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Only Watch 2021 Favorites: TAG Heuer

We continue to highlight a few of our favorite watches from among the more than fifty watchmakers that have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.

The watches will tour the globe starting September 22 in Monaco, and can then be seen in exhibitions in Dubai (September 30 to October 3), Tokyo (October 8 to 10), Singapore (October 15 to 20), Hong Kong (October 25 to 27), Macau (October 28) and finally back in Geneva on November 4-6. Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour.

Today, we highlight the offering from TAG Heuer, which has created the Only Watch Carbon Monaco made with echoes of the highly collectible black-PVD-cased Monaco Reference 74033N, known by aficionados as the “Dark Lord”. TAG Heuer made the original watch in limited quantities in the mid-1970s, and it never appeared in a Heuer catalog.

This one-of-a-kind edition is cased in carbon fiber and features the brand’s largest-ever sapphire crystal caseback, which TAG Heuer’s engineers designed to give the watch’s future owner a clear view into its bespoke movement. The watch’s skeletonized dial is worked from a single piece of carbon fiber.

Sitting on top of the carbon dial are three black galvanized brass plates. These form the watch’s chronograph and small-seconds subdials. Those orange hands echo the Only Watch’s 2021 color palette.

The movement here, while technically a TAG Heuer in-house Heuer 02 automatic chronograph, has been decorated by hand especially for this watch.

The movement is endowed with an unique rotor in the form of a hand-finished TAG Heuer shield, which  is also decorated with a gradient orange to yellow color of Only Watch 2021. The seamless transition from orange to yellow was achieved by hand, painted by the master dial artist and micro-painter André Martinez from Le Locle.

Indeed, TAG Heuer utilizes specialists Artime SA to create a high-level of finish throughout the movement. And finally, TAG Heuer has created a new leather strap that looks like a metal bracelet. All new for TAG Heuer, the process starts as silicon is injected into the sole of the leather. This is then heat-stamped with a mold in the shape of a metal link bracelet, creating the three- dimensional effect. Very cool, and impressive.

Only Watch auction estimate: CHF 50,000 to CHF 100,000.

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Only Watch 2021 Favorites: Blancpain

We continue to highlight a few of our favorite watches from among the more than fifty watchmakers that have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.

The watches will tour the globe starting September 22 in Monaco, and can then be seen in exhibitions in Dubai (September 30 to October 3), Tokyo (October 8 to 10), Singapore (October 15 to 20), Hong Kong (October 25 to 27), Macau (October 28) and finally back in Geneva on November 4-6. Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour.

Today, we highlight the offering from Blancpain, which created an Only Watch version of its highly collectible Tribute to Fifty Fathoms No Rad watch. The mid-1960s series is characterized with a stamp on the dial with a “no radiations” logo indicating that Blancpain did not use luminescent radium.

Here, the logo remains the dial’s highlight, but the logo’s original yellow and red colors have been replaced by Only Watch orange and yellow. Blancpain fits the watch’s unidirectional rotating bezel with a sapphire insert, direct from the current collection.

And while it may not always come across in images, the domed glassbox-type sapphire crystal Blancpain attaches here is outstanding. It quite effectively contributes to the multi-level effect of the dial. From the back, you’ll see a black rotor in solid gold bearing a special “Only Watch” inscription.

Only Watch auction estimate: CHF 12,000 to CHF 18,000.

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Only Watch 2021 Favorites: Maurice Lacroix

We continue to highlight a few of our favorite watches from among the more than fifty watchmakers that have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.

The watches will tour the globe starting September 22 in Monaco, and can then be seen in exhibitions in Dubai (September 30 to October 3), Tokyo (October 8 to 10), Singapore (October 15 to 20), Hong Kong (October 25 to 27), Macau (October 28) and finally back in Geneva on November 4-6. Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour.

Today, we highlight the offering from Maurice Lacroix, which has teamed with Mahindra Racing to create a special edition of its Aikon Master Grand Date. The one-off model for Only Watch 2021 features a 47mm case formed using the same carbon fiber actually used by on a Mahindra Racing car.

This is the first time Maurice Lacroix Aikon made using a carbon fiber case. The bright-dialed watch, sports its embossed off-center hour and minutes display in the official Only Watch orange color, framed with a yellow circlet. The hands and indexes are executed in black and lined with yellow SuperLuminova, just above an open-worked small seconds dial. The main area of the dial is actually the reverse of the mainplate and here is vertically brushed and capped with orange PVD. The curved balance bridge is presented in black DLC and features an open-worked, twin-beam design that clears a direct view of the escapement.

Maurice Lacroix will invite the successful bidder for this watch to attend a 2022 round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship as a guest of Mahindra Racing, where they can look forward to a full VIP hospitality package.

Only Watch auction estimate: CHF 12,000 to CHF 18,000.

 

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Only Watch 2021 Favorites: H. Moser & Cie.

This year more than fifty watchmakers have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.

The watches will tour the globe starting September 22 in Monaco, and can then be seen in exhibitions in Dubai (September 30 to October 3), Tokyo (October 8 to 10), Singapore (October 15 to 20), Hong Kong (October 25 to 27), Macau (October 28) and finally back in Geneva on November 4-6. Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour.

Today, we highlight the offering from H. Moser & Cie., which has placed its much-acclaimed Cylindrical Tourbillon made in partnership with MB&F last year into the exceptional 40mm H. Moser Streamliner steel case.

To review, the caliber here is designed as sculptural work of art and is topped with a domed sapphire crystal. It features a one-minute flying tourbillon equipped with H. Moser’s cylindrical hairspring, produced by Precision Engineering AG, H. Moser & Cie.’s sister company.

And with the case and bracelet, with its articulated links and brushed and polished finishing, also weighing in as functional eye-candy, we expect this watch to exceed its auction estimate.

Only Watch Auction Estimate: CHF 60,000 – CHF 80,000.

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Only Watch 2021 Favorites: F.P. Journe

This year more than fifty watchmakers have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.

The watches will tour the globe starting September 22 in Monaco, and can then be seen in exhibitions in Dubai (September 30 to October 3), Tokyo (October 8 to 10), Singapore (October 15 to 20), Hong Kong (October 25 to 27), Macau (October 28) and finally back in Geneva on November 4-6. Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour.

Today, we highlight the offering from F.P. Journe. The independent watchmaker’s entry into the auction is a stunning central-dial automaton inspired by a mechanical hand created by Ambroise Paré (1509-1590), the father of modern surgery, this unusual 42mm tantalum-cased watch displays time via hand-signs. The hand will rotate to the hour marker (indicated by the pointer) and will show a specific number of fingers to indicate the hours. At 1 o’clock, for example, only one finger will appear while the others remain clenched (see below).

The automaton is powered solely by the Octa movement’s mainspring.

F.P. Journe devised the movement from his Octa Caliber 1300, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021.

Journe explains: “This watch was born in 2012 while having dinner at Francis Ford Coppola’s house in the Napa Valley. He asked me if it could be possible to tell time with a hand in a watch. I replied that the idea was interesting and required thinking about it. But how to display 12 hours with 5 fingers? It was not an easy matter and this complex challenge inspired and motivated me. Once I figured it out, Francis immediately sent the sketches for the fingers positions. After more than 2 years, I could finally focus on “Fecit”. After 7 years of development, I am proud to present the FFC prototype”.

We expect the final sale price for this watch to exceed its auction estimate.

Auction estimate: CHF 300,000 – CHF 400,000.

 

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