Now in the United States and Canada, this Franck Muller Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams collection will brighten any winter weary wrist with a rainbow of colors.
The imaginative Geneva watchmakers have deftly combined its top-selling 45mm Vanguard Skeleton tonneau case with a multi-hued manually wound movement. As noted on the watch’s dial, the movement offers an impressive seven-day power reserve.
The carbon-cased version of the new Franck Muller Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams.
Franck Muller’s watchmakers have built the movement from satin-finished, multi-color anodized v-shaped aluminum bridges that draw attention as framed by a metallic or darkened carbon case.
The movement consists of eight colors derived from the existing Franck Muller Color Dreams collection. While the current focus for this collection in the United States (and Canada) is on the model with a black carbon Vanguard case, Franck Muller also offers the watch in either a brushed titanium Vanguard case or a stainless steel Vanguard case.
Price: $59,700 (dark carbon case). Click here to locate a Franck Muller boutique in the United States. For a video description of the watch, click here.
In the late 1990s Michel Parmigiani, founder of Parmigiani Fleurier, acquired a late 19th century grande sonnerie and minute repeater movement created by famed watchmaker Louis-Elisée Piguet.
That complicated movement, which was never encased in a pocket watch, remained on Parmigiani’s to-do list for restoration until earlier this year when Guido Terreni, the company’s newly named CEO, embarked on a project to help the brand celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary.
Terreni and Parmigiani quickly enlisted the Piguet movement as the heart of the project.
The Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée, a deeply artisanal grand sonnerie.
After nearly a year of painstaking restoration and artisanal craftsmanship, the Fleurier-based watchmaker has released the La Rose Carrée, a 64mm white gold double hunter pocket watch with the fully restored Piguet caliber set within a newly designed case coated in translucent grand feu enamel.
Named after the Rose Carrée or “squared rose” engraved pattern seen on the case and movement, the one-of-a-kind watch Is coated by three or four layers of blue grand feu enamel (applied by artistic enameller Vanessa Lecci) to add depth and rich color to the engraving work.
According to Terreni, the square roses pattern found throughout the watch follows the Golden Spiral, a derivative of the Golden Ratio, which has long been favored by Michel Parmigiani.
One cover opens to reveal the black onyx dial, white gold hands and a small-seconds subdial outlined in white gold. The second cover opens to frame the beautifully engraved movement with a mainplate and the bridges displaying the thematic Rose Carrée pattern.
The grande sonnerie and minute repeater movement, pictured here after restoration, was created at the end of the 19th century by Louis-Elisée Piguet.
Notable too is the blue-sapphire-set crown and an unusual square-link chain entirely handcrafted by Swiss traditional chain maker Laurent Jolliet.
Zenith transforms two of its most complex watches into cosmic messengers with a new galactic theme, eye-catching blue PVD components and clear sapphire cases. The Le Locle watchmaker has re-finished and re-configured components within the existing Defy Zero G and the Defy 21 Double Tourbillon, to create a stunning contemporary limited edition version of each watch.
Defy Zero G Sapphire
For this update, Zenith brings space travel to the wrist with a miniature mosaic depicting Mars on the dial. Made by hand using meteorite, aventurine glass and miniature painting, the red planet is seen on the small seconds, partially eclipsed by the hour and minute dial.
The new Zenith Defy Zero G Sapphire.
Zenith finishes the mainplate and the bridges in a blue tone with contrasting metallic-grey chamfers, dotted with white stars. The wearer can also see this space-inspired finish on the movement’s cylindrical container, visible through the sides of the case. Zenith has also rebuilt the movement with a more contemporary architectural profile that occupies thirty percent less space than the original movement.
Back view of the Zenith Defy Zero G Sapphire.
You might recall that the Defy Zero G features Zenith’s El Primero 8812 S manual movement with a gimbal that maintains the balance and spring in a flat position, overcoming gravity’s effects on the watch’s chronometric precision (See complete specifications list below).
Defy 21 Double Tourbillon Sapphire
Zenith engraves stars on the dial of the new Defy 21 Double Tourbillon Sapphire and exposes a newly blued mainplate (a first for Zenith) through its skeleton dial. This watch still turns heads with two independent tourbillons. One rotates in sixty seconds at 36,000 vph (for time-keeping) while the second rotates once in five seconds at 360,000 vph to regulate the chronograph timer.
The new Zenith Double Tourbillon Sapphire.
The twenty owners of these two new watches can enhance their galactic experience by taking advantage of a special offer from Zenith. The watchmaker has teamed with Novespace, a subsidiary of the French National Space Center, to offer each owner a parabolic zero-gravity flight, slated for next February at the Novespace facility in Bordeaux.
Back view of the Zenith Double Tourbillon Sapphire.
Prices: $159,700 (Defy Zero G Sapphire) and $180,300 (Defy 21 Tourbillon Sapphire ) Each model will be issued as a limited edition of ten.
Specifications: Zenith Defy Zero G Sapphire
(Reference: 04.9000.8812/00.R920, limited edition of ten pieces)
Movement: Entirely skeletonized El Primero 8812 S. “Gravity Control” gyroscopic module that ensures horizontal positioning of the regulating organ. Now occupies only 30% of its initial volume. Frequency is 36,000 VpH (5 Hz) with a 50-hour power reserve. Platinum counterweight of the gyroscopic system.
Functions : Hours and minutes in the center. Double Tourbillon: 1 escapement for the Watch (36,000 vph / 5 Hz – cage makes a turn in 60 second) 1 escapement for the Chronograph (360,000 vph / 50 Hz – cage makes a turn in 5 seconds). 1/100th of a second Chronograph: Central chronograph hand that makes one turn each second, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, 60-second counter at 6 o’clock, chronograph power-reserve indication at 12 o’clock. New bicolor signature on plates and bridges + milled Starry Sky.
Case: 46mm clear sapphire with 30 meters of water resistance.
Dial: Openworked with meteorite & aventurine hour & minute dial, hour markers are rhodium-plated, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova, hands are rhodium-plated and faceted gold, coated with SuperLuminova.
Bracelet: Black rubber with blue patterned rubber, grey stitching. Titanium double folding clasp.
(Reference: 04.9000.9020/00.R920, limited edition of ten pieces)
Movement: El Primero 9020 automatic, 1/100th-of-a-second double tourbillon chronograph, 1 tourbillon escapement for the watch (36,000 vph – 5 Hz) ; 1 tourbillon escapement for the chronograph (360,000 vph – 50 Hz). One rotation per second for the chrono hand. Certified Chronometer. Power reserve of 50 hours.
Case: 46mm clear sapphire with sapphire crystal. Water resistance to 30 meters.
Dial: Openworked with rhodium-plated hour markers and hands, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova SLN C1.
Bracelet: Black rubber with blue patterned rubber & grey stitching. Titanium double folding clasp.
Last year producer and talent scout Swizz Beatz challenged De Bethune to create a “totally different Dream Watch 5.” This week, De Bethune debuted its response to that challenge with a watch worthy of the futuristic Dream Series.
The new De Bethune Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon Season 1 is a spectacular deltoid-shaped, blued-titanium and sapphire wrist rocket regulated by a De Bethune high-velocity tourbillon.
The new De Bethune Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon Season 1 .
The inventive Swiss company, lead by pioneering watchmaker Denis Flageollet, has built on its own Dream Watch legacy by refining its pointedly curved Dream Watch 5 case, first seen in 2014, into a skeletal sculpture that both showcases an open-set dial while also protecting it with two dramatic blued titanium bridges.
As De Bethune points out, there is nothing straight or flat about this latest Dream Watch 5 case, which is composed of seven different sapphire components ingeniously embedded into a polished blue titanium frame.
At the center, gripped by the watch’s titanium exoskeleton, is a three-dimensional orb that indicates the moon phases. Adjacent, and just below the blue bridges, the wearer eyes the hours and minutes directly through a hand-cut cabochon-shaped crystal.
The back of the watch (below) is almost as dramatic, especially since the ultra-clear sapphire back seems to magnifying the beauty of De Bethune’s mirror-polished DB2149 high-speed tourbillon caliber. The 30-second tourbillon oscillates at 36,000 vibrations/hour, set just beneath a slightly blued sapphire window. See specifications below for additional details about this expertly engineered, highly tuned movement.
De Bethune notes that to enhance the interior of the DW5 Episode 1, it collaborates with Swiss engraver Michèle Rothen, who has ‘retouched’ each surface with added micro-detail and greater dimension.
The De Bethune Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon Season 1 is a ten-piece limited edition.
Price: $520,000.
Specifications: De Bethune Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon ‘Season 1’
(Reference DW5TSB, a ten-piece limited edition)
Functions: Hours, minutes, central spherical moon-phase indication, 30-minute indication on the ultra-light silicon and titanium De Bethune tourbillon cage (appearing on the back).
Movement: DB2149 hand-wound, three positions (for winding, spherical moon phase and time setting), titanium balance-wheel with white gold inserts, De Bethune balance-spring with flat terminal curve, silicon escape-wheel, spherical moon-phase display accurate to within one lunar day every 1,112 years, De Bethune ultra-light silicon and titanium 30-second tourbillon, 36,000 vibrations/hour.
Dial: Blued grade-5 titanium aperture frame.
Case: 58mm by 47mm by 17mm tapered hand-polished and blued grade- 5 titanium, open-worked with sapphire blue inserts and hand-engraved motifs, cabochon-cut blue sapphire crown.
Bracelet: Blue canvas/leather with an additional rubber strap, titanium clasp with polished and blued titanium pin buckle.
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.
