Inside a dial, there's a world in miniature: the new 24 Hours is out

Case, dial, movement and strap (or bracelet). These are the fundamental elements that make a watch what it is: a timepiece, certainly, but also a miniature world in constant evolution, capable of constantly offering different interpretations of the theme. As the new issue of 24 Hours recounts. The cover story has Richard Mille as its protagonist, a brand that has made an avant-garde vision of watchmaking its signature and that with the RM 33-03 Automatic has interpreted the round design of the case: for a brand that has almost always favoured the use of the tonneau shape, it might seem almost an exception. Which, however, confirms the rule, given that the brand's DNA is always present with the use of hi-tech materials and a new sophisticated ultra-thin mechanical movement.

The magazine continues with three artistic timepieces in the truest sense of the word. The first is the Octo Finissimo Lee Ufan x Bulgari, created by the Italian maison with the celebrated Korean-born artist whose works can be found in all the world's most important museums. The second, on the other hand, already explains everything from its name: it is the Andy Warhol Collage by Piaget, inspired by Warhol's famous 1986 self-portrait. The third is the new project developed by Hublot with New York artist Daniel Arsham, the MP-17 MECA-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire, whose lines interpret nothing less than one of the many forms of water. Then there is Van Cleef & Arpels' Complication Poétique collection, which has returned to Paris with the Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate in which two romantic automatons dance and kiss. Again, ideally, in the French capital first with Chanel and its particular timepieces that are different from each other but have as a distinguishing feature uniting them the lion: one of the symbols of the maison. Then with Cartier and the four precious watches/jewels of its striking Tressage line. And with Vacheron Constantin which, again in Paris, presented an astonishing and monumental astronomical watch with an automaton-astronomer (it was also on display at the Louvre Museum for about two months) as a further act of the 270th anniversary celebrations of the maison.

Returning to wristwatches, Tag Heuer unveiled an all-black Monaco and Carrera in which movements equipped with the futuristic TH-Carbonspring have been incorporated to enhance performance. Ulysse Nardin used a new material derived from ruthenium for its Freak [X Crystalium].

Variations on the theme for Rolex which introduced three declinations with coloured dials reinterpreting icons such as the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II and Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller. But also for Gerald Charles who unveiled a special Maestro (his iconic collection) with jumping hours and lapis lazuli in the centre of the dial, for its 25th anniversary, and for Oris who presented a version of its ProPilot Altimeter customised by the Bamford Watch Department (BWD). In our Gallery here are models from Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Breguet, MB&F, Panerai and Grand Seiko. Finally, the interviews in this issue are with two great protagonists, the former captain of the Italian national football team and Juventus, Giorgio Chiellini, currently manager of the Turin team and a friend of the Breitling brand, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, driver of the Mercedes AMG-Petronas Formula 1 team that has been linked to the Swiss brand Iwc for years.