Baume & Mercier, Bell & Ross, Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Oris, Panerai, Ressence, Roger Dubuis, and Vacheron Constantin have all created limited edition watches that are on sale exclusively on Mr Porter from this morning as the online retailer celebrates 10 years in business.
The Richemont-owned retailer offered its first luxury watches in 2013, two years after being founded.
Its watch portfolio has since grown to 28 watch and clock brands and 12 accessories brands.
Shoppers today can buy more than 25 unique pieces from 15 of Mr Porter’s brand partners.
Our 10th Anniversary Watch Collection showcases both small and larger manufacturers, each with an individual story to tell,” says Fiona Firth, managing director of Mr Porter.
“From starting with one brand to almost 30, Mr Porter has grown into a leading e- commerce watch retailer, where our customers can shop over for their new timepiece alongside over 550 other brands, and provided with the best-in-class convenience, service, product variety and customer experience,” she adds.
Mr Porter 10th anniversary collection
Baume & Mercier Baumatic
£2,840
Baume & Mercier has made a 30 piece limited edition of its Baumatic 5 Days Chronometer, which uses the impressive BM13-1975A automatic movement.
Unique to Mr Porter, the 40mm steel watch has a forest-green seconds hand and matching textile strap and its case back ring is laser-engraved to mark the retailer’s 10th anniversary.
Bell & Ross BR05 Chrono
£5,700
Limited to 10 pieces, Bell & Ross has made a version of its recently introduced BR05 chronograph with an anthracite grey sunray dial and its chronograph subdials have been given a rose-gold inlay. Inside the small seconds subdial at 3 o’clock, the watchmaker has embossed “10th” in honour of the anniversary.
Cartier Santos de Cartier
£26,400
Cartier has rarely made limited editions, so its piece for Mr Porter is something of a coup for the Richemont stablemate while making other major authorised dealers grind their teeth.
An instant visual change for this highly collectible 100-piece exclusive is the use of Arabic hour markers instead of Roman numerals on an intricately decorated pale blue dial.
The platinum watch comes with 18ct white-gold cufflinks.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
£6,500
Another exclusive, perhaps dreamed up in the Richemont staff canteen, is a series of five Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso watches dedicated to five cities and featuring iconic architecture from those global locations on closed steel case backs.
A piece for London has Big Ben and the houses of Parliament, and its 10 pieces were already sold out when WATCHPRO checked, just two hours after going on sale.
The five editions, chosen for their status as the world’s capitals of style, are New York (the Statue of Liberty), London, Paris (the Eiffel Tower), Milan (the Duomo) and Hong Kong (the Central District skyline).
Each watch is based on the Reverso Classic and produced in a run of 10 pieces.
Oris Diver’s Sixty-Five Calibre 400
£3,000
Oris has made a Diver’s Sixty-Five housing the watchmaker’s in-house Calibre 400 movement, which has a five-day power reserve, better than COSC levels of daily accuracy and a 10-year warranty and service interval.
Exclusive to Mr Porter, the watch has been given a green dial, bezel and strap and a stainless-steel case with gunmetal-grey finish. 200 pieces will be produced.
Panerai Submersible Azzurro PAM01209
£8,500
In the time it is taking me to write this article, more and more of the Mr Porter anniversary watches are selling out, among them this Panerai Submersible with a black dial and marine blue ceramic bezel.
This is not unique to Mr Porter, but only 500 of the 42mm watch were made by Panerai and we are told the retailer snatched the last 10 from the manufacture.
Ressence Type 1 Slim MRP2
£16,000
The longer this article takes to write, the more I wish I’d never started it because so many of the watches are already sold out, this £16,000 Ressence among them.
The Type 1 Slim comes in a brushed titanium case and comes with a moss green dial and matching rubber strap.
Roger Dubuis Excalibur MT
£139,000
The most expensive of the Mr Porter collection is this Roger Dubuis Excalibur MT, which has been given a special cross-hatched texture on the its star-shaped exposed bridges and a blanked out hour marker for the number 10 as a nod to the anniversary.
If that is too subtle for the eye to appreciate, you cannot miss the punchy pixelated strap.
Only one watch will be made in this reference and it is still available.
Vacheron Constantin Les Collectionneurs
Various prices
Rather than a new limited edition, Vacheron Constantin has set aside ten fully restored vintage watches from its Les Collectionneurs programme made between the 1940s and 1990s.
References range from classic triple calendars to avant-garde dress watches.
IWC Pilot’s Chronograph
£6,550
The final watch, and another sold out piece, according to the Mr Porter website, is the £6,550 IWC Pilot’s Chronograph with a bronze case, black dial and gold toned furniture with white lume.
Only 110 were produced.
