The latest news in the world of luxury watches

Big Impact

The Hublot Design Prize has taken a notable turn in celebrating an emerging cohort of “hybrid designers”, as Hans Ulrich Obrist, president of the jury, puts it. It is less concerned about objects than about using art and design for social impact and tackling environmental problems. Last year’s winner, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, a Nigeria-based industrial designer, focuses on community-led and ethnographic-conscious design, while this year’s winner, Indian artist-activist Aqui Thami, uses art and performance to give a voice to marginalised communities. I highly recommend visiting Hublot’s newsfeed and individual websites to find out more about the inspiring work of the talented winners and finalists.

hublot.com/en-int/news-events

Form Watch

The last family-owned Swiss brand, Raymond Weil, will be presenting its novelties for the first time at next year’s Watches and Wonders Geneva. The Raymond Weil Freelancer collection was introduced in 2006 with a visible balance wheel and included the first mechanical range for ladies. Tapping into its history of form watches, Raymond Weil updates its Freelancer collection with square, cushion-shaped cased editions featuring gradient green or blue dials. The dials of the 34.5 x 34.5mm ladies’ novelties are detailed with a signature W guilloché pattern, framed by a bezel set with lab-grown diamonds. The larger 40mm gents’ pieces display the distinct balance wheel.

POA, raymond-weil.com or Picot & Moss 011 669 0500

TickTock

The Arnold & Son “Dial-Side True Beat” DSTB 42 features an open-works true-beat seconds mechanism on its dial. Originally a function with historical origins in the precision chronometers required by marine navigators that John Arnold supplied in the 1700s, the true-beat or deadbeat seconds requires an additional complex mechanism similar to an escapement to reduce the natural five beats of a regular watch to a single beat, ironically making it tick like a quartz watch. The new case and movement of this limited series completely revise a collection first revealed in 2014 and are presented in red gold or platinum.

POA, arnoldandson.com