When it comes to skeletonization, different brands do different things. Vacheron Constantin create Gothic edifices with graceful curving arches. Roger Dubuis’ aesthetic approach in this piece is somewhere between the arachnic and astronomic, with watchmaking director Gregory Bruttin referring to “the patient, meticulous and inventive nature of the work done by a resourceful arachnid as…
Montblanc are treading an interesting path, with a complete new range of entry-level watches in the Heritage Spirit collection alongside the existing Star collection that also caters for people looking for their first luxury watch. At the other end of the scale there are the super-high-end pieces such as the Villeret Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco…
The Portughese Perpetual Calendar Double Moon, presented at SIHH 2015 as the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Double Moon reference 5034 (on the right above), is a good example of how a watch is redesigned. The 2010 version (on the left in the photo above) was very popular, and considered as perfect. How do you improve on…
At SIHH in Geneva this year, there were some brands that surprised for how few new watches they presented, and others who surprised for the richness of their product launches. Vacheron Constantin definitely came in the second category, with five new calibres making 2015 a milestone year for the brand. 2015 is Vacheron Constantin’s 260th…
The company that Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, founded in 2004, has created 17 calibres and what they call 7 “capital inventions.” This year, they present just one new piece (the other novelties are variations on existing products), the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision, their thinnest watch to date, with a domed crystal on top and underneath.…
One of the major themes at the watch fair SIHH 2015 was astronomy, the moon, and the earth seen from space. Two new watches made using a special material arriving from space were presented, pieces with meteorite dials. One was by Jaeger-LeCoultre, the other by Parmigiani Fleurier. The material consists of meteorite, and so these…
Last year, Richard Mille presented about eight new models at SIHH, this year just two. This was to ensure that the press could dedicate the right attention to these two watches, undiluted by other pieces that will in any case be released later on in the year. And one of them undoubtedly deserves attention. The…
Ralph’s passion for watches is fuelled by another of his hobbies, collecting cars, and the latest models in the Automotive collection were inspired by one of his favourite cars, the rare vintage 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe. This has a wooden steering wheel, and in three of the Automotive collection watches, this becomes a…
A. Lange & Söhne always have a giant model of the most important piece in their collection at the entrance to their stand at SIHH, and this time it was the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater. A beautiful piece in every way, with just one small but significant defect (and I don’t mean the price). But we’ll…
Baume & Mercier are about affordable luxury, and their Classima range of watches, originally launched in 2004 and a pillar of the brand, has been completely redesigned to create more contemporary pieces, celebrating the brand’s 185th anniversary this year (Baume & Mercier was founded in 1830). Classima was originally for men only, but this year,…
Emmanuel Bouchet is an independent watchmaker who won worldwide attention for Opus 12 by Harry Winston. At the Swiss Independent Watchmaking Pavilion, which accompanies SIHH in Geneva and is held at the Casino du Lac, he presented his first piece, a remarkable watch sculpted from a block of sapphire. Inside, the Calibre EB-1963 movement with…
Not long now to SIHH, the watch fair grouping 16 brands, starting on 19 January in Geneva. It’s the first watch show of the year and so provides an indication of the latest trends. Some of the things that visitors will be wondering include the effects that the recent Swiss franc currency variation will have…
Yesterday, Friday 16 January 2015, Swatch Group shares dropped by 16%. Why? Nothing to do with Swatch Group, but rather a surprise move by the Swiss National Bank that scrapped the cap on the exchange rate between Swiss franc and the euro (previously capped at 1.20 Swiss franc to the euro). The result was that…
While the world patiently awaits for the arrival of the Apple Watch, whose release date is rumoured to be March 2015, other brands are launching their own versions of smart watches that relay a range of information from your phone to your wrist. “We have one more thing,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the…
Although 16 watch brands are thinking mostly about the approaching Geneva watch show SIHH that begins in five days’ time, many others are looking forward to Valentine’s Day and suggesting watches that would be good gifts for the woman you love. Hermès, for example, presents the new Arceau Petite Lune, with an in-house manufacture movement…
Jaquet Droz watches often have a large dial with time indications on two decentred dials and a lot of blank space around them where there is nothing going on, as in the Grande Seconde Quantième Ivory Enamel. In other models, they have the same type of decentred dial, and a lot of space around it…
This article on the best minute repeater watches 2014 looks at timepieces that tell the time by chimes as well as by the usual hour and minute hands. They are complicated and very expensive. They are nearly always limited editions because, even though the luxury market continues to thrive and the number of millionaires in…
Montblanc has presented its e-Strap, which has a small electronic unit worn on the inside of the wrist and in bluetooth communication with your mobile phone. So it’s going in the same direction as the Apple Watch, but instead of having to wear that uncool square chunk of sapphire, you still have a smart mechanical watch…
This version of Omega’s classic Central Tourbillon watch has a coaxial calibre, and a bezel set with 24 baguette diamonds. The piece is unusual, amidst the tourbillon watches by different brands, for the position of the tourbillon itself. At the centre of the watch, the seconds hand is set into the titanium tourbillon cage which…
Brilliance doesn’t necessarily need grand complications, lots of subdials and pushers. Sometimes it appears through perfect simplicity, as in the Breguet Classique 5140BA/29/9W6, in 18-carat yellow gold. The dial in oven-fired enamel has hand-painted Arabic numerals, and an off-centred subdial for small seconds. The case is 40 mm in diameter, 10.8 mm thick, with a…