SIHH 2017 Unique Watches

SIHH or Salon Internationale de la Haute Horlogerie. A fair that was started in 1991 by Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Piaget, Gerald Genta, and Daniel Roth. Held in January each year after the holidays it is the second largest fair held mostly for retailers and journalists. Held in Geneva it is almost impossible to get into the SIHH if you do not belong professionally in the industry.

It is followed by Baselworld which was the first watch show in Switzerland. The first fair was held in 1917 but it wasn’t until 1986 that non-Swiss exhibitors could join the fair. Held in March every year Baselworld is open to the public and only costs you an entry ticket.
This year SIHH opened its doors for the first time to the general public on Friday 20 January. This open house marks a new stage in the history of the show.

SIHH 2017: THE NUMBERS

45,000 square meters of exhibition

17 Historic houses

13 independent craftspeople

1200 accredited journalists

EXHIBITING THE WATCHES TO LOOK OUT FOR @ THE SIHH 2017

1. MB&F HM7 Aquapod Tourbillon Diving-Style Watch

No it’s not an Alien space ship, it’s not Saturn, it’s a watch. MB&F debuts the Horological Machine No. 7 (HM7) Aquapod. With this very futuristic circa $100,000 flying tourbillon-equipped timepieces on your wrist, you are bound to be high on style.
MB& F’s long-time design partner Eric Giroud has designed the HM7 Aquapod collection.
The Aquaopod is being produced as a limited edition in two versions, one in titanium and one in 18k red gold. The case is 53.8mm wide and 21.3mm thick produced from a whopping 95 parts.

Downside: it is that it only has 50 meters of water resistance.

2. Richard Mille RM 50-03 McLaren F1 Record-Setting Lightweight Watch

Lightweight is the key word here. The watch weighs only 40 grams including the strap making it the lightest split-second chronograph with a tourbillon and the movement weighs a scant 7 grams

A case that marries titanium, carbon TPT (thin-ply technology), and a Richard Mille exclusive and apparent watchmaking first: Graph TPT, better known as graphene, that is six times lighter than steel and 200 times as strong.
Richard Mille collectors looking to chase one of these bad boys down must do so at RM boutiques, where only 75 pieces will be available in total. Owners will also get a 1:5 scale model of the 2017 McLaren-Honda car driven by two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso, which is a neat little bow on a package that costs 980,000 CHF before VAT.

3. Ulysse Nardin InnoVision 2 Concept Watch

Ulysse Nardin promises a list of 10 innovations in the InnoVision 2.
The InnoVision 2 being a concept watch, it is difficult to determine how well the actual movement works, or how much of an improvement in performance much of this new tech has over more traditional movements.

Ulysse Nardin declined to share things like specific technical specifications for the InnoVision 2 such as case size and materials. In a sense, those things are mostly irrelevant given that the focus is on the internals.

4. Urwerk UR-T8 Watch

Continuing in the freaky innovative watches we bring you the Urwerk UR-T8 Watch. Urwerk is releasing their Urwerk UR-T8 watch to mark the 20th anniversary of the brand.
The watch has a reversible bracelet which allows the titanium caseback to be face up while hiding/protecting the dial underneath.

The wearer can change the look to look as if there is a mysterious looking bracelet on the wrist and by flipping it over tell time by only squeezing the two buttons on the side of the case, lifting it vertically, rotating the case 180° around its axis, and returning it back to its initial flat position.

The Urwerk UR-T8 watch will be available in natural titanium or black PVD-coated case options and limited to an initial run of 60 pieces. Price for the Urwerk UR-T8 is CHF 100,000.

5. Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic Universal Time Tourbillon Watch

Bold and expensive this “top-of-the-line” Geophysic watch built on the modern retro-inspired collection of watches.

Geophysic Universal Time Tourbillon combines a world-time complication with an “orbital” flying tourbillon – in a rather visually stunning manner.
The flying tourbillon seems to come right out of the dial, which is enhanced by the fact that most of the dial is domed.

It has in-house-made automatic movement with the “true second” ticking seconds hand and the world-time indicator cased in a 43.5mm wide solid platinum case.

The movement has 48 hours of power reserve and is produced from 375 parts and the 22k pink gold automatic rotor is visible through rear of the case’s sapphire crystal exhibition window.

The limited edition of 100 pieces reference Q8126420 Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic Universal Time Tourbillon in platinum is priced at around $145,000.

6. HYT Skull Pocket Watch

If wicked is your middle name you will be dying to own this one.
Imagine being a villain, this watch pulled out of your pocket to commence the countdown to doom is going to make the hero forget saving the world and he is definitely going to be intrigued by this sinister looking time piece.

With a 65-hour power reserve this retrograde movement uses a bellows-like mechanism to push a green fluid through a capillary around the skull indicating the time by the corresponding luminous numbers in the outer bezel.

Like other HYT Skull watches, the slow-moving fluid indicates only the hours on the HYT Skull Pocket – not that useful for counting down to plans of apocalyptic destruction after all.

The HYT Skull Pocket will be made in an extremely limited run of only eight pieces, and you’ll need more than just a great costume and dreams of world domination – you’ll also need the bankroll of a super-villain to be able to add one to your collection, at a price of $115,000.

7. Roger Dubuis Excalibur Carbon Spider Watch

The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Carbon Spider watch adds the first ever carbon movement plate, bridges, and tourbillon upper cage to be made entirely in carbon.
A cool black and red technically minimalistic watch has a 45mm case with the dial has a “honeycomb” pattern, made of titanium and vulcanized rubber, with the bezel featuring red lacquer.

The movement is the hand-wound caliber RD509SQ. Continuing the carbon theme, the movement features a multi-layer carbon plate, bridges, and tourbillon upper cage that matches the honeycomb decor above.

The strap is black rubber, which has a red Rubber-Tech fabric-like inlay and red stitching throughout. The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Carbon Spider is limited to 28 pieces and is priced at 180,000 CHF.

8. Romain Jerome Eyjafjallajökull-DNA Burnt Lava

A timepiece the unpronounceable name: the Eyjafjallajökull-DNA, pays tribute to the temperamental Icelandic volcano.

Introduced in a 99-piece limited edition, it comes in a 46 mm black PVD-coated stainless steel case with a stabilized rusted steel bezel.

The dial comprises genuine lava rock from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano as well as red and yellow cold enamel. Along with its strap made of toad skin, it retails for $26,500.

9. Ludovic Ballouard’s “Upside Down Watch.”

The watch not overly complex, but it is technically complicated

The hour indicator is placed on a small disc that is capable of rotating. The hours are placed in an upside-down position. The “active” hour, which corresponds to the right time, is flipped around to be right side up. The discs turn very quickly when it is their “turn.” There is a single blued steel hand on the main dial for the minutes, as well as a small subsidiary seconds dial. Simple yet unique.

The first watches are part of a limited edition set of just 12 pieces. Ballouard will make more watches after this set (that has already been sold).

Each watch will be in solid platinum (that includes the strap buckle and crown) in a 41mm wide case. Price for them will be around 40,000 Swiss Francs – which is more or less the same in US dollars.

And now serving the dessert. If you do not have a sweet tooth may I odder you some Swiss Cheese.

Presenting the $1 Million Watch Made Of Genuine Swiss Cheese. Don’t drop out of your chair yet.

10. Cheesy Swiss Mad Watch

The youthful CEO of H. Moser & Cie Edouard Meylan, releases something that has managed to capture large amounts of attention.

The first Swiss watch housed in a case made of hardened Swiss cheese, a strap made of cowhide and a red dial reminiscent of the Swiss flag.

A Vacherin Mont d’Or médaille d’or cheese comprises the base for the case, which has been mixed with a composite itr2 material made with carbon nanotubes (the same used in the Pebble 2 Smartwatch, by the way) before being machined and polished.

And, no, it doesn’t smell.

The price of the unique-piece watch is an equally symbolic 1,081,291 Swiss francs, which references the date of the signing of the Swiss Federal Charter on August 1, 1291.

The watch is made mainly to draw attention to the law regarding the use of the words “Swiss made” and in a way to support Meylan’s personal campaign drawing attention to the fact that many of the world’s best Swiss (and German!) brands do not have “Swiss made” on their dials.

He has decided to remove ‘Swiss Made’ from their dials for all of their new collections. Meylan’s hashtag #MakeSwissMadeGreatAgain along with his video staged in a Swiss barn simultaneously draws attention to the fact that his watches are more Swiss than most.

Picture courtesy: http://www.ablogtowatch.com