Seiko Lord Automatic Black Dial Black Polyurethane Men's Watch SSA079

WORLDTEMPUS - 19 November 2010

The home viewer of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie's live stream right here at Worldtempus might have thought he or she was seeing a traditional Las Vegas show, so opulent and glittery was the frame surrounding the twelve awards given to the world of watchmaking last night at the Grand Theâtre in Geneva. Showgirls, opera, emcees wearing Chopard jewels worth thousands, Miss Switzerland - only perhaps overshadowed by Gino Ginotti's sparkling Christian Louboutin shoes. Antwerp's Ginotti was one of seven world-renowned retailers flown in from all over the globe to honor the award recipients. These prominent names and faces from Europe, the USA, Singapore, Russia, and the Middle East considerably boosted the global feel of this year's ceremony. For the second year in a row, Chronopassion's Laurent Picciotto played a larger role in the ceremony by commenting the three finalist watches in each category.

A brand-new award was up first: the "little hand" (Petit Aiguille), created to honor the best watch of the year retailing for under 5,000 Swiss francs. Jean-Chrstophe Babin was very pleased to be the recipient of this for the deserving TAG Heuer Caliber 1887 Carrera Chronograph.
The first surprise of the evening took place with the next award. Independent watchmaker and "newcomer" Laurent Ferrier beat out the established competition to take home the award for the best men's watch for his Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral. The independent streak continued with the next award, given to Maximilian Busser of MB&F for the HM4, which won best design watch. Interestingly, one of the nominees in this category - Devon from California - was only the second company in the history of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie from outside of Europe to be nominated. The other non-European company won the next category for best sports watch: Seiko's Spring Drive Spacewalk Commemorative Edition. "L'Horlogerie c'est multiple," Busser said in accepting his award, with the first three categories proving that beyond the shadow of a doubt.

The next two awards - best women's and high jewelry watches - were both won by established brands, but two that could not have been more deserving: Van Cleef & Arpels's Le Pont des Amoreux was not only the most complicated and interesting ladies' watch to take the stage this year, it was one of the most interesting and complicated timepieces to come out this year at all. Chopard's High Jewelry Owl is representative of the entire unique animal kingdom that Chopard's Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele created this year in honor of the German-Swiss brand's 150th anniversary.
The high complication award went to independent watchmaker François-Paul Journe - a talented watchmaker who can boast receiving a number of Grand Prix awards over the past decade - for his new edition of the Chronometre a Resonance. The public prize, chosen by the readers of Worldtempus and visitors to the Grand Prix pre-exhibitions in Singapore and Switzerland, was awarded to the Vacheron Constantin Historique Ultra-Fine 1955 - a watch that can well be said to have captured the mood of the general watch-buying public with its elegant simplicity in 2010.

The best watchmaker award went to Jean-François Mojon of Chronode, certainly a big nod to his work in creating the Harry Winston Opus X. Directly thereafter, the Grand Prix moved on to one of the biggest surprises of the evening: the special award of the jury, which was only given out this year for the second time. This award can be presented to a watch, a brand, or a person as the jury sees fit. Aurel Bacs, watch director of Christie's and Grand Prix jury member, was pleased to be chosen to represent the remarks of the jury on this occasion as he told Worldtempus later in the evening. "Generally, jury award decisions are not unanimous," he reported. "But this one was very close to being so." The jury honored the A.H.C.I., the Academy of Independent Creators, upon the occasion of its 25th anniversary. The award was emotionally received by co-founder Svend Andersen, a Danish watchmaker living in Geneva, and clockmaker Philippe Wurtz, the loose association's current president.
The main prize of the evening - the Aiguille d'Or ("golden hand") - was presented by last year's recipient, Walter Lange of A. Lange & Söhne. An extremely pleased Stephen Forsey accepted the top honor for Greubel Forsey's Double Tourbillon 30° Edition Historique, a veritable ballet of tourbillon technology.