“MY GPHG WINNERS”

Many people don’t know, every single year in Switzerland there is a contest of prominent watch companies called Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève - GPHG , in different categories competing watches, and they have on every single one of them a winner, plus a few people, and obviously one big winner, while the it takes the judges which are watch experts and specialist debate and vote on these watches.

It’s very to see the entire watch community coming together and humanly compete for fun, while at the moment they came out with winners already, I don’t agree on a lot of them, also I feel they have to give some to the bigger companies while smaller brands some times have more innovation, therefore I would love to give my input who i think should be the winners, time is not on my side, I will keep it short, here we go.

To start off with the “Ladies timepieces”, there are a-lot of watch companies sending in their watches and only six of every category gets picked out, and from they’re their is only one winner, the winner this year in the “ladies timepieces” was the Piaget Hidden Treasures, to be honest all the brands have lacked innovation this year, even Arnold & Sons and Hermes which usually come out with new watches, these watches I have seen last year and there is really nothing to it, Van Cleef as usual just loaded with diamonds which looses the point of a watch, it is just a jewelry piece.

This takes me to my winner this year which is XRby LA MONTRE D'ART Espressione Romantica, I don’t know the brand personally as I have never seen in real life, But what I see is a Beautiful innovative dial, a sick sapphire crystal case which is super hard to make, and lastly new reconstructed In House Movement which is very rarely seen in ladies watches, I think this watch is a winner.

Next is the “Ladies Complication Category” which as described it is only complicated watches, as we see here these are not really very complicated watches, but more complicated design watches.

This year winner is the Dior Grand Soir the winner, I must say the dial is a serious dial with no complains, it is as 3D as their could be probably MSRP 1 Million dollars, but I think its been very low the bar with these watches this year.

As we get into the men’s watches category their is a lot of winners in different categories I will try to break it down which ones I think are winners, I think its obvious that some companies didn’t try and I'm happy Rehebi didn’t win as it is nothing special even though every talks about the watch, it is a simple watch.

Though Simon Brette Watches watches did win ‘Horological Revelation” which is nice, as this piece is one of a kind with this sick dial and gold movement and hands, I think Simon executed perfectly, though its still a prototype lets hope the sold product will be the same.

Another winner is Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud CHRONOMèTRE FB 3SPC, it won the “chronometre prize”, if you look at the watch you definitely see a winner a chronometre one in the world, I have seen it on other people, besides it being the perfect size it is a true weekend watch with a half open dial it is a true beauty and I Ferdinand will win more depends on the waitlist to get one.

For the men’s complicated watches, the winner was Voutilainen world timer, to me its a big miss as this is nothing special for Voutilainen and they’ve been mastering these watches for a long time.

I think the tru winner should of been ArtyA Watches “Tiny Purity Tourbillion”, first we should celebrate with the sapphire crystals as it is special, the crazy exposed Tourbillion movement, also fact that a smaller company was able to get ahead so far I think says a lot.

For the “iconic watch category” the winner was the Ulysse Nardin Freak one, I think it is the perfect watch the celebrate as a icon as well as the IWC Schaffhausen Ingenieur is also a really great choice.

As we’re getting into the real complicated stuff, I think we have to look from a perspective of something of innovative but also something that’s really special as all of them are worth their dollars so to speak as they are master watches, the winner was LAURENT FERRIER Grand Sport, to be honest this watch is a very special watch as Laurent Ferrier watches are truly unique and special, my only issue is they all look the same and the Tourbillion is in the back, but it is a great choice the winner.

These watches in calendar and astronomy are serious stuff from Felipe Pikullik to BOVET to Parmigiani Fleurier SA , any of them could be the winner, for me I think although the right choice might be the Bovet as it won this year,

My winner is the Pamigiani as it has innovated and made the Chinese calendar which is super complicated while keeping to its original design and status, also Felipe should be a serious candidate and I could see him coming in strong in the market in the next few years.

From the “Mechanical exception category” we had two winners, one which one the entire contest which is the “ Audemars Piguet code 11.59 ultra complication” it is a really big thing as this watch is a almost “2 million dollar watch” it has a Moon phases, Flyback chronograph, Split Second Chronograph, Perpetual calendar, Minute Repeater, Striking WatchSemi-Gregorien, Petite, Grande Sonnerie, I can write for every single one of them how special and important each one is, and you can make a expensive watch only with any of the complications it has.

To be frank it bothers me that such a big company had to win it and not a small company which has never won something, or a company which can use a boost in sales, but I'm glad such a prestige watch company did win it.

One company I am glad which one a prize is HAUTLENCE SPHERE SERIES 1, as a newish company with a lot of great ideas and beautiful flying watch it is something special to win, especially the “innovative prize” as their are very few companies that will make such watches.

When it comes to chronograph there’s a lot of choices to choose from, and this year the winner is Petermann Bédat which makes me happy as they truly are amazin and special watches, from the other side I would like to see Grand Seiko Europe winning, it almost looks like they wont let any Japanese companies win, who am I to say.

This was a chutzpa to even consider Tudor Watch to be the winner, I don't think there’s anything creative com pared to the other five, and even though I wrote a article compared to Rolex and their good parts, this is makes no sense, first of all the Chopard is a definite winner as a sports watch, wearing it and holding it, you know they mean business, second of all Tim Gr?nefeld is another serious sports watch which is one in the world which should of been a winner, third IWC Schaffhausen Ingenieur is a new beautiful redone watch has much more to sell than the tudor should of been a winner, but lastly TAG Heuer flyback chronometer is so crazy and new for Tag that it shouldn’t even be a question, but this looks paid of by Rolex. (Unfollow me if you don’t like me anymore ??).

For the jewelry I have no comment, the winner is Bvlgari congratulation.

I don’t know how they choose these watches, I am wondering if they need some fish in their head? Because Rudis Sylva SA fish should of won or Ateliers Louis Moinet savanah tiger made out of a puzzle off 75 piece dial should of won, but instead they chose the simplest watch on the market, the Piaget which has nothing to it.

When it comes to PETITE AIGUILLE I always get excited because we speak about watches in the affordable price range, under 10k with strong emotion watches, the winner this time is the Christopher Ward which is the perfect choice, Habring2 is a great company but didn’t change in a few years, Louis Erard SA X Konstantin Chaykin is also a watch that i thought would win as we see a lot of companies now doing collabs, and Konstantin is definitely a great watch maker, but the most exciting part is the Christopher Ward watch is $3,500 but carries like a $20,000 true timepiece worth checking out.

Another hypocrite is the the challenge category, the true winner should of been kurono tokyo – kurono by hajime asaoka or SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION which both are serious watches but not chosen as they are Japanese watches, and the winner is RAYMOND WEIL which should of not won, not because they are a terrible company, but there are much more suitable watches to win.

Last but not least, we can write about every single watch on this article, a article by itself, but space and time does’t let me, here’s something that is very rarely spoken about which is “clock”, there are real specialists like Miki Eleta and MB&F which produce one in the world pieces, this year though they did not present.

We have two winners in this category, one is L’Epée 1839 they make crazy clocks from planes to cars truly beautiful pieces and one of a kind and worth investing although its a bit expensive it is definitely worth it, they won the mechanical clock category.

The second clock is the Maison Alcée which actually won the “audacity prize” which as much as I know it was always given to watches not clocks, but here this piece is very unique and worth winning.

Thank you for running in.

See you next week

BH