Centre Travel

Link Lady Not all women's bracelet watches have to be delicate items that flirt with the line between horology and jewellery or simple steel day wearers.  They can be mean, moody and magnificent, like this version of the TAG Heuer Link Lady.          Launched last year, the Link Lady was a revamp of the brand's 1987 icon, which brought back the very distinctive S-shaped links from the original but reworked them into a woman's watch for the first time.           This black version is the first time TAG Heuer has made a Link watch entirely from ceramic and looks so good you wonder why it hasn't done it before.  The sand-blasted matte finish on the bracelet makes each link look like the tensed shoulder muscels of a jaguar about to pounce, while the diamonds add some brghtness to the unrelenting black.  It's a play between masculine and feminine that makes for a very desirable timepiece

Metro A few years ago, Tiffany signalled itsnow- autonomous watchmaking status with two very cool looking new lines - there was the 1920s inspired East /West, which has a case that was an elongated rectangle with numbers oriented across the wrist so the 12 o'clock was in line with your middle finger, and the more sporty CT 60 collection for men.          This year, t added to that with its first-ever range solely for women - the Metroo; a modern take on the sort of watch you can imagine tearned with a tennis bracelet and some shoulder pads.  Despite the slight 1980s aura, this is a testament to what happens when you rummage inthe archived.  The unusually curve-lined bracelet is taken from a jewellery piece that was found in the company's Blue Book archive; the curved lugs that give the case its asymmetry are from a vintage watch, while the dial is inspired by a Tiffany - signed Patek Philippe pocket watch from the 19th century. The piece de resi...

La Mini D de Dior Satine Dior'a watchmaking arm has always sought inspiration from its ready -to - wear and haute couture lines.  The inverse rotors of the Dior VIII Grand Bal were designed to mimic the dip and swirl of a ballgown's skirt, and when Raf Simpns used paint-slick shiny lether boots down the catwalk a collection of La D de Dior's sported the straps in the same material, while the strap of the latest line of pieces uniques - the Dior Grand Soir Botanic -  were made from the same fabric that Maria Grazia Chiuri used in her Dior Fusion trainers. For this iteration of the La Mini D de Dior the challenge was to create a watch strap that looked like a grosgrain silk. In order to acheve that effect, the gold was woven then hammered flat to render it silky smooth.  It ia the most beautiful illustration of the level of craftsmanship housed at Dior's secretly located Paris workshop.   The watch itself, a discreet 19 mm diamond- set case, is powered by ...

In the 1970s Piaget was a brand that revelled in the opulence of the jet - set.   But as gorgeous as the original versionfrom 973 was it had one very sizeable flaw - the bracelet was made from wovwn gold, it was beautiful and a testament tp Piaget's jewellery- making prowess but there was no way it could be adjusted without being returne to the workshop. For the 2013 version, Plaget ecided not to bother resolving that issue, opting for the ease of a satin strap instead.   Four years later it has obviously worke out how to solve this issue because it is back on mesh. It's a Milanese strp, so not identical to '73 original, but still exquisitely made with each tiny, looping link a perfect repetition of the onebefore, adjustment id one by simply sliding the buckle..The asymmetrical lugs allow the links to disappear seamlessly behind the dial it does still come in a satin strap version but why woud youwant that when you could have a length of liquid gold around ...

When this was presented at Baselworld this year it certainly raised eyebrows.   The previous inin one carnation of this line was the kind of fussy, overly feminine style youd find in a provincial gift shop, nestled in ampngst the sented candles, and monogrammed hankies.  This new Clair de Rose is none of those things, it is elegant, and the combination of steel and diamonds makes it the ideal day / night crossover warch.  Part of that is thanks to the woven-effect steel braclet, which is created by using small "rice grain" links for added supplesness.  Altiugh it dosen't get as uo close and personal with the edges of the bezel as some other integrated designs, it still allows for a lovely synergy between watch and case.   And, as an added bonus, even though , in one version, its case diameter drops to just 26mm, every version has an automatic movement. You wouldn't get that in a gift shop.

If we have learnt anything about Chanel in the past year, since it launched its first in-house movement encased in the gorgeous form of the Monsieur de Chanel, it is to expect the nexpected it went from the Monsieur to the fashion-fabulousness of the j12x5 which followed up with its second in-house calibre designed exclusively for women in the Premiere. When that watch was launched, CEO Nicolas Beau said that he had something else up his sleeve, something that he hoped would be to Chanel for the next 30 years wha the Premiere had been for the previous three  decades.   That watch is the Code Coco - a watch that is part braclet, part timepiece and not fully either, it is inspired by the clasp of the iconic 2.55 handbag and features a tiny bar set in between two black lacquer squares, which, when twisted from vertical to horizontal reveals the watch in the lower one.  The upper square simply contains a diamond set against a black lacquer background.  The brac...

Now that we're all looking toloss obvious brands to satisfy our watch collecting urges, it's onlya matter of time before vintage Favre Leuba pieces follow the likes of Heuer into the big tme. Few appreciate that Favre Leuba is the second oldest surviving dial name (after Blancpain) or that it celebrted its 280th annivasary this year.   That's not to say that it hasn't had a rocky ride since being clobbered by the arrival of quartz in the 1980's, a situation that resulted in it being sold by the founding family early ion in the decade. Now, however, it seems to be in safe hands under the ownership of the giant Tata Group (which, among other things, has taken Jaguar -Land Rover fromzero to hero)and FL CEO Thomas Morf demonstrated his regard for the brand's history with the aunch of the new Bivouac 9000 at this year's Baselworld. All of which makes us think that original models from the 1960s an '70 might be ones to watch.  This Sea Sky GMT, for exam...

Richard Mille caused something of a sensation when he pulled the wraps of the RM56 - 02 at the Hong-Kong Watches and Wonders exhibition in 2015.   Its remarhable "USP" being that it featured in an entirely transparent case made from sapphire crystal.  Each case is said to have taken 40 days to cut, grind and mill from blocks of solid sapphire, with the sapphire bridge building the tourbillion moxement taking an additional 400 hours to make. The base plate meanwhile, was hewn from titanium and suspended within the case by a remarkable system of 10 micro pulleys that tension the mechanism with a length of braided cable measuring just 0.35mm thick. Due to the completely involved in making the watch - which uses the same, highly shockproof movement found in the RM27 - 01 Rafael Nadal model - a mere 10 examples were created, each one being supplied on a strap that appears to be a Swatch-like plastic affair but which is actually made from a material called Aerospace Nan...

It's fair to say that the launch of HYT back in 32012 prompted a fair degree of scepticism among traditional horophiles -after all, ther's nodenying that a watch that tells the time with what the brand described as "an aqueous liquid filed with fluorescein ( ie coloured water) and a "transparent viscous liquid" (er. oil) by pushing them around a thin glass tube with a pair of piston-driven bellows is somewhat gimmicky. It is said to have taken mre than a decade of research and a team of 30 technicians to perfect the liquid display, which was first mooted by its inventor Lucien Vouillamoz back in 2002 and finially bought to market by industry veteran Vincent Perriard who, in his days as CEO of Concord, oversaw the creation of a watch with a simoler, liquid-filled power reserve display. Five years on HYT has proved that ther's a market for its imaginative watches that lend a whole new meaning to the words water reistant, with the brand even being accepted...

Although rare Rolex watches have been achieving some pretty staggering prices of late ( this issue QP goes to press, incidentally, befor the sale of Pau Newman's Cosmograph Daytona). Patek Philippe still reigns supreme in termsof ultimate collectability. But with values of the majoritybof interesting vintage pieces having now cllimbed beyond the means of all but the wealthiest collectors, those in search of Patek quality at a more realistic price are clearly starting to look further afield. And you don't need to go far afield tomalight on the watches of A. Lange & Sohne, the brand that many regard as Germany's answer to Patek in terms of kudos, history and excellence. Which is why we regard ths rare and unusual Lange One Set that crossed the block at Sotheby's to have been something of a bargain at 62,500 pounds.  For his or her money, the buyer got two pristine wtches that were available only as a pair in sets limited too 101 examples.   The Ursa Major vers...