De Grisogono thinks big

Florence Noël - With a new stand and some astounding new watches, the Genevan brand celebrates fifteen years of uninterrupted creativity at Basel.

With a new stand and some astounding new watches, the Genevan brand celebrates fifteen years of uninterrupted creativity at Basel.

Florence Noël

It has taken de Grisogono just fifteen short years to make its declaration of independence. And at this year’s Baselworld, the Genevan watch firm is certainly taking a stance, as much by its presence as its products. What finer proof than the inauguration of its new space? Previously confined to a corner of the Chopard stand, de Grisogono now has its very own showcase, surrounded by the most famous names in luxury.

And what a stand! It’s no secret that Fawaz Gruosi, CEO and founder of de Grisogono, likes to think big. The brand’s space at the Basel show, spread over 560 square metres, is not to be ignored. Sitting on a metal structure that weighs close to 30,000 kilos, it is enveloped in a giant jewel made from a multitude of black diamonds, each with a luminous diode in its centre representing a white diamond. The two symbols of the brand.

Inside, the atmosphere is warm and inviting, swathed in the scrolls and whorls found in Fawaz Gruosi’s jewellery collections. Irresistibly, the eye is drawn to an imposing spiral staircase, all in glass and engraved with these Florentine motifs.

How to resist the sparkle of a thousand black diamonds? Barely have visitors to this international watch Fair stepped inside, their eye is drawn to the latest de Grisogono watches, astonishing as they are.

Two new models

The Otturatore, the first model celebrating the brand’s fifteenth anniversary, transforms complications into a work of extreme simplicity. Behind the sobriety of the watch lies a complex concept developed from numerical calculations to create a mobile dial. In a few dozen microseconds, a light pressure releases an incredible amount of power that rotates the dial to reveal one of the four complications hidden inside. Over half of the watch’s 200 components are devoted to this sequential display module.

Clearly, de Grisogono has chosen 2008 to enter the circle of great watchmakers. The revolution is complete with its second amazing model, the Meccanico dG. In an exceptional tour de force, the brand has achieved its dream of creating a digital time display driven by a mechanical power supply, something which few watchmakers have dared to attempt. The first mechanical watch with digital display, the unbelievable complexity of the Meccanico dG is a nanomechanical exploit. No fewer than 651 components form a cluster of ultra-perfected micro-mechanisms to show analogue and digital time in separate displays, and two time zones. All in a contemporary-styled watch. The watch revolution has begun. ■

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