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STYLE & FASHION
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
****
SATURDAY/SUNDAY • AUGUST 13-14, 2011 | D9
WEIRD, WILD WATCHES
In Monaco next month, a high-stakes auction of one-of-a-kind tickers will attract fanatics from around the
world. Here’s a sneak peek at the technically astounding, decidedly eccentric treasures
BY MICHAEL CLERIZO
IT’S THE MOMENT THEY’VE been
 Bell & Ross’
waiting for, and not a minute too
BR01 Casino
soon. Next month, avid collectors of
watch.
the world’s most prestigious watches
Expected Price:
will descend upon Monaco for the bi$30,000ennial charity auction Only Watch.
$55,000
It’s a watch-off for a cause in which
40 of the most formidable timepiece
makers—from Patek Philippe to Vacheron Constantin—will create one-of-akind designs, all going to the highest
bidders. Typically, the pieces sell for
no less than €10,000 (about $15,000),
but plenty reach into the six figures,
and a few edge toward the €1 million
mark. And even with the market in a
tailspin, a similarly strong showing is
expected this year.
Only Watch is the brainchild of Luc Pettavino, a
Monaco resident whose son
suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the fatal
disease that affects young
people. Proceeds from the
auction benefit Mr. Pettavino’s charity, the Monaco
Association Against DMD,
which received close to €7
million from the three previous auctions in 2005, ’07
and ’09.
 MB&F’s Horological Machine No. 4
Demand for the watches— Thunderbolt ‘Flying Panda.’ Expected
sought out by billionaires
Price: $140,000-$335,000
from Beijing to Zurich and
time-obsessed enthusiasts willing to
max out their plastic for something
 Celsius
unique—is so great that a pre-auction
X VI II’s
world tour is organized. The watches
Pièce
crisscross Asia this month, arrive in
Unique.
Los Angeles on Sept. 9 and New York
Expected
on Sept. 12 before traveling to Monaco
Price:
for the auction on Sept. 23.
$55,000On the big day, which falls during
$85,000
the principality’s yacht show, boats as
big as ocean liners crowd Monaco harbor tempting the ultra-rich tooling
around the port city in fleets of Ferraris, Maybachs and Bentleys. Add to
that the expected appearance of Prince
Albert (with his new wife?) at the aucof watchmakers who take months to
tion, and you get the most glamorous
meticulously assemble the tiny, perdate on the watch world’s calendar.
fectly formed and finished compoAlthough the makers and designers
nents, including a tourbillon—a device
behind the timepieces for Only Watch
adapted from pocket watches that enfrequently use symbolism to suggest
sures constant, exact timekeeping—
the fight against DMD, extravagance,
and the facility to chime the hours
craftsmanship and technology are the
and minutes with the push of a butreal draws for collectors.
ton. Expect the Patek to be the aucIn 2009 a Patek Philippe watch
tion’s top seller again.
earned €535,000, the highest price
Richard Mille is the only brand doever paid at Only Watch. This year the nating a used watch, but it’s one that
brand has encased, in the rare form of
has a proven track record as a lucky
stainless steel, the legendary 3939A.
charm. The RM 027 was worn on
The model requires an extensive team
court by tennis star Rafael Nadal
 Van Cleef &
Arpels’s
Poetic
Complication.
Expected
Price:
$140,000$215,000
 Patek Philippe’s 3939A.
Expected Price: $640,000$920,000
 Vacheron Constantin’s Métiers d’Art
Perspectives d’Art Dove watch. Expected Price: $115,000-$170,000
during the 2010 season, when he won
three Grand Slam titles. Mr. Nadal’s
initials appear on the dial, and to
avoid interfering with the champ’s
backhand, the watch is made from
light materials like titanium and lithium, resulting in a total weight of
less than 20 grams.
Vacheron Constantin’s offering,
called Dove, features the universal
symbol of hope on an M.C. Escher-inspired dial of red and white doves in
flight. The birds are depicted using
three different enameling processes
and guilloche, a delicate method of en-
FAST FIVE
 Ikepod’s
‘Hourglass’
designed
by Marc
Newson.
Expected
Price:
$20,000$35,000
graving watch dials. One dove is set
with 40 tiny diamonds.
Two Only Watch lots are not actual
watches. Ikepod, the brand that sells
designer Marc Newson’s timepieces,
has developed a tinted red, 10-minute
version of his voluptuous hourglass.
Standing six inches tall and five inches
wide at the base, this is not something
to strap to your wrist, unless you’re
very concerned about your biceps and
batwings. The hand-blown glass is
chemically treated, and the stainlesssteel nanoballs, which create a babbling brook-like sound, replace sand in
Mr. Newson’s new-old technology.
Celsius X VI II is a young
French brand producing cell
phone/mechanical watch hybrids.
On its Clamshell phone, so
named because it resembles a
mollusk, the watch displays two
time zones. Every time you
open the phone you’re automatically winding the watch,
which ingeniously blends 19thcentury mechanical traditions
with the technology of the 21st.
Bell & Ross has attempted to
take the chance out of gambling
with the BR01 Casino, where the
wearer is able to predict which
number will come up next on the
watch’s roulette wheel dial. The zero
on the dial displays the hours by
pointing to markers positioned where
most watches have hour numerals.
The roulette ball moves around the
dial indicating minutes. If the ball is
near the 5, you’ll know that the next
number is 6. The central disk of the
roulette completes a rotation every
60 seconds.
A flying theme is prevalent in a few
extraordinary Only Watch entries this
year. Jules Verne’s writing inspired
the Van Cleef & Arpels watch Poetic
Complication. The venerable jewelry
maison renders a fantasy of space and
flight in enamel, jade, agate, meteorite
and white gold. How does it show the
time? On the left side of the dial a sixpointed star functions as the hour
hand. The star moves upward along
an arc of numerals. After 12 hours, the
star descends and starts the journey
again. On the right side of the dial, a
spaceship traces a similar arc to indicate minutes.
Max Büsser is a watch industry entrepreneur and perpetual iconoclast.
HM4, the watch from his brand MB&F,
takes the flying metaphor to, well,
new heights. Two cones, HM4’s most
prominent features, are based on the
twin jet engines of the U.S. Air Force
A-10 Thunderbolt—a model of which
Mr. Büsser lovingly assembled as a
child. One cone displays hours and
minutes while the other shows a
power reserve indicating when the
watch will need winding. Then, there’s
the panda. Designed by Chinese artist
Huang Hankang, the animal, cast in
white gold, symbolizes childhood. (The
panda is detachable.)
This year, the big buyers are expected to come from the ranks of
millionaires and billionaires who
ogled the watches on their Far East
tour. Rumor has it that consortiums
are being formed to bid on the more
exceptional makes.
QUALITY MATTERS
COTTON
CLUB
HERE’S WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE OUR ORIGINAL CHINOS GREAT
GUARANTEED. PERIOD.®
Canvas oxfords keep
your feet cool in any
situation
We wash. You
wear. They come
to you lightly
washed and
broken in
Twill fabric
made from
100% cotton,
so they feel
good naturally
Every stitch,
zipper and
button is
tested, tested,
tested
© 2011 LANDS’ END®
Tailored
interior trim
too, because
comfort
usually
starts inside
landsend.com
P2JW225000-4-D00900-1--------XA
From top:
Mark McNairy
for Keds
Booster Shoe,
$60, urbanoutfitters.com; B
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Shoes, $310,
mrporter.com;
Canvas Grey
Brogue, $180,
topman.com;
Boburg Shoe in
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rachelcomey.com; The
Raider in Canvas, $138,
jshoes.com
F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal
Free
hemming
to the
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