Monthly Archives: January 2020

iwc aviateur mercedes amg petronas motorsport closeup

PILOT’S WATCH MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS MOTORSPORT EDITION

ON THE TOP STEP OF THE PODIUM

The German team is yet again crowned as Formula One World Constructors’ Championship (WCC) winner. To celebrate the event, the Schaffhausen-based brand unveils two limited editions.

iwc aviateur mercedes amg petronas motorsport closeupThe 44.5 mm-diameter chronograph case embraces the self-winding 89361 movement (68 hours of autonomy). It drives the chronograph’s short-cycle time measurements. Equipped with a flyback function, it allows you to start timing a session instantly. This device also includes a stop hour and minute feature displayed on a sub-dial at 12 o’clock. To tackle the effects of magnetic fields, a soft-iron inner case protects the caliber optimally.

Price: EUR16,600 (chronograph)

By Dan Diaconu

hublot classic fusion cruz diez caseback

CLASSIC FUSION CRUZ DIEZ

COLOR IN MOTION

The last creations of late artist Carlos Cruz Diez are center staged in an ultimate partnership initiated with Hublot. Limited series which, at the same time, become collectors.

“An ephemeral, autonomous and ever evolving reality”. A definition of time? Perhaps, but here, it is actually the perception of Carlos Cruz Diez (1923-2019), the Venezuela-born artist-painter, on… color. Color, a key component of his work, is considered as a chromatic phenomenon which constantly changes based on the viewer’s interpretation and on light. This vision seduced Hublot. The Classic Fusion Cruz Diez limited editions unveiled by the brand are the last-ever creations of the artist during his lifetime. They are proposed in two diameters, 38 mm and 45 mm, and available in three materials, respectively in 100 and in 25 pieces in ceramic, the same quantity in titanium, and in 30 and 20 pieces in King Gold. Each piece hosts a sapphire-crystal caseback featuring Cruz Diez’s signature.

hublot classic fusion cruz diez casebackThis marvel is made possible by the caliber MHUB1100.H3. This self-winding movement delivers a power reserve of some 42 hours. Each piece is complemented by a black rubber and calfskin strap featuring printed colored stripes.

Price: from CHF9,300 (titanium) www.hublot.com

By Dan Diaconu

blancpain villeret ultrathin blue closeup

VILLERET ULTRAPLATE BLUE DIAL

BLUE HOUR MAGIC

This limited series, only available in the Brassus manufacture’s boutiques, exudes exclusivity with its majestically-luminous blue dial.

Blue, epitomizing the sky and the ocean, is an invitation to travel and escape. Its natural elegance has seduced the watchmaking world for ever so long, yet in 2019 an azure cascade was to adorn a myriad of dials. Among these, Villeret Ultraplate stands out through its rare intenseness and its sunray-brushed finish. This variation, produced in just 88 pieces, features all the adornments characteristic of the most classical of Blancpain’s collections. Delicate hollow sage-leaf-style hands point to an hour chapter composed of gold-fashioned Roman numerals. The ensemble is embraced by the signature double-stepped bezel. This streamlined composition offers time data a highly-refined backdrop where no other function or complication dares to tread.

blancpain villeret ultrathin blue closeupThe entirely-polished, 40 mm-diameter, 7.39 mm-thick platinum case hosts the 11A4B caliber assembled with some 131 components. This ultra-slim, 2.8 mm-high, hand-wound movement is also ultra-efficient. Thanks to its two series-coupled barrels, it delivers a 95-hour power reserve to the watch once fully wound, i.e. around 4 days. An indicator details the energy available. Visible through the sapphire-crystal caseback, it reigns over the Côtes de Genève-decorated bridges.

And, to ensure nothing is amiss, blue-wise of course, the Villeret Ultraplate watch is worn on an alligator strap clasped by an ardillon buckle.

Price: CHF27,000

By Dan Diaconu

mido baroncelli wild stone closeup

BARONCELLI WILD STONE

THE SYMBOLISM OF STONES

With this quartet of highly-elegant timepieces, the brand which celebrated its 101st anniversary in 2019 whisks us off to the very heart of nature to unveil the beauty and magic of ornamental stones it embraces

To discover the exquisiteness of our planet, you just need to head outside, cast your daily routine aside a little and go immerse yourself in nature, breathe fresh air under the canopy of a forest, caress the earth, collect a few pebbles, dip your feet into the waters of a lake. Wonderment is within reach should you wish to be awed. And, if truth be told, there couldn’t be anything quite as magical, quite as symbolic as stones. Mido has selected three of the most exquisite to adorn the faces of its new Baroncelli Wild Stone pieces, whilst the 4th features a vitreous substance whose nuance conjures up the intensity of night-time sky.

mido baroncelli wild stone closeupThe 33 mm-diameter case fashioned in steel – polished and coated with yellow or rose PVD based on the model chosen – hosts the caliber 80, an automatic movement which, as its name suggests, delivers a power reserve of 80 hours once fully wound.

Price: CHF930 (Jasper-on-steel version) – CHF980 (the other versions)

By Sharmila Bertin

audemars piguet royal oak perpetual calendar skeleton caseback

ROYAL OAK PERPETUAL CALENDAR OPENWORKED

EMBRACING THE DARK SIDE

Royal Oak will soon be 50 years old. Yet its silhouette outlives fashions. The Brassus-based manufacture transcends it with an attractive evolution blending ceramic and fine-watchmaking engineering.

From the moment it was unveiled back in 1971, Royal Oak, designed by Gerald Genta for Audemars Piguet, has forever been proposing variations and integrating complications yet pursuing its ever-so recognizable lines. Although this new Perpetual Calendar Openworked still boasts the octagonal bezel, its dial features no “Petite Tapisserie” checkerboard motif whatsoever! Its openwork design offers us a spectacular composition. This model reproduces the attires of the 2017-revealed black ceramic Perpetual Calendar. Its 41 mm-diameter, 9.9 mm-slimline case, along with its strap and folding clasp, invite us to admire their fine-brushed black shade obtained using the yttria oxide compound.

audemars piguet royal oak perpetual calendar skeleton casebackThe ensemble is driven by the 5135 caliber (40-hour power reserve). Many of this self-winding movement’s components, admirable on both sides of the watch, highlight the strong style of the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked.

Price: CHF130,000

By Dan Diaconu

panerai luminor due goldtech caseback

LUMINOR DUE GOLDTECH

A GOLDEN DUO

The Florentine watchmaker adorns both timepieces with its golden alloy baptized Panerai GoldtechTM which dazzles with intense sheen

panerai luminor due goldtech casebackThis golden duo features two highly-distinctive faces: sun-brushed black and sandwich-style structure for one, sanded-finished ivory white and printed hours for the other; Whether they’re carved or slightly relief-styled, the hour markers and Arabic numerals are coated with golden-beige Super-LumiNova®, a tone that’s just as inviting as the coppery glints of the case, like the central baton-type hour and minute hands and the small seconds at 9 o’clock. The date features at 3 o’clock on this duo.

Price: EUR19,900

By Sharmila Bertin

oris big crown bronze pointer date details

BIG CROWN BRONZE POINTER DATE

BRONZE NUANCES

The watch which has been the watchmaking brand’s signature design, loyal ambassador for several decades now, adorns its case in bronze and invites its russet glints to illuminate the creamy-coffee-colored lacquered dial.

Every watchmaking firm has its ambassador, the one which has been conveying a brand’s aesthetic values and technical prowess for more than one generation and is perfectly capable of renewing, evolving over time, without ever losing its identity. For Oris, the watchmaker based in Hölstein, in the north of Switzerland, this icon is the Big Crown Pointer Date, a timepiece created back in 1938 and designed for aviators’ wrists. After the quartz crisis, the firm which wished to focus on producing mechanical timepieces ennobled this model intended for the skies to embrace it as its flagship piece. Today it adorns bronze, an ancestral alloy consisting of copper, an exquisite, ultra-resistant material, which forms a natural patina over time and becomes an incredibly one-of-a-kind object.

oris big crown bronze pointer date detailsOn the dial, which is also in bronze and coated with creamy-coffee-colored lacquer, the hour chapter adorned with large Arabic numerals and markers is covered with white Super-LumiNova® and delicately brushed over by a pair of golden, phosphorescent cathedral-style hands. The date scale running along the flange is pointed out by a red cross-tipped hand.

The watch wraps round the wrist with a distressed-brown-colored chamois leather strap and a clasp made of… bronze, of course!

Price: CHF1,900

By Sharmila Bertin

hermes slim cheval ikat closeup blue

SLIM D’HERMES CHEVAL IKAT

THE DESTRIER’S SILHOUETTE

The Parisian house’s emblematic animal becomes an elusive shadow, a silhouette in motion, blended with precious weaving, galloping unfettered across the dial of two new timepieces unveiled as limited editions.

A bona fide explorer, Hermès Horloger travels across the globe on a quest to discover occasionally uncharted, occasionally overlooked, but frequently incomparable arts, which it packs in its trunks then subsequently center stages on its watch dials. The Slim model is ideally suited to this, an authentic miniature blank canvas on which the Parisian firm loves letting its creative streak roam free. The firm brought back a traditional weaving technique from Asia to adorn the Slim d’Hermès Cheval Ikat duo, each revealed as a 36-piece limited edition.

hermes slim cheval ikat closeup blueTwo baton-type hands which emerge from the horse’s body to display the hours and minutes are driven by the H1950 caliber. This extra-slim self-winding movement, which nestles in the 39.5 mm-diameter case, beats at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations an hour and delivers a power reserve of 42 hours.

This Slim d’Hermès Cheval Ikat duo is complemented by a black- or Chantilly-colored alligator strap.

Price: CHF28,000 (rose gold) – CHF33,000 (white gold) hermes.com

By Sharmila Bertin

hublot classic fusion special-edition bronze anticlockwise white backgroud

CLASSIC FUSION SPECIAL EDITION BRONZE ANTICLOCKWISE

A MATTER OF COMMON SENSE

For the Dubai Watch Week last November 20 to 24, the Nyon-based watchmaker presented an exclusive edition equipped with an anticlockwise time reading.

Who has never wondered why the hands on a watch rotate from left to right? The answer is historical, but also geographical. The movement of the hands on the first clocks was inspired by the shadow of the gnomon on a sundial. In the Northern Hemisphere, as the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West, passing by due South around noon, the shadow cast by the gnomon moves in this direction. So this rotation sets the pace for our timepieces. Hublot proposes letting us live at our own pace with the Classic Fusion Special Edition Bronze Anticlockwise.

hublot classic fusion special-edition bronze anticlockwise white backgroudThis limited edition of just 100 timepieces is worn on a grey calfskin leather strap and also stands out by the material selected for its case. The watchmaker has made the fusion of materials its leitmotif, but this is the first time it has used bronze to machine the body of one of its watches. It forms a natural patina over time. All these features make this model a must have for collectors.

Price: upon request www.hublot.com

By Dan Diaconu