Dubai Watch Week 2023 has come to an end and after five days of watchmaking, passion and amazing people we can say we are as exhausted as we are happy. An event that brings together the world’s top brands, collectors and enthusiasts in one crazy city.
At this point, it’s time to draw conclusions and let you experience our experience among incredible watches and real works of art. In this article I show you some of the most absurd watches we saw during this year’s Dubai Watch Week, keeping the order we followed during our 4-day fair: day 1, day 2, day 3 and day 4.
Greubel Forsey Tourbillon Cardan
The first watch we eyeballed at the fair was a Greubel Forsey. It is the house’s eighth invention that takes the tourbillon to an even higher level. If traditional tourbillons complete a rotation in 60 seconds, this one takes 16, allowing for even more precise performance and ensuring an even more dynamic and sensational visual effect.
This incredible invention is surrounded by Greubel Forsey’s signature three-dimensional play and impeccable finishes, we could not fail to mention it.
Patek Philippe Ref. 3448
The second watch I am telling you about is not a modern watch but it was still inside the fair, inside the space reserved for Christie’s. It is a Patek Philippe reference 3448, but not just any old one.
In fact, this watch was purchased and worn by none other than Andy Warhol himself. This is attested to by archival extracts and all the original documentation provided by Patek Philippe. The watch, first sold at Sotheby’s in 1988, will be the star of Christie’s upcoming auction in New York on December 5. Wearing it on the wrist was a unique experience.
MB&F Horological Machine 11 “Architect”
The next wristwatch has probably arrived from another planet. MB&F’s latest invention takes inspiration from the curvilinear design typical of houses designed between the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, the watch is designed as a house with 4 rooms, each of which has a function. The first face and the most important one marks hours and minutes.
The second room contains the power reserve display, and the third contains a thermometer. Then again, knowing the temperature inside one’s home is always handy! The fourth room is the crown to set the time. Well, you might be asking – what about winding? To wind the movement you will need to rotate the entire case clockwise. Yes, we forgot to mention the the watch is rotates both clockwise and anti-clockwise to make sure that you can check quickly the most important information.
F.P. Journe Astronomic Souverain
This is F.P. Journe’s most complicated creation, a work of art comprising 18 complications including the minute repeater. First made for the Only Watch auction, this super-complication features a tourbillon, sidereal hours and minutes, annual calendar, equation of time, sunrise and sunset, second time zone, moon phase, and more. All of this is encased inside a steel case 44 mm in diameter and 13.7 mm thick.
Turning the clock around shows the caliber 1619 in all its glory. Here, also visible is the equation of time and the annual calendar. This is surrounded by the engraving on the case of the most important complications within the watch, and the inscription “F.P. Journe Invenit et Fecit.”
Biver Catharsis
This clock is a conceptual artwork much more than a tool for telling time. In fact, the time cannot even be read. The only way is to ring the minute repeater via the lever located on the left side of the case. On the dial, more than 80 blue sapphires set with sublime technique make up the sea against which a starry sky and a large moon are silhouetted.
Romanticism and sublime skill in finishing make this watch extremely charming. Turning the case back reveals a blued hour sphere that is used to set the time via the crown on the right side of the case. The watch was initially conceived for Only Watch. Now with all the troubles and the postponement of the auction, the watch is currently on stand-by.
Artya Purity Tourbillon Chameleon
At first glance this watch looks like a classic flying tourbillon with a sapphire case, something extremely complex but something we are also quite used to by now, given the speed with which technology is advancing, even in haute horology.
Well, this watch, however, has something different–the case changes color based on the light passing through it. Thanks to a “Nano-sapphire” technology, the watchmakers at Artya have managed to create a chameleon watch. In person it is something impressive, the color change is not slow and imperceptible but fast and sharp. We were stunned.
Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra
To be honest, this is not the first time we have had the opportunity to hold this watch. However, each time is an incredible experience. A watch, perfectly wearable and functional, 1.8 mm thick. In English they would say “mind-blowing.”
As we tested it, Roy Davidoff made us think about something. The most complex aspect of this feat was being able to achieve such a reduced thickness while keeping the soul of the watch and the fundamental parts that form the heart of its design, from the case to the bracelet, intact.
Rolex Day-Date ref. 1804 “Scheherazade”
It’s not every day you see a Day-Date with eastern-arabic markers. Especially if it is a vintage Day-date and even more so if you add to it a set of brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel. This piece of history with reference 1804 is nicknamed “Scheherazade” and was also part of the collection of Sandro Fratini himself.
We spotted it on the wrist of our friend and collector Dave of Theswisscaveau.
Chopard L.U.C. Full Strike Blue Sapphire
The L.U.C. Full Strike earned Chopard the Aiguille d’Or in 2017. If that wasn’t enough, this year the company offered a version made entirely of blue sapphire. Just think, the minute repeater hammers are also made of the same material.
It is an aesthetically very appealing watch with a crazy finish. Although I prefer it in its original version, I must admit that this variant immediately caught my interest making it deserve a place within this article.
Gerald Genta Super-Complication
To conclude, we find two incredible watches that made history for the horological world. These two super-complicated Gerald Genta watches were made in 1994 and feature minute repeater, grande and petite sonnerie, alarm, perpetual calendar, tourbillon, dual time zone. For a period of time after their creation they were the most complicated watches ever produced. Both watches were on display inside the Fabrique du Temps – Louis Vuitton booth.
Final remarks
These are just a few of the incredible watches we were able to see and try on during the days of Dubai Watch Week. Of those we didn’t get a chance to photograph, I am left with remorse for an incredible Patek Philippe ref. 5077/355G on the wrist of a collector.
