Girard-Perregaux’s Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges is possibly one of the most iconic tourbillons ever created. Its symmetrical, linear movement layout is unique, as is its tourbillon cage. In fact, in horological scholar Reinhard Meis’ definitive book on the subject, Das Tourbillon, the Perregaux tourbillon cage is considered unique in itself, sitting alongside the works of Guinand, Lange, Pellaton and Golay.

Now, over 150 years after it was first conceived by Constant Girard himself, the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges has been reimagined. Four years ago, Girard-Perregaux unveiled the Neo Tourbillon, replacing the flat, arrow-shaped gold bridges with arched supports made of titanium.

And at SIHH earlier this year, the movement was skeletonised, giving it a stylised, architectural style. Though it’s the same size as the earlier versions of the watch, the Neo Tourbillon With Three Bridges Skeleton looks lighter, which gives rise to the sensation it is physical lighter, though it is probably not, at least by any tangible degree.

As is typical for a Tourbillon with Three Bridges, the cal. cal. 9400-0011 is laid out in a linear fashion, with the barrel, gear train and tourbillon arranged vertically from 12 to six o’clock, with the most important bits held in place by three black-coated titanium bridges.

Aesthetically, the symmetrical architecture of the Tourbillon with Three Bridges movement lends itself well to skeletonsiation. The result of open-working is a visual intricacy that is immediately impressive, drawing one’s focus to the eponymous bridges perhaps more than ever. It’s helped in no small part by the contrast of the black coated bridges against the rhodium and ruthenium treated components.

Despite the “Three Bridges” label, the Neo Tourbillon skeleton boasts five bridges, with two more on the back of the movement for the bottom pivot of the tourbillon and centre wheel, essentially taking the place of a solid base plate.

Like the three bridges on the front, the two bridges on the back are also arched and black-coated. Above the middle bridge sits the skeletonised barrel ratchet winding wheel with lyre-shaped spokes that are taken from the top half of the trademark Girard-Perregaux tourbillon carriage. And the winding wheel that’s just beside the ratchet wheel has been open-worked to reveal the grande sonnerie style winding click below.

Although the movement has an obvious modern aesthetic, its decoration is still finely executed, though it has to be said the dark movement finish hides a lot of the tinier details.

Every component is finished as it should be, right down to the details like chamfered slots on screw heads and bevelled edges on the spokes of wheels, even the tips of the lyre on the barrel ratchet wheel. The movement finishing is neat, consistent, and no doubt done by hand, but it is not as artisanal – and inconsistent – as the earliest Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges that had a finishing almost comparable to the work of an independent watchmaker.

Having a 60-hour power reserve on a single barrel, the cal. 9400-0011 movement is self-winding in a compact and clever manner. Using the same mechanism Girard-Perregaux debuted with its automatic tourbillon over a decade ago, it employs a white gold micro-rotor positioned co-axial with the barrel, basically sitting right over the mainspring.

The distinctive Perregaux tourbillon carriage is made up of 80 parts, and like the arched bridges is made most of titanium. So it clocks in at a flyweight 0.25 grams, despite being a largish 14.44mm in diameter, boosting the efficiency of the movement since less energy is required to turn the cage.

Like all traditional tourbillons, it a full rotation every 60 seconds, and also serves as small seconds thanks to a blued steel pointer in the cage.

The Neo Bridge skeleton is also fairly legible, thanks to the brushed white gold hands that stand out against the dark finish of the movement.

All of the details on the front are exhibited under the expansive, convex sapphire crystal that sits on the case band, which has no bezel. A feature found on the original Neo Tourbillon, the domed crystal gives the watch a distinct airiness despite its size.

Like the original, the skeleton version has a titanium case that’s 45mm in diameter. Though large, wearability is helped by the short lugs as well as lightness thanks to the case metal.

However, Neo Tourbillon skeleton is an imperceptible 1.4mm thicker, standing 15.85mm high, because of the reworked cal. 9400-0011 inside. Not only has the movement been open-worked, the bridges on the back have been arched, just like those on the front, raising the height of the calibre.

A domed, “box-type” sapphire crystal has been installed on the back to accommodate the new calibre. On the wrist the watch feels identical, as the height of the caseband remains the same.

Price and Availability

The Girard-Perregaux Neo Tourbillon With Three Bridges Skeleton (ref. GP 09400-0011) is priced at SFr140,000 or S$204,900.

OceanicTime, a blog specialising in dive watches and Spanish microbrand Crepas have come together to reproduce one of the most unusual and interesting military issue dive watches – the gargantuan Hydrographic Survey watch produced by Longines for the British Royal Navy in the 1940s.

With a 51mm case made of sterling silver – complete with a canteen-style crown cover attached with a chain – the Hydrographic Survey watch was made for the commando frogmen of the Royal Navy, essentially the British equivalent of Italy’s Decima Flottiglia MAS, the unit best known for wearing Panerai watches. Only a handful are known to exist today, explaining why they are almost never seen.

Made by Crepas to mark the 10th anniversary of OceanicTime, the Hydrographer 1942m is a more wearable Hydrographic Survey watch. Rated to 1942m, the case is 45mm and 15mm high. It’s made of stainless steel, and available in either a brushed, sandblasted or mirror-polished finish. Another option is the crown, which can be on the right or left of the case.

The case is fitted with a unidirectional rotating bezel that has two notches on opposite edges, just like the original, while the crown is oversized and functional, a nod to the original canteen crown. And the sapphire crystal is a thick sapphire 5.5mm high, and sits above the bezel; the case height of 15mm does not include the crystal.

Unusually, the helium escape valve is in the centre of the screw-down case back that’s been engraved with the British military “Broad arrow” symbol as well as “HS”, just like the original.

The dial is matte black and based on the original, but with wider hour markers and slightly redesigned hands.

And the movement is an ETA 2892-A2 that has been modified to remove the date function. Not only is the date mechanism removed, but the keyless works have been modified to remove the date setting position when pulling out the crown.

Price and availability 

The first 100 Hydrographer 1942m watches are priced at €699, and the price will rise for €850 for subsequent watches. Prices do not include taxes.

The Hydrographer 1942m is available direct from Crepas.

A hardbound volume dedicated to the life of the late independent watchmaker who was a peer of George Daniels and Philippe Dufour, Derek Pratt – Watchmaker has just been reprinted in a limited run by the British Horological Institute.

The 224-page book has been updated but includes all of the chapters found in the first edition. It includes testimonials by friends of Mr Pratt and a detailed explanation of his H4 recreation. Naturally the book also covers one of Mr Pratt’s specialties, engine-turning on a rose engine, a talented he relied on for the intricate guilloche dials of Urban Jurgensen, a brand he worked closely with for many years.

The book also includes various articles written by Mr Pratt for magazines like Horological Journal, covering subjects from water clocks to weather vanes, which illustrate his incredible technical mind.

George Daniels (left) and Derek Pratt (right), with Grahame Brooks, UK Sales Director of Audemars Piguet, in 1986, on the way to visit its factory in Switzerland in Daniels’s famous 1928 “Blower Bentley” No. YU3250 to try to interest AP in adopting the Co-Axial escapement.

The book is available direct from the BHI for £39.95. Also available at £10 is A Detailed Study of H4, a DVD that details the work of Mr Pratt and Charles Frodsham in reconstructing John Harrison’s marine chronometer.

Shipping is additional and orders can be placed here.

After having simplified and streamlined its distinctive Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph, Montblanc gives it a new face, with dark grey guilloche dials in either steel or red gold cases.

Perhaps one of Montblanc’s most distinctive watches, the Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph was introduced in 2008, named after the watchmaker who invented the first chronograph in 1821. Specifically it was an inking chronograph: a clock that recorded elapsed time with a stylus that drew a circle on a pair of rotating discs as time passed.

Montblanc appropriate the rotating discs as the signature feature of the Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph, with a disc each for elapsed second and minutes, linked by a diamond-shaped pointer that functions as the hand to indicate elapsed time.

In the new Star Legacy models, the case is a large 44.8mm in diameter and 15.02mm high, with a rounded case band topped by a domed sapphire crystal. While it is relatively large, its rounded surfaces and curves make it seem less aggressively large compared to similarly sized chronographs.

Featuring leaf-shaped hands and almost-Breguet-style numerals, the anthracite dial is slightly three-dimensional, with a recessed sub-dial for the time and twin, titanium chronograph discs. The discs are plated in either red gold or rhodium coated to match the case metal.

Time is indicated in a recessed, off-center sub-dial, while the date is at six o’clock. In addition, a second-time zone is displayed by a skeletonised hour hand that works in sync with a day-and-night indicator inside an aperture at nine o’clock.

Like the earlier generations of Nicolas Rieussec watches, this has lots of Baroque flourish in its design. Not as much as on the most florid of the Rieussec watches, but elaborate nonetheless. The date, for instance, sits in a gilded frame affixed by two screws.

The bulk of the dial surface is finished with a barleycorn guilloche while the sub-dial for the time has a stamped concentric finish in its centre. The chronograph discs, on the other hand, have a concentric brushed finish.

Inside is the MB R200, an automatic movement with an integrated, mono-pusher chronograph that has both a column wheel and vertical coupling. And it has twin barrels that give it a 72-hour power reserve. While both the gold and steel version of the watch have the same movement, the rotors in each are plated to match the case material.

The movement has a surprisingly symmetrical bridge layout, an unusual feature for a chronograph. And it is well decorated, albeit mechanically. The bridges have bevelled edges, Geneva stripes on their tops surfaces and blued steel screws.

And as is standard on most chronographs, an aperture on the barrel bridge reveals the column wheel, usually considered a feature found in higher-end chronograph movements.

Price and Availability 

The Montblanc Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph in red gold (ref. 119964) is priced at €20,000, with the pricing for the steel model yet to be announced.

Since taking the helm of Montblanc’s watch division, Davide Cerrato has relied heavily on Minerva, the brand’s watchmaking workshop, for inspiration and historical legitimacy, particularly for Montblanc’s sports and chronograph watches.

While the 1858 line of watches lean towards the vintage end of the design spectrum, the TimeWalker collection takes a more modern approach, while still retaining retro-racing car vibes. Ahead of SIHH 2019, the TimeWalker line welcomes two new chronographs featuring “reverse panda” dials – white registers on black – a design originally conceived to boost the legibility of the chronograph.

The first watch is the entry-level TimeWalker Automatic Chronograph, now with a smaller and slimmer case. The case is a more wearable 41mm in diameter and 14.54mm high, compared to a chunky 43mm by 15.2mm in the preceding generation.

Relatively simple in form with sloping, integrated lugs, the case is satin finished and fitted with a black ceramic tachymeter bezel. It’s worth noting the smooth case flanks that distinguish this from the TimeWalker chronographs with in-house movements that have concave flanks.

The dial is black, with applied hour markers and red accents on the dial and hands. It has contrasting silver-white counters and a sloping flange in the same finish, with a date at three.

The constant seconds sub-dial at nine o’clock has been smartly done in black – and decorated with a subtle Montblanc star – which improves the symmetry of the dial as it leaves only the vertically aligned registers prominent.

This is powered by the Sellita SW500, a clone of the Valjoux 7750, which is hidden behind a solid case back. And it’s delivered on a perforated, Rally-style black rubber strap.

Pictured is the prototype with a smooth case back; production watches will have an engraved logo and lettering

Next is the TimeWalker Manufacture Chronograph, which was introduced last year with a “panda” dial. Now the dial colours have been inverted, but the watch is otherwise identical.

While the Sellita-powered model has the “6-9-12” chronograph layout typical of a 7750, along with a white date wheel, the “manufacture” model has “tri-compax” registers and matching black date wheel. It’s a much better look, looking both a bit more upscale and cohesive.

The details of the dial are largely the same, with applied hour markers and a sloping flange for the outer minute track.

The case is identically sized, 43mm in diameter and 15.2mm in height, and equipped with the same black ceramic bezel. But it is set apart with the recessed hollows on the sides of the lugs.

And in keeping with its premium position relative to the Sellita-powered model, this has a perforated brown calf leather strap made by Montblanc’s leather factory near Florence.

Price and Availability

The TimeWalker Automatic Chronograph 41mm (ref. 119940) is €3990, while the TimeWalker Manufacture Chronograph (ref. 119942) costs €4990. They’ll be available sometime in the first half of 2019.

Slated to be officially launched at SIHH 2019, the new Cartier Privé Tonneau time-only watch and Tonneau Skeleton Dual Time Zone revisit Cartier timepieces of not too long ago, illustrating the jeweller’s new approach to high-end men’s watches.

Having left behind the no-expense-spared focus on highly complicated movements, Cartier is returning to men’s watches in its signature case designs. The opening salvo was the warmly received Tank Cintrée launched at SIHH 2018, which has now become part of an entirely new collection, Cartier Privé.

Cartier Privé is a nod to Collection Privée Cartier Paris (CPCP), a line of high-end mechanical watches produced for a decade starting in 1998. CPCP was discontinued because of modest sales, but its absence seems to have made collectors’ hearts grow fonder. Certain CPCP models have since earned themselves a small fan base.

The CPCP line also included the tonneau, or barrel, a design that made its original debut in 1906. That makes the tonneau the second-oldest Cartier case design after the square Santos of 1904.

The Cartier Privé Tonneau Large Model is an extra-large, time-only watch modelled on the CPCP tonneau refs. 2802 H and 2803 H of 2005.

Like the Tank Cintree launched earlier in 2018, the large tonneau has a radial brushed finish on the dial, with raised Romain numerals and blued steel Breguet hands.

Inside is the 1917 MC, a small, in-house calibre developed primarily for ladies watches that fits the limited space within the barrel-shaped case. It is hand-wound with a 38-hour power reserve that

It’s available in platinum (ref. WGTN0005) as a 100-piece limited edition – with the trademark ruby cabochon on the crown – or in 18k pink gold (ref. WGTN0006) as part of the regular collection.

Estimated retail prices, before taxes, will be €18,000 in pink gold, and €21,000 in platinum.

The Cartier Privé Tonneau Skeleton Dual Time is slightly larger, and inspired by the Tonneau Double Fuseau of the 1990s. While the original was powered by two separate movements, the Skeleton Dual Time boasts the in-house 9919 MC, which has a 60-hour power reserve.

The 9919 MC is a single movement, meaning one barrel, wheel train and regulator, that has twin, independent time displays. But the movement is also curved, which means the barrel ratchet and gear train wheels mesh at a slight angle.

The crown at two o’clock is for winding and setting, while the crown at four o’clock is actually a pusher that advances the second time zone on the lower dial in one-hour steps.

The Tonneau Skeleton Dual Time is available in platinum (ref. WHTN0006) or 18k pink gold (ref. WHTN0005), both limited to 100 pieces each. In platinum it will cost approximately €63,000, and in gold, €55,000, before any taxes.

When Ulysse Nardin unveiled the Freak InnoVision 2 last year, the concept watch was the most cutting edge iteration of brand’s signature complication ever, the most radical Freak to date.

Despite boasting 10 innovations, including the friction-free Dual Constant Escapement and the ultra-efficient “Grinder” automatic winding system, the InnoVision 2 was a concept watch, destined to never reach a client’s wrist.

The Freak InnoVision 2

But now the InnoVision 2 has been translated into a production wristwatch with the Freak Vision, which incorporates the most important innovations of the InnoVision 2. And more crucially, the over the top and cumbersome InnoVision 2 has been refined and streamlined into a watch that’s sleek and clever, but one that wears its high tech lightly. The Freak Vision is an eminently wearable Freak, and one that is moderately priced, as such things go.

The Freak Vision

The Freak of the future

The Freak Vision is a much needed update to Ulysse Nardin’s most important modern day wristwatch. And it also serves as a reminder that the original Freak was, in fact, a precursor to the exotic independent watchmaking of today.

When the first Freak made its debut in 2001, the flying-carousel wristwatch was unbelievably radical and cutting edge, hence the outlandish name.

The movement conceived by a stellar cast, starting with Carole Forestier, who imagined the tourbillon regulator, or more accurately a carousel, as an entirely new way of displaying time. Her concept of having a rotating movement surrounded by a giant mainspring won her the Prix Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1997, an award sponsored by Breguet to mark the 250th annivesary of Abraham-Louis Breguet’s birth.

The original Freak 1

The inimitable Rolf Schnyder, then the owner of Ulysse Nardin, was so enamoured by Ms Forestier’s idea that he bought the patent. He handed it over to Ludwig Oechslin to refine and realise; Mr Oechslin notably put the mainspring under the movement instead of around it.

Now better known for having founded quirky independent watchmaker ochs und junior, Mr Oechslin was then the technical genius who realised most of the ambitions of the late Mr Schnyder, a remarkable entrepreneur who made his fortune making quartz movement in Asia.

But Mr Schnyder dreamt of more than a watch with a fancy movement, he wanted to bring watchmaking into the 21st century.  Thanks to Mr Schnyder, the Freak was the first wristwatch to incorporate silicon parts in the movement, a seemingly pedestrian achievement with the proliferation of silicon today but earthshaking at the time.

But that was 17 years ago, and 17 years later the Freak needs an update to remain as radical as it once was. And so the baton has been handed to the Freak Vision.

On the cutting edge

The original Freak had neither hands nor a dial, but instead a baguette-shaped movement that rotated once per hour and doubled as the minute hand. The movement sat on top of the dial, itself mounted on a huge coiled mainspring that occupied almost the entire case, giving it a one-week power reserve.

More importantly, the Freak boasted a Dual Direct escapement based on Abraham-Louis Breguet’s natural escapement, or échappement naturel, which had two escape wheels that meshed with each other but ran irregularly, due to play between the gear teeth that were inevitable given the manufacturing tolerances in the 19th century.

Consequently Breguet never implemented his invention widely, but the natural escapement has been the inspiration for latter day watchmakers as diverse as Voutilainen, Laurent Ferrier and Derek Pratt.

The second generation double escape wheels in the original Freak

The Freak Vision

The Ulysse Nardin Dual Direct escapement solved Breguet’s tolerance problem by replacing traditional metal parts with precisely formed silicon components produced via deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). Not only were silicon, or silicium, parts exactly the right shape, the material promised a watch movement that would maintain its rate across a range of temperatures, and being impervious to magnetic fields while requiring infrequent servicing.

Plasma etching of a silicon wafer. Image – Ulysse Nardin

Thanks to pioneering partnerships with the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and micro-engineering outfit Mimotec, Ulysse Nardin was able to bring silicon components to market well in advance of industry titans like Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe (which also funded CSEM). In short, the Freak ushered in the age of silicon in horology.

Since then, Ulysse Nardin has introduced numerous further refinements and innovations in silicon. The first hairsprings etched from synthetic diamond via DRIE were unveiled, followed by an updated Dual Direct Escapement boosted to run at 4Hz in 2005.

The updated escapement wheels had 18 teeth each, compared to the five in the first generation version, for greater stability. And DIAMonSIL, silicon coated in synthetic diamond, was introduced in 2007.

But despite all these developments, all Freak watches remained quaintly hand-wound, with the mainspring wound by a somewhat unwieldy notched case back.

An exercise in practicality

While taking into account all of that grand history, the Freak Vision combines both the best of Ulysse Nardin’s latest innovations as well as an eye towards wearability.

In a marked departure from tradition, the cal. UN-250 in the Freak Vision boasts the Grinder self-winding mechanism, making it the first automatic Freak. The Grinder involves a complex assembly of ball bearings, springs and reduction gears, which according to the brand, makes it twice as efficient as a conventional automatic winding mechanism.

Like the large sail winches nicknamed “grinders” that are found on racing yachts, the Grinder mechanism relies on a reducing gear to wind the mainspring barrel more efficiently. But the key innovation of Grinder is a flexible, open-worked frame with four arms that connects the peripheral rotor to the winding wheel for the barrel.

The four-armed winding pawl. Image – Ulysse Nardin

A cross section of the Grinder mechanism. Image – Ulysse Nardin

Each rotation of the oscillating mass causes one of the four arms on the frame to turn the winding wheel, somewhat like a IWC Pellaton winding mechanism on steroids. The four arms offer exceptional efficiency, twice as efficient as conventional automatic mechanisms ascending to Ulysse Nardin. That significantly reduces the need for hand-winding, though it remains available by turning the notched case back.

While the InnoVision 2 was equipped with the experimental Dual Constant Escapement – a silicon-based constant force escapement with twin escape wheels – the Freak Vision instead incorporates the tried and tested Ulysse Nardin Anchor escapement first unveiled in 2014.

The Dual Constant Escapement inside the InnoVision 2

It is also constant force and made mostly of silicon, but utilises only a single escapement wheel. Both escapements are conceptually similar to Girard-Perregaux’s Constant Force in the sense that they use the elasticity of silicon to provide constant force.

The Anchor Escapement consists of a circular silicon frame that holds the lever in place. Instead of a pivot, two perpendicular, buckled blades of silicon on both sides of the frame converge at the pivot point of the lever. The buckled blades flex between fixed ends, ensuring a very precise and constant transmission of energy between the escape wheel and the balance regardless of the torque from the mainspring.

Furthermore, the movement also incorporates a new balance wheel that is lightweight and high performance. Already lightweight in silicon, the balance wheel also gets rid of the traditional gold regulating weights, replacing them with nickel inertia blocks that are lighter, increasing its efficiency and the movement’s power reserve. In addition, the balance is also fitted with self-regulating silicon micro-blades that use air resistance to stabilise its amplitude and increase accuracy.

Notably, unlike earlier Freaks, the cal. UN-250 features a gear train made of silicon – meaning all of the wheels are silicon – which minimises energy loss due to friction, since silicon is almost friction-free, thus enhancing power transmission.

While the Freak Vision tells time with the traditional baguette-shaped movement that rotates once per hour, the silicon gear train is held in place by a pair of skeletonised, delta-shaped central bridges that were inspired by the hull of a boat, giving the movement a lighter, trimmer look.

It also gives the movement a more elegant feel, despite its obvious high-tech nature, while making for a clearer and more legible design.

The colour palette of the movement is also restrained, with the main plate being a metallic blue, while the open-worked bridges in the centre finished in frosted rhodium. All of the jewels are also clear, instead of the conventional red, which accentuates the clean styling of the movement.

But technical advancements aside, the Freak Vision is tangibly a leaner and cleaner watch. In short, it is significantly more wearable.

Measuring 45mm wide, the case has short lugs and no crown, giving it a smaller footprint than cases with similar diameters.

Its made of platinum, something that’s apparent in its weight, and fitted with a thin bezel made of titanium with a blue rubber insert and three titanium riders for time-setting. The rubber bezel insert has become a trademark of the Freak watch case, although inexpensive nature of rubber feels incongruous with a top of the line, high-tech wristwatch.

The case back is titanium to help keep its lightweight, while the crystal is a domed, “box-type” sapphire that enables the Freak Vision to accommodate the height of the movement while having a thinner case band, and consequently a slimmer profile on the wrist.

Priced just shy of US$100,000, the Freak Vision is without a doubt the most advanced Freak to date. But it is also moderately priced; in other words, there were less interesting Freak models that cost more.

Price and Availability

The Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision (ref. 2505-250) is priced at SFr95,000.

To celebrate the reopening of its boutique inside ION Orchard in Singapore, Cartier is staging a 13-day exhibition, Cartier, Icon of Style, which showcases a selection of jeweller’s most iconic and fascinating creations from throughout its 171-year-old history.

Located on the top floor of the flagship boutique, the exhibition consists of 23 pieces of jewellery from the Cartier Collection, the jeweller’s treasure trove of historical baubles, objects and timepieces.

With a value in the tens of millions, the jewels were flown in from Paris for the exhibition, fully insured, naturally. Beyond their value, all of the items on show tell a story, with most having been owned by celebrities or notable personalities.

The exhibition includes one of the jeweller’s wildest commissions, a 22-inch long snake necklace set with almost 2,500 diamonds that owned by the late María Félix, considered to be the most beautiful face in the history of Mexican cinema.

Maria Felix and her snake

Barbara Hutton and her tiger

Another highlight of the exhibition are the tiger-motif ear clips and brooch, finished in canary yellow diamonds and onyx, that once belonged to grocery store heiress Barbara Hutton, the “poor little rich girl”.

Another signature Cartier jewellery design that is part of the exhibition is the candy-coloured Tutti Frutti bracelet and brooch that were once owned by composer Cole Porter’s wife, the wealthy Linda Lee Thomas.

The 1929 Tutti Frutti jewels owned by Mrs Cole Porter

But the exhibition also includes watches: a delicate wristwatch from 1914 with a platinum case set with diamonds and onyx to replicate the hide of a spotted panther, which represents Cartier’s very first use of the now familiar panthere motif that is a frequent sight in the exhibition.

A double-headed panther bangle that once belonged to Nina Dyer, the French socialite famous for having married two fabulously rich men, Baron Heinrich von Thyssen and the Aga Khan

But the star of the show are perhaps the jewels made for the Duchess of Windsor, the former Wallis Simpson, who loved Cartier panther jewellery. They include a sumptuous platinum and gold bib necklace set with amethysts and spheres of turquoise, and a bodacious panther-shaped brooch that is essentially an enormous, 152.35 carat Kashmir sapphire.

The Duchess and her necklace

Just over 152 carats

Event information

Cartier, Icon of Style taken place from November 24 to December 6, and is open daily from 12pm to 9pm Mondays to Fridays, and 10.30am to 9pm on weekends.

Admission is free but visitors are encouraged to register in advance at Cartier-ion.sg.

ION Orchard
#01-20 & #02-10
2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 238801

Hong Kong-based Undone Watches is best known for its affordable, retro-style chronographs, which have just gotten an injection of pop culture with the One World collection featuring Charles M. Shultz’s beloved Peanuts characters, from Charlie Brown to Snoopy.

Undone was founded four years ago by Michael Young, who is better known for his watch restoration workshop Classic Watch Repair. Using components sourced in Hong Kong and China, as well as Seiko “meca-quartz” movements (explained further down), Undone keeps its watches well below US$500.

The Urban One World collection sticks to the same formula, being made up of six watches, including a limited edition and a customisable model.

The collection is based on two basic case types – 41.5mm with a tachymeter bezel or 40mm with a stepped bezel. Both versions have the same case band, with the difference being the diameter of the bezel.

The first four models, with each pair named after Hong Kong and Macau respectively, have tone on tone dials with the Peanuts motifs depicted in bold lines. They all feature a Peanuts character at nine o’clock, save for the black-coated Hong Kong edition that has Charlie Brown’s trademark zigzag t-shirt pattern across the orange dial.

Hong Kong edition

Macau edition

The customisable model offers a choice of options for the case, dial, hands and strap, as well as initials or a Peanuts character printed on the dial, resulting in a mind boggling number of possible iterations.

The characters available for the dial is all encompassing, from Charlie Brown’s archenemy Lucy van Pelt and her brother Linus, to piano-playing Schroeder, to Woodstock.

Examples of custom chronographs

Inside all five models is the Seiko VK61, a “meca-quartz” movement that is essentially a hybrid of mechanical and quartz. The movement has a quartz crystal regulator powered by a battery just like an ordinary quartz watch, but with the chronograph mechanism being a traditional mechanical sort with a levers, hammer and heart-cam reset mechanism. As a result, its tactile feel is not unlike a traditional mechanical chronograph.

The movement is partially visible below a sapphire back printed with all of the Peanuts crew.

The final model in the collection is a 150-piece limited edition with a black-coated, 40mm case, stepped bezel and “panda” dial. It bears Charles Schulz’s signature at 12 o’clock, the only model in the line to have this flourish.

It’s powered by another Seiko meca-quartz movement, the “bi-compax” VK64, which is hidden behind a solid caseback.

Price and Availability

The Peanuts Urban ‘One World’ Chronographs start at US$330 for the Hong Kong or Macau editions, while the customisable version is US$360. The Charles Schulz limited edition is US$450. They are available direct from Undone.

Of the hundreds of watches offered this auction season in Hong Kong, arguably the biggest bargain – when taking into account sheer horological value and historical importance – is the Patek Philippe observatory tourbillon pocket watch with movement number 198’312 that will be sold at Phillips.

Patek Philippe only made about 100 tourbillon pocket watches starting in the 1860s to the mid 20th century, primarily for observatory time trials, which were then a vital marketing tool. Consequently, most tourbillon pocket watches were not sold, and instead submitted over and over again to observatory contests. It is believed only about 10 or so tourbillon pocket watches were ever sold, and this is one of them.

According to the archive extract, the watch was sold, somewhat surprisingly, in 1934, during the Great Depression. The extract also notes the sale only came after it was submitted to the Geneva Observatory twice: in 1929 when it won first prize, and then in 1931 when it received an honourable mention.

Observatory tourbillon pocket watches were a spare-no-expense creation, produced by the most talented craftsmen using the most expensive materials. This watch for instance has its regulator scale plate, which is screwed onto the tourbillon carriage, made of solid gold, as are the wheels of the gear train. And the balance wheel is split and bimetallic with gold adjusting screws, the top of the line balance wheel of the time.

Extra awesome

The decoration of the movement is lavish and extraordinary. All of the visible flat surfaces of the steel components are black polished, while the jewels and screws sit in polished countersinks, and the list goes on.

Though the movement has obviously been serviced, occasionally roughly, over its 80-year history, it remains in excellent condition, retaining all of its elaborate, original decoration.

Needless to say, the watch was produced by an all-star team. The tourbillon carriage was the work of Hector Golay, and not the better known James C. Pellaton as stated in the Phillips catalogue. Mr Golay’s tourbillons are distinguished by the inward curved arms of the carriage and bridge, which contrast with the straight arms found on Mr Pellaton’s tourbillons.

The other horological star involved in building this tourbillon was François Modoux, a top régleur, or regulator, whose job it was to adjust the movement. Because observatory trials were such important events, talented régleurs were amongst the most sought after watchmakers, and were paid several multiples the salary of ordinary watchmakers.

Notably, the Patek Philippe observatory tourbillon no. 198’423 that took the top award at the Kew-Teddington observatory’s toughest time trial, known as the Craftsmanship Test, also had a tourbillon carriage made by Mr Golay, and was regulated by Mr Modoux, along withe fellow superstar régleurs André Zibach and Henri Wehrli.

Despite the incredible movement inside, the dial is plain, as is the case for all of Patek Philippe’s observatory. This dial is white vitreous enamel in two pieces, with the seconds sub-dial sunken, and the hour numerals as well as hands in Breguet style.

The movement number is painted in enamel on the sub-dial, as is the case for all Patek Philippe tourbillon watches, even its modern day wristwatches.

And the case is 18k yellow gold, and 47.5mm in diameter, but relatively thick for a pocket watch of this size.

This watch was originally sold at auction in 2009 by Patrizzi & Co., the short-lived venture established by Antiquorum founder Osvaldo Patrizzi, for the princely sum of SFr310,000 to a prominent Swiss collector who has now consigned it to Phillips.

In comparison, the estimate now is a mere HK$1.0m to HK$1.5m, or US$128,000 to US$192,000 – a bargain for a watch of this calibre. It is lot 840 in the Hong Kong watch auction that takes place on November 27.