Watches & Wonders: People’s Choice Awards – The Most Batsh*t Crazy Watch
Zach BlassRecap: in the wake of Watches & Wonders, watch channel founders Wei Koh of Revolution, Robert-Jan Broer of Fratello, Frank Geelen of Monochrome, and our very own Andrew McUtchen of Time+Tide came together to talk watches. They selected their top watches in four different categories and then asked viewers to make their choice in the comments. So far we have covered the Best Watch Under $10k and the Darkest Horse. The next category The Four Hertzmen tackled was “Batshit Crazy” – which we would soon learn meant something different to each member of the panel.
Wei’s nomination was the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-winding Flying Tourbillon with a green dial and bezel set with emeralds. The reason that he felt this was batshit crazy was because this was a watch that you’d need personal security to wear out and about in a major city.
Andrew went with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 with the justification that the watch was so astoundingly complicated mechanically that it was almost unreal the manufacture was able to accomplish it.
Frank took a more literal route, nominating the Panerai Luminor Marina ESteel™ Grigio Roccia that is made of 98.6% recycled materials. He chose this watch in the belief that it was pure marketing spin, insisting that it was crazy to suggest that utilising a few grams of recycled material would have any positive impact on the environment.
Closing out the panel in the third round, RJB went with the Louis Monet Eight Marvels of the World Tourbillon collection – praising Louis Monet for really going all out in expressing each of these global marvels with incredibly artistic and expressive dials. So, which watch got the most of your votes?
And the “Batshit Crazy” winner is…
The clear winner receiving 61.11% of the vote, is Andrew’s pick: the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 (Quadriptyque). It’s easy to understand why. The Reverso Hybris Mechanica was the horological superstar of the show, with collectors and enthusiasts expressing a deep respect for JLC’s achievement. To break it down into two key points…
- It is the world’s first watch with four faces; the most complicated Reverso timepiece ever made.
- Within a 31mm x 51.2mm x 15.15mm case, JLC packed in a total of 11 complications – including perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and indications of the synodic, draconic and anomalistic lunar cycles (never before presented together in a wristwatch). To achieve all this, JLC required a total of 12 new patents.
To take things even further, the box it is packaged in can actually be used to set the watch and its complications, making it much more user-friendly for the owner to adjust their watch. While highly expensive and extremely rare, those who do purchase this watch will have the ultimate horological flex piece.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 (Quadriptyque) pricing and availability:
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 (Quadriptyque) is a limited edition of 10 pieces. Price: €1.35 million
To hear more about the other three watches, and why they were nominated be sure to watch the video below.
Full Voting Results…
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-winding Flying Tourbillon: 7.41%
JLC Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185: 61.11%
Panerai Luminor Marina ESteel™ Grigio Roccia: 14.81%
Louis Monet Eight Marvels of the World Tourbillon collection: 16.67%