15 Feb, 2018
Swiss watch companies welcome Chinese New Year in spirited wristwatches that honor the Year of the Dog. In traditional Chinese culture, the dog – the 11th animal in the Chinese zodiac calendar – represents loyalty and bravery. Here are 6 limited edition creations of watches with dogs on their dials:
1. Each year, Chopard draws inspiration from the repertoire of Chinese astrology to offer a fresh interpretation of its Urushi dial, an ancestral Japanese technique. The L.U.C XP Urushi –Year of the dog issued in an 88-piece limited series. At the heart of the ultra-thin case measuring 39.5 mm in diameter and 6.8 mm thick beats the mechanical self-winding L.U.C 96.17-L movement.
2. The Petite Heure Minute Dog and the Petite Heure Minute Relief Dog are new additions to the Swiss Haute Horlogerie, Jaquet Droz Ateliers d’Art collection. Inspired by this character from the Chinese Zodiac, the craftsmen in La Chaux-de-Fonds set about creating scenes bringing to life a Pekingese dog in all its splendor. The two miniature paintings with nature-inspired scenes are presented in a red gold case set with diamonds, 35 mm in diameter, and a red gold case without diamonds, 39 mm in diameter.
3. Louis Vuitton Celebrate Chinese New Year with the Smart Tambour Horizon collection with 12 new dials featuring the Chinese zodiac: the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, the pig and the goat, all designed by men’s studio. Louis Vuitton offers the very best in technology, providing users with a simple, exclusive browsing experience entirely dedicated to the label: android operating system, the best screen in terms of definition and luminosity, and the best browsing system with features that function throughout the world.
4. The Luminor 1950 Sealand 3 Days Automatic Acciaio – 44mm (PAM00858),is the a special edition dedicated by Panerai to the Year of the Dog. The dogs appear on the cover of this new special edition, engraved with the finest technique in a style inspired by traditional Chinese iconography and surrounded by plum flowers, chosen for their auspicious significance. Each of the 88 watches produced for this special edition has been adorned by hand by the best Italian master engravers using the ancient technique of “sparsello”, so named after the special tool used to decorate the cover.
5. Ulysse Nardin “Year of the Dog” timepiece is the latest addition to the Classico collection celebrating the Chinese New Year. In this lively depiction, the artist brings this affectionate creature to frolicsome life in the great outdoors. The image is further refined through centuries-old enameling methods. A limited edition of 88 pieces in 18-karat rose gold, and powered by the self-winding UN-815 movement will be produced only.
6. Vacheron Constantin added a new model to the Métiers d'Art Collection dedicated to the Year of the Dog. The models come in cases measuring 40mm x 12.7mm in platinum or 18K pink gold. Equipped with double AR coated scratch resistant sapphire crystal glasses on both sides, the case is water resistant to 30 meters. Only 12 of each piece are made.
