It might be easy to overlook DeLaneau, given the company’s size and limited distribution network. Yet the superlative quality of its watches keeps this small Geneva-based operation on the radar screens of many admiring collectors. The
DeLaneau 1608 (+41.22.318.80.40, www.delaneauwatch.com) deserves their admiration, and then some. This model makes time easily digestible with an all-digital jumping hours-and-minutes display (the watch’s moniker actually refers to the number of jumps that occur each day), which only takes a small fraction of the dial space. The rest serves as a canvas for DeLaneau’s artisans, who are among the best in the industry. Particularly notable is the invisible setting of the parquet baguettes on the Dôme 1608 Haute Joaillerie Invisible (priced at roughly $520,000), by independent master Dick Steenman. The workmanship on display in this field of diamonds is one of the most easily appreciated examples of the fusion of jewelry with the precision of watchmaking.
