SIHH 2019 saw, as it typically does, quite the variety of tool, dress, sport and complicated watches, and our favorites of the show reflected a smattering of different makes and styles. Among them was Laurent Ferrier’s Galet Annual Calendar Montre École, updated with a new in-house movement and gorgeous deep blue dial. An extremely limited, $50k+ watch, the Montre École is so captivatingly simple and beautiful, in any metal and dial color, that it had several Gear Patrol employees contemplating second mortgages.
Now, Laurent Ferrier, watchmaker extraordinaire and former technical director at Patek Philippe, has released a new version of the watch in collaboration with Boutique Montres Prestige Geneva. Dubbed the “Geneva Edition,” it features an opaline, autumn-inspired, salmon-colored dial and is cased in stainless steel, measures 40mm in diameter and has an annual calendar complication with day, date and month displays.
An annual calendar such as this one accounts for months with 30 or 31 days and only requires manual adjustment once per year on the first of March, rendering it a sort of charming mechanical computer with a dial design rooted in the classic horology of the 20th century. Finishing on the hand-wound Calibre n°126.01 is impressive — featuring 235 parts and a power reserve of 80 hours, it’s decorated with handsome Côtes de Genève decoration and ruthenium treatment and features a power reserve indicator and variable inertia balance for easy rate adjustment.
Shipping on a chestnut-colored alligator strap with Alcantara lining, the “Geneva Edition” is a limited production piece. Pricing information is on request, though given the recent blue dial-edition’s pricing of ~$50,246 in steel and ~$55,273 in red gold, don’t be surprised at a similar number, with the added premium that comes from this being a limited edition.