GQ India – August 2019

(^15) CARL F. BUCHERER
Heritage BiCompax Annual
Carl F. Bucherer joins the
growing list of brands that dug
deep into their vaults for vintage
designs this year, and it came
out with the Heritage BiCompax
Annual: A watch first created
in 1956 that’s been reproduced
in exact detail, except blown
up from 34mm to 41mm,
and endowed with an annual
calendar function. It looks
particularly good in a two-tone
steel and rose gold finish with
rectangular chrono pushers
and satin-brushed case bands.
If this is what retro revival looks
like in 2019, sign us up for more.
(^16) IWC
Pilot’s Watch Timezoner
Spitfire Edition “The Longest
Flight”
Returning to doing what it does
best – creating top-brass pilot
watches – IWC has created
seven new watches inspired by
the legendary Spitfire. This one,
dedicated to IWC’s “The Longest
Flight” project (in which an
actual Spitfire circumnavigated
the globe), features a dial,
case and textile wristband that
take cues from the cockpit
of the Royal Air Force’s most
storied war plane. It also comes
equipped with a patented
“TimeZoner” mechanism,
which prevents the accidental
resetting of the time zone.
Bottom line: You can never be
as cool as an RAF pilot, but in
owning a watch like this, you
might come close.
(^13) ROLEX
Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph
Daytona
For those who find a Day-Date
too plebeian, this bejewelled
wonder might keep your
attention. It has 36 trapeze-
cut diamonds in place of the
usual tachymetric bezel, and
if that wasn’t enough to set off
the alarm bells at the Income
Tax department, there’s also a
dial with champagne-coloured
shimmers paved with diamonds.
Easily the most “out there”
watch of the season, whose
movement is as immune to
magnetic interference as the full
thing is to depreciation.
(^14) JAEGER-LeCOULTRE
Master Grande Tradition
Gyrotourbillon Westminster
Perpétual
Every year gives us an
unattainable grail watch that’s
baffling in its beauty and
complexity, more impractical than
Zeppelin and more compelling
to look at than Ursula Andress
emerging from the ocean. This
is that watch for 2019. The
Westminster in its name refers
to its minute repeater, which
recreates the sounds and chimes
of Big Ben and its four gongs.
Limited to only 18 pieces, it also
gets a silver grain or blue enamel
finish, the latter working perfectly
with the blue alligator strap. This
is one watch you wouldn’t want to
miss, but almost certainly will.
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