Girard-Perregaux has just launched a wonderful new limited edition watch honoring the Argentine former racing driver José Froilán González. José Froilán González is noted as one of the Formula 1’s greatest drivers of all times, and best remembered as the one who scored Ferrari's first win in a Formula One. With this new release, Girard-Perregaux pays a tribute to the racing legend, and launches it the 60th Anniversary of that race.

2012 is the Year of the Dragon, a passionate era that recurs every twelfth year. The legendary creature, featured in the myths of many cultures from all over the world, is currently a source of creative inspiration to many gifted minds. One of the watchmaking brands that honors the Year of the Dragon is Piaget. The brand has just unveiled a new Dragon & Phoenix Collection, consisting of more than 20 models, each paying a tribute to the new astral cycle dominated by the powerful creature of myth and legend.

The brand has offered the #1 of 500 numbered Naval Centennial Limited Edition Airwolf watches for auction. The online auction ends on February 29, 2012, 2:00 PM US/Pacific and the current bid on this piece is amazing $33,000.00. This means that you have a bit more than 11 days to claim this extraordinary Breitling piece. The Centennial Limited Edition Airwolf watches were worn by many famous aviators such as Mark Kelly, who wore this piece on the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s last flight into space. Whoever wins the auction will also have the o...

The new watch is a diver’s chronograph Pontos S, designed to accompany the men of adventure on their short dives. This is an utterly sporty watch, offered in two of variations mounted on a dynamic masculine straps that beautifully complete the design. Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diving Chronographs are featured in 43 mm diameter stainless steel cases and they are water resistant to 200 meters. This level of water resistance is suitable for professional marine activity and some serious water sports such as scuba diving. If you wish to experienc...

The new Gouverneur line by Piaget features a fine selection of watches distinguished by their elegant shape, balanced between round and oval. If you look at the photos featured in this article, you’ll surely notice that each of the models highlights an oval shape nested in a round one, and then a round one nested in the oval. The cases are round, but the openings of the dials are oval, which gives a distinctively formal and elegant character to the creation, symbolizing the perfection in balanced and well-structured shapes. The Gouverneur Co...

Frederique Constant is sponsoring the legendary Carrera Panamericana and commemorating the 24th race with a limited edition Vintage Rally, La Carrera Panamericana. The watch is issued in 1,888 pieces and fitted with a brand new hand-wound FC-435 calibre. Frédérique Constant Vintage Rally La Carrera Panamericana comes with a 43 mm polished steel case and a silvered dial with guilloché "Clous de Paris" motif. The watch is offered in two variations, where applied hourmarkers, in steel or pink gold-plated, serve as distinguishing details.  The...

Last couple of days I have introduced a number of new models by various luxury brands. All of them are going to be exhibited at this year’s BaselWorld fair, which is to be held from March 8th to 15th. Same as every year, BaselWorld offers a great insight at the Swiss watchmaking industry, its main trends and positioning of the brands. BaselWorld is actually the world’s largest and most important watchmaking and jewellery fair. Here you can find just anything that falls into one of the two realms. There is a plentitude of models, ranging fro...

Watch brands have given us plenty of ideas for the Valentine’s Day. I already wrote about Saint Honore The Opera Black Éclair, Frederique Constant Black Beauty, Blancpain Saint Valentin Chronograph 2012,  Chopard Happy Sport Pink Amour and Happy Heart watch, Montblanc Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco, and many others… But, there is one model I somehow forgot to mention, even though I find it very beautiful. It is Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso for Valentine’s Day. The watch is another tribute to the original model from 1931, only slightly r...

Same as the last year, Graham designs a new dedicated chronograph especially for the RBS 6 Nations Championship referees. Graham is now the Official Timekeeper of the Championship for the fourth consecutive year. This prestigious rugby event gathers six of the best rugby nations from the northern hemisphere, and their boldness and strength are embedded in the genetic codes of Chronofighter Oversize Referee models. Traditionally, the colors of all six squads are featured on the small seconds counter, at 3 o’clock. The watch is designed to mee...

IWC Schaffhausen traditionally supports the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the use of sport as a powerful instrument for positive social changes. Laureus operates according to a simple principle – to recognize the achievements of sports heroes, unite sportspeople together with a goal to help social projects around the globe.  This is the sixth time that IWC issues a limited edition watch, designed especially to benefit the Foundation. This year, the brand offers a Portofino chronograph watch in limite...

This German sports club, based in Munich, is the winner of six European cups, and one of the five most successful clubs in Europe. The partnership between two brands should not come as a surprise if we know that Hublot lives by the "Art of Fusion", aiming to combine traditional values with innovative visions. The blend between fine watchmaking and football has already been proven successful many times since 2006, when Hublot first started to work closely with FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) . In 2008, they inked a spon...

The long-expected Limited Hillary Tenzing Edition Series by Rolex has just become available. This new line of watches was announced about two years ago as a project that pays a tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who were the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest. This new edition may also be mentioned as Hillary Tenzing Explorer, which was the pilot-name for this project later changed to stress that there is no affiliation with Rolex and their Explorer models. The Hillary Tenzing Edition is a true collector’s se...

The new Bentley GMT chronograph is crafted in stainless steel and distinguished by its signature rotating bezel painted in red. The vibrant and bold color melts perfectly with smooth black dial and silvered accents featured on its plane surface. Positioned next to the 6-hour, 15-minute and 30-second totalizers, a red-tipped hour hand completes the multiple timezone display system. The reading of the time in all world’s timezones has been made easy with this watch, as it features the inner bezel engraved with the names of 24 cities – one for eac...

The new watch is Zenith Montre d’Aeronef Type 20 Pilot’s Watch, designed in a very limited edition of only 250 pieces. At the gala evening, visitors had a chance to bid for 1/250 watch, before it becomes officially presented to the public in March. The event was very successful and more than 1.4 million Swiss francs (or 1.16 million euros) were collected in benefit of the Smiling Children organization. Smiling Children, non-profit organization based in Switzerland and the United Kingdom and focused on education for young girls, promoting the em...

For BaselWorld, TAG Heuer prepares to launch another one of these new redesigned watches. In a couple of weeks we’ll get more information about new TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph Date with bold and red bezel made of aluminum. The watch is crafted in titanium and coated in black carbide. It comes in 42-mm wide round case and boasts smooth black dial with snailed sub-counters and red accents. Here are a couple of promotional images of TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph Date, and more information will be available following the BaselWold.

One of the watches to be exhibited at the upcoming BaselWorld is the new Tissot Le Locle Automatic Chronometer Edition, a watch endowed with an exceptional COSC certified mechanical movement. To make things even more exclusive, Tissot has fitted the case-back of this watch with an engraved see-through glass, which is not very common for their models. However, the new mechanical piece deserves the full attention of the wearer, and its sophisticated automatic heart is exhibited as an omen of elegance and class. The stylish black dial is patter...

Hublot has announced a new piece, which is going to be officially unveiled for BaselWorld 2012. This time, the brand releases an extra-thin skeleton watch designed in a contemporary manner. With its 45 millimeters in diameter, the watch retains recognizable Hublot codes, but it houses a delicate movement, which is only 2.90 mm thick. The HUB 1300 movement is entirely developed in Hublot manufactures. It is manually-wound, fully skeletonized and endowed with 90 hours of power reserve and 50 meters of water resistance. The brand will offer two...

A couple of weeks ago I announced a new collection by Roger Dubuis – The Pulsion. This time I suggest that we take a closer look at Roger Dubuis Pulsion Chronograph, a watch that is truly designed for action. Roger Dubuis Pulsion Chronograph is a dynamic and bold piece crafted in black DLC titanium. What immediately captures the attention is a hallmark of the Pulsion series – a sapphire crystal that extends to the flanks and forms a solid bezel, having the numerals engraved below the crystal and painted with luminescent material. Design of t...

Blacksand Geneve is a young watchmaking brand, established about a year ago. Some of you may remember their successful debut with Blacksand Uniformity and expansion in a fine jewellery sector with Uniformity Joaillerie. If, for some reason, you haven’t had your chance to meet with this brand, now it’s about time to catch up with their opus and prepare to be amazed by the splendor of their upcoming White Sea Turtle of the Continuity Collection. The new watch is going to be officially presented this year at BaselWorld. Blacksand White Sea Tur...

This year, Hublot, the famous Swiss brand offers new women's watch in a black ceramic case, and with a white mother of pearl dial. The bezel of the watch is crafted in white gold and set with 48 baguette diamonds, while the highlights on the dial and on strap reflect the foundation's colors and logo. The case measures 41 millimetres in diameter and houses self-winding chronograph movement HUB4300. Along with hours, minutes and chronograph functions, the watch offers date indication through trapezoid window, positioned at 4.30 . The Limited e...

The dial is formed by arranging a swarm of delicate tesserae made of precious stones cut into small cubes. Gem setters from Cartier used Earth jasper, Kalahari jasper, grey Madagascar jasper, chocolate obsidian, and pink opal to recreate a background for wonderful horse imagery. A bit larger, irregular-shaped tesserae are arranged into a horse design. The image of the horse is composed of pieces of Cacholong, or Kalmuck Agate, which is a milky white colored stone, a type of Opal. These larger tesserae are edged into metal piping, while the most...

Saint Honore has just launched a beautiful black diamond-set watch for ladies. The Opéra Black Éclair is inspired by the elegance and seductiveness of a little black dress and luxuriance of the diamonds. The watch boats contrasting colors, intensively black case crafted in titanium-toned stainless steel and sparkling bright Éclair, which is actually a special technique for pavé set diamonds. The dial of a watch features an Éclair circle in the centre highlighted by six dazzling diamonds, evoking the stars on the night sky. The stillness of the...

The watch is going to be officially unveiled at this year’s BaselWorld, showing that - this time - the brand puts an emphasis not on a dial but on the superior in-house movement nested inside 43 mm-diameter case. The dial is fully skeletonized to reveal DeWitt’s historical DW8028, which is actually the first 100% manufacture movement. Generously decorated in the spirit of haute horlogerie, the mechanism boasts the escape wheel and the anchor that are made of 18-carat yellow gold. It beats at 18’000 vibrations per hour and ensures 72 hours of...

The case of the new Patravi TravelTec FourX is made of 18-carat rose gold molten with scratch-resistant ceramic, high-quality titanium and resilient rubber. Paired together, these four elements create a powerful aura around this watch, making it truly exclusive. The Patravi TravelTec FourX, launched for the first time in 2006, was a revolutionary piece that had integrated movement and case for the first time ever. In this model, the case partially consists of the time-zone selection mechanism, which ensures flawless and synchronized indicati...

Longines Saint-Imier has been inspired by the Swiss expertise, the watchmaking tradition of the brand and by the city of Saint-Imeir, where Longines was founded in 1832. The watch featured on the leading picture, the representative of the whole range which is going to be unveiled at BaselWorld, is strongly influenced by a model from 1945. Set in a golden middle between classic and modern, design of this watch boasts very smooth lines and pronounced lugs. The collection Saint-Imeir will include a range of watches, from simple ones that show...

The idea behind this new venture is to collect the most beautiful stones from all parts of the world and use them to create a line of high-end mechanical watches. In doing this, Louis Moinet have partnered with Mr Daniel Haas - a world-renowned specialist in semi-precious stones. The concept is embodied in a range of one-of-a-kind wristwatches, of which the brand now unveils the first three: Australian Opal, Red Stromatolite and Biggs Jasper. Today I have a pleasure to write about Australian Opal, a watch that will be exhibited at this year’s B...

The Patravi line stands out for its timeless aesthetics and strict Swiss quality standards that apply to each one of the models of this collection. Models in the Patravi line are equipped with Carl F. Bucherer mechanical movements, skilfully decorated and carefully assembled to provide useful functionality and superior accuracy. The new Patravi DayDate is a brand new model in the Patravi family, nested in a round stainless steel case with 42.6 mm in diameter. The watch provides standard indications for hours, minutes and seconds, but propr...

The history of Breitling Chronomat speaks about one of the rare watches patented in 1941, at the time of the World War 2. This military-inspired piece was one of the first slide-rule wristwatch on the market and since then, it remained Breitling’s most desired model, and a true best-seller. Since 1941, Chronomat has been produced in many different variations, including the one with GMT complication we’re mentioning today. Chronomat GMT is actually a military-styled watch designed for frequent travellers. One of its most distinctive features is...

The new Frederique Constant watch features a rare and luxurious black mother-of-pearl dial embellished with sparkling white diamonds. There are two intertwined hearts on the dial, framing the signature aperture and revealing the heartbeat of the movement. The aperture lets the wearer admire the wonder of the mechanical movement under the dial and proves this contemporary timepiece has a traditional technique inside. This mechanical watch is equipped with a balance wheel that beats at 28’800 vibrations per hour. The balance wheel rotates in...

This delicate Audemars Piguet watch is crafted in pink gold and set with 40 brilliant-cut diamonds. The shape of the watch repeats the elegantly sporty silhouette of the original Royal Oak model from 1972. However, one more detail reminds us of the famous Gerald Genta design and it’s raw aesthetic codes: eight hexagonal screws on the octagonal bezel are still in white gold, making a beautiful contrast with pink golden hue of the case. The watch is equipped with a silver-toned dial with classic a “Grande Tapisserie” pattern and graced with A...

One of the watches unveiled at this year’s SIHH is this beautiful ladies’ Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Quartz in stainless steel. The original Royal Oak, which was designed by famous Gerald Genta, is considered to have actually opened the marked for the stainless steel luxury watch. This new interpretation repeats the same condensed aesthetic of the original creation, which is even today one of the most renowned prestige sports watches. The case measures 33 millimetres in diameter and shines in the delicate interplay of satin-brushed and polished...

HUBLOT has announced a new session of LIVE CHAT with their Chairman of the Board, Jean-Claude Biver. Their first video chat had an overwhelming success and that’s why the brand offered to community a new “Video Live Chat” of the Brand 2012 Live-Series, on Monday the 2nd of February, at 09:00 GMT (10:00 Swiss local time / 17:00 Singapore local time). Live chat will be held at HublotNation.com official blog and you can already send your questions through Facebook fan page, in the Hublot Live Series Tab : http://www.facebook.com/Hublot?sk=app_21...

Harry Winston just opened the third act in the Histoire de Tourbillon saga launched in 2009 - the brand new Histoire de Tourbillon 3. The new watch is offered in a truly limited edition of only 20 exemplars and it features no less than three tourbillons in action. Each one of them rotates at its own pace and accomplishes its own gravity-defying effect. At 9 o'clock is the bi-axial double tourbillon, formed by nesting one tourbillon inside of the other, whose outer tourbillon makes a complete revolution in 120 seconds whereas the inner tourb...

Van Cleef & Arpels is French jewellery, watch, and perfume company founded in 1896 by Charles Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef. Brand’s strong inclination towards poetry and wonder is embodied in their works arisen from the combined expertise of high watchmaking and aesthetics of fine jewelry. Following the Lady Arpels Féerie with retrograde movement, from 2007, Une Journée à Paris, and Pont des Amoureux from 2010, Van Cleef & Arpels unveiled two new wonderful creations this year at SIHH: Lady Arpels Poetic Wish and Midnight Poetic Wish. Both watche...

TechnoMarine is not a luxury brand in true sense of that word but they offer a range of very beautiful, nicely crafted mechanical watches at fair prices. Their newest creation is an updated range of Night Vision watches, which will be unveiled in March at Baselworld. The new design offers monochromatic black watches enhanced by luminescent details that light up the dial as soon as the lights go down. The brand will offer a range of colors – the green one featured on images in this article and also blue, all-black, orange and white. The new...

The TwinFly part of its name stems from the flyback function of this watch. As you can see on our leading picture, the watch features flyback chronograph with seconds and minute hands in the center of the dial. The watch uses a single push of the button for stopping, resetting and restarting the chronograph function. When the function is activated two hands on the dial are starting to measure elapsed time, which is source of inspiration Montblanc draw upon. The Montblanc TimeWalker TwinFly Chronograph GreyTech watch boasts an astonishing lay...

De Bethune designed a limited edition of 12 exemplars dedicated to the mystery of Mayan calendar - Ninth Mayan Underworld. Master-crafters from De Bethune have offered their own interpretation of world-changing events, by which 2012 symbolizes the arrival of a new world, the beginning of an era in which our planet and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual alteration. The new De Bethune Ninth Mayan Underworld watch is strongly inspired by ceramics and stones sculpted by the Mayan scribes. It features dial made of pure g...

Same as its predecessor from 2011, the new Octa Sport watch is made from high-end aluminum alloy, which is the material borrowed from aeronautics. In case you don’t remember the last year’s model, I’m speaking about the Centigraphe Sport, which is the world’s first mechanical wristwatch crafted in aluminum. The Octa Sport , with its mere 53 grams, is another lightweight and sporty creation, fitted with superior automatic movement. The core of this piece rhythms at 21'600 beats per hour and provides astonishing 120 hours (or five days) of p...

The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series and it was to be expected that OMEGA launches a special celebratory piece to honor the occasion. The information about this watch has become public when one of the OMEGA dealers from the UK posted information and spy shots on its website. Hodinkee was the first to spread the news among the bloggers and now we know that the new watch is going to be a limited edition Omega Seamaster updated with immediately recognizable details dedicated to James Bond. Judging by the images, the...

Richard Mille has just unveiled the newly designed watch featuring brand’s latest manual winding tourbillon movement caliber RMCC1. This powerful mechanism offers a wide range of functions including hours, minutes, chronograph, split seconds, power reserve, torque indicator and function indicator. The new watch is marketed as a new generation split seconds chronograph which takes all of the best features from brand’s emblematic RM008 and adds new improvements to it. The result is a completely new, much higher level of accuracy and performance...

The new creation is unmistakeably contemporary and yet classic and elegant just as the traditional model. The round surface of the dial is graced with elongated Roman numerals, this time crafted in pink or white gold. The dial is made in white lacquer and graced with Van Cleef & Arpels insignia and the honeycomb pattern. The new Pierre Arpels watch is offered in two sizes and two choices of material. There is a small 38-milimeters version, and a bit larger and more masculine variation of 42 millimeters in diameter. Both are crafted in pink...

The watch is truly original as it features the baseplate and the bridges of the movement in the form of a spine-chilling skull. This unusual motif is fully integrated into the movement and we see the ruby of the tourbillon cage appearing between the teeth of a skull. The baseplate and the bridges are fully skeletonized, which gives a unique three-dimensional appearance to the phantasm featured on the dial. Four skeleton bridges, evoking the crossed bones seen on the flags of pirate ships, are actually holding the movement in place. This new...

The watch is available in a truly exclusive edition of only 5 pieces. Each of them features very rare type of casing – the one entirely made of sapphire crystal. According to the Richard Mille brand, it takes amazing 1,000 hours to produce every single one of these cases, and about 430 hours to grind the crystal and 350 for final touches. The most interesting fact about this piece is that it actually retails for amazing 1.65 million dollars, but what makes this watch even more exclusive is the fact that all five of the exemplars have already...

The watch is for the first time crafted in pink gold, and it comes with already recognizable skeleton dial, having bold Roman numerals embedded in the bridges of the in-house Cartier Calibre 9614 MC movement. This gorgeous creation reveals the gear train and the mainspring barrel that appear like they’re floating above the impressive mechanical structure. This manually wound movement is assembled from 138 individual components and it offers 72 hours of power reserve, once when it’s fully wound. The case holds the traditional proportions of C...

This year at BaselWorld Blancpain unveils its first model featuring a flinqué lacquered dial. As you can see on the picture, the newest creation still emanates distinctive style of the Villeret collection while boasting deep, almost three-dimensional dial made from several layers of translucent blue lacquer. The watch is crafted in white gold and endowed with the ultra-slim Calibre 7663Q. This self-winding movement is built on 34 jewels and composed of 244 individual components. The movement offers retrograde seconds indication at 6 o’clock,...

Ulysse Nardin has launched a new limited edition watch available exclusively through brand’s boutiques. The watch is named Blue Toro and it combines perpetual calendar with a dual time function inside the case made of 18-carat rose gold. The sporty blue ceramic bezel lends to this model a contemporary twist while sapphire crystal on the case-back reveals the splendor of the inner-workings and subtle mechanics of time. This watch is truly exclusive thanks to a couple of its features. For example, this is the only perpetual calendar that adjus...

Same as its ancestors, the Jules Verne Instrument III is inspired by a classic science fiction novel by this French writer - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - first published in 1870. The novel tells the story about Captain Nemo who roams the depths of the sea in the submarine named Nautilus. This high precision timekeeping instrument by Louis Moinet is actually a fruit of fantasy, a device designed for fictional Captain Nemo to serve him as a loyal companion on his underwater adventures. Louis Moinet Jules Verne Instrument III case-...

This year at SIHH, Cartier unveiled a new model. Following the release the Tank Américaine and Tank Française, the brand has now unveiled Tank Anglaise watch, distinguished by pure and heartened lines, a bracelet that looks like it is incorporated in the case, classic Roman numerals and signature blued-steel sword-shaped hands. Tank Anglaise is available in three ladies’ and men’s sizes and three colors of gold. Large models are powered by the Manufacture 1904 MC movement, and fitted with a see-through sapphire crystal on the case-back. Sma...

Following the release of the Grand Carrera Pendulum Concept in 2010 and Mikrotimer Flying 1000, in 2011, TAG Heuer now unveils another concept watch – the Mikrogrider. TAG Heuer Mikrogrider is another revolutionary concept from this Swiss manufacture, a watch that is able to measure events to 5/10,000th of a second precision. However, this is just a notion to start with. The watch is for now only a concept piece, still in development, and its true boundaries of precision may stretch even further before the first Mikrogrider chronograph come...

Girard-Perregaux has just released another wonderful interpretation of their Tourbillon with three gold Bridges. The original version of this model was unveiled back in 1889, at the Universal Exhibition in Paris where it won gold medal as an acknowledgement for its excellence. This year, at SIHH, the Swiss brand pays homage to the past and issues a numbered limited edition Laureato Tourbillon with Three Bridges. The watch is offered in only 10 exemplars and distinguished by its superior mechanism – a 72-component tourbillon that completes one r...