Each week, EWC will be gathering horological industry news, cultural conversations and moments surrounding our favorite topic: timepieces. Happy Friday; here’s what’s on our watch. 

Happy Thanksgiving weekend. We at EWC hope all of your turkey trots, tryptophan-induced naps and touch football games go swimmingly.

NEW RELEASES

Blancpain just blew everyone’s minds with their latest piece, the Grande Double Sonnerie. This watch contains not one, not two, but five complications. For the sonically inclined, it has a minute repeater and both a grande and petite sonnerie, and if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a retrograde perpetual calendar AND a flying tourbillon. Not content to sit on their technical laurels with all of these complications, Blancpain included a pusher to select between two different melodies, so the wearer can select between a Westminster melody or a custom Blancpain melody developed in conjunction with KISS drummer Eric Singer. With its combination of complications, expert finishing, and collaboration with a music legend, it’s the ultimate combination of high watchmaking and rock and roll.

Would you like a retrograde complication? How about three? Maurice Lacroix has you covered with the AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde. The 50-year-old watch brand is known for putting retrograde complications into its watches, and this one has three: home time/GMT, day, and date, with a fourth aperture on the dial showing a small seconds display. Each of the apertures are partially skeletonized to allow the wearer visibility into the movement, and the finishing on the in-house Calibre ML291 has Côtes de Genève decoration for maximum viewing pleasure.

Arnold & Son pays tribute to the original brand founder, John Arnold, and his connection to Abraham-Louis Breguet, with its latest release, the Constant Force Tourbillon 11 Platinum. It celebrates 260 years of brand heritage with technical accomplishment, with an in-house manually wound movement that has a tourbillon and a constant force mechanism that regulates energy from the barrel, ensuring that the movement receives the same amount of power when it is fully wound as it does when it is at the end of its power reserve. This is all topped off with a beautifully engraved solid gold dial that features a tremblé pattern inspired by ferns in the moors of Cornwall, the birthplace of John Arnold. There’s also an inscription on the movement paying tribute to the friendship between Arnold and Breguet, cementing this timepiece as a tribute to horological history.

H. Moser & Cie released a new version of its popular Streamliner with the Perpetual Moon Concept Meteorite, which, as it says in the name, features a golden meteorite dial made of Gibeon meteorite, with the addition of Moser’s fumé effect. 5N red gold hands and indices complement the dial, while the moon display is just straight-up pretty. The contrasting steel case and the effortlessly comfortable integrated bracelet that is standard on their Streamliner models provides a wearable yet elegant form factor for this stealthily complicated piece.

WATCH SPOTTING

DJ Khaled joined Jimmy Fallon as a guest on The Tonight Show, where the two had an appropriately nerdy watch discussion. Fallon showed off his Cartier Time Peace limited edition, while DJ Khaled, wearing a Patek Philippe Nautilus LE, reached over behind his chair to grab an entire case of watches full of Rolex and Audemars Piguet pieces, which he then showcased to the host and audience.

Celebrities were out in force at the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix race, with many of them wearing TAG Heuer. The guests joined the LVMH Paddock and attended a private VIP dinner at the newly-opened restaurant Carbone Riviera at the Bellagio. Watches included the Limited Edition Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche Rallye 42mm, Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph 40mm and 34mm, and the Formula 1 Solargraph Black 38mm.

At the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the highlight for watch enthusiasts and pop culture aficionados alike was Busta Rhymes, performing on a float with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wearing a Richard Mille. The performances were coordinated by Brendan Kennedy, who heads up creative production for Macy’s events such as the 4th of July fireworks and Thanksgiving Parade.

AUCTION SZN in NYC

Phillips is featuring a watch exhibition that highlights the collection of Dr. Helmut Crott, an extraordinary collector of watches from Glashütte, including some impressive pieces from A. Lange & Söhne. The exhibition focuses on the technical proficiency of Glashütte watchmaking and includes some astonishing pocket watches, with tourbillons and grande and petite sonnerie complications. The exhibition is on display from December 3-5 at Phillips in New York.

This exhibition will be immediately followed by the Phillips New York Watch Auction: XIII from December 6-7.

Sotheby’s will host its Important Watches auction on December 8 at its newly opened headquarters in the Breuer building on Madison Avenue in New York. The sale includes everything from a limited edition Christopher Ward x Andrew Morgan C1 Bel Canto to carriage clocks and marine chronometers, truly a smorgasbord for horology nuts.

Christie’s has its Important Watches auction on December 9, with 126 lots that include unusual pieces from Cartier, Audemars Piguet, MB&F, Bvlgari, and more, as well as a wildly rare carriage clock by British legend Charles Frodsham that has a tourbillon and grande and petite sonnerie complications.

There are some horologically nerdy finds in all of the upcoming NYC auctions, so if you’re in the NYC area, be sure to check out the auction previews.