There will no doubt be glossy pictures of this watch adorning Senior Editor Bhanu Chopra?s wrist at Baselworld in just a few short weeks from now.
The new Octo Tourbillon Sapphire comes encased in a stunning black version in DLC-coated titanium contrasting with blue. The watch offers a new interpretation of the formal purity of the octagon. This geometrical figure has been regarded as a source of perfection since time immemorial, through antiquity and the Renaissance. Following on from diverse formal variations on the Octo theme, it reinvents itself in this new case.

Through its dial and its transparent caseback, this spectacular 44mm watch, crafted in titanium DLC-black is powered by a mechanical manual-winding flying tourbillon movement, Caliber BVL 206, and features 11 DLC-coated bridges adorned with blue bars made of ITR2, a composite material laden with carbon nanotube particles and endowed with metal-like hardness, as well as SLN, a high-tech luminescent material. The bridges are used as hour-markers, thereby serving both to support the movement and as functional elements in reading off the hours and minutes. For time-setting, one press on the crown reveals a red dot in the micro-aperture at 3 o?clock, signaling that the time may be set simply by rotating the crown. Once the operation is complete, a further press causes the dot to vanish and locks the time-setting mechanism. There will be a full report on this watch at Baselworld.

By Michael Weare Courtesy Luxury...