In its ongoing quest for horological complications, de Grisogono continues with the addition of a previously unknown complication in its model collection: the annual calendar. It is found on the new Instrumento novantatre design, a thoroughbred composition featuring a full range of the brand’s design codes.

Two Windows on Time

When you first set eyes on the watch, you tend to wonder what the oddly placed pair of dial openings are for. Positioned at 12 and 8 o’clock, these diminutive arc-shaped windows display the date and the month. A pair of hands show the hours and minutes while the seconds appear on a sub dial at 5 o’clock. The amount of information provided as well as the dial positions show that de Grisogono’s latest little beauty houses a complicated movement. The Instrumento Novantatre’s self-winding mechanical movement is indeed a complex construction that automatically accounts for the irregular length of 30-day and 31-day months. On June 30 for instance the annual date-calendar mechanism remembers to jump directly to July 1, forgetting about the nonexistent “June 31”.
To house this unusual movement, Fawaz Gruosi designed one of his signature watchcases, sporty yet understated and notable for its broad dial aperture. With generous dimensions (47.2 x 40 mm), equipped with sizable lugs displaying rounded and cambered lines, the Instrumento Novantatre naturally features a full range of the brand’s design codes as befits a timepiece in the bold, innovative de Grisogono style and spirit.

Extreme care for detail

Along with a crown bearing the de Grisogono crest, the watch’s extreme refined detailing is apparent in its three-level dial. The seconds sub dial features a snail-pattern finish, its velvety opaline minute track is positioned on a separate dial level while the rest of the dial surface bears  a radiating guilloché pattern. Even the pair of oversized de Grisogono-designed hour figures are not quite what they seem. They don’t really continue under the case whereas the “9” is made in two parts.
Available in a choice of gold and steel versions, optionally set with gemstones, Instrumento
Novantatre is joining both the women’s and the men’s de Grisogono collections. Also featuring
the corporate crest, the curved sapphire case back reveals the workings, the movement and its
oscillating weight, both blackened by the PVD process, an exclusive decorative feature from
one of Geneva’s most inventive watchmakers. Fitted with a deployment clasp to match the
case, an alligator or galuchat strap is connected to the case by articulated lugs guaranteeing
both perfect on-the-wrist comfort and impeccable good looks.