For four centuries and until today Geneva has been the most important city in the world selling "time". Here on the lake shore lie the headquarters of the most renowned suppliers of luxury watches to all the corners of the world. Each year in April Geneva is frequented by thousands of involved people who have an access to the sanctum sanctorum - Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) where the manufactures of RLG corporation traditionally introduce their new products.
The international women’s year
New watches of this year’s SIHH session reminded of a year-long 8th of March: most of the brands had prepared many "gifts" for the ladies who love jewellery and watches.
German watchmakers A.Lange & Söhne famous for their tourbillons made a big surprise for the ladies at this SIHH, issuing the Cabaret Tourbillon. The elegant shape of Cabaret that became a favourite of many women – nonfussy Art Deco – was first introduced in 1997. The unique innovation of A.Lange & Söhne is a tourbillon with a stop-watch in a women’s Cabaret body from platinum or pink gold.
Baume & Mercier also acted as "ladies’ men" this year and created the incredibly gentle Iléa collection. The round body in steel with or without diamonds, classic design, mother-of-pearl face with a Curve pattern – all this made the watch successful. It’s a bold move by Baume & Mercier who made a simple and elegant ladies’ watch when other brands usually make women’s watches oversized and overcomplicated.
Cartier jewellers stayed true to the animal theme, issuing the Cirque Animalier collection. Images of people’s favourites – circus animals – are encased in luxury shapes of gold, pink and white gold with a scattering of diamonds. The panda, tiger and emerald-eyed elephant (emeralds are traditional Cartier stones) sit on the guilloched dials of these precious watches. Men will be delighted by an addition to the Santos family – pilot’s watch Triple that comes in a limited series of 100.
The totally masculine Girard-Perregaux, makers of the best regatta watches, also yielded to the charm of women’s watches and introduced the model with a name that speaks for itself: ww.tc 24 Hour Shopping. It’s a real find for shopaholics: the watch shows time zones for the most significant fashion spots and clusters of luxury boutiques like Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, TSUM, Ginza, Bond Street, Montenapoleone and others. A well-sized dial (41 mm), large numbers and day/night indicator allow the shopper not to be distracted by excessive or small details. Diamonds and a mother-of-pearl dial make this watch a real haute couture item.
French jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels also made a contribution to the list of every woman’s most coveted items. Among them is Charms, the collection of charms for bracelets so adored by many girls. A watch pendant in the style of Alhambra rotates freely around the dial. There are 2 body sizes – 32 and 38 mm – and 2 colour options – white and pink gold. You can also choose from an array of replaceable wristlets from coloured leather or sateen.
The meaning of history
This year IWC celebrate their 140th anniversary, that’s why the new collection was issued to mark the date. Watchmakers from Schaffhausen have designed 6 legendary retro-style models: the Portuguese, Ingenieur, Pilot’s, Da Vinci, Aquatimer and Portofino. Vintage Collection interprets the good old classics by the famous watchmakers. There are 2 kinds of watches: steel (the non-limited edition) and platinum. The first 140 pieces of the latter kind are already booked and will be delivered in leather cases as individually numbered sets.
Jaeger-LeCoultre also treated their 175th anniversary seriously and introduced the Collection 1833 that includes such legendary models as Master Ultra Thin, Master Grand Tourbillon, Master Eight Days Perpetual SQ and Master Minute Repeater. This limited series reflects the philosophy of the brand and its many inventions, from the eternal skeleton calendar to the unique minute repeater. Another important launch by Jaeger-LeCoultre at this year’s SIHH is Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2, a revolutionary mechanism with a tourbillon equipped with a unique cylindrical balance-wheel that rotates at a speed of 1 per 18,75 seconds.
SIHH 2008 witnessed another historic event: Montblanc Montre S.A. launched their first watch calibre developed entirely within the company. The limited series of watches equipped with this mechanism is Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph, dedicated to the inventor of the chronograph Nicolas Rieussec who created the rotating dial in 1821. The ink marker in the watch recorded time intervals during horse races; hence the name: chronos (time), graphein – write. There are only 25 platinum Star Nicolas Rieussec chronographs; 75 are made of white and yellow gold and 125 of pink gold.
The caleidoscope of discoveries
Designers of Audemars Piguet also decided to touch the keys of the watch connoisseurs’ souls and introduced Millenary Painoforte. Flowing piano music, whether at a concert in the conservatoire or at a friends’ party playing favourite songs, became the main theme of the watch décor. The limited series was issued in white gold with no diamonds (500 pieces) and with diamonds (250 pieces).
JeanRichard, manufacturers from the famous watchmaking district Chaux-de-Fonds, decided to play hopscotch and issued the Paramount Time Square where the hour hand doesn’t circle the dial but moves within a square. Marking the time, the hour indicator with 3 dots (red, blue and black) moves along the square trajectory and revolves on its axis. The colour dots alternate and stop at the hour markings. The trajectory is a hypocycloid served by shifting wheels and planet wheels.
The square also inspired Roger Dubuis and their new Kingsquare timepieces: the 40-mm men’s watch and the 36-mm women’s watch. 3 facets of sapphire glass on the dial create a special refraction effect when you look at it. The body of gray and pink gold or fashionable titan matches white or black resin. 2 men’s models and 1 women’s model have a hovering tourbillon. There are also jewelled options with a scattering of diamonds on the body.
Italian watchmakers Panerai introduced Luminor 1950 Crono Monopulsante, part of the Manufacture collection, a chronograph made of titan. It’s a complicated watch mechanism in the traditional Luminor 1950 body of the trickiest in moulding and treatment titan kind; this year it’s issued as a limited series. Due to the 3 overlapping spring barrels the watch mechanism is powerful enough to work precisely for 8 days in a row.
Parmigiani Fleurier took a fancy to travelling which is reflected in their collection Kalpa Hemispheres inspired by the famous explorer and sailor Bernard Stamm who’s also the brand messenger. With a body of steel or pink gold, the watch has independent time zone indicators and all the necessary functions for those who love travelling.
Piaget issued Emperador Coussin with an eternal calendar. The watch has an own 855P calibre and a leap year indicator, as well as the retrograde day of the week function. Besides, it features 2 time zones.
Vacheron Constantin amaze as always: this session saw the launch of the new Quai de l’Ile series called so after the embankment in Geneva where the watchmakers had their historical headquarters. The main feature of the models is their custom character: due to the new Quai de l’Ile body shape and the unique design of its middle that consists of 7 components, the potential owner can choose the combination of 3 metals, 2 dial options and 2 options of mechanism décor. This year Vacheron Constantin offers almost 400 various options; all in all the cushion-shaped body allows the indefinite number of options. There’s a set of extras – case, passport, USB-key and multimedia applications. The new line Quai de l’Ile will be presented by 2 models: Quai de l’Ile Date Self-winding and Quai de l’Ile Day-Date and Power-Reserve Self-winding.
Natalia Andrianova
Photoreport
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