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| Harry Winston Watches |
For decades Harry Winston has been an institution in exquisite jewelry and sparkling precious gems of first-class quality. Of late, however, it seems to be the company's goal to win a respectable reputation for itself as a watch brand as well.
The measuring stick for quality and design was high when this New York jewelry house decided to enter the watch arena at the end of the 1980s. For this reason, the strategy from the beginning was to woo a new clientele with unusual timekeepers of high quality.
In doing so, the company has followed the insight that even reputable watch brands must constantly work at being talked about, remaining in the public eye.
At Harry Winston Rare Timepieces this is done in an effective and charming way by continually stressing its reputation as a technically competent producer of complicated timepieces, separate from the company's worldwide fame as a jeweler and producer of otherwise valuable watches, usually extravagantly set with diamonds. In following this strategy, the company never fails to underscore its collaborations with exceptional, independent watchmakers, always very well regarded in their field for their special talents. These watch "artists" exclusively design one or more new watches that are realized together with Harry Winston and - completely in line with the predicate "rare" in the brand's name - are introduced to the market in strictly limited editions called Opus. |
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After Opus One by Francois-Paul Journe in 2001 and Opus Two by Antoine Preziuso the following year, the company presented a watch at the 2003 Basel Fair called Opus 3 by Vianney Halter, a French horological talent living in Switzerland. Six small windows serve as Iou pes to enlarge the numerals underneath them that represent the minutes, hours and date on the Opus 3. Halter's invention differs from a normal digital watch as the hour numerals appear in dark blue under the sapphire crystals of the upper row of windows; the minutes are shown in black in the row below that. The numerals are all separated from each other by a middle window in which the date appears in dark red, to be read vertically. The watch shown here displays 8:37 on the 14th of the month.
The already unusual display becomes very lively when a "countdown" counter appears that announces every change in the minute display by use of a fan-shaped disk. The disk suddenly jumps out in front of the date disk, then disappears again for another 55 seconds. Winding and setting is done via a wheel located on the right-hand side, which can be put into four different positions.
When viewing Opus 3, it becomes apparent that Harry Winston Rare Timepieces has again remained loyal to its trustworthy mix of costliness and extravagant watch technology while also displaying a pinch of humor.
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Harry Winston
718 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10019
USA
www.harrywinston.com
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