My ONLY Watch 2011 coverage continues with a look at the Corum Golden Bridge Automatic in titanium case.  2011 saw the launch of the first automatic mechanical movement for Corum’s iconic Golden Bridge watch, featuring an innovative linear winding system (see video clip below).  Corum has take the watch to a new level for the special ONLY Watch event (soon upon us, Sept 2011) – the one-of-a-kind piece has a titanium case with a matte finish and provides great views of the movement from both the dial, case-back and sides of the watch. For more on ONLY Watch 2011, click here (all of my previews for ONLY Watch 2011 are listed).

Corum Golden Bridge Automatic Titanium for ONLY WATCH 2011

Unique Piece

51.8mm tall x 37.2mm wide titanium case, Corum automatic mechanical movement, fitted on a black croc strap with red stitching and titanium pin buckle

The back of the watch is specially engraved with the Corum logo and the “ONLY WATCH PIECE UNIQUE” inscription in red.

Video of the Corum Golden Bridge Automatic Movement in action:

You can check out all of my previews for ONLY Watch 2011 here.

Today’s Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute is my 15th “ONLY Watch 2011″ preview (see them all here), putting me about halfway through the 30 or so pieces that will be auctioned for charitable support of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research.  This exclusive piece  boasts a Grand Feu-style  enamel dial adorned with hand painted depiction of one of Monaco’s most renowned landscapes.  The 22-carat white gold oscillating weight is finished with a hand-engraved sunray motif (not pictured)

Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute for ONLY WATCH 2011

Unique Piece

43mm red gold case, Jaquet Droz 2653 automatic mechanical movement (double barrel, white gold rotor weight), off-centered hours/minutes, fitted on rolled-edge brown alligator strap with matching red gold buckle

Jules Verne Inspired “Poetic Complication”…

The wonderful “ONLY Watch” you see here was conceived and brought to this world by Van Cleef & Arpels.   Named ”From the Earth to the Moon”, this unique piece will be auctioned in September at the ONLY Watch 2011 charity auction that I have been previewing for several weeks now (see all my ONLY Watch 2011 Previews HERE).  On the dial you will see a fantastical space theme, executed with inlays of jade, agate, meteorite and champlevé-style enamel.  The space capsule indicates the retrograde minutes. Positioned on the right of the dial, it sweeps downwards, from zero to sixty.  It then returns to its starting point after the sixtieth minute. On the left side of the dial, a star indicates the hours, in an upward movement. It returns to its starting point after the twelfth hour.

The Van Cleef & Arpels Poetic Complication From the Earth to the Moon watch is equipped with the JLC Caliber 846 manual-wind mechanical movement with a special retrograde module developed exclusively for Van Cleef & Arpels.

Van Cleef & Arpels “From the Earth to the Moon” For ONLY WATCH 2011

Unique Piece

Van Cleef & Arpels describes the watch as follows:

A distant star symbolizes the element of luck which is essential in order to accomplish one’s destiny. The rocket, imagined by Jules Verne, races towards the Milky Way, leaving behind it the greens and blues of mountains and oceans which have become tiny.  The spaceship continues on its course to the moon, propelled by the energy of the retrograde movement. It even dodges meteorites.

My ONLY Watch 2011 previews continue with a first look at the Audemars Piguet Gstaad Classic “Only Watch 2011″ edition.  Like Harry Winston (whose Midnight GMT Tourbillon I profiled yesterday), this is Audemars Piguet’s fourth time participating in the Only Watch auction.  This “Jules Audemars Gstaad Classic” features a pink gold case, specially engraved caseback, and a dial that is inspired by the 1920s (for a “discreetly vintage touch”).  While this piece is definitely not the most exciting or creative piece in the ONLY Watch 2011 lineup, it is nonetheless a nice looking watch.

Audemars Piguet Gstaad Classic for Only Watch 2011

Unique Piece

automatic mechanical 18-carat pink gold chronograph with central sweep seconds hand, 30-minute counter and small seconds at 9 and 3 o’clock respectively

Caseback engraved with the legend “Audemars Piguet Only Watch”, with the “Gstaad Classic” logo and “2011” in the centre

My ONLY Watch 2011 previews continue with a first look at the Harry Winston Midnight GMT Tourbillon.  As with virtually ever Harry Winston watch, it is a stunner!  The piece incorporates many of the iconic Harry Winston signature features, but is extra special for its 45mm platinum case.  The dial has a very masculine yet sophisticated monotone look, capped off with a tourbillon positioned at the 6 o’clock position (it doubles as the small seconds display).  The GMT display is at 9 o’clock and includes day/night indication.   The 11 o’clock aperture indicates the cities representing the second timezone, including — of course — the home of the 2011 Only Watch event, Monaco.

See more of my Harry Winston Timepiece coverage here.

Harry Winston Midnight GMT Tourbillon for ONLY WATCH 2011

Unique Piece

45mm platinum case, mechanical automatic movement (bidirectional winding), on alligator strap with platinum buckle

close up:

Functions:
- Excentered hours and minutes, second hand on the Tourbillon, second time zone at 9 o’clock with day and night indicator

Continuing my preview for ONLY Watch 2011 (see all the watches here) — here’s a first look at the Breguet Réveil Musical watch.  This watch will be similar to the original Breguet Reveil Musical watch except for a couple of unique features, namely the music-box style tune it plays  — “Castle in the Sky” — and the specially decorated dial which depicts a child whose hand is reaching out to an adult hand, a symbolic gesture of the “inter-generational solidarity and support for research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy”, according to Breguet.  The interesting thing to me is the patented music-box mechanism on this watch.  Basically, the dial is connected to a disc carrying pins (thus replacing the traditional music-box cylinder) which act upon the 15 metal teeth of the comb, resulting in the beautiful sound of music box music.  Further, the dial itself rotates one full rotation while the music box tune is being played, about 20-25 seconds.

Breguet Réveil Musical Watch for ONLY WATCH 2011

Unique Piece

48mm white gold case (16.3mm thick), automatic mechanical movement, caseband finely engraved with a musical stave, caseback personalised for Only Watch 2011 and engraved with the inscription “pièce unique”

Castle In the Sky Music Box Tune

Ed’s note:  I am fairly confident, but not 100%, that this is the tune the watch plays:

Also, and I believe this is a little known fact, but the Breguet Reveil Musical watch also incorporates a Liquidmetal^® membrane which serves to amplify the frequencies required to emit the tune.  Liquidmetal is a exclusively licensed for use in watches by the Swatch Group, but is much more broadly recognized for its use in Omega watches such as the original Liquidmetal Seamaster Planet Ocean and the more recent Titanium Liquidmetal Seamaster Planet Ocean.

Continuing my ONLY Watch 2011 previews (see them all here) — here’s a first look at the Piaget Altiplano Skeleton for Only Watch 2011.   The watch features a black-PVD finished white gold case with an openworked dial that allows for visibility of the movement.  Note also the “sunray” pattern which is incorporated on both the movement and the outer edge of the dial.

Piaget Altiplano Skeleton for ONLY WATCH 2011

white gold case with black PVD finish, manual-wind, ultra thin mechanical Piaget 838P movement with black PVD finish, sunray guilloché motif, pink gold finished hands, on a black alligator strap and matching buckle

Here is a first look at Hublot’s “unique piece” for the Only Watch 2011 charity auction in Monaco (see my full ONLY Watch 2011 preview list here) – a big and bold Oceanographic 4000 dive watch.  Like the original Hublot Oceanographic 4000 watches (titanium version and carbon fiber version) which I unveiled earlier this month, this watch is full of symbolism.  The robustly-spec’d watch declares Hublot’s bold spirit and technical prowess, while its use of red and white indexes and hands is meant to symbolize the colours of the Monaco flag (Monaco being the location of the ONLY Watch 2011 auction).   In addition, the Oceanographic 4000 takes its name directly from the “Musée Océanographique de Monaco” (Monaco Oceanographic Museum) with which Hublot enjoys a partnership. A fitting creation for the the Only Watch 2011 event!

Hublot Oceanographic 4000 for ONLY WATCH 2011
Unique Piece

48mm carbon fiber case (“King Power” style), black PVD titanium crown, automatic mechanical movement, strap – red stitched alligator on black rubber with black PVD titanium clasp

Superb…

Continuing my ONLY Watch 2011 previews (see them all here) — here’s a first look at the Blancpain Villeret Grande Décoration for Only Watch 2011.  The watch is a study in contrast — on the front, its white enamel dial with painted hour-markers and red gold hands suggests simplicity and elegance; on the back, a depiction of the Rock of Monaco and the surrounding landscape is rich in detail.   The hand-decoration on this one-of-a-kind watch was performed by Blancpain’s Master Engraver Marie-Laure Tarbouriech, to whom I say that much credit is due.  The watch is equipped with a Blancpain Calibre 15B, an ultra-thin hand-wound movement.  By the way, this is Blancpain’s seventh ONLY Watch event — it has donated a piece to each event since it was first formed in 2001.

Blancpain Villeret Grand Decoration for ONLY WATCH 2011

Unique Piece

45mm red gold case (8.3mm thick), white grand feu enamelled dial, hand-decorated manual-wind Caliber 15B movement (40 hrs power reserve)

depiction of the Rock of Monaco and the surrounding landscape: