1) Piaget

PIAGET

Things are looking exceptionally bright this year for Piaget – literally. A good number of the brand’s new releases were dusted with diamonds, from the 733-stone Altiplano 900D to the full-diamond Limelight Stella high jewellery watch. Shining brightly in a figurative rather than literal way, the Piaget Emperador Coussin 700P also garnered plenty of attention with its highly technical mechanical movement that is regulated by a quartz generator for utmost accuracy.

2) Panerai

PANERAI

For 2016, Panerai unveils two new movements – the P.4001 and the P4002. These have found homes in two Radiomir 1940 models: The 3 Days GMT Automatic, and the 3 Days GMT Power Reserve (pictured). Aside from technical features like double spring barrels that give each model a three-day power reserve, and a mechanism that stops the balance while the watch is being set, we also like the dynamic dials that feature a vintage-y clous de Paris finish or more dynamic vertical stripes.

 3) Richard Mille

RM

Banking on the high probability that even the most flamboyant watch buff would wear a long-sleeved shirt some time in his life, and want to wear his timepiece under rather than over his cuff, Richard Mille introduces the RM67-01 Extra Flat this year. Following svelte (for this famously in-your-face brand, anyway) round and rectangular models, the 7.75mm-thick RM 67-01 marks the first time the brand has created a tonneau-shaped ultra-thin timepiece. Powered by an in-house automatic movement, the watch is available in titanium, red gold or white gold.

 4) Van Cleef & Arpels

VCA

“For Van Cleef & Arpels, time is poetry,” said the brand’s rep at the start of her presentation to the press. And indeed, the maison’s latest addition to its Poetic Complications collection offers plenty of horological whimsy beyond ye olde hours and minutes: Midnight Nuit Lumineuse continues where VCA’s 2014 astronomical blockbuster, Midnight Planetarium, left off. The watch’s dial features the outlines of constellations, punctuated by diamonds. The real “oooh” factor, however, comes from the LED lights that illuminate six of these diamonds at the push of a button.

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