For decades Jaeger-LeCoultre has been known as the watchmakers' watchmaker. The reason behind this is that its movements, and they have made over 1200 different calibers to date, are so good that they also supplied them to some of the greatest names in the watchworld, such as Cartier, Audemars Piguet, and Van Cleef & Arpels. One field in which they excel in particular is that of grande complications. In this, Jaeger-LeCoultre likes to challenge itself, as they did this year with the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185.

As one of the most esteemed names in watchmaking has Vacheron Constantin the ability to create some of the most complicated mechanical watches in the world. Fortunately for us, that is also what they like to do. With the Les Cabinotiers Grand Complication Split-Seconds Chronograph “Tempo” they present us with a watch from which the list of complications reads as the menu, as there are so many. Next to a tourbillon and a minute repeater, does this Vacheron Constantin also feature a split-second chronograph, perpetual calendar, retrograde moon phase, second timezone, power reserve indicator, equation of time, as well as the sunrise and sunset times. It even tells the duration of the day and night.

Some watches you are lucky to see once in a lifetime if you have the opportunity to see them at all. At a recent visit of Haute Time to the Breguet manufacture in Switzerland, we had the unexpected delight to be eye to eye with one of the most important historical watches in the world; The Marie-Antoinette.

When 2019 has barely started, SIHH is scheduled to open its doors. From January 14th to 18th the exhibiting brands will delight us with the most mesmerizing new creations. Traditionally many of those brands also launch a few new watches before the show. While impressive, they usually keep the real fireworks until the fair itself. Given the very high level of the watches that they have already introduced, 2019 is bound to going to be an amazing year in watches!