Our Predictions In The Calendar And Astronomy Category Of The 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG): No Consensus Highlights The Strong Competition

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Complication abounds in the 2021 GPHG Calendar and Astronomy category: two perpetual calendars – one of which is of world record-holding thinness – a complete calendar with chronograph, a clever day-date that you can’t help but smile at, a mind-blowingly beautiful moon phase watch, and the world’s smallest planetarium. And our panel members all (well, nearly all) have different favorites to win!

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Our Predictions In The Iconic Category Of The 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG): Our Panel Has a Favorite But Wonders If This Category Should Be Scrapped Altogether

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The Iconic category emphasizes men’s or women’s watches from a brand’s emblematic collection, meaning one that has had a lasting influence on watchmaking and its history as well as having been on the market for more than 20 years. Five of the watches pre-selected here are either time-only or time with date; one lone chronograph completes the set.

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Our Predictions In The Men’s Complication Category Of The 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG): 6 Watches, 5 Panelists, 3 Picks For Winner

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The watches here are as different as day and night, with only two perhaps comparable to each other because they both have jump hour displays (but even these two are as different as it gets with one very classic in looks and the other ultramodern). Additionally, we have two chronographs, a worldtimer, and a mechanical opus with two time displays. It will be hard to choose among all this mechanical charm, but our panel pushes on.

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Our Predictions In The Men’s Category Of The 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), Again Close But Not Quite Unanimous In Our Pick For Winner

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It might be hard to find six more diverse pieces! Three shaped watches, two with visible movement parts, one gimmicky “troll” watch, one Japanese timepiece, one by a fashion brand turned serious watchmaker, and one designed by one of the best watch designers of all time. Whew, this is gonna be tough!

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Our Predictions In The Ladies Complication Category Of The 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG): Once Again Nearly Unanimous

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Complicated ladies’ watches are not as rare as they once were, and the best thing is that they are not converted men’s watches anymore but purposely designed and built specifically for female wrists. While there are a lot of absolutely stunning watches in the Ladies Complication category this year, they aren’t that complicated and there are quite a few tourbillons. Nonetheless, our panel reaches something of a consensus.

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Our Predictions In The Ladies Category Of The 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG): Almost Unanimous

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Welcome to the 2021 edition of Quill & Pad’s early Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève predictions in which the team picks favorites and explains why. Here we try to predict which watch will take the prize for the best ladies watch of 2021. While our panel isn’t quite unanimous, a clear favorite has emerged.

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Geneva Watch Days 2021 Round Table Discussion: What We Liked, What We Didn’t Like, And What We’d Buy From The Watches Presented At This Relaxed, Sunshine-Filled Fair

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The 2021 edition of Geneva Watch Days was by most measures a successful event as the watch world slowly gets back to a modicum of normality. The presentations proved exciting as we could finally handle real watches instead of looking at them on a screen. We saw old friends, made new ones, and remembered why we love spending time talking watches. Here are our personal picks for “best of” in a number of categories. What were yours?

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Complete List And Photos Of All Shortlisted Watches In The 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG)

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The 2021 edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) has just published its list of shortlisted (“nominated”) watches in the runup to the eagerly anticipated red-carpet event in Geneva on November 4, 2021. Ian Skellern shares all of the finalist watches in each category here. Let us know your favorites!

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‘The Persistence Of Memory’: Online Museum And Ode To Independent Watchmaking

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The “great lockdown of 2020” gifted us with something outstanding: from the depths of an anxiety-inducing existence arose an online exhibition called “The Persistence of Memory,” which can be described as an !online museum” honoring some of the most influential and important independent watchmakers of the modern era. Here Elizabeth Doerr speaks with its creator Michael Tay for an inside view on what this “exhibition” surveying 50 years of independent watchmaking is. And what it isn’t.

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Why Geneva Watch Days And Dubai Watch Week Are My Favorite Watch Fairs

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While the last 18 months have wreaked havoc on the big (and not so big) watch fairs – and everything else – there have been two rays of horological sunshine in the last couple of years: in November 2019 (just months before COVID-19 hit) the biannual Dubai Watch Week took place, which was bigger and better than ever. And then in August 2020 the inaugural Geneva Watch Days was held during a lull in the pandemic and it was superb. Here Ian Skellern explains why these two fairs have become his favorites.

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