The watch blogs have been a-buzz the last few weeks with new goods unveiled at this year’s SIHH, Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. As the name implies, SIHH is an event (invite-only) where the top dogs of the watch industry show off their newest, wildest, most elaborate and often most expensive creations.
A couple weeks back, we had the good fortune to attend a private preview of Girard-Perregaux’s newest timepieces, the Sea Hawk and Chrono Hawk, at their Madison Avenue boutique in NYC. While not typical fare for worn&wound, given their luxury price rage, Girard-Perregaux certainly has a number of pieces that qualify for our Watch Lust column.
Many of the watches that demand the price tag of todays Watch Lust are rich with complications, precious materials, provenance, and anything else you may expect from a watch that costs nearly $500,000.
In June we brought you a guide for dress watches under $1,000, featuring five pieces that one could happily own for many years, and proudly wear to work or a formal function knowing that you (or at least your wrist) look great. But, like any respectable watch nerd, we also got to thinking about our dress watch lusts – those pieces that, while well out of our current or foreseeable price range, stand out from the crowd and deserve our admiration.
The Bremont P-51 packs a lot of punch, and we say that taking into account its over $11,000 price tag. Built with parts from an actual WWII aircraft, powered by a highly modified Valjoux 7750 and featuring some of Bremont’s signature watch making technology, the P-51 is a strikingly handsome timepiece, well worth our watch lust.