SpotlightMasterpieces And Milestones: The Highlights From LVMH Watch Week 2022
Expanding on bestselling lines, and presenting their technical prowess in various areas of haute horlogerie, the LVMH Group’s four biggest watch brands—Bulgari, Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith—showcased their first set of novelties for 2022 at the annual LVMH Watch Week, which concluded yesterday. Here are all the highlights and fascinating novelties from the first major watch event of the year
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As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, the watch industry is set to have a mix of on-ground as well as digital events planned for 2022. While Watches and Wonders Geneva is still expected to go ahead at a venue in April, with visitors and everything; others, such as Munich, Germany’s Inhorgenta, have been pushed because of the recent spike in COVID numbers across nations. There are some events still taking place almost entirely online, one of which was LVMH Watch Week 2022—among the first watch events of the year—which concluded yesterday. It’s the event where the top four watch brands of the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton luxury goods conglomerate—Bulgari, Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith—get together to introduce their new novelties. As usual, there were some new launches to mark anniversaries, while key additions to flagship collections made their mark. And as some watches celebrated true haute horlogerie, with high-complication and haute joaillerie editions, a few mainline, bestselling series expanded as well. On the other hand, we saw that recent trends in watchmaking—such as modest sizes, integrated and interchangeable straps, dark-treated metals, and open-worked displays—are continuing to go strong this year. Let’s take a closer look at some of the highlights from all four brands.
Bulgari: Chiming Complications Reign Supreme, Serpenti Becomes More Enigmatic
Bulgari’s first set of launches for 2022 presented a smattering of almost all the major trends mentioned above, while they continue to stay true to their DNA as the Roman jewellers of time, and adhering to their theme—‘Time is a jewel’.
Showcasing their strengths in watchmaking as well as gem-setting and jewellery was the latest novelty from the Serpenti collection—the Serpenti Misteriosi, a high-jewellery masterpiece. With layered hexagonal scales forming this rendition of the signature Serpenti coiled bracelet, this Misteriosi features hand engraving, lacquering, gem-setting and exquisite hand-crafted finesse. In rose gold and white gold versions, with scales in lacquered black, green, or turquoise, and some fully paved with diamonds, this watch is a triumph in haute joaillerie. There is a floral arrangement of round- and brilliant-cut diamonds on a white-and-rose gold edition, which presents advanced gem-setting, as they move when you run your fingers over them. The snake’s head features eyes in either diamonds, emeralds or rubellites, while the small tongue of the happy-looking snake is more than just that. When it’s pulled, the mouth of the snake opens to reveal the watch face, which can be removed by pushing it down, in order to turn it around, in case the wearer wishes to switch hands or turn the serpent’s head pointed towards them or away from them. This movement within the watch is equally baffling, presenting miniaturisation that Bulgari are known for. This Piccolissimo manual-winding calibre is just 12.3mm wide, 2.5mm thick, and only 1.3g in weight. The balance wheel is in solid white gold for its weight, and despite the miniature size, the movement can offer a power reserve of over 30 hours owing to a mainspring length of 17cm. The most impressive feature is the patented functionality of the crown. Located on the reverse of the watch case, the crown can be used in both directions, when pulled out—clockwise for winding and counter-clockwise for time setting.
Aside from the baffling Misteriosi, other additions to the Serpenti collection included a new Serpenti Tubogas, in yellow gold. And adding to the Serpenti Seduttori series—which is known for its more conventional hexagon-link bracelet—are these new intense black dials, crafted with several layers of lacquer for depth, and they come housed in rose gold, steel and two-tone versions. Another addition to the mainline collections was the new Lvcea, with new dials, that seem to dance when viewed in different angles. ‘Lvcea’ means light, and these dials really play with light, with a radially-presented three-dimensional zigzag pattern in versions including a pale pink dial and one in aventurine glass. The latter is crafted by applying several narrow-cut aventurine triangles onto the plate of the dial, giving the glossy glass the swirling-skirt effect. A rubellite crown in each version mirrors the triangles that make up the dial.
Impressive dials were seen on the new and highly-advanced Octo Roma launches as well. The Carillon Tourbillon—in a colour palette of grey and blue, which is inspired by Italian menswear—comes with an open-worked dial. While the tourbillon cage is completely skeletonised, the rest of the dial is literally a cage-like lattice in blue, revealing gongs of the carillon feature around 10 and 11 o’clock. While the front of the case, and bezel, and the rear of the case are in platinum, the case middle is in titanium, which performs well to transmit sound. In fact, the entire case-middle is constructed with a double-perimeter, to help amplify the carillon sound and make it really resonate for maximum impact. The movement within this construction offers a huge power reserve of at least 75 hours, which is indicated on the reverse and visible through the exhibition caseback. This also reveals other component decoration and metallic parts that are blued via atomic deposition layering.
And finally, the pièce de résistance, offering extremely advanced complications as well as refined gem-setting, was the Octo Roma Emerald Grande Sonnerie. Paved with over 300 diamonds, and 72 emeralds—with the stones baguette-cut for the dial and bezel—this watch is far more than it appears to be. The dual power reserve display is owing to the two barrels in the movement, which also includes a tourbillon, and probably the most advanced chiming complication you could find. With four hammers, the chiming based on the Westminster carillon make the watch chime every hour spontaneously. However, there is a control to disengage the chiming mechanism, so as to put this mechanical masterpiece in ‘silent mode’, while a different selector allows you to select from different types of chimes for when you want to hear it. This truly is a one-of-a-kind creation in more ways than one, as the piece they presented is literally a unique piece, and not intended for production—understandably so.
Hublot: The Integral Series Grows, Yellow Gold Makes A Big Bang Comeback
The biggest story from Hublot at LVMH Watch Week 2022 was their special Yellow Gold series that celebrates the gold that was one of the brand’s core materials in its early years. The relatively young brand are entering their fifth decade, and this series is a throwback as well as a revival.
“This is the first time we have unveiled such a rich set of pieces based on a single theme,” says Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO, Hublot, “It is the best way to reiterate our continued connection to our DNA and our ongoing commitment to forging our future.” It’s also a refreshing change, since yellow gold has not been seen too much lately, with versions of rose gold—red, pink and so on—having gained more prominence in the last decade or so. While the ‘natural’ yellow colour of gold is highlighted with this series, it’s still not garish, even if it is bold. But of course, you wouldn’t look at Hublot if you weren’t looking for bold. The Yellow Gold comprises six pieces—a Big Bang One Click, a Classic Fusion Chronograph and a Spirit of Big Bang on rubber straps, as well as three Big Bang Integrals, one plain, and two paved with diamonds.
The Integrals, as you’d expect, have integrated yellow gold bracelet straps, since integrated bracelets are the essence of the series, which expands this year. A newer entrant in Hublot’s repertoire, this year’s Integral comes in 40mm, and as a time-only version. While the previous chronograph edition was much thicker, this sleeker automatic is just 9mm thick, and hence, fits the template of the classic integrated sport watch better than its predecessor. And the slimmer profile really does make the Integral more special with the bevelled bracelet links appearing slinkier and making the entire watch slicker. There’s the yellow gold edition obviously, one in titanium and one in black ceramic. While the sapphire crystal dials in all versions expose the movement within, the ceramic version’s movement components are PVD-treated to maintain the dark look across the watch.
Along with the trend of integrated bracelets, Hublot also took forward the trend of interchangeable straps in a bigger way this year. While they’ve had their One Click system for easy strap changing for a long time, their watches were not necessarily versatile enough to pair with different coloured straps. This year’s Big Bang One Click features white, black or diamond-paved dials, in steel or (obviously) yellow gold, keeping things neutral, and hence suitable enough to pair with neutral-coloured straps as well as those in more vivid hues.
And finally, the series that also showed some colour, while being the only one launched by Hublot this week that didn’t feature yellow gold, was the Big Bang Unico Sang Bleu, with three new editions marking seven years of Hublot’s association with Swiss tattoo artist Maxime Plescia-Büchi. In black and green ceramic and in Magic Gold—Hublot’s proprietary gold alloy—these new watches, like their predecessors, come in chiselled cases that mirror the patterns seen on the elaborate hands of the watch, inspired by Plescia-Büchi’s work in ink.
TAG Heuer: Autavia Complication Watches Mark Anniversary, Aquaracer Professional Grows
TAG Heuer marks 60 years of the Autavia collection, which goes back to being the first product launched under the leadership of Jack Heuer, the great-grandson of brand founder Edouard Heuer. Named as a portmanteau of ‘automobile’ and ‘aviation’—references to the brand’s strongest pillars back in the day—Autavia timepieces were initially dashboard clocks in cars and airplanes, and eventually became wristwatches. While Autavia was a heritage line for the brand for many years, presented under the erstwhile name of just ‘Heuer’, without the TAG, the contemporary version of the collection, under the TAG Heuer name, was launched in 2019.
And this year, the 60th anniversary edition marks an advancement for the collection that has not been seen before through any of its iterations—a flyback chronograph and a three-hand GMT. Reflecting key staples of the modern Autavia of 2019, including large applied numerals, a raised bezel in ceramic, and a distinctive case structure, these new editions are excellent additions to the line. The flyback chronograph—which can time consecutive laps without having to reset the chronograph—has distinguished, pump-style pushers, and an exhibition caseback displaying the Heuer 02 COSC-certified calibre within. It comes in a black-and-white colour scheme in plain steel, and in all-black, in DLC-treated steel. On the other hand, the GMT edition, in steel and blue, has a closed caseback with the Autavia propeller motif that was seen in the 2019 time-only editions as well. This one also looks quite similar to that 2019 watch, with the addition of a day-and-night, rotating GMT bezel.
Also with a splash of blue is the new Aquaracer Professional 200, which is a more accessible version of last year’s Professional 300, with which the brand updated their Aquaracer series. Like the 2021 update, this 200m edition also reflects a more chiselled case structure and more pronounced bevelling and knurling on the dodecagonal-edged unidirectional-rotating dive-timer bezel than was seen in the earlier Aquaracers. In addition to blue, the versions of the Professional 200 presented include dials in blue, white, mother-of-pearl and a silvery hue. Diamond hour makers can be seen in several of these dial versions. Featuring three-hand timekeeping in all, a date display comes only in the 40mm automatic. There is also a 40mm quartz as well as a 30mm quartz. And impressively, there is an automatic version in 30mm too. An automatic in such a small size is quite rare, especially in such a standard-issue watch. It’s a very appealing range really, this new 200, with several variations to choose from—all of which promise the robust reliability of a solid tool watch—along with being very modern and more accessible than its contemporaries.
Zenith: All About Defy, With New Revival Watch, Skyline Edition, And Colours
Zenith’s focus on their Defy collection continued at LVMH Watch Week, as they expanded on existing series, and introduced a new one. Adding to their Revival editions was the new Revival A3642, which is not a chronograph unlike the previous Revivals—a series that started in 2019 to mark 50 years of their El Primero movement family.
And without a chronograph, this re-edition of the first ever octagonal luxury sport watch, from 1969, runs on an Elite movement, as opposed to an El Primero. With an edgy and chiselled case structure and bezel, the watch houses a gradient brown dial with very distinctive rhodium-plated, faceted hour markers, and comes with Zenith’s signature ladder-style bracelet.
From a legacy piece to a new series within the Defy collection—the Skyline edition also features a chiselled case structure, with an integrated strap design, and a dodecagonal-edged bezel. In fact, the construction of this watch is basically a sleeker version of the Defy Extreme series that the brand launched last tear. This one is called Skyline based on the subtle pattern of four-point stars on the dial, which was inspired by the night sky above a city skyline, while the stars draw from an old double-Z logo of the brand. However, the newest feature in this watch is its constant 1/10th-of-a-second indicator. What appears to be a time-only watch, with a date, this timepiece actually runs on a new El Primero movement, based on the basic 1/10th-of-a-second chronograph calibre. The seconds hand at nine o’clock completes one rotation every 10 seconds—with steady jumps in fixed increments—and not in one minute, effectively displaying 10ths of each second all the time, via the graduated scale around it.
Meanwhile, adding to last year’s Defy Extreme series is a new edition in carbon fibre. The resilient, lightweight version comes with a black or orange rubber strap and features coloured accents on the otherwise monochromatic dial. With the ability of measuring 1/100th of a second, the El Primero 21 calibre within this watch also runs the new Defy 21 Chroma edition, which interprets the rainbow-dial phenomenon, with colourful accents all around the dial, which is otherwise quite white. This also happens to be Zenith’s first watch in matt white ceramic, and is limited to 200 pieces. Adding more colour to the Defy collection were the new Defy Midnight watches. Primarily targeted at women, these time-only Defys have been seen with midnight blue and black dials earlier, featuring a starlit-sky pattern. These new editions present interpretations of the sky in different conditions—the twilight sky in the Sunset edition and the northern lights in the Borealis version. All these new Defys also take forward the trend of easy strap interchangeability.
