<h3>CARTIER</h3>
<p>Steeped in equal amounts of history and whimsy, Cartier has been right up there with the top watch and jeweler brands. It was founded by Louis-François Cartier in 1847, whose pieces were very popular amongst members of royal families, movie stars and the über wealthy—King Edward VII of England once referred to Cartier as “the jeweler of kings and the king of jewelers”. Cartier’s watch designs and movements have evolved over the years but it remains true to itself with many of their pieces, such as the Tank, only changing to reflect current fashion trends.</p>
<p>The Tank MC Skeleton is made from palladium and is a self-winding watch, the first movement produced by Cartier. It has an oscillating weight and its entire mechanism is visible through the sapphire case back. The Tank MC Skeleton has a power reserve of three days and is water resistant up to 30m. It is made from 138 individual parts, 20 jewels and at its widest side is 43.90mm.</p>
<h4>Price: $49,340</h4>
<h3>PANERAI</h3>
<p>Giovanni Panerai opened his first shop on the Ponte delle Grazie bridge in Florence in 1860. The watchmaker began producing watches for the Royal Italian Navy and in 1916 patented Radiomir, a radium-based powder that illuminates in the dark, which was used in its submersible watches. The design of Panerai has changed very little in the 153 years that it has been producing timepieces. The watchmaker produces a limited number of pieces, with just 70,000 released to the market annually.</p>
<p>The Panerai Radiomir 3 Days Oro Rosso, while simple in design, is made using 162 components and 21 jewels. It is quite chunky at 47 millimeters (mm) in diameter and 5.3mm thick and has a power reserve of three days. The back is made from clear sapphire crystal and the watch is water resistant up to 50 meters.</p>
<h4>Price: $23,610</h4>
<h3>PIAGET</h3>
<p>Georges Édouard Piaget started his first workshop on his family’s farm in Switzerland in 1874 by making high-precision movements that were supplied to other watchmakers. Piaget gained fame as word of his expertise spread and in 1943, the company registered the brand, selling and designing watches under the Piaget name. Piaget’s grandsons grew the founder’s legacy and footprint, making Piaget watches internationally recognized and sought-after timepieces.</p>
<p>The Piaget Altiplano Date is a classic Piaget piece with a caliber 1205P, the world’s thinnest automatic movement at just 3mm, housed in a record-breaking 6.36mm case. The sapphire crystal case shows the 221 parts and 27 jewels used in the design. It has a 44-hour power and comes in two variations: 18-carat white gold with a black alligator leather strap or 18-carat rose gold with a brown alligator strap.</p>
<h4>Price: $26,740</h4>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN</h3>
<p>The International Watch Company (IWC) was founded in Schaffhausen, in the east of Switzerland in 1868 by American-born Florentine Ariosto Jones—once a director at E. Howard &amp; Co., America’s leading watchmaking company at the time. IWC quickly made a name for itself by using the precision of Swiss craftsmanship blended with modern American engineering technology. It is this combination that has kept the demand high for watches produced by IWC.</p>
<p>The IWC’s Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Edition, or Le Petit Prince, is limited to just 270 pieces and makes use of a Pellaton automatic winding system—a mechanical movement that allows for a seven-day power reserve when fully wound. Made with an 18-carat gold medallion featuring an engraving of Le Petit Prince, it has a perpetual calendar with displays for the date, day, month and year in four digits as well as a perpetual moon phase.</p>
<h4>Price: $47,020</h4>
<h3>ROGER DUBUIS</h3>
<p>Roger Dubuis is a relative newcomer on the luxury watches scene but since its establishment, by Carlos Dias and its namesake founder Roger Dubuis in 1995, it has been a pioneer in its own right. It produces the only flying tourbillon watch in the world—a highly sophisticated movement. It is also the only watchmaker in the world whose entire collection carries the Poinçon de Genève; the most sought after certification that can be bestowed upon a watch.</p>
<p>Roger Dubuis’ Skeleton Flying Tourbillon features a hand-wound mechanical movement with a power reserve of 60 hours and is water resistant to 30 meters. Its case has a diameter of 42mm and the watch is comprised of 165 components with 19 jewels. The design makes use of the currently very popular pink gold in its case, clasp and screws, which is all brought together with a genuine alligator, hand-stitched brown strap.</p>
<h4>Price: On request</h4>


29818

Time To Shine

<p>Whether your Swiss timepiece is a statement accessory—an expensive piece of ticktockery that screams your success to the world—or acquired because you are in love with the high precision, micro-technologies beneath that expensive watch face; whether it is bought as an investment piece or as a once-off, customized piece of art, your watch determines who you are in the world.</p>
<p>The wheel of fortune has turned since the 1970s and 1980s, when the quartz movement nearly saw the demise of the 300-year-old Swiss watchmaking industry. Hand-wound mechanisms are now firmly back in the luxury watch repertoire.</p>
<p>More than 20 million Swiss francs ($21.2 million) were reportedly spent on posh watches in 2012. Not only is a luxury watch a valuable portable asset, which any bank manager would welcome but in today’s market, it has a real resale value.</p>
<p>Every year the competitive watch industry pushes the boundaries of technical function and precision in its iconic brands for the delight of the watch junkie. New refinements include thinner cases containing more parts, increasingly sophisticated complications, such as multi-time zone movements and perpetual calendars, and an increase in the use of Métiers d’Art, using materials like enamel, wood marquetry and gold. There is even a nod to the heritage and legacy of watchmaking—the pocket watch and minute repeaters.</p>
<p>What better showcase for all this than one of Switzerland’s premium watch shows, the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) at the Palexpo in Geneva?</p>
<p>This is the 23rd year that Richemont—founded by South African businessman Johann Rupert—has hosted this by-invitation-only haute horlogerie fair, which attracts more than 12,000 international retailers and brand representatives from the watch fraternity, as well as 1,200 watch journalists.</p>
<p>Despite the Palexpo’s rather unprepossessing, hangar-like appearance, the interior is set up as a series of elegant spaces, with cream walls, butter-colored leather couches and chairs, discreet lighting and chocolate-hued carpets. Entering each booth is like stepping into each brand’s signature boutique, complete with chandeliers.</p>
<p>Perfectly coiffed hostesses greet guests at the entrances as waiters serve food and beverages during the show’s five-day duration.</p>
<p>The dress code is chic business attire during the day for the back-to-back presentations and quiet understatement for the many glitzy parties and dinners. It is important for the brands to show how well they are doing; many vie for the title of best dressed.</p>
<p>Georges Kern—the CEO for three of the big brands at the fair, namely IWC, Baume &amp; Mercier and Roger Dubuis—heads up a marketing campaign that creates the biggest buzz around these brands. In fact, IWC has doubled its production since 2006.</p>
<p>Each year the IWC has a theme, this year it was ‘The Big Race’. To celebrate its completely remodeled 2013 Ingénieur watch collection in partnership with the Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas Formula One team, the IWC booth was decked out like a testosterone-fuelled Formula One cockpit and attracted non-stop media attention.</p>
<p>The friends of the brand included Kevin Spacey, Victoria’s Secret models Karolina Kurková and Adriana Lima, Formula One driver Nico Rosberg, motorsport engineer Ross Brawn, football’s Rafael Medina, Luis Figo and actors Matthew Fox and Eric Dane, as well as other celebrities from the world of arts and sport.</p>
<p>This year’s ribbon-cutting ceremony took place at the whimsically decorated Roger Dubuis booth, which was dominated by a giant gold-crowned eagle bearing a key in its talons, and populated by medieval knights and a falconer, to honor the Excalibur collection. Extra window dressing was provided by three friends of the brand, Daphne Guinness, Scottish actor Gerard Butler and Tomer Sisley.</p>
<p>Another big buzz this year was the launch of Baume &amp; Mercier’s new Clifton range, named after Cape Town’s beach by the same name—the range is apparently favored by Johann Rupert himself. The collection is expected to do very well, especially in the American and African markets.</p>
<p>Art formed a big part of the fair and Montblanc displayed its Cutting Edge collection, showing interpretations of its iconic star logo. The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie also exhibited timepieces dating back to the 15th century.</p>
<p>The new IWC Ingénieur watches carried the tagline “engineered for men”, but the big news this year was the lady’s watch. The new diamond clad Piaget Limelight Gala women’s watches were designed for bling bunnies, and the oldest horological house, Vacheron Constantin, brought out a completely new women’s range called the Malte Lady. Cartier also put emphasis on their new Crash watches.</p>
<p>Panerai is truly a collector’s brand because its production is so limited and this year the brand came up with some exciting new timepieces, including the Luminor Amagnetic which resists fields of up to 4,000 side amps per square meter. The P.9000 caliber is encased inside a soft iron cage to protect it from magnetic fields.</p>
<p>Iconic Swiss brand Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrated its 180th birthday in style, with an appearance by Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter Carmen Chaplin who made a short film about time. Her grandfather’s watch, which was presented to him by the people of Switzerland when he sought refuge there in the 1950s, was on display and the brand brought out an entire Jubilee collection.</p>
<p>Asia might be the biggest investor in this market but emerging markets like Africa are beginning to show an interest in prestige timepieces.</p>
<p>South Africa has a small but healthy market for luxury watches and the local jewelry trade was well represented at this year’s fair, from Bellagios in Sandton City, which has a shop-in-shop for Roger Dubuis, to Christopher Greig of Charles Greig Jewelers, Jennifer and David Moss from Picot &amp; Moss, Schwartz Jewelers and Oresti Mavrodaris from Elegance Jewelers. The latest makes and models that they put in orders for at the SIHH will be finding their way onto their clients’ wrists within the next 18 months.</p>


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