The massive-overkill sapphire case of the Richard Mille RM 056(previously mentioned) is enough to win it a moderate prize, the best watch of the year at the 5th annual Salon International Alta Relojeria (roughly Spanish for Salon International de Haute Horologie).
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The first of three high-end watches released by Richard Mille (previously mentioned), this one is based on their standard tourbillon movement, as seen in the production RM002 and several of their limited editions. The skull (apparently they got the Damien Hirst memo 2 years late, maybe they'll have a spots piece in a year or 2), isn't an overlay on the movment, but the actual plate of the watch, with the pivot of the tourbillon cage clasped in his teeth.
At an angle you can really see the depth of the case, 15 will be sold in Titanium and 6 more in either rose or white gold.
Even the top plate, seen through the back of the watch is skull shaped, though in this case more like the bottom of a skull then the iconic "face".
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Two more special editions from Richard Mille(previously mentioned).
The first was for Jackie Chan's Dragon Heart Foundation. This charity builds schools for needy children all across China, and the watch was auctioned as a fund raiser. The piece, in white gold with 'carbon nanofibre' baseplate, has the logo of the Dragon Heart Foundation on the dial in rainbow-anodized titanium. The movement is the usual RM Tourbillon with both Reserve de Marche and torque indicators and their odd, overly-thoughtout mode dial, instead of pulling the crown out to set the time, you click the button once to wind, once more to set the time, and a third time to go back to "neutral". If you were interested, this piece sold at auction for 5.5 million RMB, or about $860,000.
(source)
The other special edition from the past month was the RM051 Phoenix, specially designed for Michelle Yeoh. This is a variant of the RM019 with the Celtic Knot motif on the dial replaced with a stylized phoenix, and the case (even the crown) covered in diamonds for some reason. If they had just put diamonds on the bird, maybe the tiny hour indicators, it would have been a interesting, and flashy, watch with a good horological pedigree, something lacking in the current Women Like Crystals (diamonds covering a quartz movement) marketplace. Instead they decided to cover every square mm of the front and sides with diamonds, even the crown is set with white and black ones.
(source)
In case you're curious, the "plain" RM019 retails for about $650,000 so I'd put this one about $1.1 Million.
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Boucheron (previously mentioned) has released their second(the first was with Richard Mille) collaboration piece with a high-end watch maker, this time going with Max Büsser and Friends (really that is the name). This piece is based on their HM3 "Starship" design, itself built around a custom GP-based movement. The two "bumps" tell the time, with the left-side being hours (a 24 hour display, so it indicates night vs day) and the right being minutes. A date wheel runs around the large window that reveals the self-winding rotor
| HM3 | HM3 Movement |
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The new pieces use the same movement and case design, but rotated 180 degrees, so the crown is at the bottom, and the two bumps, now the eyes, are at the top. Boucheron has had some owl-themed pieces in their collection for the past few years, but nothing quite like these. The first piece is white gold, with carved amethyst for the center stone and the two cabochons covering the hour and minute bumps. The case is set with blue and purple sapphires.
| Jwlrymachine in WG (33.WATL.B) Front | Purple Jwlrymachine profile |
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It will also be made in rose gold with a rose quartz breastpiece and rubellite "eyes", set with multi-colored sapphires.
| Jwlrymachine in RG (33.RQTL.B) Profile | Pink Jwlrymachine front and back |
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All these pictures are from MB&F's website, and they have super-high-resolution ones if you're interested.
I think these pieces are much less sucessful than the RM/Boucheron collaboration. To me the watches are just a scaffolding for a completely Boucheron look. MB&F's aesthetic, whatever you think of it, is usually very distinctive, and I feel it has been lost here.
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There were some good computer renderings when it was announced, but now the Richard Mille "Hommage à Boucheron" pieces finally exist in the real world. Over on thePurists, there are four pages, with pictures galore, and a fascinating explaination of how the wheels, made of semi-precious stones with brass gear-teeth, are created, with a 90% failure rate. I borrowed these two pictures of the catseye model from there. The stone cut for the wheels is so thin that it becomes translucent. Both the front and back plates are sapphire, with the red ruby jewels, upon which the pinions pivot, set into the clear sapphire.
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(Image Copyright Xavier Reboud 2008) [via]
Boucheron is also famous as one of the over-the-top jewelers in with stores in the Place Vendome, Paris. Their "Question Mark" necklace in the form of a bird is a representitive sample
It springs from a more sedate design from the end of the 19th century.
This is their 150th anniversary year, and as such they've been doing some interesting collaborations with other luxery brands, including a unique watch with jewel wheels by Richard Mille. Some of the pieces.
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