The sixteen participating exhibitors: A. Lange & Sohne, Audemars Piguet, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Greubel Forsey, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Mont Blanc, Panerai, Parmigiani Fleurier, Piaget, Ralph Lauren, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin and Van Cleef & Arpels, seemed to defy the Swiss Franc game by standing their ground and presenting their latest creations to thousands of distributors, business partners and press members. Here is our selection taken from the various new watches.
A. Lange & Söhne presented a striking contrast of white gold and grey in its new Datograph Perpetual, emphasizing a bold, elegant design protecting the combination of a flyback chronograph and a perpetual calendar. The watch’s three technically advanced mechanisms, the column-wheel concept, jumping minute counter and flyback system, ensure a dependable control of all chronograph functions, a distinct legibility of stopped times and the accurate measurement of the durations of events in quick succession.
The brand extended its Saxonia watch family with the Saxonia, Saxonia Automatic and Saxonia Dual Time, three new models sporting a new dial design that capitalizes and builds on the initial graceful identity with a few cleverly placed accents, all tending to improved legibility. The solid-gold applied hour markers have been moved towards the periphery of the dial and the minute scale’s slightly extended black graduations were enhanced to increase their appearance. The Saxonia Automatic and Saxonia Dual Time’s tens markers of the subsidiary seconds dial now include numerals. Lange also launched its first watch with a decimal minute repeater, the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater, sounding the hours, ten-minute intervals and minutes of the digitally displayed time with the push of a button instead of the conventional slide. In an effort to ensure the repeater sequence is not prematurely interrupted due to the mainspring’s power shortage, its mechanism cannot be activated if the remaining power reserve is less than twelve hours.
Baume & Mercier‘s new Classima, a redesign of the iconic range, targets up-and-coming men and women and offers them what is positioned as their companion on the road to success. Available in steel or two-tone versions, the Classima Men comes in a new 40 mm case fitted with a sapphire crystal case back on all self-winding models, while the Classima Women is a 36.5 mm-diameter mechanical self-winding or quartz model, livened by a sunray guilloché decor, and has exceptional reference with diamond-set dials.
A rather young brand at the SIHH, Greubel Forsey focuses on the link between Art and Science. The Black GMT, treated with vacuum deposited ADLC (amorphous diamond-like carbon), boasts a surface which is significantly harder than natural titanium, and is limited to 22 timepieces worldwide. The dials and indication zones appear to float in space, around the terrestrial globe.
The Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision offers a new and intriguing element, a first for Greubel Forsey, with the tourbillon appearing on the back under a sapphire crystal dome. The fast-rotating 24 second tourbillon complements the graphic composition of the piece; housed in a light-well, it creates an animated scene inviting us to explore the movement-side of the timepiece. The 22 pieces of this limited edition are available in white gold.
From the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar collection, we singled out the double moon version where the moon phase and its mirror image depict the state of the moon in both the northern and southern hemispheres, offering owners south of the equator a view of the moon phase exactly as they see it. The subdial with the double moon display has become a star-studded night sky with the same color as the large dial, where the moon and stars appear to hover in infinite space. The timepiece is available in 18K white gold or red gold.
As we know, many classic moon phases show a one-day discrepancy every 2.5 years. However, Jaeger-LeCoultre strived to solve this issue by properly adjusting the moon phase on its Duomètre Sphérotourbillon Moon, designed to remain accurate for a full 3,887 years; its mechanism allows the small seconds hand to return to zero and restart instantly, without the balance wheel missing a beat, ensuring a precision and timely accuracy.
The brand also shared its fascination for the moon with women, with the Rendez-Vous Moon, a feminine moon-phase display of the full moon, new moon, waxing gibbous, first quarter and first crescent. A 36mm version with a mother-of-pearl dial bearing blue numerals and a 166 brilliant-cut diamonds bezel, and a 39mm guillochéd version with 208 diamonds offer ladies an intimate meeting with time.
An ode to craftmanship and precision, the Radiomir Firenze 3 Days
The dial’s satiné soleil finish reflects light, creating a luminous aura around the watch. The handwound P.3000 calibre movement can be seen through the sapphire glass porthole at the centre of the back case. The fine work on the Radiomir Firenze proves that hand-work of men is sometimes much more accurate than that of any tool or machine.
Parmigiani Fleurier launched a Tonda 1950 “skeleton” edition, the Tonda
After presenting his very first gold bracelet for ladies’ watches in 2014,
Richard Mille wowed SIHH visitors with the limited edition RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur, an impressive magnolia shaped moving tourbillon.
Roger Dubuis transported us to a fantasy world with the Excalibur Spider Skeleton Flying Tourbillon, the first-ever watch with skeleton case, hands and flange, combining what are generally viewed as diametrically opposite materials. Choosing the Excalibur range for its legendary connotations and memorable design codes as the pillar for the skeleton theme, Manufacture Roger Dubuis maintained the star-shaped design, the tourbillon carriage shaped like a Celtic cross and the fine finishes including the circular grained plate of hand-wound Calibre RD505SQ. The mysterious black and striking red create a powerful contrast which is enhanced by the 3D effect of the multi-layer approach.
Vacheron Constantin celebrated its 260th anniversary by enriching its Métiers d’Art collection
As such, our selection falls mostly on skeletons and moon phases: complex, intriguing and fascinating movements and complications that took the lead in the 2015 edition of the SIHH. With the year off to a rather classic but technically advanced start, we can’t wait to see what’s coming next!