I just had the pleasure of wearing the new Panerai PAM00372 Luminor 1950 3 Days 47 mm for several days. Equipped with the new P.3000 movement, the Panerai PAM 372 was just launched at SIHH 2011 and is shaping up to the one of the most sought after Panerai watches of the year. A faithful and authentic looking remake of a vintage Panerai, the PAM372 everything that a Paneristi desires.

Panerai got all the details right for the PAM372, the colour of the Luminova, the thick strap with unfinished edges, the engraved lettering on the sandwich dial, and the flat caseback. All hark back to the original Luminors.

This watch has an emotional rather than intellectual or technical appeal. The P3000 movement, though in-house, is simply constructed and finished. But this watch is not about the movement, it looks and feels like a vintage Panerai.

The FP Journe Centigraphe Sport with serial no. 001 just sold at Christie’s Hong Kong sale for a hefty HK$3,620,000 or US$467,152. Weighing only 55 g thanks to its aluminium case, bracelet and movement, the Centigraphe Sport is the first of a new sports watch line from Journe. This certainly beats Richard Mille in price per ounce but remember the proceeds from this Journe are going to tsunami relief in Japan.

– SJX

FC Barcelona just won the UEFA Champions League, beating Manchester United. Seiko is Barca’s watch partner, while Hublot is the maker of the official Manchester United watch, the Big Bang King Power Red Devil.

Even though Man Utd lost, it is the club with a greater global appeal and Hublot’s partnership with the Red Devils is a shrewd move. That being said Barca also has legions of fans worldwide, as well as arguably the world’s greatest player in Lionel Messi, but it remains to be seen if Seiko can leverage the partnership to promote its brand. If Seiko can do half as well as Hublot in exploiting its partnership with Barcelona it would do wonders for the brand.

– SJX

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Launched at Baselworld 2011, the Tudor Heritage Advisor is the second model in the line of historically inspired watches that began with the smash hit Tudor Heritage Chronograph “Monte Carlo” of 2010.

The Tudor Heritage Advisor and its inspiration

I recently saw the watch in the metal at a dinner organised by Singapore retailer Sincere Watch Ltd. I liked what I saw.

Though the Advisor is not quite as vintage looking as the Monte Carlo chronograph, it is a tremendously attractive watch, both visually and in terms of price-performance ratio. The retail price of the Advisor is approximately US$5600.

I like the silver dial, but it is the only colour available, which might limit its appeal.

In addition to the design Tudor also got the details right. I particularly like the Tudor shield shaped folding clasp that accompanies the leather strap. The watch is also available with steel bracelet.

The Tudor folding clasp

Both the leather strap and bracelet variants are delivered with an additional fabric strap fitted with sturdy steel hardware. The fabric strap is similar to the NATO strap but fitted with spring bars (instead of looping under the spring bars as with a NATO strap). Made entirely from natural fibres, the fabric band has a soft and smooth feel. Some will like it, though I prefer a thicker and more robust feeling strap. Interestingly the fabric strap is made by a mill in Lyon, France, that is apparently the last of its kind. It supplies fabrics to fashion houses like Chanel and even ribbon to the Vatican. Tudor has an exclusive for use of the mill’s fabrics in watchmaking.

The case is titanium and steel with a 42 mm diameter. Inside lies an ETA movement with a Tudor alarm module.

Here are the press images of the watch, along with a Mad Men inspired video on the Advisor. – SJX 

The Advisor on the fabric strap

The Patek Philippe Ref. 5131 World Time with cloisonne enamel dial is one of the most sought after current Patek models. It is inspired by the Patek world time watches from the 40s and 50s with the distinctive Louis Cottier mechanism. Several of these Patek world timers have sold for world record prices at auction.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5131G (left) and Ref. 5131J

Two versions are available, the yellow gold 5131J which was introduced in 2008, and the white gold 5131G which came a year later.

The yellow gold 5131J depicts the Americas, Europe and Africa on the cloisonne dial, while the white gold 5131G has Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.

Each has its strengths but I give the 5131J an edge in terms of visual attractiveness – yellow gold works better with the cloisonne dial – though the colours on the 5131G dial are more vibrant. I dislike the tasteless bezel engraving on both watches though. Here is a pictorial comparison of these two rare timepieces. More detailed photos and personal thoughts to come later. – SJX

I have the book by Leonardo Arte and it’s a beautifully illustrated publication with lots of large photos of vintage Pateks.

Apologies for the lack of posts, I’ve been travelling. Will have interesting content soon. – SJX

Headed by Dominique Bernaz, who previously ran the Patek Philippe boutique in Geneva, Atelier Cabinotiers was set up in 2006 to cater to clients with big or bigger budgets seeking a special timepiece, something like the Philosophia. Though it looks traditional, the Philosophia is a fascinating interpretation of time.

It only has an hour hand so it tells the approximate time more or less, but the owner has the option of knowing the time to the minute by activating the minute repeater. In fact Alex Ghotbi of The Hour Lounge shared that the owner originally wanted a watch with no hands, only a minute repeater mechanism, but eventually changed his mind.

The Philosophia – the name was chosen by the owner – also features a tourbillon as well as a “customised precision moon phase; the moon is shown with its craters, and a single star – the pole star—shines near it.” Because the owner is an astronomy geek, the power reserve indication on the back is stamped with the “intertwined constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor”.

And at the owner’s request the watch was engraved “No. Un/Un” which means “One/One”. That is Spanish and might give a clue as to the owner’s nationality or at least language.

Note the power reserve indication with constellations

The other watch is perhaps less unusual but nevertheless a technical tour de force. The Vladimir is based on the Tour de l’Ile, launched in 2005 as the most complicated wristwatch in the world. Needless to say the Vladimir is even more complicated with 17 complications (at VC’s count) and 891 components.

The VC Vladimir Ultra Complication

In addition to the time, the Vladimir has the following functions:

Minute repeater, tourbillon; second time zone; minute repeater torque indicatior; power reserve; perpetual calendar with leap year, 52 week indicator and moon phase; equation of time; time of sunrise and sunset; and star chart of Northern Hemisphere. The 52 indicator at nine o’clock on the dial side is the additional complication the Vladimir has over the Tour de l’Ile which has a mere 16 complications.

Notably the Vladimir also has relief engraving on the sides of the pink gold case which depict the Chinese Zodiac. According to VC, the task of engraving the case took six months. The case had to be cast with extra-thick sides to allow the engraving to work his magic, before being polished carefully so as not to damage the relief engravings.

The relief engraving on the Vladimir

The Tour de l’Ile retailed for about CHF1.5 million so I reckon this would cost quite a bit more. An incredible timepiece and a very lucky owner. – SJX

An FP Journe Centigraphe Sport to be sold on May 30 at Christie’s for charity. This is the first of a new line of ultra-light, sports timepieces from FP Journe. The watch is entirely aluminium, case, bracelet and movement, giving it a weight of only 55 g. The crown, pushers and sides of the bracelet are coated in rubber to absorb shock.

According to Journe the aluminium alloy used is “scratch resistant… [with] anti-corrosive and anti-allergic properties.” This is good news as past attempts to use aluminium for watch cases, by IWC and Bulgari for example, were not notably successful given the softness of aluminium. I am still not sold on the aesthetics of the Centigraphe Sport. It reminds me of the Swatch aluminium. But given FP Journe’s track record with extremely elegant designs I’m inclined to give him benefit of the doubt. But more significant than the Centigraphe Sport itself is the fact that it will be the first model in an entirely new FP Journe collection, the Sport Line.

According to the press release: “[The Sport Line is] a collection of new watches of an astounding lightness, thought and conceived specifically for a proficient sportive activity, and that will include watches with manual as well as automatic winding.

This collection has been inspired by an important collector, an aficionado of F.P.Journe watches, who committed himself in numerous marathon and triathlon competitions and wished to have an ultra light sportswatch, coupled with a movement of authentic high horology. With its measure of a 100th second, theCentigraphe Souverain seemed to be the perfect match to excel in his activities, where every second is counted.”

The aluminium bridges of the Centigraphe Sport movement

Serial no. 001 of the Centigraphe Sport will be auctioned on 30 May by Christie’s in Hong Kong as lot 2192A with all proceeds going to Japan tsunami and earthquake relief. The donation ceremony, as well as the official launch of the Centigraphe Sport, will be held on 1 June at the Swiss Embassy in Tokyo.

– SJX

AP Millenary 4101 in steel

Beginning several years ago Audemars Piguet began to modernise the Millenary, the perennial runner-up to the Royal Oak. But the results of these attempts were extremely high-end complicated watches with six figure prices while the more accessibly priced Millennary watches remained fairly traditional. This changed at SIHH 2011 when AP unveiled the Millenary 4101, a radical looking watch that surprisingly enough is entirely traditional mechanically. I have had the pleasure of wearing a prototype of the steel Millenary 4101 for several days, thanks to the CEO of AP Asia, and I am thoroughly enamoured by it. The Millennary 4101 is entirely about aesthetic, rather than technical, innovation. Despite its looks the movement is an entirely ordinary, albeit very well finished, automatic calibre with lever escapement. The layout and construction of the movement has been dramatised to great effect.

At nine o’clock the balance wheel is exposed, held by a full bridge over an aperture in the base plate, leaving a hole in the face of the watch as it were. The other striking visual element of the watch are the screws, positioned symmetrically in two arcs across the top and bottom of the front.

Design aside the movement finishing is top notch. In fact the finishing forms part of the overall look; the anglage on the balance bridge for instance is well polished and frames the bridge. A full on-the-wrist review will be published in August in “The Peak Selections: Timepieces”. The magazine will be mailed out to the subscribers of The Peak, and will also available for purchase at major newsstands and bookstores in Singapore. More photos of the rose gold and steel 4101 below. – SJX 

AP Millenary 4101 in rose gold