GPHG 2011: The Winners
The 11th edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), held on 19 November 2011 in Geneva, crowned the elite of global watchmaking in front of nearly 1,500 guests.
The ceremony, hosted at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, repeatedly served as an opportunity to underline the importance of an economic sector whose exports were up 20% on the previous year—more than enough to draw the close attention of the political sphere, with a view to ensuring a favourable environment for the industry.
The evening was marked by the theme of cinema, and more specifically by the way the seventh art treats time. The choice of sequences shown as an introduction to each prize deserves praise: Rumble Fish, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, High Noon, etc.
Which timepiece was voted best watch across all categories by winning the 2011 Aiguille d’Or Prize? The answer is at the end of the article—plus a short video of the evening.
The Winners of GPHG 2011.
Public Prize
Millenary 4101 (Audemars Piguet)
Vox populi—and it didn’t get it wrong: the Millenary 4101 is a success.
Petite Aiguille Prize
Star WorldTime GMT Automatic (Montblanc)
Design Watch Prize
UR110 Titanium (Urwerk)
Ladies’ Watch Prize
Crazy Jungle “Hathi” (Boucheron)
Jewellery Watch and Métiers d’Art Prize
Lady Arpels Polar Landscape Seal Deco (Van Cleef & Arpels)
Men’s Watch Prize
Le temps Suspendu (Hermès)
Who has never dreamed of mastering time? This watch gives its owner the ability to escape time by “disconnecting” the hands (time and date), allowing them to enjoy the present moment without worrying about when it will end. Once that moment has been lived, the master of the watch can reconnect it to the present, and the hands resume their course at exactly the current time.
Sports Watch Prize
Mikrotimer Flying 1000 (Tag Heuer)
How could one not reward the world’s first mechanical chronograph capable of displaying thousandths of a second? A fully deserved victory for Tag Heuer and its watch beating at a rate of 3.6 million vibrations per hour.
Grand Complication Prize
Academy Christophe Colomb Equation of Time (Zenith)
Special Jury Prize
The Patek Philippe Museum
Best Watchmaker-Designer Prize
Vianney Halter
Grand Prix de l’Aiguille d’Or
DB28 (De Bethune)
A dinner bringing together the winners and a selection of guests was held after the ceremony and cocktail. A fine opportunity to discuss the award-winning models, the success of this edition thanks to a new voting system, and the future of the industry (many thanks to Audemars Piguet for the invitation) before heading to the official after-party of the 11th GHPG at Parc des Bastions.
GPHG 2011 Video
