Sometimes you see a watch that immediately grabs your attention. For me the Audemars Piguet Millenary Piano Forte is such a watch. Is this the perfect dress watch?

I can still remember the first time i saw an advertisement for the Millenary Piano Forte. Deeply impressed… A few days ago i was looking through the catalog of the upcoming Antiquorum auction. Seeing a Audemars Piguet Millenary for sale doesn’t happen too often. A Millenary Piano Forte i have never seen for sale before…. until now. This one will be auctioned in New York at September 17th. What a beauty…

Audemars Piguet Millenary Piano Forte

The Audemars Piguet Millenary has a classic, distinct and unique design. With the oval shaped case, is stand apart from other watch designs. The oval shaped case was inspired by the architecture of the Roman Colosseum. The case has stunning details and the finish is beautiful with brushed and polished parts. Although it has a classic look of a dress watch, it’s size is absolutely modern with no less than 40 x 45 mm!

I’ve never had the pleasure of wearing this beauty, so i looked for a photo on the internet. This photo shows exactly how i imagined it would look. Like a perfect dress watch. Just imagine this watch with black tie…

Audemars Piguet Millenary Piano Forte

This Audemars Piguet Millenary Pianoforte is available in a white gold case. It has a stunning black and white mother of pearl piano motif dial with white gold hands and roman markers. Like all Millenary watches it features an off-center hour display. The Millenary Piano Forte also has a sweep second hand and a date display at 3 o’clock. The automatic manufacture caliber 3120 has 60-hour power reserve. It was released in 2007 and comes in a wooden piano-shaped box. The Millenary Pianoforte watch is a limited series of 500.

Audemars Piguet Millenary Piano Forte with piano shaped box

Audemars Piguet used the Millenary design for highly complicated watches as well. Just think of the Dual Time Millenary Maserati watch with power reserve and second timezone, the Millenary Tourbillon Chronograph, the Millenary watch with dead beat second and the Millenary No.5 of the Tradition d’Excellence Collection.

Besides these complicated watches and the Millenary Piano Forte, Audemars Piguet offers a Millenary with time and date. Personally i just love the ‘regular’ Millenary… but what’s ‘regular’ about such a beauty.

Audemars Piguet Millenary

On September 24^th the charity auction Only Watch will be held in Monaco. Many of the most prestigious Swiss watch brands created a unique watch for this charity event that is held during the Monaco Yacht Show.

All the proceeds of the Only Watch charity auction will be donated to the research of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The next Only Watch auction is organized in close collaboration with Patrizzi & Co and the Monaco Yacht Show, and is under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Only Watch 2009 Quai de i'Ile dial close-up

Especially for Only Watch 2009 Vacheron Constantin created it’s first tantalum watch. Vacheron Constantin decided to create a tantalum Quai de l’Ile.  Christian Selmoni, head of Product Marketing, says this choice was made because it fits into the research spirit needed when fighting against a disease as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The case exists of 10 parts which are fixed to a titanium inner case. The function of this titanium inner case is to hold the movement in place. This inner case itself consists of 7 pieces. The case of the Quai de l’Ile is far more sophisticated than that of a normal case.

Vacheron Constantin Quai de i'lle for Only Watch 2009

The heart of the case, flanks and bezel sections are considered as three “interchangeable” components. On ‘normal’ Vacheron Constantin Quai de l’Ile models this allows personal customisation with three different metals – Palladium, Titanium and Pink Gold. This unique piece for Only Watch 2009 is entirely made of tantalum, except the flanks. The flanks of the watch are made of palladium.

Tantalum is a very rare and noble metal, not only because of the qualities of the metal but also because it’s unique, very dark, look. Unlike other metals used on watches, the dark color is not achieved by adding coatings or other treatments, but it is the metal’s natural color.

Only Watch 2009 Quai de i'Ile dial close-up

The dial and crystal are also far from usual. The Maltese cross symbol and the numbers 12, 3, 6 and 9 are linked into the sapphire by using multiple layers technology, called galvanic growth. The other numerals are laser engraved then inked in white ink.

Furthermore, the Only Watch Quai de l’Ile features a dark red minute track engraved and painted on a lower part of the whole dial. Finally, on the inside ring of the dial, there is an outer subdial which has a decorative 3D engraving representing the logo “Only Watch”. “Only” is engraved and “Watch” is in relief, so that when the light hits the sapphire crystal the name “Only Watch” appears in three dimensions.

At the Only Watch 2009 website all the 34 unique pieces and their specifications can be found.

Raymond Weil releases a new model in the Don Giovanni Cosi Grande collection, the Jumping Hour. Watches with jumping hours exist since 1830 but it took until 1921 before the first wrist watches with this complication was available.

Raymond Weil is one of those watch brands that somehow does not get that much attention on the internet. While their availability in AD’s (at least in Western Europe) is much better that brands like Rolex, Jaeger LeCoultre or Omega that do get much online attention.

Raymond Weil Don Giovanni Cosi Grande Jumping Hour

Well, for the internet community they don’t make it any easier, as their most prestigious collection has a name that takes ages to type… the Don Giovanni Cosi Grande collection. What’s in a name. The new jumping hour is a nice addition to this strictly mechanical collection, that also has a chronograph and dual time model.

I think the Don Giovanni Cosi Grande Jumping Hour is a very attractive watch, with the same big, but not too big, case as the entire Don Giovanni Cosi Grande collection. You can say it’s ‘present’ but it sure isn’t overdone at all like most brands these days. The case measuring almost 38mm without crown, 50mm from lug to lug and 12.4mm thick is available in stainless steel or rose gold.

The movement, caliber RW1400, ticks with 28,800 vibrations per hour and can be seen through the sapphire crystal in the caseback. The automatic movement has 42 hours of power reserve. While the hour hand has been replaced by a jumping hour mechanism, the minutes and seconds are being displayed by a regular hand that rotates 360 degrees.

Jumping hours is a complication where the hour hand is replaced by a disc. The hours, and sometimes the minutes, are shown through an aperture. One of the remarkable things is that the hour disc does not slowly turn, like the hour hand, but the disc jumps at the change of hours. By the way everything except telling time by means of hour and minute hands is called a complication, even the date.

In the 1970’s wristwatches with jumping hours became popular to a wider public. This was partially due to the availability of affordable jumping hour movements. I think it was also because of the futuristic looks that of the time’s fashion.

Sarpaneva Korona JGB - Piece Unique

Using a popular jumping hours movement from that time (caliber AS 1902), Sarpaneva created this very cool piece unique. While it’s a piece unique Sarpaneva made a reference to this 4th Korona by reversing the “4″ in the hour disc. The hour and minute disc are skeletal like the date disc on the Korona K1 and K2.

The invention however dates back to around 1830. French watchmaker Blondeau created the first jumping hour watch for the French King. This piece unique was however not a wristwatch but a pocket watch. The first mass produced jump hour watch was designed by Joseph Pallweber for the Cortebert company (again, a French firm) in the 1880’s.

First wrist watch with jumping hours - Audemars Piguet 1921

In another article i mentioned Cartier as the first to come with a wrist watch (1928) featuring a jumping hour, but i must stand corrected. It appears that Audemars Piguet already released a wristwatch with jumping hours in 1921.

Every year there are two main watch fairs where most brands shos their watches to their customers and the worldpress. One of those fairs is in Basel and all brands united in the Swatch Group and a lot of other (independent) brands expose their new products. The Salon International de Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) is the equivalent where the brands of the Richemont Group show their new products. The SIHH is very early this year so rumors already go around on the watch forums Read the rest of this entry »