Burrowed time: rabbit watches for the Chinese new year
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The 2023 crop of Chinese New Year watches celebrates the Year of the Rabbit. According to legend, the rabbit came fourth in the Jade Emperor’s race to decide the order of the signs of the zodiac. Exhausted, the animal nearly failed to make it across the river to the finish line, but was saved by a floating log.
Images of floating logs don’t feature on the faces or backs of any of these watches, but there are cute bunnies in all styles and degrees of artistic sophistication, from Swatch’s cartoony rendering with “What’s Up, Doc?” protruding teeth to Piaget’s Altiplano in grand feu cloisonné enamel by maestro of watch painting, Anita Porchet.
Dior Grand Soir Year of the Rabbit, £29,000
Breguet Classique 9075 Chinese New Year Edition, £31,600
Piaget Altiplano Zodiac, £60,000
Chopard LUC XP Urushi Year of the Rabbit, £23,700
Swatch New Gent Bioceramic, £87
Bulgari Diva’s Dream, €65,000
TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Year of the Rabbit, £5,800
Gucci Lunar New Year G-Timeless, £860
Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac, £124,000 (platinum) OR £102,000 (pink gold)
Ulysse Nardin Classico Rabbit, £39,590
Harry Winston Premier Chinese New Year Automatic, POA
Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Ceramic Rabbit, £34,500
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