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Top Timepiece Picks From SIHH 2015 January 28, 2015 (0 comments)
Geneva, Switzerland—Last week’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) showed luxury watchmakers are well aware of the opportunities provided by the digital world, even if they choose not to enter it.
The event, held January 19-23 in Geneva, showcases 16 of the world’s top luxury watch brands’ mechanical prowess and innovation. But exhibiting brands made good use of digital media to spread their message and share the experience beyond the rarified audience that attends the show.
The 16 brands showing at SIHH are A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Greubel Forsey, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Panerai, Parmigiani Fleurier, Piaget, Ralph Lauren, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, Van Cleef & Arpels and Vacheron Constantin.
Some introductions included the Luminor 1950 3 Day Chrono Flyback Ceramica from Panerai, the Altiplano Chronograph from Piaget, a special tribute to Vasco Da Gama from Montblanc, the Doumetre Spherotourbillon Moon from Jaeger-LeCoultre (shown above left), and three from Cartier: the Crash Skeleton, the Rotonde de Cartier Reversed Tourbillon, and the Louis Cartier Rotonde XL with gold filigreed panther cubs on its face.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre introductions, in particular, are noteworthy because the brand showed at least one way that a luxury watchmaker can tap into smart phone/smart watch technology without actually introducing a device. All Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new watches at SIHH included a moonphase complication and an app to support it. The app (for iPhone and iPad), is designed to help owners set their watches’ moonphase complications correctly. It’s available on the Apple app store.
The screen button for the Jaeger-LeCoultre app, left, and the app open on a smart phone screen, right.
Roberta Naas and Gordon Henderson of A Timely Perspective review some of the other models introduced at SIHH:
The Panerai Luminor 1950 3 Day Chrono Flyback Ceramica has a bead blasted matte dial, black ceramic case, flyback chronograph, blued steel chronograph hand, in-house movement and 44mm case based on zirconium oxide, up to five times harder than steel and significantly lighter in weight. More details here.
The Piaget Altiplano Chronograph is the thinnest hand-wound flyback movement (caliber 883P), measuring 4.65mm, and as the thinnest hand-wound finished watch, measuring just 8.24 mm thick. The watch offers 50 hours of power reserve, 30-minute counter, small seconds at 6:00 and a 24-hour indicator at 9:00. More details here.
The Rotonde de Cartier Reversed Tourbillon (above) has a 46 mm case in white gold that houses the Calibre 9458 MC mechanical movement with manual wind. Cartier’s Crash watch is famed for its unusual case shape reminiscent of Salvador Dali’s painting, “The Persistence of Memory.” The new Crash Skeleton (below left) is expected to retail for about $62,000. And the Louis Cartier Rotonde XL watch (below right) features panther cubs made from gold and platinum filigree with black-lacquer-spotted coats, diamonds, and emerald eyes, positioned against a starry background. Each 42 mm watch takes a month to create in18k yellow gold with the manual-wind caliber 430 MC mechanical movement. Just 20 numbered pieces will be made. More details here.
