Watch Dandy

Bremont has just announced that it will not be showing at Baselworld next year. In lieu of setting up shop in Switzerland next March, the British watchmaker will release its new collection both at a London townhouse and an event in New York City. While it is news to hear that Bremont will not be part of the watch world extravaganza that is Baselworld, it is actually not surprising that another watch company has left the fair as a new trade show and release schedule landscape is developing.

Just after Baselworld of this year, our editor in chief Jack Forster gave us a superb look at a watch that, as he put it then “is a reminder of why Patek enjoys the reputation that it does,” a true grand complication in its reference 5204R. The split-seconds chronograph with perpetual calendar in rose gold was introduced with a silver opaline dial and offered on a lovely leather strap – a traditional offering, not intended to offend anyone. Today, however, we caught wind of a new take on the 5204R, and it’s a big, bad mother if there ever was one.

The Parmigiani Fleurier Centum Perpetual Calendar Openworked Graphite is an open-dial version of Parmigiani’s existing Centum Perpetual Calendar. This isn’t an openworked watch in the traditional sense of that term – openworking, or skeletonizing, is the removal of material from the movement of a watch in order to create a sense of transparency. The Centum Perpetual Openworked, on the other hand, has a transparent, tinted dial that lets you see some of the mechanisms driving the perpetual calendar as well as the moonphase disk.

Ahead of SIHH 2017 (which is coming up quickly, folks), Baume & Mercier has given us a peek at a new addition to the Clifton collection, the Clifton GMT Power Reserve. The collection has been a bastion of good design and affordable complications for Baume & Mercier since it debuted back in 2012. The new watch looks nice at first glance, and here’s what we know so far.