It might seem an unlikely comparison as the age difference between the Piaget Altiplano and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin in this article spans more than four decades, yet as Martin Green explains these two ultra thins have a lot more in common than you might think.
Limited editions used to be a rarity, but they started to become more popular in late 1980s and early 1990s, almost like a snowball rolling down a hill that gets bigger and bigger. Martin Green wonders if we can still take LEs seriously.
The perpetual calendar is a great example of a complication that is outdated by at least a couple of decades. Yet perpetuals still know how to capture the attention of watch collectors and connoisseurs with a very complex movement, even if some components only jump into action once a year. The perpetual calendar is often the perfect way for a watch manufactures to show off craftsmanship and ability – but the way that brands do this varies. Here are three very different examples we found at the 2019 SIHH.
Roger Dubuis and Lamborghini have a special relationship: the watches that have so far come from this still relatively young collaboration have not only been impressive but also suck you into the world of Lamborghini without a car even being in sight. It is almost like the watchmakers at Roger Dubuis have infused this watch with motor oil and replaced the ticking of the escapement with the growl of an Italian high-performance engine. And the Excalibur Huracán Performante is all the evidence you need!
Trends rule a larger part of our lives than many of us wish to admit. Sometimes we follow trends consciously, but often we are subconsciously influenced in the choices we make. All brands perform a delicate tightrope walk, but they differ in how successful they are. Let’s take a look at how trends affect or don’t affect now-iconic timepieces.
Martin Green ranks the Horological Machine N°6 Sapphire Vision, which MB&F released in 2016, as one of the most memorable watches ever created. And now with the final edition of Horological Machine N°6 he asks whether MB&F saved the best for last.
Enamel dials are not as uncommon as they once were, and brands need to do a little bit more to stand out. Jaeger-LeCoultre has no problem with that as the Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel features eye-catching blue enamel over a hand-guilloche dial. But what else makes this new model introduced at SIHH 2019 stand out?
The new Bovet Virtuoso IX combines a (double-face) flying tourbillon with two time zones, large date, an impressive power reserve of ten days, plus the brand’s patented Amadeo convertable case.
A discussion with fellow collectors that is bound to elicit interesting responses is two-tone watches. People tend to either love them or hate them. The lovers consider them the perfect mix between a sporty looking watch and a dress watch. People who don’t care for them may think of them as a weak compromise at best. What do you think?
One of the most beautiful things about Cartier is that once it created the perfect watch, the designers pretty much left it alone. Meaning that the whims of fashion did not get a hold on models like the Tonneau – for the simple reason that it transcended fashion. And now a new version arrives in 2019. So what (if anything) has changed to make Martin Green proclaim that it heralds the age of elegance?