Do you really need a watch to tell you if it is a leap year – actually, do you need any device at all for this since one only needs to be able to count to four? Alternatively, the sports-obsessed (or Omega collectors) could just go by the Olympics, although the pandemic gummed up the works for 2020. Need, of course, is a bit of a dirty word in horology but having a calendar that flawlessly tracks the days, dates, months and years – without intervention – is handy.
Of course, calling a perpetual calendar handy undersells what is effectively a high complication – the perpetual calendar is one of four peaks in haute horlogerie, the others being the tourbillon, the splitseconds chronograph and the minute repeater. Like the repeater and the chronograph, the perpetual calendar is properly useful. It is also the only complication to make what it does seem so easy. Deceptively so, with strong consequences for the uninitiated.
The reality is much more complex and nuanced with the perpetual calendar, which is also widely known by its name in French: quantième perpétuel, or QP for short. This is the most elegant acronym in watchmaking, and even lends itself to the name of a magazine, but we digress… Given that this high complication is occupying so much space this issue – and has already featured strongly this year in Spring and Festive before it – you would rightly expect a good deal of complexity. This is true even of the radically simple proposition from Ochs und Junior and we will get there, but not yet. As always, with stories such as this one, an extended introduction is called for so that you can decide how to approach it. It is also necessary because we do not claim that whatever we can squeeze into these 20 or so pages is everything you might care to know.
This means that we must explain what we are including and what is being deliberately left on the cutting room floor.
Bu hikaye WOW Singapore dergisinin Issue 74 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye WOW Singapore dergisinin Issue 74 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
BUOYANT HEAVYWEIGHTS
The ubiquitous use of titanium and carbon fibre does not satisfy a growing number of watch lovers; the indisputable rise of quiet design vexes them. The recent release of hefty and heavy timepieces, especially in the dive watch segment, proves that some just like it big
YEN FOR PRECISION
While we typically think of watchmaking as a Swiss matter, this ignores the powerful contributions of Japanese industry and know-how. We begin this deep dive with a look at the biggest names in the game
LEGENDARY DEPTHS
From pioneering chronographs to revolutionizing dive watches, Longines has always been at the forefront of horological advancements. Explore how the Swiss brand's journey through water-resistance shaped the future of dive watches-and made a splash in the process
LEAPING AHEAD
IWC updates the perpetual calendars in its Portugieser range with four new models
HOLDING THE HIGH GROUND
Chanel's 2024 collection represents a rare moment where haute couture and haute horlogerie coexist perfectly
SARTORIAL TIMING
Parmigiani Fleurier encourages us to take a second, and perhaps third, look at the new Toric collection of watches
LEFT HAND DRIVE
The DOXA SUB 300T Aristera is a tribute to the brand's heritage in dive watches, combining the original design with a left-handed twist for 2024, offering the standout features that made DOXA renowned while breaking new ground in functionality
LIVING HISTORY
A. Lange & Söhne has spent the better part of this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of the seminal Datograph. With the Datograph Handwerkskunst, the watch is elevated to the highest level
THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
Since its inception, Rolex has never wavered in its pledge to create the world's finest watches for anyone, anywhere
SWEET SPOT
The Longines Legend Diver is just the right amount of watch for a contemporary sports model that could also pull dress watch duties