Ariel Adams

POSTS BY Ariel Adams

Haute Timepieces: Fall in Love with Van Cleef & Arpels’ Pont des Amoureux

The actual Pont des Amoureux is a French bridge going over the Thiou River in Annecy, a town also known as the Venice of France. The fabled bridge earned a reputation throughout the years as a rendezvous place for couples in love. This romantic concept has been applied to a poetic watch whose maker also carries a rich French legacy. Van Cleef & Arpels coined the phrase “poetic complication” and recently presented luxury lovers with a unique form of horology that perfectly demonstrates the poetry of its name. Instead of focusing on utility, these complications are whimsical and meant to READ MORE

Haute Timepieces: Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle Openworked Watch

Luxury watch movement decoration is an area of expertise that the Europeans will almost always be able to claim as their own. The finishing and décor process in regards to high-end timepieces is painstakingly long and quite inefficient in our world of modern day technologies. A skilled technician works almost entirely under a microscope for countless hours using tiny tools to polish and engrave the metal that makes up the hundreds of parts of watch movements. Those hundreds of parts are individually attended to with over-the-top care and precision. The watchmaker, movement finisher, and engraver are a rare type of READ MORE

Haute Timepieces: Cartier Skeleton Flying Tourbillon Watch

Decades of success with its watches has inspired Cartier to finally open up a new door in its proverbial “house of horology,” with highly complex watches made in house. This almost flies straight in the face of what fashion-forward brands like Cartier are expected to have, which are nice looking, but mechanically simple watches. Without abandoning its current popular watch collections, Cartier has been slowly adding a number of highly complex watches (mostly in very limited editions) to its product line. As a thematic compliment to its high-end haute jewelry watches for women, Cartier’s mens line is brimming with complex READ MORE

Haute Timepieces: HD3 Bi-Axial Tourbillon Black Pearl Watch

One of the final steps in purchasing a Bi-Axial Black Pearl is giving HD3 your name so that they can engrave it on the back of the watch preceded by the title “Captain.” Based on the earlier Bi-Axial and Vulcania models, HD3’s Fabrice Gonet design of the Black Pearl version of the Bi-Axial Tourbillon complication watch is meant as an homage to pirate lore and their lack of respect for the establishment’s rules. This is in contrast to the Vulcania model’s homage to Jules Verne and the science fiction community’s frequent disregard for nature’s rules. A deliciously complex timepiece creation, READ MORE

Haute Timepieces: Show Off History

You too can be like a Russian Oligarch. Breguet timepieces seem to be a top choice luxury watch brand among politicians and business people of the region, and around the world as well. Less common in the United States, Breguet is a brand you should nevertheless be intimately familiar with as its founder Abraham Louis Breguet is commonly known as the “father of modern watch making.” While he never made a wrist watch, his technological achievements in pocket watches are not only highly coveted as museum pieces, but also brought watch making into the modern era as a practical tool READ MORE

Haute Timepieces: Richard Mille RM011 DLC Titanium “Americas White” Watch

Richard Mille timepieces are a luxurious and thematic extension of what sports cars would be if they lived on your wrist-at least that is the idea given the race inspired numerals and subdial registers. Your Porsche 911 can now have a garage stable mate that costs as much, but takes up much less room. Tonneau shaped with large proportions and technically inspired details, the RM011 Ti is your all purpose timing instrument for the track, boat, plane, or even your desk. Significant to this line of limited edition watches is their intended locale of sale. Swiss watches rarely get special READ MORE