Despite the burgeoning price of bullion (up 65% over the past year and sitting at a 10-year high, and trading at twice the price of platinum), watch brands are not shying away from introducing all gold “look-at-me” watches, to kick off the new year. This was especially true among the brands at LVMH Watch Week, held in January in Milan. Also on the menu during the week of new introductions: some souped-up sports watches, including the integrated-bracelet kind, and fresh seasonal pastel pastels, perhaps to lighten the mood following dark world events. Here are some highlights. Prices in US dollars.
Zenith
Zenith introduced the rose gold Defy Skyline Tourbillon Skeleton, a 50-piece limited edition priced at US$103,700. The full gold case and bracelet are surprisingly contrasted with a bright blue PVD treatment on the bridges and mainplate, with the angles chamfered, polished and something rarely seen in watch decoration, outlined with rhodium plating to catch the light. For good measure, the markers are coated with Super-LumiNova. The movement is a newly openworked version of the automatic El Primero 3630. For more casual moments, it comes with a blue rubber strap to match the bridges.
Also in Zenith’s new lineup is a black ceramic version of the Defy Skyline Skeleton, with similarly openworked movement architecture, but with a speedy seconds subdial at 6 o’clock rather than a tourbillon. It’s powered by a skeletonized version of the signature El Primero 3620 SK that shows the 1/10th of a second hand zipping around the subdial. The movement is all gold-tone finished, with black accents. $18,900
Among the brand’s more quirky watches is the Defy Revival A3643, inspired by a design from 1969 that was newly launched in 2022 with a modern automatic movement (Zenith Elite caliber 670) and has appeared with black, red or gradient brown dials in the past. A new silver toned dial, with a vivid orange seconds hand, gives the vintage design a whole new look: cleaner and purer. $7,800.
A similar, sleek silver dial has also found its way to the ladies’ Defy Skyline 36 collection. Original dials were deep blue, ice blue, pastel green or pastel pink, with straps to match. The new silver dial (with choice of strap, including a new black option – or steel bracelet) is less girly, and will likely appeal to men with smaller size preferences. $13,300 with diamonds and $9,400 without.
Tiffany
Tiffany & Co. once ran a watch workshop in Switzerland, where, 160 years ago, it produced a chronograph called the Tiffany Timer, hence the name of this new chronograph. The dial is created by applying 15 layers of clear lacquer over a coat of Tiffany blue-colored varnish. The movement, made by LVMH sister brand Zenith, is the El Primero 400 chronograph movement, customized with a carving on the rotor of the brand’s famous Bird on a Rock brooch. The dial is created by applying 15 layers of clear lacquer over a coat of Tiffany blue-colored varnish. The hour markers are baguette-cut diamonds. Chronograph seconds are indicated on the dial periphery. Chronograph minutes are a 3 o’clock, and chronograph hours, at 6 o’clock. Running seconds appear at 9 o’clock. With a platinum case and baguette diamond hour markers, it's limited to 60 pieces. $55,000
Gérald Genta
The new, gender-neutral Geneva Time Only is a classic day watch with a fancy case and a name that says it all. In watchmaking circles, Geneva represents the center of elite horology but the name that really carries weight here is Gerald Genta, the world’s most celebrated watch designer. The classic rounded-cushion case design is based on Genta’s 1970s original, interpreted here in rose gold (Marrone) or white gold (Grafite). At 38mm it can be worn by men as well. It shows you how far things have come when the words “time only” are included in the model name: it is considered a good thing, just the essentials in a streamlined, classic design. The automatic movement is made by Zenith. 25,000 Swiss francs (about $31,673)
Hublot
Hublot, the wizard of watchmaking materials, has made a Novak Djokovic special edition watch made of processed remnants of shirts the athlete has worn and racquets he has used. The Big Bang Tourbillon Novak Djokovic GOAT Edition cleverly comes in three colors corresponding to the colors of tennis’s three playing surfaces, and is numbered according to Djokovic’s wins on each surface: 72 pieces in blue, symbolizing hard court wins; 21 in orange for his clay court wins; and eight in green for his wins on grass. And collectors hope he keeps the wins coming: The 101 watches are numbered but not limited, because on the occasion of each future win, Hublot will add another watch, colored and numbered according to the tournament surface.
The case is made of a proprietary composite made by Hublot that includes Djokovic’s Lacoste polo shirts and Head tennis racquets in the mix. For this series, 12 of the tennis star’s blue polo shirts, four in orange and two in green, were needed to achieve the required volume of material. Twelve racquets were also used. The middle case is made of Titaplast, a polymer with high-performance mechanical properties that are similar to titanium.
The rest of the watch is loaded with tennis iconography:
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The mainplate is designed to resemble a tennis racquet, with a three-dimensional lattice that takes the shape of tennis racquet strings. The gaps between the strings are intentionally irregular, as they would be on a tennis racquet mid-match.
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The strap is made of white leather with white stitching that is embossed to appear padded and patterned like the grip tape on one of Novak’s tennis racquets.
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The mainspring barrel is topped by a steel cover made to look like a tennis ball, lacquered a yellow/green color and given a textured look for the full tennis ball look.
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The caseback carries the words “Greatest of All Time.”
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And finally: The six titanium screws that hold the composite bezel in place are shaped like tennis balls.
Bulgari
Bulgari’s two most important intros are ladies’ watches, but hey guys, Valentine’s Day is coming up. Both are all-gold, demonstrating the steady-on buying power of the super rich in the face of the gold price explosion. But the watches are more than just pretty: they contain two of the most sophisticated and ground-breaking movements in mechanical watchmaking right now: scaled down calibers for upscale ladies’ watches.
The Maglia Milanese Monete secret watch represents Bulgari’s first foray into the traditional art of Milanese mesh, with a bracelet formed from interlaced gold threads using a traditional technique originating in Milan during the renaissance. The cover of the secret watch, which hides the dial until it’s time to tell time, has more ancient origins. It’s an authentic ancient coin from 198-297 AD, depicting Emperor Caracalla, a reference to Bulgari’s Roman headquarters. The movement is one of two mechanical calibers developed recently by Bulgari to elevate the quality of its top tier ladies’ pieces. The Piccolissimo BVP100 is the world’s smallest round manual-wound movement, measuring 13.5 mm diameter, 2.5 mm thick. For this watch, it was updated: before it had no winding stem, so winding and setting were performed via the caseback. It now appears in a new version with crown winding, which makes way for a sapphire caseback to reveal its inner workings.
The Tubogas Manchette, a yellow gold cuff-style watch, was inspired by an archival Bulgari model from 1974. The bracelet is created by threading individual polished gold rings onto a coiled titanium blade that wraps around the wrist. The links are set with nearly 12 carats of diamonds, along with large gemstones of various cuts and colors, a Bulgari signature: citrines, rubellites, peridots, amethysts, topazes and spessartites. It is powered by the Solotempo BVS 100 automatic caliber, introduced last year. It measures a mere 19 mm diameter x 3.90 mm thick, yet maintains a 50 hour power reserve, which makes it perfect for a ladies’ watch, and a breakthrough in the micro-engineering of automatic movements.
TAG Heuer
The highlight from the group’s racing brand is the quirky Carrera Seafarer, inspired by an original piece launched in 1949. The tide time indicator function at 6 o’clock was initially conceived by Walter Haynes, the president of sporting goods retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. He commissioned Heuer to produce a watch with the function called the Heuer Solunar. The indicator now makes an appearance on this sprightly version of Carrera chronograph. It contains a new movement, the TH20-04 developed to incorporate the tide tracker, the point of which is to display when the tide will be at its lowest or highest, thus indicating the optimum times to sail in or out of harbors or along tidal rivers and estuaries. Those who need to know this represent a niche market, but the rest of us will be charmed by the glassbox design, with the cool curved dial flange and the teal and gold highlights. The teal is actually called “intrepid teal,” named for the 1967 America’s Cup-winning yacht, Intrepid, which inspired Jack Heuer to create a watch called the Skipper regatta chronograph. Priced at $8,800.
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