FOR Ballon Bleu de Cartier Jirô TaniguchiBorn in 1947 in Tottori, Japan. Now lives and works in in Tokyo.

“Limitless possibilities,” is the phrase that comes to mind to describe the genius involved in the creation of the Opus Program set forth the by a genius in his own right named HARRY WINSTON. THE OPUS COLLECTION2001Opus 1: Francois-Paul Journe2002Opus 2: Antoine Preziuso2003Opus 3: Vianney Halter2004Opus 4: Christopher Claret2005Opus 5: Felix Baumgartner 2006Opus 6: Robert Greubel & Stephen Forsey2007 Opus 7: Andreas Strehler It is this kind of intellect that allows growth and pure exploration in the world of haute horology. The process in the Opus program is simple; though it can be said that Harry Winston can clearly create timepieces that will be envied by most, what he had done is clearly a breakthrough in itself, it is as though the captain of the ship relinquished the controls and handed it to someone else to manipulate and decipher the route to be taken.

When one conjures up Russian creations, we tend to bring up familiar names like Igor Sikorsky (Sikorsky helicopters), Mikhail Koshkin (chief designer of T-34 Russian tanks) and Alexei Tupolev (designer of the Tupolev Tu-144 and the Boran space shuttle). With watch enthusiasts, Poljot is a brand that comes to mind as the company was the earliest watchmaking company formed in the Soviet federation.Poljot Moscow Nights ChronographThe Russian watch industry during the Czar Russia was focused on the assembly of imported movements mainly from Germany and Switzerland, but the supply of watch parts ran short therefore the USSR government decided on developing its own watch industry to satisfy the needs of the red army and the precision timing required by its railways. Machineries were purchased from the ailing Dueber- Hampden watch company based in Ohio, USA. Further technical training was done by the competent staff of Dueber- T Hampden and by German watchmakers.

References to the super Irish rock band aside, the first thing you notice about your average U-Boat watch is its diminutive size…all 50mm of it on the average model! Yes, your typical U-Boat timepiece is not for the weak of disposition: conservative types need not apply. Indeed, the alpha male types of Hollywood royalty grace several pages of the manufactures’ equally oversized brochures and press kits. In case you haven’t figured it out, U-Boat watches, just like their original submarine namesake, are bold, aggressive and oversized. One model, the FLIGHTDECK ECLIPSE, is so masculine, it actually resembles a vintage German WWII hand grenade; definitely not for the faint hearted or, for that matter, the limp wristed (no pun intended).

Why care about about D&B’s “flying case”? You will--when you discover it is a truly revolutionary case design and contains one of the rarest movements in the watch market these days. Quite passé and trite to declare, but once in a while, a real gem in the cluttered and confusing world of wristwatches comes along and inspires a genuine flight of fancy.

Where did it all begin?Early Cross writing instruments. The modern fountain pen can trace its roots to the lowly quill made from a goose’s tail feather (at least in Western history). But for the sake of saving a few pages, let’s leap forward to the fountain pen as we know it today with a nib, a feed and an ink reservoir. Starting in the 1850s there was a steadily accelerating stream of fountain pen patents and pens in production. In the 1870s Duncan MacKinnon, a Canadian living in New York City, and Alonzo T.

This particular timepiece generates mixed emotions not just to its owner but also to many that happen to have the opportunity to study it up close. It’s a beautiful albeit very simply designed instrument.  Its craftsmanship and outright appearance are not what stimulates the undefined ratings of the watch. The primary source of the conundrum is the relatively new association with the mighty Ferrari brand. Certainly we regard the partnership to be more appropriate as both brands are Italian, but since 1992 until the seemingly abrupt cessation in 2003, Ferrari was synonymous with Girard-Perregaux which is considered by many horological critics, myself included, as the more superior house that can trace its roots back to 1791 as well as boast the fact that they manufacture a vast majority of their own movements and individual components as well. So with Girard- Perregaux there was a sense of powerful pedigree and master craftsmanship which includes Tourbillion complications.

As they did at the 2007 Baselworld show, Hysek has once again managed to come up with a piece that was a certified hit at the 2008 annual gathering.  In fact, long after the lights went out and the doors to Baselworld ’08 were closed, visitors and the press were still raving about the manufacture’s centerpiece, the mind-boggling Colosso, a minute repeater GMT that again displays the technical competence of Hysek SA when it comes to creating extremely complicated mechanisms. Though a great deal of time was consumed on the watch case’s finishing and detailing, it is the mechanical complication that is amazing; that and the three dimensional 12mm replica of the Earth that seems suspended from the 12 o’clock position. This is no static representation of the planet, as it rotates on a 24-hour period and can be set to do so either at the local time or Greenwich Mean Time.

Looking backwards sometimes is looking forwards. Girard-Perregaux has been making watches for a long time. And they haven’t forgotten how it all started, either. GP a company with a history, and this year, they are renovating the repository of that history, their museum. The Villa Marguerite holds tokens of the G-P company heritage, which stretches as far back as 1854, when, as they say, the first Girard married the first Perregaux. That was the birth of the brand name that is so familiar to horology fans, although it is interesting to note that the company can trace its roots even farther back, to 1791. La Chaux-de-Fonds is the traditional home of Girard-Perregaux, and in their time there they’ve come up with some memorable watches. And not all wristwatches, either; some say G-P can take credit for inventing the wristwatch, but their creations date back before that, to the pocket watches which were their awardwinning devices.

When TAG Heuer started constructing their booth for this year’s Baselworld expo, it was obvious that it was going to be the epitome of the Swiss watchmaker’s commitment to the fusion of design and technology, both hallmarks of timepieces bearing the famous green and red logo. The man tasked to create the new booth, which embodies the brand’s commitment to avantgarde design and aesthetics was Italian architect Ottavio di Blasi. Having been the mastermind behind the daring exhibition booth during the 1994 Baselworld, he was no longer surprised when it came to the demands of this particular client.STRUCTURALLY SOUND - The booth embodies the watch and viceversa. BOLD and ICONIC - We can’t wait to see what TAG Heuer will think of next.POETIC GEOMETRY - Lasers ensured that each triangle is identical to one another.For the 1994 expo, Ottavio di Blasi engineered an archshaped stand, erected with a carbon fiber structure, a world first back then.