Show your love with Christophe Claret's Marguerite

Christophe Claret offers a spectacular gift of love with Marguerite. As part of their first collection of watches especially created for women, Margot, the new Marguerite model is clothed in over 600 diamonds. The red gold case measures a perfect 42.5mm, and the bezel and lugs are set with over 380 diamonds of varying sizes alone.

The daisy at the center of the dial  has overlapping petals and is accented by another 220 diamonds. Two fluttering butterflies, highlighted with orange Super-LumiNova appear to float around the daisy indicating the time. The butterflies are slightly different in color, the 'female' version is darker and indicates the hours, while the 'male' version is lighter and points to the minutes. At the heart of the flower is a glistening ruby all hovering over a white mother-of-pearl dial.

The magic doesn't stop there. Hidden beneath the numbers on the dial is a message that reveals itself when the pusher at 2 o'clock is pressed. The numbers disappear to reveal the phrase: “Il m’aime passionnément” (He loves me passionately). For even more personalization, the message can be customized to be whatever is desired, within the  given number of characters allowed.

The caseback isn't left out either and provides an opportunity to admire the movement’s oscillating weight sculpted like a daisy and set with eight rubies. The daisy shape also allows the owner to indulge in a game of 'He loves me, he loves me not', by holding the watch in a horizontal position, and with one or two shakes, the weight will move for a few seconds and then stop to reveal whether the answer is yes or no!

Available in red, blue and green, in a white or red gold case, each color is a limited edition of 30 pieces. 

Graff Princess Butterfly Secret Watch

The master craftsmen at Graff have managed to transform the soft beauty and elegance of a butterfly into a delicate and intricately jeweled ladies watch. On the outside, the sculptured butterfly silhouette is made up of diamonds and gemstones, all invisibly set, and reminiscent of the natural butterfly’s wings. 

Hidden under the wings is the 'secret', the watch. To reveal the time the wearer simply presses on one of the diamonds in the body of the butterfly, and the wings slide open revealing the watch inside. 

Crafted out of white gold, the case is set with 66 baguette diamonds and sapphires. There are four different variations; Full diamond, ruby, sapphire and diamonds with sapphire detail. The invisible setting, created in the 1930's, requires small grooves to be cut in the underside of each diamond or gemstone allowing them to slide onto a grid hidden beneath the stones. Not only that, but the color of the stones needs to be color-matched and sized precisely, so that they preserve the overall beauty and delicate curvature of the butterfly wings. 

Looks like Graff has managed to capture nature beautifully. 

Romain Gauthier Insight Micro-Rotor – Baselworld 2017

With Baselworld launching tomorrow, more new watches are being released, and now we have the Insight Micro-Roto from Romain Gauthier. For this timepiece, the hour, minute and small second indications are powered by a beautifully hand-finished, in-house calibre built from the ground up and boasting bidirectional micro-rotor made from 22k solid white gold, which is visible not only from the back of the dial, but also from the front. 

The name Insight refers to the highly visible movement within the case, allowing the wearer to gain an insight to the beautiful movement, finishing, and the rotor. 

Two versions of the case watch have been released, one in red gold and one in platinum. Each are available with a choice of three with oven-fired dials, white enamel, black enamel and blue enamel.

Each dial/case version is issued in a limited edition of 10 pieces. 

Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Papillon Automate

Out of the house of Van Cleef & Arpels is another stunning work of art that one can forget also tells the time. The dial is full of soft shades of blues, greens and mauves, and is reminiscent of a scene from Monet's garden. Resting on top of the dial set with round and pear-cut diamonds, blue and mauve sapphires, champlevé and paillonné enamel, and a mother-of-pearl, plique-à-jour, is a blue enameled butterfly. Not a static butterfly by any means, this butterfly beats it wings during each hour, more frequently so when worn. Since Van Cleef & Arpels know how the owner of the watch will love the movement of the butterfly, the wings can also be activated on command by pushing the button on the side of the case, and they will then beat five times consecutively. 

The diamond set white gold case measures 38 mm and the crown is set with an additional diamond. The watch has a blue alligator strap and a diamond set white gold pin buckle.

Imperiali Genève Emperador - The Most Prestigious Cigar Cabinet Ever Made

Inspired by watchmaking, but all about the enjoyment of your cigar. That's the premise of Imperiali Genève's Emperador, the million dollar cigar chest. On the outside, it is impressive, and measuring 27" wide, almost 18" wide, and just under 12" high, you aren't going to miss it. The exterior is black lacquer with gold details, and a tourbillon with a black guilloche dial sits atop the chest. 

To open the chest you will need your personal security code. Each of the letters of the word IMPERIALI surrounding the tourbillon also feature numbers, and you press these to enter your secret code. Inside are a multitude of additional features, 24 gold wrapped cigars, each in an individual glass sleeve, a self-regulating humidity system, along with a laser-guided guillotine cigar-cutter, a table lighter and an electronic ashtray, all displayed on a tray that takes up the lower portion of the chest. 

More than two years of work went into the development of the chest, and is a collaboration of about 100 craftsmen. 

Annual production will be limited to 12 units.

Pre-Basel - Arnold & Son HM Falcon

Arnold & Son has just released a the HM Falcon Unique Piece as part of their Métiers d’Art collection. The hand painted falcon is set on a mother-of-pearl dial and the artist uses delicate nuances of colors and tones, using tiny brushstrokes and texturing gradually to build-up the entire image, which results in a stunning finished design, full of depth. 

Human love of falcons goes back many centuries. In ancient Egypt, the falcon was deified as Horus, the god of the sky and kingship. In other civilizations and cultures, the falcon symbolizes vision, agility and victory. Falconry can also be traced back to early China, where records indicate they were being used by humans to hunt. They were also used as royal gifts in the Heian dynasty in China, dating back to 2205 BC.

The unique piece comes with an ultra-thin A&S1001 manufacture movement with over 90 hours of power reserve; and is housed in an 18-karat rose gold case, with a brown alligator strap. The case can also be adorned with a diamond set bezel if desired.

Green with Envy - The Kerbedanz Tree of Life

Not many people are familiar with a small but exceptionally talented watch brand called Kerbedanz. They create small batch high end watches, which are filled with references to cultural and ethnic values that are represented in the finishing on the components of the mechanical movements, as well as on the surfaces and reliefs of the dials. 

The Tree of Life - a worldwide symbol of immortality - is no exception and depicts an ancient, flowering tree planted in a mossy undergrowth.The 18K yellow gold case and lugs are literally covered with emeralds, 540 in total. The stunning dial features enamel in the background which reflects a myriad of green, and a yellow gold tree with diamond accents which was designed, manufactured and hand decorated by Kerbedanz.

Only 41 pieces will be made, and each one is set on a green alligator strap. 

Let's see what they have in store for us at Baselworld 2017.

Pre Basel 2017 - Harry Winston Avenue Classic Cherry Blossom

You just can't help getting excited about what's new from Harry Winston, and I already see that a little something has caught my eye. With spring looming in just a few weeks, Harry Winston has released the Avenue Classic Cherry Blossom.

Set in an 18K white gold case, the soft blue-green dial is crafted from mother-of-pearl with a delicate cherry blossom design set with 29 brilliant-cut pink sapphires and 39 brilliant-cut diamonds on white gold branches. An additional 39 brilliant-cut diamonds adorn the case. The movement is quartz, which does nothing to detract from the beauty of the design, and the whole effect is completed with a green-blue alligator leather strap.

Unique Piece from Angelus Watches

In 2015 Angelus was revived and released it's first watch. Not wanting to copy anything that was produced in the early days of the brand, they took inspiration from their multi dial alarm clocks and made a watch that just couldn't have been made when the brand originally existed - the Angelus U10 Tourbillon Lumiere. The spectacular piece had two massive openings one for the retro 70's-square-tv-style dial, and the other to highlight the massive floating tourbillon.

Now in 2017, a special unique piece has been released with an unexpected addition, paying tribute to the old tradition of Mexican Calaveras, used mainly to celebrate . The colorful skull has been added to the dial side, while Día de los Muertos. 

Priced at $118,500, this is the first unique piece from the Angelus U10 art collection.

Show A Little Timely Love for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day will soon be here and the gift dilemma is in full swing. Here are a few beautiful options for the gift of time for her.

 

Harry Winston Premier Precious Love - Limited Edition of 14 Pieces

If you want to show how much you love your partner everyday, this is a stunning piece to make that happen. The dial is exquisite with ten heart-shaped rubies and 47 brilliant-cut diamonds set over a white mother of pearl latticework frame, over a pink mother of pearl background. The minute and hour hands are set into the center of a flower made of overlapping hearts, and below is another heart, outlined with six of the ten heart-shaped rubies.

The white gold case measures 36mm and is also set with 57 brilliant-cut diamonds, and is topped off with an pink satin or an alligator leather strap with white gold buckle, and adorned with 17 brilliant-cut diamonds. 

Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Astorite - Limited Edition of 28 Pieces

If your valentine prefers a more minimalist dial, then this may be the one. The 35mm 18kt red gold case is set with 232 diamonds, and the dial is taken from a pale pink rare gem called Astorite. The minute and hour hands are set into a white mother of pearl sub dial at 12 o'clock. 

The watch is available on a hand-made grey satin strap with an 18kt red gold buckle.

de Grisogono New Retro

If rubies are the winner, then this is the watch for you. Simply stunning in color from top to bottom, the pink gold case is set with 70 baguette cut rubies, and the dial has an additional 60. Continuing the glorious color combination, the ruby galuchat strap also has a pink gold folding clasp set with another 112 rubies. The crown set at 12 o'clock adds to the symmetry of the design. 

Audemars Piguet Diamond Outrage

This white gold watch comes with outrageous spikes covered in either white diamonds or blue sapphires, equaling about 65 carats worth of stones. To tell the time you open one of the spikes to reveal the dial. It might contain a quartz movement, but at this point, who cares! It's edgier than most watches out there, but all I can say is, it works for me!

Urwerk's UR-106 Flower Power Limited Edition of 11 Pieces

Continuing the theme of something a  little different, lets take a look at the Urwerk UR-106 Flower Power. There is no doubting that this is an Urwerk, however the recognizable shape has been transformed into a dazzling diamond encrusted watch instead of the snake skin pattern we usually see. The single block steel case is set with 239 Top Wesselton quality diamonds, plus the dial's central flower in white gold set with 30 brilliant-cut diamonds (0.184 ct), and a further 3 small flowers in white gold set with 6 brilliant-cut diamonds (0.522 ct).  

Favorite Watches of 2016 - Arnold & Son

I absolutely loved this Arnold & Son UTTE Skeleton, even more so when I learned from Arnold & Son head of innovation that the movement was redesigned from scratch, it wasn’t just the movement from the previously releases UTTE. That piece was never intended to have the dial removed, and would not have held up to the high standards of Arnold & Son design, so the entire movement was rethought out. The result, a stunning piece of machinery that also happened to be the thinnest skeleton tourbillon on the market when it was released.