The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) has announced its competing timepieces for 2016, with its ladies’ watch category boasting the highest number of entrants.
The annual awards is judged by a fresh jury each year, and seeks to highlight excellence in worldwide horological creative talent and watchmaking expertise.
A total of 172 timepieces have been selected across 12 categories for the GPHG 2016, among them ladies’ styles, tourbillons, calendar watches, jewellery watches and chronographs.
With an average of 14 watches per category, brands including Piaget, Zenith, Hublot, Chopard and Cartier will compete with independent names such as ArtyA Speake-Marin, Voutilainen and Ressence.
Notably there has been a decline in the number of competing timepieces this year – down from 193 in 2016 – and the prizes themselves have been slimmed down, with the removal of categories such as Revival Watch and Striking Watch, but the addition of a new Travel Time category.
Additionally, the GPHG jury has added several new women judges to its panel for 2016 – watch experts and retailers Tina Zegg and Kim-Eva Wempe and Korean editor and watch journalist Heekyung Jung. French lingerie designer Chantal Thomass will also join the GPHG jury in 2016, bringing design and fashion experience to the 27-strong panel.
The jury will now be tasked with pre-selecting six timepieces per category – 72 in total – for a worldwide tour that will stop off in Seoul, Rome and Dubai, before final judging in Geneva.
Among those watches selected for the 2016 awards are Montblanc’s 4810 Orbis Terrarum Pocket Watch 110 Years Edition, a pocket watch shortlisted for the Travel Time category, the Fabergé Lady Levity, a notable watch launched at Baselworld 2016, and the 4N Sapphire Planet.
