On November 9th, 2019 – the biennial auction of timepieces to fund research for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – Only Watch returns.
As usual, some of the world’s top watchmakers will donate unique one-of-a-kind timepieces created specifically for this charity event. This article focuses on four highlights from the upcoming auction, and we’ll follow up with more coverage later in the year. Only Watch 2019 will consist of 50 lots from a total of 52 companies (a few worked together).
Our first highlight is the completely matte black, Tudor Black Bay Ceramic One (pictured top). This watch comes with the standard 41 mm diameter case and in-house caliber MT5602, however, instead of stainless steel, the case is crafted from ceramic, which Tudor has never done with the Black Bay before. The watch has a satin-brushed and bead-blasted finish with a titanium unidirectional bezel ceramic insert. The caseback is open and shows off a black, skeletonized rotor.
The second timepiece is the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Mercury Only Watch 2019 which is a skeletonized timepiece in a 44 mm diameter titanium case, with unique blue-colored hands and components which is visually distinctive. But it’s what the mechanical movement can do that’s most noteworthy, and the subject of a utility patent. At Aikon Mercury appears to be a typical watch, with central hours and minutes and small seconds at the six o’clock position. With the slightest tilt, however, the blue hour and minute hands spin freely. Hold the watch upright, like you normally do to view the time, and the hands fall back and give the correct time thanks to a double snail-cam mechanism hidden beneath the dial, a system that took 3 years to develop.
The third timepiece is the Armin Strom Unique Pure Resonance Only Watch 2019 which has a baby blue small seconds dial, which is the same hue as the Only Watch corporate color. And while this 42 mm stainless steel case and unique dial may not offer as much in the terms of a special colorway it more than makes up for it with a true mechanical resonance system. This patented system, thanks to the clutch spring you can see in between the two oscillators on the dial side at 9 o’clock, allows vibrations to resonate between the two balance wheels, creating resonance in 10-minutes or less, and increasing chromometric accuracy.
Last but definitely not least is the Kari Voutilainen TP1 Pocket Watch which takes the guilloche-work that Kari Voutilainen is known for and maximizes it within a large 50.30 x 50.30 x 14 mm pocket watch. You get open-tipped hands, applied Arabic numerals and indices, a gorgeously hand-finished manually wound movement (visible through the caseback), and the signature engine-turned dial made from solid silver, with multiple types of guilloche.
