Keeping Time
The 25th edition of SIHH was showcase of new technologies, art and the use innovative materials, says Hiren Kumar Bose
The 25th edition of the SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) attended by 16 haute horlogerie brands played ode to the arts, sang paeans to the astral bodies, incorporated new technologies and fused new materials. In fact, the event had everything; an ultra-elite consumer would be attracted to—diamonds, precious metals, and highly complicated timepieces.
Roger Dubuis’ Excalibur Spider Skeleton Flying Tourbillon’s rubber bezel set with 60 baguette-cut diamonds was a technological triumph, of setting gems on rubber, never attempted before. Richard Mille unveiled the RM 33-01 outfitted with the skeletonised new RMXP3 calibre with an off-centre platinum micro rotor. Ralph Lauren skeletonised an IWC movement to create its Automotive Skeleton. Cartier’s Crash Skeleton whose skeletonised dial also features the Roman numerals provides functions like providing the gaps to view the movements and to preserve the original design of the dial on the Crash.
Thanks to its two variants of EOT (Equation of Time) and the use of new ultra strong and ultralight material, called Carbotech, Panerai created lot of excitement. Used for bezel and the case in Panerai’s Luminor Submersible 1950, the Maison had to bind the long thin sheets of carbon fibres under high pressure and temperatures using a high-end polymer called PEEK. The result: a very strong and durable watch case with unique characteristics and appearance. A new composite material, Carbotech has never been used in watchmaking before. Incidentally, Panerai continues to make large cases and the PAM00509 was astounding 47mm! Likewise Greubel Forsey presented its GMT watch in a titanium case with ADLC coating – a first – making the watch lighter and more durable.
Montblanc’s Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama was a revolutionary timepiece, for it unites a cylindrical tourbillon and unique, functional worldtime indication. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Duometre Spherotourbillon Moon was another fascinating horological marvel at the show: for it shows a one-day discrepancy every two and a half years and is designed to remain accurate for a full 3,887 years! Similarly, IWC’s Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Reference 5034 display will need to be corrected by 1 day only after 577.5 years. That’s a watch for the family for generations to come. A twist on the standard world timer besides showing the time in all time zones around the globe is Montblanc’s Orbis Terrarum which has a two-level centre disc indicating day and night in an intuitive visual way.
Pushing the boundaries was Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Concept RD#1, a watch that is potentially the most sonically considered minute repeater. Results of a dedicated eight-year sound-research initiative which included a musician who crafts stringed instruments, an academic consultant from the Geneva conservatory and a sound engineer it’s a watch that significantly enhances the acoustic quality of horological chiming technology. Zeitwerk Minute Repeater from A Lange & Sohne deviated from traditional chiming watches with a striking mechanism that sounds the hours, ten-minute intervals, and minutes.
Cartier’s quest for integrating beautiful, unusual and highly skilled arts as in the new d’Art Ronde Louis Filigree watch with mother and baby panther cubs created in the ancient art of filigree on the dial was a dazzling example of an art watch .
Van Cleef & Arpels’ Carpe Koi watch bracelet, showed the house’s virtuosity and its new addition to its “Poetry of Time” collection. This 3D timepiece for instance, set with 8,000 coloured stones and created over 3,450 hours, holds the watch face within the fish’s mouth. Another notable Metiers d’Art exponent, Maison Vacheron Constantin celebrated its anniversary with the Mecaniques Gravees Calibre 2260 Tourbillon and the Calibre 4400, watches that include engraving on their faces, done by hand over 10 days.
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda 1950 Squelette watches had meteorite on their dials while Jaeger LeCoultre’s Master Calendar range deployed a piece of asteroid on its dials that originated in an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and crashed a century ago in a remote part of Sweden.
For tourbillon lovers SIHH had five of them Cartier’s Rotonde de Cartier Astrotourbillon Skeleton), Greubel Forsey’s Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication), Parmigiani’s Ovale Tourbillon with lapis lazuli dial), and Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Double Flying Tourbillon.
Thin became thinner as Piaget took the mania for super-slim timepieces to the extreme with its 4.65mm Altiplano Chronograph while Montblanc surprised watch aficionados with its Timewalker Urban Speed e-strap with contemporary TimeWalker timepieces. An interchangeable strap, the watch comes with an integrated technology device that offers an activity tracker, smart notifications, remote controls and Find-Me functions. It connects, via Bluetooth Low Energy, to selected Android and iOS smartphones. Here is a mechanical timepiece with highly useful digital functionality.
The other notables were Ivy Minute Repeater by Jaeger-LeCoultre and Richard Mille’s RM19-02 Tourbillon Fleur that depicts a stunning gemstone-set magnolia motif, both larger than usual and roomy enough to house complications till recently missing in women’s watches.
