The mystery of time revealed

Faster, slower: at times time seems to pass at different rates. But when caged behind the dial of a fine watch it almost seems like the hands are appeased, satisfied with marking hours in valuable prototypes of advanced technical sophistication, which wrap around the wrists of those who love beauty. Audemars Piguet “Diamond Fury“steels the show with its pave-encrusted dial, gem-covered scales with pointed spikes, and fluid, shaped carapace: non-conformism is now female. The watch has some 4,635 brilliant-cut diamonds on the case and bracelet, plus a further 206 diamonds on the dial alone. The dial has a hypnotic angular design with black rhodium plating on white gold, and hides a slim Calibre 2601 quartz movement. At 8.28 millimetres, instead, the Audemars Piguet “Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie“is extremely slim, and now almost silent due to the new striking mechanism regulator. Baume & Mercier “Capeland Shelby Cobra“displays a black background with discreet horizontal stripes, silvery-white sub-dials and yellow inserts for the chronograph hands (central seconds, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock). Inside the case is an automatic movement based on a Valjoux 7750. From Rolex, the “Cosmograph Daytona“has changed appearance thanks to a black Cerachrom monobloc bezel made of scratch-resistant ceramic material, with tachymetric scale to measure average speeds of up to 400 kms per hour, making it a watch born to race. The 40-millimetre case houses a 4 Hz calibre and has no silicon spiral, but an oscillator with Rolexpatented blue Parachrom hairspring, vertical clutch and bidirectional self-winding via rotor on ball bearing. With only 50 examples made, Bulgari’s “Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater“, at only 6.85 millimetre thickness, is the slimmest in the world. Its case is made of refined sand-blasted titanium, while the crown is set with a black ceramic cabochon, which enhances the very fine cut-out hour indicators and small seconds. The Bulgari BVL 362 calibre is well finished by hand and operates at 3Hz (21,600bph) with a power reserve of 42 hours. Instead, Bulgari’s “Serpenti“(snake) range offers a wide range of options that play around with a palette of impressive creativity. The reptile twists, with voluptuous charm, around the dial of this jewellery watch and frames the tourbillon calibre with case and bridges in pink and white gold. Other variations include a white gold version with diamonds and satin strap, a classic version with snake’s head on the tail, with combinations of diamonds, mother-of-pearl, coral, onyx and turquoise, all on a structure of pink gold, or an onyx and coral version with black lacquered dial and brilliant-cut diamonds and indicators; lastly the Serpenti Tubogas, an unrivalled artistic invention, surprisingly features five coils. An expression linked to love underlies “Lovivi“and “Allegra“by de Grisogono with its dial with soft lines, delicate contrasts and creative use of volumes, twists and dark and light. This timepiece uses materials such as fossilised mammoth ivory, amber and turquoise to embellish the white gold case, which features 96 brilliant-cut emeralds, black rhodium-plated beads, white mother-of-pearl dial with 39 emeralds on a bracelet sculpted in turquoise with white gold