How often have you associated an object with an event? Perhaps “something old” as a lucky charm on your wedding day? Or a propitious jersey when your favorite team is competing in the playoffs?
Well, for watch lovers, a watch can easily enhance a festive event for its wearer. On Sunday, January 5, for example, famed Succession actor Kieran Culkin won his second Golden Globe while wearing an OMEGA Aqua Terra Shades in a 38 mm stainless steel case with a lacquered “Terra Cotta” red dial. Now certainly the actor, who won this Golden Globe for Supporting Actor for his role in A Real Pain, had borrowed this timepiece for the evening. But would it be all that surprising if he decided to buy it to commemorate the felicitous event?
And with Lunar New Year coming up at the end of January 2025 in celebration of the Year of the Snake, this watch powered by OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8800 would work perfectly throughout the season – whether Hollywood’s awards season or Lunar New Year’s celebrations all over the world.
While this particular watch was not specifically manufactured with Lunar New Year in mind, many watchmakers do make timepieces specifically to celebrate this primarily Asian event using auspicious red coloring to symbolize good fortune and/or imagery of the animal of the year on the dial. Oftentimes, these brands even make these watches only limited editions in multiples of eight since that is a lucky number in Chinese culture; when spoken out loud it sounds similar to the word for wealth or prosperity. But it is also considered “lucky” in Japanese culture thanks to its Kanji symbol, which can also symbolize prosperity.
Longines Conquest Heritage Year of the Snake
The purpose-designed Longines Conquest Heritage Year of the Snake timepiece likewise has a bright red dial, showing that the brand’s designers chose to use color to honor the celebration instead of a snake depiction in a visible location on the dial. The dial is also attractively domed, etched with a sunburst pattern, and lacquered in a gradient manner so that it becomes darker toward the outer perimeter of the dial. Its hands and hour markers are gold plated, which makes for excellent contrast to the seasonal bright red color.
The snake is not completely absent on this watch, however: it can be found engraved on the case back of the 40 mm stainless steel watch. This symbol for wisdom, reincarnation, and vitality imbues the Conquest Heritage wearer’s new year with hope for a great future.
This watch’s representation of the snake spirals around a Lingzhi mushroom (another symbol of good fortune as this is the “ancient mushroom of immortality”) and was created by Chinese artist Wu Jian’an, who was inspired by the Chinese fable “Legend of the White Snake.” The way the snake is entwined is slightly reminiscent of a balance wheel in action with its concentric circles – as the maker intended.
The Longines Conquest, by the way, was the first watch collection that Longines ever trademarked. Though that was back in 1954, the collection continues to show the roots of its elegant 1950s style. The vintage design combines well with the modern movement technology that Longines uses – here in the form of time-only Caliber L888.5, which is outfitted with a silicon balance spring and ultra-high magnetic resistance. The automatic movement beats at 3.5 Hz and offers 72 hours of power reserve. This watch is limited to 2,025 pieces, honoring the current year rather than the lucky number eight.
Panerai Luminor Perpetual Calendar Goldtech PAM01688
Panerai uses one of its most precious timepieces as the base for its celebratory Lunar New Year watch.
The new, deep red, practically burgundy-colored dial of this perpetual calendar offers Chinese characters to denote the weekday and date as well as in the GMT/24-hour subdial for the first time at Panerai. To keep the dial clean and focused, further perpetual calendar indications for month, year, and leap year are found on the back of the watch, visible through the sapphire crystal case back that offers a view of the movement. If kept wound, this complicated yet simple-looking timepiece will need no watchmaker intervention to correct any part of the calendar until the year 2399.
Caliber P.4100 further offers a 24-hour/GMT display as a nod to some of the brand’s early 2000s models. The automatic movement also boasts a three-day power reserve thanks to two spring barrels and an off-center micro rotor.
The precious 44 mm cushion-shaped case with its characteristic crown protection is worth a second look: it is made of Goldtech, a gold alloy developed by Panerai that includes platinum and copper for a more intense red metal color and greater durability. The gradient, burgundy-colored dial is naturally offset by bursts of luminescent Super-LumiNova so that the time and 24-hour subdial markings and hand are fully legible in the dark.
Panerai preferred to utilize the lucky number eight in the watch’s reference number (PAM1688) rather than the number of limitation: this watch is limited to 100 pieces.
Oris ProPilot X Year of the Snake
To end Oris’ 120th anniversary year, the Swiss brand released a special-edition Oris ProPilot model in honor of Lunar New Year. Unlike all the other watches here, this one has a green skeletonized dial. The verdant color symbolizes the snake itself rather than an aspect of the culture in which the celebration originates, while the skeletonization is a characteristic of this line powered by Oris Caliber 115 to show off the technicity of the manually wound movement with a ten-day power reserve. Additionally, its patented, non-linear power reserve indicator is shown by a hand shaped like a snake’s tongue.
Like many other celebratory watches, though, this 44 mm titanium timepiece’s number of limitation corresponds to the lucky number eight. In fact, it is limited to 88 pieces, doubling the luck!
