SIHH - Early Trends of 2012
WORLDTEMPUS - 13 February 2012
This is a year when personal choices will truly come into play. Indeed, the breadth of selection is one of the greatest ever, and finding just one trend to highlight simply wasn't possible. This year, brands seem to have focused on offering timepieces that recall their heritage or history, timepieces that are vintage-inspired, or watches that are so technically complex they can only be made in very small editions. What's more, the watches offered are often united by their bold sense of style or ultra-thin, elegant appeal - and black is the color of the year, with more and more brands turning to DLC or even ceramic. Finally, beautiful dials for both men and women take center stage, with many brands offering gemstone accents or special artisan treatments.
100 years or so
At SIHH, for instance, Cartier celebrated 95 years of the quasi-legendary Tank model with a host of modern interpretations. Similarly, Vacheron Constantin celebrates 100 years of the Malte line - the brand's first tonneau-shaped watch was unveiled in 1912. As such, the brand has a host of exciting new Malte tonneau timepieces. Additionally, Audemars Piguet celebrates the 40th anniversary of the famed Royal Oak this year - releasing a variety of stunning new pieces. Many of the newest wristwatches by Baume & Mercier take their inspiration from watches created in the 1940s, and Jaeger-LeCoultre's Memovox Deep Sea Vintage has its roots in the early dive watches from the 1950s. In women's watches, Montblanc steals the limelight with a collection that honors Princess Grace with reinterpreted rose petal motifs contemporarily styled.
Not only is reinterpreted history in the forefront this year, so too is technological prowess and innovation. In fact, some might argue that certain brands are focusing so intensely on garnering new patents and developing new devices that the watches are almost becoming close to untouchable in price. Among such highly defined watches ranging in price from 220,000 to 270,000 euros at SIHH we found the new Duometre a Spherotourbillon by Jaeger-LeCoultre and A. Lange & Sohne's complicated 624-component Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar featuring a patented month ring. Three years in the making, this watch features simultaneously jumping displays.
High tech
Some brands at Geneva Time Exhibition, for instance, also offered enticing high-technology timepieces. At Heritage Watch Manufactory, a relatively young brand, the focus is clearly on technical prowess, with such innovative new pieces as true constant force. These pieces' cases and dials were designed by the legendary Eric Giroud and are so exceptional and require such intense hand workmanship that just a few handfuls are made annually. Also at GTE, Cabestan unveiled its Trapezium watch, engineered by master watchmaker Eric Coudray. Named for Euclidean geometry, wherein a quadrilateral with no parallel sides is called a trapezoid - or trapezium - the new geometrically inspired watch offers grand visibility no matter which angle one looks from. The mechanism incorporates a chain and fusee that automatically corrects loss of torque in the mainspring and delivers a constant force to the tourbillon, which is mounted vertically. The decorative side panels and transparent case back also provide lavish 360° views of the mechanism inside.
Indeed the list goes on - suffice it to say that technical innovation is the wave of the future, right alongside watchmaking's rich heritage.
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