Now we are onto the big bad boys of the GPHG. Mechanical Exception is where we put the most mechanically incredible watches head to head, and the name of the game is horological creativity. Aesthetics help but a wild, avant-garde watch can easily win this category because there is no limit. So how does our panel choose?
Astronomical complications are poetic in nature, more emotional than practical. Calendar complications are the exact opposite: perfectly practical and useful complications for time management. Since the category doesn’t dictate specifically what should be valued and only outlines what fits into the category, it leaves a lot up to our panel on what we subjectively value more and why in this latest round table of 2022 GPHG nominations.
Five of the six watches in this Tourbillon category are either openworked or dial-less, so their visuals are not dissimilar. Five of the six are also one-minute tourbillons. One-half of the finalists have flying tourbillons, while another boasts a cylindrical tourbillon, and yet another has a constant-force tourbillon. How will our panel ever choose a winner?
The GPHG Iconic category honors models with real staying power, requiring them to have had a lasting influence as a collection for more than 20 years. Our panel doesn’t like the category, but it sure does have a unanimous winner.
Now that we’ve reached the Men’s Complication category, we start hitting Joshua Munchow’s favorite part of the GPHG: mechanical awesomeness. See what our panel has to say about the watches in this category and which watch we think is the best unisex timepiece of 2022!
The Men’s is one of the more contentious GPHG categories every year because it is filled with amazing watches that may or may not have much in common but do have distinctive aesthetics. Since that is very subjective, our panel is reminded that the category is essentially asking which watch is the most versatile, wearable, and appeals to the broadest demographic. And, yet, our peanut gallery is divided practically down the middle!
The best thing about these six GPHG 2022 Ladies’ Complication watches is the variety of complications. Yes, we still have two traditional tourbillons, but the other four complications are anything but traditional. But, our panel asks, why are the tourbillons for ladies not competing in the main tourbillon category?
Quill & Pad’s peanut gallery round tables kick off with six very different watches that have been shortlisted in the Ladies’ category of the 2022 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
Watches and Wonders 2022 (previously SIHH) recently took place in Geneva. It is an invite-only event for retailers, journalists, and collectors. According to the fair organizers, nearly 22,000 unique visitors (including almost 1,000 journalists) attended. But enough about that, let’s get to what you’re here for: our unblemished comments on the watches we saw, which you can find right here!
In this final 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève round table discussion, we discuss the evening of November 4, 2021 and what we thought of the big night’s winners. Plus, we reveal how we did in our predictions for the event. Sadly, not that well.