There’s little introduction needed for Laurent Ferrier among today’s collectors “in the know.” The accomplished watchmaker served as Creative Director of Patek Phillipe, and his highly limited timepieces are admired and collected by some of the most driven and dedicated enthusiasts in the world.
Laurent Ferrier fans extol the brand for creating what they see as the quintessential dress watch with the Galet and Galet Square lines. Watches like the Galet Classic Square Sector Dial Tourbillon Double Spiral won praise for their clean, simplistic dials, and discreet tourbillons visible only from the watch’s rear.
For SIHH 2017, IWC has reimagined their Da Vinci line, foregoing the recent tonneau shape for a more classic round case. The new IWC Da Vinci Automatic doesn’t hearken too far back, though, drawing clear inspiration from the Da Vinci SL Automatic ref. 3528 from the late 1990s.
As previously announced on Monochrome, the Schaffhausen-based manufacturer is revamping its Da Vinci collection in 2017 including a return to the original round case which popularised this collection in the 1980s (read our article here). SIHH 2017 is just about to get underway and so IWC has finally unveiled all the new editions for this year, including this complex model combining a flying tourbillon with hacking mechanism, a chronograph and a retrograde date.
IWC likes to focus on refreshing one of its core collections each year, and I’m happy to say that this year one of IWC’s most neglected collections is getting an update. I am, of course, referring to the Da Vinci collection.
As you might know, this year is the 20th anniversary of a rather unique and disruptive brand named URWERK. As we already showed to you in a dedicated movie, this independent watchmakers started with their first watch at Baselworld 1997, as they were still almost kids. However, even if they just turned 20, don’t believe that Frei & Baumgartner are now old men who are sleeping behind their desks… And as proof of the strong vitality and creativity of URWERK, here is their latest creation, the impressive URWERK UR-T8, which renew the concept of satellite complication and of traditional case.
For 2017, the technically inspired, avant-garde watchmaker Urwerk is releasing their Urwerk UR-T8 watch to mark the 20th anniversary of the brand. A notable feature of the Urwerk UR-T8 is that it allows for the case to be flipped, kind of Reverso-style.
For 2017, the Richard Mille RM 035 Ultimate Edition honors the brand’s partner Alexis Pinturault, an alpine ski racer that now has a whopping 19 World Cup victories under his belt.
The Time Aeon Foundation, driver of the Le Garde Temps, Naissance d’une Montre project, will present its second project at the 2017 edition of SIHH, which involves a collaboration with the recently announced boutique brand Oscillon.
In less than 2 days, Monday 16th January, 9am (Central Europe Time), will be the official opening of the SIHH 2017, the annual High Mass for watches in Geneva. While we, at the Monochrome-Watches redaction, already have a glimpse of what is about to come (don’t even try to ask, we won’t tell), on this day you’ll be able to discover what the 17 large brands and 12 independent watchmakers exposing there have prepared for their new collections. We’re sure you, watch aficionado and collectors, can’t wait, but to make the suspense a bit less difficult, here is an overview of what the SIHH 2016 had best to show.