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Best in Show
Cigar Aficionado picks the top watches from the 2006 Swiss watch fairs
Elizabeth Doerr
From the Print Edition:
Dennis Haysbert, Nov/Dec 2006
(continued from page 1)
Under $20,000
This price class enables the consumer to pursue some real mechanical specialties, including
timepieces containing authentic manufacture movements made by centuries-old firms hailing from the
heart of Switzerland's traditional watch-making region, the Jura.
Jaeger-LeCoultre and Zenith are two prime examples of this, at home respectively in Le Sentier and Le Locle. Both companies have been making their own movements—and selling them to household names in watchmaking—for more than a century and a half.
Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX 2
Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced so many fantastic new products this year that it might have been just
as easy to fill this whole list with the brand's own offerings. In terms of originality and use in
everyday situations, the AMVOX 2 was our pick. This is an automatic chronograph (the term used for
a wristwatch that incorporates a stopwatch function), but not just any chronograph. Its movement,
which the watchmaker calls Caliber 751B, is outfitted with a brand-new vertical trigger mechanism
that should belong more to the future than the year 2006. Just press the bezel down at a certain
point and, voil, the chronograph starts. Press it again, and it stops. Though this might sound
simple, remember that this is done mechanically. Pressing the bezel sets a series of levers into
motion that transmit mechanical, not electronic, impulses to the chronograph mechanism located
deep within the movement to start, stop and reset it. The large 44 mm watch is part of the series
Jaeger-LeCoultre has created in conjunction with the automaker Aston Martin. The AMVOX 2 has been
released in three sets: 500 pieces in black steel and titanium ($14,950), 750 pieces in brushed
and polished titanium ($12,750) and 200 pieces crafted in titanium and the precious metal platinum
($28,000).
Zenith Defy Classic Open
"My work is a mix of tradition and modernity," says Thierry Nataf, chief executive officer of
Zenith. "I looked to the tradition of what we have done before, and we had this fantastic sports
collection. And I said if I do sport, I should reinvent it so that it is something that is very,
very new. And I said to myself, you know it's like I'm defying myself to find the best name for
it, as well as the best design. So I called it Defy." The new Defy collection reaches throughout
Zenith's range, ranging from simple three-hand models to exceptional tourbillons, dividing them
into "Classic" and "Xtreme" categories. Nataf's first creation upon joining Zenith in 2001, after
its takeover by LVMH, was to create the Open models, essentially making an extra window in the
dial to show off the manufacture calibers' beating hearts. Combine Open with Defy and what you get
is a phenomenal timepiece outfitted with the best that this manufacture's technology and Nataf's
design sensibilities have to offer. The Defy Classic Open, a chronograph crafted in stainless
steel that also displays the amount of power remaining in its automatic movement, is a solid
timepiece of stunning design and lasting quality. With a black or a silver-colored dial, it can be
purchased for $10,500.
Dunhill Parody Stone
Thanks to designer Tom Bolt's bold imagination and a pinch of outrageous British humor, Dunhill
could boast an extraordinary introduction at Geneva's S.I.H.H. in 2006. The design of the new
Parody Stone models shouldn't actually work, but they do. Bolt has found a way to combine the most
famous legends of merry olde England with high-quality watchmaking to come up with an unsurpassed
horological tribute to the tale of King Arthur. Its rare obsidian dial, a shield at 12 o'clock
carrying the cross of St. George and the date in Gothic script, sword-shaped hands and case lugs
formed as parchment scrolls aren't even this watch's most unusual characteristics. This role is
assumed by the visor that is opened and closed over the dial, just like a knight's helmet. Or is
it the English bulldog engraved on the case back wearing a medieval jester's hat pulled jauntily
over one eye? You decide. Bolt also designed a platinum series of 12 of these timepieces, each one
engraved with the name of one of the knights of the Round Table on the case back and featuring a
jasper dial instead of obsidian. However, for those not belonging to the royal court, there is a
series in white gold, limited to 250 pieces ($14,400).
Under $30,000
In this price segment of the watch industry, one can obtain a great deal of mechanical ingenuity,
as confirmed by all three of our picks, but which is perhaps embodied most colorfully by
independent master watchmaker Martin Braun.
Martin Braun Notos
Based in Germany's Black Forest region, Martin Braun specializes in astronomical complications as
evidenced by its breakthrough model from 2000, Eos. Since then, Braun has annually presented mind-
boggling timepieces inspired by the heavens, including the Notos, which was introduced at
Baselworld 2006. The automatic Notos not only shows the time, but also the current month, the
equation of time and the declination. The equation of time shows the current difference between
mean time and solar time—a complication usually only seen on timepieces in a price range upward of
$75,000 that are made by the industry's biggest names—while the declination is a complication that
debuted in watchmaking with the Notos, indicating the latitude that the sun is currently found on.
The Notos is available with a white dial made of the rare Cocolong stone in stainless steel
($19,550) or 18-karat rose gold ($29,250). There's also a platinum version ($49,850).
Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Collection Le Chronographe
"It is my objective to continue to create fascinating timepieces with attractive complications,"
explains Sandro Reginelli, Maurice Lacroix's product director. "The various models in the
Masterpiece Collection should continue to be watches of today, though so compelling in their
mechanical and aesthetic perfection that their wearers are still enthusiastic about them decades
later." With the latest and greatest Masterpiece model, Le Chronographe, the young team and its
firm are well on their way toward achieving this objective. Caliber ML 106, which powers the
attractive chronograph, represents the small Saignelégier, Switzerland, company's first autonomous
movement, and it contains all the trappings of the art of traditional Swiss watchmaking. It is
available this year in a limited edition of 250 pieces in a stunning 18-karat rose gold case
($24,800). Watch enthusiasts with more modest pocket depths have to wait, as the company will be
releasing non-limited editions in other materials, such as stainless steel, in future years.
Chopard L.U.C. Tech Régulateur
Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard, has undisputedly exquisite taste, and this is
most evident where the models of his manufacture L.U.C. collection are concerned. Retaining a
classically sized stainless steel case at 39.5 mm in diameter and 9.75 mm in height, the L.U.C.
Tech Régulateur will continue to be "in" for as long as its owner would like to wear it. While its
appearance might seem confusing at first, the dial is actually of the same ilk as the Alpina: a
regulator. The hours are shown in the subdial at 3 o'clock, the minutes by the large sweep hand
and the seconds in their usual place at 6 o'clock. Additionally, the timepiece displays the
remaining power reserve at 12 o'clock and a second time zone with day/night indication at 9
o'clock. All of these functions are powered by the manually wound manufacture movement L.U.C. 4RT,
outfitted with two sets of twin spring barrels that provide a total of nine days' power reserve.
The L.U.C. Tech Régulateur is available in a limited edition of 250 pieces, retailing for
$30,590—OK, so I guess you can't have everything for under $30,000 after all.
Elizabeth Doerr is a freelance writer based in Germany.
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