t was a movement that put the accent on exuberance and larger-than-life forms, overloaded ornamentation and florid, even eccentric, aesthetics. Baroque tendencies have always come and gone in watchmaking.

Baroque tendencies have always come and gone in watchmaking.

Its current resurgence is a something of reaction to the minimalism and purity of form that gradually established itself as the dignified “canon” of a whole horological aesthetic aimed at timelessness. All the more so since the recent financial crises had discredited the excesses and hubris then prevailing.

But the wheel turns, and exuberance, ostentation, overloaded decoration, contrasting colours and forms are on their way back in.

MINASE 5 WINDOWS BY KANAGAWA

With its very unusual construction, the 5 Windows from the independent Japanese watchmaker Minase has attracted attention due to the modernity and the originality of its architecture. As this watch proves, this architecture is capable of adapting to every treatment, even the most decorative and baroque. As is the case here with the 5 Windows, whose case and dial have been hand engraved by the master engraver Kanagawa. From 30,000 to 100,000$

TOCKR C-47 RADIAL CUSHION

Who would have imagined that aeronautical inspiration – in this case the radial engine of the Douglas C47, the pistons of which radiate outward like the rays of a mechanical sun – could give rise to a baroque motif? And yet radial forms were part and parcel of the Baroque, from its great suns to its urban planning. Here we have an improbable and astonishing combination in the shape of this self-winding 42mm watch powered by a Leschot movement. From 1,000 to 3,000$

LINDE WERDELIN SPIDOLITE RIPPLES

The SpidoLite Ripples combines the most technically complex watch of Linde Werdelin with engraver Joanne Ryall’s “poetic embellishments”,. The watch boasts a fully skeletonised case made of 18k rose gold, forged carbon and Alloy Linde Werdelin “ALW”, an aerospace metal developed to achieve ultimate weight reduction and strength. The engraving on the watch is inspired by the small series of waves that appear on the surface of water or snow when blown by a slight breeze – ripples. From 10,000 to 20,000$

FRANCK DUBARRY CRAZY WHEEL TATTOO BRASS

Everything is baroque in this piece, starting with the open architecture of the movement, featuring an exclusive 3600 Flying Bridge module, developed & produced in-house in the Swiss Jura; the innovative mix of materials (grade 5 titanium, forged carbon, brass, Kevlar, Elastogator...) and the decoration of the case inspired by the Maori tattoo art. From 10,000 to 20,000$

GUCCI G-TIMELESS FLORAL PRINT

Few people, if any, will not have seen the recent advertising campaigns by Gucci that play in a very baroque manner with the bizarre and hyper-ornate, creating strange mixes of forms and colours. Flower-painting was born at the height of the Baroque period and for a long time was regarded as one of the emblems of the Counter-Reformation. And so finding it here comes as no surprise; printed, moreover, on an aquamarine dial in Shanghai leather. From 1,000 to 3,000$

DOLCE & GABBANA GATTOPARDO

The recent collections by Dolce & Gabbana were inspired by the famous film The Leopard by Luchino Visconti, the final apotheosis of the Baroque style in 1860s Palermo. Among the accessories of the Gattopardo collection features a watch of the same name, with a dial in coloured mother-of-pearl, and a case and oscillating weight richly hand-engraved with the volutes typical of Baroque ornamental art. From 20,000 to 50,000$

All mentioned prices are indicative and correspond to price segment.

TO READ MORE
Europa Star Watch Curator ’18 is a selection of 147 watches classified under 13 specific trends:
Tourbillons - Globes - Sun, Moon & Stars - Purity - Open-worked - Skulls - Sport - Tough - New displays - Barocco - Vintage & Neo-vintage - Connected - Calibres.