Leap Into the New Year

As the Chinese Year of the Rabbit approaches, special timepieces celebrate the creature thought to be the luckiest in the zodiac.

- LYNETTE KOH

01 BREGUET: CLASSIQUE 9075 "2023 CHINESE NEW YEAR" EDITION

If there's anything the world needs more of as we bid adieu to the past three pandemic-ridden years, it's good vibes. That's reason enough for us to believe astrologers who say the rabbit is the luckiest of the 12 creatures in the Chinese zodiac. To celebrate the upcoming Year of the Rabbit, which kicks off on Jan 22, several fine watch brands have created artistic timepieces bearing varying bunny motifs.

With its Classique 9075 "2023 Chinese New Year" edition, Breguet gives us not just one, but six, of the floppy-eared animals. In a multi-layered tableau created using a mix of engraving and enamelling techniques, the half-dozen white rabbits are depicted frolicking amid the clouds around a garden setting. Viewing the dial through a microscope, the engraver used precise tools to chisel highly dimensional images in a small space. With enamelling, it is essential to understand how colours change as the enamel is repeatedly applied and fired at high temperatures of around 800 deg C.