Following 2024's AP x KAWS Royal Oak Concept watch release, Audemars Piguet has announced a new collaboration with the founders of Tokyo-based streetwear and jewellery brand Ambush, Yoon Ahn and Verbal. The sublime engineering of this 38.55 mm version features the 72-hour Calibre 2982 and a flying tourbillon framed in red, limited to 150 pieces.

Born in 2002 as Audemars Piguet's experimental laboratory, the Royal Oak Concept has always existed outside convention. The Concept, with its angular case form, is a forward-leaning counterpoint to Gerald Genta's original, classical geometry. For its latest chapter, Audemars Piguet has collaborated with Yoon Ahn and Verbal on a technically accomplished watch, with a semi-skeletonised, architecturally layered dial and tourbillon at six o’clock.

A pop of red in the tourbillon cage is the only point of colour in the monochrome design, a signature hue of the Tokyo duo. 'Red has always been a powerful colour for us,' says Verbal, adding, 'while the tourbillon cage represents the heart of the watch, the force that keeps everything in motion. Red evokes the Earth’s core: the origin point, the source of energy and, ultimately, the beginning of how we measure time itself.'

The dial, revealing the inner workings of the Calibre 2892, sparkles in a polished black aventurine, a rare colour in this type of glass, with its metal fragments creating a delicate glitter from the smallest sliver of light.

Compared to previous incarnations of the Concept collection, this smaller size made its debut in 2024. With its fiercely faceted titanium case, it is strong despite its everyday, wearable size. Fans of the brand will recognise the crown and bolted-down bezel as timeless family traits, this time embellished on a slim 11.4mm matte titanium main case, which is fitted with an interchangeable black rubber strap.

The Royal Oak Flying Tourbillon is a key part of Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta's refresh at the company, since she took on the role at the start of 2024. Like the standard-bearing Genta creation that is its forebear, it sets the standard for continuing collaborations in art, fashion and design.

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Anyone watching the new Peaky Blinders film and with an eye to style will no doubt overlook the flatcaps and tieless shirts and note the readiness with which the anti-heroes reach for their waistcoat pocket to find their watches. The pocket watch was a slightly antiquated choice even by the era depicted, during the Second World War. Now, you might imagine, it would be positively anachronistic.

'But the pocket watch remains an object of emotion even if it’s rare to see it in everyday use now,' says Guido Terrini, the CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier, which recently released its La Revenale, a Lepine pocket watch with a minute repeater and a restored, historic, ultra-thin calibre, to mark the birthday of the company’s founder. It’s one of three pocket watches Parmigiani has released to date.

‘A pocket watch gives you more volume to play with [from the design and mechanics standpoint] and, horologically speaking, pocket watch movements are extremely interesting. But of course, pocket watches also come with the allure of a certain kind of expression,’ continues Terrini.

Indeed, Parmigiani is not the only high-end brand to release a pocket watch to mark an occasion or as statement of its heritage. Earlier in 2026, Audemars Piguet unveiled its limited-edition 150 Heritage pocket watch, with a universal calendar and mechanical calculator among its 30 complications, making for a hefty piece that would likely require a reinforced pocket. And it was with its Les Cabinotiers Berkley pocket watch that, in 2024, Vacheron Constantin produced the most complicated watch yet made, with 63 complications.

But there’s also a steady stream of pocket watches from brands offering a more accessible product, and/or a more contemporary one. Hermès, for one, has become a regular maker of pocket watches, with its blue enamel Arceau Chevaloscope Neon a standout.

Urwerk, which launched a pocket watch a decade ago, has it in mind to use the format again for a portable atomic clock project. 'The size is such that it would feasibly work inside a pocket watch case, and we’ve come up with some cool designs,' says co-founder Martin Frei. 'The pocket watch may be a bit “show off” for some people, but it’s a way of carrying time that shouldn’t be overlooked.'

The British independent brand The Camden Watch Company this year launched its first pocket watch – in a modern-meets-Victorian style – following customer requests. And when Studio Underdog and Christopher Ward teamed up on a timepiece at the end of 2025, they opted for a (now sold out) 100-piece-edition pocket watch, The Alliance 02.

'Pocket watches are just cool – and watch designers don’t often get the opportunity to work on one,' enthuses Studio Underdog’s founder Richard Benc, who has a second pocket watch collaboration in mind. 'In the world of mechanical watches, it’s a niche within a niche within a niche, but the pocket watch’s appeal may be that it speaks to a different pace of life in that it makes checking the time more intentional. It’s the opposite of the Apple Watch in some ways.'

'Watch collectors will look to pocket watches because they see them as an important part of horological history,' adds David Steyffer, head of archive for IWC, which last launched a pocket watch in 2018 to mark the brand’s 150th anniversary. He notes that, sadly, many gold pocket watches are being melted down because the precious metal is of such high value at the moment. 'Certainly, fashion plays a part in the pocket watch’s appeal too. There is a Peaky Blinders Effect. But, critically, the pocket watch doesn’t have to be received as old-fashioned at all.'

Nor does using one necessitate the cosplay-lite of wearing a waistcoat: Benc has found that customers of The Alliance 02 are just as happy to simply slip it into their jeans pocket, or use it as a desk clock. Indeed, aren’t we used to pulling a mobile phone out of a pocket to check the time? Isn’t that essential, especially to those many, and particularly younger, people who don’t wear a watch, and have no interest in doing so? Could that habit prove a gateway to the mainstream return of the pocket watch?

Terrini is not so sure about this idea. Yes, he says, reaching for a pocket watch is, he says, ‘a beautiful gesture – it’s looking at the time with more care’, but he thinks to go from smartphone to pocket watch appreciation – by-passing wristwatches – is to miss ‘an entire and necessary educational phase’. Maybe pocket watches remain for the more dandyish connoisseur after all.

With only a couple of months to go until Audemars Piguet’s Watches & Wonders debut, we were expecting CEO Ilaria Resta to save the ammunition. We were mistaken.

After its voluminous show of strength back in November for Dubai Watch Week, Audemars Piguet is set for the brand’s Watches & Wonders debut in mid-April. Usually, this would mean a small debut this month, but instead, Ilaria Resta, in her third year as CEO, shows strength with a massive release of Royal Oak novelties. Audemars Piguet has recently debuted new takes on the muscular Offshore, a surprising revival of a jump-hour design, and a pocket watch tour de force. Here is a rundown of a major release that spanned a trend-surfing Royal Oak mini, ceramic blues, and QP complexity, starting with something rather complex that might just signal a new lease of life for uber-complicated pocket watches.

150 Héritage Pocket Watch with Universal Calendar

The 150e Héritage pocket watch is conceived as a dedicated pocket format rather than a wristwatch adaptation. It is an impressive halo piece for the brand and is powered by the hand-wound Calibre 1150, integrating a mindboggling array of 47 functions. This includes a sonnerie, minute repeater, tourbillon and split-seconds chronograph. A mechanically independent universal calendar appears on the caseback, mapping solar, lunar and lunisolar cycles from 1900 to 2099. The engraved platinum case and enamel dial emphasise craftsmanship and rarity, making the 150 Héritage Pocket Watch a poster child for the artisanal side of Audemars Piguet, more than an actual timepiece.

Royal Oak Mini

The Royal Oak Mini extends the collection through scale and material, and it also drops two strong references riffing on the petite trend. Two 23 mm quartz references introduce the resurgent look of black onyx framed in pink gold with diamond indices, and a crisp white mother-of-pearl dial in a yellow gold case. With minimal dial elements, surface finishing becomes the primary design feature, and Genta’s octagonal strength works equally well on this diminutive scale. Powered by a long-life quartz movement, the Royal Oak Mini is the jewellery-led expression of the famous watch family.

Calibre 7139: Openworked Perpetual Calendars

Audemars Piguet's new in-house movement, the Calibre 7139, is now contained in the brand’s next-gen openworked perpetual calendar. Built around an all-in-one crown correction system, it removes the need for recessed pushers and tools and is an important card in CEO Ilaria Resta’s 2026 deck. The movement appears in two 41 mm models, starting with a Code 11.59 in white gold and black ceramic. This sporty vibe is complemented by a Royal Oak in titanium with a Bulk Metallic Glass bezel. This new element offers a different, deeper gloss that contrasts with the darker titanium case. The polished octagonal bezel frames a busy, symmetrical, legible dial of calendar indications, with gold details offsetting a monochrome, complex architecture.

Royal Oak Chronograph

The Royal Oak Chronograph 38 mm debuts the new in-house Calibre 6401, in a wearable size with a trio of finishes. The new automatic movement features Audemars Piguet's integrated chronograph architecture, refined with a simplified clutch system to improve pusher feel, and all models now have sapphire casebacks. The dial layout remains based on Audemars Piguet’s Grande Tapisserie dial surface, with contrasting, recessed registers for balance and readability. Case dimensions remain unchanged, preserving the compact profile of the 38 mm format, with the steel version true to its origins. A gem-set version in pink gold dialling up the glamour.

Royal Oak Selfwinding with Malachite Dials

Two yellow-gold Royal Oak Selfwinding models feature malachite dials, whose natural patterns make each dial unique. Both versions come in 18K yellow gold cases, and applied gold markers and lumed hands maintain the collection’s functional language. Standard self-winding movements power each size, and water resistance remains unchanged. Despite the trendy choice of malachite for the dials, these two references are positioned as series-production Royal Oaks rather than limited pieces. One was spotted on Bad Bunny's wrist during his Super Bowl halftime show.

Code 11.59 Selfwinding

These new Code 11.59 Selfwinding models focus on colour and proportion, retaining the collection’s trademark case architecture. Both watches have the 38 mm case and radial ripple-like dial introduced in 2023, housed in pink gold. One adopts an all-black palette, while the other uses a silver-toned dial paired with a brown strap. The self-winding Calibre 5900 remains unchanged, underscoring the collection’s role as a platform for variation rather than mechanical development.

Royal Oak Offshore Diver

The Offshore Diver receives a restrained colour refresh across three stainless-steel models. Two retain black dials with coloured 0–15-minute zones, while a third introduces a deep teal dial. All maintain ceramic crowns, interchangeable straps and 300-metre water resistance. The Calibre 4308 remains unchanged, reframing the big brother of Genta’s Royal Oak, designed by Emmanuel Gueit. The Offshore has a focus on durability and wearability, and is, despite its price, still a tool watch at heart.

Neo Frame Jumping Hour Calibre

The Jumping Hour stands apart from Audemars Piguet’s core collections. Jump Hour displays were among the most consistent trends of 2025, embraced by brands such as Bremont and Cartier. This new watch draws on a 1920s design by the brand, with the time is displayed through two apertures. A jumping hour window at 12 and a crescent aperture at 6 are set within a rectangular pink-gold case with pronounced Art Deco side gadroons. A black PVD-treated sapphire dial is structurally bonded to the case, allowing an uninterrupted surface. Inside, the new self-winding Calibre 7122 marks AP’s first automatic jumping-hour movement, developed with an emphasis on stability and everyday use.

Bad Bunny pulled out all the stops for his headlining role in the Super Bowl 2026 halftime show, from an immersive stage design to star-studded guest appearances. But watch aficionados can be forgiven for being distracted by the glint of gold on his wrist. For his sensational show, Bad Bunny chose a classic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding in 18-carat yellow gold with a malachite dial, a classic with a vibrant edge.

Clad in a 37 mm case, the self-winding watch juxtaposes the distinctive glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback against the yellow gold integrated bracelet and glimmers of 18-carat gold in the hands and inner bezel. But it's the malachite stone dial which is the star here – loved for its distinctive patterns and texture, each watch has a unique hue thanks to the natural fluctuations which define its crystalline structure.

After five decades, the Royal Oak watch continues to be a marker of taste and style – but where did it all begin?

The history of Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak

The launch of the Royal Oak 54 years ago this year represents one of the last truly transformative moments in modern mechanical watchmaking.

Why? Because the advent of Audemars Piguet’s most lauded model in 1972 marked a sea change in the relationship between a watch and its wearer: from a time when quality was generally represented by a discreet-looking timepiece in a precious metal, to the era we live in today, in which a watch serves as the perfect lifestyle accessory.

From a simple, time-only with-date model – the original 5402ST – the Royal Oak redrew the horological map, setting the course not only for a revolution in the watch industry, but the entire market for luxury goods. It also placed Audemars Piguet’s home in the small village of Le Brassus, in Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux, which has served as a centre of complicated watchmaking since the 18th century, at the heart of a new era of haute horology, even as the brisk winds of the so-called Quartz Crisis swirled.

The Royal Oak did so thanks to a one-of-a-kind, out-of-the-box design, famously drawn in a single night in April 1970 by the ‘Picasso of Watchmaking’, Gérald Genta. He was doubtless spurred on by the same restless spirit of innovation that had led Audemars Piguet to develop the world’s thinnest automatic movement, Calibre 2120, years earlier, the date version of which would debut in the original first Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’.

Trying to nail the innate and imbued qualities of Genta’s design in a sentence is like trying to catch flames in a fishing net. However, one inalienable quality sets it apart from most other watches on the market then and now – a magical presence on the wrist. But this barely touches the sides of the Royal Oak’s manifest, objective appeal. For that, you need to plunge deeper – deeper even than the old-time diving helmet, or scaphander, that legendarily inspired the watch’s octagonal bezel.

To understand the unique qualities of the watch requires an appreciation of classical proportions and of the power of sacred geometry – Genta was a scholar of Renaissance architecture and, in particular, ecclesiastical design – as well as of the stylistic principles underpinning art deco, reflected in the materiality of its unique bracelet assembly (at the time the most complex ever attempted).

The fact that it harnessed the most valued attributes of the past – the traditions of the Vallée de Joux – in the most radical manner possible was clearly no bad thing. But it’s also important to recognise the sheer bravado of parading the supposed ‘innards’ of a watch – within its case the bold display of eight hexagonal screw heads puncturing the bezel. Together, these elements have conspired to create a watch with the uncanny ability to match the prevailing ethos of each of the decades through which it has passed.

Clearly, when the Royal Oak was being developed, the world itself was changing. The opulence and ostentation associated with old money was being replaced by a new, more egalitarian approach to success and, therefore in particular, the signifiers of wealth. An example of this can be seen in fashion. When Yves Saint Laurent introduced the world’s first ready-to-wear fashion couture line, Rive Gauche, he championed luxed-up versions of what might previously have been dubbed ‘work wear’ – the famous unisex trench coat, for example, and that staple of 1970s menswear style, the ‘safari’ jacket (itself an early code name for the watch later crowned the Royal Oak).

As Western culture embraced this ‘youth-quake’, Genta’s design met the need for a highly refined timepiece that carried forward the period’s fascination with emblems of energy and emancipation. The 1970s, in the West at least, was marked by shifting geopolitical sands and a major recession brought on by the 1973 Oil Crisis – a time during which, it could be argued, a beautifully executed stainless steel watch served as the original 'stealth wealth’ option. At the same time, a new leisure class emerged, international, inclusive – up to a point – and eager to embrace the Royal Oak’s invocation of a good life well lived.

Indeed, one of its earliest adopters was one of the most important designers of the age, Karl Lagerfeld, quickly followed by a host of what we would today call influencers, but at the time were simply referred to as ‘cool’.

The 1980s ushered in a new era of affluence, often achieved at a much younger age than for earlier generations, thanks to financial deregulation and the trickle-down economics adopted in large Western economies.

The growing Royal Oak collection responded with bold dials and precious metals, all designed by a woman whose role in the story of this timepiece can never be overstated: Jacqueline Dimier.

The 1980s also saw the introduction of complications into the Royal Oak collection, first a calendar model in 1983, followed a year later by the landmark Model 5554, which featured the world’s slimmest self-winding perpetual calendar – the epochal Calibre 2020/2800.

For many, the arrival of Model 5554 represents the consecration of a new era in mechanical watchmaking, one in which emblematic complications, including the perpetual calendar, were freed from the round watch/precious metal conformity of the past.

The Royal Oak can thus justly claim to have led the field in this regard. Having jumped the guardrails of conventional watch design 50 years ago, today the Royal Oak collection continues to serve as an ambassador for the latest developments in ultra-high-end watchmaking, not least the work of Audemars Piguet Le Locle, the developmental arm of Audemars Piguet set up by Dominique Renaud and Giulio Papi.

Heralded by the Royal Oak Concept in 2002, this remarkable new generation of movements developed by Audemars Piguet’s master watchmakers – including the breathtaking RD#2 ultra-thin Perpetual Calendar unveiled in 2019 – has now been joined by Calibre 7172, the replacement for the hallowed Calibre 2121, the world’s thinnest automatic movement with date function when it debuted in the original Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’ in 1972.

Hyperbole rarely survives scrutiny, but it’s fair to say that the Royal Oak is both an outlier and a unicorn – a watch that continues to disrupt the conventions of mechanical watchmaking whilst serving as a timepiece that ranks as one of the most desirable on earth.

Here are five more reasons why I believe the Royal Oak is still talked about today.

5 reasons Audemars Piguet Royal Oak endures

1. Its singularity

The Royal Oak was born as one model, produced for a scant six years in a single case material and size – Model 5402ST or ‘Jumbo’. Over the years it has been joined by over 850 different models in numerous sizes and styles, to which have been added a vast array of complications, from chronographs to perpetual calendars to Grande Complications. But at its core remains the essential trinity of the 5402’s defining characteristics: its bezel, hexagonal screws and, in most instances, the fully integrated bracelet.

2. The symmetry of its design

There is no denying the watch’s unifying presence on the wrist – one of the most harmonious watch designs of all time, unfettered by unnecessary ornamentation yet highly decorative in its own, rarefied way.

3. Its tactility

A wine connoisseur might recognise it as ‘mouth feel’; here, it refers to the way in which the watch’s finely honed angles and the mellifluous articulation of the articulating bracelet offer a dexterous embrace never before found in such a resolutely robust timepiece.

4. A coherence across the entire collection

The watch’s lineage now extends to as many as 24,000 individual styles. Factor in the Royal Oak Offshore (which celebrates its own anniversary in 2023) and Concept watch pieces, and it’s clear the Royal Oak retains an uncompromising fealty to Genta’s original design – an extraordinary achievement given the sheer number of complications, materials and decorative executions it has embraced.

5. The cadence of its evolution

If the rhythms of a life can be discerned, they can be seen clearly in the manner in which the Royal Oak collection has developed – growing from a solitary model to become an extended family of complicated, and ever more complex, timepieces. A process, moreover, that has kept pace with an ever-changing world without ever demoting its forebears in the process.

Evidence of this can clearly be seen in the current appreciation of earliest Royal Oak models, and the unprecedented demand for the 50th anniversary collection launched several years ago.

Further reading: Royal Oak: From Iconoclast To Icon, published by Assouline (2022)

Audemars Piguet has big plans, with the expansion of the immersive AP House concept seeing recent openings internationally, from Manchester to Atlanta. Now, after years in the making, Audemars Piguet has opened its doors to its new London address. The relocation from New Bond Street to Clifford Street marks a new chapter for the brand, which has shifted the emphasis firmly onto hospitality with a bigger space that feels like a home away from home.

Created in 2017, AP House reimagines retail as a cultural space – where visitors can relax, explore the brand’s history, and attend everything from whisky tastings to live music events.

The vast new space – it spans 914 square meters across four floors, not including a generous roof terrace – is well-equipped for cultural immersion. The Grade II-listed property, dating from 1719, was destroyed in a fire in 1988, later becoming an office space. In an extensive renovation, Audemars Piguet were determined to bring it back to its former glory.

Original features throughout, including columns, fireplaces, ceilings and staircases, are an elegant foil for rich, clubhouse-inspired interiors. The watches fit in naturally, from a 360° watch display inspired by whisky distilleries to the vintage Audemars Piguet advertisements on the walls, historical watch selection and a Royal Oak tree (a nod to the Royal Oak which sheltered King Charles II and inspired the collection’s name).

‘The new AP House London represents Audemars Piguet’s celebration of heritage and innovation at all levels, perfectly balancing London’s energy with the serenity of Le Brassus,’ says Daniel Compton, country general manager of Audemars Piguet Northern Europe. ‘We are looking forward to welcoming and connecting with our guests in their new home away from home.’

AP House London is at 9 Clifford Street , W1S 2TD

Watch lovers, take note: AP has landed in the ATL.

Last week, Audemars Piguet unveiled its latest destination for haute horology with a new AP House in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighbourhood. The destination, which joins locations in New York and Los Angeles, demonstrates the Swiss watchmaker's continued expansion in the US, particularly in the American South.

Unlike traditional watch boutiques, AP Houses aim to provide a hospitality-like environment for the brand’s clients, one that reflects its commitment to craftsmanship while creating an inviting atmosphere. The two-storey Atlanta outpost clocks in at 10,000 sq ft and features a terrace on its upper level, overlooking the Buckhead Village District, one of the city’s premier luxury shopping and dining destinations.

Inside, visitors can peruse Audemars Piguet timepieces during a private consultation; sip on a drink from the comfort of a velvet-clad sofa; or listen to some vinyl in a special listening lounge, a nod to Atlanta’s outsize role in American music production. The interiors, conceived by Audemars Piguet’s in-house team, are intentionally warm, replete with gold-hued textiles, timber accents and leafy plants, appropriate given Atlanta’s reputation as the City in a Forest. Also on view are works by local artist Patrick Eugene, on loan from Mariane Ibrahim Gallery.

‘We’re proud to expand our presence in the United States with the opening of AP House Atlanta – a new home for the Audemars Piguet community in the region,’ said Louis-Gabriel Fichet, CEO, Audemars Piguet Americas. ‘We look forward to welcoming clients, friends of the brand, and horology enthusiasts to experience the essence of Le Brassus and engage with the world of Audemars Piguet.’

The 25th edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie Geneve (GPHG) took place on 13 November 2025 at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, a former power plant in the centre of Geneva. The grand prize, or ‘Aiguille d’Or’, was awarded to Breguet, for its faithful reproduction in wristwatch form of a 1796 pocket watch created by company founder and ‘father of modern watchmaking’, Abraham-Louis Breguet. Singled out for the purity of its classically simple design, incorporating a grand feu enamelled dial and a single, blued hand, the latest incarnation of a historic ‘souscription’ (subscription) model – the means by which early watchmakers were able to fund their work – celebrates 270 years since the founding of the brand.

In a similar vein, the Chronometry prize – celebrating excellence in timekeeping – was awarded to a recreation of Zenith’s Calibre 135, the most awarded movement in the history of chronometers. Represented this year as the ‘GFJ’ to mark the 160th anniversary of the company’s founding by Georges Favre-Jacot, the winning watch features a 39mm case with a striking lapis lazuli dial surrounded by a ‘brick’ guilloché motif inspired by the façade of the manufacture in Le Locle.

Among the other winners were Anton Suhanov, who took the Revelation prize for his tabletop world timer tourbillon clock; Audemars Piguet, recognised for the latest iteration of its Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, fitted with the new, fully crown-set Cailbre 7138; and Bulgari, which won a further prize for its groundbreaking series of Finissimo models, this time in the Tourbillon category.

Other prizes were distributed between Chopard (which took two, for Ladies Compilation and Sports), and Daniel Roth and Gérald Genta, both dial names recently revived under the auspices of the Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, honoured in the Time-Only and Ladies’ categories respectively.

The Special Jury Prize honoured Alain Dominique Perrin, president of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, for his visionary role in promoting high-quality watchmaking.

All 90 of the nominated timepieces, including the 19 winners, are on display at the Geneva Musée d'Art et d'Histoire until 16 November 2025.

The 2025 GPHG winners

‘Aiguille d’Or’ Grand Prix : Breguet, Classique Souscription 2025

Chronometry Prize: Zenith, G.F.J. Calibre 135

Horological Revelation Prize: Anton Suhanov, St Petersburg Easter Egg Tourbillon Clock

Audacity Prize: Fam Al Hut, Möbius

Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Greubel Forsey, Nano Foudroyante

Chronograph Watch Prize: Angelus, Chronographe Télémètre Yellow Gold

Tourbillon Watch Prize: Bulgari, Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon

Sports Watch Prize: Chopard, Alpine Eagle 41 SL Cadence 8HF

Men’s Complication Watch Prize: Bovet 1822, Récital 30

Men’s Watch Prize: Urban Jürgensen, UJ-2: Double wheel natural escapement

Time Only Watch Prize: Daniel Roth, Extra Plat Rose Gold

Jewellery Watch Prize: Dior Montres, La D de Dior Buisson Couture

Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Voutilainen, 28GML SOUYOU

Ladies’ Complication Watch Prize: Chopard, Imperiale Four Seasons

Ladies’ Watch Prize: Gérald Genta, Gentissima Oursin Fire Opal

‘Petite Aiguille’ Watch Prize: MAD Editions, MAD2 Green

Challenge Watch Prize: Dennison, Natural Stone Tiger Eye In Gold

Mechanical Clock Prize: L’Épée 1839, Albatross L’Épée 1839 X MB&F

Special Jury Prize: Alain Dominique Perrin

An ode to affordable furniture

Nick Vinson, Contributing Editor

This week was pretty special. After lunch with artist Dame Rachel Whiteread to celebrate the launch of her collection for Puiforcat Silver Set 2025 (more about that in a future issue of Wallpaper*), I headed to Antwerp for dinner with Inditex chair Marta Ortega Pérez and Vincent Van Duysen at the architect’s home to mark the launch of his fourth collection for Zara Home. Van Duysen filled his home with pieces from the collection, including rugs, sofas, tables, a desk, lamps and some fabulous cream-coloured carpets, and the garden with the outdoor collection. It’s good to see the brand hiring original talent and creating quality products with enduring appeal, and Van Duysen should be proud of this line of more ‘democratic’ and ‘accessible' furniture than that in his Italian collections. I have to admit I was slightly sceptical as I am not at all familiar with Zara Home, but instead was suitably impressed; there is a need for quality at a better price and design that will stand the test of time.

A Brooklyn food tour

Anna Solomon, Digital Staff Writer

A trip to manic Manhattan, which entailed as much sight-seeing as could be fitted into five days, ended with a much-needed escape to Brooklyn to visit a couple of friends with a knack for sniffing out great restaurants that have not yet been ravaged by a New Yorker review. Kellogg’s Diner in Williamsburg was their answer to my unimaginative demand for this quintessential American experience – a 24-hour spot originally opened in 1928 but taken over by chefs Jackie Carnesi and Amanda Perdomo at the end of last year. Now, obligatory pancakes sit comfortably alongside Tex-Mex at a bafflingly reasonable price point, among decor that tastefully reinterprets retro Americana. Beloved bistro Bar Tabac is an antique-filled slice of France in Cobble Hill, with live jazz and a chocolate fondant that will change your life, while Liar Liar, a natural wine bar in Gowanus (The New Yorker did get to that one), will serve you a fantastic steak frites and bottle of red at a price point that is, again, double take-inducing if you’ve come from Manhattan.

A moon-inspired omakase

Ellie Stathaki, Architecture and Environment Director

An evening at Luna Omakase in the City of London had me fall in love with this traditional Japanese feast all over again – ‘omakase’ loosely translates to ‘I leave it up to you’, and it's often a multi-course set menu prepared in front of you by an expert chef. The younger sibling of Juno Omakase, Luna is tucked away within Los Mochis in Liverpool Street and, just like its peer, offers a delicious, theatrical and immersive dining experience. Luna's concept is centred around the moon cycles; the number 12, symbolising the moon's journey throughout the year, informs the number of guests at any one sitting, the dishes served, the artworks in the room, and more. Executive chef Leonard Tanyag and his team have created a dining journey that nods to more traditional Japanese omakase (compared with Juno's Mexican-Japanese fusion) – there is mouthwatering nigiri (seafood, fish and melt-in-the-mouth wagyu), creative uses of wasabi, and contemporary interpretations of Japanese snacks and sandwiches. The flavours were strong, as my sitting aligned with June's 'strawberry' full moon, and the chef’s informative explanations for each dish made for a convivial atmosphere. Coming with bespoke sake pairings, it was a meal I truly savoured.

A techy trip

Jonathan Bell, Transport and Technology Editor

A busy week that involved not one but two trips to the US, starting with a visit to Big Sky, Montana, to sample Bentley's revised and updated model range, before heading to California (via London) to Apple's WWDC25. It was my first time at Apple Park and the experience didn't disappoint, with Foster + Partners’ stunning architecture – including the new Observatory – standing up to very close scrutiny. The attention to design detail was mind-blowing, appropriately enough for a company devoted to pixel-perfect perfection.

A music-infused anniversary

Charlotte Gunn, Director of Digital Content

I spent a fabulous evening celebrating 150 years of Audemars Piguet in London on Wednesday. Along with a dinner from Michelin-starred chefs Jeremy Chan and Sven Wassmer, the haute horologie brand had a surprise in store. As an extension of their AP x Music programme, they paired Mark Ronson and Raye together to record an original song. The result is ‘Suzanne’, a joy-filled summer anthem, and much to guests' delight, the pair appeared to perform the song.

A garden-inspired tea

Sofia de la Cruz, Travel Editor

I recently enjoyed a soothing and delicious afternoon tea at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, celebrating the launch of a new partnership with Cadogan Gardens in Knightsbridge – a private, verdant enclave in front of the property, home to over 5,000 diverse plants. The flavours and aromas of traditional English gardens were beautifully reflected in delicate pâtisseries, including an indulgent lavender chocolate barquette and a comforting strawberry honeycomb tart. Classical music played softly in the background set the mood perfectly.

A very east London summer party

Anne Soward, Production Editor

This week, I attended the Museum of the Home’s summer party, which celebrates the incredible work that the east London museum does over the year. It was a beautiful warm evening to be out in its stunning walled garden (actually a series of ‘garden rooms’ that chart the evolution of the English urban garden through the centuries), where we were treated to performances from Yuko Tsubame – who accompanies her Japanese folk songs infused with punk with the sounds of a sanshin, a traditional three-stringed instrument – and taiko drummer Akinori Fujimoto. Inside, we were able to get a private view of images from the World Food Photography Awards that explore the connections between home and food, which tied in nicely with the delectable morsels being plated around the party, including vegan spring rolls from local Vietnamese Sen Viet and mini bagels from Daniel’s. A DJ set from Minuscule of Sound rounded off the evening.

Jewels in Japan

Hannah Silver, Art, Culture, Watches and Jewellery Editor

This week I celebrated the launch of Chanel's beautiful new high jewellery collection, Reach for the Stars, in Kyoto. It was a joy to discover the collection, see some very special sights and enjoy lots of good food. The trip culminated with a spectacular dinner at Shogunzuka Seiryuden, complete with a drone light show, drawing Gabrielle Chanel’s favourite motifs in the sky.

To mark the 150th anniversary of Audemars Piguet, two of contemporary music's most timeless artists – Raye and Mark Ronson – have joined forces to create an original track.

'Suzanne' is a big band summer anthem with a serendipitous name. On the pair's first studio session, Raye felt a strong pull towards the moniker. Little did she know, it was the name of a vital yet unsung person in Audemars Piguet's history, Suzanne Audemars, who encouraged her children to go into watchmaking after the loss of her husband. They went on to found the haute horologie brand.

'How random is that?,' Raye says today, beaming at the song's first playback in the Vinyl Factory at 180 Studios on the Strand.

With a clear sonic synergy, it's surprising to know that Ronson and Raye have never worked together before. Fans have Audemars Piguet's longstanding collaboration with Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland to thank for the pairing. While Ronson has been part of the AP family since 2022, it was Raye's memorable 2024 Montreaux performance which resulted in the house asking her to come on board to join their music programme.

'My family are Swiss and I got to perform in front of my grandad for the first time that night,' Raye shared of the special moment. 'I was crying – my whole family were crying!'

'Suzanne' was recorded in London, New York and Los Angeles and the pair hinted that the sessions have spawned a few more unheard tracks.

'I've admired Raye's artistry for years now,' says Ronson. 'Watching her evolution from songwriter to the powerhouse artist she's become. When Audemars Piguet brought us together, it felt like the stars aligning at exactly the right moment.'

'I actually used to work in his studio when I was an up and coming songwriter,' admits Raye, of Ronson. 'I used to hear stories about him like "Mark Ronson only rides around in black cabs," so it was very cool that we got to get in the room together. He's the king of creating music that outlasts trends.'

'Suzanne', will be released on Friday 13 June 2025

Audemars Piguet is cementing its links in the north of England with the opening of the new AP House – its latest immersive showroom designed to help clients connect with the brand – in partnership with the Watches of Switzerland Group. Located in a Grade II-listed, three-storey Georgian townhouse on King Street, Manchester, the opening marks the second AP House in the UK, following the 2019 launch of a London outpost.

Joining AP Houses across the world – including in Amsterdam, New York, Singapore, Seoul, St Barth, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Zurich and Los Angeles – the new 425 sq m space stays faithful to the series’ distinctive design codes in its clean minimalism, yet key details pay tribute to its Manchester location.

Draft beer on tap, brewed exclusively for Audemars Piguet, is a playful reference to buzzing pub culture. A room dedicated solely to music acknowledges Manchester’s rich history, with a tribute to Factory Records, which pioneered Manchester’s electronic music scene in the 1990s. And there’s a nod to the city’s symbolic working bee, in the form of geometric hexagonal silhouettes in the watch cellars.

These local touches join familiar brand symbols, which become hallmarks of an easy elegance throughout. The focus here is very much on comfort – clients are advised to sit, relax, have a drink in the stylish bar or perhaps on the generous roof terrace, rich in materials from Audemars Piguet’s Swiss home.

‘It feels particularly special to be bringing the concept to such a dynamic and culturally rich city – renowned for its distinct musical influence and spirit of hospitality,’ says country general manager of Audemars Piguet UK, Daniel Compton.

audemarspiguet.com

When Patek Philippe launched its Cubitus two years ago, there were many concerned with its distinctive shape: depending on who you asked, it was too square, or maybe not square enough. 'The entire point of the watch is to have a recognisable case shape,' one Reddit user noted – that, after all, is a key factor in what makes a watch iconic, at least eventually.

Those complainers may wonder why the watch has since become a best-seller anyway, with grey market values topping three times the retail price. Perhaps, in part, it’s because any deviation from the traditional round form – which is said to account for at least 90 per cent of the watch market – stands out, gaining attention as consumers get used to the idea. Cartier’s wonky Crash (featured in Cartier's current V&A exhibition) and Audemars Piguet’s octagonal Royal Oak – designed by Gerald Genta – met similar disaffection at first too. Might, indeed, they be considered the pathfinders, with unusual shapes predicted as a key trend for 2025?

Dennison Watch, for example, has recently launched its ALD collection with a rounded ‘TV screen’ dial, despite the awareness that, 'square, cushion, oval, oblong, whatever the shape, it just isn’t commercial', as founder Toby Sutton puts it. 'But unusual watches that were just considered “ugly” five years ago are now classed as “different”, so we thought it was worth the risk.'

Maen has launched its first jumping hour with a twist on the tonneau, while Gerald Charles – Genta’s own brand – has just won the Luxury Watch of the Year at the Inhorgenta Awards for the Masterlink version of its asymmetric Maestro case.

Indeed, according to Federico Ziviani, the company’s CEO, 'having the right shape is extremely difficult, but that shape has [nonetheless] become our signature' – so much so that when he joined Gerald Charles in 2019, he discontinued production of all of its other shaped watches.

Other new launches so far in 2025 include the likes of a True Square skeleton and oval Tej Chuahan Diastar from Rado, an octagonal Laureato Aston Martin edition from Girard Perregaux, a rectangular Extraflat from Richard Mille, plus more stand-out ‘experimental’ pieces from the likes of Urwerk and MB&F. But the vast majority of new pieces? Still round.

'Roundness is written into the history of watches – it’s a classic form, many parts of the movement are round, the hands are centred and trace a round form, so it’s hard to escape. It’s what most clients want,' says the independent watch designer and MB&F regular Eric Giroud. 'I think you see a divide between brands with a watchmaking heritage, for whom round is logical, and those with a jewellery heritage, for whom a watch is also an exploration of form.'

Might the latter be moving to the fore? While there are several differently shaped watches that have eventually achieved iconic status – Tag Heuer’s Monaco or Jaeger LeCoultre’s Reverso, for instance – there remains a deep-seated reluctance to break free of the tyranny of the round. According to Matthieu Allegre, the designer behind Amida’s reimagined Digitrend driver’s watch, the 1970s marked the last boom time for unusual shapes, but the Quartz crisis then encouraged a return to safe options.

'With round the habit again, the more complex the shape the greater the volume of sales you need to make developments costs worthwhile. But the market is changing again,' he insists. 'Yes, these shapes take time to find acceptance, but they have a strong identity. The industry can’t keep thinking of them as risky, especially when, I think, there’s more of a demand for novelty in case shape, especially given social media and the need to stand out that it demands.'

Sylvain Berneron, designer of what has been widely acclaimed as one of the most innovative watches of recent years (his debut Berneron Mirage watch is entirely asymmetric and takes its case shape from the lay-out of the movement) argues that the slow rise of unusual case shapes is a counter-reaction to the watch market’s over-saturation by vintage-inspired steel sports watches. And, he adds, the reluctance of the major luxury conglomerates to experiment. 'For them, designing another chronograph movement that can fit into several different round models is just that much easier,' he suggests.

Berneron adds that the watch is undergoing a fundamental change of role, and especially for Gen Z: with acceptance that the idea of the time-telling tool watch makes less and less sense in the smartphone age, the move is towards more expressive designs and what he calls 'technical jewellery'. 'Nobody needs a rotating bezel,' he says. 'But the big brands of this extremely conservative industry haven’t understood that yet. It’s being slow to react to a consumer who is waiting for something more interesting, and the way to provide that is to be more shape-led.'

Audemars Piguet’s new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is a very clever piece of engineering, an answer to a problem that’s been annoying watchmakers and collectors for decades, which is this. QPs, as these watches are known (from the French, Quantième Perpetuel), are designed to faithfully track the date over leap-year cycles, with some even accounting for the leap day to be skipped at the end of the century, an ability that is somehow beguiling despite having almost no practical use at all.

Quite apart from the status symbol value these watches have (they’re reassuringly expensive), QPs talk to the way watches track time in fractions of a second but are built to last decades, the purest antidote to built-in obsolescence available; they represent a level of patience and long-term thinking we all aspire to.

However, all that timeframe shifting comes at a cost – should these watches ever get left to run down or need a service or fall victim to restless fingers (and they will), the calendar will need to be reset. That means interfering with a delicate complex of gears that are designed to make their stately evolutions using the minimum of energy; consider that one revolution of the month wheel is derived from 126 million ticks.

Traditionally, the answer has been to have various pushers (that need special tools) to let you change the day, date and month and, because the system is so delicate, you can’t change the date or set the time for the hours around midnight. And even if it is safe to set the date, you need to do it in a fixed order. This is not exactly elegant engineering. And don’t even think about the loss of water-resistance all those pusher openings create.

Watchmakers from Patek Philippe downwards have been developing tweaks and workarounds to make things easier, but Audemars Piguet’s new movement is the most complete answer yet – everything is adjustable, at any time, in any direction from the crown. And, as with all proper watchmaking, the ‘how’ doesn’t get in the way, all the cams and wheels doing the work are accommodated within a movement that’s a remarkably slender 4.1mm. Which makes the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar a truly refreshing leap forward.

audemarspiguet.com

The anniversary of a watch’s debut is often marked with an impressive new release, ably demonstrating the brand’s technical progression since the original’s launch. Lately though, a slew of brands have come full circle and returned to consider the founding watch itself. We’ve taken our pick of the year's best watch reinterpretations.

Casio commemorated its 50th anniversary with the re-release of a collection that has surely earned its status as a cult classic. Originally appearing in 1974, the ongoing re-release of digital watches brings back models from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

G-Shock, too, is making the classic contemporary again, marking its 40th anniversary with the Remaster series, featuring sharp new design details including transparent cases and useful tech. Elsewhere, Audemars Piguet translated an original 1960s design into a brutalist-inspired asymmetrical creation, [Re]master02; Hermès has rethought the Arceau watch 50 years after its release; Piaget revisited the Polo Date to mark 150 years; and Patek Philippe has imbued the Golden Ellipse, originally launched in 1968, with a 1970s-style gold mesh strap.

Find more Wallpaper* Design Awards winners in the February 2025 issue of Wallpaper* is available in print on newsstands from 9 January 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

With new CEO Ilaria Resta at the helm of Audemars Piguet, the watch community has been holding its breath for the next limited Royal Oak Concept. This is Audemars Piguet’s rare wrist-worn experimental lab, this time subverted by the creative flair of Brooklyn-based artist Kaws.

Audemars Piguet has embraced pop culture with wild enthusiasm for the last decade, collaborating with larger-than-life players including basketball superstars and hip-hop royalty who have embraced the appearance of Spider-Man and Black Panther within the octagonal chunk of the Concept. Now, it's the turn of the artist.

Kaws, a.k.a Brina Donnelly, has been a force to reckon with after rising to fame in the 1990s with graffiti artwork that rocket-propelled him onto the pop art scene. Donnelly’s toy creations, especially the ‘Companion’, with its subverted Mickey Mouse skull-and-crossbones aesthetic, have become a strong trademark, but this is his first watch brand collab.

Within the bombastic shape of the faceted futurism of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon, Kaws’ ‘Companion’ appears trapped behind the sapphire crystal. It’s a strong monochrome image only strengthened by the brand's new movement design, which is bereft of watch hands. This time, it shows the peripheral time display through indicators on the rim of the dial.

The small indicators are titanium hour and minute hands, lumed and set on roller-guided gear wheels. But the star of the wrist show is the cartoon-skull face of ‘Companion’ with his face and hands pressed against the crystal, just above a tantalising tourbillon. The Concept case's strong modernity is slightly enlarged compared to the Spiderman and Black Panther versions, boasting a multi-faceted titanium case of 43mm. The Audemars Piguet x Kaws Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Companion' is limited to 250 pieces and retails at CHF 200,000.

Parallel to Kaws’ ‘Companion’ being trapped within the haute complexity of the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon, there is a much larger presence at Le Brassus. Until the 20^th of December, a monochrome ‘Companion’ of 11 meters has taken residence atop the Audemars Piguet HQ in the quiet town of Le Brassus. KAWS: HOLIDAY returns to Europe to coincide with the release of the Concept after recent stops in Shanghai and Indonesia, inviting us to consider how AP is interlinked with the world's wider (pop) culture.

audemarspiguet.com

When the Orient watch brand recently started referring to two of its more popular watches – the Bambino and Mako – by name, it wasn’t because of some decision within the company. ‘It was consumers who had named watches which until that point had just had reference numbers,’ says the brand’s senior business manager for Europe, Wiebke Bird. ‘And the names given work because they refer to what people like about the watches – that the Bambino, for example, perhaps speaks to that mid-1950s Italian lifestyle.’

This isn’t the first time the consumer has taken over, of course: fans have given Seiko watches, for instance, nicknames such as the Monster, the Samurai and the Tuna Can; Zenith watches, the Cover Girl and the Superman Blue. It’s a testament maybe to just how unwieldy watch reference names are from the consumer perspective.

But also to how the right name helps to define an icon over time: among the more acclaimed new models of 2024 have been new iterations of the well-established likes of Piaget’s Polo, Tag Heuer’s Carrera, Vacheron Constantin’s Fiftysix and Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso. Would these have become classics without their names?

The best name given to a new-ish model? Perhaps Ming’s Bluefin, H Moser’s Streamliner, Norqain’s Wild One, Shinola’s Mackinac, Baltic’s Hermetique or Paulin’s Oh No. (It’s a testament to how dependent the industry is on established model lines that innovation falls mostly to independent or micro-brands.)

‘A product name helps personify a watch – it makes it more endearing, more alive [and aptly so for a product that is so personal],’ argues Romain Marietta, director of product development for Zenith. ‘The design [of a watch] is much more important but the name has an impact for sure, [such that] it’s hard to imagine a watch with a bad name selling.’

If you’re lucky – or come up with a genre-defining design – your watch’s name comes close to transcending even the brand: the Submariner, the Speedmaster, the Royal Oak. But naming a watch isn’t easy, which is why many prefer to codify a model – as with Ressence’s new Type 5L, Braun’s BN0279 or Bell & Ross’s BR-03, for example. Bell & Ross claims this gives its models a more technical, function-forward vibe akin to the naming logic often applied by many companies in the car business, notably Audi and Mercedes.

‘We wanted to get away from those very descriptive, emotive words [chosen for names] – the kind that have that very 1950s feel of telling you what the product does and how well it does it,’ says Lewis Heath, founder of AnOrdain, whose Model 1 has been followed by Models 2 and 3. ‘We didn’t want anything to colour perception of the watch, though we have been told the choice was very unimaginative.’

As Bird points out, another problem is the sheer volume of new models. ‘When you think of the thousands of watches launched every year, just finding a name that hasn’t been used before is hard. And giving a name when you’re managing an international business – when a name may have alternative meanings that don’t work in all markets – is also a challenge.’

Even so, while a quick survey of 20th-century watch releases brings up some great names – Omega’s Ploprof, Favre’s Moon Raider, Heuer’s Monaco, Ulysse Nardin’s Freak, by turns evoking the technical, the futuristic, the exotic, the provocative – very few watch companies use external branding agencies to help them find good options. Zenith, for example, uses an in-house committee of six people who chew over a selection and decide on a name often very close to launch date.

According to Marietta, in one sense, giving naming any more effort is hardly worth it, since legally owning and protecting a name worldwide is arduous and expensive, especially for a watch model that – who knows? – may fade from view or be replaced in a matter of just a few years. ‘A car model, in contrast, may be produced for decades,’ he says.

And sometimes the best names are just happy accidents anyway. When Jaeger-LeCoultre launched its Polaris in 1968 it was originally, snappily, called the E859. It was a US sales agent who decided to rename it himself. Those who might have said that taking a name from the nuclear missile system brought into service a few years prior was not the best idea would appear to have been proven wrong.

Watch customisation is big business, and there are a slew of jewellery brands and designers becoming interested. Extensive experience with precious metals, plus skills in techniques as diverse from stone setting to goldsmithing and engraving, make jewellers a natural partner for watch brands.

Hatton Labs is one of the newest jewellery brands to become interested in the medium, partnering with watch customisation experts Mad on the Portcullis, a rethought Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

‘We both share very similar brand values when it comes to design,’ say the Hatton Labs team on why the collaboration felt like a natural one. ‘We didn’t really have to figure out how it would ever work. Hatton Labs specialising in jewellery and Mad watches, provided a good opportunity to extend our usual offerings together.’

The resulting watch, named after a medieval fortified gate, nods to this history with sharp design ticks. Diamonds, cut irregularly and upside down, become spikes on the bracelet. There are a total of 20 pyramid cut white, lab grown diamonds, and 40 white pyramid cut white, lab grown diamonds, framing the polished mirror silver dial.

‘We were largely inspired by different stone setting techniques and using stones in an unconventional way,’ they add. ‘When set differently, something so precious & beautiful as a diamond could suddenly feel so harsh and evoke a very different mood. We liked the idea to change the perspective of what already existed rather than add to it. Regarding the cut, it’s exactly the same precision cut as the natural diamonds - the faceting is hand made, the round stones are machine made. The hard part is the polishing, as the lab stones do not have any growth direction, so it’s more work. And polishing is always hand made for horology standards.’

mrporter.com

When watch houses reinvent their iconic designs in jewelled form, the results can be sublime, joyous, and downright outrageous. We single out five classic watch designs that have been given a precious spin for 2024.

Jewelled watches for 2024

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

Its reputation was forged in pure, gleaming steel, yet the Royal Oak’s super-clean lines take surprisingly well to a gem-set guise. But then, as one of the original super-thin mechanisms, this superstar watch – it was the first design to use steel like precious metal – has a naturally slender profile, allowing for the added volume that precious-stone setting dictates. Audemars Piguet has been involved in the business of jewelled timepieces since the late 19th century, when it provided mechanisms for houses such as Cartier and Tiffany & Co. Having established an in-house jewellery studio in 1980, it has developed a jewelled-watch style all its own. This year’s Royal Oak automatic variation is a fine example: a combination of 861 baguette-cut black sapphires, intense and light tsavorites and smoky quartz combine to create a moody camouflage effect.

audemarspiguet.com

Bulgari Octo Roma

Secret watches, timepieces with a jewelled dial cap and so designed to look like a bracelet, were originally created for women in the 1920s, who, keen to keep a social diary on track, might discreetly consult their watch without insulting their host. Today, watch brands increasingly use them as a form of storytelling, with fantastical narratives all the better to display in-house jewellery design and setting skills. And, when it comes to crafting fables around the intricate technological skills that jewelled watches require, Bulgari is a master. This year’s high-jewellery Fenice Octo Roma Secret Watch is made possible by the impossibly thin BVL 268SK Octo Roma movement. It allows for an intricate mechanical skeletonised dial and the decorative dial cover. Here, it is a phoenix rising up across the sizeable 44mm dial in a precious sweep of blue sapphires, aquamarines, and a tourmaline Paraiba.

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Patek Philippe Aquanaut Luce

While the 1976 Nautilus design is currently Patek Philippe’s most sought-after sports-luxe design, the Aquanaut, a more casual variation launched 20 years later, in 1996, gets my vote. Probably because its streamlined profile and casual rubber bracelet, reflecting the checkerboard pattern of the dial, is less boardroom CEO and more St Tropez weekender. This year’s high-jewellery model boosts the gem factor with a beautifully considered combination of two setting techniques: rectangular baguettes and snow-setting, where variously sized smaller brilliant-cut white diamonds are tightly clustered into a glinting surface. Here, their addition softens the stark lines of the 72 baguette-cut blue sapphires and 38 baguette-cut diamonds, creating a rich jewel for the wrist and a glamorous promise of surf-bound, summer pursuits.

patek.com

Piaget Polo

The watchmaker-jeweller is celebrating its 150th birthday this year, and the star of the party is the Piaget Polo designed by Yves Piaget in 1979. Yves was a dedicated art lover who counted Andy Warhol as a friend, and there’s something of a Howard Hodgkin influence in his original watch design, where the watch case, bracelet and sleek gadroon decoration were fully integrated in a sublimely pure combination of the jeweller’s and watchmaker's crafts. The Polo was ‘carved, link by link from a single block of 18ct gold’, according to an ad campaign at the time and is, you might argue, the original sports-luxe watch. In the intervening 45 years, it has been redesigned almost beyond recognition, but some elements remain, including its super-skinny form, which lends itself to this celebratory deep-red ruby iteration with baguette-cut rubies and diamonds. The skeleton dial is also a recurring Piaget motif. However, at a whopping 49mm wide, this version of the Piaget Polo is out of bounds for slender wrists.

piaget.com

Rolex Daytona

Two new, jewelled versions of Rolex’s 1963 Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona are launched this year, each incorporating mother-of-pearl dials and markers. The luminous coating found in molluscs, such as oyster shells, has long been a favourite dial material for watch houses, because it can be cut into super-thin sheets. Profile volume is a prime consideration in watch design, and Rolex has been using mother-of-pearl as a decorative material for years. Both new Daytonas have white-gold cases, and the first features the slick, black Oysterflex bracelet with white mother-of-pearl dial and chrono subdials in black. The metal bracelet edition, however, sees the details reversed, with a black mother-of-pearl dial and white mother-of-pearl counters. Thirty-six brilliant-cut diamonds circle each dial, while the chunky diamond dial markers add a sporty frisson.

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A host of new dark watches are embracing inky black hues. High-profile watch brands turning to the dark side include Bulgari, with its gleaming Serpenti Seduttori, which offsets a monochromatic palette with diamond-speckled rose gold; and Tag Heuer, whose use of retro shading and darker tones lend elegance across the board.

Audemars Piguet's shadowy dial is a textured foil for an all-black look, while Gucci's embossed dial riffs off contrasts.

Omega and Tudor let bright indexes do the talking, as does Bell & Ross, which adds a clean, skeletonised dial.

For Montblanc, a moonphase stays true to the inky midnight theme, while Chanel adds jewelled references with a chic secret dial.

Discover the best dark watches

A version of this article appears in the May 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print from 11 April, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Watches are embracing a juxtaposition of materials and texture this season, just in time to make our festive wishlist. From Omega's distinctive Sedna gold to Tudor's gleaming titanium, discover a watch to take you through the party season and beyond in our edit. 

Our wishlist watches this season

The toughness of titanium makes for hard-wearing watches from Girard-Perregaux and Tudor, while microblasted ceramic brings a new slickness to Bell & Ross' familiar angular silhouette. 

Audemars Piguet, too, borrows from the strong codes of black ceramic to rethink the geometrical forms of the Royal Oak Selfwinding watch. 

For Jaeger-LeCoultre and Grand Seiko, it is the clean and classic form of steel that makes a sharp foil for the intricate technicality of the movement within.

A version of this story appears in the December 2023 Entertaining Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today!

watches-of-switzerland.co.uk

Colourful watches showcasing a rainbow of bright hues are among this year's most eye-catching new releases, with shades from sorbet to psychedelic illustrated in bright straps and unexpected materials. From the blue tones of IWC and Audemars Piguet, to the pretty in pink Hublot, wine-coloured Montblanc, via the bright Richar Mille , Tag Heuer and Patek Philippe and more understated Omega and Jaeger-LeCoultre – discover the exquisite new watches here.

The new colourful watches

Tag Heuer

A sporting history is alive and well in the Extreme Sport chronograph from Tag Heuer, which puts a stylish spin on everyday materials with an orange rubber strap.

tagheuer.com

Montblanc

Montblanc nod to a spirit of adventure with a a play on pattern of the dial, here drawn in a deep burgundy.

montblanc.com

Audemars Piguet

A deep blue is an elegant foil for the rose gold detailing on this exquisitely understated Code 11.59 watch.

audemarspiguet.com

Jaeger-LeCoultre

Cutting a strong geometrical silhouette, the Reverso Tribute, here in a deep racing green, proves simple can be striking.

jaeger-lecoultre.com

Hublot

A sweet baby pink belies the sharp technicality at the heart of the Big Bang, crafted in sapphire to allow us to fully appreciate the beauty of the movement.

hublot.com

IWC

IWC marks its relationship with Formula One in style, with bright blue markers and detailing emphasising a shared commitment to legibility.

iwc.com

Richard Mille

A distinctive tonneau-shaped case is given a vibrant new lease of life when drawn in dark yellow quartz, as an in this shapely RM 65-01 chronograph.

richardmille.com

Omega

Sporty, clean and simple - Omega references a classical watchmaking heritage with the Seamaster Planet Ocean, which comes with a green rubber strap for easy wearability.

omegawatches.com

Patek Philippe

A dark face is a sharp foil for a bold orange strap in this very modern rethink of the Aquanaut collection.

patek.com

A version of this article appears in the December 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands from 7 of November, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Having broken new ground with the Audemars Piguet Museum in Le Brassus, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) doubles down on its bold intervention into Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux with a neighbouring property, the recently completed Hôtel des Horlogers. Once again realised by Swiss practice CCHE, the new, Audemars Piguet-owned building conforms to the disruptive nature of the museum that sits beside it.

However, unlike the exhibition space, which vividly charts the area’s horological history with the strategic use of a spiral structure inspired by a watch’s hairspring, the hotel takes advantage of the topography to present itself as a series of zigzagging ridges declining gently towards the valley floor, internally reflected in an equally dramatic passageway that runs the length of the building connecting its five floors. 

The effect is to reduce the building’s exposure to the Rue de France, on which Audemars Piguet’s historic atelier sits, while offering each of its 50 rooms unobstructed views of the Vallée de Joux – a centre of Swiss watchmaking and the home of Audemars Piguet since its founding in Le Brassus in 1875. The famed producer of the Royal Oak watch (which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year) purchased the site in 2003 with a view to refurbishing a historic lodging rebuilt in 1984, for the benefit of the entire region. However, following a full brand review in 2011, aimed at restating the company’s values around origin and craft, and in step with the growing demand for more eco-friendly accommodation, the decision was taken to replace it with a new building compliant with the stringent Swiss Minergie-ECO certification. 

The result, besides being strikingly atypical in its design, is a hotel that more than meets the requirements of a 21st-century traveller. Manifested in its scrupulous attention to detail is a determination to minimise energy consumption and waste: hot water and heating is provided by a local wood-based heating network, boosted by 126 photovoltaic panels and the recycling of its bio waste. Furthering its goal to become plastic-free, in-room amenities include biodegradable slippers and eco-friendly pencils (rather than pens). Meanwhile, the spa offers 100 per cent Swiss-made Alpeor products made using plants and flowers from the Vallée de Joux and the Valais region. 

Elsewhere, a bar that doubles as a social hub for locals offers Swiss-made beers and spirits served under imposing light fittings inspired by the large rock formations that populate the valley, while upwards of 70 per cent of the ingredients used in the hotel’s two restaurants, Le Gogant and La Table des Horlogers (both overseen by three-Michelin-starred French chef Emmanuel Renaut), are sourced locally. In this way, the interior design by AUM reflects the hotel’s fealty to both the area’s surroundings and its culture. 

Majoring on stone and wood, guest rooms are spare rather than spartan, while the lobby blends local spruce surfaces and smooth concrete with a dramatic stand of bleached-white trees that appear planted in the ceiling, a nod to the Risoud Forest, which lines the valley. Beneath them, a raised seating area offers a library of books dedicated to the history of watchmaking, further linking the property to the region’s crucial role in the development of high-end mechanical watchmaking. 

In the same spirit, the hotel – which a few months after breaking ground in 2018 was awarded the Leisure Led Development Future Project Award at the World Architecture Festival – provides watchmaking tours, including visits to nearby manufactures such as Jaeger-LeCoultre. Clearly, for Audemars Piguet, reimagining a village landmark is a chance to show its commitment to the entire region, as well as the watchmakers who have placed it on the world map. 

INFORMATION

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The opening of the Manufacture des Saignoles in Le Locle marks the latest update in the famed Swiss watchmaker’s campus in the Jura region. The project, designed by Lausanne-based architecture studio Kuník de Morsier architects, has just been completed and brings a brand new production space, a state-of-the-art Audemars Piguet factory, to the brand's rural headquarters complex. 

Built low and following its hilly location's curves, the building aims to blend discreetly into the green landscape. This fits within its architects’ overall approach, which favours respect and the environment. ‘Our approach is resolutely contextual, by setting up spaces that promote exchange, cohesion and connection with the environment in the broadest sense,' say the architects.

The structure was also designed to bring together the robustness and practicality of industrial architecture and the elegance of fine watchmaking. The manufacture contains research and development units, machining, decoration, assembly, and administration and office space. The overall building's volume is broken down into different glass-enclosed wings, jutting out seemingly weightlessly into the green surrounds to ensure all areas get plenty of natural light and views. At the same time, orientation was key for an operation as delicate and precise as haute horlogerie, so careful consideration meant that floorplans place the workshops towards the ‘calm northern light', and the office desks towards the ‘dynamic southern light'.

The heart of the new Audemars Piguet factory hosts a central, high-ceilinged communal area – named the ‘Piazza' – for users to gather, take a break and relax. It can be used for informal meetings and exchange but also for receiving customers and partners of the brand.

‘The architecture of the manufacture has been developed around the comfort and wellbeing of the craftsmen and the experience of users during their visit, while anticipating the future challenges of the industry and work habits,' say the architects at Kuník de Morsier. ‘In this way, the manufacture combines the needs of the most advanced industry with the desire for creativity and social emulation of a company resolutely turned towards the future.'

INFORMATION

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Customised Audemars Piguet 1017 Alyx 9SM Royal Oak watches, part of a collaboration with Mad Paris and Browns.

Browns has united with watch customisation specialist Mad Paris for an exclusive and limited-edition collection of luxury watches. The watches, created in collaboration with designers Matthew M Williams of 1017 Alyx 9SM, and Charaf Tajer of Casablanca, are the result of a two-year project with Browns, with the pieces boldly rethinking the classic watch design codes of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

Williams and Charaf worked with the Browns buying team on the project. For 1017 Alyx 9SM, Williams has stripped back the distinctive forms of the Royal Oak to create a 39mm yellow gold and a 41mm rose gold model. Says Williams: ‘Creating the custom 1017 Alyx 9SM Mad Paris Audemars Piguet timepieces launching at Browns was really all about creating a watch I would like to wear, and for like-minded people, translating the world of Alyx in a custom timepiece with the brushed metal, no time identifier and, of course, the signature Alyx buckle reworked as a clasp.’

In the Casablanca model, Tajer’s signature vibrant hues are brought to life, with diamond-like coating (DLC) adding a striking edge to the rainbow of colours that takes its cue from sports watches. ‘Working with Mad has been a real pleasure,’ Tajer says. ‘Creating a bespoke timepiece has been a wish of mine. This watch represents to me an elegant but playful luxury piece, that combines my love of the Memphis art movement and my love of colour. I always want people to enjoy our pieces and I feel it is a continuation of the positivity in Casablanca.’

For Thom Scherdel, menswear buyer at Browns, the project offered an opportunity to bring something new to a fast-paced market. ‘We wanted to really look at the current fine watch world and understand where exactly Browns could fit into it and add something special,’ he says. ‘The concept of a designer collaboration is not new to anyone, so we wanted to give our incredible talent an opportunity to express themselves from their established remits, through a medium that would normally be totally off limits. The fine watch space is notoriously very classical and we wanted to take a look at it through a fresh pair of eyes; each designer has their own aesthetic and to see where we have ended up with each model is testament to the scope of the creativity that can be accomplished. We achieved a look and feel that is totally pioneering in the industry and developed brand new techniques in terms of the execution. It’s a special project.’

INFORMATION

Mad Paris Designer Series is available via Browns Brook Street as well as online at brownsfashion.com. Each style is available in a limited run, with five of each timepiece created.

Audemars Piguet Contemporary has commissioned artist Aleksandra Domanović for a vast new artwork, Becoming Another. The installation will be unveiled in Berlin later this week, to coincide with Gallery Weekend Berlin and will be on view until 10 October 2021. 

Domanović’s large-scale installation intertwines her own personal history with the technology-obsessed present. The artist, who now lives and works in Berlin, considers the political and historical implications of her birthplace, former Yugoslavia, in a piece that muses on the increasingly prevalent role of technology in our day-to-day lives.

‘We cannot only change our future – we can also change our history,’ Domanović remarks. ‘Sometimes this is called revisionism, other times interpretation. Ultimately, it’s about how our history and our stories are open to the possibilities and risks of perception.’ This idea is investigated in Becoming Another, which uses medical technology to explore the disconnect between appearance and reality.

Embracing both sculpture and computer-based media, Domanović makes the most of the large space of the former printing plant where the installation is on show. The piece showcases a collage of video images through rotating LED fan-displays, which alter depending on the viewer’s location. There’s a sense of jarring discord, which reinforces the idea of disparity between what is real and what we perceive.

Domanović is the latest artist to work with Audemars Piguet Contemporary, an initiative that supports international artists in the creation and exhibition of their work.

‘Audemars Piguet Contemporary has been following Aleksandra’s work for many years and we greatly admire her timely practice and diversity of positions,’ says art curator at Audemars Piguet Contemporary, Denis Pernet. ‘We are delighted to support her in the development of this new body of work that will contribute to the wider contemporary art discourse and raise questions about our future as we begin to emerge from the past year.’

INFORMATION

Becoming Another, by Aleksandra Domanović will be on view in Berlin at the former Der Tagesspiegel print house on Potsdamer Straße, 16 September – 10 October 2021

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Audemars Piguet has released eight new women’s Royal Oak models in a range of colours and materials.

The new editions rework the iconic design codes of the original model which was first released in 1972, a luxury steel watch before the concept existed. Gerald Genta put a sporty luxury at the heart of his design, his geometric silhouette and integrated bracelet creating a fluid and enduring piece. Now, this new collection trips down the colour spectrum, beginning on the dark side with the Royal Oak Selfwinding in black ceramic. By juxtaposing materials and colours – slick ceramic against the textured tapestry of the guilloché dial, and inky black against rose gold accents – it brings a contemporary reinterpretation to the use of ceramic, first debuted in the Royal Oak in the 1980s.

The Royal Oak Selfwinding in Frosted Gold also builds on the collection launched last year, referencing the jewellery technique developed with jewellery designer Carolina Bucci which first appeared in 2016. This new edition in white gold is complete with a subtle shimmer, a consequence of the traditional Florentine jewellery technique which makes tiny impressions in the surface of the gold using a diamond-tipped tool. The resulting glittering effect is a vivid foil for the cool blue of the tapestry dial.

The colours grow more vivid in the Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph crafted in solid 18-carat pink gold, with baguette-cut amethysts framing a matching dial. The colour of the dial flits from purple to pink to blue with the changing of the light, a result of the layers of shimmering purple PVD.

Finally, five new rainbow versions complete the bold line-up. The bezel, set with multi-coloured gemstones, frames an openworked dial which is set in either white, pink or yellow Frosted Gold for a colourful finale.

INFORMATION

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Carolina Bucci and Audemars Piguet have joined forces once more, this time for the launch of jewellery collection K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple). The selection of bracelets and a matching necklace are directly inspired by the coils of a mechanical watch’s balance spring, their undulating whorls becoming textured corkscrews of gold.

The inspiration at the heart of the pieces had a sentimental edge for Carolina Bucci. ‘I kept in mind this image of a watchmaker working in his spare time on a special piece for a loved one,’ she says. ‘I didn’t want too much superfluous detail and nothing obvious in terms of reference. But when you put these bracelets on I want the wearer to feel the built-in sense of movement – just like a balance spring in a watch. It carries an internal energy.’

It is not the first collaboration for Bucci and Audemars Piguet, who in the past have blurred the lines between horology and high jewellery with the Royal Oak Frosted Gold. Inspired by an ancient Florentine gold hammering technique, it brilliantly rethought gold’s potential. Now, the collaboration has again sparked striking design elements, with the largest piece in the collection a riff on colour. Here, it becomes a clashing coil sitting within the spirals, a specific reference to the double balance wheel escapement Audemars Piguet introduced in 2016.

When the intricate coils of a movement are translated to the neck or the wrist, they encapsulate the beauty of a watch movement, regardless of its technical functionality. The movement’s capacity for beauty was an unexpected delight for Bucci: ‘You have to surprise yourself, otherwise you are not trying hard enough in terms of design. It can never feel too comfortable. When it does, it is normally just good taste and not real design.’

INFORMATION

The pieces will be available from the Audemars Piguet London House from 13 November (despite the House being currently closed, clients can still order over the phone) and the collection will be available online from the same date

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Chinese artist Cao Fei’s plans to collaborate on a commission with Audemars Piguet Contemporary – which has been working with a global network of artists since 2012 – well preceded the dawn of the global pandemic. In October 2019, the artist visited the brand’s HQ in Le Brassus, Switzerland to finalise ideas for a new artwork. 

But as cases of Covid-19 began to accelerate and worldwide travel restrictions were imposed, the artist found herself stranded in Singapore with her family and unable to return home to Beijing. In response to these events, a new project was conceived, one that imagined the societal commonalities in a global crisis and reflected our new over-familiarity with home. The resulting work, Isle of Instability, exhibited within the Audemars Piguet space at the West Bund Art & Design Fair, charts the artist’s personal experience of living under lockdown – with her daughter playing the roles of assistant and actor – staged as a proxy for collective confinement. ‘As I wasn’t allowed to go out during the lockdown, home — the smallest social unit of a physical living space and a temple for introspection, as well as the last bastion for mankind to escape from the external crisis — had become the medium for facing this urgent response,’ the artist explains.

Cao Fei’s innovative and often-surrealist multimedia practice examines collapsing futures, internet culture and the complex and rapidly evolving transformation of contemporary China. For Isle of Instability the artist gazed inwards, delving into the psychological repercussions of the pandemic, collective imprisonment and exile. ‘Cao Fei turned a challenging situation into a unique opportunity, creating work that explores the social realities of daily life under lockdown’, says Denis Pernet, art curator at Audemars Piguet Contemporary. ‘The process of adapting to a new situation alongside the artist is also what distinguishes this Audemars Piguet Contemporary commission. The artist’s infinite curiosity for documenting our present reality will be shared and felt above all.’

Visitors enter a ‘two-room apartment’ – the first is not dissimilar to a conventional art fair booth containing minimalist objects that Cao Fei gathered during her time in quarantine. The second room is a deeply personal, sometimes humourous embodiment of the home, filled with photography, texts, drawings and two video installations featuring the artist’s family and their newly-acquired habits and routines.

One piece, Outlying Island, sees Cao Fei’s daughter occupying an island the artist constructed in the centre of the living room floor. ‘Our world has been divided into places that have the virus and places that don’t. If it is said that places that are pandemic-free are an “island”, then the virus-rampaging lands are the emptiness outside of this island,’ the artist reflects. ‘Just like Robinson Crusoe is both realistic and symbolic, the notion of island is related to both the experience and the adventure, and is both about self-exile and self-construction, it is both a place of paradise and a place of imprisonment.’

In Isle of Instability, Cao Fei proposes a shared global experience via her own. She illustrates how collective imagination can conquer the limitations and uncertainties imposed on society. As the artist explains, ‘If isolation is going to be the main form of life in the future, then we have to think about how to approach the world that we once relied on for creation.’

INFORMATION

Cao Fei’s installation, Isle of Instability is on view at the Audemars Piguet space, Hall A of the West Bund Art Centre until 15 November. 

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2555 Long Teng Avenue
Xuhui District, Shanghai

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User movement, context and the site’s harsh climate were key drivers in the design development of the Audemars Piguet museum in Switzerland’s watchmaking heartland Vallée de Joux. And after a short, pandemic-induced delay, the project, created in association with Atelier Brückner, engineers Lüchinger+Meyer, and landscape specialists Muller Illien, is now opening its doors to the public. 

‘Our first idea was to wedge the new building inbetween [the existing ones], but then we thought maybe we should be completely different and stay low, be part of the landscape,' recalls Ingels. ‘On one hand we needed a guided sequence [a more formal museum route], and on the other we wanted a flexible journey where you can jump from one point to the other.'

By strategically placing the new building as a separate entity among the watchmaker’s existing campus, the architects, headed by Bjarke Ingels, were able to work with a spiral, low-profile form, which both encourages a particular route through the museum, while also allowing for flexible, lateral movement, and references the hairspring – the coil that delivers constant energy  – in mechanical watches.

‘Both with watchmaking and architecture, the form is the content,’ says Ingels, drawing parallels between his and his client’s pursuits. ‘There is no separation between ‘software’ and ‘hardware’, that’s what makes them both intriguing. We are also both seeking to get the maximum amount of impact with the minimum amount of material.’

The outer walls’ carefully designed curvature ensures the external, super-insulated glass expanses are also load bearing, impressively carrying the whole roof even during the snow-heavy winter months. Meanwhile, strategically placed gaps where different surfaces meet can absorb changes in temperature. ‘Because every glass wall is curving, the curvature lends rigidity to the whole, so with this principle, in a ceismic event it won't buckle and won't break. It is so strong that it carries the whole roof,' says Ingels.

A system of thin brass ribbons is ‘woven’ into an elegant façade pattern that protects the makers’ workshops from the sun, avoiding glare and over-heating, but also discreetly ‘disappears’ if you look at it from different angles. 'We placed the watchmakers along the north facing parts, as it is traditionally the prefered light for the business, so they have light but not glare,' says Ingels. 

The glazed facades not only allows the people working inside it to enjoy precious, natural light all day long, but it also means that the glass swirls and surfaces indoors interact with the sun creating a truly spectacular, shimmering interior. Additionally, it makes displays and workspace open outwards and become at one with the natural landscape around them, in any weather. 

So well received was BIG’s concept that the studio is now working on a further project for the brand – a hotel, currently in construction a few steps along the road, which is meant, Ingels explains, ‘to give you the sense that it expands the slope.' All the more reason to visit this mountain gem of a museum, once official guildelines allow it.

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Whether worldwide circumstances have gifted an abundance of time, or a severe lack of it, no-one has felt the shifting of time’s meaning more keenly than watchmakers. In an industry where precision is paramount and every millisecond accounted for, watchmakers are having to look at time very differently. Here, they tell us what they are doing with the time, now, on their hands.

Adrian Bosshard, CEO, Rado

‘Under normal circumstances, I would have travelled a lot over these past few months. Having joined Rado last summer, after working 24 years for other brands in the Swatch Group,  I have used the time to get to know the Rado headquarters and the teams in Lengnau. Together as a team, we used this calmer time to reflect, be creative and to develop new products and enhance existing ones with the goal to surprise and enchant our customers worldwide. I’m convinced that watch lovers will be positively surprised about the outcome…'

Marie-Laure Cerede, watchmaking creation director, Cartier

‘Cartier time has always been the sacred time of aesthetics. The objects we are creating symbolise the transcendence of time, of being suspended in aesthetic meditation, which becomes essential in this confined moment. Our watches are not defined by their sole function. That is why I rather like to speak more about objects of time than about watches. A Cartier creation is a signature in a single stroke, made by hand: a gesture of movement, devoted to everlasting beauty.'

François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO, Audemars Piguet

‘The crisis has offered us a rare opportunity to pause and think, together. This difficult period has not only forced us to adapt and collaborate differently, but it has also spurred our creativity in many different ways. In the 18th and 19th centuries, our ancestors in the Vallée de Joux crafted fine mechanical watches in the confines of their homes during the long winter months which isolated them from the rest of the world. Their seasonal confinement brought remarkable creations to life. Let’s hope the same happens in the months to come!'

Philippe Delhotal, creation and style director, Hermès Horloger

‘When I see the news online, I feel lucky. I feel blessed that my family are healthy and safe, which matters to me above all. Of course there was a sudden change in all of our daily lives, which has obliged us to organise our time differently. Working from home has meant no loss of time from going from one place to another or on a plane. I feel that we’re more efficient, focusing more immediately on the essential. I have tried to use my knowledge to help outside the house, wherever possible, supporting friends’ children with their design studies, and also delivering food for some of our elderly neighbours during this period.

I can see the time passing by during the day, which I always found impossible in the past. We spend more time with our family yet that time is even more precious, despite there seeming to be more of it. However if this situation would last, I would miss colleagues and friends. We can achieve a lot through Skype or phone calls but I miss the genuine contact that comes through the eyes, body language and facial expression. I am filling my time with more exercise, reading more books, cooking and spending more time with my family. But this is all about finding the right balance between the previous situation and that of today. No situation is ever perfect but we shall probably draw conclusions from this experience to take forward into life after the situation has passed.'

Maximilian Büsser, owner and creative director, MB&F

‘The world has gone into a spin and we have no idea where, how and when it will stop. This has hindered any long or medium-term planning. So is it with our time management. Before, we had dedicated time for work and for family/play. We are left now with no such boundaries. Agility has become the game-changer. Forget your previous life, ways, structure. Welcome to the world of improvisation!'

Ricardo uadalupe, CEO, Hublot

‘The confinement has definitively changed timing in everybody’s life. For two months now, I have taken the time to read, time to walk in the forest, time to think, time to cook … as well as time to reinvent myself.'

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president, Chopard

‘In this particular period, my life credo became even more meaningful: ‘Time is what you make of it.’ Indeed, over the last weeks, I have discovered a different relation to time. The fact that I use the home office, spend less time on the road, no longer travel and have no last minute physical meetings enables me to ‘gain time’ and better control my agenda. Being physically confined to a small number of places offers valuable moments to pause and reflect in depth on personal or professional projects.

Living at a less frantic pace also provides opportunities for more quality interactions with my family. So despite the fact that we are unquestionably going through a very challenging period, the past few weeks have nevertheless given us something very precious in itself: more time to focus on essential matters.'

Christian Knoop, creative director, IWC

‘I can’t remember not travelling for six weeks in a row during the last ten years. You lack exchanges, distraction, but also inspiration. However, this period lets you focus on the projects that matter most. At IWC, we have a very long-term vision for the brand. Our design and development teams are now creating the products that will be coming to the market in the next two to three years. I’m curious to see if – and how – this period will influence the creative works across different industries.'

Anthony de Haas, director of product development, A. Lange & Söhne

‘Our working method is characterised by long-term thinking. We are currently preparing the launches for the next five years. It is good to think ahead and plan for the period after the crisis. We realise that the work environment will become more flexible in the future. In the product development department at A. Lange & Söhne, we have anticipated this development to some extent. Interacting with remote teams is not uncommon for us. Now, we have to improvise even more and juggle with the time at and outside work, which is not necessarily a disadvantage for the creative process.'

Gregory Bruttin, product director, Roger Dubuis

‘When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.’ – Einstein. The last few weeks can seem like days or months depending on who and where you've spent them. We have had time to appreciate what we have rather than wish for what we can have. A mandatory carpe diem.

Patrick Pruniaux, CEO, Ulysse Nardin

‘No doubt that the most important change for me over the last six weeks and the beginning of the quarantine has been the time spent with my two year old son, Alexandre. While working from home and not travelling extensively as I usually do, I have spent much more time close to him. The concept of time has changed with a paradox. The time felt shorter – as the days were much more of a routine – and it also felt it had more depth, since the frequency of contact and the time allocated to Alexandre without an agenda were much more frequent. Laying in the grass and admiring the clouds moving or witnessing the changes in trees blossoming day after day with him have been a blessing. This time remains as a different chapter in the story I have with my son. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to sail through this quarantine time with him before going back to the hectic and passionate professional life of running watch companies.'

Julian Tornare, CEO, Zenith

‘The actual concept of time has not really changed for me. What has changed is the way I have actually spent my time over the past six weeks. Although we have all been in an unprecedented and very difficult situation, it has been great for me to have time to enjoy my family, with simple pleasures like sitting down to eat with them twice a day, for example. This rarely happens as a rule because I am not often at home. I have also spent as much time as possible in the garden which is unusual for me, thus benefitting from Switzerland's wonderful fresh air. And aside from that, being forced to stay home has given me a chance to catch up on all the architecture and decor books I have been wanting to read for some time, as we are redecorating our house. So it has definitely been time well spent.'

Magnus Äppelryd, founder, Bravur

‘I find myself dividing the day into specific sections for different activities much more strictly nowadays, to get some kind of structure. This feels much more important now. It feels like the days otherwise just become one undefined mass, when you hardly leave your home. I have also learnt when working from home to dress up every day, even though hardly anyone will see me.'

Ander Ugarte, designer, Tudor

‘I am usually always working two or more years ahead of what you see in the market. With the current situation the work pace has become somewhat different – not slower but more spontaneous, allowing me time to reflect on the design history of the brand and rediscover some of the watches in a new light. I am specifically referring to what some call the ‘original' Black Bay with a very noticeable burgundy bezel, which I had not thought about in a while. I can’t say I had forgotten about it, but always looking forward sometimes makes the current a distant memory.'

Judith Borowski, creative director, Nomos Glashütte

‘I haven’t had this much time in 20 years. Whereas up to now my schedule was filled with tasks and obligations and diversions, I – like many others – am now experiencing time in a completely new way. Preparing food, having a conversation, ironing a blouse: simple things now fill my day. And yet time passes, and it’s not boring at all.

An hour will stay an hour, and our watches will continue to count them reliably. But we are currently witnessing a clear shift in priorities. Our lives were off course – too busy, too hectic, too selfish, too banal. And if we take a look at our health systems, we also see too little invested where it mattered. Perhaps that is why, despite all the challenges of the current moment, there is also a chance to improve things as well.'

Lionel Favre, director of product development, Jaeger-LeCoultre

‘Being confined has changed the work pace. When you are in the office, 100 per cent of your time is spent in work tasks, but when you are at home for weeks, your days are split between work time and personal time especially if you have kids like I do. It turned out to be a bit challenging to start with, but it also allows me to step back and look at the overall picture. Every interruption feels like a total disconnection, and every time I concentrate on work again, my perspective is better.

I am using this time to increase my skills on the Sketchbook app, which lets me draw on my iPad directly. I had the time to get used to this totally different feeling of drawing and it is amazing – I used to sketch with paper and pens and this has been a revelation! Now, I'm not using this time to work on new ideas, but instead am focusing on developing a new and different approach; taking the time to reflect more deeply.'

Rolf Studer, CEO, Oris

‘We are a tight-knit community at Oris and during these times our priority is each other. It’s strange to see the world come to a grinding halt, but we are trying to continue our days as best we can and are busy resorting to different tactics to connect with our customers. Last week we hosted our first digital product launch and we’re enjoying being able to communicate with our customers and clients in ways that we haven’t before.

This change of mindset has proved challenging, however also refreshing and as an independent business who survived world wars and the quartz crisis, remaining resilient and positive are attitudes engrained in the Oris way. We have and will stay focused on continuing to share our passion for timeless design and thoughtful movements with the world and spread positivity where we can.'

Alexandre Mille, sales director, Richard Mille

‘For me, it is as if time has now taken on additional dimensions during the last weeks. On the one hand, dealing with many things at our company means that I am as busy as usual. It is also very important to remain in regular contact with everyone who works with us on a regular basis. Staying in touch is crucial right now. It’s as if time manifests itself simultaneously in different layers and different speeds as it continually proceeds forward.'

Bernardo Tribolet, VP Marketing, Swatch

‘We have all experienced how the perception of time has changed in the last month. Confinement at home has clearly shown that time is a central aspect of our life. It has made us ask, what is quality time? How do we make the best use of our time?

For Swatch, time has obviously played an essential role, but in a fun and positive way. The beginning of April was the right time for us to head off on our SwatchTakesMePlaces, a 30-day virtual trip around the world, bringing together people from all over the globe. Time is what you make of it and with its life-affirming spirit, Swatch has always been known for making the best of it. Staying true to our values, we will keep sharing positive and upbeat messages, well prepared for all that is yet to come.' 

Designing a museum in the sublime form of a shimmering peel of glass unfurling from a mountain in a tiny Swiss village is one thing. But, as architect Bjarke Ingels now knows, actually building it in the remote Jura Mountains is most definitely another.

Six years since his practice, BIG, won the competition to design the Audemars Piguet Founder’s House Museum in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, the museum is on course to open its doors in summer 2020. But, like all best laid plans at present, the brand has delayed the opening date until the end of the year, in light of the necessary Covid-19 restrictions. Created in association with Atelier Brückner, engineers Lüchinger+Meyer, and landscape specialists Muller Illien, BIG’s poetic glass swirl exists despite the fact that construction was predestined to be difficult: whipped by mean north-east winds, temperatures in the Vallée de Joux can fall severely in the long winter months. The glass used in the project was designed to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations, but also proved so tough that it is load-bearing enough to negate the need for other walls.

‘It’s a complicated building. At first, we thought it was crazy, then we just thought, let’s do it,’ says a smiling Jasmine Audemars, chairwoman of the board of directors at Audemars Piguet. ‘We make complicated watch designs and we like to complicate our lives.’ Now in her seventies, the great-granddaughter of founder Jules Audemars has inherited the family knack for taking the long view and doing the wrong thing brilliantly.

Her father, Jacques Louis Audemars, was, after all, the man who backed the most lauded watch designer of all time, Gérald Genta, when, in 1970, Genta proposed a new ‘luxury’ watch that eschewed gold in favour of steel but that was no less expensive. Beautifully finished and polished, the humble metal took on a precious quality. The result was the groundbreaking Royal Oak watch. Initially derided, it is now hailed as a design classic and remains Audemars Piguet’s bestseller.

The decision to build a world-class architectural structure in the protected environs of the watchmaker’s valley home, lay, ultimately, on Jasmine Audemars’ shoulders. A trained economist, and 12-year editor-in-chief of the Journal de Genève newspaper (now known as Le Temps), she took the helm of the family-owned business in 1992. Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise that she says the decision to invest in a specifically ambitious architecture commission was ‘simply because today we have the time and the means. The museum is an extension of my grandfather’s house, where the business was established in 1875. Yes, there have been problems, surprises, but this is our legacy for the next 200 years. And, if you divide the investment by 200 years – it’s cheap!’

When the yellow winter sunlight swathes the museum’s layers of thick glass in a reflective golden haze, illuminating its spaceship-like watch vitrines and architectural twists and turns, the effect is kaleidoscopic. But, while that otherworldly atmosphere, heightened by the museum’s quirky mechanical installations, is a magical visitor experience, the unhampered sunlight had threatened to overheat the on-site watchmakers. The solution was to wrap a steel-and-brass honeycomb veil around the exterior that provides shade at pertinent times in the day. ‘The shape and the glass of the museum design mean you immediately discover the landscape, the changes in the light across the valley – you can see where the watches come from,’ says Audemars. ‘It really was love at first sight for BIG’s design. Bjarke got the spirit of what, who and where we are but in a global way. It’s a very distinct building but it’s discreet.'

What it does boast is a compelling interior design, where a carefully curated exploration of 145 years of Audemars Piguet’s horological and technical innovation gets the balance between its past and future vision just right.

Another aspect of the brief was highlighting the work of the Audemars Piguet Foundation, established in 1992. And so, in one corner of the museum atrium, a carefully cultured linden tree grows. ‘The Vallée de Joux is surrounded by magnificent, protected forests, mostly untouched by civilisation, so tree and forest conservation were a natural subject for the Foundation back then. We wanted to contribute to and enable communities around the world to benefit from forests as beautiful as ours.’

The Foundation is also testament to the strong survival instincts of her family business. ‘We have strong roots in the valley – we have survived wars and crises, and this new museum is our vision for the future. The people of the valley deserve it. It’s a celebration of all our culture. It is not ruining the landscape but adding a new tradition.’

A version of this article originally appeared in the April 2020 issue of Wallpaper* (W*253) — on newsstands now

INFORMATION
The Founder’s House Museum will open for public visits, by appointment, at the end of 2020.

museeatelier-audemarspiguet.com

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Gucci’s new ‘Grip’ watch, which genuinely works on both a man’s or a woman’s wrist, is a brilliant mash-up of a century’s worth of the best horological design. Heavily inspired by the luxury sports watches of the 1970s, its square dial with round edges was a period tick of the time.

The mix of brushed- and polished-metal finishes pay joyful homage to Gérald Genta’s 1970 ‘Royal Oak’ design for Audemars Piguet, while the ‘no-dial’ dial can be attributed to Austrian watchmaker Josef Pallweber, who patented his modern ‘digital’ display in 1883. It’s been a long time coming but, in 2019, in the polymath hands of Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, the fashion timepiece has finally evolved into a high-street watch with a greatest-hits design culture all its own. §

As originally featured in the October 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*247)

INFORMATION

gucci.com

The unveiling of Tomás Saraceno’s latest artwork during Art Basel Miami got off to an inauspicious start when inclement weather conditions forced the inaugural flight demonstration to be postponed. And yet, it only served to highlight the pressing environmental issues that he has been exploring in his multidisciplinary experiments with the Aerocene Foundation. ‘That’s the best beginning for a project on the weather dependancy that we’re all trying to deal with,’ the artist said at the opening.

Situated along Miami Beach’s oceanfront across from Collins Park, Albedo comprises 40-odd reflective, out-turned umbrellas arranged in a large-scale temporal pavilion. Viewed from above, the experimental sundial forms a striking geometric constellation, while solar energy is used to lift aerosolar sculptures into the sky. The artist’s investigations extend into daily performances, solar cooking events and community roundtables. Visitors are encouraged to get hands-on – they can borrow, build and share a tethered-flight starter backpack which enables anyone to launch a portable Aerocene sculpture using open-source instructions.

The artwork takes its name from the Latin term meaning whiteness, referring to amount of solar radiation reflected by a surface in comparison to the total amount it receives. ‘We discovered recently that the colour of the surface that these sculptures fly over influences it a lot. Usually when it’s a white surface you get a lot of reflection – it goes back to the sculpture itself and you have much more lift,’ says the artist and recent Wallpaper* Guest Editor. ‘It means when we perform human flights over a white surface you may be able to lift [up to] 200kg. When it’s not so reflective you can’t lift even one person.’

Audemars Piguet helped bring the Berlin-based artist’s vision to life in the same site that has previously hosted three forward-thinking art installations by the Swiss watchmaker. Like the Aerocene project, these earlier ventures by Sun Xun, Lars Jan and Theo Jansen have probed our ecological future with interactive installations that have often been achieved with the help of scientists and technologists.

Albedo springs from Saracéno’s long-term global investigation into achieving ‘an ethical collaboration with the atmosphere’ through fossil fuel-free movement. His research been exhibited globally, from Korea to the US and most recently, at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris where has taken over the entirety of its 13,000 sq m exhibition spaces for the fourth edition of the institution’s cartes blanche.

INFORMATION

Albedo is on view until 9 December. For more information, visit Tomás Saraceno’s website and the Aerocene website

ADDRESS

Oceanfront between 21st and 22nd Streets
Miami Beach

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Audemars Piguet, one of the marquee names showing at this week’s SIHH Geneva watch fair, is on a roll. The Le Brassus brand has let fly with a barrage of launches, including more than a dozen variants on the original tough-guy watch, the Royal Oak Offshore, a design that was first shown 25 years ago and whose arrival sparked a seemingly unstoppable move towards ever larger watches.

But for 2018, the pick of the maison’s new collection is an ultra-slim version of the original Royal Oak, the revolutionary steel design that created the sports-luxe watch category in the first place.

Where the Offshore took the design into a testosterone heavy space, all technical cuts and edges, the RD#2 pushes the design into a more contemporary, less strident place with a barely-there case that houses a perpetual calendar movement within a mere 6.3mm height. 

This is right at the limit of what’s possible with conventional materials, the problem being to keep the whole structure stiff, any flex would affect the working of the watch.

Impressive a feat as it is to fit such a complex mechanism within such slender dimensions, the real magic is in the way that Audemars Piguet masters the fine details – the precise angle of the polished facets on the bezel, the clean feel to what is an incredibly busy dial (there’s a moon-phase to go with the years, months, days and date displays). Beyond all that, the watch remains instantly recognisable – it’s a Royal Oak from any angle.

Audemars Piguet is not the first watch house to take sports-luxe in a super slender direction: Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo for one (a design that shares its origins in the mind of the great watch designer Gérald Genta, creator of the Royal Oak), but the RD#2 demonstrates the value of having that rare thing - a genuine masterpiece as a template to work on.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Audemars Piguet website and the SIHH website

It was a match made in Florence. When Audemars Piguet wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of the women’s Royal Oak, they turned to Italian jewellery designer – and dedicated Royal Oak wearer – Carolina Bucci.

Known for her everyday approach to fine jewellery and precious coloured stones, London-based Bucci is the fourth-generation of a traditional Florentine family jeweller. Her pieces are crafted at the family workshops in the Italian city. It's also where she developed her other key design signature, a gold technique known as the 'Florentine finish'.

Created using a diamond-tipped high-pressure drill, which blasts indentations into the metal, the gold takes on a shimmering quality that is akin to yet bereft of pavé diamonds. It was this that sparked the link with Le Brassus marque Audemars Piguet, who has a history of creative finishing in metals and who adapted the technique to create its new women’s watch – the Royal Oak Frosted Gold.

Applying the finish to the geometric lines of arguably the most hallowed watch design of modern times – Gérald Genta’s Royal Oak – was not without its problems. The design of the watch, with its instantly recognisable ‘bolted’ octagonal bezel is complex, as watch designer Jacqueline Dimier attests: 'The bracelet is made up of many elements and is a super complicated design,' she says.

One of few women watch designers of note, it was Dimier’s job to reinterpret Gérald Genta’s original 1972 design for women when she arrived at Audemars Piguet in 1976. The brand is also celebrating her achievements as a designer this year.

The finished design took two years to develop. Teams at Audemars Piguet’s specialist finish workshops in Geneva conducted an ongoing exchange with Bucci’s jewellers in Florence. Likewise, Bucci pored over Audemars Piguet’s archives in Le Brassus, and they all got busy on Facetime and Skype.

'After the first attempt the sparkle was beyond but the feel was so rough to the touch you couldn’t wear it,' recalls Francois-Henry Bennahmias, Audemars Piguet CEO. 'Then we decided to try a softer approach but the gold lost the shine and the sparkle. We had to go back seven times to work out the exact depth of impact on the gold.'

As Bucci says, it’s not the same when applying the technique to a watch as you would to a jewellery design. 'It’s very different, from the surface to the depth of metal – and our alloys are not the same. But also from a functional point of view, the constant moving parts of the watch bracelet meant they needed to work and not grind together, so the angles had to be adjusted. It was really a puzzle.' Audemars Piguet also had to develop the technique so that every hand-decorated edition of the watch design had a uniform finish. 

'Really, we’re fusing two very opposite concepts,' Bucci offers: 'Precision and mechanics with a finish that is perfectly imperfect.'

INFORMATION
For more information visit the Audemars Piguet website

For the 2016 Audemars Piguet Art Commission, Xun has created Reconstruction of the Universe. The piece – to be unveiled at Art Basel Miami this December – is an elaborate time-based artwork consisting of animated films projected on flat and spherical surfaces, utilising both two-dimensional and three-dimensional film technologies. These will be shown alongside original woodcuts and larger-scale reproductions rendered in traditional media and techniques, and presented in an ocean-side bamboo pavilion designed by the artist himself.

Xun committed himself and his team to the arduous task of producing the animations using traditional illustration methods. Notably, this includes a single film, dubbed Time Spy, of over ten minutes long, in which each and every frame – more than 10,000 images in total – is a fully realised woodcut. It's an extraordinary feat of technical precision and complexity.

This film is at the heart of Reconstruction of the Universe – projected on a giant freestanding screen 30 ft in diameter. In addition, a series of animations is shown on spherical screens, each in full 360 degrees. For several months, experts employed by Audemars Piguet worked closely with Xun and his team to develop the spherical projections; five films loop continuously, taking their inspiration from the five elements – metal, wood, fire, water and earth – that structure the universe according to Chinese tradition. Each utilises a different material to symbolise specific elements; for instance, a sequence showing miners at work is made with carbon powder (‘earth’), while ink brings to life rolling sea waves (‘water’).

The metaphysics of time have long been central to Xun’s thinking. While preparing for the commission, he travelled to the village of Le Brassus in Vallée de Joux, Switzerland, where Audemars Piguet is based. ‘Time is a metaphysical dimension of existence, although it is not visible and couldn’t be touched,’ the artist explains. Appropriately, a magician and a watchmaker’s workshop appear in one sequence.

Elsewhere, the astronomical foundations of time and time measurement are symbolised in Xun’s representations of planetary constellations, as well as sequences evoking the elaborate internal mechanisms of clocks and watches. In a subtle reference to the collaboration with Audemars Piguet and the impressions formed on his visit to Le Brassus, the artist has inserted glimpses of buildings that clearly resemble the Founder’s House and the brand’s original workshops.

Every detail of Reconstruction of the Universe is rendered with painstaking precision, with thousands of smaller and larger images woven into a single visual narrative – the entire installation functioning in highly orchestrated, and seemingly effortless, unison.

Discover more about Audemars Piguet & Art  www.audemarspiguet.com

INFORMATION

Reconstruction of the Universe is on view at Art Basel Miami from 1–4 December

Now in its fourth year, Art Basel Hong Kong has established itself as a firm fixture on the art fair circuit. In between cocktail parties, satellite exhibitions and high-powered art deals, navigating the boundless booths in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre’s vast halls can be daunting – and exhausting.

There were few places to escape the bustle of the fair more inviting than the latest iteration of Audemars Piguet’s Collectors Lounge, this year conceived by New York-based, Chilean artist Sebastian Errazuriz, who inherits the mantle from French designer Mathieu Lehanneur.

‘The booth is designed as a series of ideas that work together as a juggling act,’ explained Errazuriz, as he talked us through the space, which draws inspiration from ice formations and the Swiss watchmaker’s snowy home in Le Brassus. To wit, the space is divided up into three vignettes (or ‘a series of perfect Instagram photos’), each one a distinct act in the Audemars Piguet story.

Errazuriz visited the brand’s remote headquarters and was captivated by the watchmakers’ solitude during the winter months. ‘I really like the idea of thinking of a watchmaker isolated for eight months, seeing the drops suddenly start melting. Not only is it a metaphor for time, but it also says spring is coming,’ says the artist. ‘The roads would open up – this was their show time.

Visitors were lured in by the façade of the lounge, which comprised a dramatic icicle-inspired installation. ‘Ice expands and grows. The shapes that can be so delicate become strong over time. The same way when they melt, you’ve got the drips function as a “ticking”,’ Errazuriz adds.

Inside, the brand’s watchmakers demonstrated their craft on a pair of cantilevered glass tables, while at either end water dripped slowly into pools from the custom-designed lighting fixtures above, creating a rippled effect. A select few timepieces were showcased behind, in display cases that mimicked alpine rocks in their colour and texture.

An all-white, soundproof room riffed on stalactites and stalagmites with a minimalist bent, created to showcase brand’s chiming timepieces. This vault is both beautiful and hostile – a duality in nature that Errazuriz purposely sought to recreate.

The booth also featured striking visuals by British photographer and Audemars Piguet collaborator Dan Holdsworth. The lounge will travel to Basel in June, where it will be expanded for the next edition of the fair.

INFORMATION

Art Basel Hong Kong ran from 24–26 April. For more information, visit Audemars Piguet’s website

The cherished, art-focused pop-up shop House of Voltaire brought its expanding assortment of home goods, clothing, prints and unique artworks to the sandy shores of Miami this week. Appearing at the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) Miami Beach, the entity’s international foray is just the first of more overseas presences to come.

As the fund-raising initiative from the London-based arts organisation Studio Voltaire, House of Voltaire has partnered up with Farfetch to make its inspiring collection of specially commissioned objects and products available (with worldwide shipping) online. A concurrent partnership with QIC Global Real Estate will bring its shop to new territories, too. Up until now, the store has been appearing only in London and biennially. In addition to appearing in Miami, the pop-up will pitch up in Melbourne, Australia in July 2016 before returning to London at the end of 2017.

‘We really wanted to just bring House of Voltaire and the wider program of the editions that we do to a new market,’ says House of Voltaire's director, Joe Scotland. ‘House of Voltaire is such a special project. There’s something nice and quite intimate about it. We really wanted to keep the scale of it and replicate that in other places. Its run by all Studio Voltaire staff, so its the same staff that works on exhibition programming.’

House of Voltaire’s Miami debut has not disappointed. In addition to a hosting a beautiful dinner designed by Roksanda Ilincic and Ella Kruglyanskaya, the pop-up has brought along a new collection of exclusive limited edition products, including cheeky tea towels by Peter Saville, graphic lambswool blankets by artists Kruglyanskaya, Marc Camille Chaimowicz and Sanya Kantarovsky, colourful ceramics by Ilincic and a print by Celia Hempton of (some of) the porn actor Colby Keller. There is also an array of the shop’s most popular projects from past years as well.

With all proceeds from the shop benefiting Studio Voltaire’s exhibition and education initiatives – which include staging show for emerging artists in the UK for the first time and providing subsidised studio and work spaces – there’s never been a better reason to get shopping.

‘We’re going global,’ Scotland says. ‘With QIC, who is our principal partner, we’re able to be in Miami and then Australia next year with our physical stores. Along with the online partnership with Farfetch, it just opens us up to a much wider audience.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit House of Voltaire’s website or QIC Global Real Estate website

Jonathan Anderson is not a man of convention. He dressed men in womenswear on the catwalk long before it became a zeitgeisty thing to do, and he recently scooped both the menswear and womenswear designer of the year at the British Fashion Awards 2015 for his own line; the first designer in history to do so.

So when Anderson set about creating Loewe’s first North American store since being appointed as creative director of the luxury Spanish house in September 2013, instead of creating an industry-standard clean white retail space he imported an 18th century stone granary building sourced from a small town on the border between Galicia and Portugal. 'I think in today’s world, and with consumerism, I feel like we have to be able to push the envelope in terms of shopping environments. My whole thing has been that stores are public spaces so it’s important they are changeable,' says Anderson. '[Stores should be] able to be peaceful environments in which they act as a kind of a social agitator.'

Anderson’s ultimate aim for Loewe, he says, is to transform the luxury house into a cultural brand. As a step towards that, before the store opens on 25 February 2016 in Miami’s Design District, it will house an art exhibition curated by Anderson in conjunction with the Loewe Foundation – perfectly timed for the well-heeled art crowd which descends on the city for Art Basel Miami Beach.

Showcasing the work of four major British artists – Anthea Hamilton, Paul Nash, Lucie Rie and Rose Wylie – the bold, contemporary works stand at odds with the traditional stone and wood structure in which they are housed. 'What attracted me to bringing these artists together was the idea of past, present future, domestic scape and how you live with art,' says Anderson. 'For me, Paul Nash’s body of photography is an incredibly important piece of work, it shows landscape in incredible context and stance.' He considers the Austrian-born British potter Lucie Rie as 'an important 21st century ceramist,' and of Rose Wiley’s giant canvases scrawled with child-like paintings, he offers, 'I feel she has this idea of now, looking through the world through a naive context which I think is incredibly important.' 

Anderson fell in love with Anthea Hamilton’s mixed-media installations when a friend introduced him to the work: 'I felt like it was probably the most cutting and peaceful bodies of work I have seen in a long time. If there were one piece I’d like to take home it would be the Alabaster Legs by Hamilton. I feel like its a very new take on culture - I think it’s an incredible piece.'

Anderson concludes, 'For me luxury is not how we perceive it today. Luxury takes in the chair, the colour, the bag, the music but how it has to reflect the world today, not the world of the past.'

INFORMATION

The exhibition runs from 2 December until 17 January 2016. For more information, visit Loewe’s website

ADDRESS

3841 NE 2nd Ave #400
Miami

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So many homes today are hermetically sealed from their surroundings, much less the universe at large. Not so for New York architect Christian Wassmann's just-completed Sun Path House, a three-storey cast-in-place concrete extension to a renovated 1930's bungalow in Miami Beach. Its rounded core wall - off of which the rest of the 540 square foot structure is cantilevered - at its apex traces the curving path of the sun on the longest day of the year. 

'In and around the house you have a constant awareness that the sun is doing something to you,' said Wassmann, who likes to talk about the 'cosmic influence' on his work. The spiraling wall, which contains a stair and a chimney (for a pizza oven), is at first gentle, then tightly rounded, like a bass clef in sheet music.  

Wassmann's client, restaurateur Frank Prisinzano (who owns well-known New York eateries like Frank, Lil' Frankie's, Sauce, and Supper), asked for a tree house. The twisting core acts as the trunk, while the rest of the structure – a glazed central floor containing a master bedroom, an open ground floor cooking and dining space and an upper level roof deck (where the wall reflects light onto sunbathers) – are surrounded by the plot's palm trees and  plants, as well as vines growing up the side of the house along metal cables. Indeed the home is more about the experience of what's around it than what's inside.  

"I wanted to make kind of a temple to worship the sun,' said Wassmann, who knew that the weather was Prisinzano's main reason for coming to Miami. 'I started with the sun diagram and realized I could take it literally to design the house.'

The concrete spine leans slightly back, with living spaces in front and support areas like bathrooms and technical zones behind. Besides concrete and coated glass, the home contains ipe and walnut floors and furniture, a terrazzo ground floor, and marine grade aluminum fittings. 

Much of the structure, said Wassmann, is an homage to Organic Modernist masters like Oscar Niemeyer and John Lautner. The concrete is exposed, with no patches over slight imperfections, and it meets directly with the building's floors, without baseboards. The home contains furniture by Eames, Saarinen, and Aalto, and it has several elements that reference the central backbone, such as curving aluminum rail supports, 3D printed rounded door handles, and warped night lamps. 

If you're attending Design Miami, the home's Grand Opening is on December 3, while tours are available by appointment through December 5. 

INFORMATION
For more information on Christian Wassmann visit the website

Photography: Todd Eberle

When David Alhadeff founded The Future Perfect in 2003, it was always with the intention of showcasing the best design that the world had to offer. A dozen years later, the design boutique is once again making waves with an inspiring collaboration with two rising design forces: the Dutch furniture designer Lex Pott and the Brooklyn-based firm, Calico Wallpaper.

Together, the trio has produced a multi-faceted presentation of design under Design Miami’s Design Curio banner, a new by-application platform at the fair that opens up the exhibition floor to innovators, boutiques and non-gallery entities in general.

‘Fragments’ consists of a series of monolithic furniture pieces, designed especially for the occasion by Pott using stone from a single quarry, and a custom-designed chromatic wall covering, incorporating pulverised minerals in its pigments by Calico Wallpaper. Three of Pott’s pieces – tables in various sizes with planes of glass disruptively wedged in between – are made from Belgian bluestone, while the fourth piece, a shelf, features layers of different marbles (Nero Marquina, Verde Rajasthan, Rouge, Giale and Bianco Carrera, to be exact).

Pott’s inspiration for the Fragments collection originated from the way rocks at a quarry fracture and break; along natural veining and fissures inherent in the material. By preserving the stone offcuts in its brutally raw form, and then fusing them with opposing, highly polished glass surfaces, the resulting pieces poetically and provocatively toe the line between design and art.

‘As I started to see the collection come together, it felt like an opportunity to do something different than we’d ever done before,’ remembers Alhadeff, who is presenting at Design Miami for the first time. ‘I presented the idea to Calico and it was like kismet because [they’d] been experimenting with the idea of mineral pigments. The digital process is their standard line, but they always start by hand painting, so I [suggested] if they could do a ‘de Gournay’ version of Calico. What has transpired is a perfect synergy between the two collections.’

Calico’s bespoke wall covering is made from a fine Belgian linen that’s painted using pigments and minerals made from the same bluestone in Pott’s work, as well as pyrite and mica to bring a lustre and tactile iridescence to the design. Known for deftly using digital technologies to create its immersive patterns, Calico seized the opportunity to create something entirely handmade, in ode to its artwork-inspired approach that consistently serves as a jumping off point.

‘We’ve always been interested in creating something utterly handmade,’ says co-founder Nick Cope. ‘We decided that if we could pulverize the stones from Lex’s pieces, we could create an environment where the pieces could seem like they came from pre-history or from this primordial ooze of pre-time and space. We started creating these very dynamic and textural horizons from mineral pigment.’

After many rounds of testing and trials (even the substrates used have been developed especially for the project), the final design will be painted in situ by Calico’s co-founder Rachel Cope during the duration of the fair. ‘We’ve created an entirely new product [in the process],’ she says. ‘We’ve sourced linen of the highest quality from Belgium and found a way to back it with a non-woven backing. The product is completely by us using the best materials.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit The Future Perfect website

Watch as Unbuilt takes shape; models in Harvard GSD’s central studio space, Gund Hall, designed in 1972 by Harvard GSD alumnus John Andrews

Over the past ten years, Design Miami has established itself as December's dominant event in the global calendar. With its tropical climate and beach-backed art deco charm, the design platform has never had any problems attracting industry stalwarts to its shores, ensuring that the calibre of work on display year after year is almost always top notch. 

One of the major showpieces of the fair is its architect-designed entrance, with a specially commissioned temporary pavilion installed each year. The designers to have put their definitive stamp on the pavilion in previous years include David Adjaye, Jonathan Muecke and Snarkitecture.

For the 11th edition of the fair, Design Miami has spun the commissioning process on its head. Instead of selecting one architect or practice to work with, the fair has partnered with Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (GSD) on a competition to design the pavilion; a school-wide call for entries among the student body drew 32 teams, together comprising 100 GSD students.

The winning team, made up of Joanne Cheung, Jenny Shen, Steven Meyer, Doug Harsevoort and Yiliu Shen-Burke (five first-year students from Harvard's Master in Architecture programme), proposed a grid-like canopy, decorated with models of unrealised architecture projects from within the GSD community. Named Unbuilt, the structure features 198 individually milled pink foam models that articulate the standard of work produced at Harvard GSD, while capturing the institution's spirit in one fell swoop.  

'In every building that we see, there's so much behind it; most people don't understand how many ideas and concepts get created for a specific site,' explains Rodman Primack, Design Miami's executive director. 'This project to me really captures that energy and potential behind all things. There are so many ideas that don't happen from either an engineering or cost perspective. I love that this gives a window on all of that – it's the poetic side of creating architecture.'

'The idea [to partner with Design Miami] came up following some conversations with [fair founder] Craig Robins', says Mohsen Mostafavi, Harvard GSD's dean. 'We decided it would be a great thing if GSD had a real go at taking on the responsibility of organising a competition and doing the project with the students.

'One of the crucial things is that the students get exposure to what is happening in the real world. Part of the challenge was to create something that was different and to see how we could expose some of the work of the school to a broader audience.'

Since the competition was first announced in March, competing students from Harvard GSD had to assemble themselves into teams of five and work with a member of the faculty as their adviser in order to enter. The teams, spanning architecture, landscape design and urban planning, were then whittled down to five finalists in May. With no specific design brief set, the range of entries ran the gamut. There were students who wanted to deal with Miami very specifically, such as exploring its hot weather and how to create cooling on a temporary basis,' Mostafavi recalls. 'Some ideas addressed how to use ice or water to create sensory environments that would enable visitors not only to see what the space looked like, but also to feel it. There were also projects that created spaces of intimacy, and ones that were very simple and as minimal as possible.'

The final five teams had to present their concepts to an illustrious judging panel made up of both Harvard GSD faculty and Design Miami staff, an intimidating process. Primack recalls, 'To see these groups present and talk about their projects was the most fun I've had in a long time. There's a certain amount of performance that goes into presenting these projects. I'm sure it was very nerve-wracking for these student groups. But this is something they're going to continue to do in their lives, presenting projects to clients and their bosses, advocating the concepts they like to do.

'For me, it was immediately clear that [Unbuilt] was the project that I wanted to do. It spoke to me in a way that the other projects didn't about what Harvard GSD is, which is a learning institution and a place for ideas. It felt like a very generous call to the community. It was not just about bringing something evocative of someone's personal viewpoint, but something that captures the spirit of the place.'

Since winning the competition, the Unbuilt team has spent the past few months collecting project submissions from classmates and faculty alike in order to realise the project. With ideas that date back 20 years to the concepts produced by their fellow finalists in the Design Miami competition all in the mix, the team has engaged the GSD community. Working with Luis Callejas, a lecturer who taught the group in their first year, and professor in practice of architectural technology Hanif Kara, the Unbuilt team collected the concepts as digital design files and had to re-render each of them to make them suitable for casting as foam models, before milling them in a fabrication studio at the school by hand. To hit the target required for the pavilion, they've had to recruit student volunteers to help them mill a minimum of five models a week.

Despite being the youngest team that entered and having only one team member with any competition experience, the value of the opportunity was far from lost on the students. Steven Meyer says: 'The realisation that someone in the school was going to be building [the pavilion] at the end of the year was exciting and not something that comes around much.'

'From the beginning, we knew that this wasn't going to be an ordinary architecture competition,' adds Yiliu Shen-Burke. 'We had two institutions that are unique and separate entities. This pavilion had to represent the aspirations and intentions of both.'

With nearly 200 different projects taking pride of place on the canopy framework, the team also approached GSD alumni and digital-design firm Modelo to create an app to help visitors learn about each project and its creator. Serving like a digital catalogue, the collection of unrealised projects from over the years will go on to live beyond the duration of Design Miami, allowing the designs to have their day.

Summing up the venture, Mostafavi says: '[Unbuilt] is unusual because it's not so much a traditional pavilion. It's very much a concept of the future potential of things. The audience can experience it on two scales: the overall, where from a distance you don't know what it is, and then understanding that it is a kind of archive of possibilities as you get closer.'

Although Unbuilt is in essence a student-generated idea, its execution has the full power of Harvard GSD behind it. As the project inches closer towards its opening date, the baton has passed to Harvard GSD's director of exhibitions, Dan Borelli, to help the team take into consideration logistics and real-life factors, such as how the pavilion will withstand Miami's strong winds, work in accordance with the city's zoning laws and the issues surrounding installing the structure in a car park where thousands of people will be passing underneath. The steel framework has been strengthened and anchored into a cast concrete platform for added stability. Seating underneath the canopy is spread out into a more irregular format to create sociable and secluded areas. Integrated lighting in the canopy also allows the structure to be accessible even after nightfall.

Primack, meanwhile, is optimistic of more student involvement in Design Miami's future. 'There's a real impetus behind us wanting to have student talent integrated into the event, to see students excited about the fair and thinking that there's a possibility for them to move forward in that direction. The event is a platform for collectable design, the majority of which is actually a vintage market. In order to have the collectable design of the future, we need to support young designers now.'

As originally featured in the December 2015 issue of Wallpaper* (W*201)

INFORMATION

Design Miami is on view from  2 – 6 December. For more information, visit the Design Miami website

Photography: Steven Brahms

­The inspired pairing of Isay Weinfeld, the Fasano group and the iconic Shore Club hotel in Miami’s South Beach is one of the most exciting design collaborations Wallpaper* has seen – and we've been tracking since it was first announced. We’re clearly not the only ones; the hotel is set to be a major hotspot this week, playing host to a number of exhibitions and events, including Arte Club Jacaranda, as the creative crowds descend on Miami.

The transformation of the historic Shore Club into an appropriately luxurious Fasano property – the group’s first in the United States – has been left in the hands of Weinfeld, who also crafted Fasano’s São Paulo flagship and its expanding Punta del Este accommodations in Uruguay. In its new guise, which is scheduled to begin construction in early 2016 and complete at the end of 2017, Fasano Hotel + Residences at Shore Club will feature 100 hotel rooms and 75 condominiums. In addition to preserving and transforming the Central Tower – the Shore Club’s original 22-floor structure – the hotel will feature a converted eight-storey North Tower, and a collection of two-storey poolside and beachfront bungalows, as well as a building featuring a new gym, with yoga and personal training rooms, and a spa and wellness center. There is also a South Tower, which houses the main hotel lobby, that retains many of the property's original iconic details.

‘I hate to repeat myself. I never take projects where I have to repeat. If you work for a brand that has 300 shops all over and it requires for the project to repeat, this is the kind of project that is not for me,’ reflects Weinfeld, who worked on redesigning the Shore Club for about a year and a half with developers HFZ Capital Group before the Fasano group signed on as the hotel operator. ‘It’s a very good project inside an office because it's work, but to design the same thing for 3-4 years... it’s boring for me, unless you can do one different from another. This was my [condition] when I decided to design the first Fasano. If we were to design another one, it should have the same feeling, but according to each place.’

Weinfeld describes that ‘Fasano feeling’ and the Fasano family and as ‘very elegant, very discreet and subtle with no showing off, no gold or bling, and no boutique hotel design as we know it. It’s also very comfortable, which is the main word for me when talking about architecture and life in general.’

In addition to the sumptuous mix of terrazzo, concrete, steel and lush landscaping that will bridge indoors with out, Fasano Hotel + Residences at Shore Club will demonstrate the Fasano family’s trademark flair for service in a poolside restaurant, garden-facing bar and lobby lounge. Like its compatriots, the hotel’s restaurants will feature a rich combination of Italian heritage with Brazilian flavour.

The three-acre property will also boast the largest swimming pool in South Beach – measuring about 250 feet long and offering over 9,500 sq ft of oceanfront bathing. 

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Fasano Shore Club's website

ADDRESS

Fasano Hotel + Residences at Shore Club 
1901 Collins Ave
Miami Beach
Florida

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It's all about to kick off in Miami, with Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach set to keep the spotlight to the Sunshine State's largest metropolis for the whole week. The Miami Design District development is one of the city's key growing creative hubs and NY and Tucson based architects Aranda\Lasch have just completed the latest addition to the neighbourhood: the Art Deco project. 

Forming part of Phase 2 of the overall development's plans to create the ultimate neighbourhood dedicated to innovative fashion, design, architecture and dining experiences, this commercial building is owned by the Miami Design District Associates, a partnership between Dacra and L Real Estate - both key players in the luxury shopping destination real estate market. 

The award winning architecture practice is known for its inventive, experimental approach and investigations in materials and structure. Taking their cue from Miami's strong Art Deco heritage, which favours bold geometric motifs that define the city's overall feel, and staying true to their ongoing fascinations, directors Benjamin Aranda and Chris Lasch worked with molded GFRC façade panels that create the building's strong graphic effect. Angular recessed coffers accommodate the storefront openings, while the motif fans out to add a sense of movement and dynamism to the design. 

The structure currently houses four luxury retail tenants, including Tom Ford's Miami flagship store. 

INFORMATION

Photography: Aranda\Lasch

Cult perfumer Le Labo has revealed an all-new scent, based on a unique extraction of black tea leaf alongside a combination of bergamot, fig, bay leaves, cedar wood, vetiver and musk. The result? An addictive and sensuously dry, smoky essence.

Thé Noir 29, the new scent, is utilised over a range of products – not only a conventional perfume, available in several sizes, but also as a travel tube kit, a perfume oil and a liquid balm (as well as a body lotion, body oil and shower gel).

The full-bodied blend contains – as the name suggests – 29 ingredients. As with all of Le Labo’s scents, the fragrance is hand blended and prepared on site at the company's New York City hub. Priding itself on the quality of ingredients, the company spares no expense in the developmental process, which can take up to two years. Not overlooking the personal factor, each bottle is stamped with the wearer’s name and a use-by date, further emphasising the uniqueness and quality of the scents. It is precisely this dedication to freshness that sets Le Labo apart from ordinary perfumers.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Le Labo’s website

Tom Kundig's architecture combines an extraordinary attention to detail with a richly patinated palette of materials. The Seattle-based architect works in partnership with Jim Olson, although both designers tend to have their own independent projects (and monographs). Works is the latest tome on Kundig's quietly prolific output, a portfolio of relatively modest but undeniably spectacular homes that exploit the topography, views and atmosphere of their sites down to every last detail.

The book features 19 projects from around the world, although the majority are residences in the US. These include the spectacular Studhorse retreat in Washington and a grand six-storey New York townhouse. In almost every project, there's not only a relish for the texture and surface of tough, unadorned materials like wood, steel, concrete and iron, but also a love of kineticism, machinery and the monumental.

Kundig – and his collaborators and specialists – create a modern aesthetic that doesn't rely on seamlessly hidden sources of power or mystical minimalism. Instead, pulleys heave, handles turn and gears interlock, creating houses and cabins with vast opening windows, enveloping shutter systems and transformable facades. These mechanical preoccupations provide the thread of unity, whether the project is a major new art gallery or a tiny fishing cabin in Washington State, designed to function in as straightforward and pragmatic a way as possible.

Kundig's work is now much in demand. The book is filled with design sketches and personal recollections but still can't quite convey the enormity and complexity of some of these works – and the sheer effort that has gone into making them appear so effortless. Many contemporary architects profess a strong connection to site regardless of their aesthetic preoccupations. However, few have made such a convincing case of how to be uncompromising as Kundig.

INFORMATION

Works, by Tom Kundig, $65, published by Princeton Architectural Press. For more information, visit PAP’s website

Photography courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press

In a market flooded with all manner of wireless, Bluetooth-enabled audio devices, it's no mean feat to create a sound solution that stands out from the crowd. However, Hong Kong-based industrial designer Michael Young and Italian audio brand Brionvega have done just that with the launch of WearIt, a new portable speaker design that expertly pairs the past with the present.

Inspired by one of the Italian brand's earliest products – the TS 207 portable radio designed by Rodolfo Bonetto – the new rechargeable, wireless design comes with a matching stitched leather carry case that blends the history of the brand with cutting-edge technology.

'The Bluetooth market is a very busy one and my office was lucky enough to work on this technology when it was invented several years ago,' explains Young. 'Defining a product can be a challenge when there are so many players but the legacy of Brionvega transcends that. I have been a fan of the brand since I discovered design so to get involved in this project has been nothing short of an honour and a great pleasure.'

As well as its excellent style credentials, WearIt offers high fidelity wireless sound with dual high performance drivers and a tuned radiator for deep bass. It can also be connected up to a mobile phone and used to make hands free phone calls thanks to a built-in microphone. For those looking to up their audio experience to the next level, the speaker can pair up with another WearIt to create surround sound.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Brionvega’s website

With a career that spans three decades and a client list that includes the likes of the Beastie Boys, Paul McCartney, MGMT and Beck, British artist Michael Gillette has spent his career channeling music into seductive visual art.

From early aspirations of pop stardom, to getting his break in 1992 when he created a logo for Saint Etienne's Top Of The Pops performance, San Francisco-based Gillette has some stories to tell. Now, for the first time, an edited selection of his work has been spread across 192 pages of a new weighty monograph that chronicles this inspired career.

Called Drawn In Stereo and published by Ammo, the book showcases never-before-seen pages from Gillette's sketchbooks, music video animation stills and his magazine contributions for titles such as Spin, MOJO, Q and the New Yorker. 

In addition, Lemon Jelly's Fred Deakin has supplied a foreword while Elastica’s Justine Frischmann has contributed an interview with the artist. As Frischmann herself puts it, 'Michael Gillette's work is a celebration of the fragmentary, jumbled nature of pop culture from the last half century synthesised into something that is always cheekily seductive and often heart-wrenchingly beautiful.'

INFORMATION

Drawn In Stereo by Michael Gillette, $29.95, is published by Ammo Books. For more information, visit the Ammo website

The paradox of the smart watch is that it has had to become ever more watch-like to be accepted as an everyday device. Back before the idea of shifting our mobile life to our wrists was even an issue, the nascent smart watches were fearsomely digital devices, unashamedly aimed at the technophile who wanted to wear a very obvious sign of tomorrow. But as the tech has improved, classicism has emerged as the dominant form factor, harking back to traditional forms instead of looking forwards.

Samsung's new Gear S2 follows the new traditionalist mode. Its chief point of difference from the original Gear S is the shape of the screen – the latter was rectangular and slightly curved and came across as a little awkward. In contrast, right from the first time you strap on the S2 you get the familiar watch feel, almost as if the tech beneath has disappeared.

With discrete good looks, unobtrusive size and easy comfort on its side, the S2 is a contender before you've even considered the software and day-to-day operation. For the truth is that no one can state with much certainty what a smart watch is actually best at. Telling the time? Not all the time, as the battery drain means always-on screens are impossible. Receiving emails and other messages? Yes – but not so good at replying to them. Tracking exercise and fitness? Sure, but not as well as dedicated bands with their lighter wrist-print and bigger suite of sensors. Similarly, applications like mapping, listening to music and taking voice notes are all technically feasible but deeply compromised by the minimal buttons and small screen size.

The Gear S2 is also an outlier in that it shuns Google's Android Wear for the Tizen OS, an open source system that is slick enough but notably lacking in apps. Samsung's status and the need to pair your watch with a phone will probably lure developers, so the potential is there for some excellent bespoke integration in the future. The S2 is available in standard or classic configurations, the latter pairing the device with a leather strap. There's also a partnership with Alessandro Mendini, offering a Swatch-like line-up of different strap options, each with a matching unique face. A rotating bezel has been introduced as a means of scrolling through apps and pages and it works seamlessly with the two buttons on the side. A flick of the wrist usually brings the screen to life and the stock watch faces are well detailed and restrained.

So why the Gear S2? Apple is pushing upmarket with its watch (witness the latest Hermès edition) and other manufacturers are looking for smart functionality at a much lower price point. Whether you want to live life encircled by a daisy chain of devices, each feeding each other little bits of data about who, what, where and when, is up to you. But as an invisible umbilical link to your phone (a device which most of us treat as a permanent appendage in any case) the Gear S2 fulfills its role more than admirably.

INFORMATION

Samsung Gear S2, from £249. For more information, visit Samsung’s website

This week's composition from WallpaperSTORE* is decorative, elaborate, a touch baroque and suitably eclectic – which is what makes it a winner for the holiday season that is kicking off right now. Get properly prepared for those full-on festive dinners, whether for Thanksgiving in a fortnight or Christmas next month, as nothing sets the tone more than a stunningly set table.

Find out more about Vanessa Mitrani's Highball cube gravity glasses here

Start things off with a golden plate decorated with a Medusa head by Versace for Rosenthal. Add a snake or two in the form of a napkin ring and a serpent handled tray from L’Objet. And why not finish things off with Vanessa Mitrani’s delicate cube gravity glasses, a pair of pagoda-shaped salt and pepper holders (also from L’Objet), Tom Dixon's facetted 'Gem' vase and a trio of 'Tulip' candlesticks, by Pierre Forssell for Skultuna?

Find out more about Skultuna's 'Tulip' candlesticks here

Our very own creative market place for design, WallpaperSTORE* stocks, wraps and dispatches our pick of the finely formed and forward thinking from around the world

Nick Vinson, also known as Picky Nicky, has been an editor at Wallpaper* since 2012, curates the selection for WallpaperSTORE*, where he is general merchandising manager and also pens the monthly 'Vinson View' column in Wallpaper*

INFORMATION

Shop Picky Nicky’s edit now at Wallpaper*STORE

Few artists swing from paintings and works on paper, clear across to sculpture that approaches design and then onto glazed ceramics, but Mary Heilmann remains supreme when it comes to producing such a distinctively diverse oeuvre.  The 303 Gallery in Chelsea, New York is now showcasing her latest creative endeavors for their latest exhibition, ‘Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads, Etc.’ which features forty-five works.

Vivid colors mark Heilmann’s palette. ‘As to her paintings with their sharp geometric forms, Mary frequently takes waves as well as roads and reinterprets them visually,’ says Christian Alexa, 303 Gallery’s director. Yellow lines stretching down black asphalt delineate Heilmann’s ‘Highway, My Way’,  but when it comes to the ocean, she often veers away from the requisite blue waves.  For example, Heilmann turns to soft pink, stacked geometric forms against a white background for her Rose Wave.

Best known for the chairs that lay strewn like a blaze of vibrant confetti on the Whitney Museum of American Art terrace as part of their inaugural exhibition, 303 gallery is also sporting her riffs on the simple, painted plywood Adirondack chair, which the artist sees as sculpture. So arranged in a circular pattern at the gallery are Heilmann’s Sunny Chaises in yellow and blue, that they form the perfect perch to take in this exhibition.

There’s also a set of ceramic cups, complete with saucers in brilliant blue, turquoise and red, to match. ‘As Mary has said a number of times, art has no limits,’ adds Alexa.

INFORMATION

‘Mary Heilmann Geometrics: Waves, Roads, Etc.’ is on view at 303 Gallery until 19 December, website

Photography: Courtesy of the artist and 303 Gallery, New York

ADDRESS

303 Gallery
507 West 24th Street
New York

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