Breitling announced its presence in China with a gala night at Beijing’s Phoenix Center. The Phoenix Center welcomed some 500 invited guests. They entered the venue via a red carpet flanked by lanterns while more than 100 members of the local and international media photographed and interviewed the VIPs as they arrived. 

The story begins not in the year 1773 appended to the Urban Jürgensen logo, which marks the 245th anniversary of the company, but in 1745 with the birth of Jørgen Jørgensen, the son of a servant from Adelgade. From humble beginnings, one of the most significant watchmaking dynasties in history was born.

The Geneva Watch Auction: EIGHT realised a total of CHF 21,359,750/$21,250,815 (pre-sale estimate: CHF 12 to 21 million), confirming Phillips’ market leadership in watch sales. The result is more than 50% what its nearest competitor achieved during the same weekend, and makes this the third most successful auction of the year, behind the Geneva Watch Auction: SEVEN and The Daytona Ultimatum, all of which were organized by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo. 

What are your initial impressions of the brand, a few months after arriving?
Following on from some necessary strategy adjustments, the direction we’ve taken is based on the brand’s strong points, as revealed by an in-depth look at our history and distinctive characteristics. The art of Restoration allows us to anchor all our innovations and activities in the discoveries and knowledge acquired by master watchmakers throughout history.

Ever-present in watchmaking as in life itself, black is also the October theme of the Watch Photo Awards: an initiative launched by our publishing house and echoed by media around the world for the past six months. The 60 watch photos selected since May (respectively themed The Blue, Sport, Holidays, On Two Wheels or Four and Food and Drink) were on show from November 1st to 10th at the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève, as part of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) exhibition for which GMT is also serving as media partner. Congratulations to the devotees of fine watchmaking whose photos are thus published and displayed. While black is the guiding thread of this fall issue, the GPHG will be very much in the limelight after the prize-giving. GMT presented the competition favorites and gifts the official catalog to its readers, who were able to follow the ceremony live on worldtempus.com, which will also provide an analysis of the results.

The Ballon Bleu is one of Cartier’s great success stories. It’s unisex; it’s available in a variety of different materials; it can be simple or complicated; and it comes in seven different sizes with various options and styles of gem-setting. Its name comes from the angle at which the lugs meet the case, which resembles the way in which a hot air balloon tapers down towards the basket; it’s also a reference to the three-dimensional curves of the case. The blue comes from the precious spinel set into the crown, protected by a small metal bridge. The Ballon Blanc shares the same shape, but not the same vocation.