collection
Cape Cod’s Landmark Year
Lange’s Honey Trap There’s a reason that all A. Lange & Söhne datedisplaying timepieces are photographed with 25 in their date window. On 24 October 1994, Walter Lange held a press conference announcing the restoration of the company his great-grandfather had established in 1845. Knowing that daily newspapers would be reporting the announcement the following day, Lange set the date on his new flagship Lange 1 wristwatch to 25, and, alas, a tradition was born. To mark that watch’s 22nd birthday, the brand has unveiled a ‘Dresden’ edition of the Lange 1 Time Zone. Differentiating the special issue from its standard version are subtle colour changes; the dots between city names and GMT are blue instead of red, as is the previously black peripheral ring of the second time zone. Not so subtle is the replacing of ‘Berlin’ with ‘Dresden’ to represent Central European Time. The watch arrives in 18-karat ‘honey’ gold and has a diameter of 41.9mm. Only 100 will be produced. Lange 1 Time Zone Dresden Edition, £46,400, A. Lange & Söhne, alange-soehne.com
When Apple was looking for a way of elevating its first smartwatch from geeky gadget to executive accessory, it was telling that the tech giant chose to talk to fashion types through a collaboration with Hermès. Not for nothing is the (almost-entirely) family-owned French fashion house one of the most coveted luxury goods specialists on the planet. The Apple Watch Series 2 dropped in September, and with it the news that Hermès would continue making leather straps for a special edition of the timepiece, into which Apple would incorporate watch faces based on the Hermès Clipper, Espace and Cape Cod – the last of which is currently celebrating its 25th birthday. Launched in 1991, the Cape Cod was designed by Henri d’Origny, who had previously created the Hermès Arceau and Clipper, and took its inspiration from the chain of an anchor. In 1998, the Cape Cod appeared on the catwalk with a double wrap-around strap, thanks to the vision of women’s ready-to-wear art director, Martin Margiela. Several new iterations of the Cape Cod have been launched during 2016. A men’s model is now available with a cuff-style wristband, while dial options have expanded to include mother-of-pearl, white lacquer, onyx and lapis lazuli. New gem-set editions have also been added. uk.hermes.com
Red Handed Maurice Lacroix has made a limited-edition version of its Masterpiece Skeleton Chronograph for Harrods. The 45mm timepiece was unveiled at SalonQP and incorporates a new automatic chronograph movement, produced exclusively for Maurice Lacroix by calibre creators Concepto. The hour and minute hands are diamond-cut and lined with luminescent coating. The Harrods edition comes with a red seconds hand and a red 30-minute chronograph disk at 3 o’clock. Masterpiece Skeleton Chronograph Harrods Edition, £5,350, mauricelacroix.com
Par Excellence Your closest Glashütte Original boutique is now just a two-hour Eurostar journey away. October saw the German watchmaker open a new flagship store on Paris’s Rue de la Paix. Glashütte Original now operates 21 boutiques across the world, though, sadly, London still remains lacking. To mark the occasion, the brand bolstered its Senator Excellence line with the launch of the Panorama Date (steel £7,100, red gold £14,100) and the Panorama Date Moon Phase (steel £7,900, red gold £14,900). Both models are equipped with Glashütte’s Calibre 36, which provides a 100-hour power reserve from a single spring barrel. The impressive feat – typically power reserves of more than 48 hours require the use of more than one
s l u x u rylondon . co. u k s
spring barrel – was achieved through compacting the case in which the movement’s silicon balance spring sits. The Panorama Date mounts two concentric display discs on the same level, eradicating the need for a separation bar in its date window; once properly set, the Panorama Date Moon Phase will need correcting just one day in every 122 years. Glashütte Original was founded in 1994, following the privatisation of Germany’s Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (GUB), a collection of watch, clock and instrument companies that had been nationalised in 1951. Unlike Lange (above left) the brand says it presents watches with 25 in the date window purely for aesthetic reasons. glashuette-original.com
039