7 Stunning Watches (And Some Gorgeous Models Wearing Them) « Sharp - Canada's Magazine for Men Sharp – Canada's Magazine for Men

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June 2013

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7 Stunning Watches (And Some Gorgeous Models Wearing Them)

Timeless Beauty

Devon Tread, Tread 1

Hautlence HL Ti Pocket Watch

The movement of the Harry Winston Opus Eleven took 14,400 hours to engineer — “and that,” comments brand CEO Frederic de Narp, “is the essence of extreme luxury.” It works by deconstructing and then reassembling time every hour: 24 placards revolve and rotate on a complex system of gears that work in unison to reformulate the time. Minutes are shown on a double disk system that, like the balance wheel, protrudes from the case side in its own orbit. $229,000.

Aesthetically speaking, the Urwerk 110 Torpedo takes a German U-Boat approach to timekeeping. A planetary gearing system activates three “torpedo” satellites that synchronize to manoeuvre the 3D angles of a multi-level dial to indicate the time. The case is titanium, and the dial features a seconds subdial and an “oil-change” indicator, reminding the wearer when it’s time for servicing. $87,000

The MB&F HM2’s front plate is made of a single massive sapphire crystal that takes 55 hours to carve. A green gasket separates it from the caseback, made of black PVD coated titanium, and a 22k gold rotor on the back is green PVD-coated to match. The movement, by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, using a Girard-Perregaux base, is the world’s first to offer instantaneous jumping hour, concentric retrograde minutes, retrograde date, bi-hemisphere moon phase and automatic winding. It is a masterpiece of high-tech simplicity that makes us wonder why we ever told time in the conventional way. $110,000.
Aesthetically speaking, the Urwerk 110 Torpedo takes a German U-Boat approach to timekeeping. A planetary gearing system activates three “torpedo” satellites that synchronize to manoeuvre the 3D angles of a multi-level dial to indicate the time. The case is titanium, and the dial features a seconds subdial and an “oil-change” indicator, reminding the wearer when it’s time for servicing. $87,000

The concept behind the Hublot Key of Time is simple, and wonderfully arrogant: it allows the wearer to master time. The movement incorporates a mechanism that can either accelerate or suspend time at the push of a button — the idea being that happy moments (i.e., happy hour) are suspended, and unhappy moments (i.e., meetings with your accountant) can be curtailed. It’s an illusion, of course (another pushbutton returns the hands to real time) but when you’re wearing a super watch, it seems fitting that you should assume super-human powers, too. $260,000

In Its Own Orbit

The wacky 103 was inspired by 17th-century Campanus night clocks, which had semicircular apertures in the dial, through which a revolving disc displayed hours along a quarterhour track. The hours and quarter hours were pierced through the metal, and at night an oil lamp was lit inside the case so that the light shone through the apertures. In this spirit of legibility, the hours and minutes of the Urwerk 103 are liberally treated with Super-Luminova.

Some components of the movement, including the hour satellites and the control
panel on the caseback, are made of titanium, which is stronger than steel but half the weight. The caseback itself is as functional as the dial, with 15-minute and seconds dials for maximum precision when setting the time, as well as a power reserve indicator. The case is white gold. The brainchild of watchmaker Felix Baumgartner and designer Martin Frei, the Urwerk 103 took two years to develop.

Its completion marked the 1997 debut of the company, which is now one of the top independent Swiss watchmakers and a favourite among collectors. In fact, because this is the last year of production for the 103—Messrs. Baumgartner and Frei have moved on to create more otherworldly watches—the last in this series is set to become a collector’s piece.<br>
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<i>The watch is manual wound and priced at $71,000.</i>

The $500,000 Watch

Two, it’s the world’s first biaxial tourbillon extended to the case side and anchored in the vertical position (including the seconds hand, which travels out with it). The tourbillon was originally created for pocket watches in 1801 to compensate for the effects of gravity on the escapement. Because pocket watches were kept in the breast pocket, the tourbillon was designed to function in the vertical position. The Quantum Gravity is a tribute to this tradition. The biaxial rotation means it keeps better time.

Three, it’s big, but it isn’t heavy. Most of the movement components, including baseplate, bridges and large second wheel are made of lightweight, aeronautical-grade aluminum alloys. Most of the case is titanium, which is tougher and lighter than steel, making the watch highly wearable.

Four, this is the world’s first vertical, liquid superluminova column-construction power reserve indicator. Why the big deal about power reserve? Aside from making the watch stand out like Shrek in March of the Penguins, it highlights the fact that the Quantum Gravity has intense power capability. Operating the watch requires a lot of torque to keep the tourbillon in motion through the long shaft from the mainspring through the gear train to the escapement. An extra-large mainspring barrel solves the problem and gives the watch a three-day power reserve. Finally, it’s the biggest, boldest, craziest tourbillon ever created, an extrovert’s dream come true. *Includes GST

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