Patek Philippe Calatrava Officier. En période de crise ou de difficultés, on a souvent besoin de pureté, de faire retour à l’essentiel. Cet élan vers la spiritualité est classique dans nos sociétés occidentales, jugées souvent trop matérialistes. Ainsi, le minimalisme a plus que jamais ses supporters et fait figure de valeur sûre. En horlogerie, il a ses adeptes et ses interprètes. Son langage réduit la montre à l’essentiel, à ce qui en fait l’âme : mesurer le temps (heures, minutes, secondes) avec le minimum de moyens. Ce qui est loin d’être évident. Faire simple demande un sens esthétique et une technique très affirmés. La plastique doit être irréprochable et la mécanique à toutes épreuves. Ce qui suppose un talent peu répandu, surtout si cette réduction à l’essentiel s’accompagne d’un soin particulier apporté à chaque détail qui doit sonner juste, et d’une diminution de la taille et de l’épaisseur des mécanismes. La pureté plastique, l’harmonie dépouillée des formes se combinent souvent à des performances horlogères procurant une efficacité accrue grâce à des dispositifs toujours plus économes en volumes. Si bien qu’ici, encore, le classicisme élégant, dans la forte acception du terme, est l’apanage des plus grandes signatures horlogères. Breguet : le maître du classique. Le grand horloger est passé maître dans l’art de décliner des formes immuables en apportant chaque fois un perfectionnement supplémentaire qui donne encore plus de force aux codes traditionnels de la maison : chiffres romains, guillochage à la main, aiguilles Breguet en acier bleui à pomme évidée. Témoin cette Classique dotée d’un mouvement mécanique à remontage automatique. Chopard extraplate. In times of crisis we often turn to purity and fundamentals, a classic yearning for spirituality in our Western societies so often judged too materialistic. Consequently minimalism is more popular than ever and seen as a blue-chip value. In watchmaking this has its adepts and interpreters. Its language reduces the watch to fundamentals, what constitutes it soul : measuring time using a minimum of means. Which is far from obvious : making things simple requires a feel for aesthetics and considerable technical knowhow. The design must be irreproachable, the mechanics faultless, which supposes an unusual level of talent, particularly when this focus on the essential is accompanied by particular concern for making every detail perfect and reducing the size and volume of mechanisms. Aesthetic purity and pared harmony of formare often combined with horological performances that increase efficiency through devices made smaller and smaller. So here too, classical elegance as we understand it is the prerogative of the greatest names in timewear. Breguet : master of classics. This great watchmaker is a past master in the art of varying standard shapes by each time adding some supplementary perfection that gives even more force to the brand's traditional codes : Roman numerals, hand guilloché work, Breguet hands in blued steel with skeleton tips. This can be seen in the Classique driven by a self-winding mechanical movement. Hermès : Cape Cod turns tonneau. The first Cape Cod produced in 1991 was rectangular but now it has rounded out and adopted the double-turn strap that's become a Hermès signature. Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle. Patek Philippe : Calatrava Officier. This traditional model whose origins reach back to the First World War is out in a new version, subtly yet sophisticatedly refined as to case design, finishings and crafting of the dial and self-winding mechanical movement. Bulgari : the 125th-birthday watch. In tribute to the brand's founder, Sotirio Bulgari, the Italian jeweller and watchmaker proposes three versions of a special edition : 125 watches each in pink, yellow and white gold, driven by an automatic movement. They are immensely refined in both technical conception and the architecture of their studiedly harmonious forms. Lange & Söhne : Richard Lange Pour le Mérite. The great Saxon watchmaker is a master of classicism. This Richard Lange watch shines out through the simplicity of its forms and composition yet it has a chain-fusée drive that improves the movement's functioning and accuracy. Chopard :L.U.C. XPS. This extra-flat watch launched in 2006 has now been given a sapphire-crystal back and a small seconds at 6 o'clock. Vacheron Constantin : 38mm Patrimony Traditionnelle. This year the Geneva manufacture's great classic is offered in a new 38mm version that will enthral purists. Its styling devoid of all superfluities goes right to the quintessence of pure, perfect form, meticulously honed by the manufacture's master watchmakers. What's more this case houses the brand new hand-wound 4400 calibre, which like many of the brand's products bears the Geneva Seal. Jaquet Droz : Origine Email. This superb limited series illustrates the manufacture's horological talent through its self-winding mechanical movement (68-hour power reserve) but also a peerless design that reveals the full splendour of a high-fire enamel dial (in black or white), the brand's great speciality. WATCHES SPECIAL MONTRES 83