In 2024, the Year of the Dragon returns. The celestial dragon is a symbol that represents luck, wisdom, and strength. It returns once every twelve years. A dragon is a symbol of life and immortality, as well as an imperial icon. In honour of this auspicious creature, LUXUO lists the exclusive festive releases and dynamic timepieces to usher in the Year of the Dragon — from dragon motifs to dragon figurines and every scale inbetween.
Vacheron Constantin
The Grisaille High Jewellery Dragon’s grisaille enamelling technique is objectively rare, and is a first for Vacheron Constantin in this shade of green. Having said this, the Metiers d’Art Year of the Dragon pieces are probably more appealing to more people, even just from a visual standpoint.
Piaget’s Dragon & Phoenix Collection
Piaget’s new Dragon & Phoenix capsule collection features 10 daring designs of exceptional watches and High Jewellery pieces – topped off with a pair of extravagantly exclusive, made-to-order high jewellery cuff watches. Each creation brims with emotion and exuberance, joyfully channelling the codes of the Maison while celebrating the house’s unparalleled watchmaking savoir-faire.
Chopard’s L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Dragon
Chopard’s L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Dragon is an 88-piece limited edition in ethical 18-carat rose gold and boasts a 39.5 mm ethical 18-carat rose gold case. The in-house L.U.C 96.17-L calibre with micro-rotor ensures that a slender profile of just 6.80 mm can be maintained. Chopard Manufacture’s technical know-how and artistic flair are combined in this watch.
Hublot’s Spirit of Big Bang Titanium Dragon
Spirit of Big Bang Titanium Dragon, inspired by the traditional Chinese art of cutting paper, layers its wheels, hands and H-shaped screw to form the 3D silhouette of the eastern dragon. The limited edition watch of 88 pieces, created in collaboration between Hublot and the Chinese artist Chen Fenwan is the perfect blend of tradition and contemporary, combining metaphors, symbols and the spirit of Hublot.
Bovet’s Récital 26 Chapter Two Golden Dragon
Bovet’s artisans combined an artistic sculpture with an established masterpiece of high horology. The Recital 26 Chapter 2 Dragon. The result of this is a sculpture that has been hand-engraved and encased in an art timepiece. A domed blue quartz dial displays the local time zone’s hours and minutes in the upper part of the case. The dome located at 3 o’clock displays a second time zone specifically developed for this timepiece and patented by Bovet.
IWC Schaffhausen’s Limited Edition Portugieser Chronograph
IWC Schaffhausen celebrates the Lunar New Year by releasing a limited edition of the Portugieser Chronograph. This timepiece has a 41 millimetre stainless steel casing, a dial in burgundy and gold-plated hands. Limited to 1,000 pieces, the watch’s rotor is shaped like a majestic dragon and can be viewed through the sapphire back. The IWC 69355 calibre powers the chronograph, which is a reliable and precise mechanical movement with a classic column wheel design.
TAG Heuer’s “Limited Edition” Releases
TAG Heuer celebrates the 2024 Lunar New Year with two limited edition timepieces that merge the cultural richness of Asian heritage with TAG Heuer’s racing brand DNA. Crafted in gold and steel, these two watches pay homage to the success embodied by the Dragon while exemplifying TAG Heuer’s commitment to honoring heritage within its contemporary design. Both timepieces radiate celetial majesty with special engravings to indicate the watch’s limited release, “Limited Edition” along with “One of 300” for the steel version and “One of 50” for the more exclusive range 18K 5N pink gold version.
Read more: The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph in Gold
Bell & Ross’s BR 05 Artline Dragon Watch
Envoking tattoo artistry, the BR 05 Artline Dragon watch takes on this bold personality, with its own exclusive laser engraving. By adopting this graphic code, the timepiece visually plays on light and shadow through the relative fineness and thickness of each stroke honing in on the precision of line work that is crucial to “transcending the realm of drawing to that of a metal tattoo”. On the BR 05 Artline Dragon’s dial and integrated bracelet, the decorative motif is finely engraved.
Baume & Mercier’s Riviera Chinese New Year Limited Edition
The Riviera Chinese New Year Limited Edition – Year of the Dragon comes in an exclusive pair: the Riviera Baumatic Moon-phase Date 10744 for men and the Riviera Automatic 10743 for women, both available at only 150 pieces worldwide. The men’s timepiece features a distinctive dodecagonal case which houses a high-performance Baumatic manufacture movement inside. Turn to case back and you’ll notice the dodecagonal sapphire crystal where a magnificent five-clawed golden dragon stretches its body to join the smaller dragon on the moon-phase disc as a representation of good luck.
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Dragon’
Jaeger-LeCoultre adds a new chapter to this story of craftsmanship and artistry with the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Dragon’. The new timepiece pays tribute to the Year of the Dragon, and to the talents of the master enamellers and engravers in the Métiers Rares atelier of the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre. Created to celebrate the Zodiac Year and made only to order, the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Dragon’ is testament to La Grande Maison’s vision of culture and creativity, where the artistic crafts merge with the technical expertise of the Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers.
Blancpain
Blancpain’s Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar wristwatch, which combines a Chinese calendar with a Gregorian time and moonphase, was a first in the world when it was introduced. This year the Manufacture will enter its second 12-year period with a limited edition of this grand-complication. A dragon is engraved onto the red gold rotor to honor the symbol for the new lunar calendar. This special limited edition for the first time is carried out in red gold with a green enamel dial against a frosted background the dragon is flanked by a red ruby and a Chinese character engraving of the words “dragon” and “wood”, the element of 2024.
L’Epée’s Swiss Made Caliber 1853
The movement “Swiss Made Caliber 1853” was created entirely by L’Epée 1839, has 124 parts meticulously assembled by the L’Epée 1839’s master watchmakers. Two dragons “protect” on either side of the most precious part of a kinetic object — the gearing mechanism. The golden or palladium dragons adopt mirrored poses, and their serpentine bodies coil protectively around the horological craftsmanship.
Parmigiani Fleurier
Maison Parmigiani celebrates the Year of the Wood Dragon with a magnificent restoration of a masterpiece from its Métiers d’Art collection, the “Tempus Fugit”. This piece, inspired by the Chinese legend of the Dragon with the Pearl of Knowledge incorporates powerful Chinese cultural symbols. This piece is a reference to Parmigiani Fleurier’s vast experience in the restoration of antique clocks.
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