Monthly Archives: February 2016

AUDEMARS PIGUET – Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph

Audemars Piguet

If there was one model you couldn’t miss at this year’s SIHH, it was the super-bright Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph quartet. Is Audemars Piguet giving us a vibrant taster of summer 2016? Whatever they’re thinking, just one look at these flashy colours awakened us from our winter weariness. The same self-winding 3124/3841 calibre fuels the time and chronograph functions with a 50-hour power reserve. The same 42mm solid steel case is topped with the famous octagonal bezel and is water-resistant to depths of 300m. The almost fluorescent hues alone change from one dial to the next on the rotating internal bezel and chronograph hands. The famous “Méga Tapisserie“ checkerboard is splashed with lime green, electric yellow, zesty orange and deep blue with Royal Oak’s signature hour and minute hands in the centre and small seconds at 9 o’ clock. Price: 26,000 CHF. Sharmila Bertin

OMEGA – Speedmaster Moonphase Master Chronometer

Omega

The METAS certification by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology, founded in 2015 and approved after a battery of thorough tests, is gradually being rolled out to the Omega watch collections. This time it’s the Speedmaster collection’s turn with the Speedmaster Moonphase Master Chronometer. The 44.25mm steel case features a blue ceramic bezel and tachymeter. The self-winding 9904 calibre fuels a 60-hour power reserve, time functions, chronograph, calendar and moon phase. The hours and minutes lie in the centre of the brushed and sunburst blue dial whilst the small seconds and date with hand lie at 9. The chronograph hours and minutes appear in a counter at 3 and a stunning moon phase takes over the bottom of the dial with its 0-29.5 day scale. Price: 9,900 CHF. Sharmila Bertin

PIAGET – Altiplano Marqueterie de nacre et bois

Piaget

The Piaget rose with its hundred bright pink and softly scented “peony” petals is an endless source of inspiration for the brand. Once again, it is unfurling its fuchsia flower on the dial of an Altiplano. To create the bloom, the artist Rose Saneuil selected different materials (white mother-of-pearl, grained plane and pale pink maple, candy and scarlet sycamore), cut them up then assembled them, piece by piece, from the chapter ring to the heart of the dial. It took 25 hours and 96 wooden and mother-of-pearl pieces to make the dial. That means it took around 450 hours for this Boulle School graduate to make the 18 Altiplano Marqueterie de nacre et bois watches. The petals lie beneath two silver baton-shape hour and minute hands brought to life by the ultra-slim manual wind 430P calibre inside the 38mm diamond and white gold case. Price: 70,500 CHF. Sharmila Bertin
piaget.com

A LANGE SÖHNE Saxonia Moon Phase

A.Lange&Sohne

There’s been a moon phase on the Saxonia watch by A. Lange & Söhne since 1994. This year, the German brand is adding a big date to the collection’s starry display. It’s a first! As the Saxony watchmaker’s 16th movement to feature the moon phase, the self-winding L086.5 calibre takes centre stage for its precision and finish. Once it’s been set properly, the display will only differ from the actual position of the Moon by one day every 122.6 years if the watch works non-stop thus providing a 99.998% accurate reproduction of the lunar cycles. A comfortable 70-hour power reserve allows the wearer to gaze at the disc as it rotates its 852 stars and the gold hands gliding over the solid silver dial. The performance takes place in a 40mm white or rose gold case. The watch also has a stop seconds mechanism for accurate time-setting. Price: 28,500 €. Dan Diaconu

PIAGET – Emperador Coussin XL 700P

Piaget

1976. The year that brought us U2, The Clash and The Cure …Whilst our ears listened to new tempos, our Swiss watches beat to the rhythm of quartz movements. Just like the 7P which Piaget brought us in 1976, the slimmest of its generation. Forty years on and the brand is still in touch with its electronic roots. The new Emperador Coussin XL 700P sees Piaget pair quartz with a great mechanism. What’s the idea? The traditional escapement is replaced by a generator which produces electricity to make quartz vibrate. It’s the same as dynamo hubs in bikes. What you get is no friction, no energy loss and precision that varies by 0.2s per day! The hybrid mechanism is showcased by a reverse dial-free construction meaning the hour and minute hands glide over the ultra-slim self-winding mechanical calibre. The stylish all-black timepiece oozes luxury watchmaking and high precision. Price: 70,000 CHF (118 available). Dan Diaconu
jaquet droz.com

JAQUET DROZ – Grande Seconde Décentrée Onyx

Jaquet Droz

“Black is the one colour that contains and consumes all others,” said French painter and sculptor Henri Matisse (1869-1954). The intense shiny black jade dial on the Grande Seconde Décentrée Onyx plays with the light bouncing off two white gold rings that come together to form a curvy figure of 8, a signature of Jaquet Droz. The smaller one unveils the hours and minutes tracked by two rhodium-plated spear-shape hands at 2 o’ clock. The larger and more eye-catching ring takes over the black dial between 5 and 9 whilst a slim hand twirls over the seconds brought to life by the JD 2663A.P calibre. Gaze at the mechanical movement through the 43mm steel case’s sapphire back as it provides a 68-hour power reserve. The steel watch is also available with a silver dial. Price: 10,200 CHF. Sharmila Bertin
jaquet droz.com

BVLGARI – Serpenti Incanti

Bulgari

A symbol of physical strength and intelligence, the snake wraps its body around the wrist to showcase Bvlgari’s flair for watch and jewellery design. The Serpenti Incanti – enchanted snake – coils around a dial glittering with 116 brilliant-cut diamonds on a 30mm gem-set white or rose gold case. The quartz movement brings to life two blue spear-shape hands that track the hours and minutes on the dial. The rose gold model has baguette-cut magenta rubellites to soothe the diamonds glare around the dial and on the serpent’s head. The white gold model dazzles with pure diamonds: 112 stones capture the light on this piece. Both watches have chocolate or blue satin straps with a gem-set gold pin buckle. Two models with diamond straps finish the collection. Price: 45,000 CHF (satin strap) – 70,000 CHF (gem-set gold strap). Sharmila Bertin

BAUME MERCIER – Capeland Shelby® Cobra 1963

Baume&Mercier

How can you put the racy spirit of a legendary car like the Cobra CSX2128 into a watch dial? Baume & Mercier, partner to Shelby® since 2015, set itself this very challenge: the Capeland Shelby® Cobra 1963 in tribute to the 12 Hours of Sebring race in 1963. The limited edition (1963 available, of course!) dial bears the racing car’s colours: sunburst satin-finish black with two horizontal strips at the base of the dial all shot through with yellow (chronograph seconds hand tip, minute and hour counter hands, tachymeter scale on chapter ring). Two luminescent hands in the centre glide over Breguet Arabic hour numerals and a minute track. The seconds tick down in a counter at 9 and the date stands at 4.30. The self-winding calibre in the 44mm steel case fuels the watch’s functions. Price: 3,900 CHF. Sharmila Bertin

CHOPARD – Red Carpet Collection

Chopard

The love affair between Chopard and the Cannes Festival has lasted almost twenty years and what an affair it’s been! Their relationship has been encapsulated by the Palme d’Or award as we know it now and the glittering Red Carpet Collection which epitomises the glamour of the film world and red carpet flowing down the famous Cannes steps. This half-watch half-flower oozes the sophistication you’d expect of the pairing. Its petals glitter with brilliant-cut diamonds and pink sapphires (including 34 marquise-cut gems totalling 15.26 carats) which unfurl delicately like a creeper around the 30mm white gold case. The dial sparkles with 196 diamonds and two blue dauphine-shape hands track the hours and minutes. The self-winding mechanical movement brings the watch to life whilst a sapphire briolette and six diamonds shimmer on the crown. Price: 169,800 CHF. Sharmila Bertin
chopard.com