Michèle Brunner - Laurent Ferrier Galet Square Boréal
It has the elegant sobriety of all Laurent Ferrier models but with an unusual and discreet sporty touch, a thousand leagues away from ostentation, which make it my first day favourite at this year's SIHH. The black dial has a modern hour scale in cream SuperLuminova in relief and a small seconds subdial at 6 o'clock, all of which favours legibility. Housed in a steel case who characteristic shape gives the watch its name (Galet in French means pebble), the self-winding calibre FBN 229.01 has a unidirectional micro-rotor that guarantees a power reserve of three days. The elegant strap in cream-coloured calfskin leather has an alcantara lining which has a soft feel when worn on the wrist.
Camille Gendre - Richard Mille RM 67-01 Automatic Extraflat
My first highlight of the week is a new watch presented by Richard Mille: the RM 67-01 Automatic Extraflat. It is a new version of the RM 010 Automatic that for the first time offers an ultra-thin tonneau-shaped case with a total thickness of just 7.75mm. Beyond this technical prowess, the particularity of this piece is the skeletonised dial which offers optimum legibility together with a visual appreciation of the depth of the movement.
Isabelle Guignet - Piaget Limelight Stella
Finesse, purity, sparkle. The Limelight Stella has become one of the most representative Piaget timepieces, in particular as the first watch with a complication dedicated solely to women. The moonphase adds an extra touch to the watch with an intelligent complexity that allows the current phase of the moon to be displayed. It is the oval dial, which subtly fits into a rounder 36mm case, that appeals with this model, which is equipped with a self-winding mechanical movement. The strap is available in seven different variations of colour - enough to satisfy all tastes.
Paul O'Neil - Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Gyrotourbillon
The entire collection launched to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the Reverso was definitely the highlight of the first day of SIHH 2016 for me and there were a couple of models that I would seriously consider buying for myself. Unfortunately my real favourite among them is well beyond my budget. The Reverso Gyrotourbillon uses a couple of tricks to reduce the size of the previous Gyrotourbillon calibre by 40% to fit in the Reverso case, including the use of a new hemispherical balance spring and the new Gyrolab balance. As a result, the tourbillon rotates around its second axis in precisely 12.64 seconds (compared with 24 seconds for the Gyrotourbillon 3), speeding up the wonderful mechanical ballet that can be seen on both sides of the dial thanks to the unique Reverso case construction.
Brice Lechevalier - Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classic Tribute Calendar
This watch is fitted with one of the six new calibres developed this year by Jaeger-LeCoultre, which is celebrating 85 years of the Reverso. Both harmonious thanks to the aesthetics that are specific to the brand, yet contrasting thanks to the magic of the double-sided case, this new model from SIHH 2016 also has a new innovation exclusive to the Reverso: the integration of the day/night corrector on the upper half of the case makes it invisible. Three great reasons to explain its presence on the cover of the SIHH edition of GMT magazine!
Philippe Perret du Cray - Piaget Altiplano
It is generally the different expressions of horological mechanics that excite me. Whether simple or ultra-complicated, a beautiful movement will always capture my attention and I saw quite a few on the first day of the SIHH 2016. But it was, unusually, the artistic character of the Piaget Altiplano 38mm that caught my eye.
The motif of the Yves Piaget rose, which is hand engraved in red gold on the dial by Dick Steenman, shows off all the opulence and fragility of this flower that has become an emblem of the brand. Not forgetting, of course, the beautiful in-house ultra-thin and manually wound 430P calibre at the heart of this piece.
