© Ian Skellernand Horomundi, December 2007

 

Over a long weekend starting Friday the 7th of December, Paris hosted the inaugural 2007 Belles Montres exhibition at the Carrousel du Louvre. A suitably prestigious address for a prestigious collection of watches and watchmakers.

Brands exhibiting included: A. Lange & Söhne, Bedat, Bertolucci, Blancpain, Boucheron, B.R.M., Bulgari, Cabestan, Cartier, Chanel, Chaumet, Concord, Cyclos, Daniel Roth, De Bethune, Delaloye, Duc Oger, Philippe Dufour, Gérald Genta, Glashütte, Greubel Forsey, Vianney Halter, Hautelence, Hublot, Hysek, F.P. Journe, Léon Hatot, Mc Gonigle, Maurice Lacroix, Milus, Montblanc, Parmigiani, Perrelet, Piaget, Richard Mille, Romain Gauthier, Romain Jerome, Alain Silberstein, Ulysse Nardin, Urwerk, Vacheron Constantin and Van Cleef & Arpels.

I was fortunate to be invited by Greubel Forsey to cover the exhibition and to be able to share it with you here.

 

	I managed to arrive just as the Carrousel du Louvre was shut down because of an unattended parcel.

 

 

	By my rough calculations, the exhibition was 3 levels under those trees left of center.

 

	Security was tight but stress free.

 

	An excellent form of urban police transport.

 

	These stones are part of the 16C walls surrounding Paris

 

 

	Greubel Forsey had their own artwork on the walls of their booth.

 

	Greubel Forsey's Communication manager, Nicole Segundo talking to Stephen Forsey during a quite spell.

 

	Stephen Forsey, Robert Greubel and Nicole notice my new hair style.

 

 

 

	Greubel Forsey's Invention Piece 1

 

	Greubel Forsey's Tourbillon 24 Second Incliné

 

	Perrelet

 

	Lange & Söhne

 

	Lange & Söhne

 

	Glashütte Original

 

	François-Paul Journe talking to French journalist Grégory Pons

 

	The Calendrier - my favourite Octa.

 

	Blancpain

 

	Piaget

 

	The Christie's booth had a constant stream of people seeking valuations and advice.

 

	L'Atelier du Bracelet Parisien displayed a captivating range of leather of all types and colours.

 

 

 

	Poor little guy, think of him when you order a new strap!

 

 

	The Fondation de La Haute Horologie presented a superb exhibition of chronographs.

 

 

	Duc Oger was a new brand for me.

 

	Elie Bleu had some stunning winders and cases on display.

 

SSSSSHHHHHH - Bedat is a secret!

 

 

 

	The ever colourful and ever affable Alain Silberstein (left)

 

	Ulysse Nardin

 

	Daniel Roth

 

 

	Milus

 

	The paranoid staff at this booth did not want photos taken of their watches.

 

	Boucheron

 

	This is one of my favourite women's watches (complication by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht)

 

	Bertolucci

 

	Hiding behind that central De Bethune panel . . .

 

	. . . I found De Bethune's master watchmaker and co-founder, Denis Flageollet (right)

 

	The symbol of Belles Montres 2007

 

 

	Cartier

 

	Richard Mille's Planetarium was one of the main attractions - if not THE main attraction.

 

	BRM had a wide range of watches on display.

 

	One of my favourite places at any watch exhibition, the Independent section. That is Stephen McGonigle to the left of the Hautlence stand.

 

 

 

	URWERK's communication manager Yacine has quite a crowd around their stand.

 

	The darkened glass of URWERK's display case looked great but was a nightmare for photography.

 

	The URWERK 201 at night

 

	Montblanc have some nice clean designs.

 

	Hublot

 

	Concord

 

	Our lives and watches in capable hands

 

	Gerald Genta

 

	Lights, camera, Action!

 

	One of the highlights for me was seeing Jean-François Ruchonnet's Cabestan working. And that's the man himself holding it.

 

	Hublot with ice.

 

	Concord's bold design

 

	Perrelet skeleton models

 

	Saxon masterpieces

 

	Greubel Forsey's Double Tourbillon 30°

 

	Double Tourbillon 30° 'Secret'. This model is growing on me more and more each time I see it.

 

	This is a stunning version of the Double Tourbillon 30°

 

	Another great watch - The Parmigiani Type 370 Bugatti

 

	And a Parmigiani for the ladies

 

	I love the elegant shade of blue dialled Piaget.

 

	A touch of class from Bedat

 

	And a splash of colour from Silberstein

 

	Milus Retrograde - another complication from Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor

 

	But what's the time?

 

	This image does not do the watch justice

 

	Chaumet

 

	Ocean inspired Bertolucci watches

 

	I don't think that there is space for one more diamond.

 

	Cartier's ever popular and award winning Ballon Bleu . And hats off to Cartier for posting prices with their watches.

 

	Now this is what I call kinetic art.

 

	Maserati were displaying a piece of their own kinetic art.

 

	Appropriately, the B.R.M. stand was beside the Maserati

 

	From left to right: Alberto Schileo - (Horomundi Patek Philippe moderator, Philippe Mariez (aka Antoine B) - Vianney Halter and HTO Communication, Alex Ghotbi - Vacheron Constantin Hour Lounge moderator -and Patricia Ameli from Hautlence.

 

	Gladys Schmid, Philippe Dufour and Mark Schmid (Horomundi's Independent forum moderator) examine John C. Ermel's Cyclos watch.

 

	The clever Cyclos mechanism. Have a look at Cyclos idea and animation to learn how it works.

 

 

	The Delaloye brothers, Nicolas and Christophe, are making superb watches and I am sure we will hear much more of them in the near future.

 

 

	The back of Delaloye's superbly executed and finely finished chronograph

 

	My favourite Delaloye dial. These model feature the brands in-house developed ND01s movement

 

	You have to see a McGonigle's watch under a loup to really appreciate the extreme finishing that goes into their watches

 

 

	The very original engraving and decoration on the back of the McGonigle movement

 

	This was the first time I had a chance to have a look at Hautlence's watch close up and I was impressed.

 

 

 

	And while my light tent was up I took the opportunity to shoot a few Greubel Forsey watches again!.

 

 

 

	Double Tourbillon 30° - Platinium case and Mother of Pearl dial.

 

	Invention Piece 1

 

	Philippe Dufour and John C.Ermel (Cyclos watches) in deep discussion.

 

	URWERK's watches glowing in the dark.

 

	URWERK's Yacine explaining the finer points of the orbital satellite mechanism

 

	(left to right) Laurent Picciotto (Chronopassion Paris), Felix Baumgartner (URWERK) and Robert Greubel (Greubel Forsey)

 

	A nice unique piece RM008 on Laurent Picciotto's wrist. (check out that that wild belt buckle!)

 

	(left to right) Nicole Segundo, Philippe Dufour and Stephen Forsey.

 

 

	Christian Etienne (who made the Planetarium for Richard Mille) explains watchmaking on a spiritual level!

 

 

	Steven Forsey and Nicole Segundo listen to Christian explaining the latest developments to the Planetarium

 

	It's the earth Jim, but not as we know it!

 

	(left to right) Christian Etienne, Stephen Forsey and Robert Greubel. Robert began development of the Planetarium over 10 years ago and continued the development with Steven at their company CompliTime .

 

 

And that is goodbye to the 2007 Belles Montres exhibition in Paris. If you have made it this far I thank you for your patience. I like to thank Greubel Forsey for inviting me to cover the exhibition.

 

We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections to this article.