The Foundation of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG 2023) : Best Ladies Watch Complication Nominations

 

Complications could be beautiful too. The jury has selected a few watches that will compete at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG 2023) for the best-complicated watch of the year in the women's category.

This will include remarkable women’s watches in terms of their mechanical creativity and complexity. These watches may feature all kinds of classic and/or innovative complications and indications (e.g. annual calendar, perpetual calendar, equation of time, complex moon phases, tourbillon, digital or retrograde time display, world time, dual time or other types of model) and do not fit the definition of the Ladies’ and Mechanical Exception categories.

1. ANDERSEN GENÈVE - ARCTIC SUNRISE ANDERSEN GENÈVE X BCHH

In 2023 a new series of "Celestial Voyager" is offered to collectors. This is the first one made with a pink gold case. The theme is linked to "Northern lights" and the unique natural colors that one can discover by living this magic made by Mother Nature. The ivory mother of pearl city ring with 24 cities in pink gold evoke dreams of flying through wispy clouds on the way to new adventures. It combines with the pink gold case to form a coherent and soothing appearance.

The "plat de resistance" is the cloisonné enamel & hand guilloché dial. It is created atop a solid white gold base that is intricately engine-turned (guilloche main) according to ancient and time-honoured techniques of craftsmanship. It is made on a guilloché machine dating back to XIXth century. Then afterwards the enamel Artist can start setting the gold wires (0.07mm of diameter) and filling the dial with colours. Thanks to the perfect collaboration between the Guilloché master and the enamel Artist the center dial is joyful for the eye; it is shining differently depending on the orientation. It is like it was breathing.

Arctic Sunrise ANDERSEN Genève X BCHH

The Celestial Voyager “Arctic Sunrise” is contrasted with the Celestial Voyager “Permanent Collection” which comprises the eternal family of Continents (Eurasia, Americas, Atlantic etc.) & Countries map dials; these are not limited Editions per se but still highly limited in annual production.The Celestial Voyager “Arctic Sunrise” is a limited edition of 15 pieces, 5 per year produced over the next 3 years.

2. CHOPARD - IMPERIALE JUMPING HOUR

The L.U.C. movement beating behind the scenes is an innovative jumping-hour calibre equipped with exclusive Chopard Quattro technology developed entirely within our workshops. It brings a splendid tableau to life: while the 12 o’clock aperture displays the hours, the minutes tick gracefully past in the centre with the rotation of a fully engraved flower.

The L.U.C 98.06-L1 movement is one of the few jumping-hour watches – which are generally very energy-hungry – to offer up to eight days of power reserve. Chopard Quattro technology’s four stacked and coupled barrels endow this IMPERIALE watch with an over 190-hour power reserve despite the amount of energy consumed by the rotation of the hours disc.

It is highly complex, guaranteeing reliability and precision within a mere 5 mm thickness. The end of its balance-spring is endowed with a Phillips curve that precisely regulates the oscillations of the regulating organ – a feat of which only genuine Haute Horlogerie Manufactures are capable. Finally, the movement is also fitted with a swan’s neck regulator enabling fine adjustment.

Celebrating the union between glamour and poetry, Chopard has designed this precious watch which immediately reveals its full brilliance through a case in ethical 18-carat yellow gold entirely set with diamonds totalling over 8 carats. The dial expresses the quintessence of the ancestral expertise of a Japanese master lacquer artist specialised in the Urushi technique: between the layers of lacquer, gold flakes illuminate the background, mingling with golden buds and sparrows and inlaid mother-of-pearl cherry blossoms.

3. DIOR MONTRES - GRAND SOIR AUTOMATE ETOILE DE MONSIEUR DIOR

For the first time Dior Grand Soir enters the world of creative complication with a mechanical automaton, pursuing the creative success of the collection. This dial, imagined as a dreamlike scene, unfolds like a small theater: the different layers create depth and magic, and immerse us in a precious night stroll. By activating the automaton with the push button, the sky of this Diorama becomes the theater of a true enchantment.

4. GUCCI TIMEPIECES - G-TIMELESS PLANETARIUM WITH DIAMOND-STUDDED STARS

The G-Timeless Planetarium is centred around the Dancing Hours Flying Tourbillon, GGC.1976.DS. Named after the Orion Nebula NGC 1976 – one of our galaxy’s brightest nebulas and which is visible from the naked eye – the tourbillon sits front and centre on the dial, set with a diamond-studded star. A start-and-stop function on the crown activates a rotation of 12 bright stars, punctuated with diamonds, each one spinning on itself in 9 seconds and orbiting clockwise around the dial in 90 seconds.

5. IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN - PORTOFINO PERPETUAL CALENDAR

At 40 millimetres, the Portofino Perpetual Calendar is the smallest perpetual calendar in IWC’s portfolio. This version features an 18-carat 5N gold case, a silver-plated dial, and gold-plated hands and appliques. IWC’s legendary perpetual calendar was originally engineered during the 1980s by the brand’s former head-watchmaker, Kurt Klaus. The ingenious mechanism is mechanically programmed to recognize the different lengths of the months as well as the leap years. It will run without any adjustments until the year 2100. The calendar information is displayed in three subdials at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. Made of solid gold, the moon phase disc shows the moon against the backdrop of a star-studded night sky.

Thanks to a special reduction gear train, it is so precise that it will only deviate by one day from the orbit of Earth’s satellite after 577.5 years. Through the transparent sapphire glass back, one can catch a glimpse of the IWC-manufactured 82650 calibre. Engineered with a focus on robustness and precision, this high-end automatic movement features IWC’s Pellaton winding system, which has been reinforced with ceramic components and builds up a power reserve of 60 hours. This exclusive timepiece is fitted with a blue calfskin strap with a butterfly clasp.

6. LOUIS VUITTON - TAMBOUR FIERY HEART AUTOMATA

Introducing the first in-house self-winding automaton movement, the Tambour Fiery Heart Automata is a distillation of high-watchmaking savoir-faire, enacted by Louis Vuitton’s specialist movement workshop La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in Geneva.

Around the hours-and-minutes sub-dial, an external halo of thorns emerges and extends radially outwards. The enamel roses (one at 12 o'clock and another at 4 o'clock) are not the demure botanicals they first appeared to be; they have found new vitality, with spinning Monogram flowers at their centres, diamond pistils firing rays of refracted light. The blazing heart roars to life, its flames dancing as if fanned by an invisible gale. The heart cracks open, a jagged fissure revealing that the soothing legend engraved on the heart now comes with a bold caveat: “SWEET BUT FIERCE”. The flying tourbillon at 6 o'clock provides the rhythmic pulse of the watch, marking out the seconds over the course of its one-minute rotation.

Read more here.