As a retailer catering to the international fashion conscious Miami crowds, our customers are always looking for the most exotic and exclusive designs when it comes to luxury gents watches. Harry Winston, known more for their extravagant jewelry designs than their watch manufacturing, decided to change the name of the game when it comes to high-end multifunction watches. In 2001, they decided to create a very unique concept behind a new product line they called Opus. This project entailed Harry Winston’s own design team working in collaboration with different independent “rock star” horologists operating in Switzerland. Each piece turned out as a distinctive artistic interpretation, intertwined carefully with the technical brilliance required to create some of the most complicated and exquisite wrist watches ever produced.
Opus 1
5 Day Automatic: $47,000; limited to 6 pieces
Platinum Tourbillon: $140,000; limited to 6 pieces
Resonance Chronometer: $78,000; limited to 6 pieces
In their first collaboration project, Harry Winston elected to go with the technical prowess of watch designer extraordinaire F.P. Journe. Known for taking a complication and finding different ways to achieve the same or better result, he designed three separate movements, each limited to 6 pieces. Harry Winston added the aesthetic input with a 38mm platinum case and the option of up to 5.2 carats in diamonds.
The first movement consists of a dual time function with a 42-hour power reserve and a resonance chronometer. The innovation is the use of resonance to create a more accurate timepiece. With twin balances working in synchronization, one will speed up while the other will correspondingly slow down until they return to a matching frequency. This helps to absorb the shocks and disturbances that affect the precision of a conventional wristwatch.
The second movement is a one-minute tourbillon that doubles as a seconds indicator and comes with a 40-hour power reserve. What makes this tourbillon special is that it is constructed with a constant-force remontoir which provides the escapement with a direct and constant force every second that is separate from the fluctuating power of the mainspring.
The third available movement is a five day (120-hour) automatic power reserve with grand date. What seems pedestrian by today’s standards in terms of power reserve length was a horological masterpiece at the time of its debut, and represents a landmark in the development of the power reserve function.
Opus 2
Tourbillon: $195,000; limited to 11 platinum pieces
Tourbillon with Perpetual Calendar: $295,000; limited to 11 platinum pieces
Platinum with 4.4ct diamonds, piece unique for each movement
The Opus 2 was developed in partnership with Antoine Preziuso. His one-minute tourbillon with a remontagemystérieux winding system adorns the front of both Opus 2 movements offered by Harry Winston. The 38mm cases are platinum. The first movement featured is a tourbillon paired with a 110-hour power reserve.
The second movement is a watch that aficionados would kill for. The front of the case appears to be an elegant and simple tourbillion, however, the watch holds a hidden treasure beneath the case back in what is known as a fond secret, or secret cover, which opens to reveal a handsomely appointed patented bi-retrograde perpetual calendar.
Opus 3
Rose Gold: $ 95,900; limited to 25 pieces
Platinum: $ 111,300; limited to 25 pieces
Platinum with 4.44ct diamonds; limited to 5 pieces
For the Opus 3, Harry Winston teamed up with visionary watchmaker Vianney Halter. Halter took the Opus collection into new waters with a complication the watch making world had never seen before in an entirely unique case and design. Simply put, the Opus 3 provides a new way to read time. The watch is a manually wound movement constructed from German silver and boasts a 40-hour power reserve. In its handmade Art Deco style rectangular case, there are six porthole openings that display a colored number. Blue is representative of hours, black defines the minutes, and red indicates the date. The hour is read horizontally from left to right in the top row numbers, while the minutes are read the same way in the bottom row of numbers. The date is displayed vertically in the second column. Each display relies on the instant jumping of the six indications that work by using 10 discs and 53 different jewels in order to complete a-one-of-a-kind complication that was so seemingly impossible to construct that it took 8 years to deliver.
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