Ask collectors who some of the best independent watchmakers today and chances are you will hear ‘Laurent Ferrier’. Famed for working at Patek Philippe as creative director for 40 years and for placing third at the 1979 24 Hour Le Mans race, today he is known for his haute horlogerie with his eponymous brand. Making several dozen pieces only a year, to own a Laurent Ferrier is quite a special experience.

First released in 2018, the Laurent Ferrier Annual Calendar is the fifth in-house movement introduced by the brand and housed in its 40mm ‘Montre Ecole’ case. This example comes in red gold with a two-tone grey dial and red and blue accents. The annual calendar was first developed by Patek Philippe in the ’90s and the complication acts as a middle between a simple calendar watch, which has to be adjusted every month and a highly complicated perpetual calendar, which does not have to be set for over a hundred years. With this, it offers great practicality as it takes into account 30 and 31 days, with the user only needing to set the watch once a year in February.

With the Galet Annual Calendar, you get a classic calendar layout with two apertures at 12 o’clock displaying the month and the day, and a third hand pointing towards the periphery of the dial displaying the date. There is a notch at 10 o’clock that allows for the quickset of the day while the crown sets the date. In my opinion, the overall design is very vintage-inspired, accented by the crosshair on the dial. As someone who leans that way, a very nice addition to the already impressive Laurent Ferrier lineup.

Flip the watch over and this is what made Laurent Ferrier so loved. In today’s watchmaking, the finishing and architecture of Laurent Ferrier watches is some of the best in the business and with this example, it is no different. The in-house manually winding LCF025 features a power reserve indicator on the back and is finished expertly, with thick Geneva Stripes and chamfering on all angles.

Laurent Ferrier makes some of the most beautiful and understated dress watches, where no many will know what you are wearing. It only takes someone to feel and try the watch to know that it is pure quality.