Come April Sotheby’s will sell the Swatch “superlot”, a collection of Swatch watches and memorabilia totalling over 5800 pieces collected over a quarter century, including artwork related to the watches and rare prototypes.

Assembled over 25 years, Swatch & Art from the Dunkel Collection is made up of nearly every model made from 1983 to 2007, plus artwork related to many of the watches i the collection. Put together by Paul Dunkel, a European Swatch fanatic, the collection will be sold as a single lot on 7 April at Sotheby’s Spring Sale in Hong Kong. Something of a lens into the world as it was in the eighties and nineties, the Swatch superlot expected to sell for more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars, or US$1.3 million.  The collection includes unusual Swatch prototypes that never made it to market, including rare specimens from the early eighties. And it also includes Swatch Art Specials, limited edition watches made in collaboration with noted personalities or to commemorate world events. 

Swatch prototypes

A reflection of how much of a global phenomenon Swatch once was, the Swatch Art Special watches encompassed practically every aspect of the world in the eighties and nineties. It includes varied personalities, ranging from artists like Keith Haring to Kidrobot, the cult retailer of toys. Others were tie-ins with major world events like several Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup tournaments. Pop culture had a major presence as well, with one such series was dedicated to the James Bond films, packaged in a pair of attache cases.

Kiki Picasso for Swatch

Alfred Hofkunst for Swatch

Kidrobot for Swatch

The Keith Haring watches

Jeremy Scott for Swatch

The Dunkel collection is expected to sell for more than HK$10 million, or US$1.3 million, which works out to only US$224 per item. A similar collection sold in 2011 for US$6.6 million, so that expectation might be exceeded. More on the auction is available from Sotheby’s.

With its distinctive avant-garde regulator time display, the Horological Machine No. 3 is MB&F‘s most popular timepiece, comprising a third of its total production since the brand’s founding in 2005. Based on the MegaWind, the HM3 MegaWind Final Edition is entirely dark, finished in black and grey, with green Super-Luminova that glows vividly at night.

The case is 18k white gold with a black coating, with a similar treatment for the gold battle axe shaped rotor. And the bridges of the movement have a dark grey coating, with the spacer ring around the movement is covered with Super-Luminova. In the dark the Super-Luminova flashes bright green as the rotor spins.

Super-Luminova is also painted onto the aluminium cones that indicate the time, using a tiny syringe. With the hours on the left and minute on the right, the movement was developed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht of Agenhor, a noted movement specialist that often works with MB&F. Made in a limited edition of 25 piecees, the HM3 MegaWind Final Edition is priced at 84,000 Swiss francs before taxes.

At Baselworld Glashütte Original will reveal new dials for the PanoReserve and PanoMaticLunar – a deep blue for the steel models and black for the red gold version.

Glashütte Original will introduce two new dials for the PanoReserve and PanoMaticLunar at Baselworld 2015 next month. Both are classically handsome combinations: a deep, metallic blue for the steel timepieces, and a deep, matte black for the red gold.

Both dials are made by Glashütte Original’s own dial manufacturing facility in Pforzheim, a city near the Black Forest that was the heart of German clockmaking and jewellery starting in the 1700s. A galvanic blue dial is found on both steel watches, while the red gold models have a black dial. Both dials are paired with gilded indices to match the case colour, along with either white or red gold hands.

Featuring an oversized date display and power reserve, the PanoReserve is manually wound with a 42 hour power reserve. The movement is constructed in the style typical of Glashütte (the town, not the brand). It has a three quarter plate, screwed gold chatons and an engraved balance cock.

And the PanoMaticLunar, on the other hand, is automatic with a 42 hour power reserve and a winding weight in 21k gold. The calibre 90-02 inside also has all the quintessential features of German watches like the screwed chatons and engraved balance cock.

Both watches have 40 mm cases.

The PanoReserve and PanoMaticLunar in steel both cost €9700 or 17,900 Singapore dollars. And in rose gold €20,200 or 37,000 Singapore dollars.

F.P. Journe‘s signature aesthetic comprises an off-centred display secured by screws against a contrast colour dial – a look that Journe established with some of his earliest watches. The facelifted Octa Lune preserves that distinctive style, while managing to be recognisably different, most significantly with the diamond-polished, embossed numerals introduced for the first time on the solid gold dial models of 2014.

The Octa Lune is the first of the F.P. Journe Octa watches to undergo the facelift that will eventually be applied to the whole line-up. Now it’s available either in a 40 mm or 42 mm case, instead of the 38 mm and 40 mm options of before. With the facelift, the 38 mm case will no longer be available for the Octa Lune, and it will also be gradually discontinued for the other models.

Though identical in shape and form, the larger cases are more substantial, most notably with a noticeably large crown, losing some of the refined feel characteristic of Journe watches. That being said, even the 42 mm case is slim and elegant, standing just 10.7 mm high.

To suit the larger case, the movement displays are correspondingly larger. The date discs, moon phase, power reserve and time sub-dial are all larger, though the movement remains the same calibre 1300.3 automatic with a five day power reserve. Because the movement remains the same diameter, a visible spacer ring is needed to fit it in the larger case. Like all Journe movements, the calibre 1300.3 has a base plate and bridges in 18k rose gold.

Both dials – one silver-plated for the time display and the main dial – are made of solid gold. The sub-dial for the time display has been stamped to raise the hour numerals, which are then polished with a diamond-tipped tool, giving them a mirror-like surface. This is the most significant aesthetic departure from F.P. Journe’s traditional look with black printed Arabic numbers (that is clearly Breguet-inspired), as seen on the Chronomètre Optimum.

The new Octa Lune is available in red gold or platinum, with dials in solid red or white gold to match the case.

Prices are as follows, inclusive of 8% Swiss value-added tax:

Platinum 40 mm CHF48,060
Platinum 42 mm CHF49,680
Red Gold 40 mm CHF44,280
Red Gold 42 mm CHF44,928.

Matching precious metal bracelets are also available.

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Modelled on the classic pilot’s chronograph from the fifties and sixties, the Breitling Chronoliner is an aviator’s watch with a retro bent, featuring a second time zone function and a ratcheting, 24-hour black ceramic bezel.

Equipped with a dual time zone function and a clean black dial, the Chronoliner is typical of Breitling‘s aviation watches, large and hard to miss on the wrist. And as is often the case with Breitling’s recent introductions, the Chronoliner has a vintage-esque styling, just like the Transocean Chronograph 1915. Slated to be officially introduced at Baselworld 2015, the Chronoliner has a 46 mm, polished steel case fitted with a rotating 24-hour bezel in black ceramic. The dial is lacquered black with white luminous baton indices, while the second time zone hand is tipped with a red arrow for contrast; the 24-hour black ceramic bezel can be set to track a third time zone. Super-Luminova on the central seconds hand and elapsed minutes register allows the chronograph to be used to record up to 30 minutes in low light.

The Chronoliner is powered by a COSC certified Valjoux 7750 self-winding calibre, and fitted with a sapphire crystal coated on both sides with an antireflective layer. Breitling traditional double pane logo is cast in relief on the case back.

The Chronoliner is available with a mesh Ocean Classic bracelet for the complete retro look, or the more modern Navitimer bracelet. Prices start at 10,790 Singapore dollars or 7070 Swiss francs for the Chronoliner on Ocean Classic.

In the second of the series of educational articles by Henrik Korpela, co-founder and chief instructor at the K&H Watchmaking Competence Centre in Le Locle, the art of heat bluing steel screws and other components is explained step by step, with accompanying photos. Bluing screws is a time-consuming process that is not just decorative, but also functional by extending the longevity of the screws. (You can read the first article by Henrik that explains black polishing right here).

Whereas many lower cost modern watches rely on simple, cost efficient techniques to colour screws blue, the traditional technique is time-consuming and complex, with a great deal of experience necessary to heat the screw just right to achieve the shade of blue desired.

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Blued steel screws are some of the most well known features of a high-end watch movement. Many brands proclaim their use of blued steel screws, but not all blued steel screws are blued equally. Although blued steel screws are not vital to the function of a movement they are a personal touch, like many other decorative finishing techniques used in movements, that put a little bit of the watchmaker into the watch.

Bluing or tempering a steel screw is usually the last part of the heat treatment procedure; remember the same process and technique can be applied to any other steel component. The first step is hardening the surface of the screw, with the temperature depending on the composition of the steel. Since the bluing process is usually the final step, a blue colour of the screw is usually an indication that screw has undergone a heat treatment procedure.

A Unitas movement with heat blued screws

But because the hardening procedure always makes the part too hard and consequently brittle, so it needs to be softened – the primary reason to do tempering or bluing (besides the obvious aesthetic motivation). The blue colour of the steel is actually an oxide layer on the surface of the steel that comes about when it is heated to a specific temperature. Different temperatures result in other colours such as straw, brown, purple. This photo explains different tempering temperatures and the resulting colours.

From left: 240 °C dark yellow, 270 °C purple, 290 °C dark blue, and 320 °C grey blue

It’s not just about visual appeal, in fact each colour is an indication on how hard the steel part is. For example, tempering to straw will leave the part much harder than when heated to a blue colour. Steel tools such as drills and cutters are often tempered to straw or brown, in order to harden them to a greater degree than bluing them. The above photo explains different tempering temperatures.

The hardness of the part corresponds to the the temperature used to temper it – so a lower temperature results in a softer surface. Usually watch components like screws are tempered to medium to dark blue which makes them strong enough not to break under stress, like when being tightened by a screwdriver, but with a surface hardness that wears well over time.

Described below is the traditional way of bluing screws and other steel parts, that is to say by hand. This technique is suitable for restoration and watches produced in small quantities only, since the screws are blued individually.  Though bluing steel parts by hand is straightforward, with few complicated tools needed, the technique requires knowledge of the process in order to get just the right colour.  The tools needed for the procedure are:

– Electric heater
– Brass filings
– A few screws to practice on
– Brass container
– Alcohol lamp
– Various eyeglasses
– Isopropanol
– Tissue paper
– Brass support with various sized holes
– Tweezers

Tempering, or bluing, a steel part

There are a number of different methods to temper parts: over a flame, on top of an electric heater, in bluing salts, inside an over, or with a heat gun. Here we will explain the process with two methods, on an electric heater and with a flame. It is very important that the screws to be blued are polished before the heating process, and then cleaned carefully – there should be absolutely no grease on the steel surface. Tissue paper soaked with isopropanol can be used to clean the component.

Step by step

1. Put some brass filings on the brass tray and then place the screw on top of the filings. Turn on the flame and then hold the brass tray over the flame. Wait for the temperature to rise.  NB: Make sure the flame is not placed flammable objects or left unattended.

2. Move the tray in a circular motion around the flame to ensure all parts of the screw are heated evenly. Keep an eye on the screw and wait for its color to change. First it will turn straw, then yellowish, followed by brown, purple, dark blue, blue, light blue and grey blue.

3. Be ready to quickly remove the screw with the tweezers when the desired color has been reached. The screw should cool down almost immediately when you remove it from the heater, retaining the colour it had the moment it was pulled.

4. Another method of bluing steel parts is with a hotplate. The process is similar to that with a flame.

With good preparation before heating the screw, namely proper polishing and cleaning, the screw will be consistently blue throughout, with no spots or variations in the blue colour across the whole surface. If the blue is irregular, with spots or other defects, the polishing and cleaning must be repeated, and then bluing attempted once again. Remember that the key to a good bluing is good preparation. A screw properly prepared and then blued correctly will looks similar to this:

The process of heating a screw is quick, requiring only a few seconds once the heating element has reached the correct temperature. Much of the work comes in the preparation with the polishing and cleaning of the screw, or multiple attempts to achieve the right shade of blue. Very often it is impossible to know the outcome of the heating until it is complete. There are so many things that can go wrong, resulting in an imperfect blue.

Grease stains, dirt or dust particles on the surface, invisible alcohol stains from cleaning, and unequal distribution of temperature over the part – these are some of the things that can lead to the wrong blue. That means a screw might need to be blued several times before the perfect blue colour is achieved, and with each attempt the screw must be polished and cleaned yet again.  Here are some examples of badly prepared screws how they can end up looking like.

A wavy, inconsistent blue caused by improper cleaning before bluing

An admirable effort except for the spotting, probably due to dust on the screw

The patchy colour resulting from grease stains on the surface before heating

Try again.

But remember that the right blue colour is relative to all the other screws in the movement; each screw must be reasonably similar in colour. So even if a screw is a perfectly beautiful blue it might need to be redone because of a disparity in colour. Sometimes a single screw can take up to half an hour to get right. This is most apparent when restoring old watches that already have period blued screws inside the movement, requiring new screws to match in colour.  It is less of a problem when producing new movements since screws can blued in the hundreds or thousands at a go with an oven in a few seconds.

With an industrial oven the rejection rate of screws is relatively low, and those that fail the quality control can be reheated again subsequently. Industrial bluing of screws can also be done via a chemical bath, also a quick and painless process. Chemically blued screws usually have a flat appearance without any character or depth.  This is an example of a blued screw from a mass produced movement:

One way of distinguishing manual blued screws from those done industrially is to examine the entire movement with a loupe, comparing each of the screws. A slight variance in the blue from screw to screw probably means they were blued by hand.  Other steel watch parts can also be blued in the same way as applied to screws. But the larger the part the harder it is to achieve a uniform blue color over the entire surface. If the part is large one solution is to used a heat resistant glass cup over the component to create a furnace-like effect, distributing heat evenly over the whole inside of the cup. But in such an instance the cup needs to be clean and clear so one can observe the color change carefully.

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K&H Watchmaking Competence Centre (KHWCC) in Le Locle, Switzerland, offers training in the classical techniques of watchmaking. A equipped independent academy that offers intimate class sizes, KHWCC offers a two-year, comprehensive programme. The curriculum covers both modern and classical watchmaking techniques, encompassing all the skills needed for watchmaking, repair and restoration. The school currently has a class of six pupils, with the new academic year starting in April 2015. Additional information on the school and its programme can be found on the KHWCC website. And if you haven’t done so already, remember to read Henrik’s explanation of black polishing, another remarkably enlightening article on the technique of polishing steel parts.

Hublot adds two models to the Big Bang Ferrari line-up, the result of a partnership between the Swiss watchmaker and the Italian maker of supercars, including the Big Bang Ferrari Grey Ceramic, a tribute to the Ferrari NART.

Soon to be unveiled at Baselworld 2015, the Hublot Big Bang Ferrari Black Ceramic is styled in black and red, the classic colours of Ferrari. And the second model is the Big Bang Ferrari Grey Ceramic, modelled on the colours of Ferrari NART (short for “North America Racing Team”), the American-backed team active in the sixties and seventies that competed in endurance races, winning at Le Mans and Daytona. Both the new Big Bang Ferrari models are in 45 mm in diameter, with cases in ceramic with black composite inserts. A black mesh inspired by Ferrari grilles, the dials have a Ferrari prancing horse inset at nine o’clock. And the minute register at three o’clock integrates the date window with a skeletonised date numeral against a bright yellow backing.

Schedoni leather-covered rubber straps – the Italian firm is the maker of Ferrari leather goods – are standard, and are easily interchangeable by pressing the button on the lug. To complete the automotive aesthetic, the straps are painted with a racing stripe. And Inside is the HUB 1241 Unico movement, Hublot’s modular, in-house chronograph calibre with a flyback function, fitted with a rotor inspired by a hubcap. Each model is limited to 250 pieces, with pricing to be revealed at Basel next month.

Breitling’s new in-house movement is the calibre B14, a hand-wind, mono-pusher chronograph found inside the Transocean Chronograph 1915 limited edition.

Breitling made major contributions to the development of the wrist chronograph, including inventing the modern two-button chronograph as we know it in 1934. At Baselworld 2015 Breitling will unveil the Transocean Chronograph 1915, a single-button chronograph equipped with the B14 movement. The B14 movement is the manual wind version of Breitling’s Calibre 01, the brand’s first in-house movement. It features a column wheel and vertical clutch, but most notably a single pusher for the start, stop and reset functions of the chronograph. 

The one button set up is a nod to Gaston Breitling’s (the eponymous founder’s son) invention of the single-pusher chronograph in 1915. Thus the Transocean Chronograph 1915 marks the centenary of Breitling’s invention, and naturally is limited to 1915 pieces. 

The dial is an ivory shade with an appropriately vintage appearance, encompassing the faux aged Super-Luminova and the retro-style dial text. And the date window, despite the admirable vintage font used for the date, remains incongruous with the dial, as is almost always the case this vintage remakes.

The watch has a 43 mm steel case and is available on a crocodile leather strap, priced at 13,010 Singapore dollars or 8400 Swiss francs. It’s also available on the Ocean Classic mesh bracelet for 13,170 Singapore dollars or 8630 Swiss francs.

To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of its founder, A. Lange & Söhne unveiled the 1815 “200th Anniversary F. A. Lange”, a limited edition of 200 timepieces in the rarely seen combination of platinum with a black dial.

Ferdinand Adolph Lange was born in Dresden in 1815, later establishing A. Lange & Söhne in 1845 and creating the German watchmaking industry. Made for the second centenary of his birth the 1815 “200th Anniversary F. A. Lange” is a clean, straightforward timepiece. It’s is essentially a 40 mm 1815 wristwatch, but in platinum with a black dial. That colour combination has never existed for the 1815 before, except for the steel 1815 service watches made in the late nineties as loaner watches for clients while their timepieces were being overhauled. A short lived endeavour, the original steel service 1815s are now rare and almost mythical. 

The new 1815 “200th Anniversary F. A. Lange” looks nearly identical, with a black lacquered, solid silver dial. The numerals and markings are silver, while the hands are white gold.

Turn the watch over and the display back reveals the L051.1 movement, as well as the engraved serial number of the edition, running from 001/200 to 200/200. In Europe it’s priced at €31,500 before taxes, and in Singapore it’s S$48,300 with 7% tax.

Based on the Vingt-8 chronometer, the Voutilainen GMR features a second time zone display at six o’clock, concentric with the sub-seconds while a power reserve sits at 12 o’clock. Made of solid silver and engined turned by hand, the dial has a galvanic coating in a very dark shade of green, with red accents.  The unusual colours on the dial are a result of the an expanded capacity to produce dials, especially in novel colours and styles, after Voutilainen acquired a dial manufacturer last year. According to Voutilainen, such unusual dial combinations, particularly with coloured accents, hands or indices, will be more commonplace in the future.

The nearly identical Vingt-8 GMT movement

A variant of the second time zone movement based on the Vingt-8 calibre, the GMR movement is made up of 250 parts. Voutilainen developed the second time zone function in-house; pushing the crown advances the second time zone hand by an hour.

The case is 39 mm, available in white or rose gold, or platinum. Only 12 pieces will be made in all metals. The GMR is priced at 118,000 Swiss francs in platinum and 108,000 Swiss francs in gold.