Laurent Ferrier (LF) is one of these niche high-horology brands that only folks deep into the hobby knows about. Creating less than 250 watches per year, wearing a Laurent Ferrier puts you in rare company; even while the design and feel of the watches will remind you of Patek Philippe and perhaps F.P. Journe.

LF watches have a unique design ethos with curvy lines and a characteristic round or square case that is easily distinguishable. A difficult task when almost all watches also use the common geometrical shapes. The subtle details and design language of the dials is also what makes a Laurent Ferrier unique. Grounded in classical school, his watches feel like those you’d wear to an important event while also easily casually wear everyday.

At SIHH 2019 I had the privilege to meet with the folks from Laurent Ferrier watch brand to see and handle the novelties for 2019. Will my opinion change? Have they remained the same as when I met him two years ago? Are these still some of the best dress / casual classical watch in the business? Read on to find out my first impressions and feelings.

One of the great perks that comes with writing about watches is meeting the people and creative forces behind them. At the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève (SIHH), like at Baselworld, in addition to the big established brands, you can find the Carré des Horlogers which is a relatively small but busy area of the salon where the independents get a chance to present their latest designs and models for the year.

Like I did at Baselworld, I booked time with the horological brothers, Tim and Bart Grönefeld, who this time had a new trick up their sleeves with the recently announced Grönefeld Principia automatic watch. A first for the small Dutch independent brand. Let’s dive into why this might be in my view one of the best sporty dress watch to come out in recent memories. Let’s take a closer look.

A. Lange & Söhne is one of these watch brands that are hard to not love. They produce about 5,000 watches per year each crafted with an attention to detail that even the non-initiated will recognize. Just go to any authorized dealer and ask to see a Lange 1, Datograph, or Zeitwerk and ask to see the case back after admiring the dial, try it on (if possible). It never fails.

It was this feeling, experienced many times over the years as I got deeper into collecting watches, that had me purchase my first haute horlogerie watch from the brand in 2018. I own a rose gold Lange 1, I wear it every chance I get, and I eagerly look to do an in-depth review of this watch here soon.

But for now let’s take a quick look at the novelties from A. Lange & Söhne at the 2019 SIHH. After all, the company is celebrating 25 years of perhaps its most iconic model, my watch: the Lange 1.

Max Büsser is blessed with a special creative energy and it shows with every MB&F novelty. He has a knack to bring back 70’s and 80’s dream toys, and release a modern day object that adults lust over. At SIHH the famed independent showed two pieces: one he designed himself and one he did not! However, they are both true MB&F novelties. Let’s take a closer look at each.

In surprise move, Audemars Piguet (AP) released a complete new family of watches (13 references) just ahead of SIHH. It’s the largest release from any one brand, at once, from my time writing about watches. AP orchestrated their launch with some fanfare using social medial (primarily).

The announce was done with clearly lots of thoughts going into it. While the name is a bit complicated (CODE 11.59), an acronyms for Challenge Own Dare Evolve and 11.59 meaning gate minute before midnight. The well prepared (perhaps overly done) marketing message shows that AP had been working on this collection for a long time (over 7 years according so some). Nevertheless, the overall results are probably not what they had expected.

Bovet 1822 is a Swiss watchmaking brand with a long historical past but discontinued present. What has not changed over time is how poetic their watches are. When Mr. Pascal Raffy took over the brand in 2001 to bring it back to life, he made sure to keep the poetic aspects as he pushed Bovet to relive its glorious past.

Well the efforts have paid off handsomely as the brand continues to surprise. Fresh off its “Aiguille d’Or” win at the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in late 2018 for the Récital 22 Grand Récital, Bovet made its debut at the 29th Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève (SIHH) by releasing a set of poetic watches that are beautiful to look at but have strong technical and watchmaking chops. Let's take a look at the three collections of watches they showed me in Geneva.