Discover The New Trends In Watchmaking
Some of the world’s most prestigious watch brands just showed us their novelties as the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, or SIHH, in Geneva. The perfect place to find out what the new trends are for the upcoming season in the world of Haute Horlogerie.
Ceramic is the new steel
While the Patek Philippe Nautilus and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak once proved that steel could be just as a noble material like gold, and gave it a firm place in the world of Haute Horlogerie, now the same has been done with ceramic. TAG-Heuer introduced the new Carrera Heuer-01. This watch has a case and bracelet entirely crafted from ceramic, with a matt finish. Inside ticks a chronograph movement that TAG-Heuer makes completely in-house.
TAG-Heuer wasn’t the only one to introduce a new watch in ceramic. Audemars Piguet did the same and with one of their most complicated models of the Royal Oak collection nonetheless. The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is already a masterpiece, featuring a full mechanical calendar that even takes into account the leap years. The ceramic enhances not only the look of the Royal Oak but also the wearing comfort. The ceramic warms up to body temperature very quickly and is highly corrosive resistant. It is also far harder to work with, while it takes 6 hours to polish the case and bracelet of a steel Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, for a ceramic it takes 30 hours to achieve the same result.
Color rules
The time that black or silver dials where the most common are behind us! Piaget celebrated the 60th anniversary of their ultra-slim Altiplano watch with new dial colors that include a deep emerald green and a vibrant blue. Richard Mille even decided to make a collection of watches dedicated to current FIA-President, and former Scuderia Ferrari manager, Jean Todt with a blue and white case made from a silica impregnated with high-tech resin.
Talking about blue, this color was clearly an overall favorite, as Bovet introduced a new ladies model with a stunning two-tone blue dial called Récital 19 Miss Dimier. Also, Ulysse Nardin, Greubel Forsey, and Jaeger-LeCoultre launched blue dialed watches, making it one of the hottest trends in Haute Horlogerie.