A glance at your watch and you will instantly be transported into other surroundings! A different landscape, far from the office, completely the opposite of your daily life… While the summer season is often a good time to discover wide open spaces, the area framed by a watch dial, however limited, also provides an opportunity for watchmakers to invite us to take a leap into the unknown. We offer a selection of urban, exotic or more classical seaside summer scenes.
The ocean and its underwater treasures represent an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Cartier shines brilliantly in this realm with its Ronde Louis Cartier watch, XL size featuring a fish decoration presented last year decked out in bright colours that one never tires of admiring. The delicate plique-à-jour enamel technique resulting in a stained glass window effect serves to create five finely graded shades of blue, with grey and purple tones forming a colourful backdrop for a bright orange clown fish.
Reflecting the same theme but with a markedly graphic approach, Bvlgari explores the underwater world on the dial of the new Il Giardino Marino. The very reasonable 37 mm watch diameter is an open invitation to take a dive into the deep blue, amid coloured fish, corals and starfish.
At Boucheron, the allusion to the underwater world is more subtle, with a very beautiful Oursin (sea urchin) model enriching the Epure d’art collection. Subtle blue shades along with straight and curved lines combine to form a delightful sea creature adorned with white diamonds, blue sapphires and lacquered gold cabochons.
Summer doesn’t only mean the beach, sea and ocean. Some prefer the mountains. For lovers of this kind of lifestyle, Vulcain heads for the peaks in the realm of Grand Feu champlevé enamel with its Un été à Champéry model. This technique, which consists of hollowing out the material to different levels in order to obtain a wide range of colours through playing on the transparency of the enamels, has been chosen by Vulcain to portray this authentic mountain village nestled at the foot of the Dents du Midi in Switzerland.
For others, summer tends to be synonymous with travel. Some may set off for Doha, the vertically oriented capital of Qatar, with Louis Moinet’s Mécanograph on their wrist. This model, after a tribute to the city of New York, devotes its dial to the urban towers of West Bay. Hand-engraved using a combination of line engraving and a technique that is kept secret, the skyline with its towering round, warped or twisted glass buildings takes on a distinctive height and depth.
Rather than the modern skyscrapers of Doha, the romantics among us may prefer the monuments of Paris. A quick glance at Van Cleef & Arpels’ Midnight Poetic Wish is enough for their unique charm to begin working its magic. How can one resist the desire to enter this landscape depicting a young man perched on one of Notre Dame’s towers, facing the Eiffel Tower and gazing at a diamond shooting star that moves on request? There are basically two options: either one is content with admiring the watch, dreaming of travel, of summer landscapes, of original cities and natural environments… or one checks the time and jumps aboard the nearest aeroplane!
