IW Magazine Fall 2019

MMXIX

THE COMPLICATIONS ISSUE

PG 56

INSIDE

SEIKO

PRESAGE AND PROSPEX

BELL & ROSS ROUNDS ITS SQUARE WITH BR 05

TAG HEUER CELEBRATES MONACO’S 50TH

RESERVOIR DIVES

BULGARI COMPLICATIONS SPARKLE

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FROM THE EDITORS Letters + Events

The TAG Heuer Monaco 1999-2009 Special Edition is the fourth of five new watches celebrating 50 years of Monaco.

Gary George Girdvainis

FIFTY YEARS LATER

Publisher | Gary@isochronmedia.com

ike the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper declaration “it was 20 years ago today,” the watch collector’s lyric for 2019 might be “it was fifty years ago this year.”

While most watch aficionados are familiar with the quartz crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, more sophisticated collectors look beyond the rise and fall and rise again of electronic timekeeping and are aware of certain turning points in horological history.

L

The early 1900s saw the beginning of the end for the pocket watch as the

Heuer’s Monaco was reborn in various, often race-inspired liveries throughout

previously “effeminate” wristwatch gained masculinity and popularity via basic

the years -with the orange and blue Gulf team colors leading the pack.

convenience as they became robust enough for both war and sport. The early

While the Speedmaster and the Monaco were aesthetic archetypes, a new

1980s saw a return of style after a slavish decline of creativity in the 1970s when

mechanical technology was also presented in 1969 in the form of the Zenith El

quartz accuracy and digital displays overshadowed the nature of a watch as an

Primero movement. This first publicly available iteration of an automatic winding

expression of personal taste and style.

chronograph able to record and display interval timing down to 1/10th of a

Between these two major shifts and just prior to the rapid transition to the

second was an amazing achievement made possible by the new high speed

electrically excited oscillations of the quartz crystal, watchmakers in the late

36,000 bph frequency of the El Primero escapement. One could argue that this

1960s were still actively engaged in the worthy pursuit of mechanical accuracy.

was a truly a legitimate pinnacle (zenith?) for the chronograph type because

A duality of engineering and design pinnacles were reached in 1969. Of course

even though newer inventions in wristwatches can time even smaller increments,

these were quickly overshadowed by the umbra of electronic timekeeping, but

the reality is that human reaction time ranges from .15 to .25 seconds, making

well worth celebrating fifty years later.

any accuracy gains beyond 1/10th of a second a moot point in a human-

Of course we all know Omega went to the moon with the Speedmaster on

controlled device.

board the Eagle that landed. This unique notoriety was a marketing coup that drove the Speedmaster into mass awareness and led to numerous variations on a

Happy 50th to our watchmaking Icons.

simple sports theme that has placed the Speedmaster in a realm of its own.

Keep Watching!

A more earthbound icon also born in 1969 was the Heuer (pre-1985 acquisition by TAG/Techniques d’Avant Garde) Monaco. Seen on the racing wrist of Steve McQueen among others, the square-cased design gained popularity to become one of the most recognizable watches ever made. Like the Speedmaster,

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FROM THE EDITORS Letters + Events

The Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1

Michael Thompson

ANCESTRAL ARTS & CRAFTS

Editor-in-Chief | mike@isochronmedia.com

or as long as I’ve been reporting about all things horological, watchmakers have voiced concern about their profession’s demise. Greater mechanization, they worry, will diminish the need for handcrafted watchmaking expertise. Fewer watchmakers will know how to cut and file base metal into plates and gears or how to black polish a bridge.

F

In the face of such a possibility, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey in 2005

As Michel Nydegger, Greubel Forsey communications manager, explained,

joined forces with several likeminded watchmakers, including Vianney Halter,

“Where the earlier watches from Time Æon Foundation may have been

Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen and others, to co-found the Time Æon Founda-

approximately seventy percent hand-crafted, this piece is fully ninety-five

tion, in part to “Preserve the crafts associated with watchmaking excellence and

percent created from scratch.”

help pass them on to new generations.”

The Time Æon Foundation projects (including Naissance d’une Montre 2 and

Nydegger notes that the Hand Made 1 escape wheel, balance spring and balance wheel are made by hand at Greubel Forsey’s workshops. The balance

Naissance d’une Montre 3) are educational in nature, with the first so-called

spring is rolled in a hand-operated rolling mill without computer assistance,

“School Watch” made by the project raising $1.5 million at auction not long ago

which means only a few balance springs can be made at a time.

to perpetuate the project’s mission.

With more such projects underway, and with the addition of new partners

The development of the Hand Made 1 is not only about reviving long-forgotten techniques, according to the watchmaker, but aims to “take these skills and

Ferdinand Berthoud and Urwerk, the Time Æon Foundation is slowly but

know-how to a previously unattained level of excellence and

perceptively improving the likelihood that the watch industry of the future will

precision, furthering them in the same spirit of constant improvement that has

include knowledge of many of its historic artisanal skills.

always guided the Inventor watchmakers. The goal is to resurrect the ancestral

Greubel Forsey itself has just debuted a watch that demonstrates a host of those handcrafting skills. The impressive Hand Made 1 is a 43mm white goldcased watch with tourbillon, displaying hours, minutes and seconds.

The new commercial product features an open dial in true Greubel Forsey

art of hand craftsmanship and reinforce it with standards of workmanship and precision rivaling even modern production equipment.”

The new watch is just one of several inspired artisanal pieces by Greubel Forsey – and other forward-thinking watchmakers – that have me convinced that

style, set with hand-enameled chapter rings and flame-blued steel hands. All

news of the demise of handcrafted watchmaking is premature.

the movement’s components are hand made and hand finished, including the

Regards,

bridges with polished inner and outer vertical flanks, the “Gratté” mainplate, and the wheels, which boast hand-polished bevels.

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FROM THE EDITORS Letters + Events

The Tonda 1950 Lune from Parmigiani Fleurier, an FHH partner brand.

Nancy Olson

Managing Editor | nancy@isochronmedia.com

A REVEALING STUDY

he Foundation High Horology’s (FHH) new publication, Watch Trends 2019-2020, takes an original look at watches, watchmaking and the people who love them, approaching the subject from four distinct—and inventive— perspectives. At just under 100 pages, and filled with colorful images of watches, people and statistics, it is a fun read. More importantly, it is an imaginative one.

T

In his introductory note in the book, Franco Cologni, chairman of the FHH

The FHH worked with trend forecasting agency NellyRodi to produce this

Cultural Council, poses the provocative question: “What if your watch revealed

publication, melding watch industry information with the consumers who keep

everything about you? He then goes on to include specific personality types,

the field in motion—with a bit of sociology added to the mix. Additionally, the

stating, “According to your tastes and preferences, we have different horological

book includes input from high-profile people such as French architect Pierre

styles to suggest: watches that correspond to who you are and worlds you can

Yovanovich and fashion designer Sakina M’sa to further bring the topic to life.

identify with.”

Each section in the book corresponds to a personality characteristic—Connoisseur, Performer, Extrovert and Idealist. These are then examined from six vantage points, including values, world and trends, among others. The results are part crystal ball and part statistical analysis, with watch suggestions offered for each

Clearly straddling “connoisseur” and “idealist,” I was both amazed and dismayed at the information provided—amazed at how on target it was, and a little bothered by my own predictability.

Does my watch of choice reveal everything about me? Well, not everything, but certainly enough.

group. Being a bit of a numbers geek, I found the statistical analyses to be particularly interesting. The study takes a look at materials used, colors and functions of a watch and offers percentage values of each by preference within that cohort.

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D OUBLE TOURBILLON 30° TECHNIQUE Limited edition of 11 ceramic pieces

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FOR INFORMATION ∙ TIME ART DISTRIBUTION LLC Phone +1 212 221-8041 ∙ info@timeartdistribution.com

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The integrated design, optimal dimensions, comfortable style and carefully executed finishes of the BR 05 make it perfectly suited for urban life. Full of character, this instrument exudes strength and elegance.

The BR 05 is the latest jewel of masculinity from Bell & Ross.

TIME INSTRUMENTS FoR Urban Explorers

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New BR 05 collection

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CONTENTS Cover Story & Feature Stories

PAGE

56

COVER STORY

SEIKO

COLORS THE NIGHT The Japanese watchmaker builds on historical designs for new Presage and Prospex collections.

PG.46

FEATURE STORIES 46 | FREAK SHOW

Stéphane Von Gunten, Ulysse Nardin’s research & innovation director, highlights the innovations he and his staff have built into the most recent additions to the Freak family.

60 | WRIST KANDY

Alexander Shorokhoff designs two new beautiful hand-painted dials.

64 | COLLECTING

Access to a good watchmaker is vital

66 | GAUGING SUCCESS

Reservoir responds to pressure with a new dive watch.

68 | THE WRITE TIME

Michel Perchin now offers elegant watches.

PG. 66

70 | DRIVEN BY DETAILS

Alexandre Meerson makes watches for customers who appreciate craft without the need for recognition and desire subtlety over crass signals of success.

74 | BELL & ROSS ROUNDS ITS SQUARE

The new BR 05 is essentially an evolution of its cockpit-inspired BR 03.

78 | UNDERCOVER CHRONO

The seamless D Loke Dress Chronograph integrates two levers into its customized case.

80 | TAG HEUER CELEBRATES MONACO The third limited edition is inspired by the 1990s.

82 | BULGARI ADDS GEMS TO COMPLICATIONS New glitter frames high-end horology.

86 | SYMMETRY FROM CHAOS A look at NOMOS in Berlin and Glashütte.

92 | FREE HANDS PG.78

Gravity powers the slight-of-hand(s) illusion on the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Mercury skeleton dial.

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CONTENTS Departments

PG.20

PG.44

DEPARTMENTS 18 | DIALED IN 28 | LEADING WATCH RETAILERS PG.34

34 | BOUTIQUE 52 | LADIES WATCHES 94 | GIVING BACK 96 | GARY THE WATCHMAKER 97 | WINDING UP: Scatola del Tempo

PG.52

98 | BACKSTORY: MB&F PG.97

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C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

MY

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MASTHEAD

ISOCHRON media group PU BLISHER

Isochron Media Group GROU P PU BL ISH ER

Gary George Girdvainis EDITOR I A L ON THE COVER These new Seiko Presage watches feature dials made of porcelain from Arita, a town that has been the home of porcelain in Japan for more than 400 years. Find out more about Seiko’s use of artisanal skills within its Presage and Prospex collections in our cover story starting on page 56.

Editorial Director Gary George Girdvainis Editor-in-Chief Michael Thompson

Worldwide Correspondents Marton Radkai Nitin Shankar Ted Diehl Martin Foster

Managing Editor Nancy Olson

Watch Culture Editor Steven J. Lundin

European Editor Nola Martin

North American Contributors Keith Flamer James Henderson Adam Craniotes James Lamdin Jan Tegler

Leading Watch Retailer Editor Web Editor Janet Hechler

Senior Editor Luxury lifestyle Charles Moyer A RT & PRODUC T ION

Creative Direction Brain Bleach Media Video Editor Marc Frankel

Art Director Silvio Del Monaco Original Photography Cargill Photography www.cargillphoto.com (203) 258-0099

BOARD OF ADVISORS:

iW Middle East Edition c/o Vasken Chokarian Luxury Business Communications PO Box 474182 Dubai-UAE Phone: + 971 (0) 4 88 555 25 advertise@LBCME.AE.

Al Armstrong, Owner Armstrong Rockwell Roberto Chiappelloni, Owner Manfredi Jewels Pierre Halimi, Watch Industry Member Don Loke, Certified Master Watchmaker Dr. Thomas Mao, Watch Expert Noel B. Poirier, Museum Director National Watch & Clock Museum, Columbia, PA John Reardon, Watch Expert Manuel Yazijian, Master Watchmaker (CMW 21) PRINT & ONLINE ADVERTISING INQUIRIES

Gary Girdvainis, Group Publisher Phone (203) 485-6276 e-mail: sales@isochronmedia.com Subscriptions: info@isochronmedia.com 25 Gay bower Rd. Monroe, CT 06468 Website: iwmagazine.com

IW MAGAZINE is published six times per year both in print and digitally by Isochron Media Group, 25 Gay Bower Rd. Monroe, CT, 06468. One year (six issue) subscription $49. Copyright 2019, all rights reserved. Editorial inquiries should be sent to Isochron Media address. All views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of IW MAGAZINE or ISOCHRON MEDIA, GROUP. ISSN 2169-5814 “The trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively the “Trademarks”) displayed in this magazine are registered and unregistered trademarks of ISOCHRON MEDIA GROUP its affiliates and others. You can view trademarks owned by ISOCHRON MEDIA GROUP on Trademarkia at this link: http://www.trademarkia.com/company-isochron-media-llc-3824346-page-1-2. Nothing contained in this magazine should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any Trademark displayed in this magazine without the written permission of ISOCHRON MEDIA GROUP or such third party that may own the trademark displayed in this magazine. Your misuse of the Trademarks displayed on this Web Site, or any other content in this magazine, except as provided herein, is strictly prohibited.”

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Toric Quantième Perpétuel Rétrograde Manufactured entirely in Switzerland parmigiani.com

ARMSTRONG ROCKWELL 150 Trumbull Street Hartford, CT 06103 T +1 (860) 246 9858

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OSTER JEWELERS 251 Steele Street Denver, CO 80206 T +1 (303) 572 1111

GLEIM THE JEWELER 111 Stanford Shopping Center Palo Alto, CA 94304 T +1 (650) 325 3533

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Dialed In HOROLOGICAL NEWS

ULYSSE NARDIN ASSISTS DISABLED VETERANS U

LYSSE NARDIN HAS PARTNERED WITH the non-profit One More Wave to

introduce a limited edition Diver Deep Dive honoring the organization, which helps wounded or disabled veterans with surf therapy by providing customized surfing equipment and assistance.

In addition to a financial contribution, Ulysse Nardin launches the Diver Deep Dive One More Wave, a 46 black DLC titanium-cased timepiece ($13,500) with yellow accents, decompression valve at 9 o’clock, crown at 2 o’clock, extension bracelet and 1,000 meters of water resistance. The case-back is engraved with the “One More Wave” logo to signify the partnership.

“We really needed the watch that could stand up to the conditions and pressures in the surf and sand,” says Kyle Buckett (above, right), managing director of One More Wave. “The watch is tough, very easy to read and the titanium case keeps it lightweight.”

One More Wave was founded among the U.S. Navy SEALS community in 2015, and the non-profit operates a custom surfboard workshop to make boards that meet each veteran’s specific needs, including choice of design as well as being fit for specific disabilities. Buckett notes that the organization’s needs are greater than ever, with fifty-seven applications just last month.

François-Xavier Hotier, president of Ulysse Nardin Americas, explains that he was so impressed by his experiences while visiting One More Wave and the U.S Navy SEAL Training Camp in Coronado, California, that he was convinced right away that Ulysse Nardin needed to partner with the organization.

“Their dedication, courage, and camaraderie is inspiring and we hope to bring more awareness to this important work,” he adds. For more information, or to make a donation, please visit www.onemorewave.net.

DOXA REBOOTS

LUMINOX TEAMS WITH HELISWISS

Luminox has partnered with Heliswiss International AG, a Swiss helicopter company that intervenes during missions and emergencies throughout the world. Luminox notes that the teams at Heliswiss International need a robust, water-resistant and luminous watch that can withstand the difficult conditions of their assignments. Luminox watches meet these requirements, and are now a standard part of the company’s equipment as a result of the new long-term partnership. “Heliswiss International shares our commitment to precision work, accuracy, and reliability, and is therefore a perfect match for us,” says André Bernheim, Mondaine/Luminox CEO. “We look forward to developing inspiring projects together in the future.”

Now with a centralized management in Switzerland, and still 100% owned by the Jenny family in its second generation, DOXA Watches has been consolidating its positions and business activities around the world since August, 2019. Very soon, the new website (www.doxawatches.com), completely redeveloped by Doxa Watches headquarters in Switzerland, will be online with the brand’s new graphic identity and many new features.

With the launch of the new website, customers will be able to learn more about the new Doxa organization and discover the new collections.

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Dialed In HOROLOGICAL NEWS

LVMH WATCH BRANDS TO EXHIBIT IN DUBAI

The four watch brands within the LVMH Group (Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith) will display their 2020 debuts next year in January at the Dubai Bulgari Hotel. As previously announced, Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith will also exhibit during Baselworld 2020 in late April/early May, when the show occurs immediately after Watches & Wonders Geneva, the show formerly called SIHH. “We remain very supportive and loyal to Baselworld and the Swiss watchmaking industry. However, it was not possible for us to go thirteen months without a global presentation of our products and brands,” said Stéphane Bianchi, president of the LVMH Watch Division.

MIH AWARDS GAIA PRIZES AND PRESENTS NEW WATCH

At the annual Gaia Prize ceremony in a Chaux-de-Fonds, presented by the International Watchmaking Museum (Musée International d’Horlogerie), or MIH, enameling artist Suzanne Rohr won the Craftsmanship award, Laurent Tissot was the winner of the History prize and Chopard Co-President KarlFriedrich Scheufele took home the prize in the Entrepreneurship category.

The Gaïa Prizes are awarded each fall to individuals who have developed the knowledge of watchmaking through their work and achievements. In addition to the usual three categories, in 2019 the MIH also awarded a new Horizon Gaïa 2019 grant to Aude Moutoussamy. The grant will enable her to undertake original research on the strategies for appropriating social media adopted by different watch brands, in Switzerland and abroad.

Also at the ceremony, the MIH unveiled its newest watch. Developed by in-house experts and produced with the help of local businesses and artisans from La Chaux-de-Fonds, sales of the watch will assist the museum as it develops programs to raise public awareness of watchmaking and local watchmakers and to fund projects to restore, document and showcase the museum’s collection. The new MIH watch, priced at CHF 2,900 (about $2,914) is available online on a subscription basis until January 19, 2020, at www.montremih.ch and at the MIH shop inside the museum. The first few subscribers who start the production process by supporting the museum will receive a discount of CHF 500.

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The Time has come to learn a new German word: “Zeitmeister”.

T:10.75”

ZEITMEISTER LARGE DATE Wempe Zeitmeister large date chronometer. 42mm stainless steel case, sapphire crystal, automatic movement with second time zone. Certified to German DIN standard. $2,890.

Exclusively at Wempe.

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Dialed In HOROLOGICAL NEWS

TAG HEUER AND PORSCHE AGREE ON FORMULA E

TAG Heuer and Porsche have entered a long-term agreement regarding their Formula E engagement. TAG Heuer is now the Title and Timing Partner and will enter the ABB FIA Formula E Championship 2019/2020 under the name of TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. You may recall that “TAG-Turbo made by Porsche” powered Formula 1 cars in the 1980s and won two Constructors’ Championships (1984 & 1985) and three Drivers’ Championships (1984-1986). Similarly, Heuer was involved in motorsports in the 1970s, teaming up with Jo Siffert who drove for Porsche from 1966 to 1971 and won a number of endurance races, as well as contributing to Porsche’s victory in the 1969 in the World Sportscar Championships.

TAG Heuer in the 1990s became a sponsor of the Porsche Supercup and still continues its role as partner for several Porsche Cups today.

Porsche and TAG Heuer now enter their sixth engagement in Formula E, the first electric street racing series soon starting its sixth season.

Porsche unveiled the Porsche 99X Electric racing car (right) it will use to start at the Formula E for the first time in the 2019/20 season. The racecar will be driven by Neel Jani and André Lotterer.

CHRONO24 OBTAINS ADDITIONAL FINANCING

German-based online watch marketplace Chrono24 has secured 43 million euros in its the most recent financing round, according to company founder and co-CEO Tim Stracke (left). Chrono24, founded in 2003, now has more than 250 employees in offices in Karlsruhe, Berlin, New York, and Hong Kong, and counts more than 80 million euros invested in its expansion over the past five years.

“With over fifteen years of experience in the industry, we feel closer to our users than ever before and are familiar with what makes them tick. We will use this new capital to better address the needs of dealers, private users, and manufacturers,” said Stracke.

VORTIC CELEBRATES THE AGE OF STEAM

Colorado-based Vortic Watch Company has created a one-of-akind version of their new Railroad Edition timepiece to promote and celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio, a museum dedicated to American steam locomotives and railroading. Vortic planned to give away the watch in a promotional drawing in November.

Vortic’s Age of Steam Roundhouse Railroad Edition utilizes a movement manufactured in 1924 for Cleveland’s Ball Watch Company.

It was one of only 53,600 ever produced. The movement is a 21-jewel, 16-size, lever-set movement with a white porcelain dial marked with the Ball Watch Company “RR” trademark. Ball established the “RR Standard” (“RR” for Railroad) to assure a high accuracy and nearperfect time reading for all railroad employees. The watch is engraved on the case back “Age of Steam Roundhouse.”

Porsche 911 964 Cup from 1993

Porsche 99X Electric racing car

BEAUGESTE AT MCCALL’S MOTORWORKS REVIVAL

Distributor BeauGeste Luxury Brands recently partnered with Chatel La Passion Horlogère, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, to display many of watch brands BeauGeste distributes in the United States at the recent McCall’s Motorworks Revival in Monterey, California. Visitors to the vintage automotive, motorcycle and aircraft exhibition were able to see and try on watches from Chronoswiss, Eberhard Hysek, Kerbedanz and Reservoir.

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Dialed In HOROLOGICAL NEWS

PATEK PHILIPPE SHOWS NEW WATCHES AT SINGAPORE GRAND EXHIBITION

At the Patek Philippe Watch Art Grand Exhibition Singapore 2019, which concluded on October 13, Patek Philippe debuted six watches in limited editions. These include a World Time Minute Repeater (five watches in a limited edition) that features a dial in cloisonné enamel depicting a map of Singapore. Also debuted were: a World Time Chronograph (300 watches), an Aquanaut in stainless steel for men (500 watches) with a red and black-gray combination, the Aquanaut Luce (300 watches) for ladies in steel and raspberry-red, the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time (400 watches) with a medium-format steel case in a blue-gray version, and a new Ref. 5303R-010 Minute Repeater Tourbillon. Beyond these special editions, the manufacture created a new collection of dome table clocks, table clocks, pocket watches and rare handcrafts wristwatches. You can read all about these Patek Philippe special editions on the watchmaker’s website and at iwmagazine.com.

VETERANS WATCHMAKING INITIATIVE GRADUATES FIRST CLASS

The Delaware Veterans Watch School hosted its first graduation ceremony in April. Its first graduates represent veterans of four branches of the military: Jason Adams, Army; Jonathan Dunn, Coast Guard; Giancarlo LaRusso, Marine Corps; and Don Morton, Air Force. The graduates enrolled via the Veterans Watchmaker Initiative Inc., which officially opened in Delaware in September 2017 in a former EMT facility slated for demolition and leased from New Castle County government for $1 a year. It is the only school of its kind in the United States.

“VWI is privately funded. It depends on grants and donations of equipment and watch parts from the watchmaking industry and corporate and private donations with every dollar going directly to the program,” said Sam Cannan, chairman and co-founder of VWI. Volunteer labor has converted the building’s garage bays into classrooms with the help of local veterans from Hogs and Heroes and other volunteers. The faculty includes retired watchmakers who volunteer their time, making the program free of charge for disabled veterans. No one is required to pay any fee, either for the program or for housing while attending.

The school is the forerunner of a planned school in Middletown, Delaware, that will accommodate as many as fifty students from across the nation.

The school is similar to what the Bulova Company did in New York at its watchmaking school after WWII when it trained thousands of Americans veterans with missing limbs and other injuries. Visit www.veteranswatchmakerinitiative.org or call 302-378-7088 or for more information.

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This watch tells time.

Maybe if your watch wasn’t constantly bugging you with reminders you wouldn’t need it to give you an EKG.

Grenon’s of Newport 210 Bellevue Avenue, Newport RI (401)846-0598 www.grenons.com

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Dialed In HOROLOGICAL NEWS

CITIZEN TO SUPPLY TITANIUM TO COMMERCIAL LUNAR EXPLORER

Citizen will supply its proprietary alloy Super Titanium for titanium components used in the Hakuto-R lunar lander and lunar rover (right) as part of a new partnership between the Japanese watchmaker and Ispace, Inc., a lunar exploration company based in Tokyo. Ispace engineers chose Citizen’s alloy for its light weight and strength and will utilize the metal for various mechanical parts in the Hakuto-R moon exploration craft. As a lightweight, scratch- and corrosion-resistant material developed by Citizen for its watches, Super Titanium is expected to improve the reliability and environmental resistance of the spacecraft’s titanium parts. Citizen developed Super Titanium using proprietary technology called Duratect, which utilizes special treatment techniques—including ion plating, cold plasma, gas hardening and duplex coating—to produce a lightweight titanium material that is six times harder than stainless steel with excellent durability and abrasion-resistance. Citizen’s history with titanium begins in 1970 when it released the first watch made of pure titanium.

FRANCK MULLER INTRODUCES BITCOIN WATCHES

Franck Muller launched a Vanguard Encrypto watch this summer in partnership with cryptocurrency trading platform Regal Assets. The watch bears a Bitcoin logo and a QR code of Bitcoin on its dial. The dial effectively includes a laser-etched QR code for a public wallet address that can be used to deposit Bitcoins and check the balance of the account. To allow this secure process a sealed USB stick is included with the watch to store the private key. The Vanguard Encrypto, in a host of gem-set or non-gem-set models, is available in 45mm and 38mm stainless steel, rose gold, titanium and carbon cases. It comes with a hand sewn alligator strap with rubber on the other side of the folding buckle. Functions include hours, minutes, seconds and date at 6 o’clock. Prices start at $10,780.

FHH REPORTS ON WATCH TRENDS

The Foundation High Horology (FHH) has unveiled its latest industry report, Watch Trends 2019/2020, which detail key trends with a sociological analysis of current and potential watch customers.

The report is broken up into four socio-styles; the Extrovert, Idealist, Connoisseur, and the Performer, with each style profiled and then categorized. The report invites readers to find the watches that best suit them based on their tastes, values and aspirations.

For the past seven years, the Foundation has published a detailed yearly overview of the new creations unveiled by its watch brand affiliates. Initially presented as a “tool” at the service of the profession, this new, less technical work is carried out by about ten experts, complemented by an analysis of the year’s watchmaking trends.

Developed with NellyRodi agency, known for its trend books, the new approach is geared towards the public, watch lovers, customers of the luxury industry and those who will become so. The report can be downloaded for free from www.hautehorlogerie.org.

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CONTEMPORARY EXPRESSION OF WATCHMAKING ART SPHERICAL MOON PHASE INDICATOR IN ROSE GOLD AND FLAME-BLUED STEEL TITANIUM BALANCE WHEEL WITH WHITE GOLD INSERTS BLUED TRIPLE PARE-CHUTE SHOCK-ABSORBING SYSTEM FLOATING LUGS LIMITED TO 10 PIECES

C E L L I N I, N E W YO R K C I T Y – N Y, T E L : ( 2 1 2 ) 8 8 8 - 0 5 0 5 G E N E VA S E A L , C H I C A G O – I L , T E L : ( 3 1 2 ) 9 4 4 - 3 1 0 0 G OV B E R G, P H I L A D E L P H I A – PA , T E L : ( 87 7 ) 2 3 9 - 5 676 ST E P H E N S I LV E R , M E N LO PA R K – C A , T E L : ( 6 5 0 ) 2 9 2 - 0 6 1 2 W E ST I M E , B E V E R LY H I L LS & LO S A N G E L E S – C A , T E L : ( 3 1 0 ) 8 8 8 - 8 8 8 0

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LWR News LEADING WATCH RETAILERS

SLY STALLONE VISITS WEMPE IN NYC O CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF “RAMBO,” Sylvester Stallone in September treated himself to a Wempe Zeitmeister Chronograph Ceramic Camouflage, an “unassuming, yet highly sought after watch that he had been patiently waiting for.” Stallone purchased the watch from Wempe Jewelers on Fifth Avenue in New York, where he has been a long-time client and just a few blocks away from the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood where he grew up.

Wempe offers three versions of the 44mm black matte ceramic Zeitmeister Chronograph Ceramic, each made in a limited edition of fifty.

Inside is ETA Caliber Valjoux 7753 automatic chronograph movement.

One features a camouflage dial and strap. A second and third model offer a black dial with a choice of black or green strap. On the screw-down caseback you’ll find a high-relief engraving of the observatory in Glashütte. Each watch is priced at $4,160.

T

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LWR NEWS Leading Watch Retailers

(l to r) Romain Gauthier, Cellini’s Leon Adams, Stephen Forsey and Kari Voutilainen

CELLINI HOSTS WATCHMAKERS IN NYC

At Cellini’s Meet the Watchmakers event two days in October, the New York retailer hosted appearances by seven of today’s top watchmakers.

Bart and Tim Grönefeld were special guests during both days of the event. He was joined one day by Denis Flageollet of De Bethune and Stephen Forsey of Greubel Forsey. HYT opted to unveil the world premiere movement designed by award-winning watchmaker Eric Coudray. The second day of the show included Felix Baumgartner of Urwerk, Romain Gauthier and Kari Voutilainen. Visitors viewed and tried on many rarely seen watches, including the Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon 30° Technique in blue ceramic, Urwerk’s UR-100 SpaceTime, Grönefeld’s 1941 Decennium Tourbillon, De Bethune’s DB25 Starry Varius Tourbillon and Voutilainen’s 28ti.

In addition, a selection of watches pre-selected for the 2019 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève were on display both days. Nominated watches from Bulgari, Grönefeld, Laurent Ferrier, Ressence, Ulysse Nardin, Voutilainen and Zenith will be shown, along with a selection of past GPHG winners.

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LWR NEWS Leading Watch Retailers

Feldmar staff and Blood Drive volunteers

FELDMAR HOSTS ANNUAL BLOOD DRIVE

In memory of Sol Meller, who during his life was a very generous blood and platelet donor for CedarsSinai Medical Center, Feldmar Watch Company in Los Angeles is hosting the Annual Sol Meller Memorial Blood Drive, this year again on November 30. Follow in Sol’s footsteps by donating blood to those in need and giving the gift of life. For details and to schedule an appointment please visit feldmarwatch.com/events.

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MANUFACTURE CALIBRE ARR18

Miami FL: King Jewelers (305) 935 4900 Denver CO: Oster Jewelers (303) 572 1111 Toronto Canada: Ebillion Watches (416) 960 5500 Hartford CT: Armstrong Rockwell Watches & Fine Jewelry (860) 246 9858

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MINUTE REPEATER RESONANCE

New York NY: Watches of Switzerland (646) 973 3363 Wellington FL: Provident Jewelry (561) 798 0777 Jupiter, FL: Provident Jewelry (561) 747 4449 Naples, FL: Provident Jewelry (239) 649 7200

10/21/19 10:57 AM

LWR NEWS Leading Watch Retailers

NOMOS TEAMS WITH TIMELESS LUXURY WATCHES

Nomos teamed with Timeless Luxury Watches, Plano, Texas, for the initial debut of a special Nomos Club Campus watch sold to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this past October.

Nomos and Timeless pledged $200 from each special edition timepiece to the NBCF. The watches come in two sizes: 36 millimeters with a white silver-plated dial and 38.5 millimeters with a midnight blue dial. Both feature a light pink seconds hand (in honor of the color of breast cancer awareness) and a combination of Arabic and Roman numerals. “Have Hope” is inscribed just below six o’clock, which is another subtle allusion to the cause these watches support.

The larger model contrasts its pink seconds hand against a midnight blue dial.

Green minute markers adorn the outer edge of the dial, and a silver outline frames the hour markers. On the smaller model, the hour markers are framed by a thin line of pink to echo the seconds hand.

The solid case back prominently features the National Breast Cancer Foundation logo: a tree branch. This image is inspired by NBCF founder, Janelle Hail, who drew strength from nature during her own treatment for breast cancer. A solid case back was chosen to give space for this symbol, but also to allow custom engraving for those who wish to add a personalized message to their timepiece.

Inside both of the new Club Campus models is the in-house built Nomos caliber Alpha hand-wound movement. The price for these watches is identical to that of the regular Club Campus models. $1,500 (36mm version) and $1,650 (38.5mm version).

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Club Sport. Made in Germany. This new sports version of the Club model is particularly robust, exceptionally water resistant, and equipped with a NOMOS bracelet. At work inside is the neomatik date caliber, DUW 6101, well protected by the stainless steel case. This automatic timepiece is available now at Bhindi, Blakeman’s Fine Jewelry, Borsheims, Brinker’s, Brown & Co., Chatel, Diamond Cellar, Henne, Hyde Park Jewelers, JB Hudson, L. Majors, Lewis, London Jewelers, Reis-Nichols, Schwarzschild, Shreve & Co., Shreve, Crump & Low, Swiss Fine Timing, Timeless Luxury Watches, Tiny Jewel Box, Tourneau, Wempe, and Windsor Jewelers. As well as online at nomos-glashuette.com

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Boutique

IW RATING SYSTEM LEGEND

30-39:

A great timepiece that may suffer from one or more weak points weighing down the overall score.

40-49:

A superlative example of fine timekeeping.

ARNOLD & SON Globetrotter Night Arnold & Son’s new Globetrotter Night displays a world of times while showing the wearer the Northern Hemisphere at night. Beneath one of the largest sapphire crystal domes we’ve seen on a watch, this newly nocturnal version of the original Arnold & Son Globetrotter, which debuted in 2018, performs all the same functions as that initial daytime model, but with a more muted, contemporary flair.

The watch’s prominent, polished steel bridge supports a disk with a view of the northern hemisphere that rotates once every 24 hours and serves as the generalized world-time display while also acting as a night-day indicator.

To indicate night, which is clearly a theme for the watch, the bezel-like sapphire disc around the globe is transparent between the daylight hours of 6.00 and 18.00, and translucent from 18.00 to 6.00, making daytime and nighttime easily evident.

Determining world times with this half-globe will always be approximate without the specific city indications often associated with traditional world time watches. But as this is not a traditional world time watch. Its charms are primarily visual thanks to the Globetrotter Night’s realistic interpretation of a threedimensional Northern Hemisphere map at night.

Arnold & Son first engraves the continents chemically, followed by a galvanic deep-grey treatment to color them. Then the landmasses are hand-lacquered in a black-grey hue, while the oceans are lacquered in grey-blue. Finally, the city lights are represented by hand-applied silver sparkles.

Beyond the half-globe, the watch’s chapter ring is circular satin-brushed while the hands are polished and tipped in red. That massive ‘double-foot’ bridge is circular satin-brushed and chamfered by hand and held in place by screws with polished heads and chamfered slots.

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IW RATING SYSTEM LEGEND

50-59:

One of the finest examples in the high watchmaking category.

60:

Perfection. An unattainable score.

ARNOLD & SON Globetrotter Night DARKENED MOVEMENT Arnold & Son has also darkened its A&S6022 automatic movement to maintain the nighttime theme here. The caliber’s components have been blackened thanks to the use of NAC-type surface treatments. Arnold & Son polishes and chamfers the bridges, which are then finished with Côtes de Genève stripes and colored grey.

The skeletonized rotor is engraved and treated chemically with ADLC black and NAC grey to obtain a two-tone appearance.

To make setting the Globetrotter Night simpler than setting many traditional world time watches, Arnold & Son here provides a threeposition crown. In the first position, the user winds the watch. The second position adjusts the local time hand by one-hour jumps either clockwise or counter-clockwise.

And when the wearer travels to a different time zone, the second position enables the wearer to change the local time while keeping world time in sync. Finally, when in the third position, the crown allows the wearer to change hours and minutes—and to rotate the half-globe.

Made as a limited edition of fifty pieces, the 45mm steel-cased Arnold & Son Globetrotter Night is priced at $19,000. Arnold & Son says it can provide a Southern Hemisphere version of its Globetrotter Night on request at the same price. See them in person at our Leading Watch Retailers: Armstrong Rockwell, Hartford Cellini, New York Feldmar, Los Angeles IW RATING

Design: 9 (out of 10) Superb melding of form and function.

Innovation: 8 Artistic, mechanical, and display challenges done well.

Finissage: 7 Mechanical and display surfaces feature exceptional finishes.

Legibility: 6 Hands occasionally hidden under buttresses.

Rarity: 8 Only fifty pieces to be made.

Value: 7 Secondary market prices stable and strong on previous version.

Overall iW rating: 45 (out of 60)

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Boutique KERBEDANZ Maximus Even in high watchmaking circles, Kerbedanz is not (yet) a well-known name, but it can claim one haute horology prize for itself: the wristwatch with the largest tourbillon escapement is ensconced in the Kerbedanz Maximus.

Centered on the dial is a 27mm cage that rotates on its axis once every six minutes while beating at the stately pace of 18,000 bph. Unlike so many brands that are all abuzz and focused on faster beat rates in the search for small improvements in accuracy, the almost relaxed pace of the Maximus presents a different interpretation of time and keeping.

Under the domed sapphire crystal lies the hand-wound Kerbedanz Caliber KRB-08.

Designed, manufactured and decorated by Kerbedanz, the movement features in-line pallets, thirty-four jewels and four parallel barrels that help motivate the exceptionally large inertial balance designed specifically for Maximus.

Running for more than forty-eight hours from full wind, the Maximus engages an unusual winding system to power-up the four barrels by way of an open frame that sits flat over the sapphire crystal back. Place your fingers in the three openings to easily turn the frame clockwise and simultaneously wind all four barrels.

Of the 415 total components, the titanium tourbillon cage alone represents no fewer than 73 individual parts weighing in at a scant 1.35 grams.

Maximus is a full-figured timepiece at 49mm and is offered in titanium ($165,000) and 18-karat gold ($250,000) and is limited to 99 pieces. www.beaugesteluxury.com IW RATING

Design: 9 (out of 10) Hypnotic engineering turned into three-dimensional sculpture.

Innovation: 9 Unique and complex solutions developed.

Finissage: 10 Near perfection without and within.

Legibility: 7 Hour and minutes indicators may get briefly overlooked.

Rarity: 9 Only 99 will be made.

Value: 9 Basically unavailable on secondary market.

Overall iW rating: 53 (out of 60)

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www.minasewatches.ch

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Boutique GREUBEL FORSEY Double Tourbillon 30 degrees Technique ceramic Originally debuted in 2004, this special U.S. edition transforms the watch with clear sapphire components encased in highly detailed blue ceramic. And while Greubel Forsey has previously displayed its expertise creating clear sapphire cases for several of its most complicated timepieces, this new release marks the watchmaker’s first-ever ceramic case.

Now framed in lustrous deep-blue, the resulting remade Double Tourbillon 30 degrees Technique mechanism takes on a new and somewhat startling clarity, especially as it reveals Greubel Forsey’s spectacular dual suspended tourbillon cages. One cage rotates in four minutes while inside of it a smaller cage inclined at an angle of 30 degrees (relative to the first cage) completes a revolution in sixty seconds.

To create its new blue ceramic case (which measures 48.40mm in diameter and 17.77 mm in height) Greubel Forsey sintered the ceramic at a very high temperature, and then had to apply its legendary finishing techniques to the new material. The finishers first polished the ceramic and then laboriously began to circular satinfinish it while following the case’s new curves and contours. The resulting case retains its deep blue hue while appearing to shimmer in the light, though with a more contemporary caste than that delivered by the watch’s previous precious metal cases.

IW RATING

Design: 8 (out of 10) A mélange of industrial savoir-faire Innovation: 9 Worthy techniques to safely integrate sapphire elements.

Finissage: 10 Among the very best in watchmaking.

Legibility: 7 Hands are bold enough to stand out from a busy background.

Rarity: 9 Only eleven will be made.

Value: 9 One of the most expensive brands but few enough made to hold prices.

Overall iW rating: 52 (out of 60)

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GREUBEL FORSEY Double Tourbillon 30 degrees Technique ceramic On the dial side, Greubel Forsey has re-created the tourbillon bridge, barrel bridge, differential bridge and power-reserve bridge by manufacturing all these components in clear sapphire. And as Greubel Forsey explains, “even the restrictions imposed by screws were taken into consideration in this spirit of creation: The bridges are specially mounted to absorb shocks to which the sapphire could be subjected. The plates, bridges and the mechanical architecture are therefore entirely new.”

From the dial you’ll see that the small seconds and power-reserve indicators, while made from gold, are actually finished in blue so they enhance their contrast to the frosted main plates and blue ceramic case. The hour and minute ring, as well as the four-minute tourbillon rotation indicator, are also both made from sapphire. The hands are open worked.

Turning the watch over, the threedimensional gear train bridge gives observers a clear view of the architecture beneath it. The lower tourbillon bridge – also made from sapphire – beautifully reproduces the steel bridge of the first Double Tourbillon 30° Technique.

Greubel Forsey is releasing this new blue ceramic Double Tourbillon 30 degree Technique with its all-new sapphire components as a unique edition of eleven timepieces to the U.S. market. The watch is supplied with a blue rubber strap, complete with a titanium folding clasp decorated with a hand- engraved Greubel Forsey logo. The crown – also in ceramic – features a tone-on-tone engraved Greubel Forsey logo. Price: $695,000.

You can see Greubel Forsey watches at our Leading Watch Retailers: Cellini, New York Stephen Silver, Menlo Park

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Boutique ARMIN STROM Minute Repeater Resonance Adding a new dimension to Armin Strom’s resonance escapement is the world’s first and only Resonance Repeater.

Inspired by a sixteenth-century tower clock within his hometown canton, chief technical officer Claude Greisler wanted to pay homage to the region of his birth in Switzerland. He found his muse within the landmark thirteenth-century Zytglogge that has served as Bern’s main clock for more than 500 years and chimes the time at the top of every hour.

Within the new Armin Strom Repeater Resonance masterpiece the mechanics of the repeating mechanism have been moved to the fore. You can easily view two, three-dimensionally curved gongs encircling the hour/minute sub dial while the striking hammers are placed in a balanced display with the two independent resonance regulators.

Crafted in grade 5 titanium for optimal sound transmission and light weight, the robust 47.7 mm size amplifies the sound with gongs attached directly to the inside of the titanium case.

Armin Strom’s Minute Repeater Resonance is limited to an edition of only ten pieces in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the young manufacture.

Designed during a three-year partnership with Greisler’s old friend and co-worker Alain Schiesser from Christophe Claret (well noted for its own expertise in chiming watches), the watch is a pinnacle mix of visual stimulation and aural charm.

If you wish to own one of the ten to be made, you can expect to invest around $380,000.

See Armin Strom watches at the following Leading Watch retailers: Armstrong Rockwell, Hartford Watches of Switzerland, New York IW RATING

Design: 7 (out of 10) Aesthetics determined by engineering and finishing of functional components.

Innovation: 9 A horological first combining the esoteric and the obvious.

Finissage: 9 Few can compare. Every surface treated with exquisite skill.

Legibility: 8 Easy to read and you can always activate the repeater in the dark.

Rarity: 9 Only ten will be made, ever.

Value: 8 Previous variations appear to hold up well in High end collectors will covet Overall iW rating: 50 (out of 60) 40 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | FALL 2019

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a f t e d fo

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ARMSTRONG ROCKWELL WATCHES & FINE JEWELRY

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Official Retailer Hartford, Connecticut 860 246 9858

05/09/2019 17:10 10/21/19 10:59 AM

Boutique ZENITH Defy El Primero Double Tourbillon This dramatic watch, which was a Baselworld 2019 highlight for many observers, starts with the high-speed regulation (360,000 bph) developed for the Defy El Primero 21 and ups the horological ante. Zenith adds two tourbillons – a first for the watchmaker. One of the tourbillons (at 10 o’clock) is coupled with and regulates the chronograph that displays hundredths of a second. This tourbillon beats at 50 Hz (360,000 bph) with its carriage rotating every five seconds, which Zenith says is the world’s fastest.

While that high-speed tourbillon regulates the chronograph hand, which turns once per second, the second tourbillon (at 8 o’clock) operates at 5 Hz (36,000 vph) with a carriage that rotates once per minute. This tourbillon regulates the rate of the hours, minutes and seconds. With this doubled up arrangement, you’ll find dual mainsprings with a fifty-hour power reserve for the both the time and for the chronograph.

This model, measuring 46mm by 14.5mm, is available in two limited editions: a ten-piece platinum version and a fifty-unit carbon interpretation. Price: $141,000 (platinum case) and $113,000 (carbon case). See Zenith watches at the following Leading Watch retailers: Cellini, New York / CH Premier, Santa Clara / Feldmar, Los Angeles / Manfredi Jewels, Greenwich / The Timepiece Collection, Englewood / IW Marks, Houston IW RATING

Design: 8 (out of 10) Industrial watchmaking traditions on display.

Innovation: 9 Dual barrels, dual tourbillons including high speed tourbillon for 1/100th per second chrono regulation.

Finissage: 7 Well done combination of colors and finishes.

Legibility: 7 Strong baton hands with lume stand out from complex background.

Rarity: 9 Only 10 in platinum and 50 in carbon.

Value: 9 Pricing holding up very well on all platforms.

Overall iW rating: 49 (out of 60)

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Boutique PARMIGIANI FLEURIER Tonda 1950 Lune With this latest customization of the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda 1950 Lune, we see how the luxury watchmaker continues to broaden its appeal.

With this new slate-dial version, much more has changed than simply the dial color and finish.

Parmigiani Fleurier has separated the indicators on this new slate-dialed, rose-goldcased version of the Tonda 1950 Lune (pictured here with two new diamond-set models), moving the date display out of the small seconds dial while also moving the lunar calendar to the 10 o’clock position from its previous location at 12 o’clock. The resulting asymmetric layout for the Tonda 1950 Lune offers a choice to those who prefer each function on this elegant moonphase model clearly separate from the others.

The new design also alters the dial text, which focuses now on numerical rather than labeled phase indicators for the northern and southern hemisphere moonphase displays. Furthermore, the Parmigiani-designed delta-shaped hands have been skeletonized, which means the lunar phases will always be fully visible regardless of the location of either hand.

As is typical of the dress watches from Parmigiani Fleurier, this Tonda 1950 Lune is slim, thank primarily to its calibre PF708, a fully in-house movement boasting a platinum micro-rotor. Turn the watch over and you’ll find beautiful, hand-applied finishes, beveled bridges and Côtes de Genève decoration. Price: $26,900 (slate dial). Look for Parmigiani at our Leading Watch retailers: Armstrong Rockwell, Hartford / Cellini, New York / Feldmar, Los Angeles / Manfredi Jewels, Greenwich / The Timepiece Collection, Englewood IW RATING

Design: 7 (out of 10) Equally elegant in both the masculine and feminine variations.

Innovation: 6 Moon phase perfectly integrated into super slim (4mm) PF708 movement with micro rotor.

Finissage: 8 A focal point of excellence since Michel Parmigiani founded the brand.

Legibility: 8 Framed Delta hands are prominent without interfering with display.

Rarity: 6 Not specifically limited but built in small quantities.

Value: 7 Previous examples holding secondary market value better than most.

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GMT6-46

Configurate your own watch on brm-manufacture.com For any information: usa@brm-manufacture.com - +1 214-231-0144

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A close look at the Ulysse Anchor Escapement that regulates the Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel, in rose gold.

Freak

SHOW

BY MICHAEL THOMPSON

Ulysse Nardin will make twelve examples of the Freak NeXt.

Stéphane Von Gunten, Ulysse Nardin’s research & innovation director, highlights the innovations he and his staff have built into the most recent additions to the Freak family.

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Stéphane Von Gunten, Research & Innovation Director at Ulysse Nardin Ulysse Nardin made this Executive Exo-Skeleton X for the Only Watch charity auction in November. The watch has a special exoskeleton formed from four flexible blades fixed to the case.

The Ulysse Nardin Skeleton X Magma

The Ulysse Nardin Marine Mega Yacht

DURING THE ULYSSE NARDIN POP-UP DISPLAY HELD THIS PAST SUMMER AT THE WATCHES OF SWITZERLAND SOHO BOUTIQUE IN NEW YORK CITY, IW SPOKE WITH STÉPHANE VON GUNTEN, THE WATCHMAKER’S RESEARCH & INNOVATION DIRECTOR. VON GUNTEN HIGHLIGHTED THE INNOVATIONS HE AND HIS STAFF HAVE BUILT INTO THE MOST RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE FREAK FAMILY. Von Gunten not only explained the differences and similarities within the Freak family (including the groundbreaking Freak NeXt) but he also hinted at upcoming additions to the Tourbillon Free Wheel collection.

Visitors at the pop-up display saw watches from the newest Freak collections such as the Freak X (including one model with a stunning marquetry

dial) and the Freak Vision. Many also tried on examples from Ulysse Nardin’s Executive Skeleton X collection (including the volcanic Skeleton X Magma), the Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel and the Marine Mega Yacht, a $310,000 platinum timepiece that sails thanks to a host of patented, marine-themed displays.

CAN YOU GIVE US AN OVERVIEW OF THE THREE FREAK FAMILIES? The idea is to have one family with fathers and brothers and sisters. The Freak X, which I call the baby Freak sometimes, can be a daily use Freak, the everyday Freak. It is quite impressive because you have the minute gear train visible and it is easy to set using the crown.

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The Ulysse Nardin Freak X, new in 2019.

The Ulysse Nardin Freak X with a special marquetry dial.

The Ulysse Nardin Freak Innovision 2, from 2017, featured ten innovations.

The Ulysse Nardin Freak Out in Blue and Gold.

even the more contemporary Freak Out models. It depends on what you are looking for. We have a whole family of Freaks. But the goal of this year’s Freak X is to make the Freak more accessible, beyond the Freak collectors.

The differences also lie in the materials. The Freak Vision is in platinum and gold, and there is also the constant force escapement, which is not on the Freak X, and neither is the Grinder winding mechanism, which is twice as efficient. And, for comparison, the Freak NeXt used essentially the same case design as the Freak Vision.

WHAT WAS THE GENESIS OF THE FREAK NEXT PROJECT? WHAT WAS THE GOAL? We have worked for many years on this. I did the first patent in 2009. This is in the same line as the Innovision 1 and the Innovision 2. On those watches we had ten innovations (including a flying anchor escapement and flying tourbillon), and for the new Freak NeXt, we have added the new flying oscillator.

With no axis, we avoid the friction between the shock absorber and the shock. There is no pivot and no jewels. When we do this we improve the power reserve. We have a 12 Hz frequency and a seventy-hour power reserve.

With standard watches, this high frequency typically means power reserve is considerably lower, but not here. This is quite a breakthrough.

The goal was to develop a new type of oscillator with improved efficiency.

On this we have four layers in the spring structure–there is no hairspring anymore. It oscillates around the center and there is no bridge because it is floating. This works in the vertical and horizontal positions.

WHAT DID COLLECTORS TELL YOU ABOUT NEXT? Collectors say they like it when they see something new and impressive. They tell us that this is quite a breakthrough in watchmaking. Since the hairspring was invented in 1675, it hasn’t changed too much. We are in a very interesting phase with mechanical watches today because like other brands we are investigating new systems.

The Ulysse Nardin siliconblade flying oscillator. Ulysse Nardin plans to use this in Ulysse Nardin watches beyond the Freak collection.

IS IMPROVING THE OSCILLATOR THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TODAY FOR WATCHMAKING IN GENERAL? There are today different areas where watchmakers are competing. You can, for example, work on innovative displays as we have done on the Mega Yacht watch. But for Innovision, we’re doing this for technical reasons, not simply marketing or aesthetic reasons. So we have both–technical innovation as well as the marketing argument. I call it a laboratory on the wrist because you see the minute train and the oscillator is very visible.

Of course we are very strong developing silicon. We are pioneers using this and we have our own factory. We are also seeing a trend using carbon composite materials. We new models using this, like the Executive Skeleton X in Carbonium. We use Carbonium gold, which is very nice. It shows gold within the carbon fibers and in the sun it’s very nice.

Many customers enjoy lightweight watches now. But the only technical reason to use these is the lightweight.

WILL THIS TECHNOLOGY BE SEEN IN SERIAL COLLECTIONS ANY TIME SOON? There are still many challenges until that time. This is quite difficult to assemble because of the five layers and the spacers, all of which are assembled by our watchmakers. And I can tell you that the small spacers use for this are quite tiny. They are made of silicon and they are 0.5 mm by 0.5mm.

If we can manage to produce this oscillator in one piece, that would be very useful for us for serial production.

We’ll use this in other models inside more basic movements, not the Freak.

Because this new oscillator is the same dimension as a traditional oscillator, we can use it in existing calibers.

We received a good response from the market when we launched this and we have decided to produce twelve pieces of the Freak NeXt, all to be completed by the end of this year. We will not do any other colors or other models with this NeXt, and it will have a twelve-year warranty.

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Exclusively Designed and Assembled by the Detroit Watch Company 42mm case, Swiss automatic self-winding Eta 7751 movement. Exhibition caseback.

PONTCHARTRAIN explore the collection at

www.detroitwatchco.com C o p y ri g h t © 2 019, D etroi t Watch C ompany, LLC , A l l R i ghts R eserved

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10/21/19 11:13 AM

Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel recalls ‘mysterious’ watches and clocks of the past.

This newest version of the Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel has a white gold case framing diamond-like osmium crystals.

The Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Stars and Stripes on the wrist

WHY A TWELVE-YEAR WARRANTY? We chose twelve because it matches the oscillator rate (12 Hz), and we will make twelve pieces. We already have a five-year warranty on all of our watches. In fact we were the second company in the industry to offer this, after Rolex.

On every silicon component we already offer a ten-year warranty across the board. This shows that we are confident about this technology.

HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE CLASSICAL WATCHMAKING TECHNOLOGY WITH THESE FUTURISTIC METHODS AND MATERIALS?

WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY CHALLENGES TO TAKING THIS TO SERIAL PRODUCTION?

We do this the variety of product lines we offer. We have our Marine collection to really connect with our historical roots, our Classical lines and of course our Freak collection to encompass our new technology, and with this type of balance we can talk about many things. This company we have a lot of freedom to consider different materials and new technologies. Ulysse Nardin offers a wide selection, from elegant to modern, and with basic to very high technology, which you don’t find in other brands. New or experienced buyers will find something of interest.

This is quite a challenge because we had to calculate all of the dimensions of the blade structure. The crossing point for the beams is triangle component, and without this structure the amplitude would be very small and could not work with the standard escapement. We wanted it to work with our constant force escapement. This escapement is the same one we have on the Freak Vision.

The idea was to replace the conventional balance wheel and hairspring. Unlike the Defy Inventor from Zenith, which occupies the whole surface of the watch, this is something using the similar size space as a more conventional watch.

The freak was the right watch to use for this because it is our laboratory on the wrist. But in the future maybe we can integrate this oscillator into more common calibers.

ANY TEASERS FOR UPCOMING DEBUTS? Look for something new in the Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel (above), which originally debuted two years ago. This was also my baby. At first nobody wanted to attempt this design, which I devised as a tribute to the mysterious watches and clocks of the past.

It has been quite a big success. The idea is to have some components on the dial and some of the wheels under the dial. The energy comes from 12 o’clock with barrels and goes under the dial, and returns to the tourbillon at 6 o’clock. This is why I consider it like the mystery clocks because you don’t see where the energy is coming from. For the power reserve indicator and we had the gear train on the left, then we go back under the dial and showed indicator across the dial on the right.

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Ladies JUST FOR HER

BULGARI

SERPENTI SEDUTTORI ULGARI EXPANDS its Serpenti Seduttori collection with many new models. Three new steel models with steel cases include two with rose gold bezels, and one of those adds diamonds to the snakehead bezel. Previously made only in precious metal, the new quartz watches retain the collection’s new flexible bracelet made of hexagonal links – direct references to Serpenti. Prices begin at $5,000.

Additional Serpenti Misteriosi models expand Bulgari’s longstanding ‘secret’ watch offering with multiple high-jewelry options.

Under the Serpenti collection, look for new models with sapphires, rubies, pink sapphires and onyx. See them in person at our Leading Watch Retailer partners including: AE Betteridges, Vail / Carat & Co, Flushing / CH Premier, Santa Clara / Cellini, New York / CH Prmier, Santa Clara / Chong Hing, San Gabriel, Rowland Heights / Feldmar, Los Angeles / Govberg Jewelers, Philadelphia / Manfredi, Greenwich / Radcliffe, Towson / The Timepiece Collection, Englewood / Yamron, Naples /

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Bulgari’s Serpenti Misteriosi, showing ‘secret’ dial.

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LADIES Just For Her

Bulgari Misteriosi Pallini, with rubies and diamonds

Below: Three new steel Serpenti Seduttori models with steel cases include two with rose gold bezels, and one of those adds diamonds to the snake-head bezel.

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Ladies

BY GARY GIRDVAINIS

WRIST KANDY ASED ON HIS EXISTING KANDY MODELS, Alexander Shorokhoff has designed two beautiful variations with hand-painted dials called Kandy Bouquet and Kandy Daffodils.

These elaborately hand-painted and handenameled mother-of-pearl dials are a first for the brand already well known for playing with color and shape on so many of its offerings.

Each hand-painted dial takes an average of forty hours of intense focus, with the artist working through a microscope as she brings the miniature mural to life on the dial-cum-canvas.

Working with ten to twenty brushes made from the hair of a marten, the artist carefully applies the chosen color pallet over the mother-of-pearl substrate.

The small piece of art has to pass through the kiln several times to dry each layer of the paint. When the artwork is complete, the dial is heated in a kiln for five full hours to prepare it for the final step of adding a transparent lacquer, after which it is brought to the kiln for a final 24-hour baking.

Both models are limited to thirteen pieces per dial type. Being hand-made, each dial is somewhat unique.

Under the fine art and surrounded by stainless steel lies a hand-engraved Swiss automatic ETA Caliber 2892-A2. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a watch with more inherent value for the $5,400 retail price. See Shorokhoff watches in person at our Leading Watch Retailer partners: Grenon’s of Newport, Newport, RI Little Treasury Jewelers, Gambrills, MD

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EISEMAN JEWELS AND EISEMAN ROLEX SHOP- IN-SHOP AT NORTHPARK CENTER.

EISEMAN DESIGNER COLLECTIONS Eiseman Estate Jewelry Collection JB Star Messika Roberto Demeglio Roberto Coin Seaman Schepps Single Stone Sloane Street Jewelry Temple St Clair

SWISS TIMEPIECE MANUFACTURERS Baume & Mercier Breitling Cartier Eiseman Certified Pre-Owned IWC Schaffhausen Jaeger LeCoultre Louis Moinet Tudor Ulysse Nardin

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10/21/19 11:15 AM

Three new Seiko Prospex models, each powered by Seiko’s own Spring Drive.

SEIKO

COLORS THE NIGHT

BY STEVE LUNDIN

Seiko in Manhattan.

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A green concoction at Chumley’s highlights Seiko’s newest green-dial Presage automatic.

“DO YOU WANT ANOTHER COCKTAIL SIR?” ASKED THE WOMAN WITH A TRAY OF GREEN LIBATIONS THAT GLOWED LIKE ANTIFREEZE IN THE DIM LIGHT OF CHUMLEY’S, A FAMOUS MANHATTAN SPEAKEASY, AND THE BACKDROP FOR SEIKO’S ROLL OUT OF ITS 2019 PROSPEX AND PRESAGE MODELS. Green was the theme and Seiko was seeing money, moving its product line upmarket across the board, to rewrite a brand identity that had become diluted with distribution in everything from high-end jewelry shops to sporting goods stores. As part of the process Seiko was shutting down the spigot and eliminating 1,000 distributors from their roster.

To celebrate this strategic play the company assembled a group of the Chosen: retailers, watch journalists, sales reps, assorted bloggers, Instagrammers and representatives of a watch fan club (we’re told they have enthusiasm and sometimes buy watches) on a rainy Spring night to consume cocktails and the broad range of products that collectively contributed to Seiko’s thick catalogue.

The company had several goals: generate orders, reinforce relationships between retailers and their sales reps, and stir up content. I was part of the latter group, those selected to spread the message, and to Seiko’s credit, they are successfully marrying the narrative with some smart business moves.

But what else would you expect from a company that has legitimately remained in operation since 1881 and can lay claim to everything from the Orange Monster ($147.39 at Sears – includes free shipping!) to the Credor FUGAKU limited edition tourbillon ($450,000 – and good luck finding one).

Seiko wisely primed the event with copious collections of colored alcoholic concoctions designed to emulate the appearance of its products. The watchmaker showcased their collaborations in a junket that took the Chosen to several famous Manhattan speakeasies, with the evening culminating in threehour tour around Manhattan on a party yacht. Each speakeasy presented a themed cocktail designed to reflect the color and impart an association with a particular watch.

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smoky, bronze-hued cocktail reflected the gold case burgundy dials and brown leather strap of the Presage SRPD 36 models. We drank a green concoction at Chumley’s to highlight Seiko’s newest green dial Presage automatic.

OPEN THE DOOR The speakeasies evoked a feeling of ancient decadence, built as much on the physical appearance of the small, bricked underground rooms festooned with mirrors, artifacts, long wooden bars and padded leather chairs as the historical knowledge that, at one time, places like these meant that you were getting away with something. And possibly that’s one of the secrets of Seiko: their watches are imbued with art and science that isn’t always apparent at first glance, like the door to a speakeasy. Open it, and you’ll find another world inside, one no longer associated with hardware stores and pawnshops.

Watch companies tell stories and wrap their products around narratives ranging from activities to heritage, value, exclusivity, humor, or, in the case of Seiko, history expressed through materials and colors. Seiko is one of the few brands that has a fan and collector base so dedicated that they have built mythologies around specific models.

The names Orange Monster, Sumo, Tuna Can, Samurai, Turtle, Captain Willard and Arnie each refer to legendary Seiko models, with the names created and adopted by the public. This level of cerebral brand tattooing has always been endemic to Seiko, whose products have been popularized through channels that most brands spend billions to emulate: word of mouth and true organic adoption.

To understand this phenomenon requires going backwards in time, to an era when Seiko wasn’t shepherding busloads of people around one of the most expensive cities in the world.

BRANDING Success in brand marketing and adoption comes from an instant association with a positive affect when a name is referenced. Brands work to craft this definition for decades. Think of Harley Davidson, Ferrari and Veuve Clicquot, and you’ll typically conjure a strong impression that has moved consumers to adoption.

Seiko is a brand that endeared itself to the American market through multiple touch points: visibility as the official timekeeper of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics; creating brand ambassadors out of a generation of GIs serving in the Asian theatre during Vietnam and the splashy development of an early quartz watch, the Astron 35SQ. The brand’s pure utility as a true diver’s watch, offering high value on a style that emulated the best products in the business, helped cement one of the cornerstones of its market foothold. Look at a vintage Seiko and you’ll see traces of a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms in the curved glass crystal, or the dial markings of a Rolex Submariner.

Seiko knows the market, which it has studied for decades. In the spirit of other classic brands, Seiko has chosen evolution over revolution, and every model pays homage, in its own unique way, to its predecessor, much in the way any iteration Porsche 911 is identifiable as belonging to the same family.

If there is one idea string that sums up the essence of the Seiko brand it would be this: identify a need, develop a solution and constantly refine a successful strategy. The aftermath of these fifty-plus years of marketing is a brand with tentacles in multiple consumer sectors.

And now, like a skillful sushi chef with a pair of yanagiba knives, Seiko is in the midst of paring down its cephalopod into a more palatable and refined network.

LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS Rob Brennan is an affable, industry savvy sales professional, and one of Seiko’s key executives as SVP of sales in the U.S. I cornered him at

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Both Presage models SPB093 and SPB095 feature handcrafted Arita porcelain dials.

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The 1970 Diver’s Re-creation Limited Edition SLA033, new in 2019.

Chumley’s speakeasy and asked him about the aggressive go to market strategy and its reflection in product development.

“We listened to our customers and have introduced the kinds of products they’re looking for: homage watches, watches with interesting back stories, and watches that are found in higher-end establishments. The features and innovations in our upper-end models, like Grand Seiko, are now incorporated into Prospex and Presage as well, at the most competitive, value- driven price points in the market. We deliver watches between $500 and $3,000 that easily rival Swiss counterparts costing two to three times more,” he said.

RETAILERS ARE IMPRESSED Conversations with multiple retailers throughout the colorful New York evening confirmed the move as a positive one.

“They’ve got some great products, and huge amounts of support,” said a dealer from the southern regions, whose wife took home the evening prize for most evenly tanned. “The incentives are amazing, they’re really working the market well,” echoed another dealer. “We literally can’t keep some models in stock, and the one you’re interested in was sold out last year,” a third told me on the bus between stops as I admired the Prospex reissue on his wrist. To me, as one identifiable and viable part of the buying public, Seiko has always been the value- priced diver watch.

In 1965, Seiko introduced the 150M, Japan’s first diver’s watch, with looked and arguably functioned as well as any of its Swiss counterparts. This watch helped Seiko establish its beachhead as the viable, affordable, value-driven alternative to the higher priced European offerings. Its robustness and

The new Seiko Prospex SNR033

quality made it popular with GIs, particularly the automatic 6105-811X, with an asymmetrical case, a watch affectionately known as the Captain Willard after it appeared on Martin Sheen’s wrist in the movie “Apocalypse Now.” PROSPEX It wasn’t long before this watch made its way to dive shops across the U.S., which planted the seeds for what is now the Prospex line.

There was far too much heritage and admiration for the original 1960-1970’sera watches for Seiko to let them languish in the hands of collectors, while their lume slowly died away, denying the rest of the market an opportunity to own one. To satisfy demand, Seiko introduced a limitededition recreation model in 2017, the SLA017, whose design stayed true to the original model, with a more modern feel and enhanced features including improved automatic functionality, water resistance to 200 meters, a stainless-steel case with super-hard coating and an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, (SPB051 $1,000, SPB053 $800).

In 2018 the company released a stunning recreation of the Seiko Prospex 1968 Diver’s Watch, which immediately won the watch industry’s most coveted honor, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, as Best Sports Watch of the Year. This watch became an instant collectible and commands a premium on any watch reseller site.

And as if this massive journey in the Time Tunnel didn’t provide enough options, Seiko also retro-modded its iconic 1970 dive watch, worn by Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura when he did a solo dog-sled run from Greenland to Alaska, in the new Prospex SLA033 ($4,250). It’s slightly larger

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Seiko Diver 1965 re-interpretation SPB053

The Seiko SPB051 automatic dive watch

The original 1965 Seiko dive watch.

Seiko re-invented its first diver’s watch from 1965 (right) with this Prospex SLA017 from 2017.

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(Left) Kiyoko Niwasaki (Right) Teruyo Ishimaru Seiko Presage SPB073

This special Seiko dive model (SNR027) offers a black dial and GMT function.

than the original, but faithful in every other way, down to the horseshoeshaped printing on the case back, and an upgraded 8L35 Automatic caliber (which was specially designed for use in diver’s watches).

This watch’s 200-meter water resistant case has a super-hard coating and a dual-curved anti-reflective sapphire crystal. The upper surface of the bezel rim is Zaratsu-polished to a mirror finish.

Continuing the winning formula, Seiko released multiple Prospex LX models this year, developed in collaboration with Ken Okuyama Design and updated with Seiko’s proprietary precision Spring Drive movement. Mirroring the identifiable lines of the 1968 design, the Prospex LX rides well with a case lowered from previous model years; its watch angles are more pronounced, allowing the Zaratsu-polished surfaces to shine. The model references are SNR025 ($5,000), SNR027 ($5,000), SNR029 ($6,000), SNR031 ($6,000), SNR033 ($5,500) and SNR035 ($5,500).

PRESAGE But dive watches were only part of the surf and turf story on the water that evening; the other half of Seiko’s mindshare was devoted to the Presage line, a collection of refined, high-artistry, mechanical watches for soil walkers.

The Presage line has sixty models, each rendered in variations of traditional Japanese materials, including enamels, lacquers and porcelain that impart a multi dimensionality to the dials. All the Seiko movement innovations are in play, with neat slim cases that lay smoothly on the wrist, are utterly non-obtrusive and a welcome break from the clunky sleeve

shredding watches of the mid-teens.

“Seiko has a unique ability to seamlessly combine art and utility, and has done so from our first products, released in the early 20th century,” said Teruyo Ishimaru, Seiko’s director and senior vice president, as we watched the Statue of Liberty off the starboard bow of the party yacht.

“Our embrace of Japanese craftsmanship, aesthetics and spirituality can be seen in all of our products and is revealed as you look at them and use them. Their longevity and widespread adoption speaks to their form as well as their function. Our other lines are driven by an equal commitment to a balance of art and science.

“Look at the porcelain craftsmanship in the dial of the Presage Arita, representing a 400-year -old Japanese tradition or the techniques of enamel and Urushi lacquer, painstakingly applied to the dials of some of our limited edition models,” Ishimaru continued. “Its lineage dates back to ornamentation on the armor of Samurai warriors. Seiko is constantly refining our past to shape our future.”

While the Prospex line is carried on its heritage as an adopted American icon, the Presage line leverages Japanese heritage through education.

Presage is a product that begs an explanation to fully understand what’s been involved in bringing each model to life.

In terms of a halo effect, there’s a direct line between the sensibilities of the Grand Seiko line and Presage, with features, such as the lauded spring drive, shared between the two brands. If anything, Presage is Seiko’s attempt to tell the story of Japanese artistry, specifically through its dial treatments,

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Seiko Presage SPB085

and tout Japanese technology with the movements behind them.

Each Presage model has its own story to tell. Seiko chose Shippo, a type of enamel developed in Japan in the 17th century, for its (SPB073 ($1,600) and SPB075 ($1,400) models. Applying this enamel is a multi-step process conducted by Ando Cloisonné, a specialist manufacturer in Nagoya with over a century of history. Craftsman Wataru Totani paints the glaze by hand onto the surface of the dial, which is then fired at 800 degrees Celsius. The painting and firing processes are repeated several times to ensure the evenness of the enamel and smoothness of the surface. The deep blue of the long-lasting enamel evokes the blue color of the seas around Japan, while the dial pattern echoes the continuous motion of the waves that break on its shores. Knowledge of this process turns a casual buyer into a legacy consumer.

On display in the center of the boat’s party room were a bevy of Presage watches, each a nod to the past. Seiko’s Presage Arita features porcelain dials, ala pocket watches of a hundred years ago, shining with a deep brilliance under the exhibition lights like miniature plates in a dollhouse.

The Presage dials are made at a workshop renowned for its skills since 1830; master craftsman Hiroyuki Hashiguchi worked with Seiko to adapt this material to these watches. Rather than apply the porcelain onto a metallic base as with other techniques, the porcelain material itself forms the base of the dial and a special mold is used to create its unique shape. A host of technical advancements has allowed Arita porcelain to form high-strength, three-dimensional dials, hand glazed and crafted in a multi-stage process combining watchmaking innovation with a legacy technique. These models

Seiko Presage SPB093 with Arita porcelain dial.

include SPB093 ($1,900) and SPB095 ($1,700).

The Presage Urushi Byakuden-nuri limited edition was another outstanding watch on display, exemplifying the Seiko philosophy. At first glance it appears to be a black-dialed gentlemen’s watch with neat inset power reserve and day date display. But a closer look reveals the depth in the dial, because it is coated with Urushi lacquer, processed from the sap of the Japanese lacquer tree.

With a history dating back to Japan’s Jomon period (13,100 BCE-400 BCE) each Urushi lacquer dial is the product of a multi-step process produced in the studio of Urushi master Isshu Tamura in the Hokuriku region of Honshu, Japan’s main island. Byakudan-nuri, a technique once used to decorate Samurai armor and specially selected for the limited-edition model, producing almost translucent reds and blacks is found in these models (SPB085, a limited edition of 2,000 pieces, ($2,500).

For a brand like Seiko to be fully appreciated it has to be understood, and this requires the same kind of high-touch approach that the company is conducting with its retailers. Each line, each dial, each movement has a story worth telling, and helps create evangelists out of customers.

Seiko has taken an incredible amount of effort for the company to evolve from the PX’s the world to a brand worn on the wrists of the world’s most well-heeled collectors.

And Seiko has successfully completed the journey. The next phase of this program lies in the hands of the remaining U.S. retailers, which now have the products, knowledge and tools to enable the brand to fully realize its potential in this market.

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Collecting

By Laurent Martinez

ACCESS TO A

GOOD WATCHMAKER IS VITAL

The team at Daniele Watchmaker. From left, Paul, Daniele and Adil.

Daniele Del Vecchio

IF YOU ARE A PASSIONATE WATCH ENTHUSIAST, YOU WILL NO DOUBT UNDERSTAND the importance of having an excellent watchmaker

that requires an incredible amount of training and practice.

you can depend on. If you are somewhat new to watch collecting, the value of knowing such a skilled technician may not be as apparent yet. But just like a vintage car collector needs a knowledgeable and trustworthy mechanic, a timepiece collector must have an experienced watchmaker he or she can contact when needed.

I have always admired watchmakers. Not only do they have to be properly trained in a trade that is becoming less and less prevalent today, but they also have to be resourceful, organized, detail oriented, precise, and above all else, patient.

As with any skilled craft, talent typically grows with hands-on experience. Watchmakers have to learn how to deal with all types of watches, movements, and complications to truly become a master.

It is not easy to find a great watchmaker because it is a profession

LEARNING MORE One of the things I love is visiting my watchmaker to learn more about horology—whether it’s about how a watch works, how to fix a watch, or discovering intricate mechanical details about complex complications like tourbillons, minute repeaters, and perpetual calendars. Oftentimes, I just pull up a chair and watch him work on a watch because seeing it with my own eyes helps me learn and appreciate watchmaking even more.

When I see my watchmaker working and repairing a watch, I see him essentially tackling a highly complex puzzle. He disassembles a mechanical movement into tiny parts—sometimes up to 400 pieces—to clean, lubricate, and reassemble back into its original form.

The attention to detail, the precision required, and the quality of

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Watch testing and repair equipment.

Daniele is certified by many watch brands and professional organizations.

work is simply astonishing. Think about this, if a watch operates at a frequency of 18,000 beats per hour, that’s 432,000 beats a day or 157,680,000 a year. Yes, over 157 million mechanical actions in one year in a tiny mechanical marvel we strap onto our wrists.

On the other hand, trusting an incapable watchmaker with a beloved watch can be a costly and upsetting experience, which is something I unfortunately have experienced myself in the past. It is absolutely worth finding the right watchmaker to help you care for your cherished timepiece collection.

RESOURCES There are resources out there that you can take advantage of, such as The American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute (AWCI), which has a directory of professional watchmakers and clockmakers you can browse. Among other things, AWCI issues different levels of watchmaking certifications. These certifications include the Certified Watchmaker of the 21st Century (CW21) and the even more involved Certified Master Watchmaker of the 21st Century (CMW21). If a watchmaker has gained one of these ultra stringent certifications, it is normally proudly placed in his or her workshop for all to see.

I met my watchmaker many years ago. We have a lot in common—most notably a love for beautiful watches and complex movements.

My watchmaker’s name is Daniele Del Vecchio, a native of Italy who grew up in the south of Italy where his family owns jewelry stores. Daniele is an Omega certified watchmaker, of which there are only a few in the U.S. What’s more, he has also received training from AWCI. In short, Daniele is a very skilled watchmaker who can tackle just about any type of movement placed on his workbench.

Daniele loves his customers and his watches and he is always happy to help. He’s particularly great at coming up with solutions to repair challenging timepieces. Daniele has gathered a tremendous amount of expertise throughout the years. Aside from repairs, his experience and knowledge also allow him to easily identify watch authenticity and whether or not components are original or custom.

MORE THAN REPAIR Being a good watchmaker is not simply a matter of being able to repair a timepiece, but it requires the ability to polish, re-plate, weld, and if necessary, build vintage watch parts that are no longer available in the market. Daniele also counts on two colleagues—Paul who takes care of quartz watches and polishing, and Adil who handles modern watch repairs—in his workshop.

Between his uplifting nature, Italian accent, and endless espresso, visiting Daniele is always a pleasant experience. He is generous with his time and knowledge and his place is actually a terrific spot to meet other watch enthusiasts, collectors, and dealers.

(Daniele Watchmaker is located at 255-1 Mill Street in Greenwich, Connecticut) Having a good watchmaker in your corner is priceless when it comes to the upkeep of your watches. After all, most mechanical watches promise to last several lifetimes—but that can only happen when the right person is tasked to take care of the mechanical maintenance.

Laurent Martinez is the proprietor of Laurent Fine Watches Greenwich, Connecticut. Read more by him at blog.laurentfinewatches.com or visit his store’s site at www.laurentfinewatches.com

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Premier

By Gary Girdvainis

GAUGING SUCCESS

RESERVOIR RESPONDS TO PRESSURE WITH NEW RELEASE.

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AS A RELATIVE NEWCOMER TO THE INDUSTRY, Reservoir has made remarkable strides in a very short time. This is all the more impressive considering the somewhat dangerous price point on which the brand has chosen to focus. With recent reports showing a market price polarization with low end and high end watches as stable or growing, the $5,000 +/- price range has been a huge challenge for new brands.

While customers are secure in buying into established powerhouses like Omega, TAG Heuer, Tudor, and even Breitling, convincing buyers to pull four to six thousand dollars out of their wallets is no mean feat for any “new” member of the watch pantheon. Established brands benefit from the perceived consumer comfort of long-term value, while brands like Reservoir do not (yet) benefit from decades of service to and recognition from the industry and its patrons. Clearly they must count heavily on pure emotion to overcome buyer’s resistance.

In the case of Reservoir, this emotional trigger has been pulled through a combination of design, build and a basic blueprint that can be expressed in various incarnations while maintaining its core identity.

Whether emulating the gauge from the control deck of a submarine, the altimeter from an aircraft cockpit, or a speedometer from a WWII Jeep, Reservoir watch weaves the helixes of its own DNA into each

and every watch. These embedded codes common to all Reservoir watches are a digital jumping hour, a retrograde minute hand, and a power reserve indictor. These basics are simple enough for the layman to read and appreciate, but also complex enough to appeal to the aficionado.

From a manufacturing point of view it makes sense to conceptualize your own patented display and functionality into a variety of personas, and that’s exactly what the CEO and founder owner Francois Moreau has accomplished.

In this newest variation, Reservoir presents a completely appropriate and thoroughly appealing diver’s type called the Hydrosphere. Various colors are easy to read at a glance and emulate the look of a SCUBA air pressure gauge.

The 45mm stainless steel case is rated to 25atm and incorporates a helium release valve while the dial that sits atop emits a cool blue luminescence in the dark. Surrounding the dial is a customized diver bezel specifically developed to work with the retrograde minute hand display.

Retail price is $4,300. See one for yourself at our iW Leading Watch Retailer IW Marks, Houston www.iwmarks.com.

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Discovery

Michel Perchin now offers elegant watches.

BY GARY GIRDVAINIS

THE WRITE TIME HEN PAT PINKSTON RECENTLY CONTACTED ME, I thought he was calling to inform me about for a part II redux on his Michel Perchin line of fine writing instruments. Having previously published Stylus, I knew that Michel Perchin was known for its luxurious writing instruments that embodied precious metals, enamels and champlevé artistry.

So I was not really all that surprised to discover that the new Michel Perchin design is elegant timepiece.

Crafted in massive solid white gold with diamond-embedded corners and a champlevé dial that would make a Faberge artist jealous, the Michel Perchin timepieces are an accurate evolution of the Michel Perchin style and a welcome addition to the original namesake.

In conversation with Pinkston, I expressed my appreciation of the historic techniques of champlevé grand feu enamel as well as the aqueous ice blue tonal qualities of the finished timepiece. Clearly the aesthetic is horological eye-candy that keeps drawing you back for another look.

While I do appreciate the rare beauty of the watch, I was kind of underwhelmed with the original plan to use a somewhat pedestrian mechanism beneath such an elegant drapery. I mean if you’re going to go all-out with a

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Each watch is powered by an automatic Vaucher movement.

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DISCOVERY

Michel Perchin watches are crafted in massive solid white gold with diamond-embedded corners and a champlevé dial that would make a Faberge artist jealous.

Darken Watch Band

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DISCOVERY

Enameling each dial is a painstaking process.

super limited release of only five artistic examples (per color) of horological and lapidary savoir-faire and ask more than $60,000 for each one, there really should be something a little more intriguing than ETA hiding behind such an exquisite curtain.

Thankfully Mr. Pinkston made the decision to upgrade to a Vaucher engine - obviously a much better choice for a watch of this caliber. If you see any reporting to the contrary on line or in print, trust that I have confirmed this change with the owner.

Hand made in England, the Michel Perchin watches are substantial, but not overwhelming in size, with dimensions of 47mm x 27mm x 12mm. If you are interested in one of the three remaining in this original Ice Blue version please contact Mr. Pinkston directly at patpinkston@mpwatch.org

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DISCOVERY

Watch cases are carefully decorated and finished.

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DISCOVERY

BY GARY GIRDVAINIS

DRIVEN BY DETAILS ORN AND RAISED IN PARIS, designer and brand namesake Alexandre Meerson continues a long-standing family tradition and legacy in haute couture and fashion. As a designer, he was involved early on with the family watch and jewelry business. This experience laid the groundwork for a curriculum vitae that led Meerson to work with some of the world’s best-known fashion brands, including those from the stables of luxury fashion at Richemont, LVMH and others.

His lifetime passion for horology brought him full circle, and like so many designers and watchmakers he was determined to create his own brand. He launched his own eponymous watch brand and his first collection in 2014.

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EDGE OF CONVENTION Meerson set out to explore the unique relationship between a watch and its owner. He designs timepieces for “people who create their own luck, and do what is not expected of them.” Meerson thrives on the edge of convention. His unrelenting search for individuality means he personally oversees every detail from design to manufacturing. He is obsessed with creating the unique experience embodied in owning a Meerson watch.

Clearly Meerson watches are crafted to appeal to self-actuated personality types; those who that have matriculated beyond the herd and have left behind the need for the social approbation ascribed to recognized brands and archetypes. Meerson watches are not necessarily pieces unique, but a Meerson customer is definitely a rarity and has an appreciation of craft without the need for recognition, and a desire for subtlety over crass signals of success.

Alexandre Meerson makes watches for customers who appreciate craft without the need for recognition and desire subtlety over crass signals of success.

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DISCOVERY POP’ART Cirque

POP’ART Red Dots Gold

POP’ART Zebra Red

THE WATCHES Each Meerson series evokes a particular design ethos.

While the D15 GMT develops its façade with geometry and a functional tool/sport watch effect, the Altitude is purity incarnate. In both cases the minutia might be missed at first glance, but Mr. Meerson’s attention to detail is evoked by exacting precision in execution as well as an overall sense of balance.

Meerson’s sportier GMT watches may appear robust and bold at 44mm, but crafted in grade 5 titanium with polished and satin finishes, the watch is light on the wrist and remarkably comfortable thanks to its slim 10.5 mm profile and curved sapphire crystal back. Perhaps the ultimate in less is more, the Altitude Premier disposes of all excess and what remains is near perfection. Applied markers and numerals surround hands that are asymmetrically peaked along the long axis in order to capture and reflect light in a new way. These unusual hands glide effortlessly over dials cast in a palette of colors cast without interference by artifice or excess.

Custom designs are also a favorite of Mr. Meerson, who is always ready for the challenge. Whether using established watch making métier des arts like grand feu enamels, or creating new effects with hand-enameled and mirrored dials, Meerson has already shown a playful side with horological interpretations of classic pop art icons.

Although Meerson watches are heavily entrenched in finish and design, the mechanisms within are also treated with care with both hand and machine finishing applied to finely regulated Swiss engines. These vary by design but each is regulated for accuracy, decorated for appearance, and appreciated for provenance.

You can view Meerson watches, and even arrange to meet Alexandre Meerson personally to design your own timepiece by contacting our Leading Watch Retailer Armstrong Rockwell Jewelers, Hartford (860) 246-9858 or email them at info@armstrongrockwell.com

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Premiere

By Michael Thompson

Bell & Ross co-founders Carlos Rosillo (left) and Bruno Belamich.

THE NEW BR 05 IS ESSENTIALLY AN EVOLUTION OF ITS COCKPIT-INSPIRED BR 03.

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BELL & ROSS ADDS AN ENTIRELY NEW COLLECTION, BR 05, to its lineup of contemporary and vintage-tinged aeronautical watches.

Retaining the well-known Bell & Ross circle-in-a-square design, the new BR 05 features a 40mm modified square case with rounded edges that has been linked directly into its steel bracelet, creating Bell & Ross’s first integrated steel watch.

Directly referencing the groundbreaking integrated steel watches of the 1970s, Bell & Ross’s BR 05 design essentially is an evolution of its cockpit-inspired BR 03. Bell & Ross has placed its very identifiable 12-6-9 numerals and four bezel screws exactly where you’d expect them on a Bell & Ross aviation watch, but has unexpectedly framed them with curved, polished bezel and case edges that nicely meld into a new steel bracelet.

“This integration of case and bracelet is not only in line with the brand’s visual identity, it also brings another dimension to the watch: the first link forms part of the case,” explains Bell & Ross co-founder and creative director Bruno Belamich. Co-founder and CEO Carlos Rosillo adds that “the arc of the curve allow the components to be perfectly aligned and ensures the bracelet can adapt seamlessly to any wrist.” (Read more comments from Carlos Rosillo about BR 05 in a special iW interview below.)

The watch’s satin-finished surfaces, which include the top-facing side of the broad bezel and the primary bracelet links, are perfectly flat and are nicely emphasized by carefully polished bevels. Dials are offered in sunray-patterned dark blue, black and grey.

Bell & Ross is also debuting a limited edition steel-cased BR 05 with its automatic movement skeletonized to better show off the Sellita SW300-based Caliber BR-CAL322 movement, the open-worked version of the Caliber BR321 placed into the primary BR 05 collection.

For the skeleton edition, limited to 500 pieces, Bell & Ross removes the date and the numerals, replacing them with luminous markers. All BR 05 models feature a clear sapphire caseback, which nicely frames the 360-degree open-worked rotor.

While Bell & Ross is emphasizing its integrated bracelet with BR 05, the collection is also available with a black or blue ribbed rubber strap. Finally, Bell & Ross is also offering a rose gold BR 05 (not pictured here), complete with a solid-gold integrated bracelet or a black rubber strap.

Prices: BR 05 Black Steel on rubber strap: $4,400; on steel bracelet: $4,900 BR 05 Blue Steel on rubber strap: $4,400; on steel bracelet: $4,900 BR 05 Skeleton on rubber strap: $5,900; on steel bracelet: $6,400 BR 05 Gold: On a rubber strap: $21,500; on gold bracelet: $32,500

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PREMIER

iW Interview: Carlos Rosillo, CEO and co-founder of Bell & Ross

WHY CREATE THE ENTIRELY NEW COLLECTION BR 05?

WHAT WAS YOUR GOAL? The goal was to develop an intermediate model between the square - our utilitarian icon - and the round – which is universal and generic.

With this new line in mind, we did not want to create a city watch, but a Bell & Ross watch made for the city. The BR05 is the subtly square watch for the city.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THE BR 05 DESIGN FIT IN WITH THE BELL & ROSS APPROACH TO WATCHMAKING? The inspiration comes from our iconic model, the BR03, which takes its essence from aeronautical cockpits. As a complementary collection and thus still very Bell & Ross, we are keeping our core codes that are the iconic case with a circle in a square, the iconic graphics on the dial with its 12-6-9 figures and the four screws. It is what I consider an evolution of this icon. In the BR05 DNA, there is a piece of dashboard.

WHO ARE YOU APPEALING TO WITH THE NEW DESIGN? It is a modern watch. So we can easily imagine a young urban man who works in a suit and rides a bike appreciating items with a singular design. It is the ideal timepiece for the man-about-town eager to face the challenges of modern life and in control of time and his destiny.

WHAT WERE THE PRIMARY CHALLENGES YOU FOUND WHEN CREATING THE COLLECTION? The main challenge is to maintain the brand’s fundamentals while innovating constantly. We are evolving in a market where novelty is necessary. The difficulty lay in respecting the proportions and volumes: to design a 40mm case with a mechanical movement and open the dial to emphasize readability.

WHY SUCH A DISTINCTIVE STRAP? The new BR05 is a perfect blend between our iconic square model and a type of watch in which the case merges with the bracelet to create a compact and harmonious whole. The arc of the curve allow the components to be perfectly aligned and ensures the bracelet can adapt seamlessly to any wrist. All of this makes the BR05 a jewel.

WILL BR 05 REPLACE ANY EXISTING COLLECTION? No, it is indeed the missing link between our two existing collections and case shapes. The round shape is inspired by the history of aviation and the past, and the square for its radical form and for professional use.

We wanted to create a watch with the iconic Bell & Ross case and to merge it with a steel bracelet. The idea was to move from the professional world of the extreme to the urban landscape, a transition from the off-road to the on-road.

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12/4/18 6:36 PM 1/22/19 8/5/19 5:41 2:57 PM

BY GARY GIRDVAINIS

UNDERCOVER

CHRONO THE SEAMLESS D LOKE DRESS CHRONOGRAPH INTEGRATES TWO LEVERS INTO ITS CUSTOMIZED CASE. Full disclosure: I’m not afraid to say that presenting this particular watch is a real treat for me, so I might not be entirely objective.

I’ve known Don Loke first as a client when he represented Parmigiani Fleurier in their first foray into North America in the 1990s and as a friend for more than twenty-five years since then. During these decades I’ve learned much of my technical watch knowledge looking over Don’s shoulder as he repaired and restored some of the most complicated vintage and modern watches ever made.

Whether minute repeaters, perpetual calendars, or even a triple chronograph pocket watch (never even knew that existed) Don can breathe life back into them all and make them live again. Need a balance staff; he’ll make it. Need a new retaining spring; he’ll fabricate and temper it. Geneva stop works, no problem.

To be sure I’ve learned more about the mechanical side of watch making from Don than any other source in my thirty years as a reporter on watches.

This, in part, is why I chose him as a member of the iW advisory board.

Full disclosure aside, and with Don’s credentials as a master watchmaker (Bowman School, WOSTEP, and more) confirmed, he’s also been in charge of service and establishing North American distribution for prominent watch brands including Breguet, Audemars Piguet, Daniel Roth, Gerald Genta and Parmigiani Fleurier, among others. Loke is a former Technical Director of ETA (now part of Swatch Group) Industries for the U.S. Market. He also served as the Director of the American Watch & Clockmakers Institute (now AWCI).

Clearly a resume few can equal.

Like so many other watchmakers, Don has wanted for years to bring his own watches to life and I am absolutely thrilled to premier the first of several D Loke watches that will be released in the coming years.

Having kept this a secret for far too long, I am finally allowed to present the D Loke Dress Chronograph.

OK – so where are the buttons? Clearly there are sub-dials that allude to interval timing capability, but how do they work? Sure there are two crowns, but one is for adjusting the time and setting the watch, the other for rotating

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Don Loke at his atelier in Connecticut

the inner elapsed-time bezel – close but no chronograph.

In this case (pun intended) the chronograph is actuated by two integrated levers that are seamlessly engineered into the profile of the case. Look closely at the crown at the 3 o’ clock position and you can just see the seam where case meets pusher. This clever design creates a clean and balanced profile while disposing of the sport-watch look of a typical chronograph. Did I say Don was a designer as well as a watchmaker?

Of course a real watchmaker will want to ensure a better-than-usual set of components, and the D Loke Dress Chronograph exhibits this tendency.

A 43.5mm grade 5 titanium case with both brushed and polished finishes is water resistant to 50 meters and protects a 25-jewel Concepto Cal. 8100

(quality 1) decorated movement regulated by Loke to chronometer standards. The pure white dial is crafted in enamel with applied and faceted blue markers and two sunken sub-dials, one for the chronograph minutes, the other for the accumulated hours.

Look closely and you’ll notice that even the hands are custom designs with a leading edge that forms a full tip when exactly in line with the five-minute markers. Held in place with a superb and nicely padded navy blue alligator strap with blue stitching, you can own one of only twenty-five of each variation for $8,750 by contacting Don Loke at loke.dr@gmail.com or arrange to see one at our Leading Watch Retailer partner Armstrong Rockwell in Hartford, Connecticut.

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Monaco Caliber 11, current series model

MONACO 1989–1999 LIMITED EDITION REFERENCE CAW211X.FC6468 (ABOVE LEFT) MOVEMENT TAG Heuer Automatic Calibre 11 (Sellita base, Dubois-Dépraz module), diameter 30 mm, 59 jewels, balance oscillating at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz), 40-hour power reserve FUNCTIONS Chronograph with seconds and minutes; date, hours, minutes and small second at 3 o’clock; chronograph minutes counter at 9 o’clock; central chronograph seconds hand CASE Diameter 39 mm, case in stainless steel, fixed bezel in stainless steel, sapphire crystal, polished stainless-steel crown at 9 o’clock and push buttons at 2 and 4 o’clock, water-resistant to 100 meters (10 bar), stainless-steel caseback with “1989-1999 Special Edition” and “One of 169” engravings DIAL Grey grained rhodium-plated dial, sandblasted rhodium- plated and blue counters, red on hands and indexes, luminescent hour and minute hands and indexes STRAP Blue calfskin leather strap, polished folding clasp in stainless steel

BY MICHAEL THOMPSON

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TAG HEUER IN JULY LAUNCHED THE THIRD OF FIVE LIMITED-EDITION TRIBUTES TO THE MONACO’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY. THE NEW MONACO 1989-1999 MONACO LIMITED EDITION TAKES ITS INSPIRATION FROM THE STYLES AND TRENDS OF THE 1990S WITH ITS GRAINED GRAY DIAL (MEANT TO RECALL INDUSTRY AND CONCRETE) AND SANDBLASTED SUBDIALS FEATURING BLUE COUNTERS.

You might recall that to celebrate the Monaco’s anniversary, TAG Heuer is launching five new Monaco watches throughout the year, each inspired by the different decades from 1969 to 2019. The first of these models, inspired by the years 1969 to 1979, was unveiled at the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix in May, while the second limited edition, draped in racing red and celebrating the period from 1979 to 1989, was presented in June in Le Mans, France.

During that red-dialed model’s debut in France, Jack Heuer himself favored the watch and placed it on his wrist. He then surprised those who gathered for the event by proclaiming the action as the first time he’d actually worn a Monaco, according to Catherine Eberlé-Devaux, TAG Heuer heritage director.

“The shape was always a bit too Avant Garde for his taste,” she explains.

Regardless of whether he ever wore it, it was Heuer who led the Monaco’s development and marketing in 1969.

This new model is decidedly not red, though its does have red indexes, a red central seconds, red-tipped hands and a red logo frame in the dial’s center.

The blue of the Heuer logo and minute and second counters contrast with the various red accents. The color scheme continues with the blue perforated calfskin strap with red stitching. Inside is Caliber 11, the modernized version (with a Sellita base and Dubois-Dépraz module) of the historic automatic chronograph movement Heuer built in 1969 with Hamilton and Breitling.

RIGHT TO LEFT As with the original, the pushers here are on the right of the case while the crown is on the left. According to Eberlé-Devaux, there are two stories told over the past five decades that purport to explain the left-side crown. One has it that the winding gears in the initial models are closer to the crown on the left, which is technically more efficient.

The other story notes that by placing the crown on the left Heuer was emphasizing its groundbreaking automatic chronograph movement, differentiating the Monaco from traditional manual-wind chronographs with right-side crowns. In fact, the move of the crown from right to left was highlighted in Monaco advertisements of the era.

The latter story of course seems to be a logical marketing angle that explains a built-in technical feature of the premiere Caliber 11. Later Monaco models utilized right-side crowns, and several current versions fit with Sellitabased Caliber 12 still do. Two additional celbratory Monaco 50th models are scheduled for 2019. Price: $6,550.

SPECIAL PACKAGING Like the watch itself, the watch box is also inspired by the original. Each of the special-edition models comes in a box with colors that match the watch and the decade it represents. The 1990s-inspired model is packaged in a dark blue box decorated with the Heuer logo and a horizontal check-pattern stripe. The watch is placed on a red cushion and surrounded by a grey interior – the same colors found on the dial.

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Bulgari’s new Octo L’Originale Tourbillon Blue, with full baguette diamond dial.

Below left: The Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi Pink Sapphires.

Below right: Bulgari’s Serpenti Misteriosi Pallini with diamond bracelet, one of many new Bulgari Serpenti ‘secret’ watches.

BULGARI ADDS GEMS TO COMPLICATIONS JUST DAYS AFTER LAUNCHING THREE NEW SERPENTI SEDUTTORI WATCHES IN LONDON, Bulgari in September expanded its snake-themed collection with a series of Serpenti Misteriosi Seduttori high jewelry ‘secret’ watches.

In addition, and to again remind collectors that its gem-setting and jewelry making expertise is second to none, Bulgari also debuted a series of diamond-encrusted high-watchmaking pieces, including newly set examples of its Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie with Perpetual Calendar, its Octo Roma Tourbillon Sapphire Skeleton and its platinum-cased ultra-thin

Octo Finissimo Tourbillon with blue skeleton movement, now resplendent with baguette diamonds.

The latter watch, one of many highlight pieces at Bulgari’s ‘Born to be Gold’ debut event in Shanghai, takes on a new glow with its 40mm platinum case now framed with 3.75 carats of impressively sized baguettecut diamonds. The icy bezel surrounds the blued skeleton manual-wind movement that, despite the new carat weight around it, remains the world’s thinnest tourbillon caliber, measuring a wispy 1.95mm thin. Bulgari tops it all off by setting the platinum crown with a matching blue ceramic insert.

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Bulgari’s Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Perpetual Calendar, now with diamonds on the bezel and lugs.

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The clear caseback of the newly set Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie with Perpetual Calendar exposes Bulgari caliber 980, with grand and petite sonnerie.

The Bulgari Octo L’Original Blue Full Baguette Diamonds.

Bulgari plans to make fifty pieces, each priced at $222,000.

Also newly framed in baguette diamonds, the newest version of the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie with Perpetual Calendar is very similar to the unique rose-gold piece we showed you late last year, but is here made with a white gold 44mm case. New Bulgari caliber 980 features a Grande and Petite Sonnerie, a minute repeater, tourbillon, perpetual calendar and moon phases.

Its many novel designs include the prominence of two separate power reserve indicators, one for the chimes and one for timekeeping. The watch is available in a limited edition of eight, very likely to appeal to collectors in Asia where eight is an especially lucky number.

Bulgari has also re-introduced its ancient-coin-covered Octo Roma Monete, another piece Bulgari debuted last year as a one-off watch that was sold with a chain to convert the piece into a pocket watch if desired.

Where the earlier model was gold set with diamonds on the bezel, the three new Monete unique pieces each boast a different metal (platinum, titanium and pink gold) used to make up its 44mm octagonal Octo Roma case. The Octo Roma Monete’s ancient Roman coin case top flips open at the touch of the crown to reveal the world’s thinnest tourbillon (caliber BVL 268 SK equipped with flying tourbillon).

Several new Octo Roma Tourbillon Sapphire Skeleton model continue to emphasize the depth and clarity of the watch’s dramatic design. These new models, one with jade and one with lapis lazuli around the case and inside with bezel and along several bridges, represent the first time these types of stones have been used in watch’s aimed at men.

Rounding out the timepieces seen at the Shanghai presentation are several Divas’ Dream models. The Divas’ Dream Finissima Minute Repeater ($187,000), yet another record-breaking debut (the watch is currently the thinnest minute repeater set into a watch for women), is set with diamonds around the blue aventurine dial that features the fan-shaped Divas’ Dream charm/minute repeater lever. Two other Divas’ dream models, one for the Chinese market (with a ‘paper-cut’ design) and one with a skeletonized dial, are also new.

The addition of jewels to many of Bulgari’s complicated watches is another step in understanding Bulgari as a brand, according to Bulgari CEO JeanChristophe Babin.

“It is important for Bulgari to emphasize its expertise as a jeweler,” Babin says. “This goes a long way to let the consumer understand our brand, which helps them better understand all our products.”

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Bulgari’s new Octo Roma Tourbillon Sapphire Skeleton with jade

Inside each Octo Roma Monete is the world’s thinnest tourbillon, Bulgari caliber BVL 268 SK equipped with a flying tourbillon.

A look at the Bulgari blue skeleton movement caliber BVL 268 SK, the world’s thinnest tourbillon equipped with flying tourbillon, inside the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton Blue and Diamonds.

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10/21/19 10:36 AM

Nomos headquarters at the former Glashütte train station.

Uwe Ahrendt, Nomos Glashütte CEO

Inside the Berlin Studio

The Berlin Wall

Thomas Höhnel, product designer for Nomos Glashütte

The Club Campus Neomatik 39 with midnight blue dial.

NOMOS:

The original Nomos font, signed by ‘Suzi.”

STORY AND PHOTOS BY STEVE LUNDIN

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Three Nomos Tangente Club Sport neomatik 42 date models, with the first Nomos bracelet, handcrafted using 145 parts.

TRAVELLING THROUGH BERLIN’S FRACTURED, GRAFFITIED AND tattooed streets, it’s understandable that Nomos founder Roland Schwertner would have been drawn to the balance, symmetry and inherent calm of the Bauhaus style. It represented an escape from the chaotic environment that was Berlin from before the war to the fall of the wall– and to this day.

The net result of the confluence of Schwertner’s entrepreneurial spirit and a singular moment in history resulted in the formation of one of the most aesthetically pure and culturally reflective watch brands to emerge from Germany.

Schwertner, schooled in technology and photography, found himself, along with millions of other Germans, in a whirling vortex of opportunity with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, signaling the beginning of reunification of West and East Germany under the chant, “Tor auf!”

By the time reunification became official, on October 3, 1990, Schwertner had already made his move to establish a new German watch brand in Glashütte, Saxony, where the German watchmaking industry began.

“Schwertner wanted to build clean watches, something new and not gaudy, like many of the 1980s watches, with a reference to draftsmanship.

He and designer Susanne Günther went through catalogues of watches from Glashütte and found one that was made in 1920s, that was not ornate like most watches of that time,” says Thomas Höhnel, product designer for Nomos Glashütte, and the creative driver behind the Ahoi, the breakout water resistant sports model that received the Good Design, iF and Goldene Unruh awards. “This exception watch he found was simple and provided inspiration for the first watch.”

Höhnel works at Berlinerblau, the Nomos design studio, located in Berlin in what would be considered the urban part of any city in the world. The

Hipster meets Goth meets Businessman meets Mad Max forms the interwoven Kevlar of the human experience that mesh together and drive the pulse of the busy streets surrounding the studio.

Through a courtyard that could have easily been a darkened spy drop during the Cold War, up an industrial steel grey elevator and through imposing doors lies the Nomos cognitive center, the head, populated by a crew of engineers, designers and marketers who feed their ideas to the production facilities in Glashütte, the thundering hands of the company.

“The creative part of the company comes from Berlin, there’s a reason why it’s there,” observes Uwe Ahrendt, CEO of Nomos Glashütte. “The spirit of the place is important. Glashütte is a town of watchmakers, it’s historical, but the design sensibility has to come from Berlin.”

“Berlin experienced chaos and then came together again,” adds Höhnel.

“It’s evident everywhere and has helped it to becomes a creative hub.”

Höhnel conducted a thorough history of the company and its products from one of airy, white conference rooms at the Berlin studio.

Berlinerblau itself is a reflection of the clean symmetry of the company’s design aesthetic, from the Eames furniture to the neat placement of nuts and chocolates thoughtfully positioned on the conference tables. It’s a highly ordered and logical environment, a far cry from the tumult in the streets below.

IT STARTED WITH THE TANGENTE Among the mood boards and many company artifacts dotting Berlinerblau is a group of hand-drawn numeric fonts on paper that were utilized in the design of the first family of products, the Orion, Ludwig, Tetra and Tangente, released in 1991. The elegant, elongated font is ascribed to “Suzi,” scrawled FALL 2019 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | 87

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The Nomos Metro Date Power Reserve

The Nomos Tangente Update in dark platinum with Neomatik date caliber (DUW 6101).

on the bottom of the art, however that actual name is lost in history. To everyone working at Nomos today, it’s simply called “the font.”

The Tangente proved the star of the original lineup and is still the number one best-selling model, according to Florian M. Langenbucher, a multilingual watch industry professional and true gentleman who conducted our tour through Nomos’ many facilities.

The Tangente, held in mythic regard by the company, is the most emblematic watch of the entire 150-unit product line and has received multiple industry awards over the years, including the Chrono, iF and the highly coveted international Red Dot awards. Photos of the permutations of the model are everywhere, as are exploded diagrams of its guts, citations of its awards, advertising imagery and a library of articles detailing almost every aspect of its existence. Originally offered as a 39mm manual wound unisex watch with a Swiss movement, the line has expanded to twenty-one models, powered by in-house manual and automatic movements.

Höhnel gently caresses various models of the Tangente as he offers them, with gloved hands, for review.

“Notice how the slim Tangente is raised above the wrist on its lugs,” he observes, “this makes even the smaller models seem bigger.”

For Nomos, the Tangente is a challenging canvas for their creative output, as variation in the theme is restrained by Schwertner’s mandate to not violate the original elemental aspects of the dial and case.

The addition of the crown guards, found on the new Sport Neomatik 42 ($4,980), or the external date ring on the Neomatik 41 update Ruthenium

($4,100), which won the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) Challenge Prize, required months of design deliberations and hand wringing before they were green-lighted for production.

“The development process on movements and cases can take up to two years,” says Höhnel. “Every model is reflective of the sensibilities of our audience. We must know how the end user thinks, what they like in design, in architecture, in cars, how they will interact with and use the watch.

Sometimes we bring in outside designers, like Mark Braun who worked on the Metro Date Power Reserve ($3,780), a fantastic model with a unique power reserve indicator, to bring a new feel to the line. We work with all kinds of materials and colors just to get to a 3D-printed version that enables our team to interact with the product. Sometimes you just have to put a project down and let it sit for awhile.”

Outside parties involved in the process include the case makers, hand makers and strap makers, with a supply chain that stretches all the way to the United States.

AND THEN THERE WAS GLASHÜTTE Two hours south of Berlin, near the famous city of Dresden, lies the small town of Glashütte, population 7,000, located in a valley that is home to more than ten watchmakers and manufacturers. It is here that the Nomos production facilities turn the ideas of the Berlin studio into a tangible product. The pioneering work of Ferdinand Adolph Lange (of A. Lange and Söhne) established the area as a source of German watches, an alternative

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Uwe Ahrendt’s vintage Mercedes

to importing Swiss products, while leveraging the local workforce. His work served to germinate a generation of watchmakers and parts suppliers that would ultimately work with other famous brands from the region including Tutima and Muhle Glashütte.

Wartime production of aviation watches and timing devices to support the Axis military earned the region a target designation in WWII, and Allied bombers destroyed many of the factories and railways. After the war Germany was divided and Glashütte was now located in Soviet East Germany: the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The Soviets seized the machinery as part of war reparations and began converting production to timekeeping pieces for Soviet consumption. In 1951, pre-war era private enterprises were outlawed and all commercial assets and intellectual property were combined to form the state-controlled Glashütte Uhrenbetrieb (GUB). The fall of the wall passed control of the GUB to the newly forming German Republic, and created opportunities for the legacy companies – and entrepreneurs like Schwertner.

FORMING NOMOS For a German watch company, association with the name Glashütte represents an elite status. To receive the designation “Made in Glashütte/Sa,” more than fifty percent of the watches’ value has to be created on location.

Protection of this identifying mark is strictly enforced by the manufacturers in the region, who have sought legal channels in the past against transgressors who have falsely identified the origin in their products, in the

same manner that champagne producers guard the use of their region’s output to products made specifically in the Champagne region of France.

By locating production in Glashütte and design in Berlin, Schwertner successfully capitalized on two of the country’s hallmark regions.

Schwertner acquired the rights to several now defunct German companies, one of which was Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft, Guido Müller & Co. This company was in operation between 1906-1910 and was put out of business by other Glashütte companies for misleading advertising that indicated that it was producing authentic, assembled-in-Glashütte products. Ironically Schwertner’s Nomos would later sue watch manufacturer Mühle, in 2007, for the same violation, driving Mühle into Chapter 11 insolvency. Mühle Glashütte returned to regular production in 2008, after agreeing to ensure that their production process added at least fifty percent of the value of the watch in Glashütte.

“America represents our most important growth area, followed by the U.K. and Asia. The strength of the Glashütte name, the power of our brand and the quality we deliver for the money will help us become top brands in those areas,” said Ahrendt, from his stunning glass- walled office located in the town’s converted train station with direct views of competitors A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original. Ahrendt arrived in a vintage pastel blue Mercedes and is himself a reflective embodiment of the brand. He carries the Berliner sense of style on the frame of a Saxon boxer, a hybridization of the intersection of the two regions.

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The Nomos DUW 3001 movement, showing balance bridge

The new Nomos Metro in a 33mm rose gold case.

The sapphire caseback of the Nomos Metro rose gold 33 shows the Nomos handwound Alpha caliber

from suppliers and a demonstration of our innovation,” adds Ahrendt. “ We produce all our own calibers, including the Alpha, our original hand-wound movement, and six others, and our award-winning automatics. They are all sleek, highly crafted movements that represent the highest standards of engineering.”

The Nomos production facilities are spread across several buildings in Glashütte and house technologies and capabilities equal to most tier-one manufacturers. Nomos worked with the Technical University of Dresden and invested 12 million Euros to develop its escapement and swing system, critical core elements of any watch movement, released in 2014. This move freed Nomos from relying on external suppliers, such as the monolithic Swatch Group, for this important element.

The spotless facilities employ hundreds of skilled personnel who are involved with all aspects of the watchmaking processes. CNC machining equipment turns out base plates, which join over over 150 smaller parts made of brass, steel and other materials that are manufactured, ground, polished and finally assembled to pump out the region’s highest volume of products.

In 2015 Nomos released its 3.2 mm height DUW (Deutsche Uhrenwerke) 3001 Neomatik caliber automatic movement, an ultra-slim creation loyal to the brand’s style aesthetic. This movement became the seed from which the entire automatic line grew, and the basis for the highly impressive DUW 5201, found in the Tangomat GMT ($4,920) and Zurich World Time ($6,100) models. Nomos’ current in-house produced calibers include the manualwound Alpha, found in the original Tangente, and the DUW 1001, DUW 2002, DUW 4101, DUW 4301, and DUW 4401. Automatic movements include the DUW 3001, DUW 5001, DOW 5101, DUW 5201, DUW 6101 Epsilon and Zeta.

Collectively this impressive list of movements power thirteen families of watches and 150 models.

Price is one of the key differentiators of the Nomos brand, and something that’s repeatedly referred to by company representatives at every level.

There is no one involved with the company that isn’t aware of the high level of quality and craftsmanship being delivered.

“Unlike most companies, when we produce a limited edition model we actually offer them at a lower price, like our ‘Century of Bauhaus’ Tangente commemorative model,” says Langenbucher. “This market ethos also carries throughout the entire brand line. Look at the Metro Rose Gold 33, for $7,200 or the Tangente Neomatik 41 with a rare ruthenium dial for $4,100. These are incredible products for the money,” he adds.

Speaking of money, when asked why Nomos continues to remain independent in spite of numerous offers from other companies, Ahrendt has a thoughtful response.

“We produce a watch called the Lambda Rose Gold, reference 930. It’s a fine, elegant men’s gold watch and if you look carefully at the balance cock you will see the words inscribed by hand, ‘lovingly produced in Glashütte.’

We put that there because it’s fun to do so. To answer the question, we won’t sell because we, and all the families that work with us, are just having too much fun.”

And where will the company be in five years? “Sharing our vision of quality and fun in many more markets internationally,” he adds. And if the meteoric rise of Nomos over the past twenty-nine years is any indication of future growth, this company may one day become a household name like other well-known and loved international brands.

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BY MICHAEL THOMPSON

SPECIFICATIONS:

MAURICE LACROIX AIKON MERCURY MOVEMENT: Calibre ML225, in-house developed and patented time memory module on self-winding Sellita base; hours, minutes and small hacking seconds; 4Hz (28,800vph); 38-hours power reserve CASE: 44mm steel with 100 meters of water resistance, sapphire crystals on both sides Gravity powers the slight-of-hand(s) illusion on the DIAL: sapphire-crystal layer with MauriceSkeleton Lacroix design; Aikon Mercury skeleton dial. hour markers and small seconds counter STRAP: Five-link stainless steel bracelet interchangeable with alligator leather strap with M logo and folding buckle 92 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | FALL 2019

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THE TIME ON YOUR MAURICE LACROIX AIKON MERCURY MAY APPEAR normal at first glance, but tilt your wrist and watch the hands float aimlessly. Have they forgotten their purpose? Not at all. Simply hold your wrist upright in standard time-reading position and watch as the hour and minute hands return to their positions.

Maurice Lacroix has developed yet another of its eccentric dials with this new watch, following up on earlier odd-displays that include the Masterpiece Roué Carrée (with interlocking eccentric gears) and the Masterpiece Mysterious Seconds.

Here, Maurice Lacroix adds its own module to a Sellita automatic movement to hide a double snail-cam mechanism beneath the dial. One snail cam is associated with the display of hours, making one complete rotation every twelve hours, while the second cam connects with the minute hand, rotating once every sixty minutes. When the wearer looks at the watch, gravity pulls two weighted levers into contact with the snail cams. As the cams rotate, the levers drive the hour and minute hands to indicate the correct time. When the wearer drops his hand, the watch hands fall away, though timekeeping continues, ready to reappear when the wrist again rises.

Maurice Lacroix has thoughtfully filled the hands with white SuperLuminova and added counterweights that offer additional visual interest whenever the hands cross. The circle on the minute hand and the “M” on the hour hand briefly align to form the Maurice Lacroix logo when the hands are at rest.

This unusual time display is housed in a contemporary 44mm steel case, offered with both black alligator leather strap and a five-rows metal bracelet. Price: $7,690.

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Giving Back

HUBLOT PARTNERS WITH SORAI TO SAVE RHINOS ublot has partnered with Kevin Pietersen and SORAI (Save Our Rhinos Africa and India) to protect the rhinoceros from extinction. The ex-international cricket star and Hublot brand ambassador is dedicating himself to protecting the large herbivorous mammals, found in Africa and in Asia.

To seal this collaboration, Hublot offers funding from the sales of a Hublot Big Bang Unico Sorai Limited Edition, a 45mm beige ceramic-cased chronograph featuring the Sorai logo printed on the inner side of the clear caseback. Its Unico movement features a flyback mechanism with column wheel, blue-plates and bridges, black PVD pushers, crown and screws, and black resin lugs and lateral inserts. The 100-pieces limited edition will come with two straps: a black rubber strap with camouflage pattern and beige Velcro. Price: $24,100.

SORAI includes teams of specialists who locate and care for orphaned baby rhinos, who are then released back into the wild as soon as they are ready.

South Africa is home to more than eighty percent of the world’s rhinos, and the majority of poaching incidents take place in Kruger national park. Poaching is one of the primary threats Rhinos face.

“Major steps have been taken by governments to introduce regulations,” says Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot. “But informing consumers and changing their behavior remains a key challenge in the fight against poaching. If Hublot can play a role in raising awareness, then I would be delighted.”

H

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ORIS ADDS BLUE WHALE LIMITED EDITION TO SUPPORT OCEAN CONSERVATION

Oris has been supporting ocean conservation program for years, most recently through The Oceans Project, which raises awareness and funds for related environmental causes. You may recall that Oris earlier this year announced its Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III and the Clean Ocean Limited Edition, made in partnership with the Reef Restoration Foundation and Pacific Garbage Screening respectively.

Now Oris adds the Blue Whale Limited Edition, the third and final piece in the Oris Ocean Trilogy, three watches based on the Oris Aquis diver.

The new watch, limited to 200 pieces, is being sold as part of a set. It will be delivered in a case made of recycled PET plastic bottles. This newest Oris Ocean conservation watch is produced in partnership with Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), the leading charity devoted to the protection of whales and dolphins. ”We’ve been very intentional about our mission to bring change for the better,’ says Oris co-chief executive Rolf Studer. “The environmental challenges the world faces are real, and we believe that both individuals and corporate entities have a responsibility to overcome them.” The WDC has been funding research and conservation projects for three decades, and it calculates there were once around 350,000 blue whales in our oceans. Today, there are now only between 10,000 and 25,000 left.

The Oris Blue Whale Limited Edition itself is based on the Oris Aquis diver’s watch. It is 45.50mm in diameter and water-resistant to 500 meters. The watch offers an aqua blue ceramic bezel and a graduated aqua blue dial atop an automatic powering the first-ever Aquis with a 3, 6 and 9 chronograph dial layout. The case back carries an embossed blue whale and the limited edition number. Price: $10,500.

The Oris Ocean Trilogy is made up of three limited edition watches: The newly launched Blue Whale Limited Edition, the Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III and the Clean Ocean Limited Edition.

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COMIC TITLE REST OF TITLE HE PRODUCT of the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph Caliber 9R86 Series, Seiko has produced a timepiece that gently captures my heart in a manner that recalls my enjoyment of a fine wine. Like the wine, this watch is to be savored to allow its sublime details to emerge slowly with each wearing.

T

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WINDING UP

SCATOLA DEL TEMPO REVISITS ROTOR-ONE. With the exterior designed by Sandro Colarieti and the insides now powered by a Swiss-made engine, the Rotor One has had a full body makeover.

This new version creates a vintage feel with leather over a round drum and is available in seven colors and various bezel options that emulate iconic watch designs. With or without protective glass, the Rotor-One's frame, made of leather-coated ABS polymer, is suitable for all automatic watches.

Inside the case the Swiss engine of choice is the same engine that drives the SwissKubiK - a Swiss made technology designed and manufactured in the brand's workshops in Fribourg, Switzerland.

The Swiss micro motor operates without any magnetizing effect and offers ultra quiet operation.

Its exceptional autonomy of three years is obtained thanks to the low consumption of two alkaline C-cell batteries with the motor making 1,800 rotations in both directions daily to maintain your automatic timepieces in good running order. Each costs $550 at www.scatoladeltempous.com or you can see them in person at our Leading Watch Retailer partner Wempe Jewelers in New York.

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BY MICHAEL THOMPSON

Backstory REAR VIEWS OF NOTE

MB&F LEGACY MACHINE NO.2 RED GOLD BLUE FIRST SEEN IN 2013, THE LM2 COLLECTION includes models with various dial treatments cased in platinum, white gold, red gold and titanium. This red gold model with a blue dial is the newest of the LM2 series, released this past summer.

As seen through its sapphire glass, the MB&F original movement was developed for MB&F by award-winning, innovative watchmaker Jean-François Mojon (Best Watchmaker at the 2010 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève) and acclaimed independent watchmaker Kari Voutilainen (also a winner of several Grand Prix awards).

Together, these very different watchmakers ensured that the movement's aesthetic style was consistent with high-quality traditional timepieces of the 19th century. Even the names of the two men are hand engraved on the back in a style reminiscent of that early era.

Voutilainen was especially careful to ensure that the style and finish of the bridges and plates visible here are historically accurate. Note the shape of curved bridges and the traditionally wide spaces between the bridges and between the bridges and the case.

Voutilainen also specified the hand-finishing: Geneva waves, over-sized ruby jewels set in highly-polished countersunk gold chatons, mirror-polished bevels and bridges designed with deliberate internal beveled angles (that cannot be finished by machine). While providing historical links with the large jewels seen in high-grade antique pocket watch movements, the large ruby bearings have a practical application in reducing wear by accommodating large diameter pinions and holding more lubricating oil.

MB&F notes that one of the key challenges when designing the back of the movement was to make it beautifully balanced despite the fact that this particular movement is missing what most display on the back: the escapement. Of course, the MB&F Legacy Machine No. 2 features not one, but two escapements, and both are set as the highlights of the dial side, complete with the LM2’s signature flying balance wheels, anchors and escapement wheels.

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THE ESSENTIALS CASE 44mm x 20mm 18-karat red gold (also made in white gold, platinum 950 or grade 5 titanium). High domed sapphire crystal on top and sapphire crystal on back MOVEMENT Three-dimensional, developed exclusively for MB&F by Jean-François Mojon at Chronode and Kari Voutilainen, manual winding with single mainspring barrel, 45-hour power reserve, planetary differential comprising 3 gears and 5 pinions, two bespoke 11mm balance wheels with four traditional regulating screws floating above the movement and dials, 18,000-bph balance frequency, 241 components, 44 jewels, superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th century style; polished internal bevel angles highlighting handcraft; polished bevels; Geneva waves; gold chatons with polished countersinks; hand-made engravings.

PRICE $156,000

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grand-seiko.com

2506 New Market Lane | Gambrills, MD 21054 410.721.7100 littletreasury.com

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