Created in 2001, the GPHG takes place annually to pay tribute to horology’s finest creations from around the world, rewarding the most outstanding watches of the year in 12 different categories that range from the remarkably artistic to the incredibly complicated. This year’s 15th edition will see 72 wristwatches compete to win the prestigious awards, each one having been selected by a jury of watch specialists. Presided by Aurel Bacs, Co-Founder of Bacs & Russo and Partner with Phillips auction house, the jury is commissioned by Ludwig Oeschlin, former curator of the Musée International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds and includes the winner of last year’s “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix Marc A. Hayek, President and CEO of Breguet, renowned journalists, leading retailers, master watchmakers, talented producers, seasoned collectors, watch consultants and skilled gemmologists.

Unveiled this past July, VORTEX is powered by a reinterpreted and redesigned version of the innovative in-house automatic calibre HL2.0 presented in the first Concept d’Exception in 2010. This new version features three patents and is housed in an astounding three-dimensional case that offers a glimpse of the impressive movement from all sides. The timepiece’s avant-garde and dynamic design changes every hour, as the cage of the regulating organ rotates 60 degrees every 60 minutes. Limited to 88 pieces, VORTEX displays half-trailing hours, retrograde minutes and a power reserve indicator while highlighting the complex movement in action from all angles.

HAUTLENCE’s VORTEX will be showcased together with all the selected watches at GPHG’s exhibition that travels the world prior to the event. VORTEX will first be exhibited at Hong Kong’s Liang Yi Museum (2-3 October) and will then move on to Seoul’s Hyundai Card Music Library (6-8 October) and Dubai’s Dubai Watch Week – DIFC (18-22 October) before making its way back to Switzerland at Geneva’s Cité du Temps (26 October-4 November) right in time for the watch industry’s largest and most respected award ceremony.