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Armand Nicolet

Armand Nicolet the man was born in the small town of Tramelan, which nestles peacefully, surrounded by the lush green meadows of the

famed Jura Valley, the French-speaking Swiss canton so synonymous with the craft of watchmaking since the fifteenth century. The Armand Nicolet name first came to notice towards the last years of the 19th

Century.

In 1902 when the young Nicolet, son of a watchmaker himself, and after a brilliant apprenticeship proudly presented the rose gold pocketwatch which featured a complete calendar, a chronograph function, and repeating

hours, quarter hours and minutes. A magnificent tour de force which had come from his own hands.

Nicolet soon assembled a group of

enthusiastic young watchmakers and he trained them in his own style which advocated the skills of the artisan, focusing on building complication timepieces from scratch in-house with astonishing attention to detail. Armand Nicolet passed away in 1939, leaving his son Willy to assume creative and

importantly, commercial direction of the manufacture.

By the 1950s, Armand Nicolet had become one of the largest

producers of in-house complications in all of Switzerland. Employing over eight hundred skilled technicians who were accommodated in well over one hundred workshops, the company were continuously innovating and introducing new complications and variations of compl

ications.

As demand for the artisans’ craft which had been so carefully nurtured by theArmand Nicolet manufacture (and many others) faltered and subsequently dried up in the late 1970s, due to the revolution which came in the form of the ever-accurate and much less expensive quartz driven

watches, the management were forced to either reorganise or slip quietly beneath the waves. By making their services available to other prestigious Swiss watchmakers, in providing movements, mechanisms and

complications the company was able to continue, much downsized from its heyday, but crucially still in touch with the industry and still able to provide some of their skilled craftsmen with projects and continuity.

Enter, in 1987, the Italian entrepreneur Rolando Braga, who having met Willy Nicolet, now aged 63, in a chance encounter saw the latent potential within theArmand

Nicolet brand and assets. Braga himself had amassed over twenty years experience in horology – principally in watch design – and the foundations for a harmonious collaboration fell into place. By 1990 direction of the now re-

emerging Armand Nicolet manufacture was in the hands of Rolando Braga, and the year was marked with the opening of the refurbished workshops originally used by Armand Nicolet himself. Under the guidance of the Braga family, theArmand Nicolet manufacture is now producing some of the finest artisan timepieces available anywhere!

The universe of extraordinary haute horlogerie has a new star: the Sequential One from Manufacture Contemporaine du Temps (MCT). Presented in a 45mm case crafted from 18K white or rose gold, this avant garde creation of complicated watchmaking features a complex yet entirely unconventional mechanical time display which presents hours on a series of rotating triangular prisms, and minutes on a transparent sapphire crystal disc. A sapphire crystal exhibition window reveals the lavishly decorated in-house MCT manual winding movement made up of 471 individual components and 81 ruby bearings. The balance, mounted on an elegantly curved balance cock, oscillates at a pace of 18,000 beats per hour. Power reserve is 40 hours.

Ladoire Roller Guardian Time

Lionel Ladoire launched his eponymous company in 2007 and his first timepiece is an audacious effort. He refers to it as the UFO of watchmaking, and the company’s press materials acknowledge that this piece leaves no one indifferent.

Ladoire’s creation is called the Roller Guardian Time, or RGT, and at 56 x 45 x 16.3mm, this uniquely-shaped timepiece makes a striking statement on the wrist. The shape has been likened to that of a pebble, and the analogy is apt. The asymmetric shape is soft, organic, and surprisingly balanced. The automatic movement with micro-rotors is an in-house design realized with the help of skilled outside partners.

Though it may not be obvious at first glance, the watch has only one traditional moving hand (the big one) for the GMT display, which features a quick corrector at 2 o’clock. The other “hands” are fixed in place, and the hours, minutes and seconds are indicated via disks that rotate on ceramic ball bearings that require no lubrication. Placing the crown at 8 o’clock is another poke in the eye of conformity.

TAG Heuer Monaco LE

TAG Heuer is teaming up with the Porsche Club of America to celebrate the club’s 55th anniversary by offering a 55-piece limited edition Monaco.

The watch features a special dial with red and black rally stripes and the racing number “55,” as well as the PCA`s logo engraved on the back. The black leather strap with racing holes and red stitching is unique to this piece and not available at retail.

MB&F HM1 from Basel

Marc Alfieri TM-01