First released in 1960, the Admiral’s Cup watch was to shed its beautifully crafted Carré skin in the early 1980’s as part of a radical new design when Corum became commercial sponsors of yacht racing.  The re-birth of the piece featured a now instantly recognisable  rounded 12-sided case with brightly coloured nautical pennants decorating the bezel.  To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the series, Corum will release a new addition – the Admiral’s Cup Repeater Tourbillon 45.

The piece features a brand new Caliber (the CO-010) with a minute repeater complication a highly unusual feature in a sports watch but one which pays further tribute to the nautical traditions of the marine themed series, the ship’s bell being an essential requisite used to regulate life onboard. In order to prevent damage to the traditionally used minute repeater push-piece mechanism, Corum have designed an innovative solution – a hidden minute repeater winding function within the bezel which is activated by turning the bezel 27 degrees clockwise.

The dial of this stunning piece is constructed from smoked PVD treated sapphire glass which allows for an exceptional view of the Tourbillon, located at the 4.30 position and the minute repeater mechanism.  Available in a red gold 45mm case and with meticulous hand finishing and decoration, Corum will release only ten pieces of this anniversary piece in 2010.

Popularity: 5% [?]

 This is the first wristwatch in the series to have an automatic winding movement, therefore the usual power reserve indicator, a feature on all previous manually wound Lange 1 dials is no longer required.  In it’s place is a retrograde day of the week display and the emblematic dial layout has been somewhat reversed, with the watch face with the hours and minutes repositioned to the right of the dial and the subsidiary seconds dial now to the left.  The characteristic patented outsize date with its generous Arabic numerals remains although now at the 10 o’clock position.

The A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Daymatic collection

The movement is the Lange Calibre L.021.1. comprising of 67 jewels and 426 individual parts and with a power reserve of 50 hours.

Due to be unveiled at the SIHH 2010 exhibition the Lange 1 Daymatic will be available from mid-2010 in variations of 18 carat yellow gold, pink gold or platinum each with the classic silver Lange 1 dial expertly crafted and flawlessly finished.  Hand decoration of components and the attention to detail synonymous with this brand are expected to be as meticulous as ever.

Popularity: 8% [?]

The design of ladies’ watches is a niche seemingly overlooked by some of the luxury watch houses, not so at Blancpain where the Le Brassus manufacture continues its pioneering attitude to the creation of women’s timepieces.  In 1998 the brand presented the first ladies’ fly-back chronograph, and the same movement was used to power the “Saint-Valentin 2009“, a functional yet ultimately feminine sports timepiece.

The Blancpain Saint Valentin 2010

The “Saint-Valentin 2010” could not be more different to last years symbolic release.  With a completely new pear-shaped white gold case shape adorned with over 500 diamonds and pink sapphires the piece is somewhere between a wristwatch and a stunning item of jewellery.  A pink and white mother of pearl dial forms a captivating heart shape and the hour markers are diamond set including a heart-cut diamond at the 12 0’clock position. This charming ladies watch features the Calibre 615 “Lady Bird” movement, first manufactured in 1956 and still considered to be the world’s smallest round self-winding movement and its petite form is revealed through a sapphire crystal case back.

The “Saint-Valentin 2010” comes supplied with two satin straps, one black and one white and as a further tribute to the most romantic date in the calendar is a limited release of just 14 pieces worldwide.

Popularity: 3% [?]

With the release in 2009 of the RM 021 Tourbillon “Aerodyne”  Richard Mille impressed the industry with the continued use of ever-more technically advanced modern construction materials.  The materials in question – orthorhombic titanium aluminides – a group of alloys originally the subject of research by NASA for use in construction of the wings of supersonic aircraft are certainly exciting enough to inspire design and technical possibilities at Richard Mille.

A further release – the RM 022 “Aerodyne” Dual Time zone features the Calibre RM 022 manual winding tourbillon movement with hours, minutes, dual time zone, power reserve and torque indicator with function selector.  The second time zone consists of hours inscribed on a permanently rotating “invisible” sapphire crystal disc at the centre of the dial, the hours only appearing when they reach the background indicator located at the 3 o’clock position.  Adjustment of the dual time is achieved by a pusher at the 9 o’clock and its simplicity of use belies the highly complex nature of this watch.

Less than a decade has passed since Richard Mille released his first watch - the landmark RM 001 - and as the series evolves it has become a favourite among watch collectors and those who desire a technically advanced and unusual timepiece.  This latest piece is available in titanium, 18 carat white gold or 18 carat red gold and is presented on an alligator strap with matching buckle.

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Tourbillon is  considered by many to be a trademark complication of the Daniel Roth brand and the small but highly specialised team of technicians and craftsmen at the Le Sentier workshop have produced an impressive collection of tourbillon pieces encased within the instantly recognisable Daniel Roth Ellipsocurvex watchcase.  Of these one of the most visually stunning must be the Tourbillon Lumière first released in 2007 in rose gold and now available in platinium.

The watchcases at Daniel Roth are produced from a solid block of metal with individually welded lugs and in the case of a platinium case like this one, this is achieved at temperatures of more than 1,300 °C.  It is this high level of construction quality combined with months of detailed assembly and delicate finishing  that makes each Daniel Roth watch unique and highly desirable.

Attention to detail is as meticulous as ever – the mainplates are sapphire-blasted, the openworked bridges have a satin-brushed finish and the blued steel chapter ring which features diamond-polished hollowed dots perfectly compliments the serpentine hands which are crafted from the same material and in the spirit of true horological art all the screws are manually finished and are oriented in the same direction as the dial.

Such skill is not wasted – this piece as its name implies reveals its hand-crafted Calibre DR780 Tourbillon Squelette movement through front and back glare proof crystals, the tourbillon, delicate, captivating and constantly moving features a vertically-polished bridge a classical watchmaking technique.

The Tourbillon Lumière Platinum comes presented on a hand-sewn midnight blue double- sided alligator leather strap, complete with a white gold folding clasp.

Popularity: 3% [?]