lifestyle magazine, you accept help whenever it is available.
And it's happenstance that AUPEN came into our periphery because celebrities like Taylor Swift, Gal Gadot, Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber and Beyonce's daughter Blue Ivy were all spotted with it. Drawing inspiration from art and architecture and made from real leather, AUPEN's design team created a collection of asymmetrical bags— a reminder that life isn't perfect... but coming across AUPEN's collection is close to it.
To further streamline your choice in choosing a bag, we asked our intern for her opinion. This is what she has to say about these selected few:
"This model goes with every outfit and can make the most basic outfit pop. The brown Purpose one with the chain is more of a day look with denim or fall colours. If I want to party, the Purpose Ice is perfect because of the dripping crystals can move with me when I dance. I do wish that it came with a crossbody strap."
"At SGD155, this is a no-brainer for those who are on a budget. I love that this bag can fit all my essentials like my like my iPhone, keys, wallet, portable charger... (Editor's note: she lists a lot of other things that will fill up our SEO quota but we decided to just cut to the chase.) Unlike the Purpose, this bag comes with a crossbody strap that allows me to go hands-free."
"If your girl like bigger bags with extra storage space, this is might be the one for you. The slouchy silhouette can be dressed up or down and the softness of the bag is perfect. With adjustable straps, you can style it however you want—crossbody; on the shoulder. The flaps can also be styled tucked in or out for a different vibe, whatever they may choose."
"I know this isn't a carrier but LOOK AT HOW CUTE THEY ARE. These earrings can level up a basic outfit immediately!"
Any purchased AUPEN product has a gift box option so it'll arrive in a luxurious box with an engraved AUPEN metal silver plate on the lid. The jewellery will come in a grey box with a velvet exterior for that elevated experience.
Tag Heuer is most famous for its chronographs: a watch genre it has excelled in so comprehensively that at one point it was producing them for many of its storied Swiss rivals, including Rolex. Its founder, Édouard Heuer, was an inventor and innovator and something of a maverick, setting up his 19th century watchmaking business in the village of St-Imier and becoming a central part of the history of watchmaking.
Heuer took out his first chronograph patent in 1882 and five years later came up with the oscillating pinion, the part that allows chronographs to be stopped and started, which is still used today. The company went on to design chronographs for planes, cars and boats. During the Thirties its innovations in dashboard chronographs led to the Autavia (a portmanteau of ‘automobile’ and ‘aviation’), which became one of its key lines. It also came up with the first wrist chronograph in 1914 and, soon after, began making stopwatches.
Heuer timepieces were used for three Olympics during the Twenties, so beginning an association with sports that stands to this day. By the Seventies, however, the company was beginning to falter and a private holding company, Tag (Techniques d’Avant-Garde), purchased a majority stake. The resulting business, now known as Tag Heuer (which is pronounced "tag hoy-yur", BTW), was in turn acquired by the LVMH luxury conglomerate in 1999, for nearly half a billion pounds.
The association with sports and timing continues to be a profitable one, with numerous high-profile sponsorships including, at one time or another, Manchester United, the French Professional Football League, Porsche’s Formula E Electric Racing Team, the Ferrari F1 team and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. Accordingly, Tag Heuer has become synonymous with watches with a sturdy, sporty aesthetic – as borne out by the advertising slogan ‘Don’t Crack Under Pressure’ – perhaps most famously embodied in its Monaco, the square watch made famous by the film Le Mans, and also its Aquaracer and Formula 1 lines.
Most recently it has branched out into smartwatches. Its Connected line of modular watches come with a host of interchangeable features: allowing you to customise the watch faces via the touchscreen interface, as well as swap the straps, lugs, even the watch head itself.
It's innovation like this that keeps Tag Heuer in its pole position as one of the big names in quality, precision watchmaking. Édouard Heuer's maverick vision is alive and well in the 21st century.
Though Porsche and Tag Heuer have shared the name ‘Carrera’ for decades, the two motorsport icons didn’t get round to collaborating until 2021. Now, on the car’s 50th birthday, the two have created on a watch honouring the mighty 911 Carrera RS 2.7 (named for its 2.7-litre engine). Riffing on its colour palate, two models are available: a blue version in steel and a red version in rose gold, the first limited to 500, the second to 250. Attention to detail is impressive: the ‘Carrera’ font is rendered in the same proportions on both watch and car, while that white dial isn’t actually white – it’s ‘competition white’, a specific shade Porsche owns.
The Carrera models make up a very rich tapestry indeed. The bold lines and motorsport lineage are still there, but the alligator leather strap, day-date display and black and gold face give this a much more late night vibe – the sort of thing you'd wear having taken the chequered flag, done the champagne spray, showered off and headed out to celebrate rather than one for on the grid itself. Inside the calibre 5 automatic movement has a 38-hour power reserve.
While most luxury Swiss companies held back in the face of the smartwatch boom, believing cogs and mainsprings would always trump Bluetooth and ECG sensors, Tag Heuer went all in. Its first “connected” model was released the same year as the first Apple Watch. Seven years on, its latest itineration, Calibre E4, is arguably the only serious Apple alternative. Battery life has been boosted by a third, a new workout function joins cycling, swimming and golf tracking with lessons from 3D motion-captured PTs, a feature that feels genuinely futuristic. You can toggle between digital and ‘real’ (ie: analogue) faces, too.
Unsurprisingly for a brand with such a rich motorsport heritage, the Formula 1 line has been a staple since the 1980s. Tag Heuer recently introduced a trio of bright racing-centric colourways into its offering: green, yellow and red. The new chronographs come in 43mm cases with PVD-steel tachymeter bezels and pushers at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock. All come on matching rubber straps, with the motif of a chequered flag on their casebacks.
There’s been a race to the bottom for seriously deep, deep-diving dive watches (see also: Omega’s Ultra Deep, able to withstand depths of 6,000 meters). Since the world-record scuba dive stands at just 332.35 meters, the whole thing is faintly ridiculous – but maybe that’s the point. Most people don’t buy a Ferrari to drive it at 211mph. This 1,000 meter-diver is certainly handsome – black and orange details, sunray-brushed dial and a custom backlit case. It also comes with something not on the official specs – serious bragging rights.
If any watch brand has earned the right to call product line "Formula 1", it's Tag Heuer. It has sponsored McLaren, Ferrari and Williams over the years, while its motorsport associations date back to 1968, when Jack Heuer signed a sponsorship deal with Swiss legend Jo "Seppi" Siffert. It is still the official timekeeper of the Monaco Grand Prix and the Automobile Club de Monaco. This new Red Bull Racing special edition chrono makes the connection explicit, deploying all the colours and graphic codes of the F1 team.
The newest iteration of the Aquaracer come with a number of spot-the-difference design tweaks that mark it out from its predecessors (the date window moves from 3 to 6 o’clock!). It’s also slimmer, with a better fit. These subtle improvements make it the nicest-looking dive watch in the Tag Heuer catalogue. Available in multiple colours, we like this all-blue with the sun-ray brushed dial – appropriate for a sporty dive watch.
The iconic square-faced model as worn by Steve McQueen in Le Mans – and by Steve McQueen in Tag Heuer’s promotional material today. Available here in a black-on-stainless-steel-on-black colourway for something that looks a little more like a dress watch, while retaining some essential "Steve McQueen" DNA.
The UK’s leading watch customising company, Bamford Watch Department, teamed up with Tag Heuer in 2020 for this eye-catching Aquaracer. With its titanium case and bright orange details it harked back to classic sports models from the Sixties and Seventies – though the spec was entirely 21st century, of course. Boss George Bamford said they’d made “the ultimate tool watch”. He might have been right.
Another motorsport icon, this one inspired by the Carrera Panmericana, the Mexican/US border-to-border rally that ran for five years from 1951, often called The Most Dangerous Race in The World (at least 27 people died, including spectators, before it was shut down). It comes with a 42-hour power reserve and, as the name suggests, Tag Heuer’s leading Calibre 16 automatic movement.
The Calibre E is the current flagship Tag Heuer smartwatch, but this earlier Modular model has much to recommend it, featuring accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, heart rate monitor, Bluetooth, wi-fi and a whole suite of connected tech suitable for Android devices.
Tag Heuer excels at motorsport watches. But that’s not to say it can’t turn its hand to pilot’s watches, too. Its Autavia line has been around since 1933 and takes its name from a dashboard stopwatch engineered by the brand to meet the toughest ‘AUTomotive’ and ‘AVIAtion’ requirements. This anniversary model features an unusual flyback function, allowing you to rest the chronograph hand at the push of a button.
Another handsomely designed anniversary model. The pops of colour – blue and red on the scale, yellow on the subdial, red on the central hand – set off the otherwise minimal design. The case back is engraved with “ONE of 1000” limited edition numbering.
In tribute to the first ever Monaco and its blue dial, Tag Heuer introduced a flurry of special blue touches to the iconic square watch earlier this year. The stand-out detail, though, is the skeletonised dial, which gives a glimpse at the inner workings of one of Tag Heuer’s best-loved styles.
For better or for worse, fitness watches don’t have the best rep. But Tag’s Connected Calibre E4 manages to combine all the bells and whistles you’d expect – a smart interface, wellness and performance features and a whole host of sports tracking capabilities – with an enviable aesthetic. This option comes in matte black Sandblasted titanium, meaning there aren’t many smartwatches on the market that look better.
