At SIHH 2019, George Cramer was pleased to see a stunning new historically inspired Santos-Dumont model in stainless steel. And to his eye it looks even better than the model from the now-defunct Collection Privée Cartier Paris (CPCP) line.
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.
In late February 2010, an informal group of Northern California watch collectors, all owners of at least one Kari Voutilainen watch, met for lunch. One of the members of the group nonchalantly mentioned, “I’ve been talking with Kari about something . . ..” It was a set of bespoke Kari Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II models. GaryG’s response two seconds later: “I’m in!” So how did it go after that?
The new Montblanc Heritage collection is so inspired by Minerva’s illustrious past that you may only be able to tell which decade they were produced in by taking them in your hands and feeling the weight of modern stainless steel or 18-karat gold cases. And I guarantee you will fall in love with them!
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.
2019 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of both the rebirth of A. Lange & Söhne and the introduction of the brand’s most famous watch, the iconic Lange 1. And the brand kicks off its anniversary year with the commemorative Lange 1 25th Anniversary watch limited to 250 pieces.
Armin Strom has released the Dual Time Resonance Sapphire, the pinnacle of the brand’s micro-engineering now housed in a completely transparent sapphire crystal case, showing every possible angle of its incredible caliber.
The Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Twin Beat adapts to the needs of its wearer by maintaining two frequencies that the wearer can choose between, resulting in a spectacular 65-day power reserve for this perpetual calendar watch thanks to a reconfigured balance spring beating at 1.2 Hz as desired.