Elite Traveler March-April 2015

DISCOVER

elite traveler MAR/APR 2015 ISSUE 2 38

The IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar took watch designers five years to develop

Hot dates

In January, the great and the even greater of Richemont’s horological portfolio gathered in Geneva for the 25th annual Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH). Even before the 16 exhibiting Maisons opened their doors, an emergent trend was taking shape among the pre-show announcements. And it was evident that 2015 will be the year of the

PAST TIMES

calendar. As opposed to the conventional single-date complication, calendar mechanisms display day, date and month. This seemingly facile task is made extraordinarily complex by the requirement for seamlessly interlocking wheels beneath the watch face, while factoring in the differing lengths of the months. Notable exemplars of this modish functionality include IWC, whose Portugieser Annual Calendar, complete with seven-day power reserve, proudly displays its calendar across three curved windows at the 12 o’clock position. Jaeger-LeCoultre, meanwhile, has “merely” refreshed its iconic Master Calendar, which combines apertures for day and month with a crescent-shaped pointer for the date. Then there’s the Rotonde de Cartier Grande Complication Skeleton, an astonishing illustration of watchcraft that shoehorns a flying tourbillon and astrorégulateur into its fully skeletonized 43.5mm platinum casement, alongside three centrally positioned day, date and month dials. iwc.com jaeger-lecoultre.com cartier.com

Inspired by a passion for history, haute horologist Christophe Claret has created Aventicum – a timepiece that reveals a replica gold bust, measuring less than 3mm in length, of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. The original bust was excavated near the Swiss town of Avenches in 1939. Using a mirascope, mirrors magnify and create a

hologram of the miniscule bust.

Price: Red gold and anthracite, $53,000 , christopheclaret.com

BRAND PROFILE/// BREVA GENÈVE

A former fashion entrepreneur and gallerist, Vincent Dupontreué founded his watch brand in 2010 to craft timepieces capable of “monitoring your environment”. Named after the warm southern wind that aids the agreeably mild microclimate around Lake Como in Italy, his first timepiece stemmed from the idea of a mechanical watch that could forecast the weather. After three years’ R&D, he achieved just that with the Génie 01, the first wristwatch with a barometer. Next came a high-performance altimeter – the Génie 02 – and, earlier this year, the introduction of a watch with a speedometer, the Génie 03. From $55,000, breva-watch.com

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GÉNIE 01 The world’s first mechanical

GÉNIE 02 Available in two versions, Air and Terre. The Breva Génie 02 can calculate current altitude with even greater accuracy, plus a second dial displays height above sea level in metric and imperial units.

GÉNIE 03 The first wristwatch to boast a speedometer, this ingenious design uses a retractable, miniature anemometer to measure local wind speed, displaying the results on a scale of between 12-124mph.

wristwatch displaying time, altitude and weather-forecasting barometric pressure – via two recessed aneroid capsules capable of measuring minute changes in air pressure.