Watch of the Year 2013, awards of the 20th edition

Friday the 25^th of October, the magazine Montres Passion held its now traditional event “Watch of the Year”. First things first, here are the different rewards that were given that night.

According to the jury, this year’s best watch is the Altiplano Date from Piaget. In second position comes Arnold & Son’s Time Pyramid followed by Officine Panerai’s Radiomir 1940. The jury’s choice was given to Hermès for its Arceau Petite Lune. Breguet’s Type XXII was rewarded by the people’s choice. In the advertising category, Romain Jerome won the best printed advertising campaign for the third time. The best film advertising campaign was given to Omega for its Co-Axial campaign. As for the public, the selected Girard-Perregaux for its printed advertising campaign. Finally, this year the jury gave two “Coup de Cœur” prizes: one to Girard-Perregaux for the Constant Escapement and one to TAG Heuer for the Mikropendulum.

20 years of Passion for Watchmaking

Belonging to the editorial consortium Ringier, Montres Passion was created in Switzerland 20 years ago. Over the years, the magazine has become one of the most known watchmaking magazines in the country and is published both in French and German. Since 1994, Montres Passion has created an award named “Watch of the Year” in order to promote and celebrate the creativity in watchmaking. A jury made up of watchmaking professionals is given the task to pick what they consider to be the most exciting watches of the current year. The models selected can’t exceed 50’000 Swiss Francs and have to be produced in a scale of at least 200 pieces. The watches have to be available in stores within the year. Finally, quartz models can be selected but they have to be outstanding either in design or in technic. The jury also selects what they consider to be the best advertising campaigns, both in printed format or in movie format.

After many debates between the members of the jury, 40 models are preselected for the award. Those models are then presented in order for the public to vote for the Public’s choice award. Then, the jury votes in order to downsize the selection to three models. The Award for Best Ladies’ Watch is usually given to the first ladies watch in that selection. Thus, a watch can both be on the podium and be celebrated as Ladies Watch of the Year at the same time. The same process is applied for watchmaking advertisements and again, the public can vote for the People’s Choice award.

Watch of the Year 2013 1st prize

The Altiplano Date by Piaget was honoured with the First Jury Prize for the Watch of the Year 2013. This watch was described as “impeccable”, “perfect”, “with such a restrained and balanced design that we forget what an enormous feat it is to produce such a masterpiece”.

Watch of the Year 2013 2nd prize

The Second Jury Prize was awarded to the Time Pyramid by Arnold & Son, whose winning features include “overall elegance, creativity and craftsmanship” as well as “aesthetic and technical aspirations stated and achieved”.

Watch of the Year 2013 3rd prize

The Radiomir 1940 by Panerai was awarded third place for features such as “the superb workmanship of its manually wound proprietary movement and its excellent price positioning”.

Ladies' Watch of the Year 2013

To universal acclaim, the Arceau Petite Lune model by Hermès was chosen as Ladies’ Watch of the Year. It won the award by virtue of its “absolute, classical beauty: simple and restrained” and “its discreet, elegant and genial Phase of the Moon”.

Watch of the Year 2013, People's prize

After a total of several thousand votes had been counted, the Type XXII 3880 by Breguet emerged as the winner and was therefore awarded the People’s Prize.

Special “Coup de Coeur” Prize

[Pictures from the event by Marino Trevisani]