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An irresistible, if rude, metaphor, the headline is apt for the 22nd Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) watch fair in Geneva, Switzerland, which ended last week.

Design outlier Richard Mille, whose bewildering new watch range featured one made entirely of sapphire crystal for $1,6 million (about R12,8 million), summed the fair up nicely recently.

“The high-end watch industry has a duty to make the world smile,” he said.
The chimes of Minute Repeaters, which sound out the time for you with soft gongs, and whirring tourbillons – metal cages for the mechanisms that defy the effect of gravity and make the watch more accurate – were undoubted highlights.

SIHH also provided an intriguing glimpse into a world that seems to accurately measure the current economic climate. Richemont, which owns most of the brands that exhibit at the fair, says their luxury watch sales were up 27% in the last quarter. Clients are both high-rolling billionaires and ravenous, middle-class achievers in China and India who save for months to buy single pieces.

Lots of watches featured dragon motifs to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Dragon this year. Here are some exciting pieces launching in 2012.