Create a fully customized tourbillon watch

 

The horological experience at Initium introduces a new course for watch enthusiasts: crafting your own Swiss made tourbillon timepiece. Developed in La Chaux-de-Fonds by a watchmaker with whom Initium has been collaborating since 2017, the manually wound caliber boasts a power reserve of 105 hours. Every component, from the case to the hands, including the dials - a peripheral ring containing indexes and a skeletonized central portion - can be chosen by participants to create a fully customized timepiece. The day of instruction provides an immersion into the world of horology, alongside a Master watchmaker with whom participants will also share a meal at noon. The course can be taken at Initium's workshops in Le Noirmont as well as in the old town of Geneva. Price: 18’500 Swiss francs.

 

 

New releases - Hervé Schlüchter L'Essentiel

 

Drawing inspiration from the movements of iconic pocket watches and from an 1810 Antide Janvier regulator, the timepiece displays the hours on a 24-hour philosophical disc in aventurine, the minutes via central regulator hand, and small seconds on a subdial at 6 o'clock. Two complications are included: the 24-hour philosophical disc and the stop lever for time correction. The movement features three horological specialties: a ‘moustache’ lever escapement, a Guillaume-type balance and wolf’s tooth winding. A limited edition of 25 pieces.

 

 

The Christmas Gifts for watch enthusiasts

ENGLISH (il testo italiano è in fondo alla pagina)

Looking for something to gift yourself or your fellow watch fan? The right answer is one of Marco Strazzi’s Watch Books.

 

The Museum Collection is a selection of 100 milestones of 20^th Century watchmaking. The technology, design and style of the more and less well-known models that made the history of timekeeping from 1900 to 2000. Click here to learn more.

Watch Ads 1900-1959 and Watch Ads 1960-2000 take the reader through a century of communication. The thousand or so featured images are living history and a faithful testimony of how design, styling and the public’s tastes evolved. Click here to learn more.

Rolex 1905-1960 focuses on the company’s first half-century - the years that shaped its identity and paved the way to worldwide success. Timeline, watches, movements, ads, patents, documents. Click here to learn more.

The publisher has a recommendation for fiction lovers, as well. The historical novel Wingwatch tells the story of a wristwatch, lost on D-Day and rediscovered 70 year later in an auction house catalog. Click here to learn more.

 

ITALIANO

Cerchi un regalo di Natale per te stesso o per un amico appassionato di orologi? La risposta giusta è un volume della collezione Watch Books di Marco Strazzi.

 

Orologi da Polso 1900-1959 è la prima parte della nuova storia enciclopedica dell’orologio da polso. Lo stravagante braccialetto con orologio deriso dai conformisti diventa uno strumento indispensabile. Clicca qui per saperne di più.

Orologi da polso 1960-2000 conclude la cronistoria del Ventesimo Secolo. Dall’orologio elettrico al rinascimento della meccanica, passando attraverso la crisi del quarzo. Con un’appendice sul ventennio 2001-2021. Clicca qui per saperne di più.

Watch Ads 1900-1959 e Watch Ads 1960-2000 accompagnano il lettore lungo un secolo di comunicazione. Un migliaio di annunci pubblicitari raccontano l’evoluzione del design e dei gusti attraverso i decenni. Clicca qui per saperne di più.

Rolex 1905-1960 è dedicato al primo mezzo secolo della Casa: gli anni che ne hanno definito l’identità creando le premesse di un successo planetario. Cronologia, orologi, movimenti, pubblicità, brevetti, documenti originali. Clicca qui per saperne di più.

L’editore ha un consiglio anche per gli amanti della narrativa. L’Orologio con le Ali racconta la storia di un orologio smarrito il 6 giugno 1944 (D-Day) e riscoperto 70 anni più tardi nel catalogo di una casa d’aste. Clicca qui per saperne di più.

 

 

New Releases – Lederer Central Impulse Chronometer

The final two series of the award-winning caliber invented by Bernhard Lederer are housed in a 44 mm case available either in a 904L steel version with a Pacific Green grey-green open dial, or in a 18k pink gold version with a Black Rhodium grey-black open dial. The movement combines a new type of constant-force escapement with a double gear train. This duality is manifest with two synchronized seconds hands running in opposite direction within two intertwined apertures that together form a big figure eight.

Vintage Press - Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie (1935)

ENGLISH
Here (picture below) is how the Swiss Watchmaking Magazine (Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie) presented new models back in the 1930s. Two of these watches are sought-after items by modern day collectors. The Oyster Royal features a case that went on to become a Rolex signature design. The LeCoultre "day-date" is the first of a successful series of calendar watches by the brand. Spécialités Horlogères was the Swiss distributor of LeCoultre watches.

ITALIANO
Ecco (foto sopra) come la Rivista Svizzera dell'Orologeria (Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie) presentava le novità negli Anni 30. I collezionisti di oggi apprezzano molto due di questi orologi. L'Oyster Royal ha una cassa che sarebbe diventata emblematica della produzione Rolex. Il "day-date" LeCoultre è il primo di una serie di orologi con calendario della Casa. Spécialités Horlogères era il distributore svizzero degli orologi LeCoultre.

 

New Releases – Nivada Grenchen Antarctic 35mm

As the trend of oversized watches wanes, Nivada Grenchen delves into its heritage to unveil the Antarctic 35mm, a slim and small neo-vintage classic. The hand-wound Landeron 21 caliber opened up new possibilities in terms of slimness (7mm case thickness and 10.1mm with the crystal) and diameter (35mm), enabling the brand to reissue an old classic in its original, period size. Everything about it is identical to the watch worn by polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd while overseeing Operation Deep Freeze in 1955 and 1956, including the applied steel ‘arrowhead’ indexes.

 

 

Watches at auction

Highlights from the 3 December Christie’s auction in New York include a Patek Philippe 18k gold automatic perpetual calendar wristwatch with moon phases, formerly owned by Andy Warhol. After the Warhol 10-day auction in 1988, this reference 3448 remained with the original buyer until 2014 when it was acquired by the present owner.

Estimate: $350,000-600,000

 

Another important timepiece offered at auction is the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 5002P-001. Launched in 2001, this extremely rare platinum double-dial wristwatch features twelve complications including 'Cathedral' minute repeating tourbillon, perpetual calendar with retrograde date, Moon age and angular motion, sidereal time and sky chart.

Estimate: $1,200,000-2,000,000

 

 

The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2023

The 2023 winners of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) were unveiled on 9 November. The 2023 jury and the 847-member GPHG Academy honored contemporary watchmaking excellence and creativity by awarding 19 prizes. 

 

The winner of the "Aiguille d'Or"

The “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix went to Audemars Piguet for the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 watch. 

The Special Jury Prize, which rewards an outstanding personality or institution, was handed to Svend Andersen and Vincent Calabrese for the creation of the AHCI. 

The Bovet 1822, Bulgari, Christopher Ward, Dior Montres, Ferdinand Berthoud, Hautlence, L’Epée 1839, Laurent Ferrier, Maison Alcée, Petermann Bédat, Piaget, Raymond Weil, Simon Brette, Tudor, Ulysse Nardin and Voutilainen brands also received awards from the Jury and the Academy.

 2023 PRIZE LIST

“Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix: Audemars Piguet, Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4
Innovation Prize: Hautlence, Sphere Series 1
Audacity Prize: Maison Alcée, Persée Azur
Chronometry Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud, Chronomètre FB 3SPC

The "Horological Revelation"

“Horological Revelation” Prize: Simon Brette, Chronomètre Artisans
Ladies’ Watch Prize: Piaget, Hidden Treasures
Ladies’ Complication Watch Prize: Dior Montres, Grand Soir Automate Etoile de Monsieur Dior
Men’s Complication Watch Prize: Voutilainen, World Timer
Iconic Watch Prize: Ulysse Nardin, Freak One      
Tourbillon Watch Prize: Laurent Ferrier, Grand Sport Tourbillon Pursuit
Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Bovet 1822, Récital 20 Astérium
Chronograph Watch Prize: Petermann Bédat, Chronographe rattrapante
Sports Watch Prize: Tudor, Pelagos 39
Jewellery Watch Prize: Bulgari, Serpenti Cleopatra
Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Piaget, Altiplano Métiers d'Art - Undulata
“Petite Aiguille” Prize: Christopher Ward London, C1 Bel Canto
Challenge Watch Prize: Raymond Weil, Millésime automatic small seconds
Mechanical Clock Prize: L'Epée 1839, Time Fast II Chrome
Special Jury Prize: Svend Andersen and Vincent Calabrese

 

The story behind the watch - The Liverpool philanthropist

The latest mini-documentary from 10e10.ch by Marco Strazzi.

The Vacheron & Constantin timepiece gifted to his wife by a British celebrity of the 19^th century – the man who created the UK’s first drinking fountains.

 

 

Un orologio Una storia - Il filantropo di Liverpool

L'ultimo video da 10e10.ch by Marco Strazzi.

Il Vacheron & Constantin donato alla moglie da una celebrità inglese del XIX Secolo: l’uomo che creò le prime fontane pubbliche del Regno Unito.

Watches at Auction - Marlon Brando's Rolex

The highlights of the upcoming Christie’s auction in Geneva (‘Passion for Time’, 6 November) include the Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675 worn by Marlon Brando when playing Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 classic “Apocalypse Now”. Marlon Brando ‘customised’ this piece by hand-engraving his name on the caseback.  In addition, as Petra Brando Fischer recalls: “....he wore the watch on the set of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines, being asked  to take it off during filming as it would stand out too much.” She said her father argued that ‘If they’re looking at my watch, then I’m not doing my job as an actor,’ and the powers that be on set eventually relented.

 

 

Brando went a step further, by removing the bezel as well as the steel bracelet, which he replaced with a sober black strap, and pared down to essentials, allegorically mirrored the character of Kurtz.

Estimate: CHF 1,000,000-2,000,000

 
 

Vintage ad - A. Michel

ENGLISH

"Our company supplies all kinds of raw movements, anchor and cylinder, 5 to 20 lignes - We do not manufacture complete watches". This 1923 ad reminded industry players that A. Michel only made and supplied raw movements. In 1926, the company was among the founding members of the Ebauches S.A. group along with A.S. (A. Schild) and FHF (Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon).

Do you like vintage watch ads? Visit the page about Watch Ads, the one and only two-volume pictorial history of communication and design in 20th Century watchmaking. Do you wish to know more? Watch the video clip about the publication and download the preview of Volume 1.

ITALIANO  
"La nostra compagnia fornisce movimenti di ogni tipo, ad ancora o a cilindro, da 5 a 20 linee - Non produciamo orologi completi". Questo annuncio del 1923 ricordava ai professionisti del settore che A. Michel si limitava alla produzione e fornitura di movimenti grezzi. Nel 1926, la compagnia fu tra i membri fondatori del gruppo Ebauches S.A. insieme con A.S. (A. Schild) e FHF (Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon).
Ti piacciono le pubblicità d'epoca? Visita la pagina su Watch Ads, l'unica storia illustrata in due volumi della comunicazione e del design nell'orologeria del Novecento. Vuoi saperne di più? Guarda il video sull'opera e scarica l'anteprima del Volume 1.

  

Upcoming Auctions – Only Watch 2023

The one-off timepieces being auctioned at the Only Watch sale on 5 November in Geneva are on display in a promotional tour traveling from America to Europe, via Asia and the Middle East. Held by Christie’s, the event’s tenth edition will benefit research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other genetic diseases. A total of 73 brands are participating, including 16 collaborations and 16 first-time entries. In addition to contributions by prestigious manufacturers, the 62 timepieces feature emerging watchmaking talents; reflecting the charity's approach, funding research undertaken by doctoral and post-doctoral students. The pictures below feature just a small selection from the Only Watch catalog.

Frederique Constant Tourbillon Planetarium

Furlan Marri Secular Perpetual Calendar

 

Krayon Anywhere

 

Lederer Central Impulse Chronometer

 

Maurice Lacroix

 

Reservoir x Télôs