Elite Traveler January-February 2019

STYLE WOMEN’S WATCHES

by Kristen Shirley

AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK OFFSHORE

GIRARD-PERREGAUX LAUREATO SUMMER EDITION After relaunching the Laureato in 2017 with a unisex 38mm size, Girard- Perregaux decks out the iconic octagonal case with seriously fun colors in its Summer Edition series. The watches range from striking turquoise to vibrant yellow, each limited to 75 pieces. The rich blue model, one of the more classic colors, features a lacquered Clous de Paris guilloché dial and comes with a matching rubber strap. The steel watch is set with differently sized diamonds, the largest at each point of the octagon. The in-house movement has a 46-hour power reserve and is decorated with Côtes de Genève stripes. $14,400, Wempe in New York, +1 212 397 9000, girard-perregaux.com CHOPARD HAPPY OCEAN When is a dive watch not a dive watch? Chopard’s Happy Ocean has all of the technical requirements to explore the underwater world, but its Happy Diamonds obscure part of the dial, preventing certification. It’s water resistant to 300meters; to put that into perspective, recreational divers are certified to reach depths of 30meters, or 100 ft. The 40mm case holds a self- winding movement with 60-hour power reserve, unidirectional rotating bezel, screw-locked crown and luminous hands, hour markers and diving indications. Even non-divers will appreciate its beautiful deep blue dial that recalls the ocean and pink strap that represents coral. $8,370, chopard.com SELFWINDING CHRONOGRAPH This ladies Royal Oak Offshore packs quite a punch in its 37mm case. We love the contrast between the vivid plum color (it’s part of a series of wildly colored watches called Funky Colors) and traditional high-horology finishings. The dial showcases its signature Tapisserie motif, here called Lady Tapisserie, which takes seven hours to create using traditional guilloché techniques. The automatic movement features an integrated chronograph with date, small seconds, 30-minute counter and hour- and half-hour counter. The screw-locked crown means you can even go scuba diving with it; it’s water resistant to 50 meters. $29,300, Audemars Piguet in New York, +1 888 214 6868, audemarspiguet.com

24HOURS

ANACTIVEWINTER GETAWAY REQUIRES A WATCH THAT CAN KEEP UP, WHETHER YOU’RE HITTING THE SLOPES OR THE SURF. THERE’S NO NEED TO SACRIFICE STYLE FOR FUNCTIONWITH ONE OF THESE BRIGHTLY COLORED MECHANICALWATCHES Sporty Style or brown sunburst dials. The steel model with blue dial looks especially sporty, while Ref 7300/1201 in 18K rose gold brings the glamour with 469 diamonds on the bezel, lugs and bracelet. Twenty~4 Automatic in steel from$26,083, in 18K rose gold from $45,361, Gearys in Beverly Hills, California, +1 310 887 4250, patek.com The breadth of its mechanical women’s watch collections separates Patek Philippe frommany esteemed marques who design serious men’s watches, yet only create quartz watches for women. Its collections range from an exquisite, manual-winding, high-jewelry Gondolo to the ultra-sporty Nautilus and the elegant Calatrava. And with the recent launch of the Twenty~4 Automatic (which previously only had a quartz movement), now every collection has a mechanical option. This new watch has a 36mm round case and luminous-coated applied Arabic numbers, which marks a striking departure from the previous rectangular case with Roman numerals and diamond indexes. There’s a new date window at 6 o’clock, and a thin hand shows sweeping seconds. An open caseback allows you to see the fine finishings of Caliber 324 S C; the movement has a 45-hour power reserve and currently appears in several men’s models. It comes in a steel or 18K rose gold case, both with diamond-set bezels, and a silk-inspired silvery dial or blue, grey