Style Edit: Carl F. Bucherer adds Hong Kong to its Annual Hometown collection, with designs paying tribute to the city’s Central skyline, Tsing Ma Bridge and Hong Kong International Airport
For 135 years, Carl F. Bucherer has remained laser focused on innovation, constantly refreshing what the art of luxury watchmaking can mean. In 2023, the storied Swiss company again prepared itself to face the future with a refresh of its priorities under the theme Exploring Time. It refined its products into three categories – Manero, Patravi and Heritage – and made plans to increase the number of movements it manufacturers entirely in-house, as well as its production of the peripheral technology for which it has become noted.
Peripheral technology allows the wearer to stare right into the heart of the movement, creating a direct view of it through the caseback by repositioning complications so they sit on the periphery of the movement. It has enabled the company to master complications such as its automated winding system, floating tourbillon and minute repeater regulator.
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The first two of those are on display in a dynamic new watch from the company’s Manero collection, the Manero Tourbillon Double Peripheral Paradise, which is limited to just 18 pieces. Its tourbillon cage is supported by three ceramic ball bearings so that it seems to float above the black dial, which comes adorned with a dazzling sunray effect, in colours that dramatically mimic those of the showstopping bezel. There, 40 baguette-cut gemstones including tsavorites, sapphires and rubies create a rainbow effect, mounted so that they join seamlessly to depict the gradiation of colour. It sits inside an 18k rose gold case, which is complement by rose gold-plated hands and offset by a black hybrid rubber strap. The watch is powered by a pioneering movement, produced entirely in-house by Bucherer – the CFB T3000.
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Another favourite from the Manero collection, the Manero Flyback, was introduced in 2016 with a 43mm stainless steel case and a black leather strap – it immediately became a firm favourite among fans of the brand. Now, by popular request, it has been updated in a new, slimmed down 40mm size. The Flyback is now available in blue, green, red, white and black, with a sustainable textile strap that matches the colour of its two subdials. Those subdials feature a chronograph and small seconds, driven by the CFB 1973 movement, which offers 56 hours of power reserve.
Last year, Carl F. Bucherer marked its association with a number of iconic cities, both in its home of Switzerland and around the world, with the launch of the Heritage BiCompax Annual Hometown Edition. The watch celebrates the brand’s love of the cities with unique engraved caseback designs dedicated to their most immediately recognisable features.
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For 2023, the range has included the Heritage Bicompax Annual Hometown Edition Hong Kong, which celebrates the city’s landmarks including the Central skyline, Tsing Ma Bridge and Hong Kong International Airport. Its dial has a silver centre, with the colour – a choice of yellow, brown, burgundy, green or mint – becoming gradually darker towards the edge. It features chronograph and small seconds subdials, as well as a tachymeter scale, and big date and month indications.
- Carl F. Bucherer’s Heritage BiCompax Annual Hometown Edition pays homage to cities by featuring their most recognisable features on the caseback designs – now Hong Kong is part of the club
- As part of refining its range, the watchmaker has brought back its Manero Flyback, introduced in 2016, but with a smaller dial and wider range of colours