For film, there is Cannes. For architecture, there is Barcelona. And for watches, there is Geneva, home of the annual Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, this year celebrating its 22nd anniversary.
This Monday, the world’s leading watchmakers gathered at the vast Palexpo center to unveil their most glamorous and extravagant new creations at the start of the highly anticipated fair. For those of you who couldn’t make it to Switzerland, ARTINFO is here to bring you the best of the show (in pictures, anyway).
Cartier, Tank Folle Watch
Folle bears the same trademarks as the rest of Cartier’s nearly hundred-year-old Tank collection — a slender frame and wristband, a sun-style dial, Roman numerals, and sword-shaped hands — but with a “Persistence of Memory”-like twist: the face is crumpled, reminiscent of Dali’s melting clocks, framed in diamonds, and encased in 18-carat rhodium-plated white gold. The Tank Folle will be manufactured in a very limited edition of only 200.
Van Cleef & Arpels, Pierre Arpels Watch
Sixty years after its creation specifically for Pierre Arpels, Van Cleef & Arpels has reinvisioned the iconic watch with a contemporary look. The Arpels watch possessed an enduring sophistication and subtlety, represented by the watch’s slim frame that disappears effortlessly under the shirtcuff and was versatilie to be worn on any occasion — for Arpels was not only a businessman, but also a traveler, a designer, and sportsman. Retaining Arpels’s sense of style and the signature perfectly circular watch face, the new model has been updated with extreme delicacy. It has beveled edges, thinner attachments, and a manually glued alligator-skin wristband, which replaces the former stitching.
Montblanc, Unique Haute Joaillerie White Gold Wristwatch
Paying homage to the timeless elegance of Princess Grace of Monaco, Montblanc unveiled a line of feminine watches, characterized by slim silhouettes, delicately embellished with roses. The Haute Joaillerie White Gold Wristwatch bears diamond motifs in the shape of falling rose petals on its face, which is framed by 18-carat white gold with petal-shaped white gold links on the wristband. It’s a watch truly fit for a princess — 44 baguette-cut diamonds sit on the bezel alone.
Vacheron Constantin, Métiers d'Art, "Les Univers Infinis"
In the past, Vacheron Constantin’s Métiers d'Art collection has referenced great artists and pioneers through the designs on its watches’ faces: a map of the new world to honor Christopher Columbus; a pastel Paris Opéra ceiling for Marc Chagall; and most recently, the tessellations of the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. The latest installment of the Métiers collection is “Les Univers Infinis” ("The Infinite Universe"). The Calibre 2460, a mechanical self-winding movement, beats at the heart of the three new watches — the Dove, the Fish, and the Shell — which are finely detailed with designs inspired by Escher's work. They are engraved, enamelled, and gemset before being finished with a guilloché work. The birds in flight on the Dove Watch, encased in white gold, are outlined in yellow gold, colored with translucent enamel coating, beset with diamonds, and finished with interlaced threads of metal.
Ralph Lauren, 867 Watch
Traces of the Roaring '20s can be seen on the Art Deco-inspired 867 watch. With its thin, black, rectangular frame, silver opaline dial, and thin, black, satin strap with matching white gold pin buckle, it’s a sophisticated dress watch for men or women.