Want to make your presence felt (for all the right reasons)? These exclusive timepieces may be what you need.
Chopard
More often than not, magic happens when a watch brand decides to get creative. In its annual tradition in honouring the Mexican Day of the Dead, Chopard unveils the special L.U.C Full Strike ‘Día de los Muertos’ minute repeater watch adorned with Mexican motifs. Powered with L.U.C Calibre 08.01-L, the watch is sculpted with ethical 18-carat white gold, with an entirely hand-engraved case topped by a bezel set with baguette-cut sapphires and framing a dial with the Calavera skull symbol. One of the highlights has got to be its award-winning sapphire gongs, which boast sound of purity. The L.U.C Full Strike ‘Día de los Muertos’ clearly demonstrates Chopard’s capacity for boldness by elevating Haute Horlogerie to new heights.
Arnold & Son
Inspired by the moon, Arnold & Son’s Luna Magna Platinum features one half of the 12mm three-dimensional natural satellite in grey marble and the other half in aventurine crystal. At the top, the hours and minutes are displayed on the iridescent white mother-of-pearl dial with 12 Roman numerals. The limited-edition watch is powered by the A&S1021 calibre, which has been fully developed, assembled and adjusted in Switzerland. In addition, the movement is hand-wound and equipped with a 90-hour power reserve and regulating mechanism set at 3 Hz. The 950 platinum case completes the piece, showcasing a changing play of light.
Zenith
Zenith launches the Defy Extreme Desert with acclaimed nature photographer Kourosh Keynejad. Portraying the beauty that is the desert environment, Zenith and Kourosh embark together to showcase original and previously unpublished works by the photographer. At the time of writing, the traveling exhibition tour is set to begin with FIAC in Paris before making its way to Dubai and Tokyo. Inspired by the extreme desert landscapes, the watch represents a more artistic reimagining of the monolithic 1/100th of a second chronograph, and the first in a developing series of Defy Extreme models. Crafted in a titanium case, the Defy Extreme Desert evokes the endless sandy horizon.
Girard-Perregaux
Girard-Perregaux and Aston Martin have unveiled a new watch, the Laureato Chronograph Aston Martin Edition. The delightfully decadent so-called “Aston Martin Green” dial is achieved by painstakingly applying paint 21 times on it. The automotive influences also encompass cross-hatching, a diamond-like pattern first seen with the carmaker’s “AM” logo. Three counters grace the dial, two chronograph registers and a small seconds display. Each counter features a partially open-worked hand, perpetuating the design of the hour and minute hands. The central section of each counter is snailed. A date display is positioned at 4:30, completing the inventory of functions. Powered by the automatic Manufacture movement, the Calibre GP03300-0141, the watch is housed in a 42mm 904L stainless steel case where the numerous curves, facets and lines, along with satin-finished and polished edges of the octagonal bezel, deliver a wonderful play with light.
Blancpain
Blancpain’s new Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe is an avant-garde diver’s watch featuring a titanium case, a first in the current collection of Fifty Fathoms. Measuring 43mm in diameter and water-resistant to 300 metres, the sharp contoured case of the watch is made of satin-finished grade 23 titanium. This high-end titanium requires substantial machining work that is extremely challenging. The anthracite-coloured dial features a hand-crafted vertical satin finish, with luminescent baton-type hands and geometric hour-markers, as well as a satin-finished titanium bezel with a satin-finished ceramic insert and a Liquidmetal time scale. Powered by in-house Calibre 1315, it provides up to five-day power reserve and equipped with a silicon balance-spring rendering it totally insensitive to magnetic fields.
This story first appeared in the Dec/Jan ’22 issue of Men’s Folio Malaysia.