Cool Hunting

De Grisogono Meccanico dG
Contrary to its appearance, the Meccanico dG has no digital components. Below the more conventional analog portion of the two-timezone watch is a numerical display driven by the intricate interplay of 651 strictly mechanical components. Numbers are formed by the motion of 23 cams, which are connected to gears and a synchronization system. To prove it, the watch's back features a transparent dial plate...

Maurice Lacroix Pontos Décentrique GMT
Originally offered as a limited edition — 999 in titanium — the Maurice Lacroix Pontos Décentrique GMT is now available in stainless steel (click on image for detail). Recognized for its timeless design and attention to detail, the watch won a Red Dot Award for its unique time display. It features an off-center dual time-zone with polished and unpolished sapphire crystal to reveal and...

Ikepod Black Hole
With the new Ikepod Black Hole, a limited edition of 66, Marc Newson's iconic watches are back—this time with more expensive materials, extensive (re)designs and overall exclusivity. Only advertised as silhouette, no images are shown until the potential owners buy it. I met with new owner and prominent art collector Adam Lindemann in his New York office to discuss the rebirth of the brand...

Kronotype MDQS-2 Chronograph
Kronotype, an independent watch brand, features some extreme looking chronographs. Most interesting to me is the MDQS-2 (V1) with long banked sides that sink into the deeply recessed dial, reminding me of the deadly arena of "Rollerball," the 1975 film that envisions a future where a violent futuristic roller-derby sport replaces war. Gotta love James Caan in the seventies. The hour indexes of white...

Max Büsser & Friends HM1
The new company Max Büsser & Friends is really more of a commune for wayward horological geniuses. The first watch from the brand, the HM1 or more specifically, Horological Machine #1 was conceptualized by Büsser, designed by Eric Giroud, a former architect and built by movement engineers Laurent Besse and Peter Speake-Marin. The known and unknown talent will be assembled and rotated from machine...

Christiaan van der Klaauw's Astronomical Watches
Literally out of this world, the classic-cased timepieces by Dutch watchmaker Christian van der Klauuw are astronomically complicated. Measuring everything from the position of the planets, the constellations, worldwide sunrises, sunsets, solar and lunar eclipses, each model is handmade by Christiaan himself resulting in a very limited edition of each. Originally an astronomical clockmaker, the watches were developed after he miniaturized highly complicated movements...