Taking place in a hybrid phygital format, the year’s largest watch fair, Watches & Wonders, recently kicked off. Taking place from March 30 to April 5 in Geneva, as well as online through virtual presentations, the summit will see 38 participating brands unveil their latest horological creations. These are the highlights from day two of the event.
Related article: Watches & Wonders 2022: Day 1 — Highlights from A. Lange & Sohne, Hublot, Hermes, Chanel and Zenith
Patek Philippe’s technical highlight for the year brings together, for the first time at the brand, two useful functions: The annual calendar (which only has to be adjusted once a year on March 1) and a dual-time function. Day and month displays are linked to local time, and time in both time zones are easily set — in either direction — via the crown, which can be used in three positions.
The watch’s clean display belies the bevy of technical innovations in the new self-winding 31-260 PS QA LU FUS 24H movement, which has eight patents that contribute to the watch’s greater ease of use and efficiency. Patek Philippe has also given this timepiece a distinctive vintage-style look, with a stamped grained dial in a graduated, charcoal grey colour. It’s housed in a 41mm Calatrava case with a new design, including a caseband with five rows of hobnail guilloche detailing.
Additionally, here’s an idea for a matching watch, for yourself or a significant other: Housed in a 40mm white gold case, the Ref. 5226G-001 Calatrava bears a similar aesthetic to that of the Ref. 5236G-001, sans its complications.
“A Stellar Odyssey” is Jaeger-LeCoultre’s theme for 2022, which sums up its range of astronomy timepieces launched at Watches & Wonders. One of the house’s highlights is the most complex edition of its iconic Atmos clock yet: The Atmos Hybris Mechanica Calibre 590, aka the Atmos Tellerium. “Tellerium” is the name of early 3D mechanical mobiles that illustrated the relative positions and movements of Earth and the moon in relation to the sun, and that is what this latest Atmos does.
Held in a ring of meteorite, a miniature-painted spherical Earth makes a full rotation on its own axis in 24 hours, while the laser-engraved moon orbits Earth in one synodic month — which is defined by one complete cycle of moon phases. The entire disc circles the sun, represented by the golden rays at the centre of the Atmos Tellerium, completing a revolution in a solar year, or 365.2466 days.
Enclosed in a glass cylinder hand-painted with constellations, this high-end clock is also a low-maintenance one, one reason being its incredibly precise astronomical indications — its moon-phase indication, for instance, only has one day of error in 5,770 years. Like all Atmos clocks, this one is powered by fluctuations in atmospheric temperatures, with a temperature difference of 1 deg Celsius providing enough energy to keep it going for 48 hours. The Atmos Tellerium measures 215mm in diameter and 253mm tall, and is a limited edition of 10 pieces.
Titanium appears to be the emerging metal of choice at some of horology’s most renowned houses. A. Lange & Sohne recently unveiled its first timepiece in titanium, and Vacheron Constantin is also unveiling its first all-titanium creation with the Overseas Tourbillon Skeleton. It’s the first Vacheron Constantin watch to be made entirely from titanium, from its case and integrated bracelet right down to its bezel and crown. (For those who love their precious metals, the 42.5mm Overseas Tourbillon Skeleton also comes in pink gold.)
The first skeletonised tourbillon watch in the Overseas range, it is powered by the redesigned in-house Calibre 2160 SQ, complete with a new balance spring featuring a Breguet overcoil for more precise timekeeping. For a modern and quasi-industrial look, movement components such as the bridges and baseplate have a dark grey finish, conferred by an NAC surface treatment done via electrolysis. Like other members of the Overseas, this model features an interchangeable strap system and each watch comes with two additional straps in calfskin and rubber.
This article originally appeared in The Peak