Audemars Piguet announces the arrival of its third boutique in the United States with the opening of an elegant new location at The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 1,270-square-foot boutique, situated on the first floor between Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton stores showcases an original concept design that captures the 140-year old brand’s core values: origins, artistry and extraordinary relationships.
The new boutique in Las Vegas is the newest project developed between Westime and Audemars Piguet, a partnership that dates back to 1994. “We are proud to further reinforce our relationship with Westime through the opening of the Audemars Piguet boutique at The Shops at Crystals. Las Vegas has always been an exciting market for Audemars Piguet and with the new boutique we are better able to present the brand’s complete collection offering while reaching one of the most diverse international audiences," explained Xavier Nolot, CEO of Audemars Piguet North America.
With a rich British watchmaking heritage that dates back to the 18th century, Arnold & Son masterfully reinterprets history with a visionary eye to the future. Underscoring its watchmaking prowess, Arnold & Son regularly unveils complicated watches with a unique twist. The patented Golden Wheel deftly reflects the brand’s ingenuity and commitment to Haute Horlogerie. The Golden Wheel timepiece is a unique three-dimensional interpretation of the ancient wandering hours complication that has roots in table clocks of the mid-17th century. In fact, the first implementation of the wandering hours complication in pocket watches was most likely made in England at the beginning the 18th century. Thus, it is a fitting complication for the Arnold & Son watchmakers —inspired by British watchmaking heritage— to reinvent anew, perpetuating the long tradition of wandering hour watches.
The Skull, HYT’s new extraordinary and unprecedented creation, breaks all the rules. You don’t need to be an expert to appreciate the power of its design. Even at first glance the Skull makes a striking impression, simply because it epitomizes and at the same time breaks away from everything that HYT represents. It is provocative, unique and has a bold design supported by the fluid mechanics that have become the brand’s signature style. The Skull speaks for itself. Its development, however, was anything but obvious. The use of a capillary, which carries a fluid to act as the hour marker, is a concept that is already mastered by HYT and its partners. However, any significant changes in form require extensive background work. For the Skull, the skull shape of the tube, which measures less than one millimeter in diameter, was a significant challenge in itself. The issue centered on the capillary’s four angles, two of which are almost 90° at the base. These curves meant that bending the glass was a particularly delicate task.
Pre-SIHH 2015, Greubel Forsey is pleased to announce the launch of the GMT Black exploring a new design with a titanium case and treated with vacuum deposited ADLC. This is a unique edition of 22 pieces worldwide. The timepiece features a case measuring 43.5 mm in diameter housing a GF05 in-house movement with 24 second tourbillon inclined at a 25 degree angle, GMT function, three-dimensional globe for day/night indication, rotating disc with 24 different time zones, daylight savings indication, and 72 hour power reserve. This watch is the exact same watch as its predecessors in platinum, rose gold or white gold GMTs reviewed here but with a DLC Titanium case. The 25° inclined Tourbillon '24 Secondes' cage at 5 o'clock is one of Greubel Forsey’s major patented inventions. The single inclined tourbillon cage undergoes rapidly changing positions with a high angular velocity, thus minimizing the effects of gravity on the regulating organ and maximizing timekeeping accuracy.
Wild, extreme, outrageous, unrestrained: all might be used to describe MB&F's futuristic Horological Machines, but traditional, classical, round? With its monumental central balance; superlatively finished movement; completely independent dual time zones; unique vertical power reserve indicator and elegant annular case, Legacy Machine No. 1 —LM1— is a tribute to the great innovators of traditional watchmaking; and above all, an authentic three-dimensional MB&F Machine. Legacy Machine No. 1 was conceived when Maximilian Büsser started fantasizing: "What would have happened if I had been born in 1867 instead of 1967? In the early 1900s the first wristwatches appear and I would want to create three-dimensional machines for the wrist, but there are no Grendizers, Star Wars or fighter jets for my inspiration. But I do have pocket watches, the Eiffel Tower and Jules Verne, so what might my more traditional machine look like? "It has to be round and it has to be three-dimensional: Legacy Machine No. 1 was my answer."
Exceptional engineering and the power of sound merge in one of the most innovative concept watches created by a Swiss haute horlogerie watchmaking house. The result of an in-depth eight year sound research program with three patents pending, this new Royal Oak Concept watch, a unique prototype, will be unveiled by Audemars Piguet at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2015 —SIHH— in Geneva. We will bring you live images once we get to see this watch in the metal at the SIHH during the week of January 19th, 2015.
Engineered within Audemars Piguet’s acoustic research lab, this new Royal Oak Concept is the first chiming watch so acoustically considered as to become a sound concept in its own right. It has been sonically developed through an ongoing acoustic study program in collaboration with the EPFL —Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne— and it took three years to transfer that technological study into a watch concept.
For the first time ever, the mechanical heart of the Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 watch is revealed under a transparent sapphire dial. In a deft combination of technology and style, this model is enhanced by its Art Deco-inspired aesthetic code and its uncompromisingly contemporary mechanical structure. The new Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Large Date, Moon Phases watch fully reveals the complexity of its movement for the first time, thanks to a transparent dial carved in sapphire. This offers the wearer a fascinating mechanical spectacle of gears, display disks, screws, levers and wheels, all arranged in a perfectly orchestrated system. Here, the movement goes beyond its merely functional role to become a full-time spectacle. Testifying to the Manufacture’s long history and expertise, it unveils all the secrets that give it its beauty and originality. Its shape, adapted to that of the case, represents a distinctive, emblematic mark of identity.
The most complicated and expensive watch in the world, the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Jr. Supercomplication started in 1925 and completed in 1932 has fetched the amount of 20.6 Million Swiss Francs at Sotheby's in Geneva just minutes ago.
This exceptional timepiece is a gold, double dial and double open-faced, minute repeating clockwatch with Westminster chimes, grande and petite sonnerie, split seconds chronograph, registers for 60-minutes and 12-hours, perpetual calendar accurate to the year 2100, moon-phases, equation of time, dual power reserve for striking and going trains, mean and sidereal time, central alarm, indications for times of sunrise/sunset and a celestial chart for the night time sky of New York City at 40 degrees 41.0 minutes North latitude.
It happens at times, in the field of watch collecting, that a timepiece previously unknown to the market is discovered and upsets what is until then considered an unmovable tenet by market and scholars alike. It is of course an extremely rare occurrence, but when such a hidden treasure appears on the market it never fails to stir the hearts of collectors and to amaze scholars. For example the history of Patek Philippe minute repeaters was rewritten in 2011 when a previously unknown reference, 2419, was discovered. With this lot, Christie's is proud to rewrite the textbooks about Rolex Daytona as it introduces to the public the only example of reference 6263 with black non-oyster sotto Paul Newman dial.
Until yesterday, it was believed that black Paul Newman dials mounted on reference 6263 were all and necessarily distinguished by the different disposition of the designations: instead of reading, as in all other dials, Rolex/Oyster/Cosmograph, a correct black 6263 Paul Newman should read Rolex/Cosmograph/Oyster.
Christie’s historic Patek Philippe 175th Anniversary Sale was the most highly anticipated sale in the watch auction calendar for 2014. Today November 9, 2014, this unique Evening Sale provided collectors with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire rare and important timepieces from Patek Philippe. This thematic sale further solidified Patek Philippe’s historic breadth of production as true works of art. Each piece had been scrupulously vetted for this sale, and included only the rarest, most sought-after, beautiful timepieces representing Patek Philippe’s expert craftsmanship. The sale included only vintage watches spanning from the early years of the esteemed manufacturer’s production in the 19th century through to the 1980s. To memorialize this unique sale, a commemorative silver Patek Philippe coin was included with each of the 100 lots, engraved with the individual lot number.
Excellence, innovation and watchmaking expertise were duly rewarded today October 31st, 2014 at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, on the occasion of the 14th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève —GPHG— prize-giving ceremony. The international jury of this edition 2014 of the GPHG handed out 16 prizes, including the supreme “Aiguille d’Or”, distinction, awarded to Breguet for the Classic Chronométrie model. This prize was officially presented on-stage by the Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann, who praised the vitality of the Swiss watch industry. Jointly hosted by Melanie Winiger and Frédéric Beigbeder, the ceremony was attended by around 1,500 guests including influential figures from the world of watchmaking, finance and politics, who congregated in Geneva for this annual celebration of the 12th art.
In 2012, The Bird Repeater featured two blue tits and their young birds close to the heart of the company’s founder Pierre Jaquet-Droz. This remarkable model reaffirmed the virtuoso expertise of Jaquet Droz, passed down from the 18th century and realized here in miniature. The following year, The Charming Bird watch marked the brand’s 275th anniversary with a new interpretation of the bird in an ultra-modern decorative setting and this time singing.
Now, the story continues with a previously unseen version of The Bird Repeater in a more streamlined, contemporary-looking model that has nonetheless retained intact the animated features that made it a success: a duo of blue tit birds feeding their fledglings, the spreading wings, the tumbling waterfall and the hatching egg.
On October 9, 2014 Blancpain President & CEO Marc A. Hayek, unveiled a special Ocean Commitment limited edition which will be part of a series of limited editions. Each purchaser will join the Ocean Commitment Circle and will contribute and reinforce Blancpain's support for oceanic environmental causes through an additional donation which will be made for each watch. First of this series, the new Ocean Commitment Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback is limited to 250 pieces. Blancpain commits to donate 1'000 Euros of the revenues from the sales of this piece to various initiatives.
The Bathyscaphe is a legendary name at Blancpain. Three years after the 1953 debut of the original Fifty Fathoms, Blancpain introduced the Bathyscaphe as a smaller diameter diving watch alternative adapted to daily wear. Over the years, the Bathyscaphe evolved in parallel with the Fifty Fathoms and became a part of the Fifty Fathoms legend.
Always ahead of its time, Bell & Ross continues to innovate with the launch of the BR-X1 Skeleton Chronograph, a high-tech chronograph with a sporty design, which is as robust as it is sophisticated. Revolutionary in its design, the BR-X1 is the first watch of a new collection from Bell & Ross and the beginning of a whole new chapter in the saga of the brand. An extreme version of the BR-01, whose iconic square shape is directly inspired by aeronautical flight instruments, the BR-X1 is much more than a top-of-the-range contemporary sports watch.
Nearly ten years ago, Bell & Ross launched the BR-01, a distinctive, high-performance watch directly inspired by on-board flight instruments. It has become an iconic watch thanks to its square shape, its round dial with perfect legibility, its broad dimensions and the efficiency of its functional design. Since then, the BR-01 has continued to evolve without losing its original identity. As a guiding principle, from vintage pocket watches to the grand complication watches, each Bell & Ross signed model pays homage to a great era in military history.
Consistently cultivating a distinctive and special relationship with challenges, the brand with the guiding star has always accompanied human adventure at its most daring and creative. Witness this new Academy Christophe Colomb, which pays tributes to one of the great early 21st century explorers of human nature, a champion of surpassing personal limits. An experienced parachutist and base jumper, he achieved three feats in 2012 by jumping from a stratospheric capsule. A personality echoing the creative daring and the enterprising spirit of Zenith, expressed through one of the greatest horological discoveries of recent years equipping this spectacular model: the Gravity Control module.
The details of a special edition of strong vintage appeal recall the historic links between the Italian Navy and Officine Panerai. The story of the Radiomir 1940 is the story of the development of the design of Officine Panerai watches. Its essential lines recall the intermediate stage in the transformation of the cushion case of the first Panerai watches, created in 1936, to the more robust shape of the Luminor 1950. The new Radiomir 1940 Marina Militare presents the pure design of this case, combined with a series of historic details demonstrating the fidelity of the new model to those created for the Italian Navy. The case is 47 mm in diameter, the standard size for watches made for the commandos of the Navy, because they had to be worn over a wet suit. It is made of 316L stainless steel, an alloy particularly resistant to corrosion that is perfect for a watch water resistant to 100 meters.
The Radiomir 1940 is presented for the first time with an automatic movement and the brand new in-house Panerai calibre P.4000 calibre which was fully designed and assembled by Officine Panerai in Neuchâtel. The distinctive feature of the new calibre is it off-centered oscillating weight, winding in both directions, just like the distinctive micro-rotor inside many of the Patek Philippe automatic movements. With a diameter of 13¾ lignes and just 3.95 mm thick, it has been developed to integrate perfectly with the proportions of the Radiomir 1940 case. The new P.4000 calibre is the first Panerai automatic movement with an off-centered micro-rotor. This means that the rotor is smaller in diameter than the calibre itself: a sophisticated technical solution which enables the movement —and therefore the watch itself— to be much thinner.
Last night September 25th, 2014 at the opening of the new A. Lange & Söhne boutique in New York City, the brand presented the boutique edition Richard Lange Tourbillon 'Pour le Mérite' in 18K white gold with blued hands and blue hour markers. With its regulator style that expresses the ultimate in precision, the Richard Lange Tourbillon 'Pour le Mérite' is a complication that unites A. Lange & Söhne’s unique fusée-and-chain transmission and a one-minute tourbillon with a patented stop-seconds mechanism. This timepiece whose name pays tribute to what is probably the most inventive mind in the Lange watchmaking dynasty will only be available only at A. Lange & Söhne boutiques.
On the occasion of the 5th Anniversary of the launch of the Chapter Two Original, Maîtres du Temps - Atelier d’Horlogerie is proud to present the new Chapter Two Classique in red gold and white gold. This new model underlines even stronger the architectural aspect of the collection through its Art Deco inspired dial on which the bold indices majestically indicate the hours. The Chapter Two collection features an instantaneous triple calendar displayed in large format thanks to the innovative high precision cylinders that in fact makes it the most legible mechanical calendar wristwatch in the world. Its outstanding movement is imbedded in a shaped case that expresses the strength and character of this collection.
The Foundation of the GPHG —Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève has revealed the list of the 72 pre-selected watches in the running to win the “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix or one of the 16 prizes that will salute 2014's finest watch creations. This edition of the GPHG 2014 has attracted record participation, with all the major watch groups represented, along with a number of independent companies. Small and large brands alike are confronting their creations in a competitive and unifying spirit, thereby contributing to promoting the renown of an art that consistently targets excellence and displays exceptional vitality. For your convenience, we have included all the 72 pre-selected watches on this post, as well as the links to the reviews we have published here for a vast majority of them.
