Laurent Ferrier’s Galet Annual Calendar School Piece, named for and inspired by its eponymous inventor’s days as a  watchmaking student, won out over an impressive field of competitors to claim the Men’s Complication Prize at the 2018 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. One year after its introduction at last year’s SIHH watch salon, the watch debuts in two new opaline-dialed versions at the upcoming SIHH 2019 in Geneva.
Laurent Ferrier Galet Annual Calendar School Piece Opaline White and Black
The round 40-mm case of the Laurent Ferrier Galet Annual Calendar School Piece Opaline Black and White models, with its straight, thin lugs, was designed to evoke the look of early wristwatches, which were essentially converted pocketwatches. The opaline dials, which Laurent Ferrier says were inspired by the clean, black-and-white look of a chessboard, feature the watchmaker’s white-gold “Assegai” hands to indicate the hour and minute, and a small baton-type hand on the small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. A center-mounted hand points to the date on a scale of vintage-style Arabic numerals, numbered 1-31, around the periphery of the dial, while the day and month appear in two beveled apertures above the center, below 12 o’clock. The calendar display is slightly different on each new model: white numerals and a red “31,” with a red pointer, on the black dialed watch; blue numerals and burgundy ’31” and...