From a timepiece that will set you back a mere $55m to the rather more modest launch of the Daphne Du Maurier watch collection, everything in the horological world is ticking along just nicely
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s top-selling Reverso watch was launched way back in 1931 and continues to be the brand’s top seller. In homage to the ingenious, flip-case number’s longevity, JLC has produced several ‘tribute’ models based on the original, the latest being this delicious Grand Reverso Ultra Thin in pink gold with contrasting chocolate brown dial. Inside is a lovely, manual-wind movement with 45-hour power reserve – and even the strap is special, being a hand-stitched job courtesy of Argentinian polo bootmaker Casa Fagliano. Giddy up… £12,900.
jaeger-lecoultre.com
Bell & Ross
French brand Bell & Ross has teamed up with British custom motorcycle builder Shaw Speed and Custom to create a promotional bike called the B-Rocket, a retro-futuristic dragster based on the jet planes of the 1950s. Naturally, there is also a B-Rocket watch in the form of the 46mm BR01-94 three-counter chronograph featuring a black dial bordered by a black and white tachymeter scale for speed and distance calculations. The strap is made from padded black leather inspired by the bike’s knee supports (ooh, vicar). £3,500 approx.
bellross.com
Parmigiani
There’s lot’s of talk at the moment about soccer, that game ‘played with the wrong shaped ball’, as my friend Rupert often describes it. Apparently it’s extremely popular, especially in Brazil, to which various watch brands have suddenly pledged allegiance with special edition timepieces. One such is Parmigiani –watch partner of the Brazilian Football Confederation – which has created the six-in-one Transforma that can be ‘transformed’ from a regular wristwatch to a pocket watch or even a miniature table clock. The Transforma set comprises a cradle and two different watch heads: a 43mm carbon-cased chronograph with a dial discreetly detailed with the yellow, green and blue CBF colours, and a similarly liveried 43mm annual calendar job. It’s truly bootiful. £51,200.
parmigiani.ch
Patek Philippe
Patek Philippe’s Nautilus sports watch was launched in the long, hot summer of 1976 with an advertising campaign that pitched it as being ‘one of the most expensive watches in the world’. It was designed by the late, great Gerald Genta who is said to have been inspired by the look of a ship’s port hole, and the model is now considered to be an all-time classic. The latest of many variations on the theme is the Reference 5990/1 model which combines a chronograph with a second time zone. Despite the extra buttons, it’s still waterproof to 120 metres. £38,500.
patek.com
Vacheron
This year’s women’s pieces in Vacheron’s long-standing ‘Metiers d’Art’ collection have been given the title of ‘Fabuleux Ornaments’ and include a model featuring a dial made from French lace and another decorated with Chinese embroidery. The 37mm cases contain the brand’s superb, hand-wound movement and each design is limited to 20 pieces. From £112,350 (STC)
vacheron-constantin.com
Graff Diamonds
Legendary diamond house Graff dazzled the crowds at this year’s Baselworld show by exhibiting the most expensive object ever seen in the event’s 97-year history – a women’s piece called the Hallucination, which features a bracelet made from 110 carats of rare, coloured diamonds – and costs $55m! Owner Laurence Graff is said to have spent several years collecting the stones to create the watch, which he described as a ‘celebration of coloured diamonds’.
graffdiamonds.com
Cartier
Full marks to Cartier for allowing
imaginations to run wild in the naming of its new dive watch. The steel-cased ‘Cartier Diver’ has been pitched as a direct competitor to long-established underwater watches such as the Rolex Submariner and the Blancpain 50 Fathoms and is made to the recognised ISO 6425 dive watch standard. Featuring a beautifully engineered, uni-directional bezel with half-minute adjustment, a screw down crown and excellent luminosity, it really is a serious piece of operational equipment. The initial range will be supplied on rubber straps, with a bracelet option arriving in the autumn. From £5,700.
cartier.com
TAG Heuer
We know what you’re thinking – that’s not a watch. You’re right, of course. It’s actually the new entry pass which will allow access to the Driver’s Club at this month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed and is the work of TAG Heuer’s London-based, global watch designer Christoph Behling. TAG is the sole sponsor of the exclusive Driver’s Club, where the heroic ‘pilottas’ can rest and recuperate between runs up the famous hill. Produced by a Birmingham firm graced with the Royal Warrant, the medallions are based on a TAG Heuer stop watch and will be numbered from 0002 to 1,500. Lord March gets a one-off version engraved with his name. tagheuer.co.uk
Bulgari
If you turn to our ‘Object of Desire’ on page 76, you’ll find the world’s thinnest watch, which is made by Piaget. But Bulgari currently holds the record for the thinnest tourbillon watch, following the unveiling of its Octo Finissimo Tourbillon. It features a flying tourbillon mechanism that measures a mere 1.95mm thick, despite the fact that it contains 249 bits. All told, the 40mm diameter platinum case is just five mm high from top to bottom. Such horological wizardry doesn’t come cheap, however – the Finissimo costs £99,000.
bulgari.com
IWC
IWC’s big news at this year’s SIHH was the launch of a completely re-vamped Aquatimer dive watch range – and the pledge of long-term support for the Galapagos Islands through its backing of the Charles Darwin Foundation. Among the new models are two Darwin specials, the best of which is the Aquatimer Chronograph Edition ’50 Years science of Galapagos’, which honours this year’s half-century anniversary of the archipelago’s Charles Darwin Research Station. The flyback watch is limited to 500 examples world wide. £8,250.
iwc.com
Raymond Weil
A shadow was cast over the watch biz in January with the news that Raymond Weil had checked out at the age of 87. Weil established his eponymous brand in 1976 during the height of the ‘quartz crisis’, basing it on his belief that a luxury watch didn’t have to cost the earth. He must have been right, because RW now has 3,500 points of sale around the world, 15 monobrand boutiques and makes 200,000 watches a year. One of the latest fits right in with Weil’s original philosophy – the plain and simple Toccata – which comes in 38mm or 42mm case sizes and ranges in price from just £550–£675.
raymond-weil.com
Barbour
You’ve no doubt got the jackets, the jerseys, the jerkins and the jodphurs – so now it must be time for a Barbour watch. The legendary Tyneside firm, which managed to turn cold, clammy, not-very-waterproof waxed cotton in to a fashion essential, is now trying its hand at horology with a range of inexpensive timepieces made by volume manufacturer Zeon and powered by Swiss-made quartz movements. Among the most rugged is the cushion-cased ‘Beacon’ chronograph which can be had on a distressed leather strap. £300;
barbour.com
Du Maurier
Well, we’ve strained our ears in a bid to make sense of the incomprehensible script of the latest BBC production of Jamaica Inn; Hollywood is working on a new Rebecca movie, and there’s even a re-make of The Birds in the works. So it seems as though all things Daphne du Maurier-related are hot property at the moment – which is why her grandson, Ned du Maurier Browning, is hoping to get in on the act with a new watch range named after the celebrated West Country author. We like the ‘Daphne Signature’, a neat, 32mm women’s model limited to 300 examples. £425.
dumaurierwatches.com
Rolex
Rolex sports watches, such as the Cosmograph Daytona, Submariner and GMT-Master, are synonymous with men of action – but if you’re more of a man of leisure who simply wants an elegant, reliable watch, the Oyster Perpetual might well be a better option. The ‘Oyster’ bit refers to the legendary waterproof case developed in the 1920s, while the ‘Perpetual’ is all about the self-winding movement which the brand perfected a few years later. This entry-level Rolex has been given a lift with a range of new dial colours, perhaps the best of which is the delectable ‘Red Grape’ version. The price isn’t exactly crushing, either. £3,600.
rolex.com
Van Cleef and Arples
Van Cleef and Arpels enchanted visitors to this year’s SIHH with its Midnight Planetarium Poetic Complication watch featuring a movement developed by a Dutch horological boffin called Christiaan van der Klaauw, who has been creating innovative astronomical clocks for more than 25 years. Time is marked on the 24-hour dial of the Midnight Planetarium by a shooting star which orbits the outer edge – but what’s really impressive is that the 396-part movement also drives tiny representations of the Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn so that they move accurately in relation to the centrally positioned sun. £185,800.
vancleefarpels.com
Eterna
Eterna might just be one of the most interesting watch brands you’ve never heard of. Founded in 1930, it created the automatic winding rotor running on five ball bearings which subsequently became standard for all automatic movements -– hence the brand’s ‘five balls’ symbol. One of its latest pieces is an upgraded version of the celebrated Kon Tiki dive watch, originally created in the ’70s to honour the 1947 voyage of Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, who sailed across the Pacific in a balsa wood raft. The new ‘Royal Kon Tiki ‘ is waterproof down to 100 metres and features a dual time zone display. Prices start at £3,500.
eterna.ch
Alphina
The Startimer Pilot ‘Black Star’ is the latest flight watch from the privately owned Alpina brand, which has only recently become available in the UK. Apparently designed for professional pilots and not, according to the blurb, for ‘the business class traveller…who has to decide between the beef or the salmon for his in-flight meal,’ it combines a blackened steel, 44mm case with a self-winding chronograph movement to create a sort of stealthy, retro look. Chocks away – but not chocs, of course. £2,050
thewatchgallery.com
Breitling
The latest addition to the long-running range of Breitling for Bentley watches is this ‘Midnight Carbon’ version of the 6.75 chronograph. Named after the mighty motor found beneath the bonnet of the Mulsanne limo, the watch has a knurled bezel based on the pattern of a Bentley grille, an open work dial revealing bits of the movement and a special ‘large aperture’ calendar display. Turn this 49mm monster over and you’ll find a winding rotor in the shape of a five-spoke Bentley rim. Just a thousand will be made. £8,010.
breitling.com
Hermes
I generally find ‘novelty’ watches rather irritating, but the latest example from Hermès is, I admit, rather clever. Called ‘L’heure Masquee’, the watch appears to have only a minute hand – until the press of a button brings out the hour hand from its hiding place behind, resulting in the correct time being displayed. The action also uncovers a second time zone display in a small window at six o’clock, while releasing the button shuts the window down and once again renders the hour hand invisible. Rather like my dog, it’s pointless but rather likeable. £13,200 (steel); £28,400 (rose gold).
hermes.com
Panerai
To mark this year’s decade of its international Classic Yachts Challenge regatta series, Panerai has produced a limited edition anniversary version of the Luminor submersible 1950 model that features an automatic movement with three-day power reserve and a 47mm case of brushed titanium. The back is engraved with the legend ’10 Years of Passion’ and the watch is supplied with two Panerai straps and a tool with which to change them. Just 50 examples will be available worldwide. By the way, you can see some of these beautiful vintage yachts at Panerai’s ‘British Classic Week’ during Cowes, 16-18 July. £6,500 approx
panerai.com
Frederique Constant
Frederique Constant (which comes from the same stable as the equally affordable Alpina brand) set out a decade ago to demonstrate that a watch containing an ‘in-house’ mechanical movement needn’t cost a fortune – and it succeeded admirably by producing a range of mechanisms, some of which even incorporate cutting-edge silicon technology. To mark the 10th anniversary of the so-called ‘Heart Beat Manufacture’, FC has created a jubilee piece featuring a silicon escape wheel and anchor – and its first platinum case. £28,920.
thewatchgallery.com