Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/385207
making history Many of today's foremost brands have a storied past from which to draw ideas for timepieces that blend the best design elements of yesterday with today's innovations. above left: This Hermès Dressage L'Heure Masquee ($43,750) recalls the brand's equestrian origins. The new 18k rose-gold Dressage watch features an inventive complication that "hides" the time: The watch's default appearance only displays the hour hand, with the minute hand hidden behind it. With the push of a button on the side of the case, the minute hand moves to display the full time. The piece also features a dual time indicator. Just 500 of these watches will be made. 25 E. Oak St., 312-787-8175; hermes.com above right: From Rolex, the Oyster Perpetual Explorer watch ($6,550) is inspired by the brand's great adventures in the Himalayas—a nod to the first successful ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary, who famously reached its summit in 1953 wearing a Rolex Oyster. The watch is crafted in steel with a perpetual mechanical self-winding movement and is a COSC-certified chronometer that is fitted with a steel Oysterlock bracelet. Razny Jewelers, 1700 Green Bay Road, Highland Park, 847-432-5300; rolex.com opposite page, clockwise from top: The new Montblanc Homage to Nicolas Rieussec limited edition ($11,500) is a tribute to the French watchmaker who patented the chronograph in 1821 to precisely measure the running times of individual horses at a race. This rich history inspired the brand to create an entire collection with distinct manufacture movements. The watch's unmistakable appearance combines an off-center hour circle in the upper part of the dial and the chronograph's elapsed-time displays in the dial's lower portion. Like the 1821 original, elapsed time is shown on two rotating discs, above each of which a motionless hand indicates the passing seconds and minutes. C.D. Peacock, 172 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook, 630-571-5355; montblanc.com Inspired by the record-breaking ultrathin watches it developed in the 1950s, Piaget returned to the drawing board and took three years to build this revolutionary new Piaget Altiplano 38mm 900P ($27,800). The brand was even inspired to give the watch a name that harkens to the past (the original ultrathin caliber released in 1957 was called the Caliber 9P). This new 38mm white-gold piece is the thinnest mechanical watch, featuring movement parts that are actually merged with the case in an innovative design that is an impressive 3.65mm slim. Trabert & Hoeffer, 111 E. Oak St., 312-787-1654; piaget.com Breguet founder Abraham-Louis Breguet is the father of invention when it comes to watchmaking: In the early 19th century, he designed and patented the first tourbillon escapement. Inspired by this history, Breguet continues to innovate and regularly releases stunning tourbillon timepieces. The new Classique Grande Complication Tourbillon ($102,700) is crafted in 18k gold and houses a hand-wound, hand-engraved movement offering a small-seconds coaxial with the tourbillon escapement. Tourbillon Boutique, 545 N. Michigan Ave., 312-836-3800; breguet.com 104 michiganavemag.com