Fourteen category-based awards were up for grabs and the gems of the watchmaking world came to Geneva to be part of the huge ceremony.
ADVERTISEMENTThe 2021 edition of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève wrapped up with a stunning awards ceremony on Thursday evening (Nov 4).
The quest for excellence is a guiding force across many crafts and disciplines, and the luxury watch industry is no different. The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) aims to highlight and reward the most remarkable creations of the past 12 months.
Watch the full glittering ceremony in the media player below.
Bulgari walked away with the prestigious Grand Prix de l'Aiguille d'Or award for their Octo Finissimo model.
Winners and categories
Ladies’ watch prize: women’s watches comprising the following indications only - hours, minutes, seconds, simple date (day of the month), power reserve, classic moon phases - and potentially adorned with a maximum 9-carat gemsetting. Winner: Piaget - Limelight Gala Precious Rainbow
Men’s watch prize: men’s watches comprising the following indications only - hours, minutes, seconds, simple date (day of the month), power reserve, classic moon phases - and potentially adorned with a maximum 5-carat gemsetting. Winner: Grand Seiko - Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours Caliber 9SA5
In this year's selection there were also two 'complication' categories, one for men and one for ladies. Watches in these categories are remarkable in terms of their mechanical creativity and complexity. These watches may feature all kinds of classic and/or innovative complications and indications (e.g. annual calendar, perpetual calendar, equation of time, complex moon phases, tourbillon, digital or retrograde time display, world time, dual time or other types of model) and do not fit the definition of the ordinary gender men's and ladies' categories.
Winner of Ladies' Complication: Van Cleef & Arpels - Lady Féerie Watch
Winner of Men's Complication: MB&F - LMX Titanium
Other categories were:
Iconic: watches from an emblematic collection that has been exercising a lasting influence on watchmaking history and the watch market for more than 20 years. Winner: Audemars Piguet - Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin
Petite Aiguille: watches with a retail price between CHF 3,500 and CHF 10,000. Smartwatches are admissible in this category. Winner: Tudor - Black Bay Ceramic
Tourbillon: men’s mechanical watches comprising at least one tourbillon. Additional indications and/or complications are admissible. Winner: De Bethune - DB Kind of Two Tourbillon
Chronograph: mechanical watches comprising at least one chronograph indication. Additional indications and/or complications are admissible. Winner: Zenith - Chronomaster Sport
Diver’s: watches linked to the world of diving, whose functions, materials and design are suited to this activity. Winner: Louis Vuitton - Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue
Challenge: watches with a retail price equal to or under CHF 3,500. Smartwatches are admissible in this category. Winner: CIGA Design - Blue Planet
Calendar and Astronomy: men’s mechanical watches comprising at least one calendar and/or astronomical complication (e.g. date, annual calendar, perpetual calendar, equation of time, complex moon phases display, etc.). Additional indications and/or complications are admissible. Winner: Christiaan Van Der Klaauw - CVDK Planetarium Eise Eisinga
Mechanical Exception: watches featuring a special mechanism, such as an innovative or sophisticated display, an automaton, a striking or any other acoustic function, a special escapement, a belt-driven movement or any other original and/or exceptional horological concept. Winner: Piaget - Altiplano Ultimate Automatic
Jewellery: watches demonstrating exceptional mastery of the art of jewellery and gemsetting, and also distinguished by the choice of stones. Winner: Chopard - Flower Power
Artistic Crafts: watches demonstrating exceptional mastery of one or several artistic techniques such as enamelling, lacquering, engraving, guilloché (engine-turning), skeleton-working, etc.
Winner: MB&F - LM SE Eddy Jaquet 'Around the World in Eighty Days'
Innovation Prize:
This prize rewards the best competing watch offering an innovative vision of time measurement (in terms of technique, design, materials, etc.) and opening up new development pathways for the watchmaking art. Winner:
Bernhard Lederer - Central Impulse Chronometer**
Audacity Prize:
This prize rewards the best competing watch featuring a non-conformist, offbeat approach to watchmaking. Winner:
Louis Vuitton - Tambour Carpe Diem**
- "Horological Revelation" Prize:
This prize rewards a competing watch created by a young brand (less than ten years of existence since its first model was commercialised).
ADVERTISEMENTWinner:
Furlan Marri - MR. Grey Ref. 1041-A
“First of all, it's probably the best-known watch prize in the world, number one. Second, it's recognition by the peers. Because you have experts choosing the watches, you have experts voting for the watches,” Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling told Euronews, ahead of the opening last month.
“Of course, at the end of the day, it's the consumer who decides what watch is successful or not,” said Kern. “But at least you know it's something good if you win.”
Only watches released into the market between May 2020 and the end of October 2021 have been eligible to take part in the Grand Prix.
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