Geneva Watch Days 22' - The Recap
ack from our trip to Geneva Watch Days, it was a pleasure to meet old friends, make new ones, and see dozens and dozens of amazing creations from independent watchmakers and brands.
In its third installment, Geneva Watch Days has a very different vibe than Watches & Wonders or BaselWorld in the past. Unlike those shows, specifically intended for industry professionals, Geneva Watch Days is more open to the general public and everyday collectors, spread through the city rather than in a single expo hall, and it’s much more casual – it was rare to see anyone in suits. While many of the brands occupied beautiful, terraced hotel suites at the Beau-Rivage Hotel overlooking Lake Geneva, attendees mingled freely across hotel cafes, lobbies, on the sidewalks, and in the Pavilion event space next door. After years of relative social isolation, few take these gatherings for granted – no one bemoans the long days and whirlwind of meetings, meals, and events.
We were fortunate to be there and film some great interviews and cover some amazing new releases from Urwerk, AkriviA, MB&F, De Bethune, and Czapek.. If you haven’t already, definitely check out our conversations with Max Büsser about the state of the market as well as our chat with Rexhep Rexhepi on the evolution of the Chronometre Contemporain II.
By no means an exhaustive list, we wanted to cast light on a few of the latest releases from Geneva Watch Days. These are some of our favorites from last week:
Urwerk UR-100 Ultraviolet
Alongside the conversations mentioned above, we also recorded an insightful conversation with Martin Frei, co-founder of Urwerk alongside Felix Baumgartner, on the latest release of the UR-100 Ultraviolet. Though we’ve handled many UR-100’s in the past, the concept and its execution of this model is exceptional. With this release, Martin and Felix wanted to create a timepiece that sat at the limit of perceptibility, beyond the visible red to violet color spectrum. Mission accomplished, this timepiece is very difficult to capture on camera and more challenging to put into words. The purple hue jumps back and forth between matte and glossy, sometimes appearing very dark, sometimes very light. Nearly every photographer at Geneva Watch Days mentioned the challenge of representing the UR-100 Ultraviolet. Alongside the brand’s many other, spectacular UR-100 releases, this one sticks out visually as one of the creative duo’s more wild experiments.
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MB&F Legacy Machine Split Escapement EVO
Released (very quietly) earlier this year in a limited 10 piece run to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UAE, this is the Split Escapement EVO’s first global release in icy-cool light blue dial plate and gray subdials. What makes this timepiece exceptional is that it’s the first LM Split Escapement with an EVO case. First coming to life in 2020 in the form of the LM Perpetual EVO and more recently showcased on the LM Sequential EVO, the case features 80m water resistance, a screw-down crown, an integrated rubber strap, Super-LumiNova on the display and bezel-free design. In this specific release, we meet the brand’s first “FlexRing” shock-absorbing system that suspends the movement and dampens common vertical and horizontal shocks that occurs from everyday wear-and-tear as well as more adventurous lifestyles. Fortunately, this timepiece isn’t limited to 25 or 30, meaning this beautiful release should land on the wrist of many happy collectors in the coming years.
De Bethune DB25 Perpetual Calendar
Miniaturized to a 40mm case, the DB25 Perpetual Calendar has moved with the grain of collector demands for smaller timepieces. In a titanium case with a beautiful silver and blue two-toned, guilloche dial, this release is an absolute stunner. Light on the wrist, there are few perpetual calendars that fit as cool and look this cool on any level of the fine watchmaking industry. With open-worked lugs, state of the art balance in Calibre DB2324V2, as well as perfectly blued moonphase, this is a characteristically De Bethune timepiece through and through. Limited to production, De Bethune aims to produce 15 DB25 Perpetual Calendar timepieces per year.
It’s only been a few days and we’re already looking forward to Geneva Watch Days 2023. If you’re a collector or enthusiast, we highly encourage you to make the trip next year. It’s an excellent opportunity to meet the watchmakers, brands, and fellow collectors and see a whirlwind of amazing watches