The first thing we can be sure of is that, unlike last year, the winner will not be an automaton, since there are none among the 16 entrants. The jury will therefore be required to choose a winner on the basis of the other criteria for this category, namely a special mechanism, an acoustic function, belt-driven movement, innovative display or exceptional horological concept.

Taking a look at the chiming watches in contention, the 1948 For Him Réveil by Eterna will struggle to compete with the three models submitted by heavyweights ArtyA, Audemars Piguet and Bulgari. Even the name of the ArtyA Minute Repeater with 3 Gongs, Regulator and Double Axis Tourbillon is practically a concert programme in its own right, and the watch offers an original display, innovation (with a gong that lets the wearer know that the minute repeater is activated) and a complex mechanism in the form of a tourbillon that rotates on two axes.

The Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie has exceptional acoustic properties as a result of three patented innovations. Because the hammers occupy their own space within the movement, which acts as a mini-resonance chamber, its crystal-clear chime of up to 4000 Hz can be heard several metres away (LINK). The titanium case frames a black openworked dial revealing the manually-wound manufacture calibre 2937 with tourbillon. The fourth striking watch in the category is the slimmest minute repeater on the market. Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater, with a titanium case just 6.85 mm thick (the BVL Calibre 362 takes up 3.12 mm of that depth), also boasts outstanding sound quality, enhanced by the titanium case and the cutout hour markers on the dial, which are designed to amplify the resonance inside the case.

The Montre Monsieur is equipped with Chanel’s first haute horlogerie manufacture movement. It has an original display with instantaneous jumping hours, small seconds and retrograde minutes sharing the silvered opaline dial in an elegant inverted pyramid configuration. Louis Vuitton’s Escale Spin Time introduces an innovative approach, incorporating the well-known Spin Time mechanism into an Escale case decorated with miniature painting. The hour cubes are painted with colourful geometric designs, giving the dial a different look with each hour that passes.

MCT’s S2010 goes in the opposite direction stylistically, with a serious, technical look enhanced by the dark titanium case that focuses attention on the oversized hour numerals displayed on five rotating rectangular prisms. Minutes are indicated by a single blued hand. HYT’s new H2 Tradition also features blued hands, but the iconic hydromechanical fluid that marks off the hours takes pride of place in a piece that combines traditional haute horlogerie finishes with 21st century technology.

Piaget scores points for the special mechanism within the Emperador Coussin XL 700P, a hybrid watch whose mechanical movement powers a high-frequency quartz generator to ensure high precision.

The watch includes a very nicely decorated motion, referred to by Bovet as the 11BA12 calibre. It’s a 72-hour power book and works at 28,800vph. Truth be told, it is super simple, but if you are buying this opinion for its aesthetic merit, complications aren’t that high on your shopping list. The diamonds will divide opinion, particularly given that the somewhat “masculine” (and I say that really loosely) dial picture and dimensions (43mm), but it seems pretty cool on the wrist. What’s definitely cool is the technique that has become the painting of the dial. Love or hate the end product, it is tough to fault the excellent execution of an amazing skill. This dial was painted by Russian jeweler Ilgiz Fazulzyanov on into an 18k gold base plate. It’s my view that the Bovet Amadeo Fleurier 43 makes the “are watches art” debate simple to acquire — how is this any different from a painting? And I guess some people might argue that a few watches are art (such as this one), and a few are just watches (like the Casio G-Shock), however there were lots of people who laughed at Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup before it became a modern classic.You do not have to like or admire something for it to be art. If it provides a wordless message, if it makes you feel something, then I think it’s worthy of this classification. With a single Bovet Amadeo Fleurier 43 bit accessible, with a price tag of $196,700 (CHF 171,000), Bovet are banks on a single super wealthy collector agreeing that this piece deserves a place in their winder. Who knows? In twenty years time, it may turn out to be the very best investment they ever made.

Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud and Zenith present the only two candidates equipped with a tourbillon coupled with a fusée-and-chain mechanism. The former’s FB-T.FC calibre has an impressive 1120 components. Its innovative features include a low-frequency tourbillon with central seconds and a suspended fusée-and-chain transmission. The Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud FB1 is COSC-certified and stuffed with horological hi-tech, despite having the somewhat retro styling of a marine chronometer. The Tourbillon Georges Favre-Jacot by Zenith does away with a dial to expose the exceptional mechanical El Primero 4805 movement at its heart, with the tourbillon at 6 o’clock and the fusée-and-chain transmission stretched between half-past ten and half-past one. The wearer can also keep an eye on the 50-hour power reserve located between four and five o’clock on the dial.

Finally, the complication champion, with moon phase, jumping hours, retrograde minutes, second time zone, world time, power reserve and tourbillon, is Bovet’s Recital 18 Shooting Star Tourbillon, which also boasts a poetic and innovative display. Universal time is read off a miniature hemisphere with blue oceans, which is mirrored at 9 o’clock by a second delicately engraved rotating hemisphere showing the phases of the moon. The manually-wound movement with 120-hour power reserve is the subject of two patents and, in time-honoured Bovet Watch 1822 Replica tradition, its components are entirely hand-engraved.

All the entrants in the Mechanical Exception category of the GPHG