Earlier this year, fan favorite Swiss brand Laurent Ferrier won an award in the Men’s Category from the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève for its clever take on the popular annual calendar complication. The LF126.01 movement was designed and produced entirely in-house and released in the Galet Annual Calendar School Piece that left watch fans like myself drooling over a new grail. Now ahead of SIHH 2019, the brand spills the beans a little early with their latest take on that popular piece with the announcement of the Laurent Ferrier Galet Annual Calendar School Piece Opaline Black & White watches, with a fresh coat of paint for the original model.

Laurent Ferrier has long produced the kind of watches that become grails for myself and like-minded enthusiasts. Former Creative Director of little-known brand Patek Philippe (that’s sarcasm), Laurent Ferrier brings a lot of the experience and values from Patek and injects them into a bit more of an “exclusive” but unpretentious package. Part of the attraction here is that you can pretty well guarantee nobody else in their evening-attire will be wearing the same watch. Most of all, Laurent Ferrier enjoys the unique appeal among fellow high-end independents of his prestigious roots at Patek while remaining free of baggage.

The new Laurent Ferrier Galet Annual Calendar School Piece Opaline comes in a couple flavors of case and dial. Its case is in 18k yellow gold or 18k red gold, measuring 40mm in diameter and water-resistant to an unsurprising 30m. Interestingly, the release materials specify case thickness as 10.1mm, but 12.8mm including the domed sapphire crystal, and the brand makes a point that the size is inspired by a time when watchmakers first adapted pocket watches for the wrist. The crown is “ball shaped” and fits the watch well without being intrusive, reinforcing the dressy nature of each model.

Laurent Ferrier looks to chess boards for influence on this dial. It features the cross-hair style of its predecessor, with a sleek white dial on the red gold model, and a black dial for the yellow gold model. What’s unclear (and a slightly frustrating, fruitless research endeavor) is whether each case material will feature both dial options or not. These new dials are slightly simpler with some matte finishing in lieu of earlier models’ brushed dials. Each model features a date ring on the dial’s perimeter, followed by the simple line indices. There is a small subdial at 6 o’clock for the the seconds, and finally day and month indicator windows underneath 12 o’clock. I find the simple “assegai” hands quite attractive and legible. On the black dial, they are painted white, and on the white model they are Ruthenium-treated. In both models, the watch looks superbly legible. Additionally, the red seconds hands contrast nicely and add a welcome splash of color.

A quick note: I really appreciate the layout of this dial and the symmetry, readability, and coherency of the way it was designed. Annual calendars can often be messy, but I am really seeing the refined Patek influence here. The simple design choice of adding the blue to the date ring on the white model makes the watch stand out instead of blending in. The relatively small, but still legible day and month indicators on the black dial model are a rare instance where I feel the contrasting white is a testament to the utility that Laurent Ferrier goes for here over the matching rings I would typically prefer. Overall, the watches offer a splash of visual flair I find is often missing from high-end dress watches that put a heavy emphasis on selling the movement.

On that note, let’s talk about the movement for a second. An annual calendar features a calendar module that only needs to be set once per year, on March 1st, making it a relatively useful complication. The brand has earned praise for the movement featured in this watch, specifically the finishing, and I would love to comment on that more, but alas, the brand provided no images of it. Below is a caseback image of another version of the Laurent Ferrier Galet Annual Calendar using the same movement ripped from the brand’s Instagram feed, and it will presumably be pretty close to what is in this watch. It’s not only surprising, but downright frustrating to only receive dial shots of watches such as these, and it does a disservice to the brand and its prestigious image to totally omit movement images. End of rant.

Powering the watch is the hand-wound 235-part Caliber LF126.01 – a movement that Laurent Ferrier developed entirely in-house and takes influence from the brand’s earlier Tourbillon Double-Hairspring and its signature “blade-type” click ratchet. The operation of the movement is handled mostly by the crown, which adjusts the date, time, and month on a single stem. The day, however, is handled via a separate pusher at 10 o’clock. One click of the “Easy-Grip” pusher is one day forward, a handy way to set the date. The movement beats at a slower 3Hz, aiding the generous 80-hour power reserve. The power reserve indicator is visible on the main bridge of the case back via a polished cone, contrasting against a grey barrel gear. Again, finishing is expected to be top notch with Geneva stripes across all the bridges, circular-graining on the mainplate, polished screws, and manually chamfered edges.

The white dial model will feature a honey alligator Strap, while the black dial model will feature a black alligator strap – both featuring Alcantara lining, a smooth suede-like material. Alcantara is an appropriately luxurious choice, and I’ve often seen it associated with denim or vegan (interestingly enough) watch straps. We will bring you hands-on impressions of how it wears on these watches as well as pictures of the movement at our earliest opportunity.

The new versions of the Laurent Ferrier Galet Annual Calendar School Piece Opaline are minor updates, but they add some variety to an already attractive portfolio for the brand. Price will be 55,000 CHF for each of these versions in precious metals – that’s a 5,000 CHF increase over the steel models. Learn more at laurentferrier.ch