5 top timepiece moments in September 2023: from Swatch and Seiko to Adam Levine’s modified Rolex Daytona, Hong Kong actor Tony Leung’s Bulgari in Venice and a Bruce Lee tribute
Meanwhile in Switzerland, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie Genève announced this year’s awards finalists while independent brands collaborated to give us stunning new pieces and designs.
Here are our top watch moments from September.
1. Swatch and Blancpain go bioceramic à la Moonswatch
2. Film and music icons celebrate high horology
Though he was watchless when he took the stage for the iconic moment, he was later spotted wearing the octagonal Bulgari Octo Finissimo during a press conference. The all-grey watch is made out of titanium and is thin, light and stylish – a fitting piece from the Italian maison to wear at Venice’s celebration of film excellence.
Lee was not known to wear many timepieces, but the watch he was seen with the most was a vintage Seiko chronograph with a unique steel bracelet whose holes are more often seen on racing rubber straps from the era. The limited-edition piece comes in all black with gold accents, with a bezel engraving containing a Jeet Kune Do maxim that the watch brand translates as, “Using no way as way; having no limitation as limitation.”
His modifications include neon green accents, open-worked subdials, a modified rotor visible through exhibition caseback, and – perhaps most ostentatiously – a white bezel and dial that glow in the dark. All told, the aftermarket efforts cost the musician a cool 3.552 million Swiss francs (US$3.9 million).
3. The Grand Prix D’Horlogerie de Genève aka the “watch Oscars” announces finalists
The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) kicked its celebration of this year’s greatest watches up a notch by announcing the finalists for its numerous categories of awards with presentations of these pieces taking place around the world. The collection makes stops in Macau, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and New York before returning to Geneva.
4. Independent brands band together on massive collaborations
Independent watches shared the love this month as upstart brands and watchmakers announced collaboration after massive collaboration. Russian art watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin joined hands with Swiss boutique maker Louis Erard on the Time-Eater II: from Dusk to Dawn, sitting perfectly between creepy and intriguing. Meanwhile, artisanal maker Sylvain Pinaud broke ground on the first ever tie-up with pure collaborator Massena Lab on the openworked Chronograph Monopoussoir.
On the more affordable side, lovable microbrand Brew Watches – best known for its square dials – worked with content creator Worn & Wound to produce the Brew Metric Chrono Regulator in three stunning colourways for its signature TV dial design. Meanwhile, rising star Furlan Marri and dial artist Seconde-Seconde look to make quartz great again with their new Hertz Beat, stamping Seconde-Seconde’s signature pixel art on Marri’s elegant sector dial piece featuring its mechaquartz hybrid movement.
5. Established brands sprint ahead of the competition with new designs
Traditional brands were not far behind as we saw some stunning releases from them this month as well. Tag Heuer continues to celebrate the Carrera’s 60th anniversary by executing perhaps horology’s most intricate pun. The racing watchmaker collaborated with Porsche to create the Carrera Chronosprint, which features a readjusted chronograph mechanism where the seconds hand “accelerates” through the first 9.11 seconds of timekeeping across the 12-4 indices, as a nod to the Porsche 911.
Citizen, Jacob & Co and Jaeger-LeCoultre all got intricate with their dials this month. Citizen released the AQ4103 Washi Paper dial, choosing the material for its texture, fineness and durability, and for its use in restoring art and calligraphy. Jacob & Co gave us double the watch in stunning fashion with the dual-time World is Yours piece, but Jaeger-LeCoultre may have just taken the cake with stunning new designs of its much-loved 101 collection.
- Silver screen legend Tony Leung, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 80th Venice Film Festival, sported a Bulgari Octo Finissimo during a press conference at the event
- Seiko honoured martial arts legend Bruce Lee for the 55th anniversary of its 5 Sports collection – the limited-edition watch has a bezel engraving containing a Jeet Kune Do maxim