Hermès amazed with its representation of the Earth
For over a decade I have been attending the SIHH , which in Spanish reads Salón Internacional de la Haute Horlogerie. Over the years and with each edition, I am getting more pleasure from traveling to the corners where the exhibiting brands were born (35 this year!), despite the fact that the real protagonists are the watches exhibited as if on an international catwalk. of trends, which watch lovers will wear on the wrists of all the world.
And you don't really have to make a lot of effort to undertake the visit as a journey, because the singularity and spectacularity of their stands make us forget for a moment about the product to move us to a world of luxury with accents of multicultural territories. And holding the imaginary bottle that invites me with a “drink me” of fantastic logic, I immerse myself in the 29th edition of the SIHH in Geneva to, from a different size than usual, travel the length and breadth of four countries and 35 brands.
This room is a kind of ** Swiss FITUR ** and, of course, a watchmaker. Because although the vast majority of firms are swiss (because they export, depending on the year, up to 95% of the watches in the world), the industry is not the exclusive heritage of this nation, in the same way that neither chocolate nor cheese is, no matter how much we try to sell like this. In fact, and although the vast majority of watch brands are Swiss, there are also German, French, Italian, English, Japanese, Chinese and even spanish.
The Piaget Society beach
Although it is not a fairly common definition, not to say something shocking, watchmaking is like the towns of Castilla y León: i infinite and easily related . Perhaps they think that the simile could have been established with the Swiss localities, which organized in cantons are also legion, but surely in these the typical question of "And who are you from?" It is not a refrain that is part of the rural culture, because, as we have seen, the borders are diluted by Europe and Asia.
But back to the Hall. A fortnight of brands exhibited here serve to show us that not all the gold in the watches that glitters is one hundred percent Swiss. Audemars Piguet , Baume & Mercier , Bovet , Girard-Perregaux , Greubel Forsey , IWC , Jaeger-LeCoultre , Piaget , roger dubuis , Ulysses Nardin Y Vacheron-Constantin are our Swiss destinations and range from the cosmopolitan Geneva (Roger Dubuis, Piaget and Vacheron Constantin) to Joux Valley and the Côte-aux-Fées, going by Les Boises, where Baume & Mercier was born -whose bets for this year are Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar and Classima Lady-. By the way: one of the most important production sites for the most famous Swiss watches, the Joux Valley, has more jobs than inhabitants, given the plentiful French workforce, which lives not far from its outskirts.
Leaving Vallorbe, the little train of the Vallée de Joux meanders through bucolic pastures, stopping at farmhouses that seem from another era. Conifer-covered hills obscure the horizon of this enclosed valley. At an altitude of 1,000 metres, in the extreme north-west of the canton of Vaud, its harsh winters earned it the name of the Siberia of Vaud. For this reason, watchmaking easily took root there (there was not much else to be entertained, apart from practicing winter sports...). Today, in the Vallée de Joux, there is evident satisfaction that towns like Le Brassus either the feeling (which merged to form the commune of Chenit) are known by watch lovers in China or Japan.
At the end of the small lake that gives its name to the valley, the commune of Chenit condenses the industrial activities of the region. Audemars Piguet and Jaeger-LeCoultre first, and later Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, Blancpain and Patek Philippe have established their production plants here.
Switzerland is the great cradle of watchmaking
Jaeger-LeCoultre gives us a natural space made up of an authentic forest in all its extension, with the odor reproduced by hyper-precise air fresheners in its olfactory sensation and made up of ten fir trees from Le Sentier, which will later be transplanted back to their place of origin. In the middle of this nature reserve lies the jewel in the crown presented this year: Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster Perpetual, an exquisite piece edited in just 18 units.
Audemars Piguet, which this year has stunned with the launch of its new collection Code 11.59 (halfway between the conventional round clock and the geometry of edges), and which has generated so much controversy, sports a stand of pure design and functionality; not in vain, it is the manufacture most directly linked to the world of contemporary art, since ArtBasel a BOW , and equipped with an Art Commission whose main objective is to contribute to global innovation by supporting artists who explore ideas related to complexity, precision, technology and science. With this idea in mind, the brand moves its avant-garde concepts to Basel, Miami, Hong King and Madrid.
On the other side, the Chaux-des-Fonds (the birthplace of **Le Corbusier** and the highest in Europe), along with neighboring LeLocle, were inscribed on the World Heritage List of the UNESCO on June 27, 2009 for his "exemplary symbiosis between urbanism and the watch industry." The art Deco, the great villas, a snowy or shimmering and impeccably green fairytale landscape populated by trees, cows and pastures; these are its charms.
Jaeger-LeCoultre reproduced a forest
For its part, Le Locle is located in the mountains of swear , a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds , and it is the center of the Swiss watch industry. The city has one of the first watchmaking museums in the world, the ** Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle, Château des Monts **, located in a 19th-century farmhouse on a hill north of Le Locle. In a cave, one kilometer west of the city center, are several underground mills restored oil and grains.
Greubel Forsey he built her manufactory on a 17th-century farmhouse at La-Chaux-de-Fonds. The author of the building is the French architect based in Switzerland, Pierre Studer , restorer of Le Corbusier's Villa Schowb. The building is characterized by inclined pillars on the facade, a clear reference to the mechanism of tourbillon inclined developed by the firm and that has become its main sign of identity, as evidenced by his latest piece, Art Piece Historic Edition , limited edition to 33 units.
Not far from there, in the canton of Neuchatel, it's found fleurier , where it is located Parmigiani Fleurier , the brand founded in 1996 by Michel Parmigiani, a great watchmaker and restorer of antique pieces. Less than three kilometers from this town is the Chateau de Motiers , family property Bovet, where the assembly and decoration of the most select pieces of the house are carried out. originally called Vauxtravers , dominates the village of Môtiers and the whole of the Val-de-Travers. Built at the beginning of the 14th century by Rodolphe IV, Count of Neuchâtel, it has been occupied over the centuries by the lords of the Val-de-Travers. In 1835, the State sold it to Henri-François DuBois-Bovet. The descendants of the Bovet family donated it to the canton of Neuchâtel in 1957.
Recital 26 Brainstorm Chapter One is the new creation of the house, which inside its sapphire "stand" case, houses three patents, a flying tourbillon, a threedimensional Moon Phase, large date and a ten-day power reserve.
Pierre Studer's building for Greubel Forsey
On the Swiss side we only have to mention Schafhausen , a city-state of the Middle Ages, located to the north, 50 kilometers from Zürich , whose greatest attraction is its rhine falls , the same attraction that, although of a different type, reigns in the stand of IWC Schafhausen , the brand identified with this region.
At its center is the Silver Spitfire original (British single-seater used during World War II), which visitors can admire up close. The stand has been designed as if it were the wing of an airplane , combining elements of luxury and engineering with the nostalgic dream of flying.
In this way, IWC accentuates the extraordinary stylistic diversity of its aviator watches. Several IWC ambassadors ( Bradley Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Dev Patel, James Marsden, Sonam Kapoor, Adriana Lima, and Karolina Kurkova, among others) visited the stand to learn about the new models: Spitfire, TOP GUN and Le Petit Prince.
The Vacheron Constantin manufactory is a house assiduous to travel. In 2016 he announced an exceptional collaboration with the famous American photographer Steve McCurry, going around the world with the model Overseas, capturing with his unique gaze twelve places on the planet , and a year later, he handed over to Latin American photographers to do the same on your continent.
In addition to its two-time clock, it offers us beautiful spheres populated by pandas and tigers in the unique pieces of its new collection, Cabinotiers Mecaniques Sauvages, a trip to a nature far removed from the hectic modern world in which seconds are crucial and that this year the firm measures in two speeds with its incredible Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar.
the dream of flying
Piaget invites us to experience his philosophy Sunny Side of Life on the beach of the Piaget Society , where the sun shines ignoring the closed structure of the Hall. The Maison has transformed the stand for the occasion into a holiday experience where visitors can relax with music and cocktails while they discover the new creations of watches and jewelery -u climate very far from its two production centers in Plan-les-Ouates and the Côte-aux-Fées-. In this case, Altiplano, Possession and Extremely Lady They are its main dishes: ultra-flat men's watches and jewelery for women's wrists, on the move, or with a delicate retro touch.
The third of the Genevan manufactures, ** Roger Dubuis **, is territory Lamborghini and Pirelli. Inspired by its Italian partners, the complicated watch Excalibur One-Off is based on the Lamborghini SC18 Alston supercar, recently unveiled as the first car co-designed at the request of a client by the firm's competition division, Lamborghini Squadra Corse, and for him Lamborghini Style Center.
precisely to Italy moves us panerai . In 1860, Officine Panerai was a 58-meter store located in Piazza San Giovanni , in the heart of Florence; today it reaches an area of 285 square meters. In addition to being enlarged, the historic boutique was renovated by the Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola -interior designer of the 71 boutiques of the brand in the world-, respecting the concept of original workshop. In it you can find the coveted limited and special editions for boutique.
Roger Dubuis is Lamborghini and Pirelli territory
In the Hall we discover all the novelties for this year, of which we highlight the Chrono Guillaume Néry Submersible Edition , inspired by the french freediving champion with whom we have the honor to talk about his next projects around the world.
But, leaving the valleys and the United Nations headquarters city, traveling through the 55,000 square meters of the palexpo , we move to the neighbor France , a Paris more specifically, to the also nearby Germany -Saxony and hamburg -, or Italy, to the Renaissance square of the Florentine Duomo, where Panerai has its historic store.
And it is that the hands of the clocks, on those perfect and legible spheres, unstructured or grand feu enamelled, with animals taken from the Chinese calendar or with erotic scenes drawn by Milo Manara (legendary Italian cartoonist of erotic comics, who decorates the dials of a limited series of ten Classico watches from Ulysses Nardin ), refer us to a time in which the ticking can leave us in the Place Vendome , where Cartier either Hermes they open the doors of their luxury -oneiric, the other legendary-. But, before continuing, a clarification: the ticking is a poetic license: in this room it is mostly automatic , that is to say, with a "dragging" cadence and not jumping like the one produced by quartz. We continue.
Entering the Cartier stand is like being swallowed by a jungle in which the panther has been the absolute queen for more than a century. So much so, that some journalists joke about the need to set up a pro-rescue platform for the Cartier panther, to let it rest from its long reign over the dials of its beautiful creations, always different, always surprising, to be replaced by a new equally feline regent, perhaps. But we said that it was a jungle, that of good taste and chic luxury, of course, because if Cartier is synonymous with something, it is glamour. The collection Panthere well, but also Saints , are their main dishes.
Cartier's panther deserves a break
From glamor to the world of sweets there are only a few meters. Enter the booth Richard Mille is to make it to a world of candy, cotton clouds and licorice. Sweet matter and color hang from the ceiling, impregnate the rooms and materialize in gifts that are generously distributed among the visitors.
Ten models make up the new collection bonbon . Nothing to do with boring watchmaking, but with the eccentricities that this Frenchman has accustomed us to, which reminds us that genius has a point of craziness , as long as it is supported by the most avant-garde technique. Needless to say, your candy watches by now will be all sold despite their astronomical prices. After all, the products of this Frenchman gained even more notoriety when he Rafael Nadal they stole a tourbillon of the brand valued at €500,000.
Although he manufactures in Switzerland, Richard Mille lives with his family in a french brittany castle which integrates small offices in its garden, in an effort to reconcile work and family life. Specifically, in the town of Moubouan, located near Rennes , somewhat far from Paris -which does not prevent him from sending a private plane to receive his guests-.
Hermès, synonymous with discreet and refined luxury, does not hesitate to attract attention with the same elements that define it in its second participation in the SIHH. your space is as minimalist as it is impressive: a balloon which measures 3.5 meters in diameter is suspended in the air and rotates slowly to represent the planet Land . Its surface is covered with 20,480 triangular tiles made up of photovoltaic cells . The installation, by the Japanese artist Hideki Yoshimoto, offers a cosmic journey in which the opportunity to dream takes on all its meaning.
Bonbon, the funniest collection
Inside, the refinement has a new member in the French family: gallop , created by the designer Ini Archibong, which has been inspired by the tack collections of the Conservatory of Creations , which has more than 40,000 objects that represent the heritage of the house.
Germany is our last destination. at the booth of A. Lange & Söhne , presided over by a clock the size of gulliver's Worlds, you can go back to taste a good Beer jar or some exquisite and recent pretzel . Well, and also its highly coveted and exclusive watches, only made in noble materials , like their new Zeitwerk Date or Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon.
Founded on December 7, 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange As a pocket watch production workshop, the A. Lange & Söhne manufactory is established in Glashutte , cradle of German watchmaking, to which a spectacular museum is dedicated. Is this a village of sober homes, with a bell tower, a mighty river and a couple of inns run by couples of plump Saxons and bars that close early, but where you can eat delicious food and serve what is probably the best beer in the world –any of the dozens of them, for being produced under the rigors of the traditional Bavarian method-.
The Girard-Perregaux stand, futuristic
Hamburg is, after Berlin, the second most populous city and one of the most visited in Germany. That's where he was born Montblanc in 1906. It is essential to take a tour of its port, the second largest in Europe, which occupies almost an eighth of the city. Next to it was built in the 19th century a complex of red brick and glazed warehouses that grew in arms or channels, in the style of a Post Industrial Venice, today known as Speicherstadt and have been converted into shopping, cultural and leisure centers.
But you can't ignore the Swiss part of Montblanc either, Villeret, Where is he Movement Center of Excellence and Innovation , located in the same building where the legendary Minerva, where the house assembles all the movements carried out internally.
At its stand one reconnects with nature to enjoy the pleasure of fresh air, combining natural wood, lush plant-covered walls and stunning mountain views in a multi-sensory experience. And by the way, enjoy a cocktail with your ambassador, Hugh Jackman and friends of the brand Isabeli Fontana, David Gandy, Aldo Comas, Juan Avellaneda, Lawrence Wong, Sveva Alviti, Nanni Saul, Numan Acar, Mr. Kira, and Blanda Eggenschwiler. The watch that can best accompany us on this journey is the 1858 Split Second Chronograph.
Exhausted, but fascinated, we return to Madrid with the feeling of having traveled thousands of kilometers without ever leaving the Palexpo. Well, only to taste the exquisite Geneva cuisine, from whose example we discovered a restaurant off the beaten track that we have loved: The Philosophers , at number 5 Rue Prévost-Martin.