Monthly Archives: January 2017

baume et mercier promesse closeup

BAUME MERCIER – PROMESSE MOON PHASE

Baume&Mercier

BLUE-HALOED ‘STAR-OF-THE-NIGHT’

The crescent moon crowns the case and dial of this newly-released, poetically-feminine Baume & Mercier-imagined timepiece

A dreamscape, inviting us to subtly escape, a blue-tinted glow, enshrouding us, carrying us away to a fantasy world, a crescent moon, enticing us to lie back, like Pierrot… Just a glimpse of the emotional sensations inspired by Promesse Moon Phase, Baume & Mercier’s delightful end-of-year centrepiece, exclusively created for ladies. No doubt about it, 2017 will be pure poetry!

baume et mercier promesse closeup

Promesse Moon Phase nestling in a 34 mm-diameter, 50-metre water-resistant steel case, is complemented by a glossy blue alligator strap. Two peripheral curved-shaped grooves set with fifteen diamonds each, totalling 0.38 carats, form precious interludes along the bezel. These twinkling gems embrace an ethereal blue-lacquered dial that perceptibly deepens from centre to flange, a centrepiece similar to the style obtained using the Sfumato technique. Just like the celestial vault that adds the magic sparkle to its stars at night, the hour chapter features four indexes adorned with brilliant-cut diamonds (0.02 carats) and six silvered pearls. Two small Dauphine hands, set at the heart of the dial, display the hours and minutes.

At the centre of this Baume & Mercier-imagined celestial sphere, at exactly 12 o’clock, a sleekly-bevelled aperture recreates the silhouette of a crescent moon and centre stages four moon phases on a black backdrop interspersed with twinkling stars.

These dome-sapphire protected displays are powered by a Ronda 708 quartz movement.

Price upon request

By Sharmila Bertin

monsieur chanel all views

CHANEL – MONSIEUR

Chanel

WHAT TIME IS IT PLEASE, MONSIEUR?

Frequently acknowledged for its creations honouring ladies, this time round the Parisian house has created its highly-technical yet totally-designer Monsieur with a male audience in mind.

This Chanel-imagined, discreetly-named Monsieur represents a first major breakthrough in watchmaking expertise. And if ever the wish was to impress, well, you might as well go for a piece that features a rather unconventional time display and incomparable style, yet reiterates a few of the Parisian house’s design codes.

Monsieur embraces the calibre 1, developed in Chanel’s Swiss watchmaking studios, a hand-wound, mechanical movement that offers a 72-hour power reserve and hosts two complications greatly appreciated by men: a jumping hour and retrograde minute. The mechanism is centre staged through the sapphire-crystal caseback. The 40 mm-diameter case is proposed in a choice of beige gold – an elegantly, soft-toned alloy, created by Chanel – or white gold.

monsieur chanel all views

The superbly ivory silvered dial plays with textures and volumes to perfection. The upper segment of the grainy-effect disc has been carved to cradle the circular contours of the retrograde minute counter. This counter is completed by a 0 to 90 black-figured graduation. The jumping hour, visible through a large-framed, screw-finished aperture at 6 o’clock, evokes the silhouette of the world-famous Chanel N°5 perfume bottle. The running seconds, nestling between the minute tracker and the hours, is slightly off-centred towards 6 o’clock and is decorated with circular striations. Monsieur’s hands are covered with beige gold or white gold depending on the model chosen.

A black alligator leather strap with ardillon buckle adds the finishing touch to this timepiece.

Given that Monsieur is called Monsieur, it goes without saying that this piece will undoubtedly appeal to the Chanel woman who, like Mademoiselle with her penchant for jersey garments traditionally created for the gents, adores appropriating masculine to make it feminine.

Price: CHF 32,350 (beige gold) – CHF 33,900 (white gold)

By Sharmila Bertin

girard perregaux 1966 wwtc closeup

GIRARD-PERREGAUX – 1966 WW.TC

Girard-Perregaux

SYNCHRONISE YOUR TIME WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD

Girard-Perregaux’s classic 1966 collection has a new complex feature intended for travellers: world time, with 24 countries together on just one watch dial.

The world as a playground and watchmaking as a form of expression: you could make this hastily-written phrase the unofficial motto of Girard-Perregaux’s new watch. Indeed, the 1966 collection, which pays homage to the Chaux-de-Fonds factory’s past, in the Neuchâtel canton, has embarked upon a complex feature that has been specially developed for hardened travellers or people who work in different time zones. The world’s times are at the heart of this new 1966 ww.tc model, available in rose gold or steel.

girard perregaux 1966 wwtc closeup

In the centre of the opalescent dial with its delicately brushed finish lie two leaf-shaped hands that mark the hours and minutes, sweeping rhythmically round the hour rim. On this rim, gold or silver-coloured markers and fine black lines are used in harmony with each other. The seconds are displayed off-centre at the 6 o’clock position in a sunken counter with a blue leaf-shaped hand.

A first two-tone ring on the dial displays the scale of 24 hours as well as the day/night indication. Over it lies a second, larger, circle on which the names of 24 capital cities and major towns of the world are marked in upper case letters. Thanks to this complex feature, the fortunate owner of the 1988 ww.tc can instantly and simultaneously know the time in any of the 24 countries. The world times can be selected using two crowns placed on the body of the case at the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions. These can be turned both ways, to position the town concerned at the 12 o’clock position and to adjust the hours and minutes respectively.

All the displays are powered by the GP03300 self-winding calibre, to which Girard-Perregaux has added a special module developed in their workshops. Housed in a 40mm-diameter case, this movement, which provides a 46-hour power reserve, is visible through the sapphire crystal back.

Price on demand

By Sharmila Bertin

corum bubble 8 ball closeup

CORUM – BUBBLE 8 BALL

Corum

FATE, CHANCE, GOOD LUCK AND A WATCH

Corum has designed a few of its Bubble collection models around the world of gambling, and in particular this timepiece that reiterates the famous black billiards ball which is meant to bring good luck… or bad luck.

“Stand out” (from the crowd) is an expression that Corum literally uses for almost all its watch launches. Already illustrated back in 2000 when the watchmaker released its first Bubble timepiece that wowed with its magnifying glass effect created by the sapphire crystal on its dial. In 2015, La Chaux-de-Fonds brand repeated the experience with a new version of the watch, bigger – the diameter was now 47 mm instead of 44 mm – and with a checkerboard-patterned face. This year, it’s a whole series, based on the world of gaming, that Corum invites us to admire, including this Bubble 8 Ball.

corum bubble 8 ball closeup

Unlike the other pieces of this one-of-a-kind selection, Bubble 8 Ball is not laden with colours but proposes an ever-so graphical black and white harmony, though with black taking pride of place. The black-lacquered brass disc of its dial is decorated with a white lozenge, with a black-figured 8, set at… 8 o’clock! This is, of course, the famous 8-ball, the black ball, star of any billiards show. This sphere is, generally-speaking, the one that must be pocketed last out of the 15 on the green gaming table to win the round. If pocketed before, the player loses the game.

The domed sapphire crystal enveloping the dial intensifies the billiards-ball effect as well as the size of the two large open-worked baton-style hands set in the dial centre. The hands display the hours and minutes – the minute tracker is engraved in white on the black flange – whilst a silvered, circle-tipped direct-drive ticks away the seconds.

The timepiece’s C0082 calibre, housed in a 47 mm-diameter steel case and visible through the sapphire crystal caseback, drives the hour, minute and second functions. This self-winding movement also offers a 42-hour power reserve.

A bimetallic Bubble 8 Ball version is also available, with bezel and ball-crown fashioned in rose gold. Both of these Corum models are retailed in 88-piece limited editions.

Price on request

By Sharmila Bertin

ulysse nardin classico rooster closeup

ULYSSE NARDIN – CLASSICO ROOSTER

Ulysse Nardin

THE FLAMBOYANCE OF THE ROOSTER

To celebrate moving to the Year of the Rooster at the end of January, Ulysse Nardin is offering a version of his Classico model with a galliform bird crafted in champlevé enamel

The Chinese horoscope, which has a particular importance mainly in Asia but also in Europe consists of twelve astrological cycles embodied by twelve animals. The end of the month of January 2017, the 28th to be precise, will mark the beginning of a new cycle, that of the Fire Rooster. According to Chinese astrology, this new year will be marked by success and triumph achieved by hard work, continued perseverance and iron discipline. Traditionally, each year Ulysse Nardin presents a limited series of timepieces with the animal featured in the horoscope pictured on the dial. After the Classico Goat in 2015, then the Classico Monkey in 2016, the watchmaker from the Locle in Switzerland has designed the Classico Rooster, issuing only 88, since 8 is a lucky number in China.

ulysse nardin classico rooster closeup

The dial of the Classico Rooster model has been created in champlevé enamel by Donzé Cadrans, a company belonging to the Ulysse Nardin group. This disc, previously hollowed out with a burin tool to create indentations that are then enamelled, baked, then polished to bring out the silhouette of the rooster and the background, made up of blue thistles and pebbles. Here the bird is pictured with a greyish white head and hackles, topped with a carmine-red comb, ear-lobe and wattle. His breast, back and abdomen, as well as his lesser and main sickle feathers, are in petrol-blue enamel, getting close to black or blue-green in certain areas of the plumage. The feathers at the base of the tail and the thighs have a delicate shading which starts as navy blue and gradually lightens towards white.

It is over the largest area – the wing of the bird – that a couple of hands appear. Curved and leaf-shaped, golden and luminescent, they lie above a beaded hour marker that displays the hours and minutes. A seconds hand, also in the centre of the dial, shows the seconds.

The Classico Rooster timepiece is brought to life by the UN-815 calibre, a self-winding movement that is a COSC-certified chronometer providing a 42-hour power reserve, lying in the heart of the 40mm-diameter rose gold case.

Price on demand

 By Sharmila Bertin

perrelet lab closeup

PERRELET – LAB

Perrelet

A MECHANICAL BALLET IN THREE DIMENSIONS

The new collection of watches that has been produced in the Perrelet factory is available in three models with structured, three-dimensional dials

Since the invention of its double rotor system in 1995, Perrelet has become a past master in the art of hypnotising the eye with this oscillating weight placed at the side of the dial which dances when the wrist is moving. The company, founded almost 240 years ago by the Neuchâtel watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet (1729-1826) and now established in Bienne, in the Canton of Berne, takes pleasure in designing ways that time can be displayed, making it live, in the literal sense of the word as well as figuratively. You can see this in their new collection called simply LAB.

perrelet lab closeup

The LAB range is available with dials in three elegant colours: an intense black, a grey which is mid-way between anthracite and gunmetal, and a timeless silver. It has a very structured dial with a central disc crossed by horizontal lines surrounded by a brushed ring. A large chapter ring holds the minute track, in black or white depending on the chosen model, whereas the facetted, luminescent markers are fixed on a sapphire crystal ring, giving the hour rim the appearance of floating in the air. At the heart of the dial lies a trio of metallic hands that display the hours, minutes and seconds. The date is shown in white on a black background (except for the model with the silver dial where the colours are reversed) in a display at the 6 o’clock position.

The most spectacular aspect of the Perrelet’s LAB, however, is its oscillating weight on a rolling bearing, placed under the ring holding the markers. The part of it that can be seen is decorated with oblique lines and whirls on the dial. This rotor includes the calibre P-411, a self-winding mechanical movement designed and produced by Perrelet. It provides a 42-hour power reserve and is housed within the stainless steel, cushion-shaped case (42x42mm).

Price: 4,950 CHF

By Sharmila Bertin

roger dubuis excalibur 36 closeup

ROGER DUBUIS – EXCALIBUR 36

Roger Dubuis

SPARKLING BLUE!

The watchmaker from Meyrin relies on blue in his new watch collections including a timepiece that skilfully mixes rock ‘n roll allure and precious stones.

Well-known for his avant-garde watchmaking and his non-conformist spirit, Roger Dubuis seems to have understood that the “men’s or women’s watch” concept is largely old-fashioned, and so he concentrates on the “versatility” of the diameter of his new Excalibur 36. In fact, a jewelled timepiece is not necessarily destined to be worn by the fairer sex – some male clients really like diameters smaller than 40mm, and others favour bezels studded with precious stones.

roger dubuis excalibur 36 closeup

Going beyond the genderisation of products, Roger Dubuis’s Excalibur 36 model is aimed first and foremost at the lovers of character watches; at people who are looking for a timepiece with a strong identity. Its DLC-treated black titanium case is 36mm in diameter and 9.80mm thick. It is topped with an angular, notched bezel set with 48 brilliant-cut blue sapphires. Placed in rows of four stones, they reach a total of 1.5 carats. The electric blue of these gems is picked up by the dial in blue PVD with a sunburst finish where the rays converge on the centre, where dauphine-shaped hands in white gold are fixed, showing the hours and minutes. The hour marker is made up of long Roman numerals starting from the heart of the dial and spreading out towards the chapter ring. The seconds are displayed in an azure sunken counter, set off-centre at the 6 o’clock position. The lower part of this sub-dial includes a trapezoidal display that shows the date in black on a white background.

Excalibur 36 is powered by a self-winding mechanical movement, the RD830 calibre, that also provides a 48-hour power reserve when the watch is completely wound. Its oscillating weight in red gold is visible through the sapphire crystal back of the case.

Two strips of blue alligator leather completed by a folding clasp in DLC-treated titanium are there to attach this new Roger Dubuis model to the wrist.

Price on request

By Sharmila Bertin