Parisian haute couture house Dior currently has three watches in the running at the 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, two of which are based on the magnificent Grand Bal concept. Elizabeth Doerr takes a quick look at them.
The GPHG foundation describes the Ladies Complication category for watches entered as “women’s watches that are remarkable in terms of their mechanical creativity and complexity.” And our panelists wonder: is a tourbillon enough to take home the prize?
The Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Embrace features a pair of hearts that mesh with the point of one heart meeting the cleft of the other and moving at constantly differing speeds for an utterly enchanting effect. Joshua Munchow feels that it also offers a perfect horological metaphor for the complexities of love. What do you think?
The GPHG foundation describes the Ladies category for watches entered as “comprising only the following indications: hours, minutes, seconds, date, power reserve, and/or classic moon phase. These timepieces may be adorned with a maximum of eight carats’ worth of gemstones.” While our panelists aren’t quite unanimous, we do have a clear favorite as a winner here. Read on to find out why.
The flexibility of the beautiful Bovet Amadéo Fleurier 36 Miss Audrey makes it very appealing because in each configuration, the watches can be appreciated in a different way. The patented Amadéo case allows the watch to be used as a pendant, pocket, or wristwatch. And even as a small table clock! And those dials! And those beads! A must see.
Elizabeth Doerr has not seen a watch by Alexandre Beauregard’s little firm that she hasn’t immediately fallen in love with. The Dahlia with its central flying tourbillon movement and hand-carved stone petals is just perfect. And along comes the more affordable, rectangular Lili. Flowers have rarely looked so good!
The Hermès Arceau Petite Lune Jeté de Diamants et Saphirs adds a fanciful and whimsical slant to the Arceau Petite Lune, which is just begging for some fun. This new version utilizes a mother-of-pearl dial and date subdial adorned by 65 blue sapphires and 58 tiny diamonds. It’s a Goldilocks splash of flash, not too much and not too little. Time to fall in love!
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!
MrsG, GaryG’s charming wife, is perhaps most enthusiastic about her collection of Southwestern Native American arts and jewelry, but here Gary takes a look at her interesting watches, which include excellent examples from Jaeger-LeCoultre, Blancpain, Alain Silberstein, Audemars Piguet, and more.
The drama of Breguet’s La Tradition lay – and continues to lie – in its stylistically vintage appearance coupled with a movement finished using historical techniques and the extreme visibility of the mechanical components from the dial side. Here Elizabeth Doerr looks at two new models for 2020 that are bound to make you a fan of the style.
