Text: Lisa Epifanova
In sight
This year, the SIHH Geneva watch salon was held for the 25th time: for the first time the exhibition debuted in 1991 in the same Palexpo exhibition hall, and then only five brands took part in it: Cartier, Baume & Mercier, Piaget, Gerald Genta and Daniel Roth. Over the years, much has changed. The composition of the Salon participants has changed and expanded significantly (now 16 brands are represented), the dates have shifted to January, the interior of the exhibition has been conceptually changed by Richemont art director Giampiero Bodino - to emphasize that SIHH represents not just the latest watches, but the best of the best , crème de la creme, which will determine hourly trends throughout the year.
Naturally, the level of watchmaking over the past quarter century has increased significantly. Swiss manufactories now do not need to confirm their status, pursue records, try to attract attention to themselves with risky concepts. In fact, the time has come when customers are well aware of what they want from watch brands, and for the manufacturers themselves, nothing is physically impossible - decades of investing in new technologies, craftsmen and the construction of new factories have led brands to do everything with watch mechanics what they want.
That is why this year it is rather difficult to single out a clear general trend in mechanics. Each Watch House has prepared what it is currently working on and what works best for it. Audemars Piguet impressed with the concept (the only one at the Salon) of the new minute repeater, developed in conjunction with the Lausanne technical school, whose sound is 10 times louder than an ordinary wrist device. Saxon manufactory A. Lange & Sohne introduced its first repeater as well - the difference of Zeitwerk Minut Repeater is that it beats out 10-minute intervals instead of a quarter of an hour.
Cartier continued to develop the theme of its signature complications: Astrotourbillon and the “mystical tourbillon”, as if floating in the air, presenting their skeletonized versions. In addition, the manufactory, as if summing up some results of many years of research, created the Rotonde de Cartier Grande Complication - its currently most complicated watch, the mechanism of which 9406 MC includes a tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendar and automatic winding microrotor - all this is carefully designed decorated skeleton.
If you put in this series the stunning Cartier Crash Skeleton - a model in which the skeletonized caliber 9618 MC is made curved according to the famous asymmetric shape of the case, then it becomes obvious how much the skeletons attract modern watchmakers. For example, Roger Dubuis manufactory also prepared a whole collection of various skeletons this year - from the chic Excalibur Double Tourbillon to the ladies' version of Excalibur Broceliande and the avant-garde Excalibur Spider.
The mechanisms were also “exposed” by Piaget (Emperador Coussin Skeleton) and Parmigiani (Tonda 1950 Squelette). This tendency is quite natural: when constructing a skeleton, a watchmaker feels himself to be an architect working in three-dimensional space, “building” a time palace on his wrist. To make a skeleton is much more difficult and technical, since there is no place in it to hide flaws, everything is visible in it, so the skeleton, and especially with complications, is the highest manifestation of watchmaking.
star dust
If the maximum openness of watch mechanics is rather a technical trend, then astronomy can certainly be called the main thematic component of the SIHH collections. The magic of the starry sky, mysterious meteorites, constellations and various star-navigation functions (rather colorful than useful) served as a source of inspiration for several brands at once. Laeger-LeCoultre manufactory presented a whole collection of astronomical models: from the re-release of the well-known Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication, in which the tourbillon makes a circle on the dial with constellations in 23 hours 54 minutes, thereby showing sidereal time, to the classic Master Calendar - but with a dial, made of meteorite. The fair sex also received astronomical news: Rendez-Vous Moon with a huge lunar calendar and RendezVous Celestial with a zodiac disk, not of traditional blue, but of bright red color.
Montblanc by January introduced a limited edition of the new Heritage Chronometrie collection dedicated to Vasco da Gama's journey, and, taking the opportunity, placed a map of the starry sky of the Southern Hemisphere and other navigation functions on the dial, and in the Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum model showed a map of the starry sky from the North poles where the time of day is displayed using a special filter.
By the way, the Cartier house beat this function in a very romantic way: in the Reves de Pantheres model, the caliber 9916 MC makes a full revolution, replacing the starry sky on a sunny day, and three panthers “placed” on the dial in the form of white gold sculptures “watch” it. And, of course, Parmigiani, who made a limited edition Tonda 1950 with dials from a meteorite of black or dark blue, could not get around the star theme.
Secret garden
Ideal from the inside, romantic from the outside - this feature of modern watches more and more resembles Kant’s famous quote about "the starry sky above our heads and the moral law within us." It is obvious that the more perfect watch mechanics become, the simpler and more convenient it is - the more brands have a desire to conquer not only men's, but also demanding female audiences. To achieve this, one diamond inlay is not enough.
And the SIHH premieres demonstrated a combination of complex mechanisms with what it is so hard to resist against - with beautiful colors. Roger Dubuis twisted the bridges of the skeletonized caliber RD505SQ with jewelry branches and leaves reminiscent of the fairy forest of Broseliand, where the fairy of Morgan exiled the guilty knights of the Round Table. Vacheron Constantin decorated the mechanisms of the new Metiers d'Art Mecaniques Gravees collection with patterns on the motif of the flora, but Richard Mille proposed the boldest decision - in his new model RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur, the tourbillon hides in a blossoming magnolia flower.
And, of course, he could not ignore such an important topic of the Jewelery-Watch House, in which romantic floral symbols are embedded in the story itself - Van Cleef & Arpels. In the Charms Extraordinaire Langage des Fleurs collection, three models, released in a 38 mm numbered series, are decorated with bouquets on the dial, "compiled" according to the laws of the secret language of flowers, to guarantee their owner love, luck and joy.
And the plot of the Poetic Complications line this year was the theme of day and night, this time taking place in a beautiful garden created with enamel champlevé and mother of pearl painting. The cyclic nature of natural processes is also symbolized by another Van Cleef & Arpels novelty - a Carpe Koi bracelet watch inspired by the ring of the same name from the Palais de la Chance collection. The Japanese golden carp, created from diamonds, spessartines and yellow sapphires, tightly wraps around the wrist and serves as a symbol of love and peace of mind.
Ingenious just
This year, the brands participating in SIHH had quite a few significant anniversaries, which could not but affect the special issues of the collections. Audemars Piguet celebrated the 20th anniversary of Millenary with women's jewelry innovations, in honor of a decade of cooperation with Bugatti, Parmigiani manufactory presented a collection anniversary set of the most iconic models in the series, including the legendary first one - Bugatti 370 with gears and indicators located vertically in the case.
And the loudest anniversary - the 260th anniversary - is celebrated this year by Vacheron Constantin, and it is not surprising that the manufactory not only prepared new models, but immediately launched a whole new collection of watches in the Harmony pillow case.
Perhaps, among the truly new impressions at the last Salon, two can be distinguished: Harmony chronographs, which present an unexpected look at the Vacheron Constantin style, and the Cle de Cartier series, which implements a simple and at the same time ingenious find: the crown in the form of an elongated along briquette cases with sapphire cabochon. It is enough to turn it across the body to easily grab by the protrusions, extend and rotate without breaking the nails.
In Cle de Cartier, both male and female models are presented, all have a new manufactory caliber 1847 MC. Interestingly, along with exceptional watchmaking and jewelry, SIHH participants presented many practical and everyday models. Surely the best seller of the year will be the Rotonde de Cartier Annual Calendar - another model of this class in a convenient case with a diameter of 40 mm in white or pink gold.
Even Greubel Forsey, an authoring studio producing no more than a hundred hours a year, for the first time presented “just a tourbillon”: Tourbillon 24 Secondes Tourbillon Vision in a reduced case (43.5 mm), without the usual apses and with a regular dial, but at a price more affordable than usual brand models. But the main thing that remains in its place is a huge 30-degree tourbillon in the window at the 9 o'clock position. In order not to violate the harmony of the dial, a protruding glass sphere was made for him on the back of the case.
So those who predicted the imminent decline of classic watchmaking, the depletion of imagination and the loss of tradition of craftsmanship are definitely wrong. On the contrary - judging by the Geneva premieres, brands have just ended their apprenticeship in all disciplines of the modern Haute Horlogerie. Now comes the time of academic virtuosity.
