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Baselworld 2019 Round-Up, Day 4

Published on Sat, 23 Mar 2019 21:41:00 +0000

The team (including special guest Joe Thompson) sits down to discuss Grand Seiko, their favorite moments of the fair, and what the future holds.

Synopsis

This is a special bonus episode of Hodinkee Radio focused on recapping the 2019 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), the watch industry's most prestigious awards ceremony often compared to the Oscars of watchmaking. Host Stephen Pulvirent is joined by Jack Forster (a third-year GPHG juror), Cole Pennington, and Jonas in New York to discuss the results after spending the previous week in Geneva for the event. Jack emphasizes the vigorous and occasionally contentious nature of jury deliberations while respecting confidentiality protocols, noting that the jury comprises not just journalists but experts from various fields including gem setting and horology.

The team systematically reviews each category winner, starting with the Ladies' Watch prize going to the Chanel J12 Caliber 12.1, and the Ladies' Complication prize awarded to MB&F's Legacy Machine Flying T, which clearly moved founder Max Büsser emotionally. Men's categories saw victories for Voutalainen's 28Ti and Audemars Piguet's Code 11.59 Minute Repeater Supersonnerie. Notable awards included Ferdinand Berthoud winning Chronometry, Hermès winning Calendar and Astronomy for the Arceau L'Heure de la Lune, and Bulgari taking both the Chronograph prize (for the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT) and Jewelry prize. The episode highlights emotional moments including independent brands Genus and Kudoke winning in their respective categories, and Ming receiving the Horological Revelation prize.

The grand prize, the Aiguille d'Or, went to Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin (RD2), marking AP's third win of the evening. The team discusses how this represented a culmination of technical achievement and popular appeal, with Jack praising the traditional watchmaking excellence embodied in the piece designed by Giulio Papi. Special recognition was given to Luc Pettavino, founder of Only Watch, who received the Special Jury Prize for his charitable work raising funds for Duchenne muscular dystrophy research. The hosts note the competitive nature of the 2019 field and celebrate it as a strong year for watchmaking innovation and achievement.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown This is the category of watches most likely to make the average GPHG juror say, holy flickin' snit, I can't believe I'm holding this thing in my hands. Okay. of dollars worth of drop dead beautiful high jewelry watches being passed around on a tray uh like so many petty fors after dinner. Uh it's it's pretty much this is why we pay you the big bucks. The me the medium
Unknown Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Pulverant and this is a special bonus episode of Hodinky Radio. Last week was the GPHD, the Grand Prix d'horlogerie de Genève, which is the biggest awards in watchmaking, sort of like the Oscars of Watchmaking. We did a bonus episode before, kind of previewing our picks for who we thought would take home the big prizes. And now with the awards in the rearview mirror, we thought it'd be nice to sit down and go over the results, talk about who the big winners were, the watches that maybe missed out, and sort of our top uh top highlights of the night. So without further ado, here are our thoughts on the 2019 GPHG. This bonus episode is brought to you by Ferdinand Bertude and the Chronomet FB1L, an innovative watch with a celestial twist. For more, visit ferdinambertude.ch. All right, team, here we are, back in New York. After uh cold, Jack and I were all in rainy, misty, gray Geneva last week. And John, you got to enjoy uh lovely New York City. Yeah, I was chilling here in New York while you guys were uh doing watch stuff. Doing watch stuff might be the best description of uh last week. I mean Jack and I were there for Grand Prix and FHH business and Cole was there for Grand Prix and auction business and uh official business. Official super official business. Serious official business. Uh but as Cole and I were talking about at the Grand Prix, it is like the most Swiss watch industry event imaginable. Uh it's about as watchy as things as things can get. Uh Jack, this is what, your third year on the jury? Uh it is. Nice. How was it this year
Unknown ? Um, you know, there are but I mean, uh first of all, I should say at the outset that uh, you know, as a juror, I have to respect the confidentiality of the proceedings. So unfortunately, I can't share with you the many uh horologically and anthropologically fascinating things that happened uh during the dur jury deliberations. Uh but Okay. Okay. Uh the one thing I can say is That's for your memoir, right? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I mean the one thing that I can say is there are always issues with award ceremony, industry award ceremonies of any kind, whether it's the film industry or the watch industry, but um I can definitely say that uh the folks who are in the room have very, very strong beliefs and opinions. And uh you know the debate over which watch deserves to win in every category, it's really vigorous and occasionally acrimonious. Uh it never quite gets personal, but it gets close sometimes. And you know, you have to remember uh a lot of these folks have you know, a a lot of the jurors have known each other for many, many years. Um and uh people really do the great thing about that is people really do feel free to speak their minds. So it's a very, very vigorous and a very genuine debate in just about every cat
Unknown egory. And that was true year one and it's true now. Yeah. I think one thing that's that's important to note for people too is that the the jury is not comprised just of journalists like yourself, right? Like there are So some of the reason it's personal is is some of these people have personal relationships to the people competing, right? Oh
Unknown , absolutely. Absolutely. And there are um there are varying perspectives too. So, you know, it's uh it's quite fantastic for me because uh I you know, it's it's a very educational experience for me to be on the jury simply because I actually get to hear from people with expertise in areas that I don't have. So when we look at the high jewelry wash. What are those? Well that was a joke. It's a small small small slice. No, uh I mean well, John to answer your question, uh one big area is uh horlogical gems and gem setting, which I know probably more about than the average watch guy, but uh you know, there are people on the GPHG G excuse me, there are people on the GPHG jury who have spent their lives around precious stones and big important stones. Uh very often. And uh to be able to ask them, well, listen, okay, here's a beautiful high jewelry piece. I don't really know that much about evaluating stones. You know, how how does somebody with your level of experience look at something like this? That's just it's it's a great, it's a great experience. Yeah that's a very fair point. No I was just kidding to be clear no no no well I mean that's listen the you know the larger question is how can how can a grown up write about watches for their entire professional life and the answer is this oh it's it's a narrow subject but, also very deep and there's always a lot to learn. Yeah
Unknown . All right. Cole, it was your first GPHG. Before we get into the prizes, uh you and I were sitting together in the audience. Uh what what would you say was your sort of 10,000 foot view of the of the event
Unknown . Ah well I have not been to the Academy Awards Oscars any of that. But I I I know the the you know the proceedings how it goes and it reminds me a lot of that. I mean that's been the the nickname or whatever. But yeah. I was just blown away by how uh to get back to the point how seriously it's taken and how passionate. I mean it's it's an element of national pride from the Swiss side. And then a lot of people hang their entire reputations on this industry and their place in it and so forth. So it it's it's a big deal. Yeah, it's serious business. Um so yeah, that
Unknown was my takeaway. All right. With that in mind, let's get into it. Uh we're gonna go through these prizes. We're gonna move relatively briskly just because uh we don't want this to be a six-hour long bonus episode. Um, but I figure we'll we'll announce what one and then we can each kind of voice uh voice and thoughts. Uh we're gonna go in the order uh that they're listed on the Grand Prix site, which is relatively close to the order in which they're uh announced uh at the Grand Prix. There's a couple out of order, but uh let's start off with the ladies' watch prize. Uh that went to the Chanel J twelve caliber twelve dot one, uh which is a sort of reimagining of the the J twelve on its uh twentieth anniversary. Uh what do we think about that
Unknown ? Well I I remember when we were talking in the previous uh show when we were we were kind of uh it was a different uh crew of us here, but we were uh Stephen and me and then I think Ben and Cara. Uh this was a popular one. I did not pick it, but uh I can see definitely why it why it won. This is uh in my opinion, you know, about as classic as it gets for a ladies' watch and it has uh brand new movement uh made in house with lots of uh you know lots of improvements uh over what was previously used. So this is uh it makes sense as a you know, you you think of uh the ladies and men's watch prizes as uh well at least I think of them as watch uh you know prizes that should be given to watches that can be worn every day. And uh this is definitely that. Yeah. I would agree
Unknown . Yeah, I mean, I would say um I I pretty much uh would just echo everything Jonas said. Great classic design, new iteration of a great classic design. It's an absolute icon in um modern watchmaking for ladies' watches and it's uh definitely durable and versatile enough to be an everyday watch. And you know, I agree with John also in that these categories, men's and ladies watches, they should represent to some degree watches that you'd be comfortable wearing on a daily basis. And um, you know, it's a rockin' daily wear. Yeah,
Unknown for sure. All right. Uh also in the ladies' uh ladies' watch arena, let's go to the ladies' complication watch prize. Uh, this one went to the MBNF Legacy Machine Flying T. Uh, and I'm just gonna stay right right off the bat, uh, this was the prize I was maybe most excited from the whole night uh to go to this watch. Like I was when they announced this, I was so happy for for Max Booser and his uh his team. Uh this this watch is unbelievable, um really something special. And you could tell both from his acceptance speech and just, you know, I had a chat with Max afterwards. Uh this really meant something and and more than an award at the Grand Prix would normally mean to him. Um and like it really just couldn't couldn't happen to better better people
Unknown . Yeah, I mean it was uh it was um for me, um definitely the most emotional uh GPHG I've ever been to. And uh this particular watch, you know, I think Max's speech was great. It really came from the heart. Uh the watch really came from the heart. Um the ladies' complication category was a very tough one uh for me because there's there were some very very strong watches there um some really really interesting competition uh i mean i love max's watch just because seeing him take his sensibility and use it to produce such a successful design in a ladies' timepiece was pretty fantastic. Nothing against any of the other pieces, by the way
Unknown . Yeah, I picked this watch back during the Basel World Roundups. So I was blown away by it seeing a person and yeah, it definitely went to the right, right place. And uh Max never speaks without emotion, right? So yeah, it's great. It was really nice to see that. Yeah
Unknown . Yeah. Very cool watch. Yeah, couldn't have gone the prize couldn't have gone to a nicer guy. Congrats to Max
Unknown . Awesome. Uh all right, next up, men's, the men's watch. Uh this went to the Vutilinen 28 Ti. Uh, which I have to say, I I thought was kind of a dark horse in this uh in this category. Uh it's an awesome watch. I'm a known huge fan of Vutilinen, but uh, you know, going up against uh the the Gronfeld, going up against the Laurent Ferrier, going up against the Grand Seiko. Um this to me didn't scream like amazing everyday wearer, but uh I don't know. It's it's it's a compelling piece and uh he got he got quite the cheer from uh from the audience. Many times. Many times, that's true. Which we'll we'll get to. Yeah. Kari yeah, spoiler alert, Kari wins again later. Um but yeah, I mean Jack, I know you can't talk too much about the kind of like deliberations of the the jury, but uh can can you tell us at all? Was this category like tight? Was this a tightly contested one? Uh I mean I can say
Unknown in general, pretty much I f I I felt as a juror like all of the categories were pretty tightly contested this year. There were a lot of strong uh there were I don't know, maybe it's just uh, you know, three years of experience doing this, but um I felt like there was a much closer competition within each category this year than I was used to seeing in the previous two years. Um and you know, like the like the ladies um categories, this was this was a very tough call for a lot of jurors. Yeah
Unknown . Yeah. Yeah. Taking nothing away from from Carrie and his achievement, I I think I like Stephen expected this probably to go to either the Grunfeld or the Grand Seco. Laurent Ferrier had kind of a different design than we're used to seeing from Laurent Ferrier, and I remember it being somewhat polarizing when that when that watch came out in January. So yeah, I expected it to go to the Grunfeld, but you know, congrats to Cari. It's a he also made a very nice watch. Yeah.
Unknown Um all right, up next we've got the men's complication prize, uh kind of echoing the the women's categories. Um and this one went to the Autumn RPG Code eleven fifty nine minute repeater supersonary. Uh I'm I'm gonna throw to throw to the gang here uh to get your takes before I weigh in here. Anyone have strong thoughts about this one
Unknown ? Uh I thought the the during the acceptance speech there were some like subtle jabs at all the naysayers and everything. It was finally like Francois didn't pull any punches. Yeah, yeah. So I thought that that
Unknown was the most interesting thing about it. It was funny. Yeah, I mean I think Francois made an interesting point, which is uh it's it's been a rough year, you know, for Odmar Piget. Uh because the launch of Code eleven fifty nine got off to a rough start, that's not news to anybody, certainly in this room, and it's certainly not news to anybody uh who's been following uh watchmaking. I will say the supersonary, this is one you know, judged as a complication, minute repeaters are tough because you have to hear them. And I am very, very, very lucky in that I've had a chance to hear dozens of different minute repeaters from the people who are the best in the world at making them. And historically, this is something Admar Paget has done exceptionally well. Um, you know, nowadays, you know, you think AP and you haven't around watch as much it's Royal Oak, Royal Oak, Royal Oak, but they've made some of the most amazing sounding minute re you know, repeating uh wrist watches, grandsonneries, pocket watches in the entire history of watchmaking. And uh when you s when you have this thing, you know, when you have the supersonary eleven fifty nine in your hand and you hear it do its thing, uh I mean the hair stood up on the back of
Unknown my head. Yeah. It's I I have not listened to quite as many repeaters as uh as Jack, but uh this thing is no, not not not not even close, but uh this thing's amazing. Um and you know, we've seen this this repeater in a couple different executions over the last few years, starting with the the RD1 and then building up. And uh you know, say say what you will about code 1159. Like this is this is a hell of a watch. It
Unknown is a hell of a watch, but did you guys notice uh that AP had also this year or perhaps late last year it's not totally clear, dropped uh a Royal Oak, a conventional Royal Oak version of a supersonary
Unknown ? Yeah, so I did, and the way I found out that watch existed was when I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago, uh saw it in the boutique. They had one in the Ginza boutique. And I was like, what is this? And they were like, oh yeah, it's a Royal Oxonary. And I was like, excuse me? It like just appeared on the AP website last week. It's crazy. I would not be surprised if we see that watch uh entered next year personally
Unknown . I mean one thing I would love to do is uh hear the different v versions of the supersonary technology that have come out kind of, you know, against each other. I'm curious how much you know, case sh case shape and um case manufacturing have a huge effect on how a repeating watch sounds. Yeah. You know, I mean I'd love to hear the AP next to the 1159. Reference points, supersonar
Unknown ies. Oh my god. That would be that we shouldn't give anything away, but that would be a
Unknown fun story to put together. Get them all together. We're blown up our own spot here. All right. So for the next category, we've got the iconic watch prize. And once again, this is AP's second win of the night. Uh was for the Autumn RPG Royal Oak Jumbo Extra Thin. Uh this is the one that's uh in white gold with that sort of salmon colored dial. Um I think we we knew pretty well going into this uh this category. This was this was one of the ones I think was a very safe bet. I don't think you would have gotten very good odds uh placing bets on this one. Yeah, there were some icons in there, but Yeah. There were some great watches. I mean that's not to say anything bad about the the Monaco or the the El Primero or Even the old Hammy. Yeah. I mean the the intramatic's a great watch. But I think when you think about like iconic watches, like it's it's tough to argue with a a royal look like that.
Unknown Yeah, you know, the question for me came down to uh you know, I look at these watches, they're six great watches, they're six in some respects very different watches. Um so then the question becomes, all right, supposed to pick the one that's the most iconic, which one is the most iconic
Unknown ? The other thing too, the A three eighty four revival appeared as opposed to the A three eighty six, which I think the A three eighty six is much more of an icon. Yeah, you're right. And even the
Unknown even the even the Monaco, that's not like the most iconic looking Monaco that
Unknown one could have chosen. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think Ben brought that up right on the on the preview episode that the the A three, at E four felt like a weird choice here, but there you have it. Yeah. You know. Next up we've got the chronometry prize. Um, we're starting to get into some of the more technical categories here. Uh, and this one went to Ferdinand Bertud for the carburized steel regulator.
Unknown Chronometrie Ferrinum Burtu. Yeah, the the challenge for me with the chronometry category is okay, um chronometry is about it it's it's two things nowadays. On the one hand, it's aspirational in that brands try to come up with technical solutions that are chronometrically oriented and that are also fun to look at and fun to talk about. So, you know, multiple turbions, turbions linked with differentials, exotic material for balance springs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The IWC, for instance, has a uh remontoire on the turbion, uh, which is uh, you know, it's an amazing achievement technically and and and quite rare. So there's all of that, but then the c you know, the chronometry is also it's it's not just about uh the technical flourishes. You know, I mean the way that you find out whether or not a car lives up to its reputation is you take it out on the track and you see how it performs And absent comparative chronometric data. It's hard to evaluate in an absolute sense
Unknown watches in a chronometry category. Yeah, it it is tough. Yeah, it's interesting to me that I mean the the FB is not the most I guess technically complex watch in this category. It's it's among them for sure. Um, but I think it's it's it's clear that this is a watch oriented around the idea of chronometry sort of to steal a phrasing from you, Jack. Like it's oriented around chronometry for its own sake. Like that is that is the raison d'etre of this watch in a way that I think some of the other watches in this category you could argue have other things, right? Like the the Prezuzo is also a gem set watch with a bunch of turbulions that's meant to be sort of visualally appeing. The Armenstrom has this idea of resonance attached to it. The Zenith Defy is about this all new regulating organ. The IWC is still at the end of the day. It's it's a big pilot. It's a complicated big pilot, but it's a big pilot. Uh and the tag is is really about this sort of one innovation, the the isograph uh balance spring. But uh there's something about the Burtu that that really makes sense here. And you know, for for full disclosure, you will hear on this episode, uh, Ferdinand Bertud is our sponsor this week. Um, but that that obviously had no impact on the uh the results.
Unknown Actually, the information that they're sponsoring this episode traveled backwards in time. Uh Yes. Um it's one of the things the watch does. It uh causes these weird little eddies in the space time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how good it is
Unknown . Sure. Uh I'll answer it if I can. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if you can or not, but when you analyze these watches, do you have all of the chronometry data on hand? Because to me it's a pretty simple. The most accurate watch would win this award
Unknown . Yeah, it's it's tough because um the the way to do it would be to have you would to really do it right, you would have to have a third an independent third party testing agency um do you know classic 30-day observatory uh you know uh rate the watches and positions, you know, see how the uh you know how balance amplitude and positional variations shake out over um the entire uh power reserve of the watch. Um you know it's it's one I remember many, many years ago sitting next to Stephen Forzi at a dinner, I think it was two thousand six, maybe, maybe earlier, um, when they first launched Group of Forzi in New York. Uh and um he gave me a fascinating, fascinating uh look into the rationale for what they were trying to do with their turbions, with their multi you know, with their multi-axis turbulence in terms of accuracy. And I said to him, yeah, it's but but d does it really offer a significant advantage over, you know, just a really well-made lever escapement watch. And he looked at me and laughed and said, you know, it's always a struggle to gain more than you lose. So with additional complexity, obviously comes the possibility for um additional uh factors that may upset the rate stability of the watch. Right. Um and you know, you look at watches that w won chronometry competitions in the past. There there were some turbulence that scored extremely well. But by and large, you know, these were not watches that had a lot of additional bells and whistles designed to make them more accurate. They were simp they were simply constructed very, precisely made watches that were adjusted within an inch of their life by people who were at the top of their game, specifically for the observatory, you know, competition trials, but they were generally complicated
Unknown watches. Right. Yeah. Like thermo thermocompensated balance wheels and things like that, but not torbillon mechanisms. Yeah, yeah. And like I said, there are exceptions. I mean,
Unknown um, you know, there are uh observatory turbions that uh you know scored uh very, very high in their respective categories, number one on a you know for a number of years. Pdoadck Philippe observatory turbulence did very well, for instance. Uh you know, uh pocket watches. But um yeah, so long story short, I think chronom I mean chronometry is tough because there are things that you can do that are illustrative of the pursuit of chronometry and that refer, you know, back to its the various ways in which it's been pursued. But um you know with chronometry it's like you gotta put your money where your mouth
Unknown is all right so up next we've got another complicated category. Uh this is the calendar and astronomy category. Um it's kind of a similar field actually to some of the previous ones. Uh and the winner was Hermes with the uh Arso the Arso Leur de la Lune. There we go, Jack. There we go. As I'm stumbling over and I'm getting mealy-mouthed here and you're you're stepping in and saving me. You'll see after a week in Geneva is the accent. Uh I personally love this watch. I'm super happy to see this win. Um yeah, I'm I I got nothing more than that, but this is this is a killer watch. I've I've loved this since I saw it at SIHH and I think uh it'd be tempting with the calendar and astronomy category to go for something super like technical and kind of nerdy. Uh and instead I like the idea that like this is something really poetic. Like you can show this watch to somebody who knows nothing and they're gonna be like, oh my God, what is that?
Unknown Yeah, you know, to me the cool thing about this category is six great watches, all of which had very, very different value offerings. Um you know, and I I mean I know I keep saying it, but it was tight. Um I know the Hermes Arceulur de la Lune has a lot of uh fans here at Hodenki, um, and I think that there's certainly a reason for that. You know what was cool for me to see in person was the Sarpa Neva, um, which has and they used uh um uh fiber optics for the uh for the moon phase on that one. Yeah. And uh I actually took the watch into a dark corner of the room and shown a uh UV torch on it. And you know, the illusion that you're looking at an actual full moon kind of like through a slightly misty sky, it's it's very, very vivid. I mean it's uh Yeah, it's cool. This again is one of the great things about being on the jury. You get to see watches you might not otherwise have seen. And uh I thought it
Unknown was pretty nifty. I won't uh I won't call him or her out by name. Um, but a one of your fellow jurors and I had a conversation after the awards at the the little dinner uh reception afterwards. Uh and they said that they think this is the coolest watch that didn't win anything, uh the, Sarpaneva. And I'm I'm tempted to agree with them that like this is quietly like one of the coolest watches in the competition. And it's it's kind of a shame that it it didn't find a way to take home a prize because uh Stepan really did an awesome job here. I agree. And you know, again, this speaks
Unknown to the real diversity of opinions among the jurors, too, and the real strength of feeling people have about the choices they make
Unknown . This bonus episode is brought to you by Ferdinand Bertud. The modern Ferdinand Beartube brand launched in 2013 with the goal of making complex watches focused on precise chronometry, much like its namesake, an 18th-century master of the marine chronometer. The brand's first watch, the FB1, took home the prestigious Grand Prize at the 2016 Grand Prix d'horlogerie de Genève, and just last week they won yet again, this time being awarded the chronometry prize for the carburized steel regulator. Carrying through much of the FB1's DNA is the new FB1L, a watch that shows the time as well as the phase and age of the moon, inspired by scientific exploration and the spirit of the Enlightenment. The FB1L has Ferdinand Bertude's signature 44mm octagonal case design with a round, spacious dial at the center. The hours and minutes are displayed at 12 o'clock, with a large central seconds hand emphasizing the watch's focus on precision. New though are the age of the moon and the phase of the moon displays, both of which reside in the bottom half of the dial. These displays deviate just one day every 577 years, making them some of the more accurate astronomical complications on the market today. All of this is powered by the caliber FB The power barrel and constant force fusion chain mechanism are both open so you can see them functioning, and the 1 minute turbion has an impossibly delicate looking cage that seems to float down at 6 o'clock. It's a true tour de force of modern watchmaking. Only 20 of these watches will be made in total: 10 with a combination white gold and black ceramic case, and 10 with a combination ceramized titanium and white gold case. This is a truly unique watch built for collectors who crave something special. For more on Ferdinand Bertude and the Chronomet FB1L, visit ferdinandbertude.ch. Alright, let's get back to the show. Mechanical exception. This is like the most complicated category. Um, and the watch the one is the Genus GNS 1.2, um, which is this sort of independent brand founded by these these this sort of like small collective of watchmakers in Geneva. It's cool thing. One thing worth noting here and and not to take away from their win at all. I always personally love it uh when the little guys win. Um and and this clearly was like monumental for them. Uh the the two people who accepted this were basically in tears. Um it was it was really awesome to see. Yeah, it's an an emotional night. Uh one thing to note though is that uh and this is a bit of a spoiler, three of the other watches in this category uh won other awards, um, which then disqualifies them from being able to win their own category because you can't double up. So one thing to note is is that uh you know we don't know what order the the voting came in, but it is worth noting that of the six watches in this category, uh it produced four winners, um which I think speaks maybe to the sort of like uh preferences of the jury that that m complicated watchmaking uh is something that that sort of spoke to the jury this year. Uh and I won't even make you weigh in on that, Jack. I'll let you uh maintain your Yeah, I'm gonna recuse myself from this one. Um so yeah, so up next we have the chronograph category, which I know a lot of us everyone's nodding now, like smiling and nodding, which is a good sign. Uh the watch that won here was the Bulgari Octofinissimo chronograph GMT automatic. Um and I have to say when this watch was announced, because the the the big prize, the Egidor, the the sort of like big, big prize, um is a watch from a category. It doesn't have its own category. And if a watch wins its category, you know that it's not winning the grand prize. And and heading in, there was lots of chatter that this watch from Bulgary might take home the the big the big kahuna uh that night. Uh and when it was announced there, was simultaneously like a cheer for it winning and also sort of like a huh for it having one because it meant it didn't win the big prize. But yeah, this bogerie uh to me this was this was hands down the best chronograph of the year. Uh you know, I don't think I'm giving anything away by the jury deliberations to say that uh I I think that there was no surprise here. Yeah. I mean I don't know if I mean we'll never know if a watch wins unanimously, but like I would not at all be surprised if this watch won this category unanimously. Uh yeah, I mean if I were sitting in the aud if if I had been sitting in the audience, I would have been surprised to see another watch win. Yeah, I think there would have been gasps and howling and wailing if uh somebody else had won this uh this category. I would have literally got up and left. Okay. No, I'm kidding. Okay, you would have had to have gotten past me, which would have been an issue. But uh yeah, I think it's it's a testament to to the strength of this watch that we're all just like, yeah, duh. Like it's the chronograph category, which is one of the most contested categories every year. And this year it was like we we knew. Like there was no question. Um sticking with sport watches, we then have the divers category. Uh and the divers category went to the Seiko Prospects LX line divers. Cole, you were pretty happy when this one was announced. Super, super stoked. Cole was che
Unknown ering. Yeah, I was. Clapping. Yeah. As a lifelong Seiko. Well, I won't say lifelong, because that's implies my entire life, but as a watch lifelong Seiko guy, I was super, super stoked. It kind of reminded me of uh a few years ago, you remember when Japanese whiskey dethroned Scotch whiskey at its own game, right? Yeah. So this is a Japan this is a Seiko coming into a Swiss competition and winning
Unknown . And you can tell. Like you can tell there's some some like ill will. Uh it wasn't as bad this year as it was a couple of years ago when when a Grand Seiko won I can't remember what prize, but the Grand Seiko GMT high beat won one of the big prizes a couple of years ago. And like you can tell it makes it makes the Swiss industry a little bit uncomfortable to watch the uh the Japan
Unknown ese win. But I mean they're like like Mr. Naita said in his speech, Japan is an island fairing nation, or seafaring nation, island nation. It just makes sense. Seiko makes a great dive
Unknown watch. Yeah. So here's the interesting thing to me about this category, and this reflects um one of the huge, huge challenges that the jury has. So you look at the six watches in this category, and you've got uh you know, you've got uh three watches that are arguably hardcore dive watches that look as if they were specifically designed for diving. The Ulyss Nardana's a little bit um, you know, on the fence in that respect. Feels a little bit more design forward than the lawn jeans. Um, but then you look at the other ones, and these are watches with completely different intentions from a design standpoint, yeah, than uh than the Seiko. So, you know, like and the Resence is a cool watch, the Reservoir is a cool watch, the Debathune is a cool watch. Um, but it's a huge, huge challenge to evaluate six such different watches at such different price points with such different uh clearly such different intentions and agendas. Um, you know, it makes it very, very difficult. Like the Day Bethune, for instance, like that's a super, super cool watch. But if you're trying to decide between that and the Seiko in the divers category, man, you've got your you've got your work cut out for you. Or do you though? I mean, all right
Unknown . We're going diving tomorrow, Jack. Right. Which wash do you tak
Unknown e? I mean, who are we diving with? What boat? How big is the boat we're diving off?
Unknown All right, all right. All right. To keep things moving, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to quash this beef, but uh we'll we'll have to bring you guys back to do a uh Battle of the Dive Watches uh show. Uh up next is is jewelry, which Jack referred to earlier, and here we've got the second win for Bulgari. Uh we've got the Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi Romani. Um I'll be totally blunt. I don't I don't know shit about jewelry. I know nothing about jewelry. Uh but I've seen this in person. I've seen two or three different variations on this in person. It's it's mind-blowing. Like this this is a thing where like you you don't need to know anything about jewelry to understand on the face of it why this is interesting.
Unknown This is the category of watches most likely to make the average GPHG juror say, Holy flirting snit, I can't believe I'm holding this thing in my hands. Okay. This is why we pay you the big bucks. And uh what is the value of something like this? Uh the bulg the retail for the Bulgaria is two point seven million Swiss, I believe. Okay
Unknown . It has it has a blue sapphire like the size of my It's
Unknown it's an amazing stone. Yeah, it's it's uh I think it's ten plus carats and it's uh the most it's it's such an incredible set bangle. I mean how many diamonds are there on this? It's gotta be
Unknown there. Yeah, it's hundred it's
Unknown hundreds of diamonds on this thing. It's wild. It is. I believe it's the most expensive high jewelry watch that Bulgary has ever created in its entire history, which if you're Bulgary is saying something
Unknown . Yeah. Uh sticking with with sort of the more artistic side of things, we've got the artistic crafts watches, uh, which is another category where like I am certainly not an expert. Uh and this was another duplicative award. This one also went to Vutalainen uh for the Starry Night Vine, which was a custom piece created uh for a client. So this is this is a unique uh one-off, one-off watch. Um it's Kari, but it's also handwork on the dial, it's multiple enameling techniques, it's it's pretty bonkers, uh bonker stuff. Ye
Unknown ah, I mean it's just a phenomenal, phenomenal piece to look at. The level of attention to detail is certainly there, but the uh artistry of the execution is uh it just cannot be gainsaid. You know, um you you look you look at this thing and you you really are looking at something that would be um you you could display it in a museum next to any collection of absolutely exceptional um you know enamel pieces that you could possibly imagine and it would uh it would not suffer by comparison.
Unknown Nice. Uh next up, we've got the petite aiguille, which is uh for watches under what Jack, under 10,000 Swiss francs? I'd I'd have to look. I believe it's under 10,000 Swiss francs.
Unknown Um You'd think uh that as a juror I would have this kind of thing committed to memory, but I mean the number of things I can commit
Unknown to memory goes you know down every year. So yeah, I think I do ten. So for this one, we we got another small independent uh winner with the Kudoke Kudoke 2. Um this is a watch I have never seen the metal. I have basically no experience, but uh it's a husband and wife duo who decided to launch a watch brand uh in Germany. And it's uh it looks from all the photos I've seen like like a pretty beautiful piece. Uh and again, it's it's nice to see nice to see the little guys taking on the likes of uh the big the big boys
Unknown . Yeah, they're um also um friends with the Haberings, I believe. Uh they publicly acknowledge them in their thank you speech for encouraging them to pr you know pursue their dream and not dilute their vision. Yeah. Cole, you seemed pretty uh pr
Unknown etty excited when these guys won. Yeah, well all right, full disclosure, I have never even heard of Kudoke. To me it sounds like a Japanese word or something like that. Right. And then uh saw the watch and oh wow, all right. And then yeah, the emotion, the the cadence of their speech, they pause, they recognize people. The saidy the hay brings got them into watchmaking. And again, just another example of two people with an idea, a vision, and we'll get to one later, I think. Yeah that was really emotional. But um yeah, I really like that. It was very cool to see that
Unknown . Awesome. John, you have any thoughts? Um yeah, I mean I think it's uh nice always nice to see the little guy win. I did not think that was gonna happen here. I think you know for value for money the IWC seemed like a uh with the bronze case, seemed like a really strong contender in this category and so I was really shocked actually when this when the uh results came in. Yeah how did your shock manifest itself? Uh did you gasp audibly
Unknown ? I gasped audibly. Did you need to go
Unknown to the bar cart for uh I think I think one of the cool things about this category though is like, you know, a number of us have never seen this watch or or in Cole's case heard heard of this brand and like that's where this award can be meaningful, right? Is like if IWC or Zenith produces another high-value, high-quality watch, like none of us are surprised. Whereas this now makes me want to go take a look at this brand. Like this, this is gonna change things, hopefully, for them and get them in front of a whole new audience. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, so the last of the standard categories uh is the challenge prize, which is even lower priced. I believe this is under five or six thousand uh Swiss francs. Um and the winner of this category, which uh Cole alluded to uh or no. And the winner of this category was one of the big guys. It was Tudor for the Black Bay P01, uh, which I know Cole is a huge fan of. This was another one that got quite a uh quite an applause and a holler from uh from
Unknown Cole. Yeah now Cole was Cole Cole was has been uh he was an early advocate of this one, which produced some pushback among uh the Tudor faithful, but uh you you kind of liked it right from jump
Unknown street. Yeah, I I still do. I mean I yeah I I think actually the general opinion, who knows? I mean who knows? We we kind of have our finger on the pulse, sure, but I think the general opinion is people are accepting this watch more and more. Yeah, I think it's kind of interesting to see
Unknown uh at least some um some sectors of the online community start to come around to your, you know, to your way of think thinking. And I it uh you know it it speaks to how um something we're not used to uh from a given brand can sometimes struggle to uh to reach an audience, you know, in early days. And we tend to make decisions about things very quickly. And I think that's Yeah, that's that's you know now now and and I think that that's natural. I mean the truth is um you know nowadays you're bombarded left and right by so much information you kind of have to do triage on what you like and don't like very, very quickly. Um but you know again it's nice to see it's nice to see that there's an opportunity for a more considered perspective once the initial dust settles. I
Unknown agree. Yeah when you think about it most watches are designed to be sold right designed to be sold crowd pleasers. This one was not out ofah they're designed
Unknown to be sold and they're designed to like you said please the crowd immediately, right? Because in a sea of of watches all competing for our attention, I think it's that initial reaction that uh that the designers are looking for. But this is a watch that is proven to to uh be successful at least by one measure winning this this award um uh over time. Yeah. Ye
Unknown ah. All right. So now we're gonna get into the special prizes, which um, you know, Jack, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the way this works is these prizes are chosen from the whole pool. So these can be from any category. Um there's there's a handful of them, including we're gonna get to the big the big guy. Um first up we have the innovation prize, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's for a watch that has an innovative complication or does something that's never been done before. Uh, and for that, we uh have the Vachron Constantan traditional twin beat perpetual calendar. Um which you know it's pretty damn innovative. It's pretty damn innovative. And uh that that that right there's an innovation. Yeah. Uh and it was fun. Vashram brought with them uh apparently the story here is this complication uh started out as a side project from two watchmakers who work in their complications department who kind of like had sketched it uh in their free time and they showed up at work one day and said like, hey, can we talk to somebody? And they showed this. And apparently the uh department in charge of budgets said, like, oh god, no. Um, oh, please, please don't do this to us. Uh, and instead, Vashron made the investment and uh let these guys kind of run run wild with this thing and develop something something really special. And you know, this is one of the things I do love
Unknown about Vashron. I mean they're a super, super traditional company and um, you know, uh you you look at their advertising, you look at their marketing messages, it's really, really strong on traditional watchmaking values. But they do uh spend money on technical innovation that they probably don't need to in order for their you know in or in order for what they do to be a business. And it's just it's just nice to see. Yeah, I agree
Unknown . It's it's nice to see that get rewarded too. Like especially that that's one where I'm glad this prize went to one of the big guys is I think it's nice to uh encourage the big brands, the people who might have a little bit of budget, the people who have bigger teams of watchmakers who can attract some of the top talent to encourage them to keep pushing it and not to kind of like rest on their laurels. And I think this is what Vachron did. Vashron, you know, took a risk and and really decided to kind of like shoot for the stars here. And it's it's nice to see them get the recognition
Unknown . Yeah, it's good to see a brand like Vashron kind of like I would say, like you guys said, pushing it and then hopefully you know th,ings will come out of uh watches developments that will eventually trickle down into more, you know, uh wearable scale types of watches. Uh trickle down watchonomics. Yeah
Unknown . Something like that. Uh all right. So things that won't trickle down. Uh we've got the watch that won the Audacity Prize, which is again exactly what it sounds like. Uh and that went to the Urwork AMC, which uh Jack, this is this is the prize you announced, right? Yes. Yeah. This watch is is bananas. It's absolutely nuts. I mean it's pretty damned audacious. Yeah. That there's an audacious watch. Ben was really hot on it when we uh were talking in our in our sort of preview episode, and I think rightfully so. Uh essentially it's a sympathique, right? Like it's the the watch, the mechanical watch docks into an atomic clock and then sets the watch to match the atomic clock. It's audacious
Unknown , but it also references something that's existed for hundreds of years, right? Yeah that's true. Albeit in a completely modern
Unknown way. So the uh the the couple of interesting things technically about this particular piece, number one, like the Bruguay Saint-Patique, uh the all the connections between the master clock and the watch are purely mechanical, so there are no electronic linkages. So you place the watch in the cradle and uh the watch is uh regulated, wound, and uh set uh through purely mechanical um purely mechanical interactions, which is pretty amazing. The second thing is yes that I mean that alone is pretty incredible. The second thing is the atomic clock is actually a bespoke atomic clock. So you can buy off-the-shelf uh atomic clocks, but this one they designed from the ground up well with the help of uh you know a physicist team that was uh you know I think pretty exhausted by the whole process. I mean you know, but and I mean really from the ground up. Like they looked through their available options in terms of which um which ions they would use uh as resonators in the atomic clock, you know, kind of started from there and just built the whole thing up from scratch. So I don't think anybody's ever done a bespoke atomic clock before. All right Although I guess in a sense the early ones were all bespoke, but uh it's still pr
Unknown etty pretty incredible technical achievement. Also not at all connected to the watchmaking, but uh Felix Baumgartner got up on stage in a suit and some high top Jordans uh to accept this award, which strong move, Felix. Yeah. I applaud that. Um all right, we've got one more before the big prize. We've got the horological revelation prize. This one's a little more confusing. Jack, can you kind of explain to us what the the jury's thought process is when they're picking a watch here before we before we reveal the winner? Ye
Unknown ah, so revelation in a kind of uh in in for an English speaker somewhat archaic sense here, in the sense of something that is um uh new you know, sort of new on the scene and kind of an unex
Unknown pected and pleasant surprise. Cool. Uh and I think then it is very fitting that this w uh this prize went to Ming for the 17.06 Copper. It was awesome to watch those guys win. You know, we knew we know those guys pretty well. Future Hodinky radio guests. And uh yeah, they were just it was like watching a bunch of like collectors and friends who you know from like your local watch meetup get to go up and accept an award there. And it was like it was so much fun and they were so happy to be up there on stage. I have to say, I have known o
Unknown kay, so you know, full full disclosure, uh I know Ming for close to twenty years. When I first met him he was sixteen years old and he was posting uh he was posting watch move watch movements that he had designed in his spare time uh on uh the purists dot com. And I mean crazy, crazy, crazy over-the-top stuff, much more Baroque and much more complex than the watches he makes now. But a lot of the basicic aesthets were already there, which is interesting to see. Yeah. Um I just can't believe
Unknown I've known the guy for twenty years. Twenty years. Wow. Uh Cole and I got to circle up with him and and his team uh afterwards because he had his team with him. He was one of the few people uh who took more than like one person up on stage with him. It wasn't like him and a business partner. It was like four guys up on stage. It would have been five. But it was a proper fascinating. It was cool. It was nice. Again, like if we're talking about the Oscar vibes, it was it was I had a glass
Unknown of champagne with him after the uh you know at the after party and I said to him, Ming, come on, you like twenty years ago, you were sixteen, I was just this like grubby guy on the purist dot com and here we are, you're you won a prize and I'm on the jury. Peace in our time. Guess it dwell for
Unknown yourself. Yeah, you guys make good. Um all right. Last up, the big prize, the big kuna. Oh wait, yeah. We should we should we should probably mention the special
Unknown jury prize though just because Not a watch, but it's a fish network. Do you wanna do you wanna talk us through that? So not a watch, not a watchmaker, but probably the only person in the entire watch industry who could get uh so many different brands, many of whom are bitter competitors, uh all in the same place for the same purpose. Uh Mr. Luke Petavino, who was the founder of OnlyWatch, OnlyWatch as everybody knows exists, to raise uh funds to uh try to find a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is a uh degenerative and irreversible disorder of skeletal muscle in the body, it produces progressive weakening. Uh, and his son, uh, who passed away uh not long ago, uh was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is the impetus for uh for Luke to uh start um start the only watch auction. And uh I have to say I cannot and I think that the consensus at the G at the GPHG uh during and during the award ceremony as well was uh uh absolute uh there's no there's nobody that we can think of who deserved the prize more. What a year for him to win too. Yeah. Given what happened over at OnlyWat
Unknown ch with Attack, you know. True. Um guy to have a stand
Unknown ing ovation. No watch got a standing ovation. He he raises a colossal sum of
Unknown money that goes in a very, very worthwhile direction. Something like thirty, thirty-eight million Swiss francs or something like that that they raised this time, which is just a
Unknown ton of money. That's wild. Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty pretty cool to watch. Um, obviously pretty emotional. And I gotta say, Arrell Box gives a hell of an introductory speech. He really uh he did it for Jean Claude Beaver last year, and then this one, uh that guy, that guy can give a give a speech. He's good in front of a crowd. He is hella good in front of a crowd. I mean, listen, Aurel is Aurel for a reason. It's true. Uh all right. Last thing. The big kahuna. The uh Jack, how how do we pronounce this? Eguidor. There we go. The big prize. Um, this is essentially the watch of the year award. Uh, and it went to Otomar P Gay uh for the Royal Oak self-winding perpetual calendar ultra thin, which people might know as the RD2, uh, is what it was called before its its final version. Um, this is a watch that by by this point in the ceremony, I think everyone in the room knew this was the winner. Uh, it had not been awarded anything yet. And I think I think the the vibe was in the room. It was the third prize for Ottomar Pi Gay. Um you could tell Francois, the uh CEO, was uh really loving uh getting to keep going up up to the dais uh as as it was well earned. Um and yeah it's it's cool. I mean you know Julio Poppy um from APRP was acknowledged uh during this win uh got to talk to him after the ceremony and like he's like the most humble guy in the entire watchmaking industry despite being a total genius. Um this watch is just awesome. Like it's complicated, it's innovative, it's cool. It's a watch that like if you don't know anything about watchmaking, you can still enjoy. Like, I don't know. For me, this this seems this seems right. What do you guys think
Unknown ? Yeah, I mean, I think as I I think it was maybe Steven who alluded to in the last podcast about GPHD. Um this is a watch that combines the cool factor or I guess the the popular cool factor of AP with like the you know, the watchmaking chops that those of us who like kind of live and breathe watchmingak absolutely know that they have in spades. Um in it in it yeah. I mean this is like you said, a watch that you don't really need to know anything about watchmaking to know that this is that's one damn cool watch
Unknown . Yeah, you know we had uh we had a couple of record setters uh for flatness this year. We had uh the Bulgary and we had the AP and uh just both really, really incredible watches. And you know, I mean um I I I wrote about the uh Royal Oaks self winding perpetual calendar ultra-thin for the site. And a lot of those numbers were still fresh in my uh you know head for the uh for the jury deliberations. And uh, you know, I don't I don't think that I'm violating any confidentiality to say that I I think this is an extraordinary watch. Um, you know, from a technical standpoint, uh there's no there's it's really traditional, traditional watchmaking. I mean, there's none of the decisions that uh Giulio Papi made in terms of figuring out how to get a perpetual calendar and a mut calendar into a movement this flat would have been um hard to understand for a watchmaker from a hundred years ago. Yeah. You know? It's just it's real high-end, center of the road, bullseye, sophisticated Swiss auterie, classic, classic Swiss authorie, and as kind of a statement of what the industry should aspire to. I thought it was I think it's a fantastic watch
Unknown . Well I don't got I don't have anything else to add. That's uh that's it. I'm out. Did you w
Unknown rite about this watch, Jeff? And I think you know it's worth mentioning that in a year with with certainly ups and downs for AP, um this was a a nice way to to kind of bring the year to an end, I think. Yeah, that
Unknown 's true. That's true. And uh congrats to to Francois and to Julio and to the the whole team over there. Um it's a heck of a thing. Heck of a thing to to win the award and you know, the field this year was strong. I mean I I really think looking at the the uh competitors this year there were there were some strong watches and most categories had enough pieces in it that I think it was pretty I know you can't say anything Jack but I think it was probably a pretty tightly contested uh race this year for most of these prizes. Ye
Unknown ah, that I can definitely say. I mean, you know, I so the I I certainly would not be able to um you know say what any any one jurors or group of jurors' decisions were, what people argued for, what they didn't argue for, but I can definitely say very, very strong debate for a lot of categories, very strong competition. And um I felt I felt like a an unusually high number of really significant watches that were strong competitions for each other in each category. Awesome. So you
Unknown know, exciting here. Well thanks guys. Thanks for doing this. And uh, you know, good thing we could could do this little recap and uh we'll have a lot more for people soon. Auction coverage, more interviews. Things are gonna keep coming. Busy season. 2019, a good year for watches. 2019, a good year for watches. That's uh if we did episode titles like that, that would be the title of this episode. Uh cool. Thanks, guys. Thank you all. Cheers. Today's episode was recorded at Hodinki H Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Monday with a full episode.