While we're still feeding off Watches and Wonders for our watch porn fixes, Geneva Watch Days offers up more horological killer pieces, including a new Bulgari Octo Finissimo. And any time a new Octo is unveiled is a good time, right?
Alongside big players like Bulgari, Geneva Watch Days is where some of the boldest big Swiss and independent brands do their best to knock our socks off with new top drawer pieces. And do you know what – this year the wildest, most innovative pieces of Haute Horology have made us forget that Rolex and Patek Philippe weren't partaking in all the fun. These are the best of the new releases so strap yourself in for a barrage of the senses.
Through the flourish of designer Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, another ace emerges from the Bulgari deck. This time award-winning complications don’t set the tone, but the perfect gold watch to go with that mocha-brown winter coat. Rather, we should stipulate yellow gold, which is the most hype colour gold of the year (because that's a thing – hello Vacheron's 222, Cartier's new Tank, Audemars Piguet's 50th anniversary Royal Oak Jumbo Extra Thin and Gucci's 25H tourbillon). This new version of the OG Finissimo has a facetted case of only 5.25mm thin and capably takes on the aura of a golden talisman. The warm chocolate sun-ray dial speaks of warm autumn evenings and will comfort a wearer's senses just like the soft embrace of the jewel-like bracelet – so much so, we can see Chris Hemsworth adding another Octo to his burgeoning collection.
The Divers 65 range owns its own Oris microcosmos, indeed only last week we featured a bubble gum pink dial within a bronze case. This time we go pared-down monochrome, but anything but back to basics. This Leica-like tool watch is powered by the game-changing Caliber 400 with a really quite noteworthy 120-hour power reserve and a 10-year warranty. Add a handsome 12-hour bezel that serves as a second time zone, and this emanates the assured strength of a one-watch collection. Once again, Oris demonstrates its sheer class and standout appeal among all the other diving watches.
Unlike the rocket-like rise of Bulgari, Ulysse Nardin manages to marry innovative conventions with its own long history. Its classic Marine dress watches may sometimes slip under the radar, but any iteration of the Blast series is always there to break the sound barrier. The 45mm Blast Rainbow is no exception and has a dominant vibe, laying down a challenge for the rest of your evening fit while adding more precious stones, colour and technical flair to the rainbow trend for which Rolex and Hublot are largely responsible. In black titanium, X marks the spot for an otherworldly sense of glamour, including the option of rainbow-coloured leather straps too.
If Max Büsser’s MB&F is anything to go by, this is the golden age of avant-garde horology. As if unaffected by the trends at large, the LM Spilt Escapement EVO confounds us with delightful contrasts. The sports-tough case of the EVO on a rubber strap meets an ice-blue version of the LM Split Escapement. An arched bridge rises above the sky-blue dial like a piece of Oscar Niemeyer architecture, while grey sub-dials float in space. Unconventional horology has never been stronger – or more refreshingly bonkers – than in 2022, MB&F proves that and we're here for it.
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Smashing through preconception after preconception, Greubel Forsey inhabits its own universe within Haute Horology (or perhaps it's merely from another one entirely?). Either way, similar to MB&F its theatre for the wrist is staged by craftsmanship without the need for precious metals or gems. The Earth itself takes centre stage in the ergonomic case introduced in 2020, while the balance sits jauntily at an angle by six o’clock. Its lifelike beat resides over a miniature cityscape with our planet as the central cathedral of time, housed within a 44mm convex case of ergonomic mastery. And if you didn't quite understand all that, it's OK. Because this watch is truly mind-boggling.
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Watch lesson of the day: a tourbillon is a centuries-old regulating organ made for pocket watches. Here, it makes the new H Moser Streamliner even more intriguing with its future-proof design. Juxtaposed to the infinite darkness of the über-tech nano-structure Vantablack, we are nothing but beguiled. The Streamliner lives by its name, inhabiting the sleekest case and integrated bracelet on the market today. Red gold does nothing to lessen the impact of its abyss-like dial with a pirouetting tourbillon, and it’s hard not to get jaw-droppingly enamoured.
One of the watch world's most underrated brands, DOXA marks its 50th anniversary of supplying the elite divers unit of the Swiss army with an intensely function-forward Army model in stainless steel. The blocky-cool beige dial seems designed by the creators of Roblox and comes in a Swiss army-camo case. We’ve got a thing for the bronze bezel version on a dark green rubber strap, bringing a touch of gold to this 300m depth-rated tool watch. Quirky cool has never looked better than this, with the bonus of an automatic ETA 2824 movement (the same that its iconic Sub 300T has) and street cred in spades.
Geneva Watch Days might wow you with futurist flamboyance and paper-thin Bulgaris, but the Phillips auction house brings two British benchmarks of horological craftsmanship. Three George Daniels pieces will go under the gavel in Geneva this November. Calling this a rare event is an understatement, and exhibiting the trio here has the power to upstage many of the new releases. If you know your watches, any George Daniels piece is enough to make you forget about the most mind-blowing futurist tourbillons, but three? Suffice to say a few Union Jacks will be hoisted when the George Daniels Millennium Watch most likely supersedes its CHF 250,000-500,000 estimate.
