Something special from Glashütte’s first watchmaking company is the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar watch, unveiled at SIHH 2012.

Tourbillons are tricky little things.  Their creation requires the skills of a Master Watchmaker.  Their number of components can be counted in the hundreds.  Their construction can be measured in hours spent at the bench.  A tourbillon is a highly prized addition to any fine wristwatch and will animate any watch dial – normally appearing in its own aperture, many tourbillons even go for dial domination, the main feature  – and one which you will be proud to show off.  Not so this watch, so determined to protect the instantly recognisable Glashütte dial arrangement, A. Lange & Söhne have relegated the tourbillon of this piece to the back – in order to admire it you will need to remove it from your wrist and turn it over.

A. Lange & Söhne produce some of the best high-end handcrafted timepieces available  with meticulous attention to detail and manufacture calibres housed in cases made from precious metals,  these are wristwatches for connoisseurs.  How very “Lange” of them to unveil a new piece with not only a tourbillon which is discreet, but also a perpetual calendar, cleverly integrated and using a rotating peripheral month ring which is so subtle it is almost imperceptible.

For this piece, the brand’s tenth Masterpiece, Lange have re-worked the indications but each retain their individual portion of the dial as before.  On the right are the hours and minutes, opposite is a day of the week retrograde display, below this is a combined moonphase indicator and small seconds subdial and the outsize double date aperture, synonymous with the brand is at 10 o’clock.  The rotating month ring is a world first, on its underside is an ingenious mechanism featuring recesses for each month’s variations.  No adjustment will be required until March 1st 2100 which as a “quirk” of the Gregorian calendar will be a secular year. Furthermore, all the displays change instantaneously.

Displaced it may be, but the one-minute tourbillon, viewable through the sapphire caseback has not been neglected.  Housed in a filigreed cage, it features a patented stop-seconds mechanism ensuring precise time re-setting to one-second accuracy.  The Manufacture L082. self-winding calibre has a substantial 21 carat gold engraved rotor which makes optimum use of each wrist motion to quickly restore power reserve to the maximum 50 hours.  As you would expect from an in-house Lange movement, decoration is to the highest standard.

A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar is presented in a 41.9mm “Grande” case, constructed from 18 carat pink gold, also available is a 100 piece platinum case limited edition.

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This is the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Tourbillon with Three Bridges – beautiful isn’t it?  It is a superb combination of titanium, platinum and lucent sapphire – reassuringly exclusive, only ten will be made.

The first piece in the collection, the  “Tourbillon Sous Trois Ponts d’Or”, designed by Constant Girard-Perregaux was awarded a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition – a deserving accolade.  This was a dramatic timepiece which literally turned the movement inside-out so the wearer, or on-looker could view the barrel, the gear train and the tourbillon at a glance, face-on.  Each of the mechanisms were beautifully aligned on the same axis on, now instantly recognisable arrow-headed bridges.  It’s been a feather in Girard-Perregaux’s horological cap ever since and few watch buffs would fail to spot one across a room.

The Girard-Perregaux Laureato Tourbillon blends the old with the new.  A subtle satin-brushed and polished octagonal bezel made from platinum adds character to the rounded case.  Chunky lume-coated hands rest atop the middle bridge for the mainplate, which is guilloche decorated.  At 12 o’clock is the barrel bridge and the tourbillon bridge is at 6 o’clock.

Such a sporty representation will not be to everyone’s taste, many aficionados will, no doubt be displeased, but even the most ardent fans cannot ignore the fact that the three “blue spinel” bridges ensure a clarity unattainable with the more conservative gold editions. Inside is the Girard-Perregaux 9600-0004 automatic movement with 48 hours of power reserve.

The Girard-Perregaux Laureato Tourbillon with Three Bridges comes presented on a titanium link bracelet.

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Just unveiled at SIHH 2012 is the Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain.

Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey are perhaps best known for their development of the tourbillon.  Not content with its “traditional” arrangement, they stubbornly tinker with it, and in doing so have created some of the most innovative and exquisite tourbillon watches you are ever likely to see.

The Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain timepiece is technically accomplished, technically superb and er…. very blue.  Now, there is more than one kind of “blue” used in the creation of beautiful watches – there is the Maurice Lacroix kind of blue, sensible and conservative even when sun-brushed; there is “vintage” blue as used by Girard Perregaux for their 1966 Blue Dial Chronograph … intensely vivid? that would be De Bethune “blue”.  Greubel Forsey’s blue is an all-consuming kind of blue – and not content with simply creating a blue dial, they have oxidised the plates and bridges so it’s eye-piercing inside and out.

There is an extraordinary depth to this watch – it is truly three-dimensional.  The lively tourbillon is “elevated” on its sapphire bridge at an incline of 25 degrees, the hands with their distinctive ample, chunky arrow-tips rise proudly from the lower reaches of the dial.  The only numeral, the number 12 is chunky, block-styled and pokes out, clearing a space between layers of sapphire.

As a counterbalance to all that synthetic stuff, the small seconds dial and the power reserve indicator are made from gold.  The titanium plate and bridges of the movement have been oxidised, resulting in that stunning shade of royal blue, before undergoing hand finishing by some of the most picky craftsmen in the business.  The tourbillon alone has 88 parts, is housed in a titanium cage and completes each revolution in a mesmerising 24 seconds.

Such a nobel watch deserves a worthy case and Greuble Forsey choose platinium – this piece measures 43.5mm across and features domed sapphire front and back.

Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain will be a limited edition of 33 pieces.

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Details have just been released of the Speake-Marin Renaissance Tourbillon Minute-Repeater.  At The Watch Press.com we do not normally mention prices – it’s simply not good “watch-etiquette”.  However, when Peter Speake-Marin released his last piece, the Spirit Pioneer, a fine and handsome limited edition watch, we couldn’t help ourselves – at just a shade under £7000, it was dare we say it …. a bit of a bargain, and unsuprisingly it quickly sold out.  The Renaissance, on the other hand, will be one of the most expensive created by Speake-Marin to date – but with both a tourbillon and a minute-repeater, an impressive open dial, superb hand engraving, hand finishing and the re-assurance of exclusivity as each piece will be a “piece unique” – you’d have to say it’s more than worth it.

If you know Speake-Marin’s work then you will recognise the Piccadilly case with its proudly protruding over-size lugs, the out-size sculpted crown, the shapely, playful hands and the inclusion of the “topping tool” motif, now an expected feature.  The Renaissance is a compendium of these Speake-Marin elements and represents a synopsis of his watchmaking attributes – just when it appeared that this Master Watchmaker had reached his own self-disciplined level of perfection, with the creation of this piece, it would appear that the man has outdone himself.

This is, at 44mm a slightly smaller Piccadilly case than before and at 11mm is positively skinny for a minute-repeater wristwatch.  The skeletonised dial is a labyrinth of angles, curves and screws.  Each component regardless of its size, function or importance has been hand-finished.  The blued-steel hands provide outstanding contrast, the topping-tool motif integrated within the tourbillon carriage is subtle and clever.

On the back of the piece the four plate construction of the movement provides a striking backdrop for hand engraving – in this piece a dragon is represented, but each Renaissance will feature unique artwork. The chime mechanism is a two-hammer minute-repeater which will sound the hours, quarter hours and minutes each time the slider on the case side at 9 o’clock is activated.  A glimpse of the hammers and gong can be seen through the case back with the enscription “London-Geneva” on the main-spring bridge of the repeater.

The superb Speake-Marin Renaissance is presented on a natural alligator leather strap.

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At SIHH 2012 Cartier will officially unveil the Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Cadran Lové Tourbillon, a striking piece with a three-dimensional dial so deep that you could become instantly immersed – images won’t do this one justice, it simply has to be seen on the wrist.

Cartier are a worldwide symbol of luxury and elegance, I have yet to meet anyone who does not find agreement with something in their portfolio.  These are effortlessly stylish pieces.  Perhaps you’ve noticed Cartier’s highly recognisable plain but prominent Roman numerals or the textured dial finishes and rail track trims – maybe it’s the splendid little cabochon-set crown which catches your eye.  All are features synonymous with Cartier watches, and all are present on the Rotonde de Cartier Cadran Lové Tourbillon, but this is no subtle dress watch, it is a boldly styled piece with a thoroughly modern twist.

Most striking is the 3D dial.  The open-worked Roman numerals on the left graduate to nil as the asymetric hours and minutes dial dominates the right side, as if that innocent little convex sapphire in the crown has distorted the whole thing with an almost lunar effect.

An inspired design – but not only that, just above 6 o’clock is a tricky little flying tourbillon, a marvellous mesmerising structure which appears to levitate above its bridges and into which a subtle letter “C” has been formed.

The Cartier Calibre 9458 MC which powers the piece has been awarded the Geneva Seal, evidence of Cartier’s ascendency into the upper stratum of Haute Horlogerie.  The case has been crafted from 18 carat grey gold and measures a very manly 46.2mm across.  Power reserve is up to 50 hours and the piece is water resistance to 30m.

The Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Cadran Lové Tourbillon watch will be a limited edition of 100 pieces.

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