For A Limited Time: Geneva Watch Days Comes To Watches of Switzerland SoHo

While watch manufactures faced major disruptions this year, by August, most brands were getting back to business. Several players, including Breitling, Bulgari, De Bethune, Gerald Genta, Girard-Perregaux, H. Moser & Cie, MB&F, Ulysse Nardin, and Urwerk banded together for a major trade show – the independent Geneva Watch Days.
 

The four-day event was the first significant gathering for the luxury watch community this year since LVMH Watch Week in January (read HERE). Still, due to travel prohibitions, many enthusiasts had to take part via Zoom. As exciting as these virtual launches were, they were still no substitute for seeing new timepieces in the metal. But thanks to Watches of Switzerland, New Yorkers can experience the best Geneva Watch Days releases in real life.
 

From September 16 to 19, Watches of Switzerland’s SoHo location in New York City (60 Greene Street, NYC) will be hosting an exhibition of Geneva Watch Days’ greatest hits. Here are some of the highlights.

The sportiest collection at Geneva Watch Days was Breitling’s new Endurance Pro line. Inspired by the brand’s Ironman Squad ambassadors and aimed at serious amateurs, it’s tough but fun. And, at $3,000, it’s the Swiss watchmaker’s lowest-priced watch.
 

Available in an array of eye-catching colors, the Endurance Pro is powered by a precise, COSC-certified proprietary thermo-compensated SuperQuartz movement. And thanks to the use of a carbon composite called Breitlight, the 44mm case is 3.3 times lighter than titanium and 5.8-times lighter than stainless steel (and non-magnetic to boot).
 

The Endurance collection is one you’ll want to experience in person if only to experience the lightness in real life.

Another reason we’re excited about Watches Of Switzerland’s Geneva Watch Days exhibition is that we’ve missed the experience of touching the watches and discussing them at the same time. In the case of Girard-Perregaux, there’s a lot to talk about.
 

The maison debuted a bevy of timepieces in Geneva (read HERE and HERE), but sometimes it’s good to revisit an old friend. That is exactly what Girard-Perregaux has done with the Laureato Infinity collection. It takes all the sports watch tropes and dresses them up so it can do double duty as a more formal timepiece.

 

Like all of the collection-crossing Infinity timepieces, this latest version of the emblematic stainless steel Laureato is notable for its use of onyx on the dial. While there are plenty of black dialed watches on the market, the use of this gemstone is quite rare, and the effect is visually stunning when observed in person.
 

And the other details are just as worthy of in-person observation: the two-tone dial has rhodium-plated hour and minute hands with the pink gold seconds hand and applied indices, looks spectacular. Watches of Switzerland SoHo has a wide variety of Girard-Perregaux Infinity pieces on display.
 

A lot of the offerings at Geneva Watch Week built on past success by stripping the design of the watch to its essentials. For example, H. Moser & Cie. introduced a less complex version of the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph.

With this iteration, H. Moser & Cie. has decided to make a time-only version of the Streamliner that is even more aerodynamic. The case of the 40mm three-hander is all rounded curves. The integrated stainless steel bracelet looks almost fluid. And the surface of the Matrix Green signature fumé dial appears frictionless.
 

No less elegant is the beautifully finished, in-house HMC 200 self-winding caliber with a power reserve of three days. H. Moser & Cie. has plenty of other commendable launches at Geneva Watch Days, but this is the piece that has us wanting to go back for further inspection. It is priced at $21,900.
 

One of the great joys of watch fairs is spending time with other rare displays of the watchmaker’s arts. No matter how rare, you are more likely to spy a Breitling or a Bulgari in the wild than you are to see someone walking around with a table clock, for example.

So, one major highlight of the watch fair calendar is a visit to the MB&F booth to check out their menagerie of horologic creatures. Now, the Watches of Switzerland Geneva Watch Days Exhibition gives the general public the rare opportunity to meet the newest member of the clockwork cryptid family, the MB&F and L’Epée 1839 TriPod table clock.
 

The second model in MB&F’s proposed Robocreature trilogy (the first was 2019’s T-Rex), the TriPod also represents the 13th collaboration between MB&F and Swiss clockmaker L’Epée 1839.

This year’s addition to the menagerie is a melange of insects and animatronics, with three spindly legs holding a translucent acrylic canister in neon blue, neon green, or neon red. This case holds two concentric rotating time discs that reveal the time from three directions through three round magnifying eyes.
 

Delightful and surprising, it is also a rare bird or, more accurately, insect. The TriPod is limited to just 50 pieces of each color. So, a visit to the Watches of Switzerland SoHo's Geneva Watch Days Exhibition may be your only chance to see this wonder in action.

The limited-edition TriPod is priced at approximately $25,000. 
 

(Photography by Liam O'Donnell and Pierre Vogel)