Company profile: Emile Chouriet was founded in 1998 by Jean Depéry. He was born into a family of notaries, but abandoned tradition, studied micro-engineering at the University of Neuchâtel and embarked on a career in the production of watch components. He founded his own company in 1998, naming it after Emile Chouriet, a 17th century…
Emile Chouriet have chosen the theme of the Alps for this men’s automatic, with a dial featuring dark jagged spikes that separate the hour markers, and four Roman numerals. SuperLuminova on the hour markers and hour and minute hands improves night-time visibility. The stainless steel case is 40 mm in diameter, 10 mm thick, with a…
Alchimie is the name of a graceful women’s watch in the Fair Lady collection by Emile Chouriet. It is available in different dial colours, and with satin strap or steel bracelet. Its price of between 1,000 and 1,180 Swiss francs makes it an accessible piece. I saw the brand at Baselworld, I was impressed by…
Corum’s Bubble is a super-ironic piece, with its domed watchglass and large size. Corum shows that there is lots of room for developing Bubble even further with two five-piece limited editions, the Bubble Tourbillon Chronograph, and the Bubble Tourbillon GMT. The Bubble Tourbillon Chronograph has a large well on the dial for the tourbillon at…
The Corum Golden Bridge Round is the brand’s latest version of its famous baguette movement. For the first time, it has a round case, in which the space on either side of the linear movement is filled by a lattice structure directly inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It is made in…
At Baselworld 2016, Corum’s COO Davide Traxler was notably upbeat about the company’s situation, with 10,700 watches made in 2015, 8,000 sold, and three new in-house movements. His objective for 2016 is 30% growth. The new movements are made by Eterna, another brand which, like Corum itself, belongs to the Chinese holding company Citychamp Watch…
The Admiral’s Cup Legend 47 Worldtimer by Corum is made in two versions, one in titanium, and one in titanium with a rose gold bezel. It’s a large piece at 47 mm diameter, 17.2 mm thickness, and it is hallmarked by Corum’s characteristic nautical flags in the place of numbers, and the 12-sided bezel. It…
The two new Divas’ Dream watches by Bulgari combine very feminine lines and gemsetting, with a mechanical movement and an interesting complication. Minutes are shown by a retrograde hand which flicks back to zero once it has completed its one-hour arc. Hours are shown by a number in a window at the base of the…
Lucea, Bulgari‘s latest line of watches for women, has been with us for just two years, and it has attained a success that perhaps surprised even Bulgari. This year, many new models were presented, with new sizes, new colours, a full diamond pavé version, and this complication. Bulgari Lucea Il Giardino Paradiso is a jewellery…
They call it a sports watch. But the really sporty thing about it – the chronograph function – is to a degree marred by the incomplete seconds scale, and by the seconds hand that is too short to take an accurate reading. So by describing the Diagono Magnesium Chronograph as a sports watch, Bulgari mean…
What sort of watch would Voltaire design if he were around today? This is the sort of question that seems to be a constant obsession for Manufacture Royale, the brand that traces its origins back to the philosopher. It’s a bit like wondering what Bach would have done with an electric guitar, Shakespeare with a…
There are artists, archistars and fashion designers, all individuals who are accustomed to being in the limelight. The watch industry is traditionally different in that most brands don’t highlight a head designer. All the attention is on the brand. Exceptions include Christian Knoop at IWC, Sara Sandmeier at Baume & Mercier, and Carole Forestier-Kasapi, director…
Omega? Sunglasses? I suppose this sort of diversification just gets the brand name out there a bit more. They don’t make the glasses: that’s left to Italian company Marcolin, which already makes sunglasses for Montblanc along with a long list of fashion brands. The new range will be available from the end of August 2016…
Bulgari are on a roll. At a time at which many watch companies are suffering and sales are falling, Bulgari announce that they are enjoying double digit growth in their watch division. This year, Bulgari presented their first ever jewellery snake watch, a product masterminded by senior designer Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, and his brilliance at…
The Bulgari Octo Ultranero Finissimo Tourbillon is another variant of the Finissimo Tourbillon that was presented in 2014, and it is still the record-holder for the thinnest flying tourbillon movement, BVL 268, at 1.95 mm thickness. The movement is hand-wound and has a 52-hour power reserve. The principal new feature of this year’s Ultranero version…
In the pdf provided in the 2016 Octo press kit, Bulgari dedicates just one sentence to the Octo Velocissimo Chronograph. “For a sportier look, one may opt for the Octo Velocissimo Chronograph powered by the BVL 328 calibre, a high-performance movement capable of displaying the flow of time to the nearest tenth of a second.”…
Something of Bulgari’s Italian origins can be seen in the new Octo Ultranero pieces. They are black, but not all black. They are still intended as practical, legible timepieces, and so hands and hour markers are always in pink gold, contrasting with the deep black dial. The watch is powered by the self-winding “Solotempo BVL…
The Octo Finissimo Skeleton by Bulgari is slim and modern, with its sleek black movement finished in black DLC and rich in contrasts provided by steel, gold and rubies. The hand-wound BVL 128SK movement is just 2.35 mm thick, hand wound, with seconds, minutes and hours, and power reserve indicator. This is a useful indication…
Company profile: Manufacture Contemporaine du Temps makes very complicated watches, and its company history is also rather complicated. it was founded in 2007 by Denis Giguet, a watch designer who had 20 years of experience in the trade. He had been at Rolex for six years, and had directed the Harry Winston watchmaking division for…
Bulgari confirms its position as a major player in the watchmaking industry with the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater. It follows on from other record-setting pieces, such as the 2014 Octo Finissimo Tourbillon and this year’s ultra-thin flying tourbillon. The Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater is the thinnest minute repeater in the world, with a case thickness…