News: H. Moser & Cie, Girard Perregaux and more
The top news stories from all the best watchmakers in the world, including H. Moser & Cie, Girard-Perregaux and Blancpain, plus the results from the 2014 Grand Prix D’Horlogerie De Genève.
A big congratulations goes to Paul Turner, winner of the Omega Seamaster competition. He collected his prize from the Watchfinder & Co. boutique at The Royal Exchange, London, and as you can see he was rather pleased! If you’d like to win a watch too, why not enter this issue’s competition.
If you’re in and around Kent but don’t fancy a trip to London to browse for your next watch, why not come and visit the new Watchfinder & Co. Bluewater boutique. Located in The Village promenade, the Bluewater boutique is set in among over 300 stores and restaurants, making it the ideal day out.
Watchfinder & Co. has been selected by The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track Hot 100 as one of ten UK companies ‘to watch’, predicting rapid growth in the company’s immediate future. The accolade represents the next big things in business; companies whose sales growth is expected to reach the criteria for the Hot 100 very soon.
Celebrating 50 years of Scheufele family rule over Chopard, the limited edition L.U.C. 1963 Platinum showcases the best of the brand's classic design style from the 60s. The movement is a smaller version of a EGH ‘school’ calibre, designed for pocket watches, and is available in 50 pieces.
Only H. Moser & Cie. could make something as simple as a plain three-hander the subject of a superb special edition watch. The gorgeous blue Endeavour Centre Seconds was made as a prize for the winner of the FAVORIT Entrepreneurship Award 2014, and features a 7-day in-house movement within a palladium case.
To mark yet another strong partnership between a watch and car manufacturer, the limited edition Oris Audi Sport Chronograph has been released in 2,000 pieces. Oris has been sponsoring Audi's teams at major races this year, and it hasn't scrimped on the chrono, giving it a titanium case with tungsten bezel.
Baring its heart to the wearer, the Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Large Date Moonphase is not a skeleton watch, but you can see its movement through the sapphire crystal. The Art Deco design has been rendered more legible than many such watches, thanks to the smoked glass, creating a pleasingly mechanical effect.
MB&F is once again blowing minds with its latest horological machine: the Space Pirate. With an insane titanium ‘biomorphic’ case inspired by anime cartoons, the watch houses five spheres—one minutes, one hours, one flying tourbillon and two rotors that regulate the winding system. It's horology, Jim, but not as we know it.
Is ‘Tempograph’ just a fancy word for ‘watch’? Somehow, the latter feels too mundane for the Louis Moinet 20 Second Tempograph, limited to 365 pieces in titanium and 60 in gold. Its fantastical steampunk design is only outdone by the crazy seconds hand, which loops between 12 and 2 o'clock.
Grand Prix D’Horlogerie De Genève Report | The key winners from this year’s GPHG awards
Defending its stellar reputation at the top of the haute horlogerie food chain, Breguet stormed the Aiguille d’Or with its Classique Chronométrie 7727. Part understated artistic masterpiece and part technical marvel, the 7727 uses silicon components to reach a breathtaking balance frequency of 10 Hertz, giving it twice the regulating power of competitors.
Evolving the legendary UJS-P8 detent escapement—the first made for a wristwatch—the Men's Prize winner is a case study in the historic importance of the taken-for-granted central seconds complication. The Urban Jürgensen & Sønner timepiece is also a remarkably handsome beast: a cultured dress watch with elegant machine turning.
Staying true to its reputation for pioneering women's horology, Blancpain took the Ladies' Prize this year with a stunning, mind-bending piece complete with 152 subtly deployed diamonds. The off-centre design seems to distort space both around the gold case and within the pearl dial itself. A 226-part automatic movement lies within.
“Shoe-in” is a term we don't like to throw around, but it was going to be hard to beat Urwerk in the innovation category this year. The EMC (which also won Mechanical Exception) does something no one's even attempted before: it gives you easy access to detailed information on your timepiece's performance.
Speedmaster has enjoyed many recreations over its lengthy career, but perhaps none so sleek and menacing as the Dark Side of the Moon. Made from a single block of scratch-proof black ceramic, this impossibly cool new face of the beloved Speedy is sure to win many fans as well as prizes.
Awarded by an online vote, the Jury can't control the Public Prize, which this year once again went to a winner from another category. Breguet captured hearts and minds with the Classique Dame, a magnificently conservative ladies' watch with a diamond-studded bezel that encapsulates all that's good about the brand's aesthetic.?
