DANCING IN TOTAL FREEDOM
This year, the Villeret collection by Blancpain is joined by a piece with original complications – three in all – around a dial made of “Grand Feu” enamel. A highly graphic aesthetic layout that is very different from the rest of the range.
Jehan-Jacques Blancpain was the founder of a workshop producing watch parts in 1735 and watches from 1815. He was born in 1693 in Villeret, a small town in Bernese Jura. It is now the name of one of the collections of the Blancpain brand. The aesthetic style of Villeret timepieces evokes the pocket watches made in the 18th century in Jehan-Jacques Blancpain’s workshop, with their rounded cases crowned with a double-stepped bezel and classic dials featuring open, sage leaf-shaped hands. The Villeret Tourbillon Volant Heure Sautante Minute Retrograde was launched at Baselworld 2018 and came as a surprise, since although it shares the same overall look as its predecessors, it combines three complications in an original way.
The Villeret Tourbillon Volant Heure Sautante Minute Retrograde is driven by a hand-wound mechanical movement, the calibre 260MR. At the heart of a 42mm-wide pink gold case, it provides a power reserve of 144 hours (6 days) with a reserve indicator shown on a guilloche disc that can be seen on the back of the watch through a sapphire glass.
Price: 139,000 CHF blancpain.com
By Sharmila Bertin
The timepiece comes in a brushed titanium or pink gold case, depending on the version, and with a diameter of 44mm. The earth’s attraction may be eliminated, but the visual attraction is at its zenith!
To show off its characteristic style, two versions of the Carrera 16 Calibre Chronograph are available. One comes with a black dial, combined with a black leather strap recalling the traditional perforated gloves once worn by motor-racing drivers. The other blends the blue dial with a steel strap featuring a folding clasp.
This new Ballade is worn on the wrist with a 316L solid steel strap with pink gold PVD links or a leather version with a butterfly deployment clasp.
Like all Rolex watches, the Oyster GMT-MASTER II also has the superlative chronometer certification guaranteeing precision of -2 to +2 seconds a day.
The sunrayed dial is available in the three colours mentioned above. It features a rhodium-plated hour chapter comprising three large Arabic numerals (6, 9 and 12) and dots, all covered with white Super-LumiNova®. The hours, minutes and seconds are displayed in the centre by a trio of silvered, luminescent baton-style hands, whilst the white-backdrop date is set in an aperture at 3 o’clock.
On the chronograph version, the discs of the three silvered counters – the small seconds at 9 o’clock, the minute and hour totalizers at 3 o’clock and at 6 o’clock – provide an ever-so fast and easy time view. This display, complemented by the hours and minutes in the centre and the date set at 4:30, are driven by the 5200 calibre, nestling in a 42.5 mm-diameter steel case, which offers a 52-hour power reserve.
This performance is guided by a hand-wound movement providing the watch with 72 hours of power reserve. The calibre stands out through the presence of two oversized tourbillons. The rotating cages measure 14.9mm and are 50% bigger than usual. They are both placed above the calibre, and their opposing gyratory movements provide an artistic watchmaking ballet. They are there to cancel out the effects of gravity on the movement, but the visual result is visually gripping!
The customisation options also involve the case (50mm wide!) and the colour of the hands. If you don’t fancy the polished titanium, Panerai gives you option of changing it for red gold or white gold. Whatever your final choice, the hand-wound P.2005/GLS movement guarantees a generous four days of power reserve. There is no occult science behind the performance, since it is provided with the help of two barrels.
While the dial borrows the aesthetic codes of the period, the mechanism is the very contemporary calibre ETA 6498-1. Once wound, the watch will provide up to 46 hours of power reserve. The Geneva Wave design on the bridges and plates of the hand-wound movement is shown beneath the sapphire case back. The steel case is watertight down to 50 metres and comes in a very modern size with a width of 42mm – far removed from the diameter of the earlier watch, which must have been around 35mm!