7 Amazing "Year of the Monkey" Watches Celebrate the Chinese New Year (Slide show)

Jaquet Droz

If you look back though the past month, we have brought you a close up look at several of the amazing new watches unveiled to celebrate today’s Chinese New Year. This year, the year of the Monkey, honors the clever monkey, whose job it was to guard the Imperial garden of peaches — said to give eternal life. Instead, the smart monkey ate the peaches — and today is a symbol of good luck and long life.

Top watch brands — most of which annually celebrate the Chinese New Year with a new timepiece — unveil elaborate artistic “year of the monkey” watches. Among the standouts: Vacheron Constantin (full details here), Ulysse Nardin (read more details here), Chopard (read about it here), Jaquet Droz (read more here), Harry Winston (full story here), Piaget (read more details here) and — a twist: Perrelet.

Bovet Amadeo Year of the Monkey Watch

This just in, as well, Bovet 1822 unveils its newest Amadeo Fleurier Monsieur Bovet Year of the Monkey watch with unique hand-painted monkey in enamel on a shimmering dial of mother of pearl. The watch is powered by the brand’s Virtuoso II caliber, which employs reversed hand-fitting and double co-axial seconds. The white gold case also reverses (t hanks to the patented Amadeo(R) convertible system) to display the intricate movement that drives the heart of this artistic piece. This unique piece triples as a table clock, pocket watch, or reversible wrist timepiece without the need for any tools.

Now, below, in honor of the wonderful Year of the Monkey and these brands, we bring you a slide show of the watches, their calibers and their making. Enjoy.