Sotogrande 11310 is rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after postcodes on the planet. The latest sales data shows that this highly exclusive area on the southern end of the Costa del Sol in Spain is now rivalling Monaco, St Tropez, Mayfair and The Hamptons as the most desirable destination on Earth.
Its unique 11310 postcode is proving increasingly enticing to ultra-high-net-worth buyers. They are drawn by luxury living, state-of-the-art developments and some of Europe’s most prestigious golf courses.
To reinforce the point, in 2024 Sotogrande’s property market saw a 30 percent rise in average sales prices compared to the previous year. The new average is over €1.9 million and the peak of the market topped €17 million for the first time. It is clear that business is booming.
Living area of AQUA, by Manuel Ruiz Moriche (ARK Architects). This villa, located at The 15, sold for €12m.
This remarkable success story has been powered by pivotal developments such as The 15 and Village Verde. More than 15 percent of the plots and villas at The 15 have now been purchased, while AQUA – an…
A new luxury boutique at Westfield Shopping Centre White City
The hottest destination for watch & jewellery aficionados in the know is the new-look Bucherer boutique at Westfield Shopping Centre in London’s White City. Situated in mall’s exclusive ‘Village’ alongside the world’s most prestigious designer names, the extensively refurbished 370sqm space creates the perfect luxurious ambience in which to experience a selection of fine watches […]
Last Sunday, we embarked on a tail-wagging adventure to Ross & Friends to discover their new Doggy Afternoon Tea. Tucked away just off the M25, this doggy haven is a true paradise for pups and their doting “pawrents”. IT offers over 35 acres of safe, enclosed space for dogs to run free, play, and explore […]
As a humanitarian and environmental activist, Lily had for a long time a controversial relationship with gems extracted from under the skin of our planet. In this interview, she is joined by the founder of Skydiamond, Dale Vince and photographer Rankin, to explain to our editor Julia Pasarón how we can turn the industry into an agent for positive change in the efforts to combat climate change.
Diamonds are made of pure carbon, and thanks to pollution, we have plenty of it in our atmosphere. Lily Cole learnt about the company making diamonds out of thin air – Skydiamond – when researching for her book, Who Cares Wins: How to Protect the Planet you Love. “Diamonds are synonymous with beauty,” declares Lily, “but for many years the mining of jewels has been a very ugly business.” Lily’s concern is not new. As early as 2005, she announced that she would no longer model for De Beers after being alerted to the situation of the Kalahari Bushmen being evicted from their lands in Botswana.
Being able to mine the sky represents the perfect metaphor of how we ought to be evolving every industry in the face of the climate crisis…
– Lily Cole
Behind the scenes at Lily’s shoot by Rankin for Skydiamond.
“Being able to mine the sky represents the perfect metaphor of how we ought to be evolving every industry in the face of the climate crisis: carbon negative by design; a solution rather than a problem. That’s why I became such a supporter of Skydiamond’s mission,” she says. In fact, for quite some time, Lily has been calling for an end to traditional diamond mining and advocating for sustainable fashion. “Scientists tell us we have to not only reduce carbon emissions, but also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” she explains. “There are many ways to do this, from nature itself to artificial trees and other high-tech solutions; mining the sky instead of the Earth to produce diamonds is one of them. Such a crazy and amazing concept!”
If I am going to help sell something, it has to be something I believe in…
– Lily Cole
This is the over-simplified mental process that Dale Vince, founder of Skydiamond, followed to create the world’s first and only conflict-free diamonds made entirely from renewable energy. Dale has always been interested in sustainability. He is what we could call a green-tech pioneer. Dale is Chairman of Forest Green Rovers, recognised by United Nations as the world’s first carbon-neutral football club, and, before Skydiamond, he founded Ecotricity, a provider of fully sustainable energy.
I’d look at cars and wondered how much fuel we burnt in our everyday lives…
– Dale Vince
Dale’s interest in eco-friendly businesses started when he was a kid, when he spent a lot of time wondering about the sustainability of our way of life. “I’d look at cars and wondered how much fuel we burnt in our everyday lives,” he shares. This was the 1970s, a fuel thirsty decade if there has ever been one. As Lego Technic didn’t exist yet, Dale took to building his own stuff using batteries, which at the time were expensive, didn’t last long and had to be thrown away. “It all seemed to me a terrible waste of materials.”
To read this interview in full, please order your copy of our new issueHere.
The 300-year story of racing at Ascot began in 1711, when Queen Anne put the idea into motion to pursue her love of horse racing. With her Platinum Jubilee taking place this year, we all hope HM the Queen will be able to attend and that this will be a Royal Ascot to remember. Horses have played a huge part in the Queen’s life for the past nine decades. The 96-year-old monarch now holds the accolade of being one of the most successful owners and breeders of all time with over 530 wins.
To some, Royal Ascot may be just one of the highlights of the British social calendar but let’s not forget this is really about racing (it hosts seven of the UK’s 32 annual Group 1 races) and is considered by those in the know to offer the chance to witness some of the best horse racing in the world. It is also a meeting of royals, celebrities and industry tycoons. The feature race of the week is the Ascot Gold Cup, a two-and-a-half-mile Group 1 contest is run on Thursday and is considered the best staying race of the year. This is the event where the big bets will be staked. Frankie Dettori will ride Stradivarius, trained by John & Tandy Gosling. Spanish Mission trained by Clare Balding’s brother Andrew and Hollie Doyle ridding Trueshan shall make it a thrilling race. Hollie is, of course, our top female jockey, who last September became the first woman to be placed in the prize money in a British Classic.
Let’s not forget the two-legged fillies. Thursday is also “Ladies Day” and almost anything goes, from the stylish to the outrageous, the stakes are just as high around the paddock as they are in. Will platinum be the colour du jour this year? The Queen always opts for bright colours so she can stand out and been seen by her adoring subjects. We get a first look at her Majesty during the elegant procession of open-top carriages as they travel along the racecourse from Windsor Castle. The crowds at the Royal Enclosure vie for pole positions waiting for the Royal Family and their guests to alight from their carriages.
Foodies this year are in luck. Food at the Royal Enclosure will be prepared by Ollie Dabbous’s team at the Michelin-starred Hide London in the form of both a buffet and à la carte menu showcasing the best of British seasonal produce, elevated to the finest of cuisine in dishes such as Chilled pea & marigold soup, Cornish monkfish & mussels with Jersey Royals and Clotted cream panna cotta with strawberries.
The official coffee will be served by Lavazza, from the private boxes to their bars all around the Ascot racecourse, including two new ones that will be available exclusively for the event, in the Royal Enclosure and the Queen Anne enclosure. This is where you will also be able to enjoy some of their signature Coffeetails, such as the Lavazza Espresso Martini.
When Audemars Piguet launched its game-changing Royal Oak in 1972, girls were wearing hot pants, guys were in flares, David Bowie’s alter-ego Ziggy Stardust was in the charts with Starman, and Gucci was the global luxury fashion brand of the moment (as it is again).
Five decades later and the iconic Royal Oak is still a head-turner. The first luxury sports watch to be made of steel, slim (the world’s thinnest self-winding movement with date indication of its time) but at 39mm, bigger than other timepieces of its generation and pioneering a lasting trend for sports-chic designs.
New Zealand model Judith Baragwanath with her partner, the television journalist Rhys Jones, both sporting the look in vogue when the Royal Oak launched in 1972.
Audemars Piguet’s brief to the visionary designer Gérald Genta by Managing Director Georges Golay was: “I want it to be something totally new and waterproof. And I want the design tomorrow morning.” Never short of an idea and known for pushing boundaries, Genta completed it overnight, “My idea was to replicate the system of a scaphander’s (rigid diver’s) helmet on the watch case, with the eight screws and with the joint visible on the case’s exterior,” he said. The revolutionary octagonal bezel, grid-textured guilloché dial, metal bracelet and all constructed in a common industrial material (steel), drew inspiration from the nautical world. However, it also resonated with the cultural groundswell sweeping contemporary design of that era, echoing the vogue for brutalist architecture and car design.
After receiving the green light to begin work on the prototype – which Genta completed within a year – the Royal Oak debuted in 1972. The timing was perfect as fashion was moving away from traditional masculine tailoring to a more casual laidback look of dressing with patterned knitwear, flamboyant shirts, corduroy, velvet, bell-bottom trousers, and jeans. A stylish macho-looking sports watch was the ideal counterbalance to the fashion peacockery that dominated menswear during that period. As Georges Golay explained in an interview in 1982: “A stainless-steel watch (is) more in tune with the way we live today. We had to invent a model both sporty and stylish in spirit, suitable for evening wear and for the daily activities of today’s man of taste.”
With a 29mm dial, the first Royal Oak designed for women was conceived by Jacqueline Dimier in 1976.
Fifty years on, over 500 Royal Oak models have been created transforming this iconoclast into a cultural icon. In 1976 came a woman’s version designed by Jacqueline Dimier, surprisingly much smaller at 29mm, and the following year it was reinterpreted in yellow and white gold, and in two-tone steel and yellow gold. Its modern look felt in sync with the slick polished glamour of supermodels, designers and celebrities of the era like Jerry Hall, Diane von Furstenberg and Bianca Jagger.
In the 1980s, the brand explored fresh aesthetic possibilities for the Royal Oak with new sizes and materials. Taking its lead from Dimier’s luxurious women’s model in a decade when economies were booming and fashion was highly gilded, Audemars Piguet launched gold models for men. It then introduced platinum and pink gold which were often accompanied by a gem-set dial or bezel.
Smart and stylish, the Royal Oak played a crucial role in the revival of classic complications featuring multiple calendar functions with the first day date model and in 1984, the world’s thinnest self-winding perpetual calendar movement with central rotor of its time. Two years later came the open-worked version. Both were 35mm, a scale that suited the unstructured Italian tailoring that emerged in menswear fashion from brands like Giorgio Armani, Brioni and Zegna to the pinstripe power dressing of Hugo Boss, a style epitomised by Michael Douglas in Wall Street. On the casual side, the sporty-looking Royal Oak suited the preppy attire – varsity jackets, oversized sweaters, denim and sneakers – a style that still resonates in fashion today. Therefore, the launch of the Royal Oak Offshore in 1993 designed by Emmanuel Gueit with its sturdy and muscular reinterpretation of the iconic watch and dramatic 42mm case quickly appealed to a younger generation which saw in it as an ideal accessory for an adventurous lifestyle.
Carolina Bucci’s first collaboration with Audemars Piguet in 2016 resulted in a Royal Oak boasting her signature frosted Florentine finish on the dial.
Women’s designs similarly bloomed with creativity, including the first open-worked women’s models in the early 1990s with the historic ultra-thin Calibre 2003SQ, just 1.64mm thick; and in 1997, the Royal Oak Mini, a little yellow gold quartz timepiece measuring a mere 20mm. There was an increase in gem-set models as well, notably the 1998 high jewellery 30mm version in 18k white gold case and bracelet entirely paved with 446 brilliant-cut diamonds and emerald hour markers.
After the minimalist fashion looks of the 1990s, luxurious fashion and jewellery blossomed, which inevitably influenced the watch world. Haute couture was resurgent under the auspices of designers like John Galliano at Dior, Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Versace, reimagining the genre for the modern age and appealing to a new generation of clients. The grand couture houses also started introducing high jewellery collections and with that came jewelled timepieces. Watches, consequently, became more opulent and decorative to suit the tastes of those with deep pockets leading glamorous lifestyles.
In menswear, Savile Row elegance and slick sophisticated tailoring from French and Italian designers such as Versace, Valentino and Dior required suitably elegant but big timepieces that could be noted by others around the boardroom table. At the same time, men wanted a design with a robust, sporty edge alluding to a successful lifestyle with plenty of time for leisure activities.
Royal Oak limited edition in collaboration with Nick Faldo. His signature is visible on the back of the watch.
At this point, the Royal Oak was entering its fourth decade bringing out a new version of the bold 39mm, Model 15202, which marked a turning point in the “Jumbo”, the so-called 39mm 1972 design’s history. The aesthetic codes were interpreted with more freedom including new dial colours. There was also the new guilloché Grande Tapisserie dial (a signature of Gérald Genta’s original design) composed of larger pyramid bases. This quickly became a favourite across the collection at a time when bulkier watches were more prevalent. The core collection was 39mm in 2005 whereas it had been 36mm in the 1990s and 35mm in the 1980s.
Limited editions started appearing, often as a result of collaborations with the sports world and celebrities, such as Nick Faldo’s Royal Oak Championship and the Alinghi America’s Cup team. As the decade evolved, the Royal Oak moved away from the bulky, futuristic aesthetic and became more contemporary looking, slimmer, yet wider in diameter (41mm) with ever-more interesting complications including an extra-thin tourbillon.
Royal Oak/Carolina Bucci 2022 limited edition in black ceramic with an iridescent dial.
For the Royal Oak’s 50th anniversary there is a new generation of 39mm “Jumbo” extra-thin models, ref. 16202, powered by a new self-winding extra-thin movement, calibre 7121, designed to seamlessly fit in the 8.1mm “Jumbo” case. Replacing the historic Calibre 2121, which has equipped the Royal Oak since its origin, Calibre 7121 increases the performance, reliability and contemporary movement design of the Royal Oak collection. There is also a special new edition for men and women created in collaboration with Italian jewellery designer Carolina Bucci, whose introduction of the frosted Florentine finish (her signature hammered finish technique) in 2016 proved a huge success. Her latest contribution to the Royal Oak aesthetic is a limited edition Royal Oak self-winding 34mm black ceramic design that comes with a surprising new dial. It appears black but up close the Tapisserie effect reveals a multi-coloured iridescent spectrum. The design is a worthy anniversary landmark to Gérald Genta’s avant-garde concept that from the very beginning was destined to become an icon.
A royal-like experience at the Adria hotel in London
The Adria and Polo in the Park have partnered to give you the chance to enjoy a great cityscape during one of London’s unmissable dates in its summer social calendar: Chestertons Polo in the Park. From Friday 10th to Sunday 12th June 2022, Londoners and visitors will be able to enjoy one of the oldest equestrian sports in a format that make it easy to follow by both newcomers and polo aficionados who relish the excitement.
Polo is never just about the sport, as the ultimate summer social, it brings fashion, food, fun and family together; shop the latest trends, enter style competitions, enjoy delicious street eats at the Fulham Food Festival, relax in one of the many pitch-side bars or party hard with live music and DJs in the legendary Mahiki tent.
Ladies Day at Chesterton Polo in the Park is a great excuse to dress up and enjoy a day out.
In order to fully enjoy it without worrying about travelling, the exclusive and luxurious Adria hotel – located in South Kensington – is offering a special overnight stay for those attending Polo in the Park this year. Just steps away from London’s world-renowned museums, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and a gentle stroll from the designer delights of Harrods, The Adria is housed in a luxury Victorian townhouse which has been fully renovated, transforming its rooms into sophisticated spaces for a stay of glamour in the capital.
The Signature Suite comprises a luxurious bedroom, marble bathroom, seating and dining area ,and additional guest loo.
Capturing the very essence of quintessential Victorian architecture, opulence oozes everywhere. Each of its 24 luxurious suites, rooms and lounges have been meticulously restored, seamlessly marrying contemporary design with the elegance and intimacy of a timeless ad residential, 19th-century townhouse. Rooms are stylishly decorated with many boasting 16ft ceiling heights, revealing intricate, original cornicing detail.
The perfect setting to meet and play, the spaces at The Adria elegantly flow into one another – from a lounge replete with a martini trolley, perfect for an evening cocktail, a games room fit for a spot of afternoon backgammon, a light breakfast room and secluded winter garden, guests are invited to make themselves at home. Unique partnerships with local restaurants, including a selection of freshly prepared, organic salads from local farm shop, Daylesford, allow guests to dine throughout the hotel at any time of the day.
A Martini at the lounge of The Adria and you’ll forget about your tired feet after your Polo day.
Flexibility and convenience are the core ethos of The Adria and a team of personal butlers are on-hand to cater for guests’ every need. From a seamless check-in to mixing an evening cocktail to making restaurant and local attraction recommendations, guests receive a personalised service in a unique townhouse setting. So, if you come back famished from watching the ponies and in need of cheeky G&T, just ring the bell and your butler will take care of everything.
As in any proper Victorian Townhouse would have to entertain visitors, The Adria boasts a charming drawing room.
For a bit of extra self-indulgence, hit their world class spa. You’ll leave feeling rejuvenated, energized, and ready to take on another round of Polo in the Park the next day.
Overnight stay at The Adria with tickets to Polo in the Park from £335. Friday is International Day; Saturday, Ladies Day; and Sunday, Final Day.
For more information or to make a reservation, please visit www.theadria.com or call 020 7118 8988. The Adria, 88 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington. London SW7 5AB
Some years ago, I had the curious pleasure of interviewing an offshore commercial diver. Burly, laconic and a sort of modern-day cowboy in rubber boots, he was an odd fellow, impressive, unknowable, apparently unflappable. In tones that lacked any inflexion, he described being hundreds of metres below the water where he was working on a pipeline, only to experience a helmet leak, an event that would make most burst with panic – but not him. He shrugged it off, suggesting commercial diving was a perfectly safe gig if you took care of the risks. I’ve no doubt he believed it.
On his wrist that day was a lead weight of a watch, a 49mm hulk made by the Swiss watch company Oris. He had advised the inventive independent on his watch’s “Rotation Safety System”, a clever if not terribly pretty bezel-locking device that meant the bezel couldn’t be budged in either direction once set, so he could be confident measuring his dive time. Risk taken care of, in other words.
The Oris AquisPro Date Calibre 400 features a patented Rotation Safety System so the bezel can’t move once set.
The story is symbolic. Over the last century, watches have been constant risk mitigators for gill-less underwater types, calmly tracking dive times, albeit often via bulky, sometimes odd-looking forms with designs dictated to by need rather than beauty. With a good dive watch, form follows function. To some, that can of course be beautiful.
The first to go below sea level was, somewhat inevitably, Rolex. A little under a century ago it announced the Oyster case, advertised at the time with gleeful hyperbole as “the greatest triumph in watchmaking”. Its hermetically sealed form ushered in a new season of experimentation as brands realised the value in taking the plunge. Omega followed soon after with its convention-busting Marine. Introduced in 1932, it clipped an inner and outer case together, sealing them with a rubber gasket and a then ground-breaking sapphire crystal. Five years later, the Marine became the first watch tested and approved for diving, officially labelled as water-resistant to 135 metres by the Swiss Laboratory for Horology.
During the same decade, one of the great oddball dive watch stories bubbled away in secret. Panerai’s Radiomir was delivered in 1936, but only on commission to the Italian Royal Navy (as it was). Its clandestine purpose was as a tool for frogmen tasked with the perilous job of piloting the Siluro a Lenta Corsa, more familiar in the cruder English as “human torpedo”. Panerai’s huge 47mm cushion-shaped watch was produced in Switzerland by Rolex and named after the luminescent material that made its hour markers glow in the subaqueous gloom. Even more offbeat – and just as hidden – was its upgrade. Also cushion-shaped, but thicker-set, the Luminor of 1950 brought with it a lever-activated crown protection device, added to make it more water-resistant. Panerai’s distinctive designs remained behind closed doors until the 1990s when its watches were first made available to civilians. The Luminor’s lever has remained, even if its value is now only to give the watch its unique silhouette, following years of gasket innovation.
Panerai Luminor PAM1085 in steel showing the lever activated crown protection device in the open position.
By the early 1950s, the underwater world was opening up and with it, dive watch design. No one captured the mood better than Jacques-Yves Cousteau, whose seminal underwater film The Silent World was also a palette for his wristwatch, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, the first of the 20th century’s great dive watches. Introduced in 1953 and named after its water-resistance rating, the Fifty Fathoms was a landmark, albeit one that has since been overshadowed by Rolex’s Submariner, released later the same year and the first watch to claim water resistance to 100 metres (50 fathoms being 91.45m). Breitling followed with its Superocean in 1957 and Jaeger-LeCoultre with the Deep Sea Alarm in 1959, the world’s first dive watch with an alarm function, making it a curio in its own right.
Blancpain Tribute to Fifty Fathoms No Rad Edition. “No Rad” indicated that no radioactive material was used in creating the luminous markers.
Rolex remained at the vanguard. In 1960, its improbably bulbous Deep Sea Special was strapped to the hull of the submersible Trieste. Crewed by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard, Trieste descended 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) into Challenger Deep, the deepest place on Earth. The watch re-emerged unperturbed – records say – giving it status no other would match until James Cameron returned more than five decades later in a one-man craft bearing Rolex’s similarly experimental Deepsea Challenge watch.
The Rolex Deep Sea Special from the dive to the Challenger Deep in 1960 setting a world record at 10,908 meters.
Omega’s response came in the late 1960s, with its Seamaster 600, affectionately known as the “Ploprof” (a portmanteau of the French plongeur professionnel, meaning “professional diver”), pioneered a monobloc steel case, intended to overcome the need for a helium escape valve, a niche function designed for watches worn by saturation (commercial) divers living in compression chambers where they breathe helium-enriched air that can permeate a watch. Its boxy, asymmetrical design was made more memorable still by a red button used to release its lockable bezel. Retailers at the time marked it as being “for professional divers only”, but it’s since become a much-loved collector classic.
The Omega Seamaster 600, aka “Ploprof”, which pioneered the monobloc metal case for a dive watch.
At the same time on the other side of the world, Seiko too was pushing dive watch innovation. A commercial diver contacted the Japanese company requesting a watch that could follow him to the seabed. Seiko didn’t have one, but being Seiko, it set about making the best pro-dive watch it could. In 1975, after seven years of development, it introduced The Professional Diver’s.
It was a funny-looking thing, defined by its screwed-down, shell-like covering and corrugated accordion strap, but technically it rewrote the rulebook. Its single-piece case was titanium, a first for a dive watch and chosen for its lightness and anti-corrosive properties, while inside it was a novel L-shaped gasket that both guaranteed water resistance to 600 metres and stopped helium entering the watch, doing away with the need for an escape valve. Dubbed “Tuna” on account of its tin-like form, it has been in production ever since.
That era of innovation and record-breaking was followed by a prolonged season of gentle but perpetual improvement (inner rotating bezels, peppy dials that were easier to read underwater, depth gauges, dive watches with sapphire case backs – as well as material advances in boring but important things like gasket technology) so that rather like today’s cars, most contemporary dive watches are impressively reliable and high-functioning, even at their basest.
But then a few years ago the needle moved again when Omega paired up with the pony-tailed adventurer Victor Vescovo and sent him 10,935 metres (35,876 feet) down into the Mariana Trench with three concept Ultra Deep watches. No one had ever dived deeper, nor any watch. The tech that enabled those watches to survive the 12-hour record dive included a forged single-piece titanium case and a clever conical load bearing sapphire crystal. This year, Omega followed them up with the Ultra Deep collection, seven watches said to be water-resistant to 6,000 metres, should you ever need it.
The Rolex Deep Sea on the Deep Sea Challenger with James Cameron at the helm.
Not unlike a wrestler whose meaty form might have inspired it, the Ultra Deep won’t fit into a suit, but like those pressure-beating oddities that preceded it, it will no doubt come to acquire cult status. No wonder, perhaps. Man’s appetite for risk has never run out of air…
Opening picture: The Omega Ultra Deep concept watch on the submersible Limiting Factor in 2019 setting a record dive to 10,935 metres.
Red-coated medal-brandishing Chelsea Pensioners, some of whom fought on D-Day, vied for attention with million-pound cars at the inaugural Salon Privé London. It was held during four days of glorious sunshine on the lawn of SW3’s Royal Hospital, acting as an amuse-bouche for Salon Privé’s main Blenheim Palace bunfight later in the year, on 31st August to 3rd September.
April’s event in the capital was on a smaller scale, with most of the cars arriving courtesy of classic car dealers – who were competing in a Concours de Vente – and prestige manufacturers. Hundreds of guests were entertained with tented hospitality each day, but the menu we really care about is the four-wheeled one, and there were a number of rarely-seen motors which caught our eye, both new and old, gas-guzzling and electric.
The hand-built electric Mustang by Charge Cars enchanted the visitors at Salon Privé London.
One such machine that mixes these different worlds was the hand-built Electric Mustang by Charge Cars, which made a real splash in Chelsea. It uses the latest battery and motor technology to redefine the revered 1967 Fastback model – like the one Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt. The body has been cleverly refined to give 2022 sharpness to the details, and lightweight materials have been used to aid its 536 horses in galloping from 0-62mph in just 3.9 seconds.
The Barnato-Hassan Bentley raced from 1934 till 1938, breaking all kinds of speed records at Brooklands, ultimately with an unofficial lap of 143.6mph in September 1938.
The blue 1934 Barnato-Hassan Bentley was brought along; a record-breaking car at pre-war Brooklands capable of over 143mph. Built for the legendary Bentley boy Woolf Barnato by the equally esteemed engineer Wally Hassan, its sole purpose was to speed around the Surrey banking, which it did in 25 races. It retains its original chassis and 8-litre engine.
Rod Stewart’s yellow Lamborghini Diablo VT – one of many raging bulls the rocker has owned – was among the supercars on show, with its black leather and yellow piped seats. This was one of only 20 right hand drive models ever made, and one of only four with fixed headlights.
Rod Stewart is known for his love of Lamborghini, having owned several raging bulls over the years.
A recreation of that quintessential British roadster, the Austin-Healey 100, was debuted by new Coventry-based firm Caton and fuses traditional craftsmanship and 1950s style with OEM-grade design and engineering, bringing the Healey bang up to date like a digitally de-aged Sophia Loren.
The Austin-Healey 100 by Caton is built around an all new chassis rather than being built from an original car. Only 25 cars will be made.
The Ferrari Daytona SP3 made its UK debut, alongside the new 296 GTB. One of the most beautiful bespoke designs to leave Maranello this century, the Daytona SP3 is the third car in chief designer Flavio Manzoni’s limited-edition Icona series. It pays homage to the mid-rear-engined Ferrari V12 sports prototypes that wowed the crowds at Le Mans in the 1960s.
Ferrari chose Salon Privé London to present the new Daytona SP3 and the new 296 GTB in the UK.
Prodrive brought its Hunter – an all-terrain hypercar the rally firm has built on the specific orders of the Crown Prince of Bahrain. It’s based on nine-time WRC champ Sebastien Loeb’s Raid Xtreme competition car, has some hints of Jaguar about it and is the colour of a hearing aid.
Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance winner, the unique showed up. This is among the most mysterious and elusive British GT sports cars. It was designed by a former MIG aircraft engineer and was way ahead of its time, with a space frame chassis, F1-style front suspension and inboard rear discs. The convertible’s body was aluminium and slab-sided, and the chairman of AC – Derek Hurlock – used it as his company car for several years. It was very contemporary, but for reasons that have never really come to light it never got past the prototype stage and remains a one-off.
This 1963 AC MA200 prototype may very well have been envisioned to be the second Shelby Cobra.
The winner of the inaugural Concours de Vente Prix d’Honneur was a 1954 Italian sports racer, the OSCA MT4, which led its class at the 24 Heures du Mans before crashing out, and went on to win its category in the 1956 Mille Miglia. Meanwhile the People’s Choice award went to a red 2004 Ferrari Enzo, signed by key figures from the Scuderia’s F1 campaign that year – including Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Ross Brawn, Jean Todt and Luca di Montezemolo.
The winner of the Prix d’Honneur was a 1954 OSCA MT4.
The oldest car to make its debut, 81 years after it was first conceived, was the long-lost Alfa Romeo 12C prototype. This historically significant Alfa Romeo, which also connects Ferrari and Porsche, was completed decades after the project was abandoned, with its major components reunited and the car restored.
Morgan delighted visitors with its new three-wheeler, the Super 3.
That most traditional of motoring marques, Morgan, showed off its new Super 3, the Malvern factory’s new three-wheeler. Just as the model it replaces transplanted 1920s visceral motoring in our lifetime, the Super 3 brings a similar adventurousness through late 1940s Jet Age-inspired design. We’re hoping to pack its side-mounted panniers with survival tweed and don our goggles for an old-school jaunt to the Highlands very soon. Watch this space!
All of which sets us up for a Summer filled with tyre-kicking events. The automotive social scene is truly back and firing on all cylinders once again.
The international Swiss watch fair is back with full strength
Watches and Wonders 2022 has been the first major Swiss watch fair in over two years and, whilst it felt great to be back in a familiar environment, it felt simultaneously strange. The lack of both Asian and Russian attendees meant that the show seemed less busy than expected, but on the whole, it was as if someone had been holding their thumb on the pause button of life and had just now released it.
I have to be honest and say that this was not a show with radical introductions from the big brands, but rather a time to consolidate their positions and to introduce variations on familiar themes. The more adventurous new watches actually came from the smaller firms and the independents.
As always, there seemed to be certain ideas present at many of the stands. Firstly, titanium is now a mainstream case material – everyone from Hermès to A. Lange & Söhne was using it. Secondly, Vignette or Shadow dials – where the colour changes from dark at the rim to light at the centre – were everywhere. When brands as disparate as Vacheron Constantin and Baume & Mercier are both featuring them, you know that this is a trend which is taking off.
Limited to 250 pieces, the new A. Lange & Söhne’s titanium Odysseus features an ice-blue dial made of brass with luminous white-gold hands and appliques…
Speaking of trends, it caught my attention the number of watches rushing to fill the vacuum caused by the end of production of the Nautilus and the queues for the Royal Oak. Suddenly the market is full of slim, white metal, three-hand watches on integrated bracelets. It’s not just the serious players like A. Lange & Söhne with their titanium Odysseus or Laurent Ferrier’s Sport Auto in the same metal, but several of the smaller brands are also showing them.
Looking at what caught my eye in closer detail, I have to start with Patek Philippe, who seemingly out of nowhere came up with two of the most interesting watches of the show. One of these is their military styled Annual Calendar Travel Time – ref. 5326G-001 – with a stunning matt grained grey/black dial, applied Arabic indices and “hypodermic needle” hands, all filled with a vintage beige luminescent coating. The annual calendar and travel time functions are two of the most useful complications available, and with this model, Patek Philippe are the first ever brand to combine them, in a sleek 41mm case with a slightly sloped polished bezel. Whilst this model has five apertures on the dial to monitor the sundry functions, its companion release,ref. 5226G-001 has but a single hole in its dial, at 3 o’clock for the date – and, in my opinion, looks all the better for it. It is almost austere in its appearance, the simplicity relieved only by the hobnail “Clous de Paris” finish to the case sides. My guess is that both are going to be the subject of extensive waiting lists before this gets published.
Left: Patek Philippe ref. 5326G-001. Right: Patek Philippe ref. 5226G-001
The other outstanding Patek release was a new version of the iconic ref. 5270P perpetual calendar chronograph, cased in platinum, but now featuring a vignette dial which is so bright green at its centre that it should have been launched on St Patrick’s day. Like other versions of the 5270, it is powered by the in-house CH 29-535, introduced just over a decade ago replacing the Lemania CH27 based movement used previously.
In Reference 5270P, the date is shown by a hand and a moon phase at 6 o’clock, as well as a twin day/month aperture at 12 o’clock…
Vacheron Constantin have held on to the same calibre for their perpetual calendar chronograph, the 5000T/000P-B975. Similarly cased in platinum, it now features a beautiful salmon coloured dial with crisp, rectangular white gold baton indices and a stunning solid platinum 3D moonphase disc. From the heart of their archives, they brought out their much loved and missed 222, launched in 1977, just a year after the Nautilus. Unlike its contemporaries, this prime example of ‘70s aesthetics was discontinued after just seven years, what meant that only around 500 of them were ever made. Now part of the Historiques collection, the new 222 iteration – also in 18K yellow gold – uses a conventional three-piece case with a screwed back instead of the original monobloc case construction, where the movement and dial were dropped in through the dial opening and the knurled bezel and glass were then screwed down tightly. The new version has the advantage of being fitted with a sapphire case back allowing an uninterrupted view of the gorgeous in-house 2455/2 movement with its gold rotor embossed with the 222 logo.
From left: Vacheron Constantin Perpetual Calendar 5000T/000P-B975 and new Historiques 222.
One of the most technically advanced and complicated watches shown at W&W didn’t come from one of the “Grand Maisons” or even one of the independents – rather it came from Grand Seiko. The Kodo already had both a tourbillon and a constant force remontoire, but, for the first time in horological history, they are both on the same axis. This isn’t just aesthetically pleasing; it also reduces the energy loss inherent when using wheels to transmit the impulse from one to another. The esteemed Japanese watchmakers are renowned for their case finishing, and the Kodo is no exception. They made the bold decision to construct the case from 950 platinum and polished titanium; the level of hand finishing and polishing on the case is exquisite, and whilst a quick glance at the case will elicit admiration, a closer inspection under a loupe will leave you in awe.
Kodo means heartbeat in Japanese and as such, its innovative movement delivers a level of stable accuracy unprecedented for Grand Seiko.
My Instagram “handle” is MisterRolex, so you might expect me to wax lyrical about the Geneva giant’s introductions, but I won’t – not because I didn’t like them – (far from it!) – but because, like most years, Rolex continued along their path of evolutionary change and avoided anything revolutionary. The most radical introductions were, in fact, simple changes to existing models. Firstly, the GMT Master II is now available in a version designed for left-handed folks who favour reading the time on the right wrist. This involved moving both the crown and the date window through 180∞. The watch has now been given a ceramic bezel in green and black – a hitherto unknown combination. The second evolutionary change has been to the platinum version of their iconic Day-Datemodel, which historically had a flat polished bezel and now has been given a fluted finish.
Three watches made me smile. Two were being exhibited and one was a new introduction which I saw on the wrist of a few of my colleagues – the new M.A.D. 1 Red from MB&F. As radical as you’d expect from anything coming out of Max Busser’s boundless imagination, it has no visible dial or hands, so the time is shown by two superimposed cylinders running around the periphery of the case. Using a modified Miyota movement, it is much more accessible than their other pieces, with a price below CHF3,000.
M.A.D. 1 Red displays the time laterally thanks to revolving hour and minute cylinders, engraved and boosted with Super-LumiNova…
The others were also distinguished by their radical approach to telling the time. Firstly, the Hermes Arceau Le Temps Voyageur. Not just another world time watch – nope – this one shows your home time via a window at the top while the local positions itself at your current location and, as you move from one place to another, the dial will follow you around the periphery of the watch.
Arceau Le temps voyageur is driven by an exclusive 122-component module, housed within a thickness of just 4.4 mm.
Van Cleef & Arpels’ Lady Arpels Heures Floralesis even more extraordinary. There are twelve enamelled flowers on the dial, opening to reveal a diamond or sapphire and the number open at any time represents the hours. The minutes are indicated by a red line which runs around the periphery of the watch between seven and 11. No, it isn’t the easiest way in the world to display the time, but it shows imagination, creativity, craftsmanship and a wry sense of humour which, at times like these, we need as much of it as we can get.
Lady Arpels Heures Florales reinterprets the Flower Clock, where time is told by counting the number of opened flowers.
On the whole, I think that the Watches and Wonders set up is great – by combining the SIHH attendees with the heavy hitters of Baselworld, members of the trade and press are able to see practically everyone they need to in one go, rather than make two visits. Next year, I am going to add on a couple of days so that I can visit the peripheral shows where the smaller, independents were exhibiting. But, for a first attempt, I congratulate the organisers for a fabulous experience.
Brands dial up tech and bling to charm the female market
Slowly but steadily watch brands have realised that women care about their wristwear. Gone are the days when you could just make a smaller version of your best-selling men’s watch, stick a few diamonds on it and sell it to the ladies.
As women become increasingly independent and wealthy, take more space in boardrooms, on the screen, behind the cameras, in cockpits, operating theatres and courts of law, so they are developing a taste for luxury products previously considered mostly men’s territory. Cars are a good example, watches is another.
This year’s edition of Watches & Wonders saw an exciting parade of watches targeting informed – and deep pocketed – females. The new 40mm Hublot Classic Fusion Orlinski Alternative Pavé (£37,400) is a good place to start. Made of polished titanium with a white dial (also available in black), certain facets on the case, bezel and bracelet are adorned with 486 brilliant-cut diamonds, totalling a weight of 3.79 carats.
The new Hublot Classic Fusion Orlinski is powered by the self-winding HUB1100 movement, with 42h power reserve.
This new timepiece was only possible thanks to Richard Orlinski’s unique sculpting skills (inspired by Pop-Art and neo-futuristic styles), and the expertise of Hublot’s engineers, who made a watch with an extraordinary architecture, faceted in titanium and made of 83 parts. As a result, the chamfered forms in this new integrated bracelet play with the reflections of its mirror-polished facets. The H- shaped links recall the Hublot logo. Read more HERE.
From avant-garde to timeless elegance. Patek Philippe’s Ref. 7130R-014 36mm Ladies’ World Time watch in rose gold is exceptionally refined (£44,630). Paying homage to Ref. 7130, which in 2011 represented the very first World Time model for women, this year’s version reinterpretates the original by featuring a modern and elegant olive-green colour. This is a master lesson in how to give a contemporary twist to a classic look. The centre of its dial is adorned with a hand-guilloched old basket weave décor (not an easy one to do) and the olive-green shade is picked up on the city disk on which the white-printed names stand out in an extremely legible manner. The effect is highlighted by 62 diamonds that adorn the bezel.
The heart of this watch is the ultra-thin self-winding Caliber 240 HU. Thanks to its city disk and its 24-hour disk (divided into day/night zones distinguished by colour and by sun/moon symbols), this calibre simultaneously and permanently displays the time in all 24 time zones. The strap is made of olive green, hand-stitched calfskin with a Prong buckle. Read more HERE.
If anyone still doubted how serious Chanel is about haute horlogerie, the watches the presented this year in Geneva will dissipate any hesitation left in even the hardest sceptic. Designed by Arnaud Chastaingt, Director of CHANEL’s Watchmaking Studio, their new 38mm J12 Diamond Tourbillon Calibre 5 (£132,000) is proof of their technical prowess and their unquestionable mastery when it comes to aesthetics. This is the first Flying Tourbillon movement made in-house by Chanel and it is a true technical tour de force, with a solitaire diamond positioned in the centre of the flying tourbillon cage. Precisely cut to maximize its brilliance, the diamond turns around to the rhythm of the seconds, creating quite a hypnotic effect
The J12 Diamond Tourbillon is available in matte black ceramic and steel or in glossy black ceramic and 18K white gold, each limited to 55 pieces.
The exposed mechanism is adorned with a lion’s head, the signature of Chanel Haute Horlogerie Manufacture movements. The bezel, hands and crown are set with diamonds (34 baguette-cut and 49 brilliant-cut). Read more HERE
For star gazers, Jaeger-LeCoultre has invented an entirely new complication that captures the romance and unpredictability of shooting stars, the 36mm Rendez-vous Dazzling Star (£67,000). A blue aventurine dial evokes the night sky, with multiple layers that conceal and reveal the shooting star; an outer bezel of griffe-set diamonds makes the display even more resplendent. Activated by the movement of the wrist, the shooting star appears on the dial at random moments, usually four to six times per hour. Which may seem like wizardry is actually the work of their new automatic Calibre 734, which reconciles the randomness of this celestial body with the precisely calibrated rhythms of timekeeping. If you want to command the heavens, the star can be summoned on demand by turning the winding crown several times.
The bezel forms two concentric rings. The airy quality to these glittering circles is achieved by the prong setting of the 36 stones in the outer ring.
The watch comes with a shiny blue alligator strap with a folding buckle, or by a sumptuous, fully-set pink gold bracelet, whose links are grain-set with 436 diamonds. Read more HERE.
Understanding women’s growing interest on watches with complications, Vacheron Constantin has launched the Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin (£74,500), with ladies in mind. With its 36.5mm 18K white gold case, diamond-set bezel, blue-grey tinted mother-of-pearl dial, and blue-grey alligator leather strap, this watch is a show-stopper. At its heart lies the Maison’s calibre 1120 QP, which displays, days, dates, months and years on a four-year cycle, including a leap-year indication, without any need for correction before 2100 (so maybe your granddaughter will be the first to adjust it). The display is completed with a moon-phase indication at 6 o’clock.
Vacheron Constantin’s calibre 1120 QP is only 4.05 mm thick. Its 276 components are visible through the sapphire caseback as is its meticulous finishing.
The watch is embellished with a few special features such as the stepped lugs and case, fluted caseback, as well as Dauphine- type hands flying over a railway minutes track punctuated by baton-type hour-markers.
This Traditionnelle perpetual calendar ultra-thin watch is equipped with an interchangeable strap that can be fitted at the touch of a push-button…
The moon-phase disc bears the same colours as the dial, while the depiction of the moon and the stars features the same shade of gold as the case, complete with an opaline finish. In a final touch of elegance, the bezel and top of the lugs are delicately set with 76 round-cut diamonds, while the crown is adorned with a round-cut diamond. Read more HERE.
Inspired by the spectacular rock crystal and diamond bracelet created in the 1930s and worn by actress Gloria Swanson, Cartier presented Libre Morphosis, an entirely reversible jewellery watch. Entirely reversible, it can be turned over thanks to a flexible elasticated strap: on the front, it is a watch and on the back it is a bracelet. The exquisite craftsmanship and character of this hybrid jewel/watch creation consists of a series of triangular links with motifs in the same shape running through it to enhance the geometric aesthetic of the piece. This continuously repeating sequence of forms allows the colours to infinitely diffract light.
The Cartier Libre Morphosis comes in three versions based around Cartier’s iconic colour palette. Here in rose gold, with the case and bracelet set with 711 brilliant-cut diamonds, 54 sapphires, 81 black spinels, 50 chrysoprases and 50 red coral stones.
In case you are wondering why is the Morphosis in an article about complications, let me tell you that this intricate design required Cartier’s watchmakers to scratch their heads in order to find a way to allow the case to fully twist around. The solution came in the form of a specially developed spring and by integrating the redesigned time-setting system at the side, to avoid distorting the triangular effect of the watch. Read more HERE.
For the same reason, I have included the new Happy Sport by Chopard. This year’s model comes in a 33 mm-diameter ethical 18K rose gold case, with five diamonds spinning around its gilded satin-brushed dial, which is complemented by an equally satin-brushed bracelet to achieve a total-look in which gold reigns supreme. The dancing diamonds are set between the two sapphire crystals topping the dial. Invented by Chopard in 1976, this is a technical feat that only a few “choreography” artisans can achieve, ensuring that each diamond in its spinning- top capsule is arranged in such a way that its dance is never hindered.
The 33mm case of the Happy Sport is inspired by the rules of the golden ratio and dictated by the size of the Chopard 09.01-C movement that powers it from its heart…
Fitted with an ethical 18K rose gold bracelet, the Happy Sport beats to the rhythm of the Chopard 09.01-C in-house movement and guarantees a 42-hour power reserve. Read more HERE.
I’ve been keeping for last a watch that literally made my jaw drop, Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Heures Florales Cerisier. This superlative example of haute horlogerie and haute joaillerie working in perfect harmony draws inspiration from the floral clock concept developed by Carl Von Linné in his 1751 book, Philosophia Botanica. In it, the Swedish botanist evokes a hypothetical garden where flowers open and close at specific moments of the day to show the time.
The time is displayed by the number of flowers open on its dial (the hours) and by a marker on the side of the watch that indicates the minutes.
Each flower has a diamond at its centre and no two are the same. Its 38mm rose gold case and bezel contain an exuberant mother-of-pearl dial speckled with precious gems and populated by flowers and butterflies of different colours and sizes, adorned with diamonds in a variety of cuts. In terms of mastery, the Cerissier is a real show-off, which explains why is part of the Maison’s Poetic Complications collection. In this piece we can appreciate highly skilled gem-setting, mother-of-pearl marquetry, miniature painting, sculpted rose gold branches and much more. In fact, I’d recommend you watch this video to fully appreciate this extraordinary timepiece.
The self-winding mechanical movement (Valfeurier) that powers this watch is equipped with a flower-opening module for the hours and lateral minutes display, with a 36-hour power reserve. The watch (£217,000) comes with two interchangeable straps and one interchangeable pin buckle set with diamonds. Read more HERE.
Words: Julia Pasarón Opening picture: Astronomical clock by Hermann (Pixabay)
Talulah Riley jumped to fame after playing Mary Bennet in the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice, opposite Judi Dench, Donald Sutherland, Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. In 2010 she married Elon Musk and moved to the USA. Now divorced and back in the UK, she speaks about her latest TV show, Pistol, where she plays Vivienne Westwood, her book The Quickening, and female empowerment.
Talulah grew up in Hertfordshire, in a family that had nothing to do with the world of film and entertainment. In fact, acting was a weekend hobby, not something she thought she could make a career of. However, by the time her A level exams came close, she panicked and simply wanted to avoid them. “I attended a very academic school, Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls, and I was feeling under a lot of pressure,” she explains. “I was going to be the first person in my family to go to university.” The anxiety she was feeling led her to tell her parents she wanted to drop out of school and become an actress.
I am trying to be as self-sufficient and sustainable as possible…
– Talulah Riley
Dress by Dsquared2. Earrings by Tiffany & Co. Shoes by Dee Ocleppo.
Understanding where the hesitation came from, her parents offered her an alternative. “They were happy for me to have a go at acting but they encouraged me to stay in school and take my A level exams out of discipline,” Talulah shares. “To help me with the apprehension I was feeling they said I didn’t have to open the results, and so they ended up in a frame, unopened, at my father’s office.” The day after she finished her exams, she went straight onto a film set (Pride & Prejudice) and started working. While acting in London, she started a degree in Natural Sciences at the Open University, although she couldn’t finish as she moved to America with Elon Musk and the Open University didn’t allow her to continue internationally. At present she is studying again with them, this time Maths and Physics. “I feel very strongly about the Open University. It saddens and upsets me in equal measure that they have lost support.”
Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Malcolm McLaren and Talulah Riley as Vivienne Westwood in Pistol. CR: Miya Mizuno/FX.
Talulah is referring to the rollercoaster that the institution has gone through in the last decade with regards to their funding and as a consequence, the closure of seven of their regional centres. “I see the Open University as important to our society as is the NHS.” After her appearance in Pride & Prejudice, other films quickly followed, among them the St Trinian’s series (2007, 2009), Inception (2010) and TV shows like Nearly Famous (2007) and Dr Who (2008). In 2008 though she started dating Elon Musk and got married two years later. She moved to America and with five stepchildren (from Musk’s first marriage to writer Justine Musk) under five years of age, she took the decision to put her career mostly on hold. “I came back for the second St. Trinian’s movie but apart from that, I stopped working almost completely to focus on Elon and the kids.”
To read the full interview order our spring issue, HERE.
Opening Picture: Photograph by Leo Cackett. Concept & Styling by Sascha Lilic. Hair & Make up by Hamilton Stansfield. Talent: Talulah Riley. Dress by L’Agence. Necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels
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