The blockbuster summer event of the watchmaking year may be over, but that doesn’t mean we’ve put Geneva Watch Days behind us — not at all! The watches we met over that hectic, sleepless week continue to linger in our minds, and if we close our eyes, we can almost feel them still weighing gently on the wrist.
Modern therapy encourages the use of journaling in order to process complex experiences and emotions, writing our thoughts down so we can examine them with greater clarity and purpose. In a sense, today’s edition of the WorldTempus Selections is exactly that, a sort of mental spring-cleaning that lets us rationalise and justify our current watch obsessions. Or you might see it as a form of horological self-soothing mechanism, like teenagers penning endless poems about their crushes. Because if we can’t have them, at least we can write about them.
Classic: De Bethune DB28XP “Kind of Blue”
If there’s one brand that you can reliably count on to produce crush-worthy watches, it’s De Bethune. So intelligent! So beautiful! So profoundly cool! When you look at a De Bethune watch, you get the feeling that it’s looking back at you, whispering that you’re the only one who really understands it. The DB28XP “Kind of Blue” may not be a classic design in the conventional sense, but its slim movement is proving to be one that will endure through the ages, despite being launched just three years ago. And that mesmerising flame-blued hue, a De Bethune hallmark, will never cease to stop amazing us with its depth. You don’t have to wait 20 years to call the DB28XP “Kind of Blue” a classic. You know it within 20 seconds.
Modern: URWERK UR100-V “Stardust”
I try to avoid putting gem-set watches on my list of favourites, because it just seems such a cliché for a woman to pick a sparkly watch as her choice. The URWERK UR100-V had to overcome some pretty high hurdles to make it into this article, and it did so with laughable ease. The modernity of this design is immediately apparent — I hope I don’t have to explain this to anyone — and this is a rare instance in which the gem-setting really enhances the message of the watch. Brand co-founders Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner make reference to the atomic composition of the diamonds and the randomness of snow-setting in linking this watch to its cosmic time indications. And what could be more modern than exploring (even in a philosophical sense) the outer limits of space?
Retro/Vintage: Alpina Alpiner Heritage Carrée Automatique
The first thing that will occur to you when looking at the Alpina Alpiner Heritage Carrée Automatique is, “This is a good-looking watch.” The second thing that will occur to you is, “They don’t make watches like this anymore.” Thankfully, some brands do still make watches like this, and it’s absolutely laudable that Alpina are revisiting some of their archival pieces and bringing them back in this way. The rectilinear case with its geometric angles and almost architectural beauty is nevertheless extremely comfortable on the wrist. There are two dial options, and whilst the debate is fierce over which one is better, it must be said that both are equally strong.
Formal: Jacob & Co. “The World is Yours” Dual Time Zone
There is an exceptionally moving story behind this watch, a story that lays out the path of brand founder Jacob Arabo from his childhood to the present-day as the man behind Jacob&Co. This watch is nominally in this category because of its design and construction, based on the purity and minimalism of its round case, slim bezel, curved lugs and fluted crown. But the one aspect that truly elevates the Jacob&Co “The World is Yours” Dual Time Zone is the narrative that led to its creation, spanning generations and establishing familial lore. This is a legacy watch; this is a watch that remembers the stories worth preserving.
Sports: Reservoir Airfight Chronograph
The aviation influence in this watch is clear from the very beginning. Reservoir are extremely talented at doing that with their watches — whether they be dive watches or automotive-inspired timepieces, there is never any doubt about which aesthetic milieu they belong to. In the current horological scene, where hundreds of new watches may be launched in a single week, it makes sense to have a clear and unmistakeable design language. Not only is the Reservoir Airfight Chronograph a sports watch, it is also a watch of action. The bi-retrograde display provides that visual dynamism that befits such a watch.
