Baselworld welcomes complications

Complications are, of course, as much a part of horology as the measuring of the hours, minutes and seconds themselves. Today’s watch manufacturers are heir to an expertise that developed alongside astronomy, and calculations made from observations of the stars and planets. Not that brands content themselves with borrowing from the past. Watchmaking is a centuries-old activity that also knows how to reinvent itself, as this selection of new launches clearly shows.

Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Earth

Mechanical architecture is at the heart of this watch from Armin Strom, as the arrangement of the parts in the fully skeletonised ARM09-S calibre in layers against the black PVD-treated plate produces a three-dimensional effect. Hours, minutes and small seconds displays are served by twin barrels that deliver an eight-day power reserve. Such mechanical intricacy is made possible by a command of traditional watchmaking.

Breguet Tradition Automatique Seconde Rétrograde 7097

The Tradition Automatique Seconde Rétrograde 7097 is Breguet’s tribute to the “souscription” and “à tact” watches made by Abraham-Louis Breguet in the late eighteenth century. Like them, its mechanism reveals the bridges, wheels, escapement, barrel and other parts that are usually positioned under the plate. The small offset dial at 12 o’clock is overlapped by a circular segment showing retrograde seconds. A distinctive feature of the Tradition collection, the “pare-chute” which protects the balance staff is symmetrically positioned at 4 o’clock. As well as honouring the past, this new watch innovates with an inverted straight-line lever escapement with silicon horns and the silicon Breguet overcoil balance spring to ensure optimal rating precision.

Christophe Claret Aventicum

Christophe Claret pays tribute to Aventicum, the ancient capital of Roman Helvetia. Among the many treasures to have been excavated there is a solid gold bust of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius which the watchmaker has reproduced at the centre of the dial, as a gold sculpture just 3 millimetres high. Viewing the details of this microscopic likeness would be impossible without the mirascope optical system which Christophe Claret has integrated into the watch. Two parabolic mirrors are positioned one above the other; the topmost mirror has a hole in its centre. The object to be viewed is placed on the bottom mirror, reflected by light rays and magnified to twice its size so that it appears to be projecting out of the dial. The watch’s decorations are inspired by Roman art, such as the five racing chariots on the oscillating weight.

De Bethune DB28 GS

A lightweight titanium case, a soft hand-polished finish, the 12 o’clock position of the crown, patented floating lugs that adapt to fit the wrist and a natural rubber strap: the DB28 GS is designed for absolute comfort. The same care has gone into the hand-wound DB2115 movement whose self-regulating twin barrels ensure a six-day power reserve; a performance monitored by the indicator at 3 o’clock. The balance spring features a flat terminal curve while the silicon and white gold balance ensures the ideal inertia/mass ratio for a frequency of 28,800 vibrations/hour.

De Grisogono Instrumento No Uno Annual Calendar

Among the new releases from de Grisogono, a brand that chose fine watchmaking from its very first steps in time measurement, this Instrumento No Uno with annual calendar conserves the characteristic attributes of the Instrumento collection. The self-winding QA 20-89 calibre, beating at 28,800 vibrations/hour, displays small seconds, month and date, which needs adjusting just once a year at end February. The large date at 12 o’clock is balanced by the month display and small seconds that take up the bottom of the dial.

Glashütte Original PanoReserve

The PanoReserve is a classic style from Glashütte, with hours, minutes and small seconds joined by a large date and power reserve. This year the brand is releasing this design and its PanoMaticLunar in two new versions, with either a black dial in a red gold case or a blue dial in a satin-brushed polished steel case. The dials are made in-house. The movement is the hand-wound 65-01 calibre with 48 jewels and 42-hour power reserve. The three-quarter plate is decorated with Côtes de Glashütte stripes while the balance bridge is hand-engraved. Both can be admired through the sapphire exhibition back.

Hautlence HLRS01 Honeycomb

This watch captures the spirit of the Neuchâtel brand and its novel approach to time-telling through jumping hours, retrograde minutes and dragging seconds, brought to life by its unique system of connecting rods. As always, the HLRS01 Honeycomb takes a resolutely contemporary approach to time with the juxtaposition of a textured black honeycomb dial and an intermediate transparent sapphire dial. Since making its debut on the HLQ02 in 2007, the honeycomb dial has become a style signature which the brand has extended to several of its designs.

Ulysse Nardin Hannibal Minute Repeater Westminster Carillon Tourbillon Jaquemarts

Ulysse Nardin retells Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps by elephant in the third century BC. The figures in this fresco, as well as the mountain landscape, are sculpted from white gold and set against a background of genuine Alpine granite. Rendered in incredible detail despite their small scale, the jacks are animated by the UN-78 tourbillon movement with a Westminster chimes minute repeater striking four different notes (mi, do, re, sol). An epic scene from Roman history is brought vividly to life.

Voutilainen GMR

This watch from Kari Voutilainen displays power reserve as well as a second time zone over 24 hours combined with small seconds in the form of two concentric scales. As with any Voutilainen timepiece, the GMR is developed and hand-crafted inside the master watchmaker’s workshops. An ingenious mechanism allows the second time zone to be adjusted by the crown, jumping one hour at each push to maintain absolute precision with local time. The dial is decorated with a beautifully rendered guilloché pattern, while the Côtes de Genève and hand-chamfering on the movement can be admired through the sapphire crystal back.

Zenith Academy Georges Favre-Jacot

The Academy Georges Favre-Jacot is a compilation of the expertise which the Manufacture has developed over its 150 years. The high-frequency El Primero 4810 calibre is hand-wound, with a power-reserve indicator and small seconds. Zenith has chosen a fusee-and-chain transmission borrowed from early marine chronometers. It takes up the entire top part of the dial. This complex device compensates for the gradual reduction in the force of the barrel as the power reserve runs down, thereby maintaining perfect stability of the force with no loss of amplitude.