10 JEWELS & TIME 2019/
NEWS
GOLDEN
TOUCHES
THE BELLS ARE
RINGING
SUPER FREAK
A homage to the art of beading in jewellery
design, the Van Cleef & Arpels Perlée range
gets enriched this year with new gilded
creations: rings, pendants, earrings and for
the fi rst time, a transformable long necklace
and four watches. The necklace features a
pendant made up of three different-sized
rings of golden beads. The central ring can
be replaced by a ring of turquoise, coral or
onyx beads. The timepieces, on the other
hand, are secret watches shaped like an open
bangle with two different-sized motifs—
gem-set with different materials—opposite
one another.With its new Freak X, Ulysse Nardin provides a more accessible
entry into the weird and wonderful world of the Freak. It is
technically simplifi ed and stylistically normalised in comparison to
its groundbreaking cousins, and comes with a much smaller price
tag. While affordability is a major lure, the Freak X is far from a
cheap imitation. It retains the classic Freak characteristic of having
no dial and no hands, instead using the baguette-shaped central
bridge of the carousel as a minute hand and one of the wheels to
indicate hours instead. The mechanics have been simplifi ed for
better legibility, and the case has shrunk from 45mm to 43mm. The
main departure from previous Freak models is the inclusion of a
crown for time correction instead of the ingenious time-setting
bezel. The watch is available in titanium, 18K rose gold, black DLC
or aeronautical-grade Carbonium.The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande
Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster
Perpétuel is perhaps the Platonic ideal
of timekeeping available beneath the
million-dollar mark. Priced about
US$900,000 (plus tax), this new
ultra-complicated beauty boasts not only
a multi-axis spherical gyrotourbillon,
but also a four-hammer minute
repeater chiming the Westminster
carillon. But that’s not all. It also
contains a two-way perpetual
calendar, and a constant force
mechanism to maintain
accuracy regardless of its
power reserve. To keep
it suitable for daily
wear, Jaeger-LeCoultre
has equipped it with a
water resistance of 50m.