Watches and Wonders 2024: episode #1
Watches and Wonders 2024, the largest international watch event, took place a few days ago in Geneva. The event gathered more than 49 000 visitors – public, retailers and journalists combined – and 54 watch brands. Some of them agreed to answer our watch aficionado. Exclusive interviews, micro-sidewalk, global records, watches and wonders, this is our program for the next six episodes of Watches and Wonders Geneva 2024. Here is the first!
In our first episode, Cartier’s CEO Cyrille Vigneron and Hublot’s CEO Ricardo Guadalupe and Maison Rolex reveal the secrets of their main pieces.
CARTIER
Reflection, through the looking glass
Cartier offers us a new way to read time. In their desires to combine high jewelry with watchmaking Cartier dares to transcend the rules of time.
This temporal distortion embodies itself in the creation of the Reflection watch. A quartz movement watch which stands out with the two ends of its open bracelet. On one side a delicate dial protected by a gem-like bevelled glass meets its reflection with the other side, a mirror finish surface. The creation invites us to self-reflection. Peculiarly similar to Cartier’s “C”, this massive bangled bracelet has numerous subtilities that must be highlighted.
Elongated lines and defined edges, the openwork disrupts without breaking the constant harmony. Prone to imagination these slanted parts conjure the catlike stripes dear to the luxury brand. With the different variations, the effect is even more striking. In yellow gold and rose gold, the watch Reflection de Cartier reveals its purest version where fullness and emptiness combine.
In white gold, the watch displays numerous paving combinations. Snow setting shares the spotlight with inverted setting. In honor of Louis Cartier’s peacock, chrysoprase, obsidian, emeralds, Paraiba tourmalines and brilliant-cut diamonds intertwine. The collection is completed with the variation set with opal, tiger eye, amethysts and spessartites garnet.
Reflection de Cartier in yellow gold and rose gold: €42,000 / in white gold and diamonds: €82,000 / gemstones and ornamental stones: price upon request.
Click here to read the full Reflection de Cartier Watch technical sheet.
Santos-Dumont Rewind, going back in time
Here is another interpretation of time with the new Santos-Dumont Rewind in platinum revealing its secret only for the astute eye. Cartier’s ingenuity lies in its carnelian dial where the Roman numerals – nothing new here – are in reverse and therefore have to be read counter clockwise.
What about the steel apple-shaped hands? They rewind the rail-track that ring the numbers with their mechanical movement with reversed manual winding calibre 230 MC. Water-resistant up to 3 bar (approx. 30 meters), this limited edition of 200 numbered pieces features an elegant semi-matte brown alligator leather strap which harmonizes perfectly with the dial and the winding crown’s ruby cabochon.
€41,600
Click here to read the full Santos-Dumont Rewind Watch technical sheet.
Cartier Privé Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph Watch, abstract tortoise
From the Cartier Privé Collection, the Tortue Watch is one of Cartier’s original creations. Created in 1912, it asserted the jeweler entry in watchmaking of shapes alongside the infamous Tank Cintrée, Crash and Tonneau. Still present in the 21th century, this iconic timepiece illustrates perfectly the ambition of Cartier to dedicate technique to aesthetics.
With horns stretched along the strap and a slimmer profile this mechanical icon is now set in our time. Nowadays, the Tortue appears in a Monopoussoir Chronograph version – a complication first introduced in 1928 – available in platinum and yellow gold. Both variations display on their respective dial – opal silver and slightly golden – two blue counters.
On both dials contrast is provided by blued-steel apple-shaped hands and a rail-track minute circle placed on the outside of the Roman numerals to enhance the legibility of the dial and make chronographic precision even more accessible. The three functions start, stop and reset are concentrated in a single push-button activated in a single motion of the manual winding 1928 MC. Each version is limited to 200 pieces. The watch features an interchangeable strap: semi-matte burgundy red and shiny grey alligator leather for the platinum version; semi-matte blue and dark blue alligator leather for the yellow gold version.
Price upon request – available September 2024
Click here to read the full Platinum Cartier Privé Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph technical sheet.
Click here to read the full Yellow gold Cartier Privé Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph technical sheet.
ROLEX
Perpetual 1908, the art of guilloché
Revealed at the Watches and Wonders 2023 event, the Perpetual 1908 introduces this year a version decked in platinum 950 and graced with a dial of refined patterns.
The dial features an ice blue guilloché rice-grain motif with three-dimensional and repeating geometric pattern which reflects lights with each movement of your wrist. Inspired by rose windows harmonious lines the pattern starts from the small seconds counter placed at 6 o’clock, and spreads up to the dial’s rim. The minute is surrounded by a filet sauté with a crimped pattern, which is also guilloché.
Fitted on a semi-matte brown alligator leather strap with green calfskin lining, the case is 39 mm with a bezel domed and fluted. The piece is guaranteed water-resistant to a depth of 50 metres (165 feet) and driven by a self-winding calibre manufactured by Rolex with a Superlative Chronometer certification. The cogs, ornate with Côtes-de-Genève, and the yellow gold cut out oscillating weight are visible through the sapphire crystal case back. Thanks to its architecture the power reserve extends to approximately 66 hours.
€31,300
Click here to read the full new Rolex Perpetual 1908 technical sheet.
Oyster Perpetual Day-Date, head in the clouds
The dial has the place of honor in the new Day-Date variations. The model features for the first time a dial made of pearlized white mother-of-pearl.
“Extracted from the oldest and noblest part of the oyster shell”, this unique material differs by its rich structure which evokes tiny clouds creating a soft and ethereal effect. The shimmer of the mother-of-pearl is enhanced by the diamond hour markers. The case is Oyster white gold with a Twinlock winding crown guarantying waterproofness up to 100 meters deep (330 feet).
With the Chronometer Superlative certification – COSC + Rolex certification – the self-winding calibre has a power reserve of approximately 70 hours. The watch houses a Cyclop lens at 3 o’clock on its crystal and the day of the week in an arc-shaped window at 12 o’clock on the dial. The model is fitted on a white gold three-piece link President bracelet created especially for the launch of the collection in 1956.
€48,400
Click here to read the full Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date technical sheet.
HUBLOT
Big Bang MP 11 Water Blue Sapphire, crystal clear
Our big favorite this year, the new Big Bang MP 11 Water Blue Sapphire shined during the event by its technical qualities and its architecture. Unexpected and daring, the new palette of sapphire tones stands out.
With this translucent water blue tone Hublot shows once more their expertise on sapphire crystal. Inalterable, luminous, brilliant, resistant to knocks and scratches, the water blue sapphire is based on a new exclusive chemical formula which took several years to develop and test. The result is “close to perfection”.
Fitted with a water blue transparent lined structured rubber strap, this watch honors the collection “Manufacture Piece”. Hublot can be proud of their extraordinary and unprecedented craft. On the lower part of the entirely cut out dial, seven coaxial and vertical barrels rule. They grant the calibre mechanical movements –made of 270 components – the ability to offer 336 hours or approximately 14 days of power reserve. Quite a benchmark to reach!
€178,000
Click here to read the full Hublot Big Band MP 11 Water Blue Sapphire technical sheet.
Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu Sapphire, mechanical tattoos
Hublot is known to cherish and to be involved in arts and culture. The Maison illustrates this artistic fondness through long-standing collaborations with artists such as Richard Orlinski and Takashi Murakami, among others, Maxime Plescia-Buchi, specially. Founder of the brand Sang Bleu, the famous tattoo artist collaborates with Hublot since 2016.
To chisel in the sapphire transparency the three-dimensional geometric shapes – rhombuses, hexagons and triangles – Hublot had to push back the boundaries of machining sapphire. Incised into the hardness of the sapphire the polygonal tattoos took shape thanks to a 3D machine and over 100 hours of work. Spreading from the dial to the bezel, the sapphire unveils each and every piece of mechanism. The self-winding calibre has a power reserve of approximatively 50 hours. Mounted on a white transparent smooth rubber strap, this small piece of art of 42 mm is a limited edition of 100 pieces.
€149,000
Click here to read the full Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu Sapphire.
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