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!
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Time Honored counting Octavio Garcia and (right) the Openworked Extra-Thin Royal Oak Limited Edition 40th Anniversary watch octavio's excellent adventure CHICAGO NATIVE OCTAVIO GARCIA GIVES THE SWISS SOMETHING TO YODEL ABOUT. by roberta naas B orn and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Octavio Garcia is one of Switzerland's foremost watch design- ers. As chief artistic officer at Audemars Piguet, he has spearheaded the design of the brand's 40th anniversary collection of famed Royal Oak watch. its No overnight success, Garcia dropped out of high school to make money, working odd jobs in the steel and automotive industries before earn- ing his GED. At 22, he was restless, so he moved to Europe, where he fell in love with and eventu- ally married a Swiss girl. "When I moved to Switzerland, I decided to look for a school," says Garcia. He happened upon the Art Center College of Design. Garcia graduated with a degree in industrial design before finding his way to Omega Watch Company, where he learned the purity of watch design. In 2003 he answered a newspaper ad for a position at Audemars Piguet, and the rest is his- tory. Garcia has been lending his own sense of contemporary style to Audemars Piguet for the last nine years, as he has redesigned and show- cased the brand's Millenary collection, and for 92 michiganavemag.com the past three years he has worked diligently to design the new 40th Anniversary Royal Oak col- lection. The Royal Oak, first unveiled in 1972, was the world's first luxury sport watch, created in stainless steel with a now-iconic octagonal design. It has been a leading product for the brand since. "We all discussed what we could do to pay homage to the groundbreaking watch, and agreed that offering pure, sophisticated beauty was key." says Garcia. "Often I am inspired by fashion or the automotive industry, but for this creation, I turned to our museum." The 40th Anniversary series includes several amazing pieces that recall the original tapestry- dial design. Produced entirely in-house, offer a crisp, grid-work dial pattern. Among the new creations is the Openworked Extra-Thin Royal Oak Limited Edition 40th Anniversary in 950 platinum, and the 39mm, 247-part Extra- Thin Royal Oak, which comes as close to the original as possible. they "I am drawn by the aesthetics of the brand, and love to take it to the next level in all I design," says Garcia. "Our clients are demanding and expect excitement from us. We need to deliver." MA the years a great city and an iconic brand celebrate a birthday. This year, as Chicago celebrates its 175th anniversary, so does Hermès, twice over—not only is the brand itself 175 years old, but 2012 also marks its 100th year of watchmaking prowess. To celebrate, Hermès is unveiling the 175th Anniversary collection of Dressage timepieces, housing the brand's very first in-house-made movement, the H1837. "We are taking a big step this year with the first Hermès-manufactured in-house caliber," says Luc Perramond, CEO of La Montre Hermès. The movement took five years to develop with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier movement makers, of which Hermès is a 25 percent owner. Created in stainless steel or 18k gold, Dressage makes its debut with 10 models with dial color variations and strap offerings. In addition to the Simple Calendar model and the Small Second model, there is also a special limited-edition piece in 18k rose gold with a matte graphite dial made in 175 pieces (for the 175th anniversary). Hermès has also opened in its Paris flagship store a superb historical museum of saddlery, timepieces, and travel- related objects from around the world, as collected by Emile Hermès, grandson of the founder. The Hermès Dressage Simple Calendar ($10,600) features a large central seconds hand and date at 6 o'clock. It houses the new H1837 caliber, the first-ever, in-house- made Hermès movement. Hermès, 25 E. Oak St., 312-787-8175; hermes.com top: The Audemars Piguet Openworked Extra-Thin Royal Oak Limited Edition 40th Anniversary watch ($141,400), designed for the company's 40th anniversary by Garcia. Swiss Fine Timing, 645 N. Michigan Ave., 312-337-4700; audemarspiguet.com photography by dario orlandi (garcia)