All of the watchmakers involved in the line were present as was Frédéric de Narp, various executives from Harry Winston, and the most important retailers and watch press in the world.
#HARRY WINSTON WATCH PRICE FULL#
The Opus 1 to Opus 10 creators at the Harry Winston tenth anniversary celebration of the Opus series in GenevaĪdditionally, Harry Winston had staged a large celebratory party at its Geneva factory in September 2010 celebrating a full decade of the Opus series. Only in 2010 did Harry Winston begin delivery of this timepiece, thanks in part to Frédéric Garinaud (who went on to develop the Opus 8) when he was still at Renaud et Papi. This timepiece was not necessarily conceived to be timeless, though it has certainly become legendary thanks to its long road to maturity and the – finally perfected – groundbreaking mechanics. The Opus 3 constituted a deliberate break with Harry Winston’s usual modern, yet understated, way of designing its products. The horizontal notched crown incorporates four setting positions as well as a winding position. To make all this technically possible, the 53-jewel movement contains two separate gear trains and twin spring barrels. The equally non-conformist Opus 3 does “nothing more” than display hours, minutes, seconds, and date: ten little disks incorporated into the movement’s German silver base plate show these indications, including jump hours and a countdown of the final four seconds before the current minute jumps to the next. Multiple overlapping discs are required for the digital displays of the Harry Winston Opus 3 by Vianney Halter I am quite excited that the series is set to continue and eagerly look forward to the launch of Opus 14 – whenever that may be. Hats off to Harry Winston for ringing in a more transparent attitude: while most companies – particularly in the early days of these cooperative masterpieces – kept the names of the makers of their movements for themselves, Harry Winston made it a point to proudly communicate the origins of each unique, collaborative Opus timepiece.Įven though the brand known primarily for its high-quality diamonds has had two new directors between Büsser’s departure and the Swatch Group takeover – Hamdi Chatti, now CEO of Louis Vuitton’s watch and jewelry division and Frédéric de Narp, who went on to become CEO of Bally group – the unique Opus series remained the highlight of the Harry Winston watch collection throughout and has played a significant role in advancing the brand’s horological reputation. Upon introducing each Opus, however, the independent watchmakers involved (many of which were practically unknown outside collectors’ circles) became known to a broader range of people suddenly interested in their products and cognizant of their names. The watchmakers Harry Winston Rare Timepieces chose to work with all have had reputations for unusual and high-quality timepieces. One aspect of the original idea was that the independents would gain from the larger public exposure that Harry Winston would generate, while the diamond-centric brand would gain serious horological kudos from associations with world-class watchmakers. The ultra-limited annual edition revolved around cooperating with an outstanding independent watchmaker each year to create a signature edition of timepieces. The idea of the “concept” watch is one that Büsser perfected for Harry Winston’s Opus series. However, before that, at the age of 31, he became the CEO of the burgeoning Harry Winston Rare Timepieces.īüsser had energy, ideas, and a deep-seated passion for unusual haute horlogerie – traits he took with him when he founded his own company, MB&F (Maximilian Büsser & Friends) in 2005.
We know Büsser now as the founder of MB&F. Like many good independent watchmaker stories in the modern era, this one also began with Maximilian Büsser. Though seeing is believing, just the glimmer of hope provided by this information is a great reason to take a look back at the history-making timepieces of the Opus series, which remain the best-known and most important horological output of what was previously known as Harry Winston Rare Timepieces (and is now just Harry Winston).Īnd as you can probably guess, I absolutely love that the premise of the Opus series is its collaborative nature with some of the watch world’s leading independent watchmakers. She became CEO of Harry Winston in January 2013 after Swatch Group acquired the brand.įollowing the Swatch Group’s takeover, a continuation of the Opus series seemed in doubt to me, though in an interview at Baselworld 2014, Marc Hayek did reveal that he and his family loved the Opus series and that he foresaw a continuation.
Since June of 2010, Hayek has been the chair of the Swatch Group’s board of directors. Nayla Hayek quietly let it be known that the Opus series would be continuing.
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