Swiss Delicacies

Cartier & Chopard

The Tank Must Black is a legend. In 1918, Louis Cartier is said to have presented it to U.S. General John Pershing in gratitude for the liberation of France from the Germans. The rectangular shape, which was novel at the time, was inspired by the Americans’ armored cars and has proved popular with both men and women. The new model impresses with a black lacquered dial, a quartz movement, a stainless-steel case and a black alligator leather strap – and the typical Cartier winding crown inset with a blue spinel cabochon. 

With its electroplated dial in the color Nero Corsa, Chopard’s Mille Miglia radiates sophistication. Since 1988, the company has not only sponsored the famous Italian classic car race but has also been its official timekeeper. Inspired by the beauty of classic cars, the current Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph shows the date, hours and minutes, small seconds and has a 12-hour counter, a 30-minute counter and a chronograph stop function. Development of the new case, which is made of extremely robust and sustainable Lucent SteelTM, took four years. Chopard is one of the few remaining watch and jewelry businesses still under family ownership. Its German co-president, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, attends the rally every year. His sister, Caroline, runs the Chopard jewelry division.

Zenith

The development of the world’s first automatic, high-frequency chronograph caliber, the El Primero, by the craftsmen from Le Locle in 1969 marked a significant milestone for Swiss watchmaking. The first watch to be fitted with this movement was the Zenith A386. The new Chronomaster Original pays homage to the A386, but with significant enhancements that make it a modern classic in its own right. The updated El Primero retains the unique, modern stylings of its predecessor while offering 21st-century timekeeping from a movement accurate to a tenth of a second. The El Primero 3600 caliber beats at a frequency of five Hz, has a 1/10th of a second chronograph function and a power reserve of 60 hours.

Breitling

The new Super Chronomat was inspired by the original 1980s model, which was developed for the pilots of the Italian aerobatic team. For the first time, a Chronomat features ceramic inserts on the bezel, chronograph pushers and crown, giving it a bold, modern look. The Super Chronomat B01 44 is powered by Breitling caliber 01, an in-house chronograph movement certified by the Swiss control body COSC. Company founder Léon Breitling came to prominence as a technical innovator in 1884, and his designs earned him many patents. In 1939, the British Air Ministry placed a large order for aviation watches for pilots of the Royal Air Force. Other armed forces followed. Since then, the Swiss manufacture with the winged B logo has been inextricably linked with aviation.

Frank Muller

From the skies to the sea: The Vanguard Yachting Chronograph has garnered acclaim for its distinctive maritime-inspired design. With its eye-catching, navy blue dial and alligator leather strap, it is not just a design statement but a technical one. The Geneva-based watch manufacturer, founded in 1991, is one of the industry’s most successful newcomers. In the 1980s, Italo-Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller (born in 1958) began challenging conservative haute horlogerie with world-first technical innovations and ground-breaking designs. The curved tonneau shape of his cases and the striking arched numerals have become his trademark.

Omega

The first Speedmaster landed on the moon in 1969 with the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission. Since then, the watch has become one of the traditional Swiss company’s most famous products. The new Speedmaster 38 features a cool, clear ice-blue design. The heart of the timepiece is the coaxial escapement, hailed as a technical revolution in watchmaking when it was introduced in 1999. Less stress on the movement’s moving parts means less lubrication, greater precision and a more stable power reserve rate. In addition to the 3330 coaxial caliber and 52 hours power reserve, this model features a stainless-steel case. The inner part of the bezel shows a Tachymeter scale; the outer area is set with diamonds. An attractive extra – the seahorse medallion on the caseback.

IWC

The perpetual calendar is one of the most advanced and complex functions in watchmaking. In the early 1980s, head IWC watchmaker Kurt Klaus succeeded in translating the Gregorian calendar with its many irregularities into a mechanical program for a wristwatch. Now, for the first time, the complication has been integrated into a caliber family 82 manufacture movement. The Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 42 uses three subdials to display the date, month and day of the week. The moon phase display is so precise that it deviates from the actual orbit of the Earth’s satellite by just one day every 577.5 years.

Ebel

The small town of La Chaux-de-Fonds at the heart of the Swiss watch industry is also the birthplace of the world-famous architect Le Corbusier. The Ebel manufacture is now located in one of the buildings he designed, the Villa Schwob in the town center. Alice Lévy, who co-founded the company in 1911, was one of the first successful women in the world of Swiss watchmaking. In 1977, Ebel introduced its Sport Classic line for men and women, which marked the beginning of the sport chic category. The Sport Classic Lady, produced in a limited edition of 200, is the luxury version of this successful model. The case and the iconic wave link bracelet are two-tone. The bezel around the stainless-steel case is made of 18-karat yellow gold and set with 47 diamonds. The blue lapis lazuli dial is adorned with Roman numerals and eight diamonds – 0.358 carats. Inside the case, which is water-resistant to five bar, a Swiss quartz movement guarantees precision.

Jaeger-Lecoultre

At her coronation in 1953, the British Queen Elizabeth II wore a Jaeger-LeCoultre 101 on her wrist. In the past, noble ladies were the first to wear wristwatches, while men preferred long pocket watches with chains. Edmond Jaeger and Jacques-David LeCoultre recognized the potential of wristwatches, and in 1900 began developing extremely small calibers that were particularly suitable for ladies’ watches. The Rendez-Vous models have faithfully upheld the brand’s feminine-inspired tradition since 2012.

Blancpain

Seventy years ago, the world’s oldest watch brand, established in 1735, produced one of the first modern diving watches. They called it the Fifty Fathoms to celebrate its water pressure resistance of 50 nautical fathoms, which is equivalent to a depth of 91 meters. Popular marine explorer Jacques- Yves Cousteau was responsible for making it the company’s most famous product. The wide luminous indexes and hands, high water resistance rating, anti-magnetic movement and rotating bezel quickly established the model as a new standard for diving watches. This Fifty Fathoms Automatique 45 mm features an extremely light and robust bracelet made of titanium, the innovative aerospace material Blancpain introduced to haute horlogerie in the 1960s.