Amazing Arrangement

[caracarnj]

PIAGET offers a pleasing new perpetual calendar arrangement in this year's Emperador Coussin, which even manages to find space for a second time zone in a sub-dial between 7 and 8pm. Unfortunately, that appears to have been at the sacrifice of the moonphase display, no doubt in return for a relatively flat profile on the wrist.

Audemars Piguet celebrates the 30th anniversary of their ultra-flat perpetual calendar mechanism from 1978, with a handsome blue Jules Audemars version, which is housed in precious platinum. This 41mm piece will sit just 4mm high on your wrist, and they've managed to keep the moonphase display too.

All right, the issue of price may just have obliged you to pass on the rose gold and platinum versions of IWC's very special Kurt Klaus Da Vinci perpetual calendar chronograph in the past. But what if we were to tell you that it's now available in 3,000 stainless steel pieces? Miss this lot and there are no more, the brand has warned us. Love those rose gold hands and markers against the stainless steel!

In the exalted realm of minute repeaters, two names that are repeatedly mentioned with reverence are Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. In Patek's case, we are happy to announce that their understated reference 5078 example housed in platinum is now available with a black as well as a white enamel dial.

We recently asked Patek president Philippe Stern which his preferred case would be for such minute repeater watches. Without hesitation, he answered rose gold. But he tells us that platinum is what his repeater buyers consistently seem to prefer.

So after you've produced a revolutionary Grande Sonnerie, what next? In Francois Paul Journe's case, the answer is to make an ultra-flat minute repeater which at first glance looks no bulkier than his simple Chronometre Souveraine wrist-watch.

Interestingly, this independent watchmaker continues to insist that steel (and not the rose gold suggested by Patek) is the best casing for his sounding watches. Patented features for 2008's Repetition Minutes Souveraine include a flat rather than round gong, which sits just under the watch dial. This, in turn, means that the proud owner gets to watch the hammer striking at a window just above the 9 o'clock marker on the dial.

But to really raise your eyebrows, take a look at what Daniel Roth has done this year: Their Il Giocatore Veneziano combines the sound of the minute repeater with an animated hand-painted dial. Activate it, and the 16th century Venetian gentleman rolls dice inside two cups, while the candle on the table actually flickers. You can even make him lift up the cups to reveal any of the 504 possible falls of the dice, thanks to the wizardry of Francois Junod, whose works were featured in the wonderful Tempus watch fair here in Singapore last year.

What's more, it can be made to move in sync with the minute repeater soundings, or separately. Try to figure out how they've managed to squeeze all the mechanisms for the time, the sounds and the automata inside this watch case. Amazing!

For mere mortals like most of us, who can never dream of ever affording a Patek or a Journe minute repeater, Chopard's LUC division has been kind enough to again provide us with a starter version. The LUC Tech Strike 1, as it's called, will be made available in a 100-piece titanium version this year. You get to see the hammer on the dial side of this 40.5mm watch, which strikes just once per hour (or on demand). You can also brag about a longer-than-usual 65-hour power reserve when not wearing this auto watch - thanks to two stacked barrels