Cartier : Baignoire Etoilée
The ethereal Baignoire Etoilée is a standout among Cartier’s new jewelry watches. Called Cartier Libre, a play on “quartier libre,” the collection winks knowingly at the “creative license” the maison has taken with its signature “baignoire” shape. Baignoire Etoilée has a sensual, soft bracelet, languid yet sharply contrasted in a play of white against black. Its minimalist black oval dial is encased in white gold and accented with white diamonds on one side and black spinels on the other. Throwing symmetry to the wind, the bracelet has strands of randomly-set round or pyramidal stones, ending with stray black spinels or white diamonds added almost playfully. This watch is a constellation of stars twinkling in the midnight sky. – Nazanin Lankarani
Hermès : Carré Cuir
The new Carré Cuir watch is what happens when watchmaking at Hermès, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, meets with the brand’s tradition for fine leather goods. The combination goes far beyond the strap, since the same navy blue lizard skin is also used on the dial, giving the impression that the strap is actually passing through the watch, an illusion that is all the more apparent because of the lack of any lugs. The square case in stainless steel, which is available with or without diamonds, seems to act like a magnifying glass to reveal the round scales of the lizard skin, which is adorned with four minuscule applied hour markers that are read against two rhodium-plated hands. You can sense the pleasure that the designers had in creating this piece, which recalls the same playful nature of models such as the Temps Suspendu from a brand that considers time both joyous and playful. In the small model size of 24x24mm the Carré Cuir uses a Swiss Made quartz movement. – Michèle Brunner
Piaget : High Jewellery Altiplano Lapis Lazuli Marquetry Tourbillon
Hard stone marquetry comes to the Altiplano collection, which is an ambassador for the artistic crafts. To produce this sizeable work, Piaget naturally turned to the master craftsman Hervé Obligi who has shown off his expertise to the full by creating a sumptuous dial in lapis lazuli. He played with colour tones to produce a tourbillon motif that echoes the flying tourbillon seen in the upper half of the dial. The silvered hour markers match the 41mm case in white gold, which is set with 48 baguette diamonds and 265 brilliant cut diamonds. This artisanal masterpiece beats to the tune of a high-precision mechanical ultra-thin manually wound calibre. – Cloé Mugny
Vacheron Constantin : Métiers d’Art Les Aerostiers
One of my favorite watches at this year’s SIHH 2018 hails from Vacheron Constantin, in the form of the Metiers d’Art Les Aerostiers. Now, I need to preface this selection by saying that I don’t love every execution, but several of the versions – with bold turquoise, blue or red dials – are simply entrancing. Each mechanical watch is equipped with an original time display on either dragging or jumping disks, but it is the ornamental dial of a balloon in flight that reminds me of the balloon rides I took over the mountains in Gstaad or Albuquerque, NM. Each dial features a colorful plique-a-jour enamel background and has a fully sculpted and engraved hot air balloon in the center. The magic of flight … on the wrist. – Roberta Naas
Van Cleef & Arpels : Lady Arpels Planétarium, a feminine vision of the cosmos
Being poetic in nature this brand has an instant connect with women. Beautiful expression of the Cosmos sitting on a wrist is how we best can describe Lady Arpels Planetarium. Powered by an automatic movement with a 40-hour power reserve, this watch illustrates the Sun and the closest planets: Mercury, Venus and finally Earth, along with its natural satellite, the Moon. Each heavenly body moves at its actual speed, orbiting the dial in 88 days for Mercury, 224 days for Venus and 365 days for Earth. In a key innovation for this piece, the Moon itself rotates around the Earth in 29.5 days, performing a visible celestial ballet on the dial, day after day.
The 38 mm case is set with diamonds on the bezel and sides of the case. The dial enriches the planetary spectacle with a shooting star in rhodium-plated gold, showing the time with poetic grace. On the back of the watch, two apertures display the day, month and year, all surrounded by an enchanting decor.
This magical timepiece comes with two bracelets: a blue glitter alligator strap to match the dial, and a bracelet entirely set with diamonds for a High Jewelry design. – Anita Khatri
