The Finest New Watches We Noticed at Geneva Watch Days 2022 – Robb Report

Geneva Watch Days started in the summertime of 2020 as an bold but unsure effort to convey the Swiss watch {industry} collectively throughout the anxiety-riddled early months of the pandemic. Two years later, the decentralized gathering has blossomed right into a bona fide occasion on the posh watch calendar, with round 40 manufacturers taking the previous few days of August to exhibit their latest fashions at resorts, boutiques and manufactures across the metropolis.

At this yr’s exhibiting, a couple of themes emerged, from the brand new favored case materials (“Gold is again,” Edouard Meylan, CEO at H. Moser & Cie., tells Robb Report) to a rising embrace of minimal, trendy types that counsel the reign of vintage-inspired design could also be nearing its pure conclusion.

Under, we spotlight a couple of of our favourite timepieces from the slew of collections unveiled in Geneva.

Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days

In 2014, when Bulgari launched the hand-wound Octo Finissimo Tourbillon, a 5-millimeter-thick titanium watch with a spherical bezel and octagonal case, its success was not a foregone conclusion. Right this moment, lower than a decade since that auspicious introduction, the Octo Finissimo sequence, overseen by designer Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, has earned raves for its design and technical mastery in addition to a number of world information for thinness. The newest entrant within the assortment, the Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days, is available in a modern 40 mm satin-polished 18k rose gold case that homes a brand new hand-wound manufacture motion, the extra-fine calibre BVL 199 SK. With its 8-day energy reserve and valuable packaging, the timepiece upholds the Finissimo custom of mixing watchmaking prowess with streamlined design. Molto bene! $37,300, Bulgari.com

Octo Finissimo Sejima Version

The starkness and ease of the Octo Finissimo Sejima Version designed for Bulgari by Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima are positive to thrill lovers of minimalist fashion. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect had a sapphire crystal dial polished to inside an inch of its life, reaching a mirror impact that performs with notions of transparency. Obtainable in a 360-piece restricted version, the mannequin options each figurative and literal Sejima signatures: The architect’s metalized dot sample graces the dial, whereas her title seems in distinctive lettering on the clear caseback of the 40 mm polished metal case. $14,100, Bulgari.com

Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon

Black-tie glamour meets excessive horology within the new Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon. Each the watch’s 34 mm tear-drop-shaped white gold case and dial are totally coated in white diamonds, in sharp distinction to the bezel, which is about with 7 carats of black spinels. Inside, a dainty mechanical tourbillon motion proves this magnificence has brains. The examine in distinction suggests “a daring dedication to mix the mad rush of time with the immortal nature of valuable stones,” as Bulgari’s advertising and marketing supplies so fantastically describe it. $185,000, Bulgari.com

DB25 Perpetual Calendar

Within the 11 years since De Bethune launched the DB25 Perpetual Calendar, the piece has been housed inside a strong 44 mm case. Now, the mannequin is offered in a 40 mm titanium case, reflecting an industry-wide downsizing pattern. Geared up with calibre DB2324V2, an improved model of the newest calibre DB2324, technically tailored to suit inside the smaller case, the QP dazzles with its traditional, completely proportioned bi-color silver and blue dial. With its guilloché sample, spherical moonphase set beneath 12 o’clock and star-studded sky in blued titanium, inlaid with rose gold stars, the mannequin proves good issues do, certainly, are available in small(er) packages. $145,000, Debethune.ch

Streamliner Tourbillon Vantablack

In a putting signal that gold is the brand new metal, H. Moser & Cie. used Geneva Watch Days because the event to debut its widespread Streamliner timepiece in a heat 5N pink gold 40 mm case. “We had a wave of built-in metal bracelets previously,” CEO Edouard Meylan tells Robb Report. “Individuals need extra worth.” In fact, the valuable steel isn’t the one materials price noting on the watch, which incorporates a dial layered in Vantablack, a kind of super-black coating invented by the nanotechnology {industry} to be used in aeronautics. Moser first made use of the fabric on its 2018 Endeavour Perpetual Moon and applies it to the brand new automated tourbillon to nice impact. “It’s in regards to the tourbillon flying and having this void round it, the Vantablack,” says Meylan. “There’s this mystic facet behind the fabric. You can not grasp it in an image. The digicam shouldn’t be able to find the correct depth as a result of it can not deal with something. You must maintain in your arms.” 109,000 Swiss francs (about $111,500), H-moser.com

Legacy Machine Cut up Escapement EVO in Icy Cool and Beverly Hills Editions

The brand new LM Cut up Escapement EVO marries two important MB&F creations in a single difficult but sporty timepiece. The story of the cut up escapement begins in 2015, when the Northern Irish grasp watchmaker Stephen McDonnell conceived of a novel solution to characteristic a big stability wheel on the entrance of an MB&F perpetual calendar whereas transferring the remaining components of the escapement — the anchor and escape wheel — to the other facet of the motion (therefore, the cut up moniker). His invention bought its correct due in 2017 when the model launched the LM Cut up Escapement in its personal proper. Three years later, MB&F debuted the EVO case that includes 80 meters of water resistance, a screw-down crown, an built-in rubber strap, a bezel-free design and a motion suspended in a monobloc shock-absorbing “FlexRing” system. Now each the motion and case improvements are mixed within the Icy Cool version, which is available in a 44 mm grade 5 titanium case with a pale blue base plate and slate gray dial. A second Beverly Hills version destined for MB&F’s new retail idea, MB&F Labs, opening on Rodeo Drive this fall in collaboration with Westime, options the retailer’s company colours of blue and black. Catch it if you happen to can. $80,000, MBandF.com

Blast Rainbow

When Ulysse Nardin launched the radical-looking Freak watch in 2001, not solely did the model pave the best way for a recent reinterpretation of watch design, but it surely additionally ushered in an period of mechanical sophistication due to its pioneering use of silicium, a fabric that has since revolutionized mechanical watchmaking by eliminating the necessity for lubricants like oil. In an homage to the fabric, and its array of colours comes the Blast Rainbow in a restricted version of fifty items. Housed in a forty five mm black ceramic and black DLC titanium case, the UN-172 manufacture automated skeleton motion incorporates a flying tourbillon. However the actual occasion is on the bezel, the place 3.65 carats of baguette-cut rubies and multicolored sapphires create a stunning rainbow impact. $89,700; Ulysse-nardin.com

Girl Diver Rainbow

Two new rainbow-hued iterations of the 2019 Girl Diver, one in white and the opposite in black (every out there in a restricted version of 300 timepieces), rework this utilitarian sports activities watch, waterproof to 300 meters, right into a crossover piece applicable for night put on. With 40 gems (together with ruby, aquamarine, topaz, tsavorite and sapphire) adorning the watch’s concave unidirectional bezel and 11 diamonds adorning the indexes, you’re sure to catch the sunshine, even down within the deep. $13,600; Ulysse-nardin.com