ON the premise that the only things certain in life are death and taxes, it should come as no surprise that horology deals not only with the latter, but also with the former. Timekeeping, after all, counts moments that have already passed as much as it does those still left. This does not necessarily equate to morbid thoughts though, as a couple of recently announced watches — from L.U. Chopard and Bell & Ross — show.

Chopard Perpetual T Spirit of La Santa Muerte
Unabashedly clear on this theme is Chopard, which honors the folk saint of the dead in a one-off timepiece, unveiled at Mexico City’s SIAR watch show, called Perpetual T Spirit of La Santa Muerte. The watch incorporates the visual elements associated with Mexico’s Santa Muerte (Saint Death) and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) — all hand-engraved and applied, at that.

As such, what this piece wears on its dial are Aztec patterns. Dominating over these is a cutout of a skull figure; its eyes are actually the pair of subdials for the perpetual calendar displays (the left one reads out the day of the week and 24-hour scale, the right houses the month and leap year indicators), its nose is an inverted heart-shaped aperture through which a small portion of the movement beneath peeks, its “moustache” the tourbillon bridge. Surrounding the “eyes” are depictions of the sun. Between these is an oversized date window. A floral motif on the “forehead” incorporates the L.U. Chopard marking. Painted at the bottom is a toothy grin.

The Perpetual T’s 43-millimeter, 18-karat gold case is lavished — lavished — with ornate, deep engravings. Every surface, save for the top and back of the lugs, are filled with floral and botanical patterns, as well as guitars. The décor is every bit as lush as the kitsch adorning paeans to the departed.

The watch’s movement is equally complex both mechanically and aesthetically — its back may be almost all bridges, but it is richly finished, earning it a Geneva Seal. The in-house, handwound cal. L.U.C 02.15-L is fitted with the maison’s Quattro four-barrel system, allowing it a generous power reserve of 216 hours. That’s nine days, and there’s an indicator on top of one of the bridges, visible through the sapphire crystal caseback, that says how much the movement is wound.

This comes on top the cal. L.U.C 02.15-L’s tourbillon and perpetual calendar functions. Plus, it’s a COSC chronometer.

Bell & Ross BR 01 Laughing Skull
There have been four skull-theme Bell & Ross watches in the past, starting with the BR 01 Skull of 2009, which was followed by the BR 01 Tourbillon Skull of 2011, BR 01 Skull Bronze of 2015, and BR 01 Burning Skull of 2016. Each one offered something unique. While the 2009 piece debuted the imagery on the beefy BR 01 case (this was around the peak of the big-watch craze), the second one fused haute horlogerie with pop iconography, the third proposed patina personalization, and the fourth introduced skin art-inspired aesthetics to the line.

Now, there’s a fifth model — the BR 01 Laughing Skull. Its USP? Well, its name provides a clue. The lower jaw of the skull bas relief actually moves up and down when the movement is wound, making the skull appear as if it’s laughing.

This is no mere gimmicky stunt. Bell & Ross actually created a new movement for this; the hand-winding, in-house BR-CAL.206 that takes the form of a skull itself. This guarantees the movement fits exactly within the skull-shaped cavity that’s punched through the square 46-millimeter, brushed-steel case. The movement’s mounting points are equally clever; the four “beams” created by the crossbones on top of the case are visually carried over by four bridges within the skull cavity, which support the movement. And because the 21-jewel, 50-hour power reserve BR-CAL.206 is, aptly, skeletonized, the effect is it seems to float in space.

Considering the wrist real estate the BR 01 Laughing Skull commands (not to mention the equally massive skull image on it), the watch’s case is actually nuanced. Its micro-blasted steel surfaces have a matte silver-color finish, tempering the Clous de Paris guilloche pattern that surrounds the skull-and-crossbones cutout. The placement of the balance wheel on the skull’s forehead is a nice touch, too. Curiously though, while the BR 01’s signature screws on each of the watch’s corner have their indentations perfectly lined up diagonally on the watch’s dial side (Audemars Piguet always sees to it the indentation of each screw on the bezel of the Royal Oak is parallel to the edge of the dial) those on the back are not.

This, though, does not take anything away from the skull being a symbol of courage, if not an honorable death — this explains its appearance on military uniforms or equipment, for instance. Obviously, it also serves as a constant reminder of death. Which, in an ironic twist, should lead one to embrace life.