6 timepiece highlights from Dubai Watch Week, from Louis Vuitton’s Tambour and sister brands, to Breitling’s Avenger range, but which Swiss watchmaker launched The Avener co-designed by the French DJ?

Kaleidoscopic mirrors and vintage jewellery watches at Audemars Piguet, podium discussions with Chopard’s co-CEO Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, a collector’s lounge, artisanal workshops and a hall with more than 50 brands ranging from Armin Strom to Vanguart. Alongside about 25 launches of new timepieces, these were some of the attractions that made thousands of international collectors, industry people and press gather for the sixth edition of Dubai Watch Week, a public event held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Held at The Gate, Dubai International Financial Centre, the event was organised by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, which operates multi-brand and mono-brand boutiques in the UAE and beyond. Here are six highlights from the luxury watchmakers and their CEOs. 1. Breitling: Avenger “This event is great. The region is one of the strongest and most sophisticated watch markets in the world, and strongly growing. It is public, it is accessible to everybody, and it is promoting the watch culture of Switzerland,” said Georges Kern, the CEO of Breitling that launched its new Avenger collection at Dubai Watch Week. “We chose to launch this modern expression of aviation here, because the region is so important for us – and the sheikh wears our watches,” Kern said. Is Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton Millionaire Speedy the priciest bag ever made? 2. Louis Vuitton: Tambour Inside a central hall shared by 50 brands, Jean Arnault, Louis Vuitton’s director of watches, met collectors. Louis Vuitton was one of the first-time exhibitors at the event. Some collectors wanted to try on the new Tambour collection, which arrived in stores in September; others were more interested about the developments of LV’s resurrected sister brands, Gerald Genta and Daniel Roth. “Usually, we have separate events with the three brands. But this is a great place to also present historical pieces of Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta and see how these can be transformed into new collections in the future,” Arnault said. 3. Frederique Constant: The Avener Niels Eggerding, CEO of Frederique Constant, said that Dubai Watch Week was a perfect place to introduce some of the latest high-end pieces made for the brand’s 35th anniversary. “For instance, we have a new perpetual calendar tourbillon in solid gold,” he said. Its Manufacture range has extended the portfolio, but the brand has not lost its focus of being accessible. “But it’s more complicated today to sell a watch around [US$1,000] than a watch around [US$15,000], strangely enough,” said Eggerding, who was also excited about the launch of two timepieces co-designed with French DJ and music producer The Avener. How pocket watches got cool again – from Peaky Blinders to ‘watchtok’ The Avener comes in either blue or black. “They are made in 432 pieces each – 432 being the frequency considered the most beautiful in music where the brain finds a balance. This was The Avener’s idea,” Eggerding said. On the night of November 17, a few hours after the exhibition area had dried up after a flash flood caused by a storm – an extreme anomaly on Dubai’s weather chart – this collaboration was crowned with the DJ doing a set on a rooftop party at a restaurant next to the exhibition area. 4. Armin Strom: Tribute 1 According to Claude Greisler, master watchmaker at Armin Strom, Dubai Watch Week was bigger than before, and the collectors attending were more international than at previous editions. “It is a huge opportunity for us to meet so many collectors in a few days,” Greisler said. Armin Strom launched its Tribute 1 in four new colours: light blue, dark blue, grey and red dials on a grey guilloche plate. 5. Chronoswiss Like its exhibition neighbour Armin Strom, Chronoswiss had one of its new pieces featuring a red dial and handmade guilloche. “It is enamelled in seven layers which gives it this depth that you can dive into,” explained CEO Oliver Ebstein. More fun than function: fashion watches are having a moment Ebstein said everyone interested in watches tried to be in Dubai for a couple of days for the event: “It is a lot of end consumers mingled with retailers and others with economical interest in watches.” 6. Greubel Forsey: Tourbillon Cardan Antonio Calce, CEO of Greubel Forsey, who presented the Tourbillon Cardan (which was globally released in October), thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed format of the show. “We are not on a schedule packed with 30-minute meetings. No, it is totally free and we have plenty of time to talk to connoisseurs about our evolution,” Calce said about the brand that, in recent years, has gone from a watchmaker’s vision to a proper company with 150 employees. “This kind of event is really the future. We are not here to sell watches, we are here to create awareness and explain our brand.”