Watch Dandy

One of the very first brands I always pay a visit to each trade show is Laurent Ferrier. This has been the case for some years now, since 2013 or before. It’s not that I expect to see some new cutting edge technology – LF’s tourbillon and micro-rotor calibers are a few years old now and haven’t been tweaked much since inception. Rather, it’s that I am often genuinely excited to see how Ferrier will package these two outstanding calibers. So much has been done with dials over the years, and now we see a third case style that is being called “Montre École,” or school watch.

The always-bold Roger Dubuis has announced its newest watch and it’s a partnership with racing tire maker Pirelli. The two brands have teamed up to create the new and blue Excalibur Spider Pirelli with double flying tourbillon in a limited series of just eight pieces. In addition to this colorful and unusual timepiece, Roger Dubuis has confirmed that it will be releasing new watches exclusive from the Excalibur collection through 2019. So, what is so special about the limited edition Excalibur Spider Pirelli? Let’s take a look.

Laurent Ferrier’s watches are some of the most sophisticated and understated around. Until now, if you wanted to admire one of the master’s incredible double hairspring tourbillons, you’d have to ask the wearer to take the watch off his or her wrist (or take it off your own wrist, if you’re a very lucky person indeed), as the Galet Classic Tourbillon was only available with a closed dial. That ends today. Laurent Ferrier has just unveiled the first Galet Classic Tourbillon with a tourbillon visible on the front – and it’s through a sector dial, no less!

The Da Vinci Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph is one of the flagship models in the revamped-for-2017 Da Vinci collection. The watch features a flying tourbillon, a retrograde date display, and a flyback chronograph, all powered by a self-winding in-house movement with several interesting technical features. It’s also got all the aesthetic hallmarks of the new Da Vinci collection too, so let’s take a closer look.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the Altiplano and we know there are going to be quite a few commemorative watches from Piaget to celebrate. In fact, we’ve already shown you two of them. Now we’ve got another to share, the 40mm Altiplano with a patinated grey dial and the brand new in-house 1203P movement.

All of the novelties we are about to see at the Palexpo this week take roughly the same amount of space inside the exhibition hall, but some of the watches will have a little more presence than others. This is one such watch.