GIORGIO ARMANI is among the designers who will be launching limited edition watches to celebrate the opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 later this month. Designed exclusively for the launch, the designer is unveiling three new designs that will be sold at the terminal’s World Duty Free store.

The designs, which include an Emporio Armani Gentleman’s stainless steel watch and two Emporio Armani ladies watches, will sit alongside five new watches from Burberry Endurance and Michael Kors, as well as designsfrom Breil, Sekonda, Toy Watch and Casio G-shock.

The ww.tc 24 Hour Shopping gives the time in twenty-four time zones, with its own particular interpretation of the planet: it indicates the time not in cities, but in places famous for their fashion and luxury boutiques, such as Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Dubai or Ginza.

The mechanism allows for a subtlety in the world time display: Paris, New York and Tokyo have disappeared from the city ring, yielding pride of place to avenues and squares world-renowned as cult shopping locations. As an additional finesse, it is possible to adapt your ww.tc 24 Hour Shopping to your favourite locations, as there are several versions available. Each of them focuses on two specific venues: Faubourg Saint-Honoré and Orchard Road, or Montenapoleone and Central or Rue du Rhône and Nan Jing Xi Lu. The other time zones are indicated on the city ring by fifteen different sized diamonds, adding up to 0.18 carat.

On the dial, the hours are also punctuated by eight diamonds alternating with soft arabesques. From midnight to midday, the hour ring displays a day/night contrast, while the all-black city ring stands out elegantly against the white mother-of-pearl dial. Black also adorns the alligator strap and the onyx cabochons on the crowns. To round off the work to perfection, a bezel set with fifty-four diamonds (c. 1.95 carats) gleams against the steel case. This sophisticated watch has been designed as a haute couture model, aimed at elegant women who know what they want. With its forty-one millimetre diameter case, this piece asserts its refined style on the most graceful wrists.

Time will stand still at the SIHH when Vacheron Constantin will unveil its Malte Tourbillon Regulator. Offered in 18 kt gold and platinum, this perfectly balanced tonneau case packs a manual-winding caliber 1790R. It has 27 jewels, beating at 18,000 bph and a power reserve of 40 hours. Some of the exceptional finishing operations on the 1790R movement can only be done by hand, particularly in the case of the bar, which takes 11 hours to hand-finish. Measuring a 40mm X 50mm, the crystal is sapphire.

The dial is 18kt gold done in five kinds of finishing for optimal reading: snailed, guilloched, opaline, vertical satin-finishing and circular satin-finishing. The dark-blue or brown hand-stitched, saddle-finish, square-scaled alligator leather strap can be clasped with a Platinum or 18kt gold buckle that features a half Maltese cross motif.