Franck Muller whittles down its outsized Vanguard case — and the result has a more outsized presence than ever. Housed in a 41mm diamond-set, white-gold case just 9.1mm thick, the Vanguard Slim Skeleton shown here has a new self-winding skeleton movement whose graceful curves contrast beautifully with openworked, gem-set large numerals.

Metallised so it has a smoked appearance, a 44mm sapphire-crystal case sets a striking, transparent stage for the openworked insides of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Light & Shade. The self-winding manufacture movement within is skeletonised so that it is stripped down to a refined minimum, and reveals elements such as the mainspring and balance spring.

This year, Hublot grows its Square Bang family with this sapphire crystal-clad edition. The 41mm Square Bang Unico Sapphire has an airy feel created by its case and openworked dial, which in turn offers a glimpse of the key features of the brand’s in-house HUB1280 movement: These include the exposed date ring, as well as the column wheel of the flyback chronograph.

Skeletonised in an aggressively architectural style, the manual-winding movement of the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon sees its signature star taking centrestage alongside a large tourbillon. Presented in a 42mm diamond-set white gold case, all of these components are finished by hand to Geneva Seal standards.

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How do you showcase an ultra-slim, 2.4mm-thin movement in its finest form? In the case of the Piaget Polo Skeleton, the answer is to remove extraneous metal on the self-winding calibre 1200S1 — then highlight the remaining structure in vibrant green. The mechanism takes pride of place in a 42mm steel case.

Inspired by Zenith’s double-Z logo of the ‘60s, a four-pointed star distinguishes the openworked dial of the Defy Skyline Skeleton. This offers a glimpse of the 41mm steel watch’s engine, a variant of the brand’s El Primero 3600 self-winding chronograph movement. Offering another clue to the high-frequency 3620 SK movement is the watch’s 1/10 of a second indicator at 6 o’clock, which completes one revolution in 10 seconds.

Photography: Phyllicia Wang
Art Direction: Ashruddin Sani

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