Our Top 10 Watches At Only Watch 2021
What IS Only Watch?
ONLY WATCH is an auction held every two years (Click here for 2019 watches)organized by the president of the Monégasque contre les Myopathies association, and is set to be on November 6th of this year in Geneva.
Held in collaboration with Christie’s, the world’s largest auction house in the world. 54 brands are set to participate with 53 different watches set to be auctioned off for the IX edition. All the proceedings will be devolved to the Monegasque association against myopathies, which aims to accelerate research to find a cure against muscular dystrophy of Duchene, an extremely rare condition which mainly targets young boys from a very early age.
All the timepieces, donated by the participating maisons, will be unique or first pieces of a limited series; made just for this event.
Only Watch shows the great generosity of the brands but also represents an occasion to showcast each maison’s watchmaking abilities targeted for elite collectors.
Ranking
To present our Top 10 watches at Only Watch we’ve gone ahead and done something a bit different.
We made each of our team members list their top 10 models coming for this year’s Only Watch auction based on personal preferences. Once completed we combined the results and came up with a very interesting top 10.
This is not an objective ranking based on complications, mechanism and esthetics; this list shows the personal preferences of nearly 40 people that make up the Italian Watch Spotter family.
Without further ado, here you have our list.
10. DE BETHUNE x VOUTILAINEN – KIND OF MAGIC
Kind of magic shows the vision and ability birthed from the collaboration between De Bethune and Voutilainen.
The two watchmakers, Denis Flageollet (co-founder of the brand De Bethune) and Kari Voutilainen (founder of the homonymous watchmaking maison), have decided to unite their strengths and know-how to create a unique piece, an actual work of art with two working faces, just for Only Watch.
Kari Voutilainen 
Denis Flageollet
Even though the watch has not been completely unveiled yet, the sketches and the presentation has made our team consider the watch as worthy of entering this Top 10.
On both sides one can read the time and admire the singular characteristics of each watchmaker but a careful eye also notices the ideas that are common to both.
De Bethune offers a perfect marriage between elegance and mechanics, with a beautiful skeleton watch face that shows the movement. On the watch we can also find a disk showing the twelve hours and the index of the minutes on the periphery of the watch face.
Voutilatien, on the other hand, realized a watch face without the second hand (seconds are kept just by a ticking sound). This method departs from the usual time telling found on other timepieces.
9. MB&F – HM 10 PANDA
As it has happened for the prior watch, MB&F timepiece hasn’t been unveiled yet. However, the sketches and the creativity of the project are enough to let the piece take the 9th place in this Top 10.
In occasion of the Only Watch auction MB&F has transformed its horological machine N.10 Bulldog into a panda bear; the rounder body in fact resembles that of the cute black and white mammal. The superior part of the timepiece is coated in white and black lacquer to imitate the animal’s colors
To produce this particular model the case, typically made in titanium, is actually made in stainless steel. On the zaphire glass dome we can find the animal’s ears made with black ceramic and the tail, made with the same material, can be found on the rear.
Furthermore two other domes are present on the watch face, made with black aluminium, used to indicate the hour and the minutes and to represent the inequivocabile eyes of the mammal typically found in the Asian continent.
The innovative and interesting watch also shows the legs of the mammal that seem to wrap around the wrist, as if it was a bamboo tree. Last but not least the innovative way to show the charge left of the battery, that doubles down as the teeth of the animal. If you love pandas, this has to be your watch!
8. F.P. JOURNE x FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA – FFC BLUE
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Caliber Octa 1300 automatic, F.P Journe presented the definitive version of the legendary model, creating a spectacular timepiece for the Only Watch auction.
The swiss maison’s art piece ditches the usual shape used for watch hands and substitutes them with a big human hand. A tribute to the mechanical hand made by
The idea came to life after an encounter between Journe and Francis Ford Coppola (american filmmaker). He asked the watchmaker if he could make a timepiece that showed the time with a human hand. After seven years Journe has proved to be up to the task as he and his maison always do, presenting the FFC
The fingers appear and disappear in the blink of an eye, showing the exact hour in specific positions. The minutes can be read at twelve hours thanks to a rotating disc and a pointer.
The F.P Journe FFC presents a 42mm case in tantalum, with a very slim case, only 10.7mm, however small this case may be, don’t be fooled, the inside holds a very complex movement. The timepiece is brought to life by a 1300.3 FFC caliber that oscillates at 21.600 vibrations/h with a 160h power reserve.
This beautiful movement can be witnessed by the transparent case back, decorated with the typical Journe graphics. The oscillating piece, completely realized in gold, has the names F.F Coppola and Ambroise Paré (father of modern surgery) incised on it.
7. BREGUET – TYPE XX
Breguet has decided to release a timepiece resembling the pilot’s watch Breguet XX from the 50’s and 60’s for this year’s Only Watch.
The case, which shows much resemblance with the original timepiece, realized in brushed iron, has a diameter of 38.3 mm and rounded loops with polished edges. The bidirectional bezel has a notched profile with the 12 hours engraved on it, used for flight calculations. The flat crown, as found in all the models type XX utilized for civil use, has incised the name of the model and the name of the event, Only Watch.
The bronze color of the watch face and the watch hand and the profile shape, is a clear recall to the rare original models, just as the big luminated arab colors. The XX type presents the small seconds at nine o’clock and the counter of the chronograph minutes at 3 o’clock. This last one presents a bigger diameter, luminescent indexes and a teardrop-shaped sphere.
This unique piece is animated by the Valjoux 235 movement, a vintage caliber with manual winding deriving from the Valjoux 222 utilized by breguet in the 50’s. This chronograph movement also presents the emblematic flyback function that permits the stoppage and the start of a new measure in a short time.
6. RICHARD MILLE – RM 67 CHARLES LECLERC PROTOTYPE
Charles Leclerc is a mognequasc race car driver, employed by Ferrari in Formula 1. Richard Mille has always collaborated with the youngster and on this occasion the futuristic maison has created the RM 67-02 prototype, to test new technology to be adopted by following models.
RM 67-02 Charles Leclerc wants to show the ability that Richard Mille has when it comes to making sports watches, unmatched in today’s market. The distinctive traits that pop to the eye are the satin and edgeless spheres, the strict lines and the extrathin CRMA 7 movement, giving a sense of power and force.
The rotor is realized with narrow lines in TPT Carbon and white gold whilst the bridges and the base plate are realized in titanium.
The watch case colors are those of the mognequasc flag. The materials are exclusive to Richard Mille and the watch itself is extremely resistant.
The strap, the lightest one ever produced by the maison, perfectly adapts to every wrist.
5. AUDEMARS PIGUET – ROYAL OAK “JUMBO” EXTRA-THIN
Audemars Piguet is bringing to Only Watch the last unique piece, ref. 15202, animated by the 2121 caliber; utilized by the first royal oak in 1972. This particular movement in the years following its release was the thinnest, only 3.02mm, automatic movement with date and central oscillating mass.
For this piece unique, the maison has mixed up for the first time the Bulk Metallic Glass with Titanium. BMG is a palladium-based alloy that when quickly cooled shares the characteristics with other glassy materials: high corrosion and wear resistance.
The Bulk Metallic Glass, hand polished, is utilized for the bezel, the watch back and the studs; offering a clear contrast with the 39mm case in titanium and the bracelet links.
The watch face, with new shades of grey, presents the typical movement “ Petite Tapisserie ” perfect for the unusual color combinations of case and bracelet. The “Audemar Piguet” logo and “Automatic” are incised at 12 o’clock, whilst “AP” can be found at 6 o’clock.
4. ZENITH X FELIPE PANTONE – DEFY DOUBLE TOURBILLON
From 2005 Zenith has been supporting the Only Watch auction. For the 2021 event it has decided to collaborate with the contemporary Felipe Pantone to create a unique watch.
The result is an edition unlike no other of the Defy 21 Double Tourbillon, with a 46mm zaphire case. Animated by an El Primero 9020 caliber, made up of two tourbillon, the first oscillating at 36.000 VpH whilst the second regulates the chronograph and oscillates at 360.000 VpH. This watch also has a 50 hour power reserve.
The finishes that we can observe are in PVD “Rainbow” and the indexes are covered in a paint color called “Rainbow”
The watch will be sold in a special Felipe Pantone box, signed by the artist himself .
3. BVLGARI – OCTO FINISSIMO PERPETUAL CALENDAR TANTALUM
A world record. An extremely rare greyish blue metal. A very unique creation
To celebrate its first participation at Only Watch Bvlgari has created the Octo Finissimo Perpetual calendar Tantalum.
For this creation Bvlgari has chosen one of the most rare materials on earth, resistant to corrosion and biocompatible: tantalum. The case is 40mm wide and 5.8 mm thick.
The watch beats thanks to a caliber only 2.75mm thick, capable of measuring time as well as all the functions of the perpetual calendar: demote day, month and year. These are regulated by three correctors, one for the date at two o’clock, one for the month at 4 o’clock and one for the day between 8 and 9 o’clock.
This watch presents a deep blue watch face that resembles the color of the metal of the case.
Being made exclusively for Only Watch, the month of November (NOV) is abbreviated in a fun way: NOW.
The watch is held on ones wrist by a beautiful blue crocodile strap with a pin closure in tantalum.
2. TUDOR – BLACK BAY GMT ONE
Tudor brought an amazing piece to this year’s edition of Only Watch. A unique black bay GMT with surprising finishes on the whole watch made possible by a secret technique to age stainless steel.
The entire watch has a patinated look, including the bezel and most of all, the watch face. This beautiful watch face is opaque black, with some hints of gray that recalls the case and the bracelet.
The distinctive feature of this timepiece is the “GMT Master Chronometer” written on the lower half. This means that the Tudor caliber MT5652 has been adjourned and has received the Master Chronometer certificate, one of the most rigorous standards of the sector that guarantees precision of 5 seconds (0 +/- ) anti magnetism up to 15.000 Gauss and a declared battery reserve.
The fact that Tudor obtained this certificate furtherly highlighted this maison’s technical competences.
The other characteristics of this Balck Bay are similar to the modern Black Bay GMT with the exception of the visible movement from the watch’s glass back.
The Tudor Black Bay GMT ONE is capable of tracking 3 different time zones at the same time thanks to the two spheres on the watch face and the graduated bezel.
1. BALTIC – PULSOMETER CHRONOGRAPH MONOPUSHER
The winner… drumroll please… Baltic’s pulsometer chronograph that utilizes a Venus 150 caliber from the ‘40’s.
This timepiece has a 36mm iron case with a see-through case back made with sapphire glass. Showing the manual charge movement, with column wheels that animate this unique piece.
The mono-pusher has been completely renovated in Switzerland. The watch face presents Breguet indexes that give the watch a superb look. In addition to this, two subqudrants show the small seconds at 9 o’clock and chronograph minutes at 3 o’clock.
The watch face also shows the pulsometer scale, used to provide medical information along with the chronograph feature. Calibrated at 30 cardiac beats; one can read cardiac frequency in beats per minute by starting the chronograph and counting 30 beats.
Author: Lorenzo Manenti
Translated by: Tommaso Metzger
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