WHO TO FOLLOW: @MisterTUDOR
Andy GreenMeet Laurent. Guess what brand he’s a fan of? Hint: his Instagram handle isn’t named for his love of the English royal dynasty…
NAME: Laurent Ge
OCCUPATION: Marketing and Communications for The Belgium Watch Club.
HANDLE: @MisterTUDOR
FOLLOWERS: 18.6K
LOCATION: The Netherlands (most of the time)
Tell me about yourself:
Hi mate, how ya goin’? – Haha still practising my Australian accent for you guys. Um, I guess I’ll start off by introducing myself. I am Laurent but known in the watchfam as Mister Tudor. I’m a 25-year-old watch collector with a preference for Omega. Kidding, of course — Tudor. I absolutely love and live to travel. I was born in The Netherlands, raised in Belgium, lived in Canada, Denmark, and now back in the homeland The Netherlands.
My family have taken me across the globe ever since I was born which gave me that travel-bug I guess. I am a big fan of cars and watches… and I just LOVE to meet new characters who share the same passion — like you guys!
How do you unwind?
I love to unwind by reading Time+Tide. That rhymes… or doesn’t it? I love Instagram, I try to reply to each and every person that writes or comments. I love reading articles about watches I like. I love watching YouTube videos about cars, ‘car vloggers’ and such. Pretty much, being this typical no-life kid with his eyes locked onto his phone-screen… this is my kind of “relaxing”. But seriously, I love getting together with friends, having good food and enjoying some watch talk and a good drink. I’m always up for that!
What’s your daily watch and why?
Well, I’ve got a few to choose from. Lots of Tudor, including the Red, Bronze and Dark Black Bays — oh, and the BB 36. I’ve also got a Cartier Pasha and a Tank, as well as an IWC Spitfire chronograph and an Audemars Piguet Huitième Chronograph 18K Gold.
I have to say… selecting a favourite within your watch collection is always a little difficult. Depends on what kind of favourite I’d say. My favourite watch is the BB Red, just because it started this whole rollercoaster for me, and it was the first watch I purchased for myself. But if you ask me which one I wear the most and tend to lean towards for an all-round favourite, it has to be the BB 36.
With my slim wrists, the pure class and elegance of this thing always shows through its simplicity. It’s the perfect match for me; I can wear this on the beach with my swimming trunks, holding a Mojito. Or, just as easily, I can wear this bad boy underneath a suit and have it humbly sneak past my cufflinked shirt while holding a glass of champagne. I just love it.
What’s next on the list?
Well, that one changes all the time. However, I can see myself buying the new BB Chrono and the new S&G. I’d buy the Chrono on a leather strap though. Now I’ve always wanted a 16760 “Fat Lady” Coke GMT or a 16710 Coke GMT from my birth year, 1991, but as we all know, vintage is something you need to take your time and be selective with.
What’s your daily ride?
I’m still driving the car I got for my 18th birthday. I have been travelling for pretty much the larger part of the last 6 years instead of being at home, so the need wasn’t there.
I am a big car guy, however. I grew up with some nice cars in my family and let’s just say I have a lot of friends who have some nice toys which we go for a ride in every now and then.
I also own a Harley Davidson “custom” Fat Boy and a little customised Honda Monkey. I’ve loved riding bikes or anything with an engine ever since I was a little kid driving my uncle’s quad in Canada every chance I had, and learning how to drive at the age of 12.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now I work for my family’s business that handles in Digital Storage products. We sell all sorts of memory, from USBs, drones, portable chargers to industrial — or even military purposed memory products. So, if any of you need a custom USB with your brand on it, let me know, haha – then I might finally justify taking all this time off for this watch stuff to my boss!
Do you have any special projects in the works?
Actually, Andy, yes I do. This year I went to Baselworld as Press! I have teamed up with this group called The Belgium Watch Club which started off as a group of passionate watch collectors who got together every now and then, grabbed a drink and talked watches. As the club grew, we got some media attention and even got interviewed by The New York Times. Then brands started taking us seriously and got in touch right away. Now we are trying to work with brands to organise events and give our club members exclusive content, and bring watch brands and watch lovers closer together.
When did your love for Tudor first begin? Can you pinpoint it?
I really started collecting watches in 2013. This is when I earned enough money to purchase my first real watch, which ended up being the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Red. I owned some watches in the past, but these were pieces I received from my parents. I was looking for a no-date Submariner from Rolex and a good friend of mine, who is also a watch collector, pointed me towards Tudor and I just fell in love.
After that I pretty much wore it every single day and always started talking about the watch to every single person I ran into — literally anyone. My friends started naming me “Mister Tudor” because of that, so I stuck with it and started an Instagram account to meet people who share the same passion and share my travels combined with my watches on a social media platform.
What draws you to Tudor? What do you love about the brand?
What I think draws me and other Tudor collectors to the brand is their impeccable quality and reliability, yet at a more modest price is something they stand for. And as much of a clichéd Tudor fan response this is, I’ll give it to you: The way Hans Wilsdorf introduced Tudor to the world is just all there needs to be said about the brand.
What is your pick of the 2017 Tudor Releases? What would you like to see next year?
Like we discussed, if I had to pick one, I’m sticking with the Black Bay Chrono. My personal preference is the leather strap — I love that combo of the soft brown with the steel.