Form Meets Function: Panerai, Roger Dubuis, Ulysse Nardin, and Richard Mille

From Panerai, we saw the new Lab-ID model—a striking black timepiece with luminous blue features that gains its design from the Luminor 1950 collection. It is 49 mm in diameter, made of carbontech, has a P.3001/C hand-wound caliber, and is water resistant up to about 300 feet. The watch’s blue-colored Super-LumiNova brightens up the hour and seconds markers for an innovative characteristic.

Roger Dubuis has debuted the The Excalibur Spider, RD820SQ with a limited edition of 88 pieces. Rugged and reliable, the new watch sits in a 45 mm skeleton case with a three-dimensional effect, DLC titanium elements, and striking blue touches. Also available in carbon as the RD509SQ, but only in 28 pieces, is an orange-red rendition with a 70-hour power reserve. And lastly, is the RD101—with only eight pieces available. Its 590 parts are in cobalt chrome, which are 100% biocompatible and corrosion-resistant, with a 48 mm case in diameter.

Ulysse Nardin’s Innovision 2 features direct monocrystalline silicium bonding, sealed between 1800 and 2200 degrees, gold elements, micro paddles, and self-winding mechanisms (known here as the “grinder”). Other highlights include 24-karat gold wheels, a glass bridge with shock protection, Super-LumiNova channels, eye-catching time displays, and three-dimensional glass minute hands.

Richard Mille has put forth the world’s lightest split-seconds tourbillon chronograph with the RM 50-03 McLaren F1. With a 70-hour energy reserve, 6-column controlling wheel, and hollow pushers that are representative of the air intake ducts from the McLaren-Honda cars, the timepiece is limited to 75 pieces.