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
MARK BRADFORD CERBER<strong>US</strong> 2 OCTOBER – 21 DECEMBER <strong>2019</strong> LONDON WWW.HA<strong>US</strong>ERWIRTH.COM MARK BRADFORD, THE PATH TO THE RIVER BELONGS TO ANIMALS, <strong>2019</strong>, MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS, 168.9 × 228.9 CM / 66 1/2 × 90 1/8 IN, PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE