Non-Swiss brands win big at watch Oscars

12/11/2021

by Chuang Peck Ming



A NON-Swiss brand, Grand Seiko of Japan, wrestled away the Men's Watch Prize last week in the 2021 Grand Prix d' Horlogerie de Genève.

The "Aiguille d'Or" grand prize of the GPHG, the watch world's equivalent of Hollywood's Academy Awards, was bestowed on Italian jeweller and watch-maker Bulgari in a competition dominated by Swiss brands. Swiss-based Piaget saved the day for Switzerland by bagging the Ladies' Watch Prize.

While non-Swiss brands captured two of the top three awards, a sign that the Swiss-initiated event is making headway in going international, it's still largely a Swiss affair with the lion's share of the 18 awards going to Swiss brands.

The prize-giving ceremony was staged last Thursday in Geneva in a grand event that also celebrated the GPHG's 20th anniversary.

This is Grand Seiko's third GPHG win. It first bagged the "Petite Aiguille" Prize for timepieces retailing at 3,500 to 10,000 Swiss francs in 2014.

The Japanese brand walked away with the Diver's Watch Prize in 2019.

The latest prize is also the biggest for Grand Seiko. Its winning entry, the Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours Caliber 9SA5, is a watch of "intricate texture, fine detail and delicate subtlety" that "opens onto the distinctive natural environment of Japan and the exquisite craftsmanship" of the brand.

The movement that powers it has a precision rate of -3 to +5 seconds a day and has a power reserve of 80 hours.

Bulgari's win should be further proof of its watch-making prowess, wiping out the image of the brand as just a creative jeweller.

The watch it submitted, the Octo Finissimo, is the work of a true genius in the realm of miniaturisation: A perpetual calendar - arguably the most complicated timepiece - housed in a slender 5.8 mm wide case which the brand can justifiably call the world's thinnest.

Piaget, a watchmaker which also designs jewellery pieces, won with the Limelight Gala Precious Rainbow which is a reinterpretation of a 1973 vintage piece.

It is distinguished by an elegant round case sublimated by two asymmetrical extended lugs that are cambered in order to perfectly fit any wrist.

Piaget's Altiplano Ultimate Automatic also took the Mechanical Exception Watch Prize. This ultra-think creation is highlighted by its intricate design.

The rest of the 2021 GPHG winners are:

Ladies' Complication Watch Prize: Van Cleef & Arpels, Lady Feerie Watch
Men's Complication Watch Prize: MB&F, LMX Titanium
Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra Large
Tourbillon Watch Prize: De Bethune, DB Kind of Two Tourbillon
Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Christiaan Van Der Kiaauw, CVDK Planetarium Eise Eisinga
Chronograph Watch Prize: Zenith, Chronomaster Sport
Diver's Watch Prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue
Jewellery Watch Prize: Chopard, Flower Power
Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: MB&F, LM SE Eddy Jaquet 'Around the World in Eighty Days'
"Petite Aguille" Prize: Tudor, Black Bay Ceramic
Challenge Watch Prize: CIGA Design, Blue Planet
Innovation Prize: Bernhard Lederer, Central Impulse Chronometer
Audacity Prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Carpe Diem
Horological Revelation Prize: Furlan Marri, MR Grey Ref 1041-A
Special Jury Prize: Dubai Watch Week