Last weekend saw the second edition of WatchFair Luxembourg, organised by Premium Magazine.
This prestigious event, held at Mondorf’s Domaine Thermal, brought together some of the most highly skilled independent watchmakers in the world, including Finland’s Kari Voutilainen, the Grönefeld brothers from The Netherlands and Vianney Halter from France.
The timepieces on display each took many hundreds, and in many cases thousands of hours to produce by hand, a fact which reflects in the 6 (and more!) figure sums that you would have to part with to become the owner of one of these extraordinary creations. Certainly some of the watches were designed to shock, or to challenge the accepted norms of what a watch should look like, but each of them, in their own way, was an absolute masterpiece.
They were not all there simply as display items, as there were twelve prizes up for grabs, including ladies’ complication, won by the stunning Fabergé Lady Compliquée Peacock Emerald and Design, with victory going to the 384 component DeWitt Academia Mathematical, the world’s first mechanical watch with no hands.
As well as the show of watches, there was a display of collectors cars on behalf of the Make a Wish Foundation, and some contemporary Britsh badged cars from Lotus, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin.
Photos by John Chalmers (Top to Bottom, L-R): Vianney Halter Antiqua Perpetual Calendar - modelled by Jane Mottet O’Brien; Viviane de Witt celebrates winning the first prize for design; Fabergé Lady Compliquée Peacock Emerald - winner Ladies’ Complication; Kari Voutilainen; Vianney Halter
