SalonQP – the UK’s Only Fine Watch Exhibition

 
Following on from our initial SalonQP related article in respect of the Bremont Victory and Admiral Lord Nelson’s Pocket Watch we follow on with a look at what we can expect from this years extravaganza, along with a little background on the event too. 

Britain’s leading watch publication, QP Magazine, is pleased to announce that following record numbers of visitors and exhibitors at last year’s event, SalonQP, the UK’s only fine watch exhibition, is returning to the Saatchi Gallery on 8–10 November 2012.

SalonQP, the UK’s only event devoted to fine watchmaking, returns to the Saatchi Gallery this November for its fourth edition. Every year SalonQP showcases the very finest in contemporary horology, and 2012 will be no exception – renowned grandes maisons such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin and Piaget will appear alongside a wealth of independent watchmakers including MB&F, Urwerk and Speake-Marin. Watch collectors, enthusiasts, commentators and industry insiders alike will gather to handle, consider and discuss nearly 1,000 pieces from the world’s leading brands.

As in previous years, the event promises to introduce the newest watches and brands to the UK as well as feature a programme of demonstrations and discussions from the brightest and best in contemporary watchmaking. Up close and personal – that’s the joy of SalonQP. No sales pressure, just the brands, their watchmakers and their watches. SalonQP is a unique opportunity for watch aficionados to gather and pore over the latest and the greatest in the world of watchmaking, here in the unique settings of the Saatchi Gallery, London – there is nothing quite like it.

This year SalonQP will host a number of intimate roundtable talks, with Maria Doulton, of The Jewellery Editor, running two discussions highlighting women’s watches. What’s more, there will be a preview screening of The Watchmaker’s Apprentice, a film about the late Dr George Daniels CBE MBE – one of the greatest watchmakers of the past 200 years – and his only apprentice, Roger W Smith. The film includes the last ever interview with Daniels himself. Special tickets have just been released to view the film on the afternoon of Friday 9 November, featuring an exclusive introduction by Roger Smith.

As for the watches themselves, SalonQP is a unique event providing a relaxed atmosphere and the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the world’s best timepieces with no sales pressure. To give you a taste of what to expect at the event, we have listed below a small sample of this year’s highlights:

• Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Sphérotourbillon. Widely considered best in show at SIHH, this watch is sure to draw crowds at SalonQP. Part of the brand’s Duomètre line, it employs a ‘dual-wing’ design using two separate power sources – one for timekeeping and one for regulation/complications.

• TAG Heuer’s MikrotourbillonS. A UK launch exclusive, TAG Heuer will present the MikrotourbillonS at SalonQP. CEO Jean-Christophe Babin justly boasts, “We set a new record for a mechanical chronograph with the Mikrograph. For the first time ever we’ve combined the ultimate precision of 1/100th of a second with the ultimate accuracy that only a tourbillon can guarantee.” Get your cameras at the ready!

• Urwerk’s UR-210. In another exclusive, SalonQP will be the first opportunity for fans of the eternally future-looking Urwerk house to experience their jaw-dropping new UR-210 ‘in the metal’. With previous design inspiration ranging from the Apollo Space Programme to Duchamp, this latest model is sure to challenge and engage. Details are still strictly embargoed for this remarkable piece but suffice to say, it will knock your cogs off.

• Harry Winston’s Opus 12. Continuing the Opus tradition of working with only the most extraordinary craftsmen, this piece was designed in collaboration with Emmanuel Bouchet. Daring to be different, this masterpiece features no hour or minute hand.

Opening its doors on Thursday 8 November with a VIP reception, the exhibition continues throughout Friday 9 and Saturday 10, including the Legend of Kremlin Vodka Cocktail Reception on the Friday evening.

You can follow further SalonQP announcements as the roster of stunning watches continues to evolve, on Twitter at @salonqp.

All images and photographs courtesy of SalonQP

Danish anyone? A new recipe for accuracy by Urban Jurgensen & Søhner

Harry Winston Opus 12 More Details – Watch Review

Written by D Constant for The Watch Review Site 

Looking back at BaselWorld 2012 in a little more detail…..

We looked at the Omega Z-33 in /omega-z-33-more-details-review/ now we turn our attention to the Harry Winston Opus 12 for the previous BaselWorld 2012 its a wrap article on The Watch Review Site – /baselworld-2012-its-a-wrap/

It’s that time of year again, we have had our annual glimpse at the new and latest Harry Winston Opus watch, Each year Harry Winston collaborates with a master horologist to create a limited edition exclusive and innovative timepiece.

This year it’s the turn of Emmanuel Bouchet (pictured below), who developed the Opus 12 in cooperation with the designer, Augustin Nussbaum and at first look it seems quiet normal for a Harry Winston Opus, in terms of having a standard round watch face, but when you look closely you see it is not a standard watch movement it is a technologically advanced series of peripherally aligned hands at each and every 5 minute point, which spin around to indicate the hour and minutes to the nearest 5 minutes.

It also has some really interesting and visually effective features, such as on the hour the watch performs a little dance shall we say, visually it is fun but not practical in any sense of the imagination.

Harry Winston themselves describe it as “At the change of the hour, one witnesses a real spectacle. The inner crown wheel, which has not moved for 60 minutes, suddenly takes off around the dial and its toothed section drives the rotation of the hours hands in rapid succession. As the crown wheel goes around, the hours hand orbits 360° around the minutes hand station after station, and its blue colour appears on the surface in a flash before disappearing again. The kinematics lasts for a few seconds until, after passing by the 12 stations, the toothed section drives the indication of the next hour and stabilizes itself. The speed of rotation is controlled by an escapement, which needs far less energy than a flywheel governor and which provides a captivating sound effect. In fact one of the challenges of this Opus 12 has been to optimize the energy necessary for the precision of the movement and for the animation.”

To allow you to actually tell the time accurately the Opus 12 has two further dials, in the centre of the face one being a seconds indicator and the other a retrograde 5 minute indicator which allows you to actually tell what the minutes are, i.e. if the main minute hand shows 5 minutes and the retrograde shows 2 its 7 minutes past. Don’t forget there are 27 hands on the dial.

Not the easiest watch to tell the time on if you want to be exact but it is a very technologically advanced and complicated piece.

The Watch itself aesthetically looks very nice it has a modern fresh feel to it but not too over modern so as to be un-wearable in my eyes. Many other may feel it is understated in comparison to previous pieces.

As expected the finish and quality craftsmanship of the watch ouses out of every pour.

The Case back is simply a classic looking (I say looking because they have used a technically improved method of creating it). The exhibition case back in sapphire crystal allows you to view the manually wound movement, the only shame is you cant view the more complex movements of the spinning markers. Even with these complicated movements and mechanisms the Harry Winston Opus 12 has a power reserve of 45 hours.

The Opus 12 will be offered as a limited edition (What else?) of 120 pieces in each version, in White Gold and the middle case will be in the Harry Winston Staple of Zalium, There will also be some versions of the Opus 12 with diamonds.

We are expecting the Opus 12 to be priced around the £175,000 mark.

What we can say is we can’t wait to see what they have instore for us for next year, what you get with an Opus is a surprise be it styling or technological advancement, maybe and more likely both.

Technical Details

Reference: 500/MMEB46WL.K

Movement: Type Mechanical manually-wound

Specific features 607 parts, 80 jewels and 2 barrels, 24 hands

Power reserve: 45 hours

Decorations Mainplate and upper bridges shot-peened and NAC-coated

Lower bridges shot-peened, adorned with circular Côtes de Genève and nickelpalladium

coated

Functions Hour and 1/12th of an hour (five-minutes) displays via a rotating, double-hand system

Animation of the 12 hour hands at each change of hour. Animation of the minutes hands every five minutes

Retrograde five-minute display, power-reserve indicator and small seconds

Case: Material Polished 18K white gold

Crystal: Anti-reflective sapphire

Back: Exhibition type/Anti-reflective sapphire

Diameter: 46 mm

Water resistance: 30 meters

Dial: Retrograde minute. Power-reserve display with NAC-coated lower part, shot-peened and rhodium upper part

Small seconds with frosted sapphire crystal

Bracelet: Hand-sewn black alligator leather

Buckle: Type Folding buckle, Material Polished 18K white gold

Written by: Martin Green

15th March 2012

Basel 2012 is a wrap! The new models have been introduced and very soon it is time to see how they are going to perform at the box-office. Sometimes it is very difficult to figure out what will be hot and what will be….not, but of course we do already have our preferences based on personal taste.

The Omega Z-33

Omega starts off very daring with the new Z-33. If you thought the X-33 was extreme when it was introduced then the Z-33 will rock your world even more. For this watch Omega revived one of their case designs from the 1970’s, gave it way too many buttons and added two windows to the dial to display the digital readout in retro red. It gives the watch a space age kind of look, but does give you the idea that unless you fly the Thunderbird 1 for a living this watch is kind of out of place.

Video of Citizen EcoDrive Satellite Wave

Perhaps Omega should have taken the approach of Citizen. They showed the Citizen EcoDrive Satellite Wave at Basel and that is a very good and high end looking watch. Don’t worry, Citizen might have made the watch more upscale, but it is still a unique piece of technology since this is the first watch that actually doesn’t sync its time though radio waves, but with a direct link to a GPS satellite. This means that even in the middle of the Russian Tundra or the Sahara you can get the correct time down to the precise second!  It’s price is also a very adult around £2,600.

The Omega Speedmaster 1962

To get back to Omega, they fortunately make up the Z-33 with the introduction of the Omega Speedmaster 1962. Another lovely variation of the so beloved chronograph and maybe the best looking Speedmaster yet. This one pays tribute, and looks of course a lot like the second generation Speedmaster. That one was introduced before we landed on the moon, so it is not exactly a moonwatch, but  it was worn in during a space flight and is nevertheless a watch with a lot of character.

It is now officially more difficult to keep all these moonwatches apart than the different Rolex Submariners.

Official Rolex Sky Dweller Video

But talking about Rolex! What a surprise they had in store this time! The new Rolex Sky-Dweller forms a unique combination of complications and user friendliness, in a packaging that for Rolex is a revolution instead of an evolution. It might take some getting used to for some, but in the end I think Rolex will have a true winner on its hand with this one. The only thing they got a bit wrong is the name. Sky-Dweller sounds a bit odd….Sky-Walker would have been much better!

Tudor Neoprone automatic adjustment bracelet Video

Sister brand Tudor was also on a role, and hit two solid homeruns. First is the Pelagos, a divers watch made out of titanium with a nice 3D dial design, typical Tudor hands and a very innovative clasp. Not only does it have an easy to use fine-adjustment, but it also compensates for the effects water pressure has on the body and diving suit by tightening up automatically thanks to springs inside the clasp, so that the watch is always safely around the wrist.

Tudor Heritage Black Bay

If you prefer a more old school model, then the Tudor Heritage Black Bay has it all. Domed sapphire crystal, gilt dial, burgundy diving bezel. How delightful can retro be? Especially with a name that immediate takes you back to the time of pirates and buccaneers, and makes you want to enlist on a big sail ship…or take a cruise!

Harry Winston Opus 12

High expectations were there for the new Harry Winston Opus 12. The unique collection of watches has a certain status to uphold at being a frontrunner when it comes to innovative watch making. Granted it was very hard to beat Opus 11, yet Opus 12 doesn’t seem to live up to the high expectations. Of course it is a technically very advanced and complicated watch, but also quite an impractical one. The system reminds me a bit of  the Frederic Jouvenot Helios, but instead of turning cones and the minutes in the center the Harry Winston Opus 12 actually has hour and minute hands that turn but are only accurate within 5 minutes. Do you want to know the exact time then you can check how far it is to the next 5 minutes by a little retrograde indicator in the center of the dial. Great technology that makes it possible but just like the Hermes Arceau Temps Suspendu, and Chanel J12 Tourbillon Retrograde Mysterieuse it’s more inpractical than truly adding something to the mix.

 Hublot $5 million dollar watch

Who is also adding something to the mix is Hublot. A new Baselworld means a new Hublot million dollar watch, which is now worth 5 million dollars. How did they do it? The only way possible: larger diamonds. Of course there is room for improvement, and larger diamonds, so Basel 2013 will probably be the place where the brand will introduce the long expected……6 million dollar Hublot!!

Breitling Transocean Unitime Chronograph

Breitling didn’t seem to know that the large watch trend is slowing down a bit. They introduced a beautifully styled Transocean Unitime chronograph. The version with a cream white dials is especially stunning and could be the perfect travel watch. Could be because with a diameter of 46mm  it isn’t  and you almost have to call ahead to your hotel to check if the night stand is large enough to put this watch on when you are going to sleep. Less is more Breitling!

Official Antoine Martin Video

The return of Martin Braun with the brand  Antoine Martin, is, of course, very pleasant news. It reminds us a lot of the path Gerald Genta and Daniel Roth have traveled when they left the companies that bore their names. Braun also seems to be back with a vengeance, judging by the Quantieme Perpetuel au Grand Balancier that is the first watch to be launched by his new brand. The styling of the watch has some hints of Ateliers deMonaco’s design language but is mainly a bold mix of sportiness and classical design elements.

Amazing is the complexity of the case and dial as well as the movement. With a balance wheel of 17.5mm in diameter, this watch houses the largest balance wheel ever used in a wristwatch, but that is not all this watch has to offer. The layout of the perpetual calendar is beautiful, with a big date at 6 o’clock and a vertical display of day and month. A leap year indicator is also included with a day/night indicator as a bonus on the dial side.

A power reserve meter is “hidden” on the back of the watch, which has runs from 6 to 0 days! Only one remark for this young brand: If the classical time of 10:10 to display a watch in pictures and videos doesn’t work for you, because it blocks both the day and the month windows of the watch, please break free from tradition and opt for a different time, since this watch deserves to have all its features seen!

Original Review can be seen on http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/2_womens_watches/basel-2012-the-ups-and-downs.html#more-7482