As it sweeps into its 15th year, Great Magazine of Timepieces displays a 40th issue cover displaying the Duomètre Sphértourbillon Moon by Jaeger-LeCoultre, featuring a moon-phase indication that is guaranteed to remain reliable for a staggering 3,887 years. The Grande Maison in Le Sentier thereby illustrates the quest for innovation pursued by the watch industry which, albeit unable to conquer time itself, certainly renders it extremely appealing by turning its gaze towards space in order to take raise its values to ever-greater heights. In his foreword, the President of the Swiss Watch Industry, Jean-Daniel Pasche, also tells GMT readers a bit more about what is at stake in 2015, evoking a “decisive stage”.
Sooner or later uniting earth, water, air and fire, the fifth element is immaterial. Its value is both infinite and universal. Unlike these perishable substances, human beings cannot master or modify the fifth element despite their efforts to shape or appropriate it. And yet each of us is duty bound to preserve, respect and share it. Time is of the essence and we continue to express that essence for the 15th consecutive year. You may for example listen to its heartbeat by holding next to your ear one of the fabulous timepieces displayed in this winter edition. A reading experience that thus elicits the senses is bound to whet the appetite for these objects devoted to the art of timekeeping.
The GMTeaTime photo shoot by Swedish photographer Martin Botvidsson appeals to sight and smell, while taste is the focus of the Watchmaker’s Table column in which Singaporean journalist Timmy Tan invites you to dine at the Petit Salut. Zurich-based architect Axel Leuzinger builds a bridge between the historical and technical worlds by analyzing the common denominators between the Breguet Classique Chronométrie 7727 and the Arab World institute designed by Jean Nouvel. Other parallels are drawn regarding the influences pervading watchmaking and which are immediately apparent when watchmakers derive inspiration from classical art, as described in the 12th Art column. On a more technical note, our very own watchmaker spent a week putting the Richard Mille’s Ultra Thin Tourbillon RM 017 through its paces and shares this exciting experience. Our editorial team has also selected around 30 new models, summed up the essentials of the 6th Forum de la Haute Horlogerie organized by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, and interviewed Jérôme Lambert on Montblanc’s ongoing evolution, which naturally stretches well beyond digital aspects.
Could the fifth element have found its ark?
All these articles will soon be available for online browsing at WorldTempus and are already available from newsstands in Switzerland and via all the French, English and German-speaking digital distribution platforms.
