The nickname “watch of all extremes” says it all. Jacob & Co. continues to impress with the uber-complex and visually spectacular (to say the least) Twin Turbo Furious. This beast of a watch features an insane, staggering combination of complications: a double triple axis tourbillon, a decimal minute repeater, a chronograph… and more!
Music exists in time. Uniting two traditional Swiss crafts, the Jacob & Co. Opera is a highly complicated timepiece and a wearable music box at the same time… Moreover, it is a spectacular show on the wrist that is pretty hard to depict. The ballet of its triple-axis tourbillon and its musical mechanism in action is surprising and captivating. Technically, the combination of these two rare complications is impressive. There is indeed a lot happening and if a picture is worth a 1,000 words, a video is worth a million… It is even a must to present a timepiece that defies traditional labels by playing the Godfather theme and by featuring a miniature Don Vito Corleone in its center!
Recently, Xavier and I had the pleasure to visit Patek Philippe’s manufacture, from the case and bracelet factory to the Haute Horlogerie ateliers. It’s only once you’ve been there that you can understand that something special is going on, especially at the HH workshop. Patek Philippe minute repeaters, which are manufactured there, have always been known to be best-in-class. And believe me, they are. To understand why we had the rare opportunity to go hands-on with the latest addition to the collection, the Patek Philippe 5178G – which is also the occasion to explain the concept of Cathedral Gongs and, of course, we have the sound too.
For those who know their watch history, it is no secret that the singing bird has been a beloved creature adorning clocks, music boxes, snuffboxes and other objects of art for centuries. However, for years now, Jaquet Droz has been bringing the saga of the singing bird to wristwatches in alluring versions that feature sculpted birds as automatons on dials of musical watches. Now the brand brings the concept to all new heights with the unveiling of the Jaquet Droz Tropical Bird Repeater.
For quite some decades, the concept behind ultra-thin watches was focussed almost exclusively on classic, elegant and sleek designs. However, Bulgari had something else in mind. Why not house these ultra-thin movements inside a collection of modern and bold watches, inspired by the Italian sense for design, or in other words the icon that is …
Mechanical innovation is often regarded as the epitome of fine watchmaking. For whatever reason, I had been under the impression that we had not seen many new developments over the past few months. Well, looking back at some of the latest introductions, some impressive pieces of ingenuity have been presented. We take a look at with some of the most inventive, complex and intricate mechanisms of 2017.
Today, we’re not going to do a proper “Monochrome-Style” review, detailing every element of a watch or dissecting every technical feature. Instead, we’re going to do something “for the sake of watchmaking“, for the beauty of an art – because, at a certain point, I think we can move to another level and talk about proper works of art. To illustrate this, we’re going to look at one watch, the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Minute Repeater Tourbillon, by detailing some small but extremely important features, demonstrating what high-end watchmaking is… And you’ll see, it doesn’t need to be loud and demonstrative.
Only Watch 2017, the biennial charity auction, just unveiled its highly special pieces… and because we know that many of you will ask for it, here is the big one, the unique, titanium Patek Philippe 5208T, made for the 7th edition of Only Watch.
Until you have it on your wrist it’s hard to appreciate just how thin the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater really is. Introduced back in 2016, it measures a mere 6.85mm thick cased up, with the complicated movement inside accounting for only 3.12mm of that. By way of comparison, a British one pound coin is …
The grande sonnerie and petite sonnerie hold a special place in the world of Haute Horlogerie. There are only a handful of watchmakers capable of manufacturing (and proposing in their catalogues) such works of arts, often regarded as the pinnacle of complicated watchmaking. Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have been contemplating this major endeavor for years, way before embarking on 11 years of research and development to finally present their own interpretation of this complication, a ‘sui generis’ creation that was without doubt one of the highlights of SIHH 2017.