I’ve never understood why the Laureato hasn’t caught on like other beloved luxury-sport watches with integrated bracelets: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the Patek Philippe Nautilus, or even the Vacheron Constantin 222. This version of the Laureato throws the entire kitchen sink at prospective clients. It’s the sweet-spot size at 39mm and offers both a tourbillon and micro-rotor (meaning the weight that spins around inside the watch and winds it is shrunken down to reduce thickness). The tourbillon is also held up by the brand’s signature bridges, which call back to a legendary GP design known as the “Three Bridges” from 1867. This is the Are you happy now? release of the show for me.
Berneron Miroir
Last year, Sylvain Berneron expanded his eponymous brand’s catalog with the Quantième Annuel, but now he’s back playing the hits with a new edition of the Mirage, the model that put him on the map. If I could One Wish Willow any piece from the brand into my collection it would still be the version with the lapis dial, but this Miroir brings stiff competition. The openworked dial shows off an elegantly arranged and reworked movement. Berneron actually took the movement from previous generations of the Mirage, acted as if he was holding a mirror up to one of its open casebacks, and recreated that reflected image for the dial of this new iteration.
The dial is pretty, but the real showstopper for me is Berneron’s new solid-gold integrated bracelet, which turns this design-forward model into a full-fledged piece of stunning jewelry. I got to try this watch on in April and was blown away. Of course, by then, the model—which retails for 130,250 Swiss francs (roughly $160,000)—was already allocated to eager clients for many years to come. Berneron will make 36 each of the white- and yellow-gold versions a year.
Tudor Northflag
