Lucky Thirteen

IWC presented two new additions to its Pilot’s line, celebrating the 70th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince. The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Edition “Le Petit Prince” is equipped with the in-house manufactured 51613 movement with Pellaton automatic winding and 7-day power reserve. A commanding cockpit design and perpetual calendar display is set beautifully into a midnight blue dial. The piece is the first of IWC’s Big Pilot’s watches to feature the classic moon phase display, and this one in particular comes with the Little Prince gazing into the night sky. This special edition in red gold is limited to 270 pieces.

The Pilot’s Watch Mark XXVII Edition “Le Petit Prince” also comes with a midnight blue dial, but with a simpler display of hours, minutes, central hacking seconds and date. As part of the theme, the end of the seconds hand features a star, representing the Little Prince’s home. Engraved at the back of the 41mm stainless steel case is the Little Prince on top of his asteroid, plus the series number. Only 1,000 pieces will be produced.

Montblanc introduced a new model in the Star Special Edition Carpe Diem series, identified by a red second hand meant to symbolise the theme of “seizing the day.” A handsome addition to its 15-year-old Montblanc Star collection, the Star Special Edition Carpe Diem Quantieme Complet (or full calendar) comes in 42mm stainless steel. The dial displays the date, day, month and lunar phases legibly, while the centre is decorated with guilloche.

Piaget highlighted its jewellery and watchmaking expertise with the Emperador Coussin Minute Repeater XL Ultra Thin Minute Repeater, fully set in baguette diamonds. Powered by the in-house calibre 1290P, which took a team of six engineers three years to produce, the watch holds the record for the thinnest automatic minute repeater movement at 4.8mm, and watch at 9.4mm. The 48mm case comprises 69 parts, hollowed out as much as possible to achieve the best resonance for the transmission of sound. The open-worked dial allows a generous view of the intricate mechanism, with the hour markers crafted from 18k white gold.