The Hour Glass Limited Editions 2004-2015

As one of the world’s largest and most influential watch retailers, The Hour Glass has enjoyed the privilege of distinctive limited edition created exclusively for its stores. Here’s a look at some of the highlights over the years:

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Lava – 2010
A limited edition of 99 pieces, the Lava is a variant of the Royal Oak Offshore Volcano. While the Volcano in stainless steel with orange accents, the Lava is made even more striking with a case that is entirely black – the case is black-coated steel while the bezel is scratch resistant ceramic.

 

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Extra-Thin – 2015
The most recent of limited editions for the retailer, the Royal Oak Extra-Thin The Hour Glass Edition is the only run of this model made in yellow gold. Just 50 pieces were made, with a dark green dial decorated with the signature chequerboard tapisserie guilloche of the Royal Oak. Ordinarily available only in rose gold, the Royal Oak Extra-Thin is equipped with a remarkably slim movement with a gold rotor skeletonised to form an hourglass.

 

Breguet Classique Tourbillon – 2004
Still the only Breguet Classique Tourbillon ever made with a dark grey dial – the standard is a silvered guilloche dial – this Classique Tourbillon was made for the 25^th anniversary of The Hour Glass. Though the dial colour is unique, the rest of the watch is vintage Breguet, with the brand’s signature hands and Arabic numerals. A large “B” in blued steel sits on top of the tourbillon cage, functioning as the seconds hand. Only 25 were made.

 

Cartier Collection Privée Cartier Paris Tortue power reserve – 2004
Another 25^th anniversary edition is the Cartier Tortue with power reserve and date. Part of the discontinued Collection Privée Cartier Paris collection that remade classic Cartier models in precious materials and the finest movements, the Tortue features a silver-plated, solid gold dial with “2” and “5” in Arabic numerals. The edition was made up of 13 watches in white gold and 12 in rose gold.

 

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Eight Days – 2004
A gentleman’s timepiece with a functional, yet classical style, the Master Eight Days featured a conveniently long eight day power reserve, requiring winding only once a week. The dial includes an oversized date display, as well as a day and night indicator. While the ordinary versions of this watch had the power reserve display on the front, this edition has it on the back. Twenty-five were made in pink gold, and another 88 in stainless steel.

 

Panerai Radiomir GMT Tourbillon – 2010
Still the only instance of a Panerai tourbillon produced for a watch retailer, the Radiomir GMT Tourbillon was a tiny run of just eight watches.  The rose gold case was paired with a dark grey dial – combination found only on this edition – with a tiny engraved hourglass on the case back the sole hint as to its provenance.  Equipped with a novel tourbillon regulator that rotates on a plane perpendicular to the bridges (conventional tourbillons spin on the same plane), the P.2005 movement is also unusual for the tourbillon makes one revolution every 30 seconds, twice as fast as ordinary tourbillons.

 

Richard Mille RM016 – 2007
A departure from the typical Richard Mille case shape, the RM016 is a slim, rectangular wristwatch. The titanium case of the RM016 was coated with a black scratch-resistant coating, providing a stark contrast with the white hands and bold, oversized numerals. Like many other self-winding Richard Mille watches, the RM016 was equipped with an adjustable rotor to vary the winding speed to suit the wearer’s activity. This was limited to just 10 watches.

 

Ulysse-Nardin GMT Big Date – 2004
The GMT Big Date is equipped with Ulysse-Nardin’s patented dual time zone mechanism that allows for quick and easy switching of time zones with two buttons on the case. And the oversized date display is another convenient feature that is synchronised with the local time display, moving backwards or forwards together with the time zone. A subtle hourglass logo on the back is a reminder that this was a limited edition for The Hour Glass, made in a run of 50 pieces.