SIHH Update: Day 2 From Carol Beslor

At a Montblanc dinner last night I was seated across from super model Eva Herzigova, the brand’s new ambassador. She was modelling the brand’s diamond jewelry, and I asked her if I could take her picture. She posed for a few minutes and I took pictures, but then asked, suddenly, who I was taking her picture for. (It was a press dinner, and I was taking the picture for this blog.) So she said I couldn’t take any more pictures and insisted I delete the ones I had taken. It was a bit awkward, and I couldn’t help remembering the time Cindy Crawford showed up in Basel for Omega and the flash bulbs never stopped – at least a thousand journalists snapped her picture as she was walking down the aisles. Otherwise, Eva was very nice and it was a pleasant dinner.

Montblanc introduced a full new collection for ladies earlier in the day, the Grace Kelly Collection. The back of the 34mm case is engraved with the princess’s regal monogram. The collection is in steel, so very accessible, but with diamond options and a haute joaillerie version, including a Petales de Rose Motif model with over 6 carats of diamonds.

Greubel Forsey’s new GMT/Tourbillon is one of the most striking watches created by one of the world’s most creative watchmakers. It features a globe that rotates just as the earth rotates, balancing the tourbillon cage and off-center dial. The watch is a double tourbillon, with the inner one inclined at a 30 degree angle, rotating once a minute and the outer tourbillon rotating once every four minutes. Stephen Forsey was on hand to demonstrate the watch, which is very brave, considering that only a few weeks ago he broke two vertebrae in his back while sledding.

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s latest masterpiece is the Duometre a Spherotroubillon, an extremely complex watch. It is driven by two mainspring barrels and two separate going trains. It has a stop-seconds device which, in addition to returning the seconds hand to zero, according to the flyback principle, makes the watch adjustable to the nearest second, an extremely rare function.  This watch is appropriately described by one of my colleagues as “diabolically complicated.”