Avion Luxury International Airport Magazine
In search of precious time
We'll never know if Marcel Proust loved watches. He certainly valued time considerably. Especially “lost” time. Today's reality is quite the opposite, with the techniques of watchmaking companies being able to “fix” time, elegantly. As demonstrated by the RolexCosmograph Daytona, a 18k yellow gold version of its timeless Oyster Perpetual, calibre 4130, with high precision blue Parachrom hairspring, tachymeter scale on the bezel with 36 diamonds and champagnecolour chronograph counters on a black lacquer pavé dial. Charm is glorified, instead, by the Grand Lange 1 Moon phase 25th Anniversary, 25 examples in white gold, with silvered dial, blue numbers and moon disk in white gold, within a 3D starry sky. Displayed through the sapphire crystal back is the calibre L095.3, with screw balance system held in place by a balance cock with the number 25 hand-engraved on it, recalling the first collection of the new era of A. Lange &SöhnebyGlashütte watches. But it is the gleam displayed by GraffLuxury Watches which emanates a bright trail of yellow-gold reflections along bracelets of uneven angles. Fancy Vivid Yellow, a diamond work of wearable art, is the joint effort between the Swiss-based engineering and Graff London's craftsmanship. Instead, the particularly unique asymmetric opening, under a convex sapphire crystal, which encloses a curved dial of black or white lacquer and gold hands coloured blue, with flying tourbillon rotating every 60 seconds, 18k white gold, titanium and platinum rotor inside a case framed by diamonds, demonstrates the boldness of MB&F Legacy Machine Flying T. The Art of Precision is the spirit that permeates Jaeger-LeCoultre in the innovative Rendez-Vous models. A starry sky of mother-of-pearl on white dial, with three rows of 168 diamonds, is enhanced by an iridescent interplay of lights that shine with sea-of-clouds effect in Dazzling Rendez-Vous Night & Day (calibre 898B/1 automatic), contrasting the translucent cloud of Dazzling Rendez-Vous Moon (calibre 925B/1automatic), on an aventurine midnight-blue face, which lies before the new moonphase function. The outer bezel is set with 108 diamonds, another 47 are set inside. Hublot, meanwhile, adorns its BigBang with a brilliant and rare stone, the Paraìba tourmaline, with the incandescent magnetism of gold, copper and manganese surrounded by blue with an aura of green. Unico Paraìba (45mm): in white gold or King Gold (Hublot alloy of 18k gold with copper and platinum), 48 baguette-cut and 176 brilliant-cut stones, HUB 1242 movement, skeletonised; Big Bang One Click Paraíba (39 mm): 18k white gold case, polished 18k gold or 18k King Gold set with 118 brilliant-cut Paraíba tourmalines; polished 18k white gold, 18k gold or polished 18k King Gold, with 6 H-shape titanium screws and 48 baguette-cut Paraìba tourmalines; satinfinished blue Paraíba dial set with 11 Paraíba tourmalines in a flood of turquoise shades. Instead clever watchmaking and stylistic research converge in the perpetual calendar with minute repetition of Les Cabinotiers by Vacheron Constantin, inside a very flat mechanical movement (5.70 mm) with manual winding mechanism (Calibre 1731 QP), which oscillate in unison at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations an hour (3 Hz) inside a thin case of 42 mm made of white gold. Sparkling lines embrace the blue opaline dial (indexes and moon in white gold) or brown opaline dial (indexes and moon in rose gold), highlighting the golden moon that dances among the stars, while a silent chime controls the cadence of the gong of the hammers. Inspired by the navigation watch Mark 11 produced by Shaffhausen for the Royal Air Force (from 1948), IWC, with its new line of Spitfire Pilot's Watches, among others, proposes Pilot's Chronograph with movement from the calibre-69000 family: case in bronze (41 mm), internal
case to protect the movement from magnetic fields, olive-green dial, gold-plated hands, two subdials (at 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock) to display stopped hours and minutes, pawl-winding system, IWC Calibre 69380 with column wheel, and brown calfskin strap. Tones of satin-finished grey-on-grey enliven the elegant dial of Chopard L.U.C. Chrono One Flyback black, which features luminescent dauphine-fusée hands and arrow-shaped hourmarkers; polished bezel and case, hand-engraved case back, as well as Calibre L.U.C 03.03-L, 60-hour power reserve, openworked 22-carat gold rotor and flyback function that allows it to measure short times in quick succession and the wearer to zero-reset the counters with a single light press. With Bulgari, instead, it's all about the art of seduction, thanks to the new design of Serpenti Seduttori, with its iconic drop-shaped head and very thin case, which is secured by a flexible bracelet with hexagonal motifs and crown made of rubellite. The latest incarnation of the watch “born to be gold", it pays homage to women, with versions in rose gold, white gold and two with pavé diamonds. Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic proposes an automatic winding movement with peripheral rotor, 42 mm case, dial, strap and buckle all in black sandblasted titanium. Roger Dubuis Excalibur Shooting Star is unmistakable. It features Calibre RD510SQ,
skeleton flying tourbillon decorated with engraved enamel, bezel with three lugs that hold the strap and a star-shaped bridge with stars at multiple levels; case 36 mm, 18k rose gold with round-cut diamonds, 18k rose gold bezel set with round-cut diamonds. The thin bows of a vessel cutting through a sea of «grand feu» enamel are portrayed on the Ulysse Nardin Mega Yacht, a new model with moon phases and height of the tide displayed in real time in relation to the location and seasonal coefficients, which is regulated by a flying tourbillon in a cage decorated with propeller, and an anchor in relief connected to a windlass on the dial at 12 o'clock, which indicates the power reserve. It also has a Calibre UN-631, platinum case (44 mm) and sapphire crystal caseback, which reveals the movement, designed to resemble the engines in the vessel's engine room. This playful combination of realistic nautical symbols immerses enthusiasts into a foaming sea of fantasy and unmatched expertise. The world of watches looks to the future, making bold technical choices and exploring new territories. So that the ‘beautiful' (and functional) embodies the spirit of the age.