So many clocks, so little time. Although, time is just a construct. So let’s take as many seconds, minutes or even hours as we want to look at the most beautiful and exciting news from this year’s Watches & Wonders.
Innovation
No time to count seconds
Good news for all existentialists who get heart palpitations at the sight of a ticking second hand in view of the passing of time and their own transience (but still want to wear an Omega watch): The “Constellation Observatory” collection manages without a second hand, but still passes all the important tests. “Until now, a second hand was required for precision certification. Thanks to the development of a new acoustic test method, this requirement has now become obsolete,” explains Raynald Aeschlimann, President and CEO of Omega. This is the first time in the history of watchmaking that a two-hand watch with hour and minute hands has received Master Chronometer certification. omegawatches.com
Nice to Have
Better, stronger, smaller
Sometimes thinking big means downsizing. It wasn’t the gods of watchmaking philosophy who came up with this idea, but us, when we spotted the new “Octo Finissimo 37” from Bulgari. As the name suggests, it has been reduced to a diameter of 37 mm “For us, the Octo Finissimo 37 is a reimagined blank canvas. By reducing its diameter, we have created a space in which creativity can unfold in its purest form,” says Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Executive Director Product Creation at Bulgari. The inner workings remain impressive: a newly developed movement with a power reserve of 72 hours ticks inside the “Octo Finissimo 37”. bulgari.com
Emotional
Aged well
In Latin, patina literally means a thin layer. That’s what it is when we talk about traces of use on art or objects. Emotionally, however, patina means much more: maturity, transience, beauty in imperfection. With its technically aged case, the “Mille Miglia Classic Patina” from Chopard is reminiscent of the patina on the bodywork of historic racing cars. Our favorite objects are only at their most beautiful when you can see how long we have owned them and how much we like them. chopard.com
Anniversary
Off to the water
If you find yourself in a zoo with an expansive aquarium landscape, you might catch a glimpse of the nautilus pompilius, a pretty underwater creature that looks like a cross between an octopus and a snail and is also known as a pearl boat. Nautilus actually simply means sailor, derived from the Greek word “naus”, which means ship. However, watch connoisseurs only associate the word Nautilus with one thing: the iconic Patek Philippe watch of the same name, which is celebrating its fiftieth birthday this year. Half a century ago, the “Nautilus” was a real rebel: steel for the case was an unusual choice for luxury watches and it also broke new ground with its octagonal bezel inspired by a ship’s porthole. And it impressed with a water resistance of 120 meters. Now the anniversary is being celebrated with four new limited edition versions. patek.com
Weightlessness
Reduced to the essentials
“Perfection obviously comes not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away,” the French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said. What can we learn from this? Always get your inspiration from the creative minds of this world, and not from ChatGPT. Richard Mille took this quote to heart for the new “RM 55-01 Manual Winding”. Its RMUL4 caliber weighs less than five grams. Regardless of which of the three versions you choose – carbon TPT®, white quartz TPT® and gray quartz TPT® – this timepiece is a statement anyway. richardmille.com
Nostalgia
Swinging back to the sixties
What is actually the most perfect number? We think: 60. After all, 60 seconds tick away in a minute and 60 minutes fill an hour. And: the sixties were a wonderful decade. The “Sixtie” from Piaget is also inspired by the swinging sixties. More jewelry than watch, it symbolizes a nostalgic lightness. This year, it comes in new, blue versions – a color that was also often seen in the sixties. piaget.com
Big Bang
Star power
“Trust yourself” is delicately engraved in the bezel at exactly six o’clock. This corresponds to the life motto of star footballer Kylian Mbappé, who has been breaking soccer records for a decade. He is the first player since Pelé to score seven World Cup goals before his 24th birthday and sometimes darts across the pitch at 38 km/h. He achieves this with talent, hard work and perseverance. You also need the latter if you are queuing to get your hands on a “Big Bang Reloaded Kylian Mbappé” from Hublot. The timepiece is limited to 200 pieces. hublot.com
Head start
The hours are jumping by
The time races, er, jumps. And with numerals instead of traditional hands that jump every 60 minutes. At least that’s what the “Neo Frame Jumping Hour” from Audemars Piguet does. This brand-new piece was inspired by times gone by: The jumping hour system first appeared in night clocks around 1650 and was adapted for pocket watches in the 18th century to improve readability. Wristwatches with jumping hours lost importance with the beginning of the Second World War, but experienced a renaissance in the 1960s and 1970s during the space-age design era. In the 1990s, Audemars Piguet began to combine this complication with minute repeaters, and the comeback was even more successful. The “Neo Frame” has the manufacture’s first automatic movement with jumping hours, the caliber 7122, and because aesthetics are just as important as complicated movements, the case comes in elegant rose gold and sapphire crystal. audemarspiguet.com
We Love
High time to reveal the secret
While you shouldn’t fall into the oversharing trap on social media, different rules apply in watchmaking. Secrets are allowed to be revealed. We all wonder what goes on inside a watch. Hermès thinks so too and focuses on the architecture of the movement. The “Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune” is powered by the H1953 movement and follows the lunar cycle of the northern and southern hemispheres. Will we completely forget the time while observing the dial, which takes us right into the heart of the movement? No question. Will we finally understand how it all works? Let’s put it this way: some things can remain a mystery. hermes.com
Material science
Ceramic art
When you think of ceramics, the first thing that comes to mind is decorative vases. Or perhaps all those cafés where you can paint your own ceramic pieces that are springing up like mushrooms. Rado, on the other hand, makes you think of watches. Forty years ago, the Swiss brand introduced high-tech ceramics to the world of watchmaking with the “Integral” watch and made the smooth, hard-wearing material its trademark. In doing so, it reinforced the motto of the founding brothers Ernst, Fritz and Werner Schlup: “If we can imagine it, we can realize it. And if we can make it happen, we will.” rado.com
New Edition
A color selection is given here
Taupe is French and means mole. In the world of colors, taupe is a dark grey-brown, like the fur of a mole. On the color wheel, this gray-brown lies between red and yellow. Now that we are all on the same page when it comes to color and linguistics: the dial of the new “Sport Classic” from Ebel is – taupe, of course. The characteristic waves on the strap are also retained on this model. ebel.com
Superwatch
Freshly revised
Does Superman actually wear a watch, or does he always know what time it is anyway? Maybe time doesn’t matter in the DC Universe anyway. In any case, Henry Cavill wears a HydroConquest. I wonder if that’s why he gave up his role as Superman? Rumor in the film industry has it that there was a bit more drama involved. Back to horology: Longines has revised its “HydroConquest” collection. It is now available in 39 mm and 42 mm sizes, with four new dial variations and five different colors for the ceramic bezel. longines.com
Playful
It’s time to play
Whether it’s Jass cards, a chessboard or the good old Game Boy – you’re never too old to play. Chanel thinks so too. The “Coco Game” collection comprises 14 timepieces; from a necklace with a hidden mini watch to a regular timepiece, everything is included. What runs like a common thread through the playful Cocoversum: A pixelated figurine of Mademoiselle Coco that you can even hang on a watch as a charm. What were those Labubus again? Will there soon be a virtual game in which you can gamble your way through the fashion world as Coco? We’ll apply for our own patent before someone steals the idea. chanel.com
Ready for use
Robust & retro
In our perfect pink dream world, there’s no military, because there’s no war there either. In the real world, unfortunately, there is. But we actually prefer to talk about watches rather than the army. In fact, these two topics overlap: Panerai used to develop timepieces and instruments for the Italian Royal Navy in secret. Nowadays, the watches are intended more for the little luxuries of everyday life. However, you can still see a little bit of the past in the aesthetics: The new “Luminor” models are not only inspired by their predecessors, but are just as powerful and ready for adventure. panerai.com
Icon
The world is your oyster
What do an oyster and a watch have in common? Perhaps their value, if the oyster happens to produce a priceless pearl. One hundred years ago, Hans Wilsdorf brought the two a little closer together. By creating the legendary “Oyster” for Rolex, with a completely waterproof and dustproof case. This meant that, like its namesake, it could spend some time under water. A century later, the word Oyster is almost synonymous with Rolex, and the “Oyster” family is still growing. rolex.com
Precision
Complex name, complex technology
The name of this new timepiece from Jaeger-LeCoultre is at least as complex as what goes on inside it: “Master Hybris Inventiva Gyrotourbillon à Stratosphère”. This watch features a three-axis tourbillon construction of caliber 178, for which several patents have been registered. This makes it the most precise wristwatch with a tourbillon ever developed by Jaeger-LeCoultre. What is this multi-axis tourbillon all about? Because wristwatches continuously follow the wearer’s movements, watchmakers are aware that multi-axis tourbillons neutralize the effects of gravity on rate accuracy to a much greater extent than their single-axis counterparts. In 2004, Jaeger-LeCoultre therefore introduced the first gyrotourbillon, laying the foundation for a pioneering series of multi-axis tourbillons. jaeger-lecoultre.com
Smooth
Sleek like silk
Nineties chic, smokey eyes, all tight and sparkly: thanks to the arrival of Demna as Creative Director, Gucci was rightly the center of attention at Milan Fashion Week. And while we don’t blame anyone for not being able to take their eyes off Kate Moss and Emily Ratajkowski, we kindly point out that Gucci is not only the home of high fashion, but also of high watchmaking. New this year: four models from the “Métiers d’Art” collection and a new version of the “Gucci 25H”. However, fashion is not ignored in the Gucci watch universe either. The “Métiers d’Art” draws its inspiration from the silk scarf designs in the archive. gucci.com
Darling
Great trio
Tortue, Tank Normale and Crash: in the near future, this may be a normal choice of baby names for triplets. Now, however, the names are reserved for three of Cartier’s most characteristic watch shapes. The tenth Cartier Privé Edition has once again put them in the spotlight. The skeletonized “Crash”, which looks as if Salvador Dalí himself had sketched it, the “Tank Normale” with its seven-row platinum bracelet and the “Tortue” with its oversized Roman twelve – all three prove that watches are at their most beautiful when you think artistically. cartier.com
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