At the end of October, The Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève rewarded the excellent work some watchmakers accomplished this year. The ceremony is always a moment of great expectation as since 2001, the Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious prize you could get as a watchmaker. It is the equivalent of the Oscars for the movie industry. LuxuryActivist wished to highlight 3 major creations among all the laureates.
Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève, the best of watchmaking
Created in 2001 and intended as an annual salute to the excellence of worldwide watchmaking creations, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève fosters the reputation and influence of this art and its values around the globe. Values that are shared by the main partner of the Foundation of the GPHG, the Edmond de Rothschild group, which since 2011 has regularly rewarded the best young student at the Geneva Watchmaking School by awarding a scholarship. This year winners are:
- “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix: Breguet, Classique Chronométrie
- Ladies’ Watch Prize: Blancpain, Women Off-centred Hour
- Ladies’ High-Mech Watch Prize: Christophe Claret, Margot
- Men’s Watch Prize: Urban Jürgensen & Sonner, Central Second
- Chronograph Watch Prize: De Bethune, DB29 Maxichrono Tourbillon
- Tourbillon Watch Prize: Grönefeld, Parallax Tourbillon
- Calendar Watch Prize: A. Lange & Söhne, Richard Lange Perpetual Calendar “Terraluna”
- Striking Watch Prize: Hublot, Classic Fusion Cathedral Tourbillon Minute Repeater
- Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Urwerk, EMC
- “Petite Aiguille” Prize: Seiko, Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36000 GMT
- Sports Watch Prize: Zenith, El Primero Lightweight
- Jewelry Watch Prize: Bvlgari Diva High Jewellery Emeralds
- Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Voutilainen Hisui
- Innovation Watch Prize: Urwerk, EMC
- Revival Watch Prize: Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon
- Special Jury Prize: Walter Lange
- Public Prize: Breguet Classique Dame
All these watchmakers have accomplish an outstanding work of craftsmanship. Every single watch here above are true pieces of art and every detail is mastered with a great know-how. That is why these timepieces are quite unique. Congratulations to all the winners as they deserve it. Here is a highlight of 3 out of these creations.
Breguet, Classique Chronométrie
Breguet develops and creates amazing timepieces since 1775. It is an amazing story of innovation, know-how and passion. This year with the new Classique Chronométrie 7727 the Swiss brand won the “Aiguille d’Or” prize. This watch runs at a frequency of 10Hz. It is the first time that a non-chronograph watch reaches such a level of precision. This high frequency is made possible by Breguet’s amazing know-how in silicon. The balance spring, lever and escapement wheel of this watch are all in silicon. The other innovation involves magnetism. Breguet’s watchmakers have developed a new approach using two counter-pivots with a powerful micro magnet at each end of the shaft. Outstanding.
You can read more about Breguet and its amazing collection of watches by visiting the official website: http://www.breguet.com
Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon
The Grönefeld Parallax tourbillon features a “flying” tourbillon with a large central seconds hand, stop seconds, power reserve indicator and winding-setting function indicator. The in-house movement, beautiful solid silver dial and highly polished case display sophistication and craftsmanship at the very highest level. The raised flying tourbillon allows full appreciation of the concentric, rhythmic “breathing” of the balance hairspring, while ensuring high precision. Grönefeld is a quite confidential Dutch brand. The name Grönefeld and the art of watchmaking have a family history spanning a hundred years, originating in the ancient town of Oldenzaal in the Netherlands. It is in this Dutch city that in 1240, Johan Grönefeld began his career as a watchmaker in 1912. This marked the beginning of a small and highly talented dynasty of Grönefeld watchmakers which now sees brothers Bart and Tim Grönefeld carry the baton. Here a video to give you an insight to this original brand.
If you wish to learn more about this very unique Watch brand, you can connect to the brand official website by clicking in the following link. You will read more about its history and the current collections: http://www.gronefeld.com
Voutilainen Hisui, beautiful art
Nothing can be compared with Voutilainen Watch brand. Kari Voutilainen was born in Finland in 1962 and has a passionate interest in horology spanning thirty years. He completed his initial watchmaker’s training at the world renowned watchmaking school of Tapiola in Finland. He first came to Switzerland in 1989 to attend the International Watchmaking School, where he completed the WOSTEP complicated watch course, a post graduate course for those watchmakers dedicated to the restoration of complicated, high quality rare watches. He established his company in Môtiers – Switzerland.
This bespoke watch is inspired by Emerald and Jade precious stones, which is in fact what the name Hisui means. The masterpiece shown here features lacquering techniques requiring well over a thousand hours of work to complete the dial and bridges. The raw materials for its creation are: Kinpun (gold dust), Jyunkin-itakane (gold leaf), Yakou-gai (shell of great green turban) and Awabi-gai (abalone shell from New Zealand).
Please check the company official website here: http://www.voutilainen.ch
Once again, the Grand Prix de l’horlogerie de Geneve had an amazing year in which they congratulated the best of the best for 2014. Cannot wait until next year edition. You can check the Grand Prix website to see more details: http://www.gphg.org
Info sourced at the GPHG website, official communication release and respective brands websites. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
