Very Important Watches

[anglykos]

November 23rd saw the inauguration of the ‘Very Important Watches’ exhibition in Athens. This is an annual watch exhibition started in 1998 (by a very distinguished gentleman who I had the pleasure to meet a while back) and most importantly - with charity in mind.

My wife and I took another couple with us and after having mutually agreed to leave our credit cards alone we set off for the exhibition.

Brand participation was respectable with exhibition stands of a very high level and with friendly and welcoming staff.

I restrained myself from making a beeline to my favorite stand (!) leaving the best until last and methodically made a clockwise tour instead. The ladies were all over the place just like children in a toy store so commentary was out of the question…. I concentrated on particular points of interest based on originality, complexity, uniqueness and historical importance. Although not all watch manufacturers were present the exhibition winners for me were as follows:

Breguet: the spectacular Tourbillon Messidor was on display (for the gentlemen) and the ‘Reine des Naples’ (for the ladies). It was interesting to see Breguet’s cufflinks for the first time, inspired from their own timepieces (It would be nice to see something like that from Rolex). This brand is truly one of the finest: Abraham Louis Breguet was the most important man in watch making and much admired by Napoleon himself. Breguet called his self-winding mechanisms ‘perpetuelle’ (‘perpetual’) which is used by our favorite brand today. You can spend a whole day examining a Breguet watch – the details are mesmerizing and it takes a highly skilled craftsman to create such dials.

Corum: This watchmaker would be more in place in the Louvre. There they were, works of art in their own right that should be framed and hung in a museum in my opinion. The Golden Bridge mechanism was proudly on display and justifiably so as it is a unique concept. It is a spectacular mechanism which in my opinion you either love or would hate to wear but is admirable nevertheless. The movement seems suspended in space, the ‘bridge’ supporting the mechanism which seems delicate but also remarkably simple. The Corum salesman was absolutely fantastic: knowledgeable, friendly and hugely enthusiastic about the brand. The stand was graced with the presence of a few interesting pieces of a limited production run, featuring marble dials – or rather miniature sculptures in their own right I should say. The level of detail on these dials is outstanding and each one is unique and part of a very limited production. These are timepieces that deserve huge respect for the artwork alone. There is a very interesting video that you can see on the process of crafting the dial out of marble:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1SoWhkejt0

Girard Perregaux: Very creative. This year they presented to the world the ‘Vintage 1945 Jackpot Tourbillon’ which has a slot machine at 12 as well as the tourbillon mechanism at 6 (this was the watch that I was hoping to see but unfortunately it wasn’t present). Now that is original, impressive and admirable to say the least. This watch maker has probably created a watch of unexpected complexity; can you imagine miniaturizing a gaming machine and integrating it into a tourbillon mechanism?

This year Girard Perregaux has teamed up with the BMW Oracle sailing team in the America’s Cup, and of course a new line of watches was launched which I had to check out due to my interest in sailing. No, nothing to ruffle the feathers of our favorite YM....

Jaeger Le Coultre: Antoine LeCoultre created the worlds’ most precise measuring instrument so this is pretty hard to beat. The company’s list of achievements is so long that it resembles a supermarket monthly shopping list for a family of eight (not including pets). This year they presented a concept watch called ‘Xtreme Lab’ which features a multitude of innovations the most important of which is that it is the first watch in the world that functions without lubricant. JLC’s line of diving watches were a crowd-puller also, and what is noteworthy is that JLC has invented the first dive watch that registers depth mechanically. The ladies’ line of dive watches were the most attractive dive watches I have ever seen for the gentler sex.

Just for these values I think Jaeger Le Coultre watches are underpriced (I hope no-one from JLC is reading this…).

Perrelet: Abraham Louis Perrelet was one of the most important watch makers in the world as it was he who was the first to be involved with automatic mechanisms as well as having invented the Rattrapante chronograph. This is a watchmaker who further improved on Breguet’s mechanisms. Perrelet had some of the most fascinating lunar phase watches I have ever seen – absolutely stunning to say the least – together with a superb ‘Titane collection’ model with double rotor.

Ulysse Nardin: Being a seagoing person I am partial to anchors and all things marine but here is a daring company and with remarkable attention to detail. Beautiful designs all round, constructions out of precious palladium and so forth. I was stunned by the ‘Freak’ and the ‘Royal Blue Tourbillon’ and spent nearly half an hour studying these watches. The ladies found the ‘Minute Repeater’ series’ ‘Kama Sutra’ dial featuring ‘penetrative’ mechanisms particularly amusing…

Rolex: I did say I would leave the best until last…The king of kings no less…. One look at the collection of visitors tells you everything you need to know about a brand’s appeal. All the models were there, and it was a chance for me for a closer examination of the GMT IIc as well as the new Milgauss. Ok, so I didn’t like the YMII but if it was ever given to me I would still wear it with pride (can one say this of other brands I wonder???). What can I say about the brand that I would choose hands down as a daily wearer and for longevity? Close your eyes, handle a Rolex and it is unmistakable what kind of a watch you are holding. The brand or the single watch will remain appealing for centuries and generations…I left the exhibition with a smile, sure that the overall winner was right there on my wrist…

At this point I would like to say I am not a critic of watches as I certainly do not possess enough knowledge on horology to be one. The couple we were with asked me jokingly which brand I consider to be the best, aware of my partiality to Rolex. The answer is there is no best brand, but only the best brand for you. For those of you who have visited the Louvre museum in France, do you remember many of the paintings you have seen or just the Mona Lisa?*.......

Best wishes to everyone!

Manos


*from the master Leonardo Da Vinci: encyclopaedic, multitalented and multifaceted: qualities one can find in Rolex???