WIN Tickets to Salon Privé

WIN WITH SALON PRIVÉ LONDON

Salon Privé London is set to take place 21-23 April and promises to be one of the UK’s most exclusive motoring events. At its heart is the Concours de Vente - a unique concept in which the most respected specialist dealers from across the UK and continental Europe will display 60 of the finest collectors’ cars, all of which will be for sale. Salon Privé is renowned for its Pommery Champagne and a shopping experience to match the automotive spectacle, and the luxury brands on display cover everything from jewellery, highend fashion to helicopters and speedboats! The Salon Privé TIME emporium will also welcome some of the world’s most revered watchmaking brands, which will be displaying their latest designs. The festival will of course retain the luxury cars that you’d expect from Salon Privé, which is globally renowned for showcasing the world’s most respected automotive brands, such as Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche and Rolls-Royce. This really is the place to see and be seen.

We have teamed up with Salon Privé London to give you the chance to win one of 15 pairs of tickets worth £100.00 for the inaugural luxury event at Royal Hospital Chelsea.

Where is Salon Privé London 2022 to be held? A: Alexandra Palace B: Royal Hospital Chelsea C: London Excel

Send your answer to this simple question along with your name to ‘competitions@yourmedialondon.com’ or enter online at ‘yourmedia.london/salonprive’ by 15 April for your chance to win.

For further event information, please visit www.salonprivelondon.com

XBREITLING TRIUMPH

In the mid-1960s, auto racing was having a heyday, and a whole subculture had sprung up around “café racers”, stylish motorcycles, used to literally transport their riders from hip café to hip café.

Willy Breitling set out to capture the speed-driven style of the day with a completely new take on the timekeeper. The result? The Breitling Top Time, an unconventional chronograph designed for “young and active professionals.” It quickly became the watch of choice for a sporty in-crowd of men and women equally drawn to the watch’s bold proportions.

Today, that freewheeling 1960s café-racer spirit is back in a spectacular new Top Time collaboration between Breitling and British motorcycle brand Triumph. Now in its 120th year, Triumph combines historic craftsmanship with contemporary design to create its classic motorcycles.

For this debut collaboration, Breitling is producing a Top Time Triumph watch with a distinctive brushed finish in the bow-tie motif nicknamed “the Zorro dial” by Top Time collectors. Triumph, meanwhile, is launching 270 co-branded motorcycles - the Speed Twin Breitling Limited Edition - whose buyers will have the privileged opportunity to purchase a special owner’s version of the Top Time Triumph watch, this one with a sunray dial and engraved caseback featuring the individual number of the bike (owner’s version orders must be placed with Triumph by August 22, 2022).

The stars of both watches are their ice-blue dials. This unique colour has two major references: a blue Triumph Thunderbird 6T from 1951, and a rare, blue-dialed Breitling Top Time Ref. 815 from the 1970s.

Features include a subdued racing-themed calfskin leather strap that lets the hero dial shine. Breitling and Triumph logos that sit subtly at 12 and 6 o’clock combine with oversized mushroom pushers that allow for easy control of the chronograph’s stop-start and reset functions while a high contrast tachymeter scale provides clear legibility of speed readings. The watches are powered by the Breitling Caliber 23, a COSC-certified chronometer with a power reserve of approximately 48 hours.

Another feature collectors will love are the etched casebacks with a detailed design sketch of Triumph’s parallel twin engine.

With a 41mm diameter, the Top Time Triumph is, like the original, a fit for both sexes. For fans of the Triumph brand and prospective owners of the Speed Twin Breitling Limited Edition motorcycle, it’s an absolute must-have.

SPITFIRE SMITH AUTOMATIC

The Spitfire Smith Automatic is a beautifully engineered pilot’s watch designed to celebrate the innovative and inspirational work of Joseph Smith, who as Chief Designer at Supermarine ultimately guided the development of the Spitfire to becoming the majestic aircraft the world knows today.

The Smith Automatic’s frame is built from the iconic 42mm Spitfire inspired case, designed to reflect the renowned elliptical form of the aircraft. The brushed case features unique details along the side, mirroring the body of the Spitfire, and a domed sapphire lens tops the case providing a clear view into the dial.

An interpretation of the classic pilot’s watch, the Smith Automatic leans on the Spitfire’s cockpit instruments to present a clear and highly legible dial. A matte backdrop is completed with bold Arabic hour indexes lathered in Swiss lume for ultimate readability in low light conditions.

Under the hood, a modified NH35 Japanese automatic movement provides an ultra-dependable timekeeping experience. An expertly designed custom rotor has been crafted to represent the clear lines of the Spitfire when viewed from above, or below.

Strapping the watch to the wrist is a vintage, hand-stitched premium leather strap for ultimate style and comfort.

Each of the four colourways of the Smith Automatic are inspired by locations of manufacturing plants Spitfire’s and their components were produced in over the years: Woolston, Birmingham, Reading and Salisbury.

Bearing all of the hallmarks of a work of art - intriguing, accomplished, disruptive - Roger Dubuis has unveiled the Excalibur Monobalancier. Crafted from Mineral Composite Fibre (MCF) to enshrine this skeleton automatic monobalancier in a pure-white case, it embodies the House’s commitment to non-conformity, capturing the attention of all those dazzled by its clean whiteness. For those who choose to blaze their own trail, to show what happens when rules are reinvented and creativity is unleashed, it is a timepiece that proves the only limit for Hyper Horology is one’s own imagination.

Inspired by similar materials used in aerospace, MCF balances lightness with rigidity to enhance the 42mm timepiece into a new work of art, with a case, bezel and crown crafted from this pure-white, high-technology material. Representing the House’s technical mastery and its desire to push boundaries, MCF is engineered from 99.95% silica and made via a Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) process that enables freedom of play, new possibilities, and the creation of intricate designs thanks to its sturdy structure 2.5 times lighter than ceramic and 13 per cent lighter than SMC carbon. Constructed with peak wrist-wear comfort in mind while never forgetting the importance of standout aesthetics, Roger Dubuis specifically developed the material to remain stable and highly resistant to UV, artificial and natural light, while the addition of pigments deepens its whiteness. To maintain the all-white aesthetic, a white rubber strap is the perfect accompaniment to complete the look of this truly striking watch.

Capturing the two sides of the integrated Manufacture, the Excalibur Monobalancier infuses the tradition of horological craftsmanship with a daringly disruptive attitude. The skeleton automatic monobalancier is one of the proudest examples of this. With a transparent view of its self-winding movement held directly on the inimitable Roger Dubuis star, the RD820SQ calibre features a skeleton microrotor reduced to its strict essence at 11 o’clock. Specifically developed to be as efficient as a full-size rotor, its construction ensures the watch winds perfectly to guarantee 60 hours of power reserve. Creating a rotor in such a small size and within the signature skeleton is an accomplishment mastered by few. Sealed with the prestigious Poinçon de Genève, with every one of the components carefully finished by hand at the Manufacture in Geneva, this impressive feat of creative engineering is much like any masterpiece and consequently limited to just 88 pieces.

ORANGE CARBON

Hublot loves golf and golfing partner Dustin Johnson - with whom they launched the world’s first mechanical golf watch back in 2017, the Big Bang Unico Golf. Now, they introduce the Big Bang Unico Golf Orange Carbon, an entirely mechanical golf watch that can keep track of your score over the course of an 18hole round with a striking new look.

Most golf watches are digital, but this innovative Swiss Made watch brings the joy of watchmaking mechanics to golfers’ wrists.

A uniquely developed module for the Unico movement meant that through three apertures, the watch showed golfers which hole they were on, how many shots they had taken on that hole, and their cumulative score for the round. The Big Bang Unico Golf Orange Carbon continues this story, casing the ground-breaking Hublot MHUB1580 automatic movement in zesty, lightweight orange carbon.

The 45mm Big Bang Unico Golf Orange Carbon is simple to operate. The shot-counting mechanism is activated by a yellow putter-shaped pusher at 2 o’clock, which also advances the yellow stroke counter visible through an aperture at 3 o’clock. When it’s time to move to the next hole, another putter-shaped pusher at 4 o’clock resets the shot indication to zero and advances the hole indication at 9 o’clock by one hole. The cumulative score goes up by one with every recorded shot, and is shown through an aperture at 6 o’clock.

At the end of a round, the display can be reset to zero via the pusher at 8 o’clock. This pusher can be locked by rotating it 45 degrees to avoid accidentally resetting your score during a round. And because the watch is skeletonised, revealing the movement’s inner workings, every operation is visualised by an intriguing dance of precisely choreographed moving parts - just like a good golf swing.

The Big Bang Unico Golf Orange Carbon has a power reserve of 72 hours, comes on a high-tech orange fabric strap with Hublot’s One Click change system, weighs less than 100 grams, and is water-resistant to 100 metres. This stunning piece is limited to just 100 pieces and is available now.

AVENTURINE

Piaget’s expert craft presented in this stunning timepiece

At Piaget, a timepiece is first and foremost a piece of jewellery. From the case to the dial, the bracelet to the gem-setting, each Limelight Gala timepiece is brought to life thanks to the talents of house’s artisans who never stop innovating. The Limelight Gala Aventurine is a celebration of this creativity and savoir-faire.

The name of the collection evokes the famous Piaget Society and its fabulous parties where celebrities, artists, clients, and friends of the brand would gather to share joyful moments. Initiated in the 1970s, the Piaget Society came to life at a time when creative imagination was at its height. This is when Piaget created jewellery watches with extended lugs. Today, the Limelight Gala collection draws on a wealth of inspiration from this fascinating period and has firmly established itself as a feminine icon.

The Limelight Gala design is more than just a shape; its asymmetrical lugs, cambered case, and expert setting of diamonds are the signature style of the collection, which is made for free-spirited women whose radiance shines effortlessly. More than a timepiece, the Limelight Gala is a statement. More than jewellery, it is the beginning of a story, where each creation becomes one with its keeper and they shine as one.

Housed in a 32mm white gold case adorned with swirls of 62 diamonds set on two elongated lugs, the Limelight Gala Aventurine features a magical aventurine dial. A type of glass dating back to 17th century Venice and the famous glass-making quarter of Murano, aventurine includes the addition of copper oxide to glass, which mimics the stars in the galaxy. As a fitting tribute, the origins of the word aventurine, come from the Italian for “adventure”. The sparkle of aventurine and diamonds is paired with a sophisticated white gold Milanese mesh bracelet. Crafted with the same refinement and creative extravagance as an haute couture gown, this intricate bracelet takes over 100 hours of craftmanship by no less than eight of Piaget’s artisans. It all starts with one gold thread, which is then shaped in a spiral and weaved together to create a supple fabric of gold. Each bracelet is formed by 366 spirals and a sliding buckle, to provide comfort and an extraordinary flexibility.

The Limelight Gala Aventurine is not only beautiful on the outside, its refinement continues on the inside with a manufacture, self-winding Calibre 501P1.