Each year, Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) presents one of the most important awards in the watch world.
The Foundation of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG)’s principal goal is to promote watchmaking as an art form around the world by highlighting and annually honouring the most outstanding modern masterpieces.
The GPHG established in 2001, is a Foundation, designated as a public interest organisation since 2011. The Foundation Board is led by Raymond Loretan since 2018. The Canton and City of Geneva are in charge of the foundation. The latter succeeded Carlo Lamprecht, who co-founded the foundation with Carine Maillard, the current Director of the GPHG, and oversaw it from 2011 to 2017. Lamprecht served as President of the Geneva State Council.
By holding an annual competition comprising several hundred watches sold throughout the year and giving out the top honours in this field, the GPHG stands out as playing this unifying promotional role. By doing this, it advances the customs, know-how, and principles of Swiss - and indeed, global - watchmaking culture.
The Jury
The jury is made up of 30 people, including the President that are weighing with their expertise in making the selections to declare the winners. This select group are a “who’s who” in the watch world and include such illustrious names including:
Jean-Christophe Babin
CEO of Bulgari, the brand that won the 2021 “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix (according to the rules, the CEO of the brand that wins the “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix is invited to sit on the jury of the following edition).
George Bamford
Founder and CEO of Bamford Watch Department and Bamford London / United Kingdom
Jean-Claude Biver
Watch collector / Switzerland
Marine Lemonnier
Founder of 289 Consulting, communication expert / Switzerland
Wei Koh
Founder of Revolution and The Rake Magazines / Singapore
Editor Selects
This years awards features exceptional artistic and technical prowess in watchmaking from great talents in the industry. We have reviewed the watches up for awards in each category and have made our selections from the categories. The categories include:
CATEGORY: LADIES’ COMPLICATION
CHOPARD Imperiale Flying Tourbillon
The L.U.C Calibre 96.24-C, a technical prowess for such a small diameter, is the first flying tourbillon movement ever to be featured in the 1994-born IMPERIALE collection. This unique mechanism, which was entirely created and produced by Chopard, is one of just a few on the market that bear both the Poinçon de Genève quality seal and Chronometer certification. To complement the IMPERIALE Flying Tourbillon’s exceptional precision, the Maison’s artisans created a stunning robe. A mother-of-pearl marquetry lotus blossom is “embroidered” on the aventurine dial, which is framed by an ethical 18-carat white gold case adorned with diamonds. A soaring tourbillon that is both captivating and deeply moving is nestled within the latter. A sapphire crystal on the model’s rear exposes the Côtes de Genève design as well as the diamond-paved platinum micro-rotor.
CATEGORY: LADIES
Van Cleef & Arpels Perlée watch, 23 mm
This classic item, according to Van Cleef & Arpels history, features the recognisable gold bead design. This watch blends finesse in watchmaking, inspiration from jewellery, and soft curves and subtle features. It presents a modern interpretation of time-telling jewellery with its fluid forms and lively personality. The round, mirror-polished yellow gold watch is elegant and feminine with a double row of golden beads that has a highly contemporary appearance. A radiating guilloché dial catches the light to produce strong reflections behind a convex glass.
Case material: Yellow gold; Bracelet strap: Yellow gold; Buckle: Folding buckle; Dial finish: Mother-of-pearl; Water resistance: 30 m; Size: ø 23 mm; Thickness: 8.85 mm; Movement: Quartz; Functions: Hours, Minutes; Reference: VCARPBL500; Launch date: 09.2022; Collection: Perlée™; Price incl. VAT: 26’900 CHF
CATEGORY: MEN’S
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro Rotor Steel
In September 2021, Parmigiani Fleurier was successfully repositioned into the orbit of upscale Haute Horlogerie thanks to the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor launch. This watch’s automated movement with a platinum microrotor keeps time by displaying the hours and minutes. It perfectly embodies the brand’s core values: pristine purity effortlessly merged with exceptional details. Along with the beautiful guilloché of the dial in the “Grain d’Orge” pattern, which is a signature of Parmigiani Fleurier, the alternating satin-finished and polished steel case is encircled by a knurled platinum bezel. The design embodies the essence of the company: it is understated and elegant, stylishly simple, and has superior finishing.
CATEGORY: MEN’S COMPLICATION
Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Tourbillon Openworked
The new Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Tourbillon Openworked, limited to 50 pieces, features a modern two-tone casing that combines blue ceramic with 18-carat white gold. This contrast of colours and materials highlights the watch’s complex architecture. The Manufacture’s most recent hand-wound tourbillon openworked movement, Calibre 2948, which demonstrates the careful craftsmanship of the Le Brassus workers, powers the highly stylized timepiece. The blue openworked bridges and main plate, which are visible on both sides of the watch and match the colour of the case middle, disclose the internal regulating organ and enhance the 3D appearance of the timepiece. The design is completed by a blue rubber-coated strap with a textured finish.
ICONIC
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin Openworked
On the occasion of the Royal Oak’s 50th anniversary, Swiss Haute Horlogerie company Audemars Piguet unveils a brand-new version of the “Jumbo” Extra-Thin Openworked (ref. 16204). This watch, which is available in 18-karat pink gold or stainless steel, features the Royal Oak’s “50-years” anniversary oscillating weight and the Manufacture’s brand-new dedicated selfwinding extra-thin openworked movement, Calibre 7124. The Manufacture’s increasingly innovative reinterpretations of centuries-old processes, which are calibrated to the Royal Oak’s rigorous attitude, are reflected in the watch’s very modern design.
TOURBILLON
Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Architecture
Other Greubel Forsey timepieces have never been made like the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Architecture. Its case is completely unique, its construction was intentional, its parts were sculptural, their mechanical interaction was fluid, and the movement was simply amazing! This new Greubel Forsey calibre departs completely from conventional movement design and aesthetics, giving the wearer an architectural experience on their wrist. It is housed in a novel convex conical frustrum case shape. History is made up of ongoing development and, occasionally, glaring discontinuities. With 250 years of meticulously amassed successes and, occasionally, breaches, upheavals, or revolutions, fine watchmaking is no exception. Only 11 pieces of the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Architecture will be produced in 2022, followed by 18 pieces per year from 2023 through 2025 for a total of 65 rare timepieces.
Calendar and Astronomy
DRT Tempus Fugit
The song “Tempus Fugit” honours the passage of time and serves as a reminder to pursue one’s goals and aspirations. The result of a remarkable meeting between Dr. Benoît Dubuis, President of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, Dominique Renaud, a well-known designer, and Julien Tixier, an independent watch prototypist. Are we not all awestruck by how quickly time is passing? Is it too late to start our most private endeavours once we realise this? By including a special complexity, or power reserve of one’s own life, Tempus Fugit serves as a timely reminder of this. It enables us to visualise our own personal life expectancy—not the life expectancy of the population, but the personal one.
Mechanical Exception
Bovet 1822 Récital 20 Astérium
A significant timepiece in BOVET’s collection of astronomical complications is the Récital 20 Asterium (sky as seen from the earth), which also contains the Récital 18 Shooting Star (the earth as seen from space with 24 time zones) and the Récital 22 Grand Récital (Tellurium). The Asterium really puts this amazing movement on full display, and what a movement it is. It is housed in BOVET’s patented Writing Slope casing, which is made of a unique blend of 18K red and 18K white gold. How about starting with the watch’s most striking feature? The night sky map of the stars and constellations is prominently shown on a dome made of translucent blue quartz. It is functional, accurate, and understandable all at once because it was laser-engraved and then filled with Super-LumiNova. The highest stars in the sky are shown at the top of the dome, while the lowest stars, which are closer to the horizon, are shown on the outer edges of the display aperture, for the utmost in realism. The movement’s decor, with its 771 components, reflects its ingenuity and innovative structure. The Manufacture’s engravers chose subtle and delicate chiselling to decorate the surface of the bridges and plate for maximum elegance.
The surface shows off the finesse of the graining as well as the brilliance of the bris de verre motif. This contrasts beautifully with the framework of polished angles tracing the contours of the bridges, ensuring a clear reading of both the night sky and the sapphire rear dial, while also providing an admiring observer with a clear view of the movement’s architecture and decoration.
CATEGORY : CHRONOGRAPH
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronographe Steel
The Tonda PF Chronograph combines a cutting-edge design with an extremely useful complication. Caliber PF070 is a 5 Hz high-frequency integrated movement with a column wheel, a small seconds display, and two elapsed hour and minute counters. The case measures 42mm in diameter. Extensive aesthetic work has gone into the integration of the three subdials on the finely guillochéd dial in the Grain d’Orge pattern. Parmigiani Fleurier has kept the almost smooth surface with a finely sandblasted minute track while circling the counters in a slightly darker blue to ensure readability. Tonda PF Chronograph has a 22ct rose gold oscillating weight that is almost entirely openworked and has the PF logo inscribed in a medallion in the centre.
CATEGORY: DIVERS
Tudor Pelagos FXD
The Pelagos FXD model was designed for underwater navigation and is optimised for professional use, according to a set of unique specifications created in collaboration with a specialist unit of the French Navy. The Pelagos FXD model was created in collaboration with the French Navy’s combat swimmers and is based on a set of specifications that are as precise as they are demanding. As a result, it includes many functional features unique to TUDOR, such as fixed strap bars machined into the main body of the 42 mm titanium case for increased robustness and reliability. They are important to the model’s distinctive silhouette because they are shaped as an extension of the lugs. By using a methodical plan, underwater navigation entails travelling to a specific point by sea without surfacing.
As part of this underwater navigation, divers swim straight while being guided by a magnetic compass in pairs, tethered to one another by a strap known as a “life line.” They finish as many sections as necessary while precisely timing each one by swimming at a specified speed for a certain amount of time in each sector. With this navigation, each path modification necessitates the start of a new countdown. By aligning the time specified for the portion to be covered on the bezel with the minute hand, this model’s anticlockwise graduation and luminescent bezel make it simple to set up and monitor each countdown.
Count-down bidirectional rotatable bezel; Certification: COSC: Reference: 25707B/21
CATEGORY: JEWELLERY
Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi High Jewellery
The Serpenti Misteriosi secret watch in rose gold combines exceptional craftsmanship and aesthetic quality with Swiss watchmaking know-how and is driven by the in-house micro-caliber Piccolissimo, one of the tiniest mechanical movements to date. A hypnotic celebration of the priceless nature of time, the jewellery masterpiece coils around the wrist with distinctive sinuosity and is adorned with turquoise inserts, brilliant-cut diamonds, and captivating rubellite eyes. With a mechanical manufacture manual winding micro-movement, BVL 100, measuring 12.30 mm in diameter, 2.50 mm in thickness, and weighing 1.30 gm, the Serpenti Misteriosi High Jewelry hidden watch has a 30-hour power reserve and a 21,600 vph (3 Hz) frequency. With a pavé-set diamond dial, the 40 mm 18 karat rose gold case and bracelet are embellished with turquoise inserts, brilliant-cut diamonds, and two pear-shaped rubellites for the eyes.
Power reserve: 30 h, 21600 variations / hours; Functions: Hours, Minutes; Reference: 103558; Launch date: 02.05.2022; Collection: Serpenti; Price incl. VAT: 246’000 CHF
CATEGORY: ARTISTIC CRAFTS
Bovet 1822 Amadeo Amadeo Skeleton Tourbillon
The dedication of BOVET 1822 to the arts and crafts is brilliantly encapsulated in this Amadeo Amadeo Skeleton Tourbillon Unique Piece. One master engraver works on the 18K red gold case for more than 120 hours, and the BOVET 1822’s internal workshop requires more than 100 hours to hand-engrave the movement. The Madonna dial on the opposite side took more than 40 hours to hand-paint on Mother-of-Pearl. Real pearls are put all over this little painted dial, which is reminiscent of BOVET’s illustrious clocks from the 1800s. The only thing that has changed about the way this timepiece is manufactured today are the superior instruments (microscopes, hard metal for the gravers, better paints, etc.), but it all comes down to the creativity of the men and women who do the painstakingly precise labour. This timepiece’s 7-day power reserve flying tourbillon, which is patented by BOVET, powers it. Using a unique and patented mechanism developed by BOVET, the hands on the second side of the dial are reverse-fitted to guarantee that they move clockwise. The Amadeo Amadeo utilises the revolutionary Amadeo system, which allows the timepiece to be worn on either side, used as a pocket watch or a desk clock, and converted in a matter of seconds without the use of any equipment. The Amadeo Amadeo Skeleton Tourbillon, a true work of art, exhibits the superior watchmaking and creative sides of BOVET.
Skeleton movement; Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Power reserve indicator, Tourbillon; Reversed hand fitting; Reference: AIFSQ501-G123456; Launch date: 05.2022
CATEGORY: PETITE AIGUILLE
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Louis Erard Le Régulateur Louis Erard X Massena Lab Gold
This new collaboration, which adds Alain Silberstein, Vianney Halter, Atelier O, Seconde/Seconde/, and Eric Giroud to an already outstanding list of names, is a Louis Erard production and Massena LAB co-production set against a backdrop of traditional chronometry. Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB is the outcome, and it comes in two forms. The dial is the only difference between them; on one, the lower plate is 2N gold-plated, while on the other, it is rhodium-plated. Each model is available in a limited run of 178 pieces. As William Massena explains, Massena LAB created a dialogue between a modern watch and a 19th century marine chronometer with its own guiding principle: “A successful collaboration is one that makes sense.” Louis Erard gave me the freedom to mix codes, to reference the classicism of a master watchmaker like Antide Janvier, and to democratise a style that is typically reserved for wealthy collectors.”
CATEGORY: CHALLENGE
M.A.D. Editions M.A.D.1 Red
The original M.A.D.1 was released in 2021 and was distinguishable by its blue highlights; it was offered exclusively to MB&F’s suppliers, “the Friends,” and members of “The Tribe,” the brand’s owners club. However, the general response to the M.A.D.1 was so positive that a follow-up version, available to a wider audience this time, was promised for 2022: the M.A.D.1 RED. The M.A.D.1 RED is based on the same platform as the original M.A.D.1, and features the same innovative case design. It features the same lateral time display with two revolving cylinders for the hours and minutes. The inverted and modified Miyota movement was chosen for its unidirectional winding (essential for a smooth, high-speed rotation) and is powered by a triple-blade winding rotor in titanium and tungsten, which is the star of the show - especially when the Super-LumiNova kicks in! The M.A.D.1 RED, on the other hand, has its own unique features: the original blue has been replaced with cherry red, the bezel encircling the winding rotor is slightly slimmer, and winding and time setting is now done with a more traditional, round winding crown.
CATEGORY: MECHANICAL CLOCK
Van Cleef & Arpels Fontaine Aux Oiseaux automaton
Part of the Extraordinary Objects Collection, Fontaine aux Oiseaux automaton, is made of yellow gold, white gold, rose gold, colored sapphires, emeralds, tsavorite garnets, mandarin garnets, amethysts, diamonds, lapis lazuli, turquoise, chalcedony, rock crystal, mother-of-pearl, vegetal lacquer, lacquer, enamel, eggshell marquetry, ebony, glass, aluminum, steel, black PVD, goat leather, automaton and mechanical movements, function 12-hour/minute with retrograde indication, on-demand animation, on-demand music animation, bellows and beechwood. This creation offers a double spectacle by combining on-demand animation and a retrograde time display. A feather moves along the time scale on the side of the base. When it reaches 12 o’clock, it returns to its starting point to continue its journey for the next half-day. When activated five times in a row, the automaton comes to life for about a minute and displays a tender scene. The water in the basin begins to ripple as a result of the movement of its various elements, as if in a light breeze. While a water lily slowly blooms, a dragonfly rises into the air, beating its wings and whirling around. The birds at the basin’s edge wake up, their song ringing out, thanks to an assembly that includes a bellows and a clicking box, which imitate chirping and beak sounds, respectively. To begin their courtship display, they raise their heads and move their wings. Their articulated legs rise one after the other in a strikingly realistic movement as they get closer together. After the scene is completed, the dragonfly returns to its hiding place, the birds resume their original positions, and the water lily gracefully closes.
Often referred to as the watch industry “Oscars”, the GPHG is a not-to-be-missed event in the watchmaking calendar and one of the sector’s most famous media showcases.
For more information on the awards, visit https://www.gphg.org/
