The Most Intriguing Timepieces from SIHH

The developers at the major watch companies walk a fine line as they weigh their own visions and horological ambitions against commercial expediency. Even in the collector’s market, disciplined product managers have to create pieces that both grab the attention of a very jaded audience and cast the appropriate halo on the rest of the brand. Doing so reinforces the company’s watchmaking values in pieces that few can buy but, when worn on one’s wrist, many others will admire. Fortunately, not all developments are bound by such strict parameters and instead will grant designers the freedom to pursue truly unique timepieces. Here are five such watches—released on the occasion of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève (SIHH)—that caught our eye.

In the case of a brand like Greubel Forsey, it is not an incredibly expensive watch that raises eyebrows, but the opposite. Greubel Forsey Signature 1 attempts something far more delicate than any construction in watchmaking: introducing a new entry-level watch without diluting the brand in the eyes of loyal collectors.

The Signature 1 in white gold will be targeted around $170,000. The very limited subscription model in steel is planned for around $150,000—a true bargain for a Greubel Forsey watch. Like the Lauded Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision, the watch is more conservative in proportions and aesthetics than the company’s traditional offerings. It also offers added simplicity as a manually wound, three-hand watch. The miniature dial and open-work layout—a style that has grown in popularity over the last decade—offers a look at the finishing quality, which for many is the chief value offered by the brand.

The 2016 offerings from Audemars Piguet show the beginnings of a development pipeline that has been stoked in the last few years to provide a stream of complicated watch offerings. While the Supersonnerie unveiled last year garners the spotlight, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked showcases more out-of-the-box thinking.

It is one of a number of recent efforts to counteract the differing friction forces in the balance bearings as the watch changes position—the same basic problem that is so complexly solved by the tourbillon. In this case, the two wheels, supported by opposed and matched balance springs, not only cancel irregularities in oscillation, but do so evenly up and down the balance staff. The company claims as much as a 30-percent improvement in accuracy, which is enough to make chronometrically obsessed collectors take note.

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