It seems impossible, but the Superwatch was almost harder to choose in 2012 than it was in 2011. The entrants to choose from – all exhibitors at this year's Geneva Time Exhibition – were all high quality and the choice was a difficult one.
WORLDTEMPUS - 17 January 2012
Elizabeth Doerr
The award was divided into two categories this year in contrast to last year's single designation: design and movement. The final three in both categories were often one and the same, signifying indeed that in the world's best timepieces these two aspects go hand-in-hand.
Design
Third place went to a real newcomer in the watch industry: Marc Jenni is a third generation watchmaker and member of the prestigious A.H.C.I. (Académie des Horlogers Indépendents). His second watch is based o the crown-less mechanics of his first, but boasts a refined dial created in sapphire crystal with metallic and tinted effects making for a homogenous whole.
Since its inception a little more than a year ago, Heritage Watch Manufactory has steadily proven this little company based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland knows what it is doing. Its fourth watch, the Viator, is no exception. A very clean piece with jumping second time zone whose look was created by none other than star designer Eric Giroud had the jury quite conflicted. Do we honor balance, harmony, and perfect details of a classic watch with excellent mechanics or the avant-garde stylings of an ultra-limited, ultra-expensive and ultra-rare and independent boutique brand with equally excellent mechanics whose only “sin” was perhaps that is was not “new.” The choice couldn't have been more difficult.
The Cabestan, however, was presented at GTE in a freshly designed case called the Trapezium, which – thanks to some technical modifications – is about a third less expensive than the original Winch Tourbillon Vertical. This case design, which allows the use of sapphire crystal instead of Plexiglas, is a new look through a not-so-old window.
Movement
The second category of the modified Superwatch award has fully to do with the technical side of timekeeping: the movement. Here, the original Cabestan Winch Tourbillon Vertical was chosen by the qualified jury to receive third place, while Antoine Martin's QP01 perpetual calendar came in fourth. Second place is inhabited by a perpetual calendar that cannot be surpassed for its easy handling. For this reason, the timepiece by Ateliers de Monaco is called QP-EZ. The ease with which is can be set and read and its moderate price make this complicated timepiece by the Frédérique Constant group brand a pure joy to wear.
The winner of the movement category is none other than Heritage Watch Manufactory with its constant force manufacture movement Caliber HWM 880. This beautifully styled and finished work of horological art was honored by the jury for its clever and sober technical solution that incorporates the new as well as the traditional.
Geneva Time Exhibition
The success of GTE and the high-quality entrants of the 2012 Superwatch proves that the independent scene is alive and well. More than 35 exhibitors including French manufacture Pequignet, the complete Frédérique Constant group, four A.H.C.I. members (in addition to Jenni, clockmaker Jean Kazès, watchmaker Antoine Preziuso and co-founder Svend Andersen), and even a new jewelry brand called Reglisse confirm the growing interest in this satellite exhibition that complements the SIHH rather than competes with it.
