LAKIN@LARGE STORIES

Europa Star

LAKIN@LARGE STORIES

Sizzling Schubligs and Burning Boats

Sizzling Schubligs and Burning Boats

FREELY SPEAKING

If I asked you what you were doing fifty-six years ago - assuming you were already out of nappies, diapers or pampers by then - could you come up with an (...)

Deaf sentence

Deaf sentence

FREELY SPEAKING

Many years ago, I used to telephone my father every Friday afternoon at three o’clock. We’d arranged that day and time because by the end of the week we (...)

When the writing's on the wall…

When the writing’s on the wall…

FREELY SPEAKING

Let’s start at the beginning: Digitus (Latin) meaning finger or toe begat digit, meaning finger or toe and from about the 14th century it also referred to a (...)

Painter's block

Painter’s block

FREELY SPEAKING

One of the good things about our place in Menton is that there’s no room for guests, although we make exceptions for our offsprings if they promise to stay (...)

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When I was old… A nostalgic trip down memory lane

When I was old… A nostalgic trip down memory lane

FREELY SPEAKING

My first trip to Basel was to visit the European Watch and Jewellery Fair. It was 1979 and I’d just been employed as a magazine editor for a company in (...)

Worldtimer and the snob

Worldtimer and the snob

FREELY SPEAKING

Browsing on the internet I came across a blog by ‘Watch Snob’ on which a potential buyer wrote that he knew nothing about watches but was interested in a (...)

Who's wearing what

Who’s wearing what

FREELY SPEAKING

Acouple of months ago I attended a society wedding in London where most of the men looked like extras from the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral in their (...)

Have I got news for you!

Have I got news for you!

FREELY SPEAKING

Slouched in a deckchair on the terrace in the sun, puffing serenely on my pipe with the remnants of a delicious cappuccino beside me, my mobile telephone (...)

Freely speaking… Metamorphosis of time and fashion

Freely speaking… Metamorphosis of time and fashion

I’ve just read my grandfather’s diary and I can’t believe all the fuss and bother he went through buying his gear. I suppose he looked cool in those days, but (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - Connected watches: breaking records or is it wind?

LAKIN@LARGE - Connected watches: breaking records or is it wind?

On September 21, 2015 the world of Dick Tracy and James Bond became reality: the Apple Watch was born.

KEEP CALM & CARRY ON - Brexit: Brewing exit?

KEEP CALM & CARRY ON - Brexit: Brewing exit?

Tea bag IN or OUT?’ Brits ask you when brewing your cup of tea. Comedian James Acaster nailed it with his Brexit tea bag analogy. Leave the tea bag IN, he (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - If you can't fix it, Brexit

LAKIN@LARGE - If you can’t fix it, Brexit

Friday, June 24, 2016, the morning after 17,410,742 Britons voted to leave the EU, the ferry I was on from Guernsey docked in Poole, Dorset in the south of (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - Shakespeare's time

LAKIN@LARGE - Shakespeare’s time

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the ‘Bard of Avon’, that man of many words, mostly meaningful, William (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - Europa Star: A Zest for Bargains

LAKIN@LARGE - Europa Star: A Zest for Bargains

One of the world’s great bargains is the Star Ferry in Hong Kong. For 30 Swiss centimes (HK$ 2.50) you can take the ferry from Wan Chai to Kowloon, or vice (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - Europa Star: Surveying Surveys

LAKIN@LARGE - Europa Star: Surveying Surveys

If you are a regular reader of our magazine or a visitor to the Europa Star website, you may have participated in our recent Reader Survey and/ or read (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - A summer of contradictions

LAKIN@LARGE - A summer of contradictions

It’s been an odd sort of summer. Horologically speaking, little exciting has happened except news that Dmitry Medvedev, the Prime Minister of Russia, was (...)

LAKIN@LARGE: THE WORLD'S HAPPIEST COUNTRY

LAKIN@LARGE: THE WORLD’S HAPPIEST COUNTRY

According to the third annual World Happiness Report (WHR) - produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an initiative under the United (...)

CLOCKS, THE BIBLE AND A KOALA

CLOCKS, THE BIBLE AND A KOALA

I arrived in the big metal tube heading for Australia wrapped in an overcoat, scarf and gloves against the European weather. The problem is winter in (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - An oh so yummy SIHH

LAKIN@LARGE - An oh so yummy SIHH

On the first day of the SIHH I managed to find a vacant table just prior to the lunchtime scrum and settled down with a newspaper to read about the really (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - AND THE WINNER IS... WITHOUT TEARS

LAKIN@LARGE - AND THE WINNER IS... WITHOUT TEARS

I’m sure you already know the seventeen winners of the 14th edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) from the local press and television, a (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - Time, Tubes and Thermometers

LAKIN@LARGE - Time, Tubes and Thermometers

I recently discovered another method of telling the time without looking at a wristwatch: the clinic, not a mechanical watch clinic, medical. I spent seven (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - WHAT'S IN A NAME?

LAKIN@LARGE - WHAT’S IN A NAME?

It all began when Lauren, my youngest daughter, was recently given a puppy. A delightful little chocolate-coloured female Bichon Havanese, so we set about (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - QUELLE SURPRISE: A FREEBIE!

LAKIN@LARGE - QUELLE SURPRISE:
A FREEBIE!

I’ve known my friend Irv since the 1960s when we both worked in a beleaguered and much maligned investment company that was murdered in the early 1970s. We (...)

LAKIN@LARGE - AFTER-SALES WHAT?

LAKIN@LARGE - AFTER-SALES WHAT?

Now be honest, how often have you heard me moan? Once, maybe twice, perhaps never? I’m not a natural moaner, I have to work at it, slowly develop some ire. (...)