Designed over two and half centuries ago, the Grande Seconde by Jaquet Droz never ceased to evolve, reinvents details and finishes with each variation, to both surprise and astound. Its “Skelet-One” skeleton version, presented in 2018, marked yet another break: it was the first time the Grande Seconde did away with its dial. In its place: light, lightness and transparency. The Grande Seconde saw both its architecture unveiled and its power laid bare. 

Fleurier’s four watchmakers joined forces in 2001 to create the most sophisticated watch certification that has ever existed. Chopard, Parmigiani, Vaucher Manufacture and Bovet set the cat among the pigeons where the Poinçon de Genève and the COSC were concerned, by bringing together chronometric, technical, aesthetic and practical criteria and subjecting them to a hitherto unheard-of level of scrutiny. The Fondation Qualité Fleurier was very busy for a time, but then the number of pieces brought to its attention began to drop, and the Qualité Fleurier stamp was forgotten by many.

Colossal: the watch with rollers

No one had ever succeeded in making a complication to display the time entirely on rollers, like the split-flap departure boards we used to see in airports and railway stations. Many people have tried to translate a similar mechanism into a watch, but the enormous energy consumption involved always resulted in disappointment. 

Appreciated for its round shape and pure lines, the Master Ultra Thin collection welcomes a new model: the Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel. This new model highlights the arts of guillochage and enameling, two of the Rare Handcrafts (“Métiers Rares®”) which have been kept alive for generations at the Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux. Reinstated at the Manufacture in 1996 and executed completely by hand by a few artisans trained at the Manufacture, enameling is an age-old skill which requires concentration and patience. Furthermore, performing the guillochage work and the application of the translucent blue enamel layer requires meticulous attention.

Throughout his career, Ferdinand Berthoud regularly submitted various memoirs and procedures to the Académie des Sciences. His assiduity testified to his talents and ensured the protection of influential members of this scholarly society. The latter guaranteed him supremacy in the realm of marine chronometry in the mid-1760s, thereby unlocking the gates to success.

Guido Terreni joined Bulgari in 2009 and has overseen the introduction of the Octo, Serpenti and Lvcea lines. As the New Year and its new models approaches, WorldTempus reviewed the past ten years with Bulgari’s timepiece supremo.