Dandies and Piaget have always enjoyed a natural alliance. There are several reasons for this: precious metals and manufacture movements that are as small and thin as possible – allowing nearly unprecedented freedom for the brand’s designers. Martin Green takes a look at some dandy Piaget models!
Here are three intriguing tourbillons by Laurent Ferrier, Vacheron Constantin, and Piaget from the digital Watches & Wonders 2020 fair that particularly caught Martin Green’s critical eye.
With the Chronomètre FB 2RE, Ferdinand Berthoud takes a very big step in the right direction with a more traditional round case and a movement that features a remontoir d’egalite alongside a chain-and-fusée assembly. And the finishing cannot be described as anything other than simply sublime.
A collector got in touch with Martin Green about an engraving project on a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique that he was planning. What caught Martin’s attention was that the collector was collaborating with an engraver very close to his home, so he seized the opportunity to follow the project as it unfolded. He shares his experiences and photos here.
For Martin Green, the MB&F L’Épée 1839 Massena Lab T-Rex Bronze seems more raw and animalistic than its predecessors, as though you can smell the scent of this top predator moving through dense vegetation. He thinks that the true T-Rex variation has landed, and here he explains why.
Hublot always seems to have a finger on the pulse of what is currently moving people. And in this spirit the brand has recently launched a ‘gender-neutral’ Big Bang in a color marketed as ‘Millennial Pink.’ And Zenith has also recently announced a Zenith Defy El Primero 21 Pink Edition, both of which have prodded Martin Green into taking a dive into ‘gender-neutral watches.’ And he wonders why there aren’t more of them.
For the Hermès Arceau Harnais Français Remix, Hermès’ watch designers found inspiration in a pair of beautifully harnessed horses that formed the centerpiece of a silk scarf designed by Hugo Grykar, who served as the brand’s in-house designer from the 1940s until 1959. The dial is engraved Limoges porcelain painstakingly decorated with colorful oven-fired enamel. And the result is a wearable work of art!
Complicated haute horlogerie doesn’t get much better than twin triple-axis spherical tourbillons as found in the Purnell Escape II Double Tourbillon. And while in some cases less is more, here more is definitely more. The tourbillons are mesmerizing in part thanks to their high rotation velocity; they make full revolutions in respectively 8, 16, and 30 seconds. What is behind this masterful piece of high watchmaking?
Inspired by military watches, the designs of these three new Bell & Ross BR V2 models are not loud, but they are distinct in addition to being highly legible. Martin Green also points out that the names of Bell & Ross watches sometimes read like designations for some type of bomb, but he gives them a pass on that because he thinks that their watches are dynamite. Especially these. Have a look.
When Martin Green first saw athe Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Tiger he thought that Jaquet Droz had used a photorealistic print on the dial, so real was the miniature enamel painting for him. The artist focused on the eyes of the tiger, and its gaze is so lifelike and filled with restrained power that it is almost scary. It looks like it’s about to pounce right off the dial!