To celebrate its 220th anniversary, Girard-Perregaux (which was recently acquired by PPR) will hold a series of exhibitions around the world, including stops in Singapore and New York, to show watches from its museum, including the famous Esmeralda Three Gold Bridges pocket watch.
I was fortunate enough to actually seen and hold the Esmeralda; it is larger and heavy than it looks and though it’s clearly old the movement is beautiful. The exhibition schedule is as follows: The travelling exhibition:• Singapore – Art and Science Museum – from 16th to 18th September 2011 • Shanghai – Sinan Mansions – from 20th to 23rd October 2011 • New York – Boutique Girard-Perregaux on Madison – from 18th to 26th November 2011
Other timepieces from the museum: • In a dedicated space of the Printemps Haussmann in Paris, from 25th August to 8th October 2011 Together with exhibitions organised by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie:• Mexico – Salón Internacional Alta Relojería – from 4th to 6th October 2011
• Moscow – Kremlin museum – from 21st October to 10th November 2011 • London – SalonQP – from 11th to 12th November 2011 • Paris – Salon Belles Montres – from 25th to 27th November 2011 – SJX
Montblanc’s contribution to Only Watch is a unique Vintage Pulsographe from the Villeret 1858 in rose gold with white Grand Feu enamel dial. Ordinarily the rose gold Pulsographe has a black enamel dial – the white looks much better. The movement inside is extremely classical in both construction and finishing (it is essentially a Minerva ebauche designed 50 years ago).
Van Cleef & Arpels has created a unique double retrograde inspired by Jules Verne, in keeping with the theme for the 2011 collection from the brand. This is mechanically identical to the “Five Weeks in a Balloon” presented at SIHH 2011 with the double retrograde mechanism conceived by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht. But instead of the balloon this unique piece features a spaceship and star to indicate the time. Like the VC Dove watch, this VC&A is a showcase of the art of enamelling. – SJX