Hervé’s Top 5 Timepieces from Geneva Watch Days

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Since 2020, a new watchmaking season has been taking place in Geneva, the cradle of the watchmaking world, at Geneva Watch Days at the end of August. This decentralized trade show, open to the public, brings together some 50 brands to exhibit new products, special launches, and masterpieces in the city’s hotels, workshops, and boutiques. So, without further ado, here are my top five

Artistic

We have heard of Maori-inspired tattooed watches, and now we have an engraved watch with a tribal-inspired design. The aptly named Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe is entirely decorated with engraving over the bezel, case, and integrated bracelet. It is a unique stylistic effect with motifs that are in perfect harmony with the fully skeletonized automatic calibre, all presented against a tone-on-tone shade of grey. Well, it is the colour of an urban landscape after all!

Aikon Urban Tribe © Maurice Lacroix
The Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe comes in a 39 mm, engraved, stainless steel case. It is powered by an automatic skeleton movement and is fitted with an engraved steel bracelet. Limited series of 500 © Maurice Lacroix 

Outstanding

Once again, Czapek confirms its outstanding watchmaking expertise, combined with genuine aesthetic research, with this Place Vendôme Complicité. Its calibre features a double escapement whose origins date back to the 1930s. Two independent oscillators, balanced by a differential, set the pace before the wearer’s own eyes, as this technical marvel is visible on the dial side of the watch. It is a technical and artistic feat of engineering involving three pyramid-shaped sub-dials linked by sapphire bridges. The result is a timepiece with a particularly unique character.

Place Vendôme Complicité © Czapek
The Czapek Place Vendôme Complicité is housed in a 42mm rose gold case and is powered by a manual-winding movement that includes a power-reserve indicator. It is limited to 50 pieces and comes on a leather strap © Czapek

 Brand-new

Frederique Constant celebrates 35 years of success this year with a new Manufacture movement. There have been 31 entirely in-house, manufacture movements to date, including this self-winding FC-735 reference with a 50-hour power reserve. Combining three complications – large date, power reserve, and moon phase – it powers the Classic Manufacture, presented here in a classic platinum case, but it is also available in steel, for those who prefer.

Classic Manufacture © Frederique Constant
Frederique Constant’s Classic Manufacture comes in a 40 mm platinum case. It is powered by an automatic movement with a large date, power reserve indicator, and moon phase display. It is fitted with a leather strap and is limited to 35 pieces © Frederique Constant 

Futuristic

The new iconic Octo Finissimo is presented with a futuristic finish. Sculpted from a whole block of carbon, the dial is enhanced by rose gold hour-markers, Arabic numerals, and hands, while the case is fitted with a rose gold crown. A new must-have in the Octo by Bulgari saga, this new timepiece is powered by the BVL 138 manufacture calibre with a small seconds indication, which remains the thinnest in its category, a record which was set back in 2017.

Octo Finissimo © Bulgari
The Bulgari Octo Finissimo comes in a 40 mm carbon case with an ultra-thin automatic movement indicating the hours, minutes, and small seconds. It is fitted with a carbon bracelet © Bulgari 

Poetry

The first thing that struck me about this new Trilobe timepiece was its very poetic name – Nuit Fantastique Brume – which is in keeping with the brand’s vision for new ways of telling the time. Here, there are no hands but three rotating discs dedicated to the hours, minutes, and seconds on a guilloché dial with a motif halfway between a grain d’orge and a clou de Paris design. My second favourite part is the colour of the dial, which is a subtle blend of grey and brown that is reminiscent of a morning mist.

Nuit Fantastique Brume © Trilobe
Trilobe’s Nuit Fantastique Brume comes in a 38.5 mm titanium case and is powered by an automatic movement. The timepiece comes on a leather strap © Trilobe 
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