Geneva. January 2018. Regular as clockwork, this year's Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie played host to the latest in the frontiers of mechanisms and complications in the Richemont maison. I hereby proclaim my impressions on the latest collections presented by A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin.
Apart from the much-awaited tribute to the recently departed Walter Lange, the Glashütte manufactory presented the 1815 Chronograph in pink gold, with 39.5 mm case, and face available in either black or silver-grey. Perfectly essential in its lines, with Arabic numerals and "chemin de fer" chapter ring, called thus due to the two concentric circles on the margins of the face, close together and marked with sixty etchings, one for each second; the result is something that calls to mind a railway track, hence the French word for the latter having somehow stuck. The 1815, besides a power reserve of a mighty sixty hours, it is further embellished by the flyback function, which allows the wearer to measure intervals of time in succession. A fun touch is added by the heartbeat recording function, thanks to the scale from 40 to 200 beats present on the outer ring of the tracks. All you need to do is calculate the time it takes for thirty heartbeats to occur and look at the value indicated by the second dial. Price, from €50,200.
Jaeger LeCoultre is trying to convince the public that they have more to offer than just their iconic Reverso watches. And they attempt this feat with the Polaris collection, sporty and modern, curvy, inspired by the model of the same name from 1968. It is hard to say if the idea will actually work. On the one hand, the market seems to agree with the maison, with the "see now, buy now" formula that in the space of 24 hours from its launch, sold a good 25 limited edition Memovoxes; on the other hand, some of the models in the collection are too reminiscent of the Omega Speedmaster family, like the Automatic, which fortunately differentiates itself by the construction of the two crowns, one for the time, the other for the bezel, perfectly recalling the world of deep-sea diving. The Memovox's alarm function is a point of great interest, as it allows you to do away with your phone by your bedside, and even more interesting is the price, which starts at €6,850.
Amongst the collections presented by Vacheron Constantin, the standout is Fiftysix, inspired, as the name would suggest, by the decade between the 50s and the 60s, the golden era for round watches, an era which achieved heights in aesthetic values never since surpassed. The creative concept surrounding the launch is entertaining: seven friends of different nationalities (including yours truly), all members of an exclusive "Gentlemen's Haute Horlogerie Club", meet in London to trail the new timepieces from the Geneva maison. In a carefree, virile atmosphere - a glass of malt whiskey here, a home visit by a tailor there – the result is a pleasant aspirational video, in line with the value at the root of the collection. It was a genuine full immersion into the world of Vacheron Constantin, allowing me to have a privileged insight into the collection, a tactile preview of the brand new future classic timepieces. The Fiftysix collection, available in both pink gold and aluminium, is functional both from an aesthetic viewpoint as from its starting price - markedly lower than its other collections. As for the technical details, in a crescendo of complications, they start from an automatic watch (from €12,200), very competitive for the maison, followed by a day-date with a power reserve of forty hours (from €18,100). Topping the collection is a complete calendar with a window to indicate the day and month (from €23,900). All models have a 40 mm casing with an opening that gives them the appearance of being smaller, a detail which I find pleasing to the eye, as assiduous readers will well know. Top marks to the whole collection.
To conclude, the trend for watches is, thankfully, gradually abandoning the Russian and Arabic big dials, accompanied by a continual (perhaps repeated?) return to vintage aesthetics. A return that is a proof-positive of the heights of expression reached by the sector in past decades. At the same time, in the post-Gerald Genta era, each and every maison seems to be on the desperate hunt for its own identity; if on the one hand some brands are becoming synonymous with the models they produce, thanks in part to a hoped for diffusion of appreciation, on the other, some struggle to distinguish their brand in a sea of similarities.
Bespoke hugs,
Fabio
