Forbes - Bulgari, Audemars Piguet Big Winners At GPHG 2019, The Academy Awards Of Timepieces
Audemars Piguet CEO Francois Bennahmias accepts the Aiguille d'Or for the Royal Oak Selfwinding
Audemars Piguet
Audemars Piguet and Bulgari were the big winners at the 2019 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve (GPHG), held in Geneva on Thursday. The Grand Prize, called the Aiguille d'Or, went to Audemars Piguet for the Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin (6.3mm thick), which combines impressive micro-engineering with one of the world’s most iconic designs.
Speaking of iconic, Audemars Piguet also won the Iconic Watch Prize for the Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin, as well as the Men’s Complication Prize for the Code 11.59 Minute Repeater Supersonnerie, a manual-wound minute repeater.
Bulgari took the prize for best Chronograph with its Octo Finissimo Chrono GMT, the world’s thinnest chronograph, and also won the Jewelry watch category for the Serpenti Misteriosi Romani, a one-of-a-kind jewelry watch set with more than 60 carats of diamonds and 35 carats of sapphires. The cushion-cut sapphire on the serpent head alone is over 10 carats. Priced at just under $2-million, it is the most expensive watch ever made by Bulgari.
Winner of the Petite Aiguille prize (for watches with a retail price of under $8,000) was the Kudoke 2 by Stefan Kudoke, a German independent watchmaker. The focal point of the watch is a domed day/night disk, hand engraved and electroplated in three colors.
Other prize winners were:
Chanel won the Ladies Watch category for the J12 Caliber 12.1, a redesign of the iconic model first introduced in 1999.
MB&F won the Ladies Complication category for the Legacy Machine FlyingT, a flying tourbillon with high dome-shaped sapphire crystal.
Voutilainen won the Men’s Watch prize for the 28ti, a titanium watch with the movement, including its distinctive large balance wheel, visible on the dial.
Voutilainen also won the Artistic Crafts prize for his Starry Night Vine, with a Japanese lacquer and cloisonné enamel dial depicting a landscape.
Ferdinand Berthoud won the Chronometry prize for its Chronometre FB, a constant force tourbillon with a fusee-and-chain transmission, an ode to 18th-century chronometry.
Hermès won the Calendar and Astronomy category for the Arceau L’heure de la lune, a double moon phase indicator for both southern and northern hemispheres.
Genus won the Mechanical Exception prize for the GNS1.2, with an unusual double dial display that tells time in 10-minute increments.
Seiko took the diver’s watch prize for the Prospex LX, a nod to Seiko’s first diver’s watch, introduced in 1968. It is water resistant to 300 meters.
Tudor took the award for the Challenge watch prize for its Black Bay P01, based on a legendary 1960s prototype, with a crown at 4 o’clock. The Challenge prize is for watches priced at less than $4,000, the challenge being to make an exceptional watch at that price).
Vacheron Constantin won the Innovation prize for the Traditionnelle Twin Beat perpetual calendar, with a proprietary dual-frequency movement that enables a 65-day power reserve.
Urwerk took the Audacity prize for the AMC, which uses a combination of mechanical and atomic timekeeping systems.
The Horological Revelation prize was awarded to Ming for the 17.06 Copper, with a striking etched copper dial and hand coated in Super-LumiNova.
Source : Forbes