Extracting The 2013 Awesome Prix d Horlogerie de Geneve Accolades.

I remember many years ago I became part of a thread on one of this popular view community forums. we said that it was too poor we weren't alive throughout the 40s-60s, everything I had thought about the "Golden Age" of physical watches. It seemed like back after that, needless to say, all watches had been mechanized, and a lot of seemed rather affordable, even considering inflation. But another poster quickly set myself correct. He pointed down that were were living in the Golden Age of mechanical watches right now! After a few moments of consideration We realized he had been absolutely correct. A stronger debate could be made that we live in a Golden chronilogical age of mechanical watches now. We now have the ultra-high-end brands such as MB&F, Patek, Lange, De Bethune, etc. We now have independents these as Roger Smith, Parmigiani, Peter Speake-Marin, Kari Voutilainen, Richard Mille, and F.P. Journe. And this is perhaps all besides the usual suspects like Rolex, Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and dozens of other people. But for people without deep pockets there are other choices. A fan of mechanical watches can pick-up a Russian Vostok automatic for well under $100. And you'll find a seemingly limitless wide range of Seiko Diver options under $300 and Seiko 5 options for under $75. And do not forget, the Vostok and Seiko (do not forget Orient) automatics are true in-house movements, something which many of the mid-tier Swiss brands can only claim with their hands crossed behind their backs and a wink. Where I'm going with all of this is the fact that the 2011 edition of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (sometimes referred to as the "Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix") honors were recently finished. This function is a type of industry gathering at which the Swiss watch industry fetes its very own. It isn't really quite obvious to me how much associated with the event is marketing self-promotion by the business, and exactly how much is more "pure." irrespective, for all of us watch supporters, it's another opportunity to look at the products and companies we all like. The honors are selected by a section selected by, well, I'm not completely sure just how you becomes chosen to be from the section of judges. I will envision a Swiss castle with Pascal Raffy at the door, and puffs of white and black colored smoke coming away from a chimney as candidates are selected. "Developed in 2001, and as for this year 2011 under the aegis of the Geneva Watchmaking great Prix Foundation, this event is intended to salute the excellence of worldwide horological production, and annually rewards the finest creations and the most vital figures in the watchmaking globe. It thereby contributes to promoting horology and its prime principles – namely innovation ..." The 2011 awards were held on November 19th. Cutting towards the chase, the top prize champion was the De Bethune DB28, which took home the coveted Aiguille d’Or honor. As I've mentioned before, I think that De Bethune features the slickest looking moonphase complication. The brand is actually a breathing of fresh air in a globe of Rolex Submariner homages together with like. Perhaps not that I dislike the Sub, it's just that it's wonderful to see some different new designs. And also the prizes are given in large part according to invention, both technical and layout. "The worldwide jury of the 11th model, made up of watchmaking specialists, honored the "Aiguille d’Or" Grand Prix, the supreme award honouring the best watch of the 12 months, to the DB28 model by De Bethune." The Best Men’s view award went to the Hermès Arceau Le Temps Suspendu. I really didn't expect this; most of us don't think of Hermès when we all think of great Swiss/French watchmaking. Perform read Ariel's review of this watch from earlier in the entire year. "The view itself arrives in a 43mm wide case in metal and also as a limited release of 174 pieces in 18k rose gold. The Arceau design case provides a more pronounced lug structure on the top and suavely rounded numerals that seem to run around the dial. ... The retrograde date dial is surprisingly easy to study and I love the way the arms looks to come out of nowhere. Inside the watch is an automatic watches for men physical movement with the special time suspended module that was specially designed for the watch." The greatest Design Watch award had been awarded to 1 of my personal favorite brands, Urwerk, for their stunning UR-110. Skipping the technical details, the UR-110 is however another crazy-cool development through the geniuses inside Urwerk. Comparable to De Bethune, these people continue being iconoclasts and shake-up the watch industry. Urwerk describes this watch ... "The UR-110 indicates time by means of a revolving satellite complication on planetary gears featuring three synchronous hour/minute modules resembling torpedoes. The time is displayed from the right side of the watch, with the satellites following a vertical line - 0 to 60 minutes - in a downward motion. The ingenuity of this design is based on allowing the individual to view the time discreetly and elegantly without the necessity to pull back a cuff." And another of the most extremely slick features? The dial side Control Board features an "Oil Change" indication to alert the user whenever it is time for a service. Amazing. The movement is automatic with 46 jewels and a solitary barrel. Urwerk again implements their air turbines as part of the wandering system. Carry out not miss Ariel's hands-on glance at this view with pics. Together with endorsed Urwerk video? Additionally worth your own time. The Best Complicated Watch reward had been awarded to Zenith for their amazing Academy Christophe Colomb Equation of Time. It's good to see the Zenith ship back on a sensible training course after a significant management shake-up and the sundown from the Theirry Nataf era. The Christophe Colomb is another over-the-top creation, and I like every little bit of it. Undoubtedly, there might still be some really good Nataf DNA in the toubillon of this piece, to his credit score rating. To start with look it looks muck like the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyrotourbillon. And given the bubble housing the complication, owners should always be EXTREMELY mindful when dealing with doorways! ;-) Ariel's review of this watch describes the make-up for the tourbillon: "An escapement on gimbals that moves around such that the escapement more or less is always positioned the same place. ... At the base of the "gear ball" is a polished gold fat that will keep the entire thing pointed in just the right direction. ... the "tourbillon" in the Christophe Colomb moves only with the effectiveness of gravity."  Very what are the surprises right here? There are three surprises personally:     We must admit that I never ever will have likely to find out anything from Hermès here, they're undoubtedly maybe not among the normal suspects.    It ended up being a bit of a surprise to see label Heuer represented here. They're normally considered the high-end of the mall watch world, somewhat out of place with the rest for this group as a brand name. TAG Heuer does do a little cutting-edge work with innovation, yet not a lot of it appears to make it out of the lab (think Monaco V4 and gear drives)    And rather conspicuous by their absence? Greubel Forsey, MB&F, and Harry Winston. As an aside, I sometimes wonder if Rolex get's not enough credit score rating for its slow but especially useful and practical innovations? The Parachrom hairspring for instance? Though a development like that certainly isn't flashy and has essentially no visual appeal. And while I on the whole love the choices, we however get the Hermès option a bit of a head-scratcher. It had been selected throughout the Laurent Ferrier Galet Micro-rotor therefore the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time? I do wonder just how a lot of pressure, implicit or explicit, the judging panel is under to make their choices either common or in-step with "approved" choices. When reading various watch publications one wonders why all of us can go years without reading a poor review, and why excuses are often generated for the periodic poor group rating. We all of training course ask yourself in the event that anxiety about offending an advertiser (current or potential) is the cause. I've no clue what forces are at play in these honors, but I think it would be naive to assume you'll find none at all. Regardless of my nit-picky opinions, awards and events like the great Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève tend to be indeed fun for all of us watch buffs. They keep us entertained throughout the year, hopefully holding us over until we become to start talking about Basel 2012 in simply a few months. ;-) And in addition to getting good entertainment, they're also good for buyers. Most of these events keep competitive pressure on the watch manufactures to continue to innovate and introduce new systems and products. Customers winnings in the end.