This Lunar New Year unleashes the Tiger for its turn in the spotlight of the 12 zodiac cycle.
Its fearlessness, ferocity and regality make it a venerable zodiac, one which many watch maisons are paying homage to with Year of the Tiger releases.
Here’s a look at the stunning masterpieces from Chopard, Ulysse Nardin, Blancpain and more.
Chopard L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Tiger
Since 2013, Chopard has released a dedicated collector’s watch for the Lunar New Year’s zodiac of the year based on the L.U.C ultra thin model. This year’s continues the tradition with the same Urushi Make-e technique, portraying a spectacular golden tiger standing over a rock, lording over its territory in mid-roar. Layers of collected, filtered, heat-treated and coloured lacquer created from the sap of the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree details the tiger and its kingdom on the face of the watch. Powering its golden hands portraying minutes and hours is the exquisite L.U.C 96.17-L movement. Like previous models, this is limited to 88 models. W chopard.com
Piaget Altiplano Year of the Tiger
Piaget puts forth its métiers d’art timepiece with grand feu enamel cloisonné once more with its Year of the Tiger tribute. Created by master enameller Anita Porchet, the limited edition of 38 timepieces depicts a white tiger in mid-stride, backdropped against a clean white dial. Housed in 38mm 18k white gold case set and set with 78 brilliant cut diamonds on its bezel, it is powered by the maison’s ultra-thin, manual-winding 430P movement, a testament to Piaget’s ultra-thin watchmaking, gem-setting and enameling excellence. W piaget.com
Ulysse Nardin Classico Tiger
Ulysse Nardin presents a tiger in a revered play bow, front paws stretched out and the giant cat in mid-pounce. Crafted from a delicate champlevé and pailloné enamelling technique, the gold of the tiger are gold leaves meticulously layered into a translucent enamel, with any recesses subsequently filled with vivid vitreous substance. Produced in 88 pieces, the breath-taking rose gold timepiece houses a self-winding UN-815 movement offering 42 hours of power reserve. W ulysse-nardin.com
Blancpain Limited Edition Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar
Blancpain does away with any imageries of the tiger and went with an all-new set of complications for tracking the classical Chinese calendar and zodiac. The new limited edition Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar introduces a white Grand Feu enamel dial, boasting uniquely Chinese motifs. At 12 o’clock, a cutout display window shows a subtle silhouette of the tiger. A subdial below it tracks the classical Chinese lunar calendar, displaying both 12 months and 24 solar terms of the year in concentric rings. At 9 o’clock is a pointer Gregorian calendar subdial, indicating the current month and date in Chinese characters along with a small window for the leap month indicator. The 3 o’clock subdial is the most intriguing one: it indicates the current phase of the five elements and ten celestial stems. These two cycles interact with the better-known 12-year animal cycle of the Chinese zodiac, expanding the zodiacal cycle out to a 60-year rotation. This is all powered by the in-house Caliber 3638 automatic movement and is available in only 50 pieces. W blancpain.com
Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Tiger
Vacheron Constantin engraves the tiger onto a gold dial for its metiérs d’art limited edition, before finishing it off with the Grand Feu enamelling. Instead of hands, time is told via the top apertures that display minutes and hours while day and date are shown in the bottom apertures. Available in two colourways – bronze dial and pink gold case or blue dial with platinum case – each piece is limited to only 12 pieces. W vacheron-constantin.com
