Longines
Conquest Classic Moonphase
Jaquet Droz
The Bird Repeater Geneva
detailed. The Speedmaster is something of a
“tech” watch with a chronograph movement
and a tachymeter scale around the bezel —
popular with pilots and engineers. Although
first produced in the 1960s, the Speedmaster
is still orbiting the earth regularly in the
International Space Station as a popular choice
of today’s astronauts. Images of Canadian
astronaut Chris Hadfield often show him
wearing an Omega Speedmaster.
Jaquet Droz creates some astonishing timepieces in very limited quantities that are fine
art rather than mere devices for telling the
time. The Bird Repeater Geneva, typical of the
Swiss company’s work, features an 18-karat,
red-gold dial, hand-engraved and hand-painted birds and dial, and a black onyx subdial.
The watch features a minute repeater, a mechanism that’s very difficult and time-consuming to produce, even for the best Swiss ateliers.
Press the small lever on the left-hand side of
the case and a tiny bell chimes the hours and
minutes with no need for the wearer to view
the dial. The hand-wound movement has a
power reserve of 48 hours. This Jaquet Droz is
the pinnacle of haute horologie and can cost
well into six figures.
This year’s Basel fair revealed a new wristwatch from Longines that breaks some new
ground for the long-established Swiss maker.
Its Conquest Classic Moonphase has, as the
name implies, very traditional lines and looks
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E SS E N T I A L VA N CO U V ER 20 16 / 1 7
Vacheron Constantin
Overseas
back to chronographs of many years ago.
Another retro note is the “Conquest” brand,
which Longines has used on and off since
1954. In addition to the moon phase, the face
features day of the week and 24-hour clock, as
well as subdials for the chrono functions. Steel
and rose-gold bracelets are available, but traditionalists will prefer the beautifully stitched,
black-alligator strap.
The world’s oldest watchmaker, founded in
1755, Vacheron Constantin has created some
impressive watches; the recently launched
Overseas range is in the spotlight right now.
Most pieces in the collection are chronographs
with dates and dual-time functions for travelling. The perpetual-calendar variant is ideal for
owners who tend to forget date changes at the
close of shorter months. Perpetual calendars are
tricky to incorporate into mechanical watches,
demanding superlative watchmaking skills.
Of course, packing in the complications
is a lot easier with electronics, as any Apple
Watch owner will confirm, but it’s mechanical
watches that earn kudos from connoisseurs.
Not too long ago, Vacheron Constantin crafted
a remarkable pocket watch with 2,800 components and a remarkable 57 different complications — including a Hebrew calendar. As far
as price goes, let’s just say that it would buy
a nice West Vancouver house, and there’d be
enough cash left over for a Rolls-Royce to get
you home…on time.