Earlier this year, the independent watchmaker Laurent Ferrier unveiled an annual calendar, and with it, launched its new manual-winding LF126.01 aimed to bring its wearer the utmost readability, functionality and wearability.

Hot on the heels of Laurent Ferrier’s win at GPHG 2018 for its Galet Annual Calendar Montre École in the Men’s Complication category, presented an opportunity for him to build upon this in-house caliber. Inspired by the stark contrast and purity of a chessboard, a black and white theme surfaces here to add a richness to the collection.

The Galet Annual Calendar School Piece Opaline Black & White exemplifies the values and spirit of Laurent Ferrier as a brand and infuses its design sensibilities in all its creations.

In some instances, annual calendars border on intimidating and messy, which thankfully is not the case here. In fact, the abundance of negative space is astounding, allowing for optimal legibility – which was the real aim in the first place, as well as an enigmatically contemporary yet traditional design.

Annual calendars can sometimes also be a fidgety mess, requiring additional tools and such for any adjustments that might need to be made. In this instance, a once yearly adjustment (on March 1st) can be made, tool-free, by updating the days of the week by way of the “easy to grip” button located on the left side of the case. All other adjustments are made easily via the crown.

The 40mm case allows for enough space for the design to radiate, whilst keeping it at a comfortable size on the wrist, allowing for the straight and thin lugs to offer up a contrast. Gold Assegai hands sweep across the opaline black or white dials, with a baton-shaped seconds hand.

A bright red hand on the black dial, and burgundy hand on white dial will creep around the periphery of the dial each day to represent the date, where contrasting numerals in light blue or white have been painted. A subtle day and month window sit above the logo, while a small seconds subdial finds itself at the bottom.

A sapphire crystal case back reveals attention to detail and superior finishing techniques on the interior of the timepiece. A Côtes de Genève motif with a ruthenium treatment can be seen on the bridges and the circular-graining of the mainplate, the sides and interior angles are manually chamfered, with polished screw heads.

The new Galet Annual Calendar School Piece Opaline Black & White also adds a degree of robustness and approachability to an otherwise overly-refined line-up.