We’re hurtling towards the end of the year and, let’s be honest, the sooner it’s over the better. No, I’m not talking about all the politics, disaster and death but the fact that Arsenal mugged themselves off and finished behind Leicester City in the Premier League. Leicester! Come on! The worst. Anyway, December in the watch industry is usually when the anticipation builds for the next year’s first big show, the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, which is held in Geneva every January. The drip, drip of pre-event releases has started and although the blockbuster watches are held back till the show itself, we’ve already been given a glimpse of some choice pieces. So this week we’ll look at three gems before the main event begins.

Greubel Forsey is one of those small manufacturers that only watch nerds and billionaires would know about, but that’s a bit of a shame; the brand doesn’t set out to be elitist, rather the movements and execution of its products are so complex that the sticker price inevitably has a lot of zeros.