Cover Photo Courtesy of Cartier
Revisiting iconic creations in the world of watchmaking is like honoring the past while creating a more promising future bursting with creativity and innovations. Why recreate an old timepiece when a watchmaking house has the ability to come up with a new, more modern design, might you ask. Well, the answer would definitely be cherishing the legacy and history that gave it the place it truly deserves in the industry. For watch connoisseurs, owning an icon is an achievement and adding it to their collection of time-tellers makes the latter even more valuable and treasurable.
Many houses that have gained an important place in the world of watchmaking resort to revisiting their icons, giving themselves the opportunity to keep their legacy alive, while offering men the features required in a watch born in the modern world. Below are some icons that were revisited in the past few years and worth highlighting.
Ordered by aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont in 1904 from Louis Cartier, the Santos de Cartier watch has a rich history in the world of modern wristwatches. It packs a statement through its square-shaped case supplied with intentionally visible screws and this year, the collection sees a new addition for the most modern of men: the new Santos de Cartier Skeleton Noctambule timepiece featuring bridges coated with Super-LumiNova pigments.
Jaeger-LeCoultre cherishes its history in creating ultra plate watches through its Master collection. The house finds inspiration in its first ultra plate watch created in 1907 to reach new levels of minimalism, lightness and functionality to create a three-line collection with the newest timepiece being the Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon in pink gold.
Although this Bvlgari timepiece hasn’t been around for more than 17 years, it has managed to make headlines by breaking five world records with its Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic edition – which makes it an icon in its own right. Featuring the thinnest ever mechanical Chronograph in watchmaking history, being an automatic watch with a GMT function and a record-setting 3.3mm thinness are some of the characteristics that gives it such an important place in the industry.
Girard-Perregaux’s Laureato watch has satisfied the requirements that every man seeks in a watch since its launch in 1975. Every edition speaks to the men of its time in a certain special way and this year, it’s time for the Laureato Absolute Carbon Glass watch to steal the light by introducing Carbon Glass in the world of high watchmaking for the very first time.
After 50 years of producing El Primero watches, Zenith celebrates this legacy with a special edition supplied with an original 1969 case of 37mm diameter and an automatic El Primero column-wheel chronograph.
Article Written by Mirella Haddad
