To even comprehend the mad rush among the top luxury brands to create the best watches to celebrate Chinese New Year (February 1, 2022), we must understand the market of luxury watches first. The first 11 months of the calendar 2021 (just before the Omicron scare started slowing down travel) has thrown up stupendous numbers for the industry. The United States and China have clearly driven the growth in luxury watch sales last year, with the former back in first position with imports of CHF 2.8 billion over the first 11 months of the year (+55.7% versus 2020; +26.4% versus 2019). At CHF 2.7 billion, mainland China has benefited from the reshoring of luxury spending with the ban on international travel (+31.0% versus 2020; +53.5% versus 2019).
No wonder, almost every marque luxury watchmaker has launched a ‘Year of the Tiger’ edition as a limited series. This includes masstige brands like TAG Heuer or even Swatch, Casio and Gucci. This year sees the Tiger with the Water element, a combination said to possess high self-esteem and learning ability, in addition to the dominant traits of bravery and confidence. Through painstaking evaluation, we have chosen the seven best ‘Year of the Tiger’ timepieces, both for their individualistic expression of artistry and mechanism.
CHOPARD - L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Tiger
Every year, Chopard has a new timepiece to celebrate the Chinese zodiac calendar. This year, the L.U.C collection welcomes the L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Tiger timepiece, an 88-piece limited series. The artistic watch is housed in an ultra-thin rose gold case, with an in-house L.U.C 96.17-L movement ticking inside. The Japanese Urushi Maki-e technique combines lacquering and gold dust. Master lacquer artist Minori Koizumi of the century-old company, Yamada Heiando, reportedly takes 160 hours to complete each dial. Notice how the gold flakes – placed between layers of lacquer – light up the background and the tiger poised above a bay with its claws out and jaw turned sideways. Price: €22,900 approx
JAEGER-LECOULTRE - The Reverso Tribute Enamel Tiger
Nine decades after the Reverso was born (on the polo fields of Rajasthan), comes Jaeger-LeCoultre’s ‘Tiger’. Also coinciding with the opening of a flagship boutique in Shanghai, the new timepiece has the magnificent beast on the reverse side, engraved into the pink gold case metal, appearing to leap out from a black opaque Grand Feu enamel background. To create the illusion of movement and power, the Maison has used the polished surface of the tiger’s coat and a contrasting rhodium-brushed texture of its stripes to catch and refract the light. Volume and depth are courtesy ‘modelled engraving’, a technique that uses differently sized chisels to sculpt the metal step by step. The elegant simplicity of the Reverso Tribute dial, with its faceted appliqué hour-markers and chemin de fer minutes track, perfectly complements the pink gold of the case. Price: €90,000 approx
TAG HEUER - Carrera Year of the Tiger
TAG Heuer interprets this zodiac sign by keeping the tiger off the dial. Instead, the limited-edition watch infuses the traditional in the sporty Carrera model. The elegant dial on this piece – that can also be worn every day – marries a discreet, bluish hue with the dark stripes characteristic of tiger’s fur. The lighter blue tiger stripes are made of horizontally brushed metal coated with blue PVD treatment while the darker stripes are made of painted textured metal. A blue tiger crouching to attack adorns the sapphire crystal on the caseback of this timepiece limited to 300 pieces. The watch comes in a 41 mm steel case. Price: ₹3,10,250 approx
ULYSSE NARDIN - The Classico Tiger
Combining two centuries-old enamelling techniques, champlevé and paillonné, the Classico “Tiger” is a showcase of artistry and commitment. Champlevé is a decorative technique that allows recesses to be created on the surface to be subsequently filled with vivid vitreous substances, while paillonné enamelling comprises tiny gold or silver leaf layered on to a translucent enamel. The fragility of enamel dials is near forgotten when you view the majestic tiger, ready to pounce. The rose gold timepiece houses a self-winding UN-815 movement. Limited to 88 pieces. Price: €44,000 approx
PIAGET - Altiplano Chinese New Year Tiger
Piaget joins hands once again with master enameller, Anita Porchet, to create a timepiece in its Altiplano line, that features a fearless tiger in cloisonné Grand Feu enamel. This limited edition of 38 timepieces, housed in a 38 mm white gold case, allows the tiger to roar majestically across the dial. Set with 78 brilliant-cut diamonds, it is powered by the in-house ultra-thin, manual-winding 430P movement. Cloisonné, a 4000-year-old decorative art, starts with a transfer of the design onto the surface of the dial using gold ribbons to create miniature partitions, or cavities, in which enamel pigments are placed. The dial is then fired in the kiln multiple times and varnished later to add life to the image. Price: $71,500 approx
JAQUET DROZ - Large Petite Heure Minute Tiger Automaton
Jaquet Droz has issued more than one model to celebrate the ‘Year of the Tiger’ but it is the one with the black onyx and opal dial, with the tiger appliqué in red gold that stands out. The brand has dipped into its legacy of making automaton movements with a hand-wound mechanical automaton movement with push-button triggering mechanism. It comes with animation featuring a pond and carp. The 3D tiger takes 10 days to create by skilled craftsmen. The technique used in this engraving, La Ronde Bosse, allows a stunning full view of the tiger. The watch, with its 43mm red gold case, comes with self-winding mechanical hours and minutes movement and an impressive power reserve of 68 hours. Price: CHF 339,000 approx (automaton box included)
VACHERON CONSTANTIN - Métiers d’Art Legend of the Chinese Zodiac ‘Year of the Tiger’
When it comes to using the dial to express one’s creativity, no one makes a statement better than the grand Maison of Geneva. Vacheron Constantin had first used the Calibre 2460 G4 with four apertures on the dial — for jumping hour, minute, day and date — in 2007 with the first of its mask collections. The latest in its “Métiers d’Art legend of the Chinese zodiac” collection, comes in two versions, limited to 12 pieces each. One is in platinum with a blue dial and the other in 18k 5N pink gold with a bronze-toned dial. The 18k gold dials are hand-engraved and decorated with Grand Feu enamel in a traditional Chinese paper-cutting style called jianzhi, before the hand-engraved tiger is fixed in place. Price: $140,000 approx for the 18k pink gold version
The writer is the founder and president of The Horologists.
