It was just 10 years ago that keen watch watchers worldwide were thrilled by the very first iteration of Masters of Time, a finely curated collection of highend timepieces that all but took over Macau for the weekend. For 2018, rechristened “Masters of Time X” in honour of its momentous anniversary, it was billed as being bigger and better than ever, with DFS – the Hong Kong-headquartered luxury travel retailer behind the show – promising something truly spectacular.
From the off, it was obviously a promise they were determined to keep. The sheer scale of the opening ceremony – complete with multisensory dining, body bending acrobatics, arts masterclasses and fine wine tastings – ensured no attendee walked away unawed before even a single timepiece took its first public bow. That’s not to say that, for even one precise and everso-accurately measured minute, the organisers had forgotten what it was all about, with the welcoming hijinks only a prelude to the mesmerising main course of all the very best in haute horology that was to follow.
Keeping to their avowed intent of outdoing all that had come before, this year, this most singular of showcases featured more than 450 fine distillations of the master watchmaker’s craft, with 30 brands in all represented.
While it is surely folly to single out just a few particular merit-worthy items from amid such illustrious company, there were seven especially splendid timepieces that demanded further coverage. Starting off with the traditional, for lovers of classical craftsmanship, IWC’s marvellously minimalist Tribute to Pallweber Edition “150 Years” was clearly created with you in mind.
Boasting a dazzling blue dial punctuated solely by jumping hours and minute displays (and a small hacking seconds sub-dial), the design is a clear homage to Josef Pallweber, the Austrian watchmaker who created this then-groundbreaking layout in pocket watch form back in 1883. Mounted on elegant black alligator leather straps and limited to just 500 pieces, this 45mm timepiece is sure to appeal to every gentlemanly collector.
Should you be a lady looking for an equally classical chronogram, the Altiplano-Piaget Rose has all but got your name on. The latest addition to Piaget’s super-slim Altiplano Collection, it’s blessed with an ultra-thin, hand-wound calibre 430P movement, all delightfully housed in a 38mm white gold case. A bejewelled pink Yves Piaget Rose – replete with 80 shimmering petals on a wood marquetry – takes centre stage on its mother-of pearl dial, a feature fetchingly ringed with a further 78 diamonds, gifting the piece the brand’s trademark haute joaillerie flourish.
Staying minimalist, but upping the bold and manly quotient, comes the latest offering from Ulysse Nardin – the Freak Vision Red. The first automatic watch to be ushered into the Freak Collection, it sports a superlight silicium balance wheel complete with nickel mass elements. An edition produced exclusively for Masters of Time attendees, its blue-dominant dial is further burnished with arrow-shaped minute and hour hands – all accented with DFS’ signature red hue – mounted on the escapement wheel in true tourbillon style.
Another edition created solely for this anniversary iteration of Masters of Time was Hublot’s simply iridescent Spirit of the Big Bang Sapphire Rainbow. Eschewing the conventional for the outré, its knowingly avant-garde design featured an open-worked skeletonised dial, revealing the marvels of its HUB4700 movement at even the most cursory of glances.
Never one to be outdone, a customised take on the Excalibur 42mm – the pride of the house of Roger Dubuis – also came complete with several bespoke touches, each a knowing nod to the event’s decennial incarnation. Most strikingly, its diamond-pavéd dial and bezel serve to enhance the stylised Roman numerals on its gem-studded fascia. In a tip of the cap to DFS, the 10 o’clock hour marker and the alligator leather straps of this automatic self-winding watch both showcase its now-unmistakable red accent.
Among the other craftily customised chronometers with a duly celebratory theme was Zenith’s Chronomaster DFS MOT X by Bamford Watch Department. Here, the Swiss marque’s Chronomaster had been customised by a London-based watch personalisation specialist, the dutifully namechecked Bamford Watch Department. With an El Primero Calibre 400 movement concealed within its stainless-steel case, this rare El Primero column-wheel chronograph is said to deliver a movement frequency of 36,000VpH – or, in layman’s terms, it can time an event to one-tenth of a second – making this the perfect watch for the time and motion obsessive in your household.
Even against such gallant and grand competition, though, it would be decidedly contrary not to honour the event’s true stand-out – Franck Muller’s Vanguard Crazy Hours DFS Exclusive (Hero Piece). Its appropriately-entitled diamond studded design features quirky non-sequential numbers – with the 10 o’clock hour marker highlighted once again – and the bold red of DFS emblazoned across its Vanguard bezel and leather strap stitching. With only five such watches ever set to be produced, limited special editions don’t get anymore limited. Or any more special.
Text: Bailey Atkinson and Tenzing Thondup