chronos24.pl - 13 December 2012
Chronos24.pl along with its partners, MANAGER MBA magazine and the Polish Watch and Clocks Collectors Club, successfully organized and executed yet another Watch of the Year competition honoring the best timepieces of the past 12 months. We are truly passionate about watches and watchmaking, so our main goal is to promoting knowledge about our beloved little micro-mechanical works of art. Awarding the best of the best is our “duty.”
This year's edition culminated in a dinner gala that took place on Friday in the same place where it all started three years ago: Sobanski Palace in Warsaw, the home of Polish Business Roundtable Club. Ironically, the weather also decided to repeat itself; guests were welcomed by the snowy ice-cold, but nonetheless charming, face of winter. Luckily enough, the warm and elegant interiors of the Sobanski Palace plus the delicious cuisine by the Amber Room restaurant fully compensated for the outside freeze and inevitably traffic-jammed city.
Before the guests enjoyed the exquisite food and excellent Chivas Regal whisky, handmade statuettes were placed in the hands of the happy winners. The “Classic Watch” of 2012 turned out to be an independent: Peter Speake-Marin and his Serpent Calendar. Receiving the award, Speake-Marin expressed astonishment and gratitude for honoring the work of an independent, boutique manufacture.
The “Sport Watch” was a triumph of Germany's A. Lange & Söhne and its redesigned Datograph Up/Down. In workshops located in the Saxon village of Glashütte, Lange's watchmakers create breathtaking timepieces, and the Datograph is vivid proof.
On the best “Ladies Watch” – the Poetic Wish by Van Cleef & Arpels, a five-minute repeater – automatic figurines on the enamel dial and gold case paved with diamonds combine to create a special piece of high horology for a very special lady.
The “Watch up to 10.000PLN” category went to a manufacturer that is almost unbeatable in creating high-quality mechanical watches in an accessible price range: Frédérique Constant. The Classic Manufacture model is equipped with an in-house movement and an elegant design .
The jury decided that the best “Complicated Watch” of this year is Jaeger-LeCoultre's Duomètre Sphérotourbillon. This piece could easily be discussed for hours and represents the absolute top end of haute horlogerie. Much to our great pleasure, this spherical tourbillion was also selected as the Grand Prix “Watch of the Year” – the best watch of 2012. Both awards were collected by Helena Palej, PR Manager of APART, on behalf of the Le Sentier manufacture.
The public awarded Omega for the second time with the best “Public Prize” for its in-house De Ville Chronograph. The statuette was received by Magdalena Polanska, PR Manager for Swatch Group Poland.
Finally, the last point of the evening's official part arrived: the Special Jury Prize. This category was created to honor people or events with extraordinary meaning for the watch industry. Long and constructive discussion by the jury members resulted in awarding Maximilian Büsser and his MB&F for “reinterpreting classic high horology in a unique way.” Büsser and his team of "friends" did something that is incredibly difficult in the watch industry: they went entirely their own way, connecting to long-respected traditions but in a unique and completely contemporary manner. MB&F's Horological Machines are more kinetic sculptures than watches, but with Legacy Machine No. 1, MB&F showed that it can even make a classic that is off the beaten path, completely retaining respect for the past, while influencing the future, and in transparent collaboration with contemporary masters.
“We are pleased that our competition gains more and more popularity and is taken seriously in the watch world,” says Tomasz Kieltyka, owner of Chronos24.pl. “Just three years old, this edition was able to gather special jury members and guests together in one special evening. We hope to sustain this trend in the future.”
