With a Valjoux 7751 movement based on the highly acclaimed 7750 Calibre, Baume & Mercier present a new addition to its Classima Executives XL collection first launched in 2004 – the Classima Executives XL Chronograph Complete Calendar.

As its name implies this latest piece features an array of functions within its classic 42mm round case – annual calendar, 24-hour indicator, chronograph function, moon phase indicator and power reserve of 42 hours.  The silvered dial of this refined piece is decorated at the centre with a guilloché pattern, satin finished on the outer section and   subdials and has concentric detailing on the chronograph counters.  The monochrome theme of the dial continues broken only by the red gold date hand and the golden moon on the moon phase indicator at the 6 o’clock position.  An exhibition caseback reveals the Baume & Mercier signed rotor and Côtes de Genève patterns on the bridges.

The Classima Executives XL Chronograph Complete Calendar will be unveiled at the 2010 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in January.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Frédérique Constant - relative newcomers in the industry – have achieved another world first in the form of the “Manufacture Tourbillon Moonphase Date 24 Silicium”.  The brand were the first to develop a tourbillon featuring an escapement wheel made from silicon, the smooth surface of which needs no lubrication and which being incredibly light, results in less inertia in the escape wheel.

The latest model further builds on the growing reputation of the company as innovators in precision and accuracy.  It is powered by the Calibre FC-985 which is based on the highly respected Frédérique Constant Heart Beat Manufacture movement and features an escapement and a lever in Silicium, a patented Smart Weight Balancing-system, oscillation at 28’800 BpH and a tourbillon cage containing eighty one components.
The combined moon phase indicator and small date hand are located at the 12 o’clock position and a 24 hour hand indicating Day/Night is at the 9 0’clock position.

The Manufacture Tourbillon Moonphase Date 24 Silicium is presented in a limited release of 188 pieces in 18 carat rose gold or 88 pieces in 18 carat white gold and a choice of black dial with polished applied indexes with elegant centre engraving or silvered dial with  “Clous de Paris” guilloché centre detailing and lacquered roman numerals.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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% [?]

The Daniel JeanRichard manufacture have announced the arrival of their latest model in the Diverscope series. The new JeanRichard Diverscope JR1000 Goldwaters is an impressive piece with a lot of presence.

It’s robust 43mm case and bezel are constructed in stainless steel and then coated in vulcanised rubber to offer almost complete scratch resistance as well as creating an imposing impression on the wrist. To contrast aginst the matte black finish of the watch, the screw-in crowns are made from 18Kt pink gold and are book-ended with sturdy protective shoulders which, like the caseback are made from PVD-coated titanium.

The two opposing crowns allow for normal time and date correction/setting (at the 3 o’clock position) and the other (at the 9) to operate the sub-crystal uni-directional rotating bezel, so enabling the wearer to adjust the position of the 60-minute dive scale.

The Manufacture claims a high degree of legibility for the JeanRichard Diverscope JR1000 Goldwaters in low visibility environments with dial features such as luminescent indices, numerals and hands.

The new JeanRichard Diverscope JR1000 Goldwaters manages to successfully marry the attributes of  the stylish, rugged men’s sports watch with those of the serious diver’s watch with a depth range of 300M/1000ft .

The new piece is sold with both a rubber strap and also a rubber-coated alligator strap.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Officine Panerai present a new model to add to their highly collectable Historic Collection, the Panerai Radiomir P.999 42mm Pink Gold, powered by a new hand-wound P.999 movement with 60-hour power reserve developed and produced at the Neuchâtel manufacture which was opened in 2006.

The P.999 Calibre is smaller than previous Panerai movements allowing the pioneers of the “over-size” watchcase to slightly downsize this latest model resulting in a 42mm diameter watch which is perhaps more suitable for formal occasions while at the same time preserving the essential military and sporting personality of the Radiomir collection.

The Panerai Radiomir P.999 in 18Kt pink gold

The Radiomir P.999 features the classic Panerai dial with small seconds at the 9 o’clock position, although this time the use of dark brown rather than the traditional black is in keeping with the understated and elegant styling of the watch.  High legibility is retained due to the use of the traditional sandwich design in which a lower disk is coated with luminous substance while an upper one is perforated with the numerals and hour markers.

The watchcase is a tactile brushed satin-finished 18 ct pink gold with a contrasting highly polished 18 ct pink gold bezel and the piece is presented on a dark brown alligator strap with pink gold pin buckle, which can easily be changed due to the patented removable wire loop strap attachments.  Water resistance is tested to 100 metres, with the screw-down truncated-cone crown synonymous with this manufacture offering guaranteed protection. Forming part of the Panerai Historic Collection, the Panerai Radiomir P.999 42mm Pink Gold will be a limited release of 500 pieces.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Building upon the growing success of their 1966 Collection which made its first appearance in 2006, Girard-Perregaux have announced the addition of the 1966 Chronograph to this select series.

Offered in both pink gold and white gold and featuring a sapphire crystal exhibition caseback, the new 40mm piece remains true to the more classic theme as found across the 1966 range.

The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Chronograph in 18Kt pink gold

The layout of the dial allows for an uncluttered display, consisiting of the small seconds subdial at the 9 o’clock position, and the traditional 30-minutes chrono counter at the 3. Despite the apparently simple and uncongested design of the dial, it still employs a number of traits which draw their cues from classic chronograph watches from the past. These include the use of minutes track around the dial and subdials, the retro-styling of the tachymetric scale too further adds to the overall theme. Oxidised blue steel hands for the subdials and chrono seconds contrast handsomely to the base gold hour and minute hands and markers and also contribute to the 1966 Chronograph’s classical design.

Visible through the caseback is the GP030C0 calibre self-winding automatic column-wheel chronograph movement, with 36 hour power reserve and which again harks back to classic design, but is newly developed in-house to demanding standards.

With so many traditional features, it is possible to forget or overlook the fact that this is indeed an entirely new design and one which serves to represent the abilities of the modern watchmaker when revisiting a classic concept.

As a new addition to the 1966 Collection, the Girard-Perregaux 1966 Chronograph compliments this select range of classically-designed timepieces.

Popularity: 5% [?]

The jury at the ninth Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève held on 14th November 2009 have awarded the Harry Winston Opus 9 the “Best Design Watch of the Year”.

The Opus collection, launched by Harry Winston in 2001 is a horological collaboration which brings together master designers and pioneers of engineering from the industry annually, whose combined talents have in the past resulted in releases which are quite simply the most highly sought after and collectable pieces available.

The Harry Winston Opus 9

This year’s watch – the Opus 9 is no exception.  The piece is the  work of Jean-Marc Wiederecht , the engineer and it’s designer Eric Giroud and has an automatic self-winding movement using a chain system.  The dial does not have hands but features two parallel diamond chains each consisting of 33 diamonds and one garnet – which indicates the correct hour and minute.  Although complex in the extreme to engineer and create, the dial is stunningly simple contrasting beautifully with the white gold watchcase.  Presented on a black alligator strap, the Opus 9 is reassuringly  limited to 100 pieces.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Founded in 2002, the De Bethune manufacturer are already considered to be masters of the use of concepts, technology and innovation within the industry. The pursuit  for precision movements through on-going research has  resulted in the development and patenting of its titanium and platinum balance wheel and also its silicon balance wheel.

The De Bethune DB25 Moon Phase

Now the watch collecting public can appreciate the fruits of their labours in the form of the DB25 Moon Phase watch  which has  a new hand-wound mechanical movement with six days power reserve based on the DB2105 mechanical movement featuring the silicon balance wheel which makes its debut having been used in a production movement for the first time.

Available in rose gold or grey gold 44.6mm watchcase editions, both of which contrast beautifully with the hand guilloché silvered gold dial, it is surprisingly clean and classical in styling considering some of the more “avant garde” releases by this brand such as the DBS and DB22 collections.

One of the most distinguished features synonymous with this brand – the spherical moon phase indicator ball appears in all its captivating glory.  Rotating on its own axis it has two sides, one in steel the other in platinum against a background sky embellished with gold stars, it serves to replicate what we can actually see in the sky.  This exquisite scene is astonishingly accurate, requiring no adjustment for 122 years.

Popularity: 4% [?]

At the ninth “Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève” held on 14th November 2009 Richard Mille received the award in the “Sports Watches” category for the tourbillon chronograph RM025 diver’s watch.

The designers at Richard Mille spent more than five years on the development of this piece which features both a chronograph and tourbillon in a watch equipped to withstand water resistance of 300 metres.  The high degree of difficulty in constructing the RM025 movement – a carbon nonofibre tourbillon chronograph which takes many months to complete will mean that this watch will have a limited annual production.

The Richard Mille RM025 Tourbillon Diver

The RM025 Tourbillon Chronograph Diver’s watch features a totally re-designed watchcase, which although necessary to meet the demands of deep sea diving nonetheless marks a radical departure from the “traditional” Richard Mille case shape and is the brand’s first round watch.  With a tough tripartite construction water resistance of this case is guaranteed through the use of individually adjustable torque screws around the case edge.  Another safety feature is the unique bezel design which as you would expect turns unidirectionally but is also screwed to the watchcase with 24 screws each of which is adjustable to allow for personal modification.

This groundbreaking timepiece is presented on a virtually indestructible Kalrez® diver’s strap and is available in 18-carat red gold and titanium case with integrated red gold lugs.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Audemars Piguet are considered by some in the industry to be the brand who first used the term “concept” watch and with the creation of their latest piece the Carbon One Toubillon Chronograph they have proved themselves once again to be masters in the art of blending the traditions of haute horology with supreme innovation.  Years of research and development by the designers and innovators at Le Brassus and Le Locle are evident in both the use of high tech materials and the three-dimensional dial design in this their latest creation.

The Audemars Piguet Millenary Carbon One Tourbillon Chronograph

This exclusive timepiece is constructed from a powerful combination of cutting-edge materials – eloxed aluminium and blackened steel for the bridges, black ceramic for the bezel, crown and chronograph push pieces and forged carbon for the watchcase.  The latter, an extremely strong yet light material is another Audemars Piguet exclusive developed by the brand and used in the 2008 Royal Oak Concept Carbon watch -  “forged” refers to the process of pressing and moulding together the separate pieces of carbon wire resulting in a high quality material with a unique texture and ultimately extremely lightweight – the Millenary Carbon One weighs only 69.44 grams.

The high level of construction is not merely confined to the robustly designed watchcase, part of the appeal of this watch is the ability to view the layers of assembled parts through the open worked three-dimensional dial.  Although primarily black in colour, white and red detailing on the hour markers, hands and chronograph counter lend the subtle contrast required to complete this stunning piece.

The Audemars Piguet Calibre 2884

The movement is the AP Calibre 2884, a complex piece of craftsmanship featuring a tourbillon, column-wheel chronograph mechanism and twin barrels, the assembly of which takes more than two weeks.  Presented on a hand-sewn crocodile leather strap with the AP folding clasp the Audemars Piguet Millenary Carbon One Tourbillon is water resistant to 20 metres and is a limited edition release of 120 pieces

Popularity: 13% [?]

Chopard continues its proud associations with the world of classic cars with the release of a new watch with true motorsport heritage – the Chopard 1000 Miglia GT XL Chrono Split Seconds.  The Mille Miglia road rally event for vintage cars runs over 1000 miles of Italian roads and has become known as the world’s most beautiful road race.  Chopard have been sponsor and official timekeeper of the event since 1988.

This remarkable C.O.S.C. certified chronograph has a completely redesigned silvered dial with four counters: small second subdial at 9 o’clock, pointer date indicator at 3 o’clock, 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and 30 minute counter at 12 o’clock.

The Chopard Mille Miglia GT XL Chrono Split Seconds

As its name suggests, this watch features a split seconds timer, an intricate and notoriously difficult to construct complication which enables the wearer to measure split times or comparison time sectors through the use of two central second hands, one of which is tipped with a red arrow bearing evidence to its iconic Mille Miglia heritage.  Using the pusher at 2 o’clock the chronograph is activated and the split-second hand can be stopped at will using the 8 o’clock pusher.  On reading the intermediate time, a second push makes the split-second hand catch up with the central second hand and the two continue their movement together. To time events which begin but do not end at the same time, once the split-second hand has been stopped, another push on the pusher located at the 2 o’clock position stops the conventional chronograph hand to  enable the two measurements to be read before resetting the function using the pusher at 5 o’clock.

Although completely contemporary in style and spirit the 1000 Miglia GT XL Chrono Split Second is housed within a  traditionally elegant rose gold 44mm watch case and is presented on an alligator leather strap and it is perhaps in this blend of refinement and technical prowess wherein the appeal of this watch is to be found.  The piece is a limited edition release of 500.

Popularity: 9% [?]