Roland Stampfli founded a watch brand in 2010 called AOS Watches to honor his father’s memory. AOS is located in the picturesque Swiss town of Cressier in the district of Neuchâtel, where Stampfli has been handcrafting exquisite watches in small batches for the last decade.
The new Black Storm Spirit 1916 from AOS Watches.
The AOS Classic Day and Night
Probably his pièce de résistance is a timepiece called the Wheels of Time. This impressive watch has a 68mm x 26.8mm aluminum case weighing just 68 grams and is powered by a bespoke cylindrical movement. Due to popular demand and restricted numbers, this model sold out very quickly. I’ve never seen one for resale on marketplaces like eBay and Chrono24.
The AOS Wheels of Time
More recently, AOS unveiled a new series of watches called The Cat Edition. If like me you love Art Nouveau designs, you’re in for a real treat.
When Stampfli first sent me the press release for The Cat Edition I was pretty blown away. Within the range, there will only be four pieces, each with a completely different aesthetic. Clients have a choice of colors and also the option of an extravagant diamond-encrusted version.
My particular favorite is the model with a 47mm purple anodized aluminum case. The sublime hue really complements the vibrant tones of the distinctive screen-printed dial. This feature portrays a tattoo style illustration of a cat, which is unlike anything I’ve seen before.
When I spoke to Stampfli about this matter, he said the inspiration came from pastel art nouveau designs and cat tattoos. Other features include a complex bezel with twelve torque screws and a small date window located at 6 o’clock.
Beneath the beautiful façade this piece is a customized Swiss-made ETA mechanical self-winding Caliber 2892-2. This mechanism has a bespoke multi-colored rotor, which is visibly showcased via the sapphire crystal exhibition case back. Functionally The Cat Edition features hours, minutes, seconds and a date indication. The watch also has a power reserve of forty-two hours.
In my opinion The Cat Edition is a competitively priced collection. You get a true Swiss made watch that is highly exclusive and exceptionally well designed. If you’re interested, Stampfli reports he has only a few Cat Edition models available. Prices start at $3,800.
Steve Huyton is an industrial designer, illustrator and author who publishes Total Design Reviews.
For seventeen summers Frederique Constant has released a new Vintage Rally limited edition series, which the Geneva-based watchmaker dedicates to collectors of classic Austin-Healey vintage automobiles. The annual debut rarely disappoints, and this year’s releases are no exception.
This year’s highlight is an all-grey Vintage Rally Healey Automatic Small Seconds, with a range of the contemporary color on its dial, strap, steel case, index hour markers and hands.
The new all-grey Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey Automatic Small Seconds.
The dressy 40mm watch sports the original Healey logo on the dial, just adjacent to the off-center small seconds hand at 9 o’clock. Around the decidedly matte dial is the flange displaying the sixty-minute scale. Frederique Constant has engraved each watch’s caseback with a Healey automobile in action. (See below for additional technical details).
Frederique Constant will make 888 examples of the grey-dialed Vintage Rally Healey Automatic Small Seconds, with each arriving in a gift set alongside a miniature replica of a vintage Austin-Healy automobile.
Custom green
For buyers outside the United States, or by special order in the United States, two additional Vintage Rally watches are also available.
For these ‘international models” Frederique Constant offers a green dial and a blue dial, both colors that allude to the Austin-Healey company. One model features British racing green while the other offers a dial in navy blue within a rose gold-plated case. This model’s hour markers, hands and crown are also navy blue, which is hinted on the leather strap as well.
Only the grey model ($1,595) is available in the United States. As noted, the two “international” models are available here only by special order. Prices: $2,175 (Blue dial/rose-gold plated case) and $1,957 (Green dial, steel case).
Specifications: Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey Automatic Small Seconds (Limited edition of 888.)
Movement: ETA-based FC-345 automatic caliber with 38-hour power reserve.
Case: 40mm by 11.15mm polished steel, two-part case, convex sapphire crystal, engraved case-back with Healey Noj 393 vintage car. Water resistant to 50 meters.
Dial: Grey with matte finishing, white inner ring with printed seconds graduation , silver color applied indexes with white luminous treatment, hand-polished silver color hour and minute hands with white luminous treatment, small seconds counter at 9 o’clock w/red hand , date window at 3 o’clock.
Strap: Grey calf leather with light grey stitching.
iW recently spoke with Ferruccio Lamborghini, the son of Tonino Lamborghini, who founded Lamborghini’s industrial design company in 1981. As the third generation leading a Lamborghini business, Ferruccio not only inherited his famous name from his father and grandfather, he also enjoys his family’s passion for motorcycles and high speed. His years of racing led to several championship titles in Italian motorcycle racing.
Tonino Lamborghini, president of his eponymous company, with his son Ferruccio Lamborghini, CEO and VP.
In our wide-ranging discussion, we learned more about brand’s latest lineup of Tonino Lamborghini Swiss Watches, especially the Spyder, Spyderleggero Chrono and Cuscinetto (Italian for ball bearing) collections. These collections are at the core of the brand’s timepiece offerings, and Ferruccio has redesigned them for 2021. The shield of the brand’s logo with its Miura raging bull, inspired the Spyder, which debuted in 2007. Lamborghini debuted its first Cuscinetto collections in 1983.
In our interview with Ferruccio Lamborghini, since 2018 the CEO of the Tonino Lamborghini luxury lifestyle and design powerhouse, he tells us more about how he views the company’s generational change, and details the importance of the watches within the future of the Lamborghini enterprise.
The Tonini Lamborghini Cuscinetto R automatic watch with orange accents.
iW: Can you describe what it is like to take over the family brand at such a young age? The challenges, the experience, and any surprises that you discovered along the way?
Ferruccio Lamborghini: I am proud of it and of the generational change process my father and I experience together every day. The challenges have been changing through the years and they are mostly linked to the different dynamics related to our wide products portfolio: each product and sector deserve a special attention and a dedicated strategy.
In the last five years I have worked hard to understand all the company’s processes to set the actual vision and define a strong re-organization of the business strategies.
As a lifestyle brand, Tonino Lamborghini offers a variety of products. How do you determine when it makes sense to apply the TL ethos and bring a new product on-board?
Our family’s DNA is characterized by great curiosity and resourcefulness, which has always stimulated our creativity and made Tonino Lamborghini a consistent lifestyle brand. Through the decades the company and customers’ needs have changed, therefore in the nowadays scenario we have a new approach towards the developments of new products: they have to perfectly fit in a coherent and consistent Tonino Lamborghini ecosystem.
We have branded accessories, furnishing and interior products, real estate and hospitality projects, food and beverages. It is a comprehensive Tonino Lamborghini lifestyle that you can wear, live, experience and drink.
The Tonino Lamborghini Spyderleggero Chrono Automatic.
How important are the wristwatches among the stable of Tonino Lamborghini products?
Watches are our core product. They represent the best combination of our family mechanical heritage with the lifestyle approach my father had since the foundation of his company. Today it is the same, considering that the recent strategy related to our new line of Swiss watches is the one for which I have recently invested most of my energy.
Ferruccio has redesigned the Cuscinetto case in titanium with Torx screws and four different color variations, mounted a new movement, and inserted a branded deployant buckle.
Do you intend to expand the watch lines in the near future?
Yes, of course I do. Next autumn I will announce new models, which will increase the Tonino Lamborghini Swiss Watches collection selection for both quartz and automatic movements. I also would like to highlight that, among the new models, a lady’s watch is coming.
What are the key elements and/or identifiers customers can expect in a Tonino Lamborghini timepiece?
Our customers choose our accessories to be out of the ordinary because they look for something new to experience and love and to feel part of the Tonino Lamborghini lifestyle, an approach that we always follow when we develop our ideas and new products.
The Spyderleggero Skeleton automatic watch with red accents.
When breaking into new markets around the world, what strategies do you employ to promote your brand to the industrial members as well as the end consumers aware of your watches?
In such a competitive business field where the major brands have a years-long established presence, the key is to share a clear vision and the core values of the brand/products.
From an industry point of view, we still believe in the importance of the exhibitions, physical or digital, and I personally love to meet the press and explain my watches or strategies. Besides, regarding the distributors, we directly support our partners, and we always are open to define jointly the strategy in accordance with each market demand/request and its related customers behaviors.
From a consumers’ point of view, we are still investing in the press both nationally and internationally, but we are every year more digitally oriented. In the digital world it is easier to target a specific prospect and make him feel part of an exclusive club of people that share the same attitude and lifestyle.
Do you co-brand with any other companies?
It happened in the past and it is still happening nowadays for some niche accessories, like a co-branded line of massagers in collaboration with the Chinese company Breo Technology or the recent capsule with the Italian Venini for high-end art glasses and chandeliers. Soon something new will be announced.
What is your own opinion on the dynamic between traditional third-party retailers (brick and mortar and e shops) versus the direct-to-consumer sales from your own site or those of your distributors? Do you have any type of hybrid strategy to maximize the potential for both platforms?
It is common sense now to affirm that the post pandemic outcome in sales will force every brand to reinforce their direct-to-consumer strategies and presence.
Nevertheless, consumer habits are very different globally and brick and mortar business will probably maintain a central role in showcasing the products especially for those active in the luxury field where purchase is driven not only by clicks and discounts, but mainly by one-to-one sales pitch and consistent evaluation from the consumer.
The Spyderleggero Chrono is an automatic watch with day and date complications. It is the top model of the Tonino Lamborghini Swiss Watches collection.
Our strategy includes both aspects. While we are building up a direct-to-consumer presence with the direct activation of flagship stores in the major marketplaces, we are now also finalizing the opening of mono-brand and corner stores thanks to local distributors and retailers.
By maintaining a direct control over D2C we also avoid prices conflicts locally with such third parties like retailers and we can moreover control the brand marketing investments strategies. This way we maximize both channels and we directly and carefully develop the brand identity.
Alongside the many new dome clocks and pocket watches Patek Philippe is debuting during its wide-ranging Rare Handcrafts 2020-2021 exhibition in Geneva this month, the manufacture is also presenting six ongoing-collection wristwatches re-interpreted with new artisanal craftsmanship.
These debuts include a Ref. 6002R-001 Sky Moon Tourbillon, a diamond-set minute repeater with retrograde perpetual calendar (Ref. 5304/301R-001), a minute repeater with perpetual calendar (Ref. 5374-001), the Ref. 7040/250G-001 Minute Repeater for Ladies, a richly decorated Golden Ellipse (Ref. 5738/51G-001), and a white gold Nautilus set with diamonds. Prices for all these models are on request.
The Ref. 6002R-001 Sky Moon Tourbillon Haut Artisanat.
The Ref. 6002R-001 Sky Moon Tourbillon Haut Artisanat
Patek Philippe has given this ultra-complex watch (with twelve complications) a stunning hand-engraved rose-gold case with a brown dial in grand feu champlevé and cloisonné enamel.
Patek Philippe’s engravers spent more than 100 hours creating the ‘volutes and arabesques’ case, crown and repeater slide. As Patek Philippe’s second most complicated model, the Sky Moon Tourbillon combines a tourbillon and a minute repeater that strikes on cathedral gongs, a perpetual calendar with a retrograde date, a moon-phase display and the leap year cycle.
The reverse side of the Patek Philippe The Ref. 6002R-001 Sky Moon Tourbillon Haut Artisanat.
From the back, you’ll see a celestial chart showing the apparent motion of the moon and the stars. Patek Philippe will deliver the new Ref. 6002R-001 Sky Moon Tourbillon with hand-engraved cufflinks in rose gold. It replaces the Ref. 6002G-010 in white gold with a black grand feu enamel dial.
The new Ref. 5374G-001 Minute Repeater with a perpetual calendar.
The Ref. 5374G-001 Minute Repeaterwith a perpetual calendar
Initially available in platinum, this chiming watch with cathedral gongs now boasts a white-gold case with a glossy blue grand feu enamel dial. Also new are the slightly larger perpetual calendar (day, date, month, leap year cycle) displays, placed on slightly enlarged subsidiary dials. In addition, the white gold hands are now highly luminous, while themoonphase aperture is made using the champlevé enamel technique and then framed in white gold (see below).
Up close on the Patek Philippe Ref. 5374G-001 Minute Repeater with a perpetual calendar.
Ref. 7040/250G-001 Rare Handcrafts Minute Repeater for ladies
This groundbreaking minute repeater is now extra luxurious with a blue grand feu flinqué enamel dial and a bezel with a Flamme diamond setting. The new model is slightly larger (36m) than the earlier models, and also boasts a diamond-set bezel.
The stunning Ref. 7040/250G-001 Rare Handcrafts Minute Repeater for ladies.
If you recall the dial on the Patek Philippe “Siamese Fighting Fish” pocket watch from 2019, you’ll see a similarity with this new model. Artisans fully guilloche the dial’s gold plate and then coat it with transparent blue enamel that allows the underlying decor to shine through. This method is an old technique called flinqué enameling. Patek Philippe insures that this watch remains thin (5.05mm) by using its self-winding caliber R 27 PS, powered by a 22-karat gold eccentric mini-rotor.
The new Patek Philippe Ref. 5738/51G-001 Golden Ellipse Haut Artisanat.
Ref. 5738/51G-001 Golden Ellipse Haut Artisanat
This new design takes full advantage of one of Patek Philippe’s most classic case shapes. Here in white gold, the Ellipse boasts a stunning champlevé enamel dial that has been manually engraved. The watch’s curly-cue decor, known technically as ‘volutes and arabesques,’ nicely complements the oval case shape of the Golden Ellipse.
Inside Patek Philippe places its famed automatic Caliber 240 powered by an off-center recessed mini-rotor in 22-karat gold. The thin (6.58mm) watch joins the current Golden Ellipse collection, which also includes Ref. 5738P-001 in platinum with a blue sunburst dial and the Ref. 5738R-001 in rose gold with an ebony black sunburst dial.
The new high-glitter Patek Philippe Ref. 7118/1450G Nautilus Haute Joaillerie.
Ref. 7118/1450G Nautilus Haute Joaillerie
Released in rose gold just a few months ago, this newest highly reflective diamond-set Nautilus can now be had in a white gold case. Set with a random pavé setting (also called snow setting), the watch’s case, dial, bezel, and the bracelet are decorated with nearly 13 carats of diamonds. Still, despite the glitter, the blackened white gold hands remain visible thanks in part to a generous coating of luminous material.
The watch’s blackened white gold hands remain visible thanks in part to a generous coating of luminous material.
This 32.5mm white-gold case is fitted with the automatic Caliber 324 S movement that has been elaborately finished and visible through the sapphire-crystal case back. Sunglasses please.
The Ref. 5304/301R-001 Minute Repeater with a retrograde perpetual calendar is now framed in baguette diamonds.
Ref. 5304/301R-001 Minute Repeater with a retrograde perpetual calendar
Now in a 43mm rose-gold case set with eighty baguette diamonds, this grand complication was first launched in 2006 in a platinum case. Its new diamond frame boasts 6.22 carats of diamonds on its bezel, lugs and clasp, dramatizing Patek Philippe’s seriously complicated system for clearly displaying the day, month, and leap year cycle with transparent sapphire-crystal disks. To add subplots to the drama, Patek Philippe has also added white-gold inlays with engraved leaf motifs in the case flanks and the repeater slide.
The back offers its own window into the architecture of the self-winding caliber R 27 PS QR LU movement, most notably the minute repeater mechanism with two gongs. The viewer can also watch the whirring of the centrifugal governor during chiming. Finally, Patek Philippe artisans re-imagined the finished here with a leaf motif now visible on the rose gold mini-rotor. Patek Philippe has built so many stunning technical and artisanal highlights into this watch, we highly recommend you view the brands’ own visual tour, available here.
A clear view into Patek Philippe’s R 27 PS QR LU movement, showing the minute repeater mechanism with two gongs.
Parmigiani Fleurier embraces its inner panda with the new Tondagraph GT Steel Silver Black and the Tondagraph GT Rose Gold Silver Black, both now with ‘panda style’ sporty bi-color dials.
The new Parmigiani Fleurier Tondagraph GT Steel Silver Black.
The 42mm Tondagraph GT Steel Silver Blackis both a chronograph and annual calendar, and as with all annual calendars, this indicator requires adjustment only once per year, from February to March.
The back of the steel model allows the owner to see the movement’s 22-karat gold rotor through a sapphire case back. You’ll also see a host of decorative finishes, including the circular côtes de Genève pattern on the bridges.
In comparison to its black-dialed predecessor, which utilized orange numerals and details, this new model displays higher-contrast elements in white, panda style.
“With this new model we wanted to exalt the contrast between the counters and the silver dial,” says Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni. “Taking out the orange indicators of the first edition helped us obtain a pure and long-lasting aesthetic.”
Rose gold
The 42mm Tondagraph GT Rose Gold Silver Black is a follow up to last year’s Tondagraph GT Rose Gold Blue, and like that model is powered by PF071, a 36,000-bph integrated chronograph caliber. This is a COSC chronometer-certified movement based on Parmigiani’s GPHG award-winning Caliber PF361. It offers 65-hours of power reserve.
The new Parmigiani Fleurier Tondagraph GT Rose Gold Silver Black.
The integrated chronograph function uses a smooth column wheel rather than a cam, and a vertical clutch rather than a horizontal one. These are said to increase accuracy by enabling the chronograph to start without an initial jolt.
As you might expect from this brand, the movement is expertly finished by hand. You’ll find chamfering and polishing, sandblasted surfaces, a sunray pattern on the 22-karat gold oscillating weight and beautifully hand-finished bridges.
The Parmigiani Fleurier Caliber PF071, a 36,000-bph integrated chronograph caliber.
When I spoke to Stampfli about this matter, he said the inspiration came from pastel art nouveau designs and cat tattoos. Other features include a complex bezel with twelve torque screws and a small date window located at 6 o’clock.
