Beer Hand?

There is no shortage of watches molded in the casino-theme (the Girard Perregaux Jackpot Tourbillon, the Roger Dubuis La Monagesque, the Bell & Ross Casino, and the Christophe Claret Blackjack come to mind), but this new Perrelet Turbine Poker watch certainly is a novel if not bizarre take on the concept.   This watch definitely says “cool” for a first impression, but with such a busy and unrealistic dial (vis-a-vis poker) I find it hard to consider this watch a “showpiece” let alone a daily wearer.   The bizarre — and disappointing — thing for me is an unresolvable conflict between the Turbine design and the game of poker.  You see, the Turbine features twelve “blades”, but a standard poker hand is only five cards.  So the designers had to come up with twelve different cards to show on the dial, thus showing about two-and-a-half “poker” hands.  It just doesn’t feel right…in fact it feels a ill-conceived and gimmicky.  In short, I guess you could say that watch is another poorly designed watch in a poorly conceived collection that is harming the great potential and reputation of a name with such a profound heritage (Perrelet was the inventor of the automatic watch).  The Perrelet Turbine Poker watch price:  $6,000.

Perrelet Turbine Poker Watch

44.5mm steel case, Perrelet double-rotor automatic mechanical movement

Ref. A4018/1 features a pair of sevens, Ref. A4018/2 features a pair of sevens and two royal flushes, and Ref. A4018/3 has a pair of sevens, three kings, three jacks, among other cards.