The world's most amazing watches
We look at the latest timepieces
The world of luxury watches is becoming even more imaginative this season. Whether it’s the work of independent watchmakers determined to hold on to their free-styling spirit, prestige houses infusing their classics with the spirit of the times, or the trend for quirky pocket watches, we’ve picked out some of the best serious investment pieces around – the prices speak for themselves.
Free Spirit
The work of independent makers is getting more and more intriguing – this is the future of watch design. Swiss watch maverick Max Busser has come up with Machine Number 3 (in two versions: Sidewinder, Starcruiser £54,000). Call it what you like – mechanical sculpture, work of art or testimony to incredible craftsmanship – but you won’t miss it. Italian Giuliano Mazzuoli, former racing driver and prolific product designer, offers the Contagiri (£14,300 in steel, £19,800 in white gold), based on a car’s rev counter, while Finland’s Stepan Sarpaneva has created the Korona K3 Black Moon (£11,420) inspired by melancholic Finnish winters. A collective of seven photogenic 20-something watchmakers, formed by influential Swiss industry player BNB Concept, has resulted in polio-sufferer David Rodriguez’s emotive timepiece, Resilience. The watch bears an engraving of Machu Picchu on one side, while communicating the pain and trauma of Rodriguez’s own physical handicap in the form of a shattered and scarred caseback: price on application.
Open House
Edgy watchmakers are opening up the hearts of their watches, revealing the craftsmanship housed within.
It’s all very much a case of bring your own magnifying glass. Breguet’s La Tradition (£17,600) invites a peek into a wristwatch that started life as an 18th-century pocketwatch. The central portion of De Grisogono’s Fuso Quadrato dial (£19,100 in rose gold ) opens up like a camera shutter to reveal the second face hidden beneath. The creative director at Audemars Piguet has moved most of the components of the Cabinet Number 5 (£268,400) to one side of an entirely transparent watch dial, while Zenith’s Chronomaster Tourbillon (£115,500), Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Compressor Tides of Time (£11,850), and DeWitt’s three-dimensional dials (from £24,000) dramatically bring the inside out.
Man Time
In recent years, it’s become fashionable for women to brandish hefty, man-sized watches. Ever since Elle MacPherson was seen sporting her Rolex Daytona, women the world over have been flaunting their thin wrists with loose-fitting jumbo watches. But now the men are hitting back with ever more macho timepieces. Take the achingly sophisticated Hybris Mechanica Grande Sonnerie, by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Unveiled in its own enormous vault during September’s Venice Film Festival, it is arguably the most complicated wristwatch in existence. Prospective buyers will need deep pockets – the asking price is rumoured to be two million euros. Then there’s Linde Werdelin’s Oktopus – water resistant to a superhuman 1,111 metres and (comparatively) a snip at £5,200. And then there’s Sloane Street jewellers Avakian’s hulky new Concept 1 (£29,000 in titanium, £45,000 in gold) and the Graham Brawn Chronofighter Formula 1 Watch (£5,700) – no woman could possibly get away with calling these her arm candy.
Deep Pockets Required
A slew of stylish pendant and pocket watches are fast proving you don’t have to be a Victorian gent to reach into your pocket to tell the time. They range from Breguet’s re-invention of a pocket watch originally made for Marie Antoinette (price on application), to the chic Hermès Arceau moon phase pendant for ladies (£20,190 in rose gold) and Piaget’s ultra-thin Altiplano tourbillon (also price on application). Richard Mille’s RM020 tourbillon pocketwatch, yours for a cool £274,000, would look perfect with smart jeans and incorporates carbon nanofibre, first used in US Air Force jets.
Classic Return
In recent years, the watch world has been emphasising ever more technical timekeeping, from ‘tourbillons’ that counteract inaccuracies caused by gravity, to minute repeaters with a personal mechanical gong to sound the hours. But the watch world is now capitalising on classic elegance and past successes. There is the 40th anniversary Tag Heuer Monaco (£6,250), originally made famous by Steve McQueen in racing film Le Mans; Breitling’s Cosmonaute (£4,780), a re-edition of the first wrist chronograph to experience space travel; Breguet’s Classique Chronograph (£15,300) with its red hand-painted tachymetric scale for measuring distance and time travelled and IWC’s classic Portuguese (from £4,500) – beloved of women just as much as their boyfriends, husbands and dads.
STOCKISTS
www.audemarspiguet.com
www.avakian.com
www.bnbconcept.ch
www.breguet.com
www.breitling.com
www.degrisogono.com
www.dewitt.ch
www.giulianomazzuoli.com
www.graham-london.com
www.hermes.com
www.iwc.com
www.jaeger-lecoultre.com
www.lindewerdelin.com
www.mbandf.com
www.piaget.com
www.richardmille.com
www.sarpanevawatches.com
www.tagheuer.com
www.zenith-watches.com
Claire Adler is a specialist watch writer who contributes to the Financial Times, The Daily Mail and Vanity Fair
