The best timepieces from Geneva Watch Days ’22
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Schenelle Dsouza
- 10 minutes read
Schenelle Dsouza
One of the most significant events for watchmakers and watch enthusiasts across the globe, the Geneva Watch Days never fails to impress. With an extensive variety of timepieces, watchmakers gather to showcase some of their most creative collections, new and reinvented timepieces, right from skeleton dials, to artistic watches and even some of the most impressive movements. Take a look at some of the most exciting releases at this year’s Geneva Watch Days, held between August 29-September 1, 2022.
Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton Eight Days
Eight years ago, Bulgari introduced its iconic Octo collection, starting with the launch of the hand-wound Octo Finissimo Tourbillon, a 5-millimetre-thick titanium watch which stood out for its impressive design and technical mastery. Continuing that legacy, Bulgari introduced the collection’s latest entrant — Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days. Putting aesthetics on the front row, the watch has a sleek 40 mm satin-polished 18k rose gold case, housing an extra-fine calibre BVL 199 SK, and a new hand-wound manufacture movement with an impressive 8-day (192 hours) power reserve. Bulgari has a way of playing with contrasting aesthetics, which is visible in the Octo Finissimo Skeleton Eight Days. Here, the rose gold dial is contrasted by the grey interior, brown elements and the brown leather strap.
Corum Bubble x Aiiroh
Artistic watch dials have been trending for quite a while, and Swiss watchmaker Corum is among the leaders of exquisite art watches, featuring actual works of art created by artists around the world. Their latest design is a limited edition Bubble watch, created in collaboration with French street artist Aiiroh, whose works have been displayed at several galleries around the world. Aiiroh has worked with two other artists named Soyz Bank and Namisen for the artwork displayed in the watch. It is a wall art piece showcased through a fretwork-style floral pattern, a spiral motif of a rose inspired by Aiiroh’s Black Série Rose artwork. The 47mm watch comes in a stainless steel case with black PVD coating, is automatically wound and is water resistant to 100m. The watch is a limited-edition piece designed specifically for the Geneva Watch Days and has only 88 pieces in the collection.
DOXA Army
Independent Swiss watchmaker, DOXA has a reputation for creating high-performance dive watches. However, a lesser-known fact about the brand is that they also produce watches for the Swiss Army, in mostly limited edition launches. Later last year, DOXA, in collaboration with Watches of Switzerland, released a ceramic DOXA Army in a limited run of 100 pieces. These watches celebrated the small number of DOXA Army models created back in 1968. As these were classified records, DOXA was forbidden from talking about the watch. However, post the declassification of records, DOXA create a contemporary edition of that same watch which made its debut at the Geneva Watch Days. An all-stainless-steel watch with a black bezel, the DOXA Army comes with a crème and black dial with orange hands. The 42.5mm steel watch is water resistant to 300m. Another version of the watch features bronze on the unidirectional-rotating dive-timer bezel. Each of these watches comes with three straps—green rubber, army camouflage nylon, and in Doxa’s signature beads-of-rice steel bracelet. The automatic movement within offers a 38-hour power reserve.
H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Vantablack
Going for an all-gold theme, H. Moser & Cie’s new Streamliner collection has a new addition, an ultra-exclusive red gold variant. But the gold isn’t what makes the watch stand out, but rather the Vantablack dial, the blackest of all blacks. It is said to be able to absorb 99.965 per cent of light. The brand showcased a concept watch completely coated with Vantablack, which was practically invisible when seen against a Vantablack background, to show just how dark the colour is. The dial features an open-worked tourbillon cage at six o’clock, with thick globolight enhanced gold hands and markers, the luminescence really stands out against the black. Housed inside a 40mm rose gold case, the watch is a one-minute tourbillon, which is part of the brand’s brilliant HMC804 automatic calibre which can store a huge power reserve of 72 hours.
Jacob & Co. Astronomia Solar Bitcoin
One cannot say enough about Jacob & Co.’s watch designs. Brilliantly crafted, these truly are a work of art. Their latest design showcased at the Geneva watch days is a tribute to Blockchain, cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. The dial maintains the vertical flying tourbillon and the timekeeping dial rotating around the watch, as it usually does in the Astronomia watches. The moving parts in this one include a golden Bitcoin symbol, a rocket ship, and depictions of the Earth, the Moon and the sun. The latter two are created from a Jacob-cut diamond and citrine, respectively. The complications run on the JCAM19 48-hour manual-winding calibre. The DLC-treated titanium watch is largely in black and gold and features a few crypto-related keywords on the base of the display. Connecting the watch to the universe that inspires its theme is the transaction itself for the purchase of the 25 pieces of this edition.
Ulysse Nardin Blast Tourbillon
Ulysse Nardin is a brand that was among the earliest watchmakers to pioneer the use of silicium, a material that has revolutionized mechanical watchmaking without the need for lubricants like oil. Paying homage to that very material, the brand unveiled a new Blast Rainbow watch in a limited edition of 50 watches. Powered by an UN-172 calibre movement, which features an automatic flying tourbillon, the watch’s movement is equipped with silicium technology. The dial is enclosed in a black DLC titanium case, and the bezel is decorated with fifty rubies and sapphire baguettes in a gradation of rainbow colours, with an option of a waterproof velvet rubber strap or a black alligator strap.
Urwerk UR-100V UltraViolet
