Ed Sheeran and Dave took home the Brit Awards for best watches

Source:  Images and content by Alfred Tong @ gq-magazine.co.uk.  See the original article here - https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/watches/article/brit-awards-best-watches-2022

The award for ‘The most bling watch’ goes to… Aitch with a Jacob & Co Astronomia Solar Jewellery Planets Zodiac.

This bonkers timepiece is surely one of the most preposterous and over the top by hip hop’s jeweller and watchmaker in chief, Jacob Arabo, a man who gleefully specialises in debunking traditional notions of haute horological good taste. Inside the huge sapphire crystal case, a mind-meltingly complex series of mechanisms ensure that the planets of the universe, each represented by a different jewel, rotate around the sun. This means that the Manchester rapper, Aitch, has effectively strapped an entire universe of bling on to his wrist.

And finally, the award for ‘The nerdiest watch’ goes to… Ed Sheeran with a specially commissioned watch by British watchmaker, Roger Smith.

Based in a small workshop in the splendid isolation of the Isle of Man, Roger W Smith OBE is one of a handful of independent British watchmakers who make specially commissioned pieces entirely by hand, which includes crafting each component without the use of automated machines. What’s more, each component is made entirely by Smith himself. Even Patek Philippe has an assembly line of sorts with people making individual components. Smith’s painstaking way of working is nothing short of astonishing and is what many experts consider to be the ultimate expression of the craft of haute horology. Sheeran recently told Hodinkee that he commissioned two his n’ hers pieces for his wedding in 2019, a 38mm for his wife and 40mm for himself, so it was particularly on point to see him wearing a British brand at the Brits.

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