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With sales of higher priced watches growing at a faster pace than less expensive ones, companies are focusing on extraordinary functions and aesthetic.

Pierre Jaquet Droz always used birds in his timepieces, whether purely decorative or as automatons. This year, Jaquet Droz celebrates its 275th anniversary with its limited edition, The Charming Bird, a watch with a miniature automaton bird in a bubble of sapphire crystal. A mechanical function creates the bird song in an open movement architecture that makes the mechanism visible from within. The timepiece comes in a 47mm white gold case featuring black, charcoal-grey and transparent elements. The watch is a follow-up to last year’s equally impressive Bird Repeater, also with an automaton and a minute repeater complication, the fourth instalment to the brand’s watchmaking saga that began in 2010.

Bulgari’s Commedia dell’ Arte series depicts scenes from a classic Italian painting from the 16th century, showing masked actors in a palace performing in a play, with musical instruments. The three most famous characters of this tradition, Brighella, Pucella and Harlequin are the focal points of each watch. The dials and scenes are fully painted and embossed by hand, and when the minute repeater is activated, the figures come alive against the backdrop. The watch, fitted with the BVL 618 calibre, features a cathedral gong minute repeater with two hammers. The gongs are unique in that they are longer than standard, which generates a deeper sound.

The mechanism is housed in a case crafted from 18k white gold and Magsonic, a special alloy that optimizes the resonance of the piece. The minute repeater slide piece is located at10 o’clock. The time is shown via a retrograde minute display and a jumping hour window at 6 o’clock. The Commedia dell’Arte series is a numbered limited edition consisting of just eight pieces each.