It’s that time of year again when the list of watches entered in the next edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) is published. The GPHG is the “Oscars” of the watchmaking industry, and 2016 is the sixteenth edition of the red carpet event.
This list comprises all of the watches competing in the first round of the competition from which the jury will pre-select six in each of the 12 categories.
This young award is just barely three years old, but indeed it has already managed to reward some of the greatest personalities in the world of watches for their “passion” and “talent” – which are undeniably the most essential ingredients for the finest watchmaking. This year, the FHH once again awarded two epic personalities: miniature painter/enameler Anita Porchet and Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.
Bronze, a copper-and-tin alloy some have described as “living” due to its beautiful way of patinating, seems to be making something of a comeback, which is certainly thanks to the beauty of the material. Is it becoming a trend? You can answer for yourself as here we show you five bronze watches we found at Baselworld 2016.
The top picks of my eighth consecutive visit to Baselworld were purely emotional, down to the design and aesthetics. These would be watches that I would want to wear and own. So armed with a bottle of water, my trusty Leica Q and tones of enthusiasm, this is #mybaselworld.
Please join our Quill & Pad round table discussion on Baselworld 2016. This time we take on some of the same topics that GaryG and his collector group use to the discuss their impressions of a watch fair: best of show, worst of show, watch you would buy with your own money, watch you would buy if money were no object, investment watch, patronage watch, fun watch, and a fantasy money no object watch.
Just as we were exiting the H. Moser & Cie stand at SIHH 2016, who should walk up but Adam Clayton, bassist for Irish band U2. What struck me first was the stylish look of his outfit. This extended to his wrist: Clayton was wearing the H. Moser & Cie Endeavour Perpetual Calendar in platinum with a grey/black dial the brand calls “ardoise.” Why is this watch so rock and roll?
Post-SIHH reports indicate that the inclusion of the so-called indies was a big success for both visitors and the small brands alike, but also that there was a little grumbling from some of the large established SIHH brands generated by the fact that visitors to the fair remarked − with justification − that there were more interesting watches in the Carré des Horlogers than in the rest of the SIHH altogether. What can the industry learn from their inclusion in 2016’s first fair?
This year I attended my third SIHH. With the introduction of an independents’ lounge called Carré des Horlogers, it was certainly a changed place, energized with new blood added to the existing Richemont and other brands that comprise the exhibitors at the SIHH. Here I’d like to share with you a selection of wristshots I took with the Leica Q during the 2016 edition of SIHH. Enjoy!
Not so very long ago, the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision in white gold won the coveted Aiguille d’Or at the 2015 edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. At the 2016 edition of the SIHH, Greubel Forsey presented an absolutely luscious black-dialed red gold version of this watch, but that wasn’t all we saw here. Follow us on a photographic journey to discover the new Greubel Forsey creations from SIHH 2016.
It’s already been six consecutive years that I’ve had the delightful experience of going through SIHH week with several of my closest friends. Our closing discussions centered around four questions, which were focused more tightly on SIHH itself this year due to the inclusion of nine independent watchmakers: what watch did you think was best of show at SIHH? What was the worst watch of the show? What watch displayed at the show would you buy if money were no object? What watch did you see on display that would you buy with your own money?