When we talk about watches, we often also refer to the world of jewelry.
Many timepieces from the most renowned maisons are often embellished with the same stones found atop jewelry.
Other times, as is the case with the maison Harry Winston, we are in the presence of jewelers who over the years have decided to enter the world of watchmaking with the production of highly complicated watches with unique designs.
In this regard, today, dear friends of IWS, we will together discover the Opus collection by Harry Winston, the result of collaboration with some of the most renowned watchmakers in the world.
Harry Winston and Watchmaking
The story of the maison dates back to 1938 when the forty-two-year-old Harry Winston opened his first jewelry store in New York.
Nicknamed “The King of Diamond,” his success in the high-end luxury jewelry field was almost immediate.
Always renowned for unique designs using highly selected precious stones, the maison, in the 1980s, decided to also venture into the sector of luxury high watchmaking.
In the midst of the post “quartz crisis” period, the maison launched a real challenge to the world of watchmaking, wanting to create unique timepieces, never seen before, especially in terms of design.
The real success of the maison in the field of timepieces occurred in 2001 with the birth of the famous Opus collection.
That year, which for one aspect was the starting point for the brand, on the other hand, represented a point of arrival thanks to the genius of Max Büsser.
He, known to all today for having founded his personal watchmaking maison, MB&F, in 1998 became the director of the watchmaking department of Harry Winston.
Distinguished from the dawn of his career for a visionary and futuristic philosophy in the world of watchmaking, Büsser brought the idea of a “concept” watch within Harry Winston.
This all culminated, in 2001, in a series of solid collaborations with the greatest watchmakers and visionaries in the world of watchmaking.
Thanks to the Opus collection, Max Büsser proved to be winning and brought the much-desired success to the maison.
This all resulted in unprecedented timepieces characterized by highly complicated mechanics combined with a design never seen before.
To date, there are fourteen different creations by Harry Winston that can boast the prestigious Opus name.
Opus 1
The very first creation of the Opus collection was the fruit of collaboration with none other than Francois Paul Journe, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, in my opinion, watchmaker of all time.
Created in three limited series of six pieces each, these watches were distinguished by the different complications enclosed within them.
Inside the Opus One Five Days Automatic, we find enclosed a chronometer that oscillates at 21,600 alternations per hour.
On the Opus One Chronomètre à Résonance, we find an update of F.P. Journe’s resonance system that powers a watch equipped with a dual time zone.
Inside the Opus One Tourbillon, instead, we find the famous system of the French watchmaker, the remontoir d’égalité, capable of uniformly supplying energy to the balance wheel at all times.
Combined with a stunning mechanics, there could certainly not be missing a design of the same strength capable of giving the watch a completely unique style.
Opus 2
The second watch of the Opus collection was instead the result of a partnership with the Swiss watchmaker of Italian origins, Antoine Preziuso.
The skilled watchmaker, for this second chapter of the collection, was tasked with creating a timepiece equipped with a classic tourbillon.
Once the requested watch was made, Antoine Preziuso showed it to the maison, but on that same day, he was wearing a watch of his own creation, which immediately caught Büsser’s attention.
He was so struck by that watch with a white gold dial, embellished with a hand-engraved representation, that he decided that the second model of the Opus collection should have the same qualities in stylistic terms.
The result was a watch with a tourbillon on the front and a complete perpetual calendar on the back under the hinged case back.
This second Opus, limited to 23 unique pieces, was also available in a version without a perpetual calendar and equipped only with a tourbillon.
Among the 23 pieces, a unique piece was also made with a tourbillon equipped with a skeletonized movement embellished with beveled and polished bridges with 158 brilliant-cut and 16 baguette-cut diamonds set above.
The case of this unique piece, like the other components, was also embellished with 62 baguette-cut diamonds.
Opus 3
The third chapter of the Harry Winston Opus saga saw the participation of the famous watchmaker Vianney Halter.
For the first time in the collection, we find a watch that, in terms of design, goes beyond the traditional forms.
The rectangular gold case, in fact, features six unusual porthole-shaped windows with colored Arabic numerals inside.
At the top of the watch, we find the portholes with blue numbers representing the hours and the black ones at the bottom representing the minutes.
In the central part, we find instead the two vertically arranged portholes with red numbers indicating the date.
This series, limited to 55 pieces, was made both with a rose gold case and in platinum and in 5 pieces highly embellished with white diamonds signed Harry Winston.
Opus 4
The fourth model of the Opus series, made in collaboration with Christophe Claret, is characterized by a reversible case with high watchmaking complications inside, including a tourbillon and a minute repeater.
Made with a precious platinum case, this watch was produced in only 20 pieces.
Opus 5
The fifth chapter of this winning saga of the brand sees as protagonist the co-founder of the renowned independent brand Urwerk.
We are talking about Felix Baumgartner, the skilled watchmaker, born in Schaffhausen, who introduced the concept of satellite hour indication.
A concept that we find in full within the Opus 5 above which the hours are indicated by 3D satellites that rotate.
As can be seen in some Urwerk watches, also on the Opus 5, it was decided to insert an unusual indicator through which it is possible to consult the maintenance status of the watch.
Like the other models, the Opus 5 was also made in a limited edition and with a rose gold case, in platinum, and in very few pieces with a case always in platinum embellished with diamonds.
Opus 6
For the sixth model of the collection, Harry Winston decided to use the help of Robert Greubel & Stephen Forsey, the founders of the renowned brand Greubel Forsey and great connoisseurs and developers of stunning tourbillons.
Characterizing the sixth Opus, we could only find a large tourbillon characterized by the absence of the usual cage and gears that we usually find in traditional ones.
Observing the dial, above which the large tourbillon takes center stage, it is possible to notice the small dial between 2 and 3 o’clock showing the hours and minutes.
The small seconds, on the other hand, are shown above the counter at 11 o’clock.
Of this highly exclusive watch, distinguished by refined and stunning mechanics, only 6 pieces were made.
Opus 7
The seventh creation of the brand, made together with watchmaker Andreas Strehler, contains within it what has always been the inspiring motto for the Swiss watchmaker: butterflies.
The Opus 7 features an unusual butterfly-shaped caliber characterized by an Art Nouveau style.
The indication of hours, minutes, and power reserve occurs in an unusual way through an alternating display located at 1 o’clock.
Made in 50 pieces, this watch is also distinguished by the butterfly-shaped bridges.
Opus 8
With this eighth model of the collection, Harry Winston decided to pay homage to the watches of the 70s thanks to the help of Frédéric Garinaud.
This all resulted in a watch with digital hours and minutes with the figures that appear only on request via the button on the right side of the watch.
Opus 9
This ninth model of the collection is distinguished by an unusual way of indicating hours and minutes.
With the collaboration of Jean-Marc Wiederrecht and Eric Giroud, the maison, a leader in the diamond sector, has created a watch that uses precious stones arranged in two vertical rows to indicate hours and minutes.
The two bright orange mandarin garnets indicate the time through a rack mechanism.
Opus 10
With the ninth chapter of the collection, the maison, together with Jean-François Mojon, gave birth to a watch capable of indicating time through the continuous 24-hour rotation of a platform with individual time units above.
The only static parts of this particular mechanism are the hours, minutes, and seconds.
Limited to 100 pieces, this watch also includes the indication of a second time zone.
Opus 11
The eleventh watch of the collection is distinguished by a highly complex and extraordinary mechanics.
Made together with Denis Giguet, this watch features a case composed of three overlapping cylinders.
The main large cylinder allows you to view the hours; the second cylinder, on the other hand, shows the minutes above a retrograde disc for the units, and a jumping disc for the tens.
The third cylinder, on the other hand, contains within it the large titanium balance wheel.
The peculiarity of this watch lies in the fact that every 60 minutes, at the change of the hour, the digital indication of the hours in the center “explodes” and then recomposes immediately after marking the next one and remaining still until the next hour.
Opus 12
The twelfth creation of the collection, made together with Emmanuel Bouchet & Augustin Nussbaum, is distinguished by a completely singular way in which time is marked.
Instead of traditional hands, we find indices that act as such.
At the beginning of each hour, the indices perform a small dance that resembles a domino falling on the dial before positioning themselves on the current hour indication.
The minute hand, on the other hand, moves the indices once every five minutes; in the meantime, the user can use the small central hand to read the exact minutes.
This indication lasts only five minutes before the hand goes back to the beginning in a retrograde manner and the minute indicator flips over.
Made with a white gold case, this watch is limited to 100 pieces.
Opus 13
The thirteenth model of the collection was born with the help of watchmaker Ludovic Ballouard.
On this unusual timepiece, there is an external minute ring: every minute the ring changes appearance, as one of the 59 pins that mark the minutes seems to jump out of nowhere to become visible.
The hours, on the other hand, are indicated by a triangular hand that peeks out from behind a large crystal in the center.
Made with a white gold case, this watch is limited to 130 pieces worldwide.
Opus 14
Introduced in 2015, the fourteenth Opus was created with the collaboration of Franck Orny and Johnny Girardin.
Conceived as a jukebox-style automaton, this watch features a movement consisting of a stack of multiple discs that rise and fall like a small elevator, in combination with a swinging arm that moves three of the discs up and down from a small turntable.
The hours are indicated above an unusual disc located on the left side of the watch while the minutes above a retrograde arch that develops from the center to the bottom of the dial.
Made in only 50 pieces, the case of this unusual watch is made of white gold.
Final Considerations
With the Opus collection, Harry Winston has certainly sought to communicate what for the maison has always encompassed the concept of a watch.
The result of the creative work of some of the greatest watchmakers in the world, these incredible watches represent the highest expressive level both in terms of mechanics and design.
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