X-RAY VISION

As precious metal costs soar, horology may find unexpected upsides in the art of removal. We explore how brands are utilizing openworking to elevate technical virtuosity to match rising prices

- WORDS ASHOK SOMAN AND KEN KE

Some years, there is one watch that debuts to deafening cheers — or jeers, actually, because the nature of the reception is not important.

What makes a difference is how big and loud the splash was when the watch dropped. One could make the case for this with last year's Rolex Land-Dweller but not this year. One might even say the echo of the Land-Dweller lived on in the Palexpo during Watches and Wonders this year but this is a different matter. No, without one watch dominating the discourse and perhaps upending various commercial realities, the specialist world is left to ponder broader questions...

Of course, this Vision issue is meant to be very broad indeed, covering not only — nor even primarily — new watches from the fairs so far, but also releases from the recent past. For Vision and Legacy, we free ourselves from the tyranny of novelty and see what the future might hold for horology. One question that came to mind very prominently was what brands will do to address the soaring price of precious metals (well, gold, really, but platinum has issues too, by extension). We have gone down this road many times before but one solution that we did not consider very strongly is the skeletonised or openworked watch. Well, thanks to a shock of releases, lurking ominously above the assembled press, retailers, tradespeople and executives like a murder of crows, we had this unexpected answer.