C&TH WATCHES & JEWELLERY | News
CLOCK OUT What’s ticking in haute horologie? Tim Barber finds out MID-CENTURY MODERN
Having revamped its Navitimer aviation range earlier this year, Breitling now tackles another long-term favourite, the SuperOcean dive watch. This first appeared in the 1960s, and Breitling has gone back to the boldly handsome original look (luminous blocks for the hours, a squaretipped minutes hand), though in some very modern colourways. Dials in turquoise, deep green or bright orange are included across a range of sizes and straps – though a bronze-cased option (a first for Breitling) with racing green is the stand-out. From £2,840. breitling.com
BLUE MOOD
Audemars Piguet’s ceramic-cased Royal Oak perpetual calendars are among the brand’s rarest and most soughtafter watches. Thus far, they’ve only come in black or white ceramic (sported by Ed Sheeran, Anthony Joshua and John Mayer), but a new electric blue version leaves those pieces in the shade. The remarkable surface finishing – exceedingly hard to achieve on scratch-proof ceramic – is really to the fore, while the blend of haute horlogerie grandeur and vivacious sportiness is truly decadent. Expected waiting lists will lengthen as the brand is popularised by Bill Prince’s new book, Royal Oak: From Iconoclast to Icon, (Assouline, £195) which celebrates this remarkable design by putting it into the context of the art, culture and famous owners of its 50-year era. £POA, audemarspiguet.com
STARRY EYED
MIRROR, MIRROR
ART CROWD
Rolex has announced the line-up for its 2023-2024 Arts Programme, in which five of the world’s most renowned artists will each mentor an outstanding emerging talent. These include British author Bernardine Evaristo, who has selected Ghanaian writer Ayesha Harruna Attah as her protégée. Rolex established its mentoring programme in 2002 to aid the transmission of artistic knowledge and craft from one generation to the next. rolex.com
Bulgari’s current theme is ‘Unexpected Wonders’ and this ultraminimal collaboration with Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima is a surprise after recent ornate models. Known for clean lines and modernist geometry, Sejima was bound to empathise with the ultra-slim Octo Finissimo Automatic’s sleek architectural form, to which she’s applied true wonder with a completely mirrorfinished surface. There are 360 pieces available. £12,100, bulgari.com
BACK TO BLACK
Black is back in the watch world. In Dior’s small-but-perfectly-formed La D de Dior Black Ultramatte, the dial is stripped back to a dark matte surface with three black diamonds, while the case is textured with an arresting satine pattern (from £3,500, dior.com). Rather more glossy is Girard-Perregaux’s latest Laureato, with a dial of hand-cut onyx that contrasts majestically with a case of highly finished rose gold (£42,000, girard-perregaux.com).
PHOTOS: © DAVID SIMS
After several years’ absence, MB&F, the firm that combines the horological technique of Switzerland’s finest with the conceptual imagination of a sci-fi auteur, is again available in the UK, at the London flagship of luxury retailer Watches of Switzerland. The brand’s six-figure ‘kinetic sculptures that happen to tell the time’ (in the words of founder Max Büsser), like the newly announced LM Split Escapement Evo, now occupy their own mini-boutique within the Regent Street showroom, joining the likes of Rolex and Patek Philippe. watches-ofswitzerland.co.uk
20 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | Autumn/Winter 2022
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29/09/2022 19:51
