TAG HEUER CONNECTED MODULAR 45 HUBLOT BIG BANG MECA-10 FULL MAGIC GOLD Anyone who has an old, gold watch or piece of jewellery knows you have to be very careful not to ding the case on anything solid; the very thing that makes gold so versatile for jewellers and watchmakers - its malleability - is also its Achilles heel, because it is a ‘soft’ metal. Luxury Swiss brand Hublot, famed for its Big Bang series of watches, knew this too but five years ago, after intensive research, launched its own version of gold it calls Magic Gold, a super-hardened 18-carat gold fused with ceramic. The result is a material that still has the exotic lustre of regular gold but is virtually scratch-resistant, a handy quality to have in a watch case. Hublot has a raft of Big Bang models but shows its playful side with the Meca-10 Full Magic Gold (limited to 200 pieces worldwide), with the case design inspired by legendary children’s toy Meccano. At 45mm, the Big Bang is robust on the wrist and the Magic Gold case houses a Hublot HUB1201 manually wound movement that has been ‘skeletonised’ - that is, carefully cut away so the wearer can see the mechanical goings-on inside. With a 10-day power reserve, and a quirky eyecatching design, the Meca-10 Full Magic Gold (water-resistant to 100m) is a prime example of modern, innovative watchmaking. Visit watchswiss.com or call 1300 808 135
IN THE SOHNE I’m sure one day there’ll be a movie made about A.Lange & Sohne, German luxury watchmakers whose roots go back two centuries but which all but disappeared with the end of World War II when the victorious
Mechanical watches have, in one form or another, been around for at least 200 years - a quite remarkable achievement given the march of technology over that time. The arrival of quartz-powered timepieces in the early 1970s nearly bought Swiss watchmaking to its knees but since the 1980s mechanical watches have seen a world-wide revival. The dawn of the digital age, though, has presented quite a dilemma for watchmakers. Digital watches, phones and other devices are cheaper to make, run and buy but few, if any, have the charm or human touch of a “real” watch. Apple stirred things up even more with a blitzkrieg marketing offensive for its own Apple Watch but few other manufacturers have dipped their corporate toes in the digital waters. TAG Heuer, a brand entwined with the DNA of sports timing and avant-garde technology, launched a “connected” watch a couple of years ago but with the Modular 45 has embraced the concept of a fully customisable “hybrid” timepiece. Modular 45 can carry a digital, touchscreen watch head - or you can slot in a fully automatic, mechanical movement. The watch runs the Google Android 2.0 operating system (it will also work with iPhone 5) and you don’t have to have your phone on you to use features such as the GPS. Pretty much everything - strap and lugs included - can be customised by the wearer. With the electronic watch “head” you can change the display (which includes some classic ‘traditional’ watch dial designs) with just a swipe of the finger. But the real beauty, in my mind, of the idea is you can slot in a “timeless” mechanical movement - which means the watch will never go out of style, even if the software needs an upgrade. Visit watchswiss.com or call 1300 808 135
TUDOR BLACK BAY CHRONOGRAPH Tudor continues to carve its own path - and following - in the watch world, offering perhaps a more modern outlook on time-telling, yet implementing the same exacting production standards and quality control of its better-known relation. The new Black Bay Chronograph (41mm, steel case with polished satin finish) is a case in mind, a stylish, contemporary and function-packed sports watch that is the first chronograph in the Heritage Black Bay range. The Calibre MT5813 chronometer movement has been COSC-certified. Tudor, unlike most rivals, state straight up their watches are “waterproof” and the Black Bay Chronograph will tick on nicely at depths of up to 200m. The bezel is engraved with a tachymetric scale to calculate speed over distance and the watch comes with a choice of either steel or fabric strap. Visit watchswiss.com or call 1300 808 135
Soviet forces appropriated all of the east German-based A. Lange & Sohne’s stock, equipment and watchmaking expertise. It wasn’t until the Berlin Wall fell, in 1990, and Germany’s reunification that the great grandson of founder Ferdinand Lange, Walter, revived the brand - and with spectacular success. Twenty-seven years on A.Lange & Sohne produces some of the world’s most exquisite wristwatches, a remarkable achievement considering the firm had to virtually start again from scratch. The 1815 Annual Calendar is a prime
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example of A. Lange & Sohne’s exceptionally fine output; available in either a pink or white gold case, the 40mm watch features a classic dial with a superb array of ‘complications’ as extra functionality is known in the industry - a moon phase display, annual calendar with analogue date, plus day/month display. The in-house movement is manually wound, a nod to founder Ferdinand who in 1866 obtained a patent in the USA to develop a crown winder that would replace the standard keyoperated winding systems in watches of the day.
Visit watchswiss.com or call 1300 808 135