A Sneak Peek At New Montblanc Jewelry

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair.” Braided yellow and white necklace from the Preuve de L'amour (Evidence of Love) collection, based on the famous German fairy tale. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

The Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, held Jan. 21 – 25, is first and foremost a luxury watch tradeshow. However, nearly a third of the 16 brands who exhibit at this intimate and luxurious event also produce jewelry.

New additions to the Pétales de Rose line of the “Princess Grace of Monaco” collection, made of white gold and diamonds. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

One of those brands is Montblanc, which provided a glimpse into what it will be releasing by French jewelry designer Susie Otero, Montblanc’s managing director of Jewelry. The pieces include new additions to the Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco and the 4810 Collection as well as new collections, including a men’s line. After all Montblanc, known for its luxury writing instruments, is traditionally a masculine brand.

Various renditions of gold and diamond boule rings in gold and diamonds from the Montblanc 4810 collection. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

Materials include rose and white colored 18k gold, colorless diamonds, colored gems and sterling silver. The accompanying slideshow gives a glimpse on what Otero and Montblanc displayed during the event in Geneva. The new pieces are scheduled to be released as early as April.

New additions to the Pétales Entrelacés line of the “Princess Grace of Monaco” collection, made of rose gold and diamonds. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

More new items from the Preuve de L'amour collection, this time taking its direction from the Roman goddess, Venus. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

Cufflinks made of stainless steel and ornamental stones from the Stripes collection. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

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Luxury Ladies’ Watches with Beauty, Brains and Brawn

Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Florilège

The masculine world of watchmaking is showing a newfound respect for women by producing luxury timepieces that are beautiful and built with quality in-house movements and, in some cases, multiple complications. This was evident at the recent Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), the exclusive annual tradeshow for luxury watches held in Geneva.

The majority of the 16 brands exhibiting were proudly displaying their feminine side and it’s about time. In my own humble way, I lobbied a few watchmakers to build lady timepieces that are comparable to men’s, though my reasons were selfish. I wanted my wife to stop wearing my watches and damaging the leather straps by tightening them around her much smaller wrist.

Some of the watches below certainly depict feminine themes but there are a few that have a masculine edge to their design. All are powered with mechanical or automated movements. In most cases these movements are superb; comparable to haute horlogerie produced for men. These are not jewelry watches with quartz movements. This group of new timepieces shows that the brands are on the right track when it comes to developing product for modern, active women. At least now, women have more choices.



Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Florilège
The venerable Swiss luxury watch brand has gone all out to attract women this year. It created three new collections of haute horlogerie for women culminating with the elaborately decorated timepieces that make up the Métiers d’Art Florilège (top picture). This three-watch collection pays tribute to the delicacy of 19th Century English botanical illustrations, in particular, Robert John Thornton’s landmark illustrated guide, The Temple of Flora, published in 1799. The botanical renderings on the watch dials combine the artistic crafts of enameling, guillochage and gem-setting (the video above depicts the process). The timepieces are powered by a Vacheron Constantin manual-winding caliber 4400 movement. The three watches in the collection are the Queen, White Lily and China Limodoron. The Métiers d’Art Florilège is available in a limited series of 20 collector’s watches with the bezel set with round-cut diamonds and 5 more with the bezel set with baguette-cut diamonds for the Vacheron Constantin Boutiques.
 

Montblanc Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco Pétales de Roses
The Hamburg-based luxury brand introduced a number of new models of the Montblanc Princess Grace of Monaco Collection—ranging from one that can transcend from casual to formal to two haute joaillerie pieces. They compliment the jewelry line under the same name by designer Susie Otero. All of the watches are 34mm and all contain the self-winding movement MB 4810/409. One of the high jewelry pieces is the “Pétales de Roses” (rose petals). Invisible joints connect individual petal contours to create floral loops that form a linked bracelet. The entire ensemble is made from 18k white gold set with 533 brilliant-cut diamonds. The white mother-of-pearl dial is adorned with rose petals made of 79 brilliant-cut diamonds. The face is surrounded by 130 brilliant-cut diamonds while the bezel that bears 44 baguette diamonds.

Second Authentic Jewelry Watches from Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858
Montblanc’s haute horlogerie manufacturing brand, Villeret 1858, also produced a line of high-performance ladies’ watches using the same hand-crafted Swiss techniques that it employs for its men’s counterparts. The company has long been known for its hand-crafted movements and it didn’t spare any of the skill and technique to produce it mechanical hand-winding calibre MB2.00 for this ladies timepiece. The 36mm watch has a mother-of-pearl dial with black Roman numerals. The seconds are shown on a subdial at 6 o’clock. The concave polished bezel is adorned with 144 brilliant-cut diamonds with a total weight of 0.93 carats. Production will be limited to 58 pieces.

Van Cleef & Arpels Ballerine Enchantée
The famed Parisian jewelry brand also went after women’s market in a big way with three collections of watches combining artistic techniques with in-house movements. The Ballerine Enchantée added a nothing “poetic” step by adding a double retrograde movement with time on demand. The dial depicts a golden ballerina, sculpted in relief and set with diamonds, emphasizing her waist and face. At the push of a button on the bezel, the outer veils of her tutu come to life, taking the appearance of butterfly wings. The first veil that rises indicates the hours and second veil the minutes. They remain in place allowing enough time to read the time and then return simultaneously to their initial positions (the video below demonstrates how it works). Several shades of blue on the dial in the background are created with layers of enamel in guilloche patterns. The bezel of the 40.5 mm white gold case is set with diamonds.

Audemars Piguet Ladycat Royal Oak Offshore chronograph
It’s the 20th anniversary for the Royal Oak Offshore and with it the Swiss luxury watch brand introduced new ladies’ pieces including this 37mm chronograph. The stainless steel case of this limited-edition timepiece reveals the Royal Oak Offshore logo on the back. The bezel is set with diamonds. The black dial with its “Mega Tapestry” pattern includes pink gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating. The self-winding caliber 2385 movement is an integrated chronograph movement that provides separate hour, minute and second functions, displayed on the dial at 9 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock, respectively. The date display appears at 5 o’clock.

Baume & Mercier Linea
The 27 mm case of the new Linea automatic is engraved in steel or in steel trimmed with gold. Its mother-of-pearl dial has a date window at the six o’clock position and can be set with 11 diamond hour markers. The Linea’s automatic movement displays hours, minutes and seconds. One of the signature details of this iconic collection is interchangeable bracelets that include leather and satin in several colors. 

Cartier Crash
Housed in its iconic asymmetrical case and dial, Crash appears in a limited edition of four new models adorned for the first time with a bracelet composed of drops in white or pink gold, or gem-set. In reference to the year of its creation (1967), this year’s pieces are produced in 267 numbered pieces for the models with gold bracelets and 67 numbered pieces for the models with gem-set bracelets.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur 36 Jewelry
This is another high jewelry piece with a superb movement, in this case the mechanical calibre RD821. This piece from has a bracelet adorned with 708 brilliant-cut diamonds, totaling 4.25 carats, which form two symmetrical rows on either side of the polished center. The bezel is set with 48 diamonds totaling 0.99 carats. The pink gold extends onto the Roman numerals of the dial and on the circle around the small seconds counter at 6 o’clock.

Parmigiani Pershing Chronograph 002 CBF
This 42mm chronograph contains the PF334automatic winding movement. The tinted mother-of-pearl dial contains a small seconds subdial at 3 o’clock a 12-hour subdial with date window at 6 o’clock and a 30-minute subdial at 9 o’clock. The polished rose-gold bezel is set with set with 56 brilliant cut diamonds.

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Some of the Best Luxury Watches from SIHH

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Rising Hours

The recently concluded Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) tradeshow in Geneva, featured only 16 luxury brands but their output of quality timepieces provided a showcase for innovation, craftsmanship and design that remain the hallmarks of the Swiss watch industry. Below are a few examples of some of the timepieces that were on display.

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Calibre MB R220

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Rising Hours
The hour display of this watch (top and above photos) is made possible by Montblanc’s new Calibre MB R220, which has a patented mechanism consisting of two rotating discs positioned one atop the other, to show not only the individual 12 hours, but to also indicate whether its day or night. The Arabic numerals 1 to 12 are on the upper disc, which is situated above the bicolor day/night disc. The 12-hour disc rotates continually, while the day/night disc turns in intervals and at variable speeds to produce the desired color change (blue for the night, black for the day) in the cut-out numerals. This motion is controlled with the aid of a Maltese cross-shaped mechanism consisting of two cam-like wheels. In addition to this double-disc mechanism, four other disc displays rotate. The day of the week is shown in a window at the 9 o’clock and the date appears in an aperture at the 3 o’clock. This is the latest version of the collection named after the inventor of the chronograph.  

A. Lange & Söhne Grand Complication
The German watch brand has developed a timepiece with a host of complications that include chiming mechanism with grand and small strikes; minute repeater; a monopusher type split-seconds chronograph, with minute counter and rattrapante function and jumping seconds accurate to a fifth of a second; perpetual calendar with date, day of week, month in four-year cycle; and moon phases. The movement is a Lange manufacture Calibre L1902, manually wound. The white enamel dial reveals a railway-track minute scale and the four characteristic, symmetrically arranged subsidiary dials. This exclusive collectors' item is housed in a 50mm pink gold case comes. It is available in a limited edition of six watches.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Grand Complication
The mechanical heart of this 44mm timepiece is its three advanced functions, forming what is considered in the industry as the basis of a Grande Complication movement. Its traditional selfwinding movement combines minute repeater, split-second chronograph and perpetual calendar functions. It’s also equipped with a minute repeater mechanism, enabling it to sound the hours, quarters and minutes on demand. And it houses a perpetual calendar complication that also displays lunar cycles. It affords the possibility of performing timing operations and reading off intermediate or “split” times due to the split-second complication, which is an Audemars Piguet signature in its Grande Complication models. The selfwinding Calibre 2885 has 648 parts. It is available in a titanium case (pictured) or an 18K pink gold case. Both models are limited to three pieces each.

Richard Mille RM58-01 Tourbillon World Timer
The 12-year-old watch brand is an infant when it comes to the venerable world of the Swiss watch industry, but it has grown up at lightning speed with technical innovations and partnerships with athletes in sports ranging from track and field to soccer to auto racing. This manually winding movement has hours, minutes and a 10-day power reserve shown on an indicator at 2 o’clock. The caliber RM58-01, 34mm in diameter, is supported on a baseplate of grade 5 titanium, a material also utilized for the bridges. The tourbillon, positioned at 9 o’clock and oscillating at a frequency of 3Hz, is accommodated in a four-part case made from titanium and red gold. The shot-blasted, satin-brushed and polished rotating bezel bears the names of 24 world cities, symbols of the international 24 time zones on its brown upper flange. The RM 58-01 does not need any adjusting push-piece to change from one time zone to another. The time is set by rotating the bezel anticlockwise, making adjustment a quick operation. All the traveler needs to do is position the name of the city where he or she has just landed at 12 o’clock, which automatically sets local time and the time in the other 23 world cities due to the 24-hour scale engraved on the flange. The black and white disc distinguishes day from night for the user automatically, so there is no possibility of confusion. The timepiece, produced as a limited edition of 35 timepieces, was made in partnership with Jean Todt, a French motor sport executive, who wanted a watch to travel the world with. Profits from the sale of this watch will be transferred to two key initiatives close to Todt’s charities: the Global Campaign for Road Safety and the ICM Brain and Spine Institute, which he co-founded.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor
This deep grey watch is made of silicon, chosen for its low weight and its incomparable hardness. It is half the weight of titanium, which is half the weight of steel, yet it is four times harder. Silicon has a similar atomic structure to diamond and working with it requires just as much skilled expertise. The brand also boasts a technological advancement in which four carefully positioned sprung balances work in pairs to compensate immediately for the rate variations caused by the changes in position of the watch when worn. “What the tourbillon achieves during the course of a minute, the Excalibur Quatuor achieves instantly,” the brand says. A classic watch operating at a frequency of 4 Hz is considered to be highly precise. But the Excalibur Quatuor operates at a frequency of 16 Hz. As each balance oscillates four times per second, the frequency of the watch is multiplied by four as the balances do not oscillate simultaneously. The ticking of a classic watch is replaced by what which the brand describes as “the gentler sound of truly high precision.” The timepiece is limited to a production of three pieces. There is a pink gold version of the watch that has a run of 88 pieces.

Cartier Montre Rotonde Double Mystery Tourbillon
Cartier unveiled its new movement at SIHH: the 9454 MC Double Mystery Tourbillon, certified by the Geneva Seal. The flying tourbillon, which turns once on its own axis every 60 seconds, appears to be floating completely free in space, with no visible connection to any gear train. The illusion is complete when the same tourbillon cage performs a second rotation at a rate of one turn every five minutes. The slate-colored dial is made of galvanised, guilloché, silvered open-work grill. The watch hands are sword-shaped in blued steel. It’s all contained in a 45mm platinum case with the crown set with a sapphire cabochon.

Baume & Mercier Clifton Complete Calendar – Moon Phase, Blue Dial
This is one of a series of Clifton watches released by the Swiss watch brand at SIHH This version of the line, the 43 mm Clifton Complete Calendar, has a blue, sun satin-finished dial. The case back has been opened up to allow lovers of fine mechanics to observe the components of its automatic movement (Dubois Dépraz 9000). Its calendar display is mounted upon an alligator strap, which is closed by a triple folding clasp with security push-pieces.

Parmigiani Tonda Woodstock
In order to project a colorful and musical dynamism, the Swiss watch brand turned for the first time to the refined and delicate art of marquetry. This ancient process consists of cutting out and assembling veneers—wooden veneers in this case—on a flat surface in order to create a decoration for the timepiece. The Tonda Woodstock’s special dial is designed with a Gibson guitar motif with an American flag in wood marquetry.

Piaget Emperador Coussin Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater
Thin is in at Piaget and Emperador Coussin unveiled at SIHH shows it continues to set standards in its development of ultra-thin complications housed in ultra-thin cases. This 48mm 18k pink gold watch boasts the Piaget 1290P, which the brand says is world’s thinnest mechanical self-winding minute repeater movement (4.8 mm). The case itself is also considered the world’s thinnest at 9.4 mm. Details of the movement finishes include sunburst guilloché bridges, bridges hand-beveled and hand-drawn with a file, blackened and polished screws.

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Inside the World's Most Exclusive Watch Show

Montblanc, which added Swiss watches to its diverse luxury portfolio in 1997, used its showroom to display many of the contemporary art pieces that are on permanent display at its headquarters in Hamburg. All of the work includes an interpretation of the iconic Momntblanc star. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

GENEVA — The big news last week in this small country with a mighty economy and far-reaching global influence was the annual World Economic Forum held in Davos. Although overshadowed, another important annual event was being held: the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), arguably the most exclusive watch show in the world. 

By far the youngest and arguably the most innovative of watch brands today, Richard Mille displayed some of this innovation not only in the materials and concepts of its watches, but in its 3D presentation to the press during SIHH. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

The most recent installment of SIHH ended with the 16 watch brands, among the most prestigious in the world, introducing their latest timepieces, often the result of years of intensive research. It’s an invitation only event held each year at the Palexpo exhibition center. This year I was among the more than 13,000 invited guests (which included international retailers, journalists and brand representatives) to attend. 

Roger Dubuis introduced its Excalibur line of watches with a Bird of Prey as the centerpiece of its showroom. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

Twelve of the watch brands exhibiting are owned by Richemont, the Geneva-based luxury holdings company, which is why the event (held Jan. 21 – 25) is often referred to as the Richemont show. 

Decked out for racing the IWC Schaffhausen showroom was one of the most popular during SIHH. the display was used to introduce its Ingenieur Chronograph Racer and Ingenieur Silberpfeil, the second watch dedicated to the famous Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow racing car. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

There’s been talk about a slowdown in the luxury business, (particularly watches). The growth is slower than the astronomical rise in sales of the past few years, led by China. In fact, one could say that the growth in sales is now at a more normal pace. Richemont numbers point to this as the company reported that third quarter sales increased 5 percent, year-over-year, to 2.86 billion Swiss francs. Its “Specialist Watchmakers” group saw even more growth at 9 percent to 784 million Swiss francs. In addition, annual Swiss watch sales, which are expected soon, are expected to surpass 20 billion Swiss francs for the time ever. 

Butterflies were used tomillustrate the delicate intricacies of Van Cleef & Arpels' new watch and jewelry lines. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

There was some caution among the brand officials when talking sales, but overall, life remains good in the Swiss watch industry. 

The main gathering area at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

A giant replica of its new Grand Complication timepiece was the major design element of the A. Lange & Söhne showroom. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

A look inside Baume & Mercier's summer-in-the Hamptons themed showroom. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

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