NETJETS US VOLUME 9 2019

on the pulse
These watches demonstrate the
wearer’s appreciation for craftmanship
Above: IWC Pilot’s Watch
Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
“Le Petit Prince”
Below, from left to right:
Blancpain Villeret
Quantième Perpétuel 6656;
Girard-Perregaux Laureato
Perpetual Calendar
collection grew this year as the brand cased
the Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar Digital
Date-Month in lightweight yet robust grade
5 titanium, a sporty update from the 2017
version in gold. The brawny 45mm flyback
chronograph, limited to 100 pieces, features
double-digit month and date displays in the
sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock, and a leap year
aperture in the running seconds sub-dial at 6
o’clock. IWC also launched the Pilot’s Watch
Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, marking
the first time it combined a chronograph and
perpetual calendar in a pilot model.
Value is not a term one typically associates
with perpetual calendars. But a few brands
have managed to produce handsome,
more affordable watches within the genre
typically limited to horological connoisseurs.
Take MONTBLANC (montblanc.com), which
followed up on its 2014 Meisterstück
Heritage Perpetual Calendar with this year’s
Heritage Perpetual Calendar, limited to 100
pieces in rose gold and unlimited in steel.
The brand spent three years developing the
new manufacture automatic caliber MB
29.22, which replaces the typical lever-driven
construction with a more user-friendly
architecture using only wheels, allowing you
to set the calendar in both directions. It also
adds a dual-time function for travelers.
Meanwhile, BAUME & MERCIER (baumeet-mercier.com)
added a perpetual calendar
module to last year’s milestone Baumatic
line, featuring an exclusive state-of-theart
movement developed with Richemont
Group’s movement manufacturer Horlogère
ValFleurier. Like the Montblanc Heritage
Perpetual Calendar, the 42mm Clifton
Baumatic Perpetual Calendar is classical by
design and endowed with technical advances,
such as a silicon balance spring, magnetic
resistance, extended power reserve and more.
Taking the notion of value-driven
complications to extremes, FREDERIQUE
CONSTANT (frederiqueconstant.com) introduced
two new versions of its Perpetual Calendar
Tourbillon Manufacture, launched last
autumn to mark the brand’s 30th anniversary.
Available in stainless steel and rose gold, the
limited editions are priced at a fraction of
what you would expect for a pairing of two of
watchmaking’s most illustrious and technical
complications.
In our modern age, when smartphones
deliver the day, date and month at your
fingertips—as well as a whole lot more—a
mechanical perpetual calendar on the wrist
is inevitably an anachronism, but it is also a
demonstration of the wearer’s appreciation
for human ingenuity and craftsmanship. As
we digitize ever further, there is something
wonderful in this mechanical precision,
especially when it comes in such a beautiful
package, and without ever needing to charge
the battery.
ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE WATCHMAKERS
50 NetJets