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Patek Philippe’s annual ‘Rare Handcraft’ collection celebrates the micro-arts — enamelling, miniature painting, marquetry, guilloché — in 82 works glimpsed before they vanish into collectors’ hands.
Bulgari's then watch chief explains why a Roman jeweller builds avant-garde timepieces in Neuchatel, how Italian design fuses beauty with function, and why the record-breaking Octo Finissimo Ultra defines the house.
Ulysse Nardin’s Freak is the horological equivalent of the Porsche 911. On paper neither product makes sense. I mean, who hangs an engine out over the rear wheels of a car and expects it to be dynamic? Likewise, who decides to remove the dial, hands, and crown of a watch? Both are techn…
URWERK presents the UR-120 Space Black, fusing advanced technology, celestial inspiration and science fiction. Designer Martin Frei explains how the power of black both exudes elegance and transforms our perception of the watch.
Our pick of the most unconventional timepieces, from a Chanel sautoir hiding its dial behind a pivoting sculpted lion's head to other characterful designs that reward those seeking something far from the ordinary.
The Patek Philippe Watch Art Grand Exhibition is like a travelling road show that takes place every two years. In previous years it has visited Dubai, Munich, London, New York City and Singapore, and, following a one-year delay caused by the world stopping in 2020, this year saw its ret…
Legacy is everything in the world of watches. Just look at the world’s most coveted sportswatches – the Submariner by Rolex, the Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet, and the Nautilus by Patek Philippe – they were all created more than 50 years ago and even if they’ve evolved over the years, th…
Invited by Dubai retailer Perpétuel, founded by Melika Yazdjerdi and Hamdan Alhudaidi, we flew to Germany to discover Lang 1943. Founded in 2022, its name marks the birth year of the man himself.
As resale prices tumble and the primary market cools, our HY1 2023 horological survey weighs the state of the Swiss watch industry and picks the new releases that genuinely earned our attention this year.
Now in its fifth Dubai edition, the Seddiqi-organised fair drew a record 16,000 visitors with masterclasses, the Horology Forum, food concepts and a wave of limited-edition reveals from Audemars Piguet, Rolex, Hublot and others.
There’s no denying Breitling is in a good place these days. Sales have been growing exponentially since the European private equity firm CVC Capital Partners acquired it from the Schneider family in 2017, placing it in the hands of industry veteran Georges Kern (who was, of course, prev…
Kevin O’Leary is one of North America’s most successful business entrepreneurs, a business commentator, as well as a star on ABC’s Shark Tank. Known for telling it like it is, with his matter-of-fact commentary on business issues, ‘Mr. Wonderful’ is truly one-of-a-kind in the world of b…
Interestingly, Olivia Crouan, the Chief Brand Officer for Audemars Piguet, hasn’t always been a watch person. She spent most of her career (almost 20 years) working with brands in the wine and spirits division of LVMH. In fact, she only joined the horological world after moving to Genev…
Bulgari recently unveiled Ref. 103534 (top left) and it’s a collaboration with Japanese architect Tadao Ando that has truly captivated us. The base of the watch is clearly the 40mm, three-hand automatic Octo Finissimo but Ando has changed the regular case and bracelet to a textured, san…
THE ORIGINAL CHRONOMAT CARRIED AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE AT THAT TIME, WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THIS NEW SUPER CHRONOMAT [George Kern, CEO Breitling] You’re right, when the Chronomat was launched in 1983 it was an ice breaker for the industry because it emerged at a critical point during the q…
SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY INSTANTLY? The sunrise. Instantly is very specific… A MOVIE THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY? ‘The Philadelphia Story’ is a movie that makes me happy, to think about or to watch. Your happiness tips? First to be kind to others. Second, to surround yourself…
Let’s be honest, this year had initially looked like a barren one for us Rolex lovers, didn’t it? What with the pandemic and then Rolex’s withdrawal from (and subsequent collapse of) the Baselworld watch fair, rumours reached a fever pitch by the end of April with news that …
Editor's Pick
Patek Philippe prides itself on making the most mechanically complicated and precious watches, so what happens when their single most popular model racks up a waiting list of over ten years? They cancel it. That’s right. Here’s everything you need to know about the Nautilus and
From an 88-year-old Egyptian feminist still writing against the grain to watches forged from seized firearms and leather grown from fungi, a roundup of the changemakers proving conscience and craft can share a wardrobe.
As traditional luxury fairs falter, Ahmed Seddiqi and Sons' free, non-commercial Dubai Watch Week keeps gaining momentum, drawing collectors, retailers and industry legends to share ideas rather than chase sales.
For the better part of a century, Breitling has enjoyed a global reputation for its links to the world of aviation and of course its pilot’s watches. But though that relationship used to be manifested in the form of the Breitling Jet Team, new CEO Georges Kern has grounded the old squad…
Last September, Breitling announced it had become Etihad’s official timekeeper and to fête the partnership they launched the 5,000 USD Aviator 8 Day & Date 41, which was at the DWW. It runs on Breitling’s Caliber 45 (which is an automatic movement with more than 40 hours of power re…
Audemars Piguet, which has continued to be owned and managed by its founding families ever since it started, is an incredible company for the way in which it has managed to stay at the forefront of watchmaking. It’s startling to think that, just over twenty years ago, Audemars Piguet wa…
Exquisite yet rugged, Chopard’s first ever sports watch ticks all the right boxes. Inspired by Karl-Friedrich Scheufeler’s passion for hiking and skiing in the Alps, Chopard’s new Alpine Eagle is made for braving the elements. Crafted of Lucent Steel A223, a metal whi…
Bulgari and Piaget have been locked in a battle for breaking thinness records over the last few years but it’s Audemars Piguet who has swept in and won the war with its RD#2 Perpetual Calendar. In purely technical terms, the Royal Oak RD#2 Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin by Audemars Pigue…
The first thing that Officine Panerai’s new CEO, Jean-Marc Pontroué (a 20-year-Richemont veteran who was previously at Montblanc and Roger Dubuis) did upon taking the helm was clean up the brand’s line-up into four easy categories: Radiomir, Luminor, Luminor Due, and Submersible, and it…
Ever since the founding of MB&F back in 2004, all of its watches have been designed for men. That changes this year with the launch of the stunning Legacy Machine FlyingT, their first watch dedicated to women. Featuring a flying tourbillon movement, an unusually highly domed sapphir…
THE CLUB We can safely assume that by now anyone who knows even the slightest thing about watches is well aware of the Richard Mille brand. Granted, it has only been around for twenty years (having been founded in 1999) but – and this is the remarkable part – it has managed to successfu…
Girard-Perregaux’s Laureato dates back to 1975. Elements like its distinctive hexagonal bezel and linked bracelet reflect one of the most popular innovations of that era: the luxury sportswatch. Even so, it was always overshadowed by the competition, including the Audemars Piguet Royal …
Breitling's rallying cry comes from chief executive Georges Kern, who arrived after fifteen years leading IWC. Following CVC's majority stake, his air, land and sea strategy has advanced at dizzying speed.
He’s a scion of one of Britain’s wealthiest dynasties. Sure, he could have sat back but instead George Bamford introduced the world to blacked-out watches and he hasn’t stopped since. 1. Founded in 2004 by a then 23-year-old George Bamford (the grandson of the billionaire construction …
Inspired by Christian Dior’s childhood growing up in a villa in Normandy surrounded by colourful flowers, and by the skillful seamstresses he observed there, Dior Horlogerie tells time in a most artful way. La D de Dior watch was designed by Victoire de Castellane fifteen years ag…
What is love? It’s an age-old question that elicits many answers; from the overwhelming feeling of tenderness we have for a newborn to the impractical kind that keeps us up at night. But there’s also the kind of love that drives people, a passion so profound it fuels ambitious ventures …
While some brands are turning away from celebrity endorsements, Cartier is doing quite the opposite and adopting them for the first time. Indeed, following hot on the heels of the announcement that Jake Gyllenhaal would be the face of Santos de Cartier, the company revealed Annabelle Wa…
H.Moser & Cie’s provocative and tongue-in-cheek humour was in full force this year as they trolled the industry with a one-off Frankenstein-like ‘Swiss Icons’ watch that mixed an Hublot case, a bezel combining the shape of an AP and the look of a Rolex, the numerals and crown protec…
Imagine a watch complication so transparent it seems invisible, like a reverse Emperor's New Clothes. Quinting's see-through magic appeals to the sharpest of minds, the kind who appreciate engineering that hides in plain sight.
With so many amazing watches around, it’s never an easy thing picking favourites. But if we had to put our money where our mouth is, then these are the watches we’d be buying right now. Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona In 2016, Rolex refreshed their massively popular Daytona li…
From Vacheron Constantin's reborn 222 to Richard Mille's Airbus collaboration, the year's standout timepieces prove that a great watch tells far more than the time.
Prized by professional athletes and serious collectors, Richard Mille timepieces are renowned for distinctive, shock-defying design. A new collaboration with French street artist Cyril Congo takes graffiti to a new level, proving tradition keeps pace.
As its flip-case icon turns eighty-five, Jaeger-LeCoultre distils a sprawling collection into three clear lines, adds a bespoke personalisation atelier and hands Christian Louboutin the keys to the dial.
Founded in 1875, Audemars Piguet truly took off nearly a century later under Gérald Genta. Born in Geneva in 1931, the half-Italian visionary yearned to be an artist, but his parents had him trained instead as a jeweller.
Age and inventiveness alone would qualify Jaquet Droz among the most venerable watch houses, but Pierre Jaquet-Droz did more. One of the first Europeans to embrace export, he sent his creations to the courts of India and China.
The Richard Mille watch developed for tennis champion Rafael Nadal is a test bed of high-tech engineering, built to withstand the most extreme conditions, look like a million dollars and weigh as little as a feather.
A. Lange & Söhne's annual output may equal just five per cent of Richemont sibling Cartier's, but that troubles this fine German watchmaker not one iota, devoted as it is to impeccable construction and obsessive precision.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to gain access to the inner sanctum of the Patek Philippe world. For those who do, it becomes ever so clear how this prestigious brand has attained its eminent status. Standing in front of the Patek Philippe Manufacture at Plan-les-Ouates in Geneva, I ad…
Over eight hectic days, Baselworld 2015 drew 150,000 insiders, collectors and journalists to see 1,400 watchmakers and jewellers exhibit across a Herzog & de Meuron space the size of twenty football pitches. The grandeur astonishes.
From ultra-thin Piaget to Montblanc's mechanical answer to the smartwatch, the 25th invitation-only Geneva salon reveals how Richemont's brands are courting the Middle East and chasing ever more rarefied complications.
As one of the last independent Swiss watchmakers, Breitling does things its own way. Its anniversary Chronomat Airborne honours three decades as an official supplier to world aviation, built for the exacting demands of extreme flight.
Ziad Taha explores the tourbillon, the whirlwind invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet two centuries ago to counter gravity's pull, suspending a watch's most delicate components, the balance and escapement, within an endlessly turning cage.
Maximilian Busser's instinct for collaboration runs deep. Having shaped Harry Winston's Opus Series, with each model conceived by a different designer, he carried that openness to outside watchmakers into the founding of MB&F.
Our pick of the standout timepieces from Basel ranges from Jaquet Droz's Twelve Cities Aventurine, tracking a dozen capitals at once on a mother-of-pearl dial, to a sporty new extension of the Hermes Clipper line.
Ken Kessler likens A. Lange & Söhne's comeback to Sinatra's or Presley's. Centred in Glashütte before the war and lost behind the Iron Curtain for half a century, the marque now embodies the pinnacle of German watchmaking.
Founded in 1856 and famed for trench coats and tartan linings, Burberry has never courted the luxury watch market, until now. Unveiled days ago and seen here first, The Britain is Swiss-made and respectably engineered.
Baselworld is the watch industry's equivalent of the Oscars, mingling legendary names with brash newcomers. Dressed to impress, here are the most extraordinary timepieces on display this year, where continuity proves as compelling as novelty.
When a 220-year-old Swiss watchmaker and an acclaimed Lebanese painter join forces, the result is a wearable work of precision art. Girard-Perregaux unveiled the collaboration at Menasart in Beirut, paying tribute to the country's creativity.
It seems the world of luxury brands and that of haute horlogerie have collided, with truly remarkable results for both. With their shared quest for precision and drive for excellence, perhaps it was an inevitable foray. Bespoke identifies the cream of the crop.
A brand originally synonymous with refined yet luxurious jewellery, Harry Winston has garnered a prestigious reputation for its timepieces since their introduction in 1989.
Nicolas Hayek, born in Beirut in 1982, passed away earlier this year. He was not only the saviour of the ailing Swiss-watch industry but also the founder of the biggest horological manufacturing group in the world. Bespoke looks upon Hayek’s legacy.
Following a petition by one of our readers, we decided to investigate just how luxury products get priced in our region. Should we be miffed or rather satisfied? Bespoke helps you find out.
Baselworld is the leading event for the watch and jewellery industry organised in March every year in the town of Basel, Switzerland. The luxury trade show brings people together from all around the globe uniting about 2,100 exhibitors from over 45 countries.
Model Panerai Radiomir Egiziano Price 28,500 USD Quantity A limited edition run of 300 units all in titanium. Why A modern reinterpretation of an historic Egyptian Naval Panerai watch www.panerai.com This latest Officine Panerai timepiece should command a special place in the hearts of Ara
A.Lange & Söhne, one the world’s finest watchmakers, has released the Lange Zeitwerk, a strikingly modern piece rooted in the company’s classic heritage.
1. Dent is probably the most famous brand that you have never heard of. The English brand’s most illustrious creation was built in 1854: the Great Clock at the Houses of Parliament (colloquially known as Big Ben, which is really the name of the main bell). The newly-revived marque has a de
After decades of learning and conforming to the rules of corporate watchmaking, Maximilian Büsser started a rebellion called MB&F.
A luxury phone, just a timepiece, can be a very powerful status symbol and the epitome of refinement. Iyad Kayali meets with the corporation behind the world’s ultimate luxury phone to talk Vertu.
Omega, the first watch on the moon, the favoured timepiece of James Bond and official timekeeper of the Olympics is a brand with much clout. The company’s vice president, Raynald Aeschlimann, sat down with Bespoke to talk time.
It took roughly 10 minutes. Not long enough to really have a full experience but short enough to say I've done it. I'm talking about flying in a helicopter. This may come as a surprise to you but in all my dozen years as a reporter I've never really come across a time when I had to be on o
A.Lange & Söhne is a unique brand. For one, most people cannot even pronounce its name. Enunciated ‘Ah Lahngeh unt Zoohneh’ it makes watches with soul, replete with complications yet with an outward appearance that alludes to the contrary.
Like almost all A.Lange & Söhne timepieces the Lange 31 is mechanical. But remarkably this one boasts the longest power-reserve of any watch in the world.
Following this year’s watch and jewellery fairs in Switzerland, Bespoke offers you a selection of the latest timepieces to hit the markets. Unfortunately, prices have yet to be determined, so call your local agents to find out more.