A Time to be Special…

Luxury’s true worth and benevolent face are charitable endeavours like the 6th edition of the annual Only Watch 2015 auction in Monaco held recently to help raise funds for research on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We present unique creations from this noble venture.  

But let’s not forget, this festive season is also a time to be special, so we charm you with Piaget’s Secrets & Lights extravagant High Jewellery Cuff watch evoking the magnificence of Venetian evenings and inspired by the famous Bridge of Sighs…

WHITE A WHILE…

Blancpain's charming Day Night is equipped with an exclusive movement caliber 1150 incorporating two retrograde indications and a disk that turns twice per day. The moon features 50 diamonds, the sun 50 yellow sapphires while 14 diamonds represent stars and it features rare artistic techniques such as la decalque, la champlevé, and la marquetage.  

In 1810, Abraham-Louis Breguet produced the first wristwatch for Caroline Murat, queen of Naples. It is noted for the delicate shape of its case with flowing curves. This year, its Reine de Naples collection introduces the new Reine de Naples Princesse Mini models, measuring 32.7 x 27.3mm. The first version comes in a steel case with a self-winding movement and a domed mother-of-pearl dial with hour markers shimmering in marquetry of natural white mother-of-pearl.

Chanel's unique piece for this year's Only Watch charity auction is an 18k white gold Mademoiselle Privé set with 140 diamonds and three hand embroidered camellia motifs set with a natural pearl in the middle on a beige silk dial. It comes with a matching white satin strap and is powered by a quartz movement. The hour and minute indications are shown off-centre in the 5 o'clock position.

Elegance comes to the fore in Longines Dolce Vita watch showcasing a rectangular case set with 36 Wesselton WS diamonds, a silver flinque dial sporting blued steel hands, painted Roman numerals, is powered by a L963 quartz movement and matched by a white alligator strap.

Montblanc’s 36 mm red gold case Bohème Perpetual Calendar Jewelry has a silver-colored guilloché dial with its 60 facets and leaf-shaped hands in red gold and black floral Arabic numerals. It houses the high-complication automatic caliber MB 29.15 with its perpetual calendar function which needs to be adjusted only once in 100 years.

RULE IN BLUE

DeWitt’s 18k rose gold, 42.5mm Academia Out of Time – Only Watch 2015 features two complications: a dead-beat seconds hand at 4 o’clock and a free seconds hand at 8 o’clock and houses a self-winding movement, manufactured by DeWitt. The blue lacquered dial displays an attractive motif of misty mountains with specks of silver rising up a clear, starry sky.

Girard Perregaux’s Vintage 1945 XXL Large Date and Moon Phases Only Watch has a titanium DLC case and a transparent blue polycrystalline dial. It features a self-winding in-house movement and offers 46-hour power reserve, has a moon phase indicator at 6 o’clock and a large jumping date display featuring a patented pair of transparent discs at 12 o’clock.

Patek Philippe’s Only Watch 2015 One of the great classics of the Patek Philippe Grand Complications, Reference 5016 unites in its Calatrava-style case three prized complications: a tourbillon, a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar comprising 506 parts, all painstakingly finished by hand with a moon-phase display.

Harry Winston's 44.2mm white gold Ocean Dual Time Retrograde - Only Watch 2015 features a self-winding automatic mechanical movement and displays dual time zones.. The retrograde local time can be set forward or back using an extra disconnect mechanism controlled by the crown while stunning 3D hour hands are used to indicate the local time.  

Jacob & Co’s celestial timepiece 50mm Astronomia Tourbillon features a three-axis tourbillon, fixed on one side which also revolves vertically once every five minutes. At the same time, the tourbillon, a round one carat round diamond, a miniature gold and enamel globe and the time display is on an orbiting display with four satellites that rotate once every 20 minutes above a stunning aventurine dial.

BLACK & RED

A tribute to the Continental GT3 and Bentley’s motorsport victories, the new black titanium Breitling for Bentley GT3 Chronograph flaunts its sporting nature and has a carbon fibre dial. Its original display system features a 60- minute counter with central hand and a combined hour/minutes counter while at its heart beats a self-winding movement chronometer-certified by the COSC and it is matched by a rubber strap.

For the tenth anniversary of the Patravi TravelTec line, Carl F. Bucherer unveils the impressive 47.4 mm Patravi TravelTec II. Chronometer-certified and water resistant to 100m, its side-mounted sapphire glass window reveals the unique automatic caliber CFB 1901.1 that allows simultaneously display of three time zones in combination with a chronograph and which was developed in-house.

Tag Heuer's Carrera Calibre Heuer 01 Chronograph is christened Heuer 01 in honour of the founder, Edouard Heuer. 01 and represents the horological development of the calibre 1887. It has a case in titanium carbide coated steel for greater shock resistance, chronograph controls and an open-worked date disc on the dial side. On the case-back, its red column wheel, the skeleton chronograph bridge and the black weight draw the eye.

For Only Watch 2015, Ulysse Nardin presented a unique musical masterpiece – the 45mm "Only Watch Stranger" which performs the iconic rock ballad "We are the Champions", by Queen’s Freddie Mercury. Housing the caliber UN-690 in its blackened titanium case it  incorporates a "Melody-on-call" function selector through which one can enjoy the melody on the hour, and also on request. The anthracite dial with red features 10 cherry red blades that chime the tune in concert with the music box mechanism's rotating disc.

Rolex’s attractive GMT Master II - Oyster Perpetual Date, Stainless Steel, Coke Bezel features a rotating and locking 24-hour bezel, a special, independently adjustable 24-hour hand that displays the time in a second time zone as well as distinguishing between day and night and is capable of one-hour "jumps" forward or backward without affecting the minute or seconds hand, and a quick-set date feature.

VINTAGE

German luxury watch brand A. Lange & Sohne new models in its understated Saxonia collection have dial modifications for enhanced legibility with the gold applied hour indices closer to the periphery of the dial and double-baton indices at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock. We feature its classic Saxonia Dual Time now offered in a 38.5-mm pink or frostily beautiful white gold case, with matching local hour and minute hands. It is powered by the in-house automatic calibre LO86.2.

At the heart of the large 39.5 mm Slim d’Hermes beats the Manufacture Hermes H1950 ultra-thin self-winding calibre. Time is displayed in hours, minutes and seconds. It may be equipped with a perpetual calendar mechanism, which counts off the days and months while taking account of leap years and provides a four-year display. It is associated with a moon-phase indication in natural white mother-of-pearl set against an aventurine glass sky, as well as a dual-time display in an ultra-thin composition.

Frederique Constant’s Horological Smartwatch has the DNA attributes of typical Swiss luxury watch complications, as well as has bi-directional communication with iPhone and Android Apps. It can function entirely autonomously with its sensors. It can track your sleep patterns as well as your walking and running activity. With its low-power solution, it does not need to be recharged and maintains around 25 month’s autonomy with a regular watch battery cell.

The redesigned and refined 42mm 18k rose gold Chopard’s L.U.C. 1937 Classic features a screw-lock crown at 3 o’clock with water resistance up to 100 metres. It beats to the rhythm of Manufacture L.U.C Calibre 01.01-L at 28,800 vph. Chronometer-certified by the COSC, it is endowed with a 60-hour power reserve and has a date window at 6 o’clock and a stop-seconds function.

Glashutte Original's 44mm Senator Cosmopolite is designed for the frequent traveler. One of its key features is the ability to track two timezone simultaneously, with a time zone wheel that allows 37 different time zones to be displayed named according to their IATA code, and offset with the GMT. It is powered by Glashutte Original’s new Calibre 89-02, an automatic movement with a power reserve of approximately 72 hours.