Top 5 Watches of 2022

| BY HELÉNE RAMACKERS

Timepieces get more exceptional every year, becoming collector’s items. Upscale Living magazine showcases the Top Five watches for 2022.

THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY ANGELUS CHRONODATE

One of the sleeper hits of the Geneva watch fairs at its launch, the Angelus Chronodate has only grown in renown since its debut in 2022. The Angelus Chronodato ranks among the most coveted vintage watches of all time, so for Angelus, the reissue and update of the beloved model was undertaken with great care. On the 80th anniversary of the first Chronodato, Angelus revealed a sleek and sporty new Chronodate chronograph model that honors its namesake predecessor with vintage inspired dial styling yet carries on the brand’s reputation for innovation with a sporty, modular titanium and carbon composite case and industry first glass-effect PVD dials.

THE ARNOLD & SON PERPETUAL MOON ECLIPSE

2022 marked a major milestone for Arnold & Son, as the brand revealed its first-ever timepiece created specifically with women in mind: the Perpetual Moon Eclipse 38 I. More than just a pretty face, the 38mm white gold, diamond, and sapphire-set moonphase timepiece features a new movement that is the smallest in the brand’s collection yet capable of a 90-hour power reserve – and accurate up to 122 years. It features a highly creative lace-like pierced dial of blue aventurine crystal, offering tantalizing glimpses of the large moon disc below. The starry sky is crafted of mother-of-pearl and hand-painted constellations, while the two lunar discs are crafted of ruthenium crystals.

SILICON VALLEY LUXURY JEWELER STEPHEN SILVER’S WATCH PARTNERSHIP WITH LOUIS ERARD AND ALAIN SILBERSTEIN

In 2022, Silicon Valley’s most innovative timepiece salon – Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry – revealed a watch design partnership with Swiss brand Louis Erard and renowned designer Alain Silberstein. The ‘triple signed’ collaboration also marked the Silicon Valley jeweler’s first-ever house watch design, with select watches bearing the company’s logo on the crystal case back. Since the Silvers opened their timepiece salon in 2014, the Menlo Park-based company has established an impressive record of discovering up-and-coming independent watch brands like Louis Erard. Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry was the first North American retailer to carry the award-winning brand. The collaboration included Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein for Stephen Silver La Semaine watches – known among watch collector circles as the “Smiley”, and a limited number of diptych box sets containing both Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein for Stephen Silver Le Régulateur and La Semaine watches. These limited-edition watches offer the quintessential Alain Silberstein design elements, with his signature use of elementary forms and primary colors. Jared Silver also worked with Louis Erard to develop an iridescent blue sapphire-inspired minute track exclusively for this limited edition, inspired by the many exceptional sapphire gemstones in the Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry collection.

NIMANYCLUB NFT WATCHES

With its launch in 2022, NIMANYCLUB clocked several significant firsts as a watchmaker specialized in the metaverse. NIMANYCLUB was the first luxury watch brand to specialize in minting plug-and-play NFT watches that could also be burned and traded for a true physical watch product, the twin of its digital counterpart. As part of the launch of NIMANYCLUB NFT watches, NYC based Founder and watch industry veteran Nima Behnoud launched an NFT watch lottery with a comprehensive roadmap and pioneered a significant technical breakthrough in the NFT space with a new patent-pending burn and trade mechanism developed in partnership with Layer.

THE KROSS STUDIO BOBA FETT TOURBILLON

Kross Studio and Lucasfilm Ltd. joined forces last year to celebrate Star Wars Day 2022 in epic style with the launch of the Boba Fett Tourbillon. The timepiece took inspiration from the Star Wars galaxy’s most famous Bounty Hunter. The centerpiece of the limited-edition wristwatch featured a tiny CNC machined replica of Boba Fett’s starship atop the tourbillon cage. The timepiece comes accompanied by a larger, freestanding replica ship and watch display by EFX, also inspired by Boba Fett’s famed starship.