About time: bah humbug
Abid Rahman
Buying a watch as a Christmas present can be done on autopilot - just walk into any boutique in Central and purchase one of the big brands. However, if your loved one is more discerning and keener on a brand that's less ubiquitous, then a Chronoswiss Perpetual Calendar (below right) might be an idea. Coming in a steel or rose-gold 40mm case, the Perpetual Calendar is inspired by watchmaking of old, with a dial design that wouldn't have looked out of place in The Christmas Carol. The dial is busy, featuring day, date and month indicators as well as lunar phases. There's a lot there but it all seems to come together and work. The movement is a top-class, in-house Chronoswiss Calibre C.127 so as well as looking the part the insides are rather nifty, too. The Chronoswiss Perpetual Calendar in steel with a white or black dial is priced at HK$235,500; the rose-gold version is priced at HK$350,000.
Failing that trip to the Hamptons, you could always get him a Baume & Mercier Clifton 10054 (top right). From the newly launched Clifton range - which, interestingly, made its debut on the mainland - the 10054 is a classically styled watch that does all it's asked to do with elegance. Coming in a 41mm, polished-steel case, the dial has a retro feel and ties in nicely with the windswept beach aesthetic of which Baume & Mercier is so fond. Features are kept simple, with a small seconds hand at the six o'clock position and a lovely brown alligator leather strap. And it's water resistant to 50 metres. The Baume & Mercier Clifton 10054 is priced at HK$23,800.
Finally, we have the curiously named Girard-Perregaux ww.tc Chronograph (below left). The "ww.tc" stands for "world wide time control", which, let's be honest, is a bit ungainly but lends the timepiece a bit of eccentric charm. As the name suggests, this is a world time watch and the time zones are neatly laid out. The steel case is sized at a chunky 43mm, which gives ample room for the three sub dials, namely seconds and two chronograph dials. There's also room for a date window in the unorthodox position of two o'clock. A rather clever day/night indicator sits just below the time-zone rings. As you would expect from Girard-Perregaux, the GP033CO-FV1U movement is solid and more than up to the task of powering this feature-rich watch, with 48 hours of power reserve. Water resistant up to 30 metres, this watch comes with a black alligator leather strap. The Girard-Perregaux ww.tc Chronograph is priced at HK$133,000.