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Animal watches

Cartier - Rotonde de Cartier watch in white gold with bear motif

The dial of this watch (HK$770,000), featuring a polar bear under a starry sky, calls to mind a stained-glass window. A skeletonised dial - without backing - is crafted before enamel is crushed and mixed into different shades and filled into the spaces to create a translucent dial featuring a background in natural gradations of blue. The sky above the polar bear seems to shine, thanks to the tiny flashes of silver placed individually to resemble stars. The rhodium-plated, white gold 42mm case is completed with a circular-grained white gold crown set with a sapphire cabochon and a semi-matt black alligator strap. A limited edition of 40 individually numbered timepieces has been produced.

Chopard - L.U.C XP Urushi

Japanese urushi artist Kiichiro Masumura has supervised the creation of the animal-inspired dials of these watches (HK$160,000), which come in a choice of Peacock, Tiger or Jungle versions. Using two traditional techniques - urushi, the ancient Japanese art of lacquering, and maki-e, the sprinkling of metal power on lacquer - these timepieces feature images of lively creatures enhanced by the use of vivid colour, further contoured by a touch of gold dust. Each houses an ultra-thin, mechanical self-winding 3.3mm movement and two gold-toned dauphine hour and minute hands.

Christophe Claret - MTR.CCR97.102 Tigre

At first glance, this timepiece (HK$2,004,600) does not evoke anything wild other than the small tiger face motif placed at the 12 o'clock position, which creates an aesthetic balance with the one-minute tourbillon of the in-house manufactured calibre CCR97 underneath.

But flip the watch over and a generously sized, hand-engraved tiger with piercing eyes set with blue sapphires is revealed on the blue lacquer back casing. The flange of the 4mm white gold case is encrusted with diamonds and blue sapphires that serve as hour markers, while blue hands, blue screws and a blue sapphire crown cabochon tie the timepiece together. Only one of these timepieces has been created for local retailer Elegant Watch and Jewellery.

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