SpotlightBulgari’s Latest Octo World Record Wins The Grand Prize At The 2021 GPHGs

Often called the ‘Oscars’ of the watch industry, the GPHGs (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève) haven’t been around for half as long as Hollywood’s Academy Awards have been, but they have certainly garnered respect and attention by players across the watch industry. In less than 20 years, that hand-shaped trophy became the most coveted prize for any watch company, as a symbol of recognition and a validation of their work in innovation with watchmaking. More than anything though, the GPHG has become a champion for the cause of promoting the art of watchmaking, by celebrating the most noteworthy achievements made in the field. The awards have been overseen by a public interest organisation, since 2011, with support from public and private partners, including the principal partner, FGP Global Properties Swiss and Alps. This year, the 19 main prizes were decided upon by the 30-member jury of the GPHG Academy, headed by Nick Foulkes—an author, historian and something of an expert on luxury goods. A 20th ‘special jury’ prize, which awards a personality or an influential institution, was given to the Dubai Watch Week trade event.

All the representatives of the brands who won prizes at the 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève

A view of the stage and the venue where the event was held

The turnout was significantly large at this year's edition of the GPHGs

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Diverse Categories And The Men’s Watch Prize: Grand Seiko’s Heritage Hi-Beat

Every year, there’s a diverse mix of winners with brands across the luxury and prestige segments being recognised for their work in not just the grand complications, haute joaillerie pieces, and records in watchmaking. Even simple, sophisticated and elegant watches that are exceptional with their refinement and their precision are rewarded, as you’ll see in this year’s winner of the men’s watch prize, Grand Seiko’s Heritage Hi-Beat 36000.

Even simple, and elegant watches that are exceptional with their refinement and precision are rewarded, as you’ll see in this year’s winner of the men’s watch prize, Grand Seiko’s Heritage Hi-Beat 36000

The fine dial draws inspiration from the white birch trees of the forests near Grand Seiko’s studio in Shizukuishi, Japan, where all their watches are crafted

The winner of this year’s men’s watch prize is a fine example of a watch that serves as a piece of jewellery for a gentleman. The fine dial draws inspiration from the white birch trees of the forests near Grand Seiko’s studio in Shizukuishi, Japan, where all their watches are crafted. In line with Grand Seiko’s abstract, mesmerising interpretations of nature’s beautiful occurrences, this dial presents handcrafted perfection that is like art, but elegant and subtle enough to become a gentleman’s wrist companion in a very versatile way. The highly-considered details, such as the Zaratsu-polished, mirror finishing of the markers, add to its rich and resplendent appeal. However, it’s not all about beauty, there is plenty of substance behind this style, as this Hi-Beat runs on the very efficient calibre 9SA5, which offers an 80-hour power reserve, and is accurate with a mean daily deviation range of only +5 to -3 seconds. The manual-winding movement runs at a high frequency of 36,000vph, which results in 10 beats per second, and it features a dual-impulse escapement, and twin barrels, as well as a stop-seconds mechanism for accurate time setting. Along with central three-hand timekeeping, this watch has a date display at three o’clock with an instant-date-change mechanism. All this is housed in a finely-finished steel case that is sized at 40mm, is water-resistant to 100m, and comes fitted with a box-shaped glass in sapphire crystal.

Complication Categories And The Chronograph Prize: Zenith’s Chronomaster Sport

Certain strong segments have their own categories at the awards, such as diver’s watches, calendar and astronomy watches, and a tourbillon prize to celebrate what is often considered as the Holy Grail of watchmaking complications. And naturally, there is a prize for the most popular complication, the chronograph, as well, which Zenith took away this year.

Zenith Chronomaster Sport EXPLORE THE COLLECTION

From the LVMH luxury goods group, Zenith hold the distinction of having created the first ever automatic, high-frequency integrated chronograph movement, the El Primero, in 1969. Since then, they have achieved a lot more in the segment of automatic chronographs, with El Primero having become a force to be reckoned with. While the Chronomaster collection has been the primary bearer of these iconic movements, it’s the latest Chronomatster Sport that presents an offering of an archetypal steel sport chronograph that can be anyone’s go-to timepiece for daily use. It has a dial that includes iconic characteristics of Zenith’s chronographs, since their 1969 editions—mainly the sub-dials in light grey, anthracite and blue. However, the main highlight of this new sport chronograph is the scale that shows a reading of 1/10th of a second, on the black ceramic bezel, which the central chronograph hand points to. This hand completes one round of the dial in 10 seconds, and each second on this scale is divided into 10 parts. The sub-dials include the running seconds, and the 60-second and 60-minute chronograph counters. All this runs on the latest generation of the El Primero family, the automatic calibre 3600, which offers a power reserve of 60 hours. The Chronomaster Sport is sized at 41mm, is water-resistant to 100m, and comes with different dial and strap options.

Prizes For Exceptional Products And The Best In Show: Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar

Women’s watches are not side-lined in any way, with prizes given out for complications for women’s watches as well as jewelled timepieces. Artistic creations and audacious expressions of timekeeping are also rewarded. At the same time, there is a prize for the ‘iconic’ watch of the year, which becomes another reason for watch brands to continue offering newer editions of their past successes. This year’s winner, Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, is probably as iconic as watches get. And there’s the Petite Aiguille prize for the best in the lower price range, which is quite relative considering these are all luxury products. This year, the prize was given to Tudor’s Black Bay Ceramic. Now ‘Petite Aiguille’ directly translates to ‘small needle’, but is a reference to a watch hand, since, in French, a watch hand is called ‘aiguille’, which literally means needle.

On the other hand, there’s the Aiguille d’Or, which means golden watch hand—the ‘best in show’ prize, akin to the ‘Palme d’Or’ or the ‘Golden Palm’ prize given to the best picture at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Incidentally, that trophy is famously crafted by Chopard every year. As the highest prize at the GPHGs, the Aiguille d’Or is naturally the most coveted, and it becomes a permanent feather in the cap of every brand that wins it. This year, it was Bulgari’s turn. The Italian brand of Swiss-made timepieces haven’t won this grand prize ever before. And surely it’s a sweet victory for them, considering that the watch they’ve won it for was their seventh world record in watch slimness, and the first one to win this prize. After several other records such as the slimmest tourbillon, the slimmest automatic chronograph, and so on, this year, the brand unveiled the world’s slimmest perpetual calendar. The movement, calibre BVL 305, which happens to an automatic, measures only 2.75mm in thickness, allowing the watch to remain as thin as 5.8mm thick. Offering a 60-hour power reserve, the movement runs the displays on the dial, which include the retrograde date at 12 o’clock; the month and day between four and five, and seven and eight o’clock, respectively; and the leap year indicator at six. The movement and its micro-rotor can be seen through the exhibition caseback, of the 40mm case in sandblasted titanium—a signature of these Octo Finissimo models that make them extremely light in weight.

This Aiguille d’Or is the 14th GPHG award for Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO, Bulgari Group, who won the same prize for the TAG Heuer Mikrogirder in 2012, when he was at the helm of that brand. “This prestigious award rewards the in-depth work initiated by Bulgari to redefine the fundamentals of haute horlogerie in terms of art of miniaturisation,” Babin stated while commenting on this win. “It rewards finally Bulgari’s spirit: boldness, and a disruptive and innovative approach.”

The Complete List Of Winners At The 2021 GPHGs

‘Aiguille d’Or’ Grand Prix: Bulgari, Octo Finissimo

Ladies’ watch prize: Piaget, Limelight Gala Precious Rainbow

Ladies’ complication watch prize: Van Cleef & Arpels, Lady Féerie Watch

Men’s watch prize: Grand Seiko, Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours Caliber 9SA5

Men’s complication watch prize: MB&F, LMX Titanium

Iconic watch prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’ Extra-Thin

Tourbillon watch prize: De Bethune, DB Kind of Two Tourbillon

Calendar and astronomy watch prize: Christiaan Van Der Klaauw, CVDK Planetarium Eise Eisinga

Mechanical exception watch prize: Piaget, Altiplano Ultimate Automatic

Chronograph watch prize: Zenith, Chronomaster Sport

Diver’s watch prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue

Jewellery watch prize: Chopard, Flower Power

Artistic crafts watch prize: MB&F, LM SE Eddy Jaquet ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’

‘Petite Aiguille’ prize: Tudor, Black Bay Ceramic

Challenge watch prize: CIGA Design, Blue Planet

Innovation prize: Bernhard Lederer, Central Impulse Chronometer

Audacity prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Carpe Diem

Horological revelation prize: Furlan Marri, MR. Grey Ref. 1041-A