Selections Announced for 2012 Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix


gphg logoThe Foundation of the Watchmaking Grand Prix has announced that the prize-giving ceremony for the 12th Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix (GPHG) will take place on Thursday, November 15, 2012 at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. The GPHG has also announced the list of 70 nominated watches in seven categories. As is customary, the watches, preselected by a jury, will be part of a traveling exhibition, providing an opportunity for an international audience to view them. The exhibition’s first stop is at the Les Ambassadeurs boutique on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. Afterward, the 70 timepieces will be on display in Hong Kong, then in Shanghai, on the famous Bund, after which they will return to Switzerland, exhibited at the Cité du Temps in Geneva. This final stage prior to the prize-giving ceremony will be inaugurated on October 31 and open to the public from November 2 through 8. After the ceremony, the three finalist watches in each of the seven categories, as well as the winners of the prestigious “Aiguille d’Or” and the Public Prize, will be exhibited at the Swiss Embassy in Moscow. To see a complete list of the watches, along with the calendar of exhibitions, click here; You will also have the opportunity to participate in the awarding of the GPHG’s Public Prize by voting for your favorite watch.

Grand Theatre de Geneve
The Grand Théâtre de Geneve illuminated for the 2011 GPHG ceremony

Starting in October 2012, a mobile GPHG app will be downloadable free of charge. The app will provide easy access to all the information on the official GPHG site and offer a new type of presentation for the watches in the competition.

A showcase for Swiss watchmaking excellence all over the world, the GPHG’s prize-giving evening brings together the elite from the international watchmaking profession in the city regarded as watchmaking’s capital. Eleven prizes are awarded overall, in categories including men’s watch, ladies’ watch, sports watch, complicated watch, and jewelry/artistic crafts watch. A study grant offered by the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild, the main partner of the GPHG, will also reward a young talent. (Click here for the results from the 2011 GPHG and here for results from 2010.)

This year, Geneva will be linked to New York with a live broadcast of the ceremony — available in English — scheduled for an event at a prestigious shop on Madison Avenue. It will also be broadcast live on the Web at www.gphg.org and www.worldtempus.com.

As usual, the ceremony will be followed by a gala dinner, this year organized by a company called Theillard, which has created a new “watchmaking” concept for the tables. The official GPHG After Party, organized in partnership with Les Ambassadeurs, will host around 700 guests to celebrate the winners.

David_Zanetta_GPHG2011_560
David Zanetta of De Bethune (at podium), along with Pierre Jacques and Denis Flageollet, accepts the Aiguille d’Or award at the 2011 GPHG for the DB28.

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