Watches of Switzerland will host an exhibition the 2022 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) award-winning watches for three days at its New York SoHo location at 60 Greene Street.
MB&F took home the coveted Aiguille d’Or award, the GPHG 2022 top prize, for its Legacy Machine Sequential EVO.
The exhibition will be open to the public starting Friday, December 2 through Sunday, December 4.
Watches of Switzerland says it will host the tour to promote the art of watchmaking.
The Chronomètre FB 2RSM.2-1 by Ferdinand Berthoud. won the 2022 GPHG Mechanical Exception Watch Prize.
Often called the Oscars of the watch industry, the GPHG has previously honored the year’s winners at locations in Dubai, London, Moscow, Paris, Singapore, and Vienna. The upcoming exhibition at Watches of Switzerland marks the first such exhibition in New York.
The Bulgari The Octo Finissimo Ultra is the winner of the GPHG 2022 Audacity prize.
For more details or to make an appointment, which is encouraged but not required, see the Watches of Switzerland site.
MB&F won the grand prize at the 2022 Grand Prix D’Horlogerie De Geneve (GPHG) with its Legacy Machine Sequential Evo. The pioneering independent watchmaker also took home the Challenge Watch prize with its M.A.D.1 Red.
The GPHG Grand Prize went to the MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential Evo.
Hermès also took two awards, winning both the Ladies’ Complication and the Men’s Complication categories for the same model family in different sizes and iterations.
Similarly, Bulgari won in both the Jewellery Watch and the Audacity categories, while Van Cleef & Arpels took the prize in the Mechanical Clock and the Innovation categories.
The remaining GPHG trophies were awarded to Akrivia, Grand Seiko, Ferdinand Berthoud, Grönefeld, H. Moser & Cie, Krayon, M.A.D. Editions, Parmigiani Fleurier, Sylvain Pinaud, TAG Heuer, Trilobe, Tudor and Voutilainen.
The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra picked up the GPHG 2022 Audacity prize.
The Special Jury Prize, which rewards a key figure or institution in the watchmaking world, was attributed this year to François Junod, automaton-maker and sculptor.
See the GPHG website for a full list of the 2022 winners.
Patek Philippe launched three variations to its hot Nautilus (including a white gold successor to its retired Ref. 5711) and extended its collection of complicated chronographs as part of an eight-piece debut this week.
The new Ref. 5811/1G-001 Nautilus features a case and bracelet in white gold as well as a blue sunburst dial with a black gradation. Price is $69,785.
While the new Nautilus debuts garnered much of the initial attention, it’s the new set of chronographs that attract collectors of Patek Philippe’s legendary (and less commodified) complications. (Read all about the trio of new Nautilus models, including the 41mm successor to the Ref. 5711 , on the Patek Philippe site.)
The chronographs
And among those chronograph debuts, look no further than the new Ref. 5373P-001, a split-seconds mono-pusher chronograph with perpetual calendar, for some true novelty. The watch differs from its predecessor (Ref. 5372) with newly inverted displays, pushers and crown.
New Patek Philippe Ref. 5373P-001, a split-seconds mono-pusher chronograph with perpetual calendar, differs from its predecessor (Ref. 5372) with inverted displays, pushers and crown.
Made for specifically “for the right-hand wrists of left-handers,” according to the watchmaker, the new 38.3mm platinum-cased watch is a premiere design for the company.
Patek Philippe notes however that a 1927 one-of-a-kind watch inspired the design of the new model. Like the earlier watch, the new watch features its integrated chronograph monopusher at the 9 o’clock position with the split-seconds pusher set, unusually, at 8 o’clock.
The sporty red, blackand grey dial on the Ref. 5373P-001 is cleverly finished with a black gradation at its edge, framing snailed ebony-black subsidiary dials.
The watch’s beautifully finished caliber CHR 27-525 PS Q, still the thinnest split-seconds chronograph movement with perpetual calendar ever produced by the manufacture, can be admired through the sapphire-crystal display back, which is interchangeable with the solid-platinum back delivered with the watch. Among the many caseback highlights is a view of the movement’s two column wheels with their two polished caps.
Finally, like all of Patek Philippe’s platinum watches, the new Ref. 5373P-001 features a brilliant cut diamond on its case. But here Patek Philippe flips the diamond’s location, placing it at the 12 o’clock position rather than at the 6 o’clock position. Price Upon Request.
The new Patek Philippe Ref. 5204G-001 split-seconds chronograph with perpetual calendar.
Split Seconds, right side
Also with a split-seconds chronograph with perpetual calendar, the new Ref. 5204G-001, with its standard, right-side crown and two pushers,features a 40mm white gold case and an olive-green sunburst dial. The watch complements a version released last year with a slate-grey dial and a rose-gold case. Price Upon Request.
The new Patek Philippe Ref. 5935A-001 self-winding World Time flyback chronograph stands out with its sporty vintage looks.
World Timer
In a premiere steel case, the Patek Philippe’s new Ref. 5935A-001 World Time flyback chronograph (with automatic caliber CH 28-520 HU) is bound to please collectors in search of steel Patek Philippe watches as well as those who covet its world timers.
A stunning rose-gold dial appears vintage while the ‘carbon’ motif’ dial interior is decidedly contemporary. That dial center is a reference to the 2020 limited edition inaugural model Patek Philippe’s newest manufacturing facility in Geneva. Patek Philippe includes two calfskin straps (grained taupe and beige with a velvet-like nubuck finish), each secured with stainless steel fold-over clasps. Price: $63,871.
The Ref. 7968:300R-001 Aquanaut Luce “Rainbow” chronograph in rose gold.
Luce Chronograph
Patek Philippe adds an automatic chronograph to its contemporary Aquanaut Luce collection for the first time, and then decorates the watch (Ref. 7968-300R-001) with a rainbow of sapphires and diamonds. Cased in 39.9mm rose gold, the watch’s white mother-of-pearl dial is engraved with an Aquanaut pattern as baguette multi-colored sapphires mark the hours alongside gold applied numerals. Price: $212,900.
The new Ref. 5990-1A-011 Nautilus Travel Time chronograph is one of Patek Philippe’s rare steel watches.
Travel Time
Patek Philippe has debuted a steel-cased Travel Time model with an eye-catching blue dial with a radiant sunburst finish and a subtle black gradation. The new Ref. 5990/1A-011 Travel Time is powered by automatic caliber CH 28-520 C FUS, which combines a flyback chronograph, a Travel Time function (two time zones with two separate hour hands; the skeletonized hand shows home time) and an analog date synchronized with local time. Price: $68,603.
Alpina relaunches its Extreme Regulator, first seen in 2005, with a new dial and a smaller cushion-shaped case.
Alpina’s new Alpiner Extreme Regulator.
The new model, which debuts this week at Geneva Watch Days, is called the Alpiner Extreme Regulator and is now set in a more widely appealing 41mm steel case, considerably smaller than the 48mm case of the initial model and the 45mm size of more recent examples.
The Regulator was considered a flagship model when Alpina launched it as the Avalanche Extreme Regulator seventeen years ago. But even with a new size, the latest model evokes a similar assertive, modern appeal.
Behinds its regulator display of separate hours, minutes and seconds hands, the new Alpiner Extreme Regulator maintains its adventure-focused mission with a thick screw-in crown and caseback, and a strong 200-meter water resistance rating.
Strong Dial
Likewise, the dial projects strength. Alpina’s triangle logo is employed as a grid across the dial, symbolizing Alpine peaks. The grey pattern captures light, creating a more visually compelling dial than the initial models, on which the logo decorated only the center of the dial. Alpina adds even more visual texture with the case finish, which is nicely brushed, with polished corners.
Atop the grey ‘peaks,’ Alpina places highly luminescent hands in an almost typical regulator layout, with a large central minutes hand and separate hour and seconds subdial.
The hour subdial on regulator clock dials is classically positioned along the central axis at the top or bottom. Alpina however positions the hour subdial between the 9 o’clock and 11 o’clock positions, focusing the eye more clearly toward the minutes hand.
Inside the Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic Alpina retains its time-tested automatic ETA-based AL-650 caliber, the movement that powered the 2005 Regulator.
Alpina’s choice to host a regulator dial within its bedrock collection has long set the Geneva brand apart from many watchmakers offering affordably priced Swiss sports watches.
The choice to revive the regulator is equally courageous, especially given the regulator’s niche appeal among collectors, especially at this price range. But at first glance, Alpina’s update, with its appealing new case size and terrific dial design, offers more than enough well-considered change to meet that challenge.
Alpina is limiting the Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic to 888 pieces. Price: $2,195.
Frederique Constant unveils a new look for its Classics Heart Beat Manufacture collection, revealing a new dial, new indexes and a retro 39mm case.
The Frederique Constant Classics Heart Beat Manufacture in a 39mm steel case. The new design is also offered with a pink gold case.
Perhaps the most notable change in the new design, which debuts this week during Geneva Watch Days, is how the Geneva-based watchmaker is exposing the watch’s escapement, or ‘Heart Beat.’
Rather than the ‘comma-shaped’ aperture at the 12 o’clock position that characterized the dial of the Heart Beat collection since 2004, the new collection erases the comma in favor of a true circle that is now positioned at the 6 o’clock position.
The first Frederique Constant Heart Beat models in 1994 quickly became a signature design for what was then a young watchmaking company. The look has been emblematic for the company in the years since, and Frederique Constant has used the design to introduce its FC-910 manual-wind manufacture caliber in 2004, as well as its FC-930, the watchmakers’ first automatic caliber, a few years later.
Original size
The aperture update is only one aspect the Heart Beat’s redesign. A 39mm case size is a return to the original dimension of the Heart Beat Manufacture models, which have been offered in larger sizes in recent years. And the 2022 collection also boasts more classical Roman numerals on the dial, paired with thinner indexes.
Frederique Constant notes that the new, subtler indexes overlay a lacquered white dial and are paired with traditional railway markers, echoing watches of the early 20th century.Finally, Frederique Constant revives the same hand design it used in 2004, with a slender leaf shape for the minutes and “heart” hand for the hours.
The onion crown on the watch, which will be retained on the new collection, winds an automatic FC-930-3 manufacture caliber, which offers a thirty-eight hour power reserve. Frederique Constant decorates the movement with fine pearling and Côtes de Genève stripes, visible through the open caseback.
Frederique Constant is offering the new Classics Heart Beat Manufacture, in two limited series’. The first is cased in pink gold on a brown alligator strap and limited to 93 pieces ($17,995). The second is made of steel on a black alligator strap and limited to 930 pieces ($4,395).Availability is in December 2022
Among the many caseback highlights is a view of the movement’s two column wheels with their two polished caps.
The watch complements a version released last year with a slate-grey dial and a rose-gold case. Price Upon Request.
Patek Philippe includes two calfskin straps (grained taupe and beige with a velvet-like nubuck finish), each secured with stainless steel fold-over clasps. Price: $63,871.
Cased in 39.9mm rose gold, the watch’s white mother-of-pearl dial is engraved with an Aquanaut pattern as baguette multi-colored sapphires mark the hours alongside gold applied numerals. Price: $212,900.
The new Ref. 
Rather than the ‘comma-shaped’ aperture at the 12 o’clock position that characterized the dial of the Heart Beat collection since 2004, the new collection erases the comma in favor of a true circle that is now positioned at the 6 o’clock position.
