Months after Frederique Constant unveiled the aggressively priced, US$7500 perpetual calendar wristwatch at Baselworld 2016, the brand has just revealed an unusually affordable – priced at just over US$2000 – porcelain dial wristwatch. Geneva-based Frederique Constant turned to Zsolnay Porcelain Manufacture to create the Art of Porcelain, a wristwatch that’s affordable despite the unusual dial.

Founded in 1853, Zsolnay is sited in south-west Hungary and specialises in ceramic products, including porcelain and tiles. While vitreous or grand feu enamel that’s often used for watch dials is made of melted glass, porcelain is largely made of kaolin, a clay mineral. Porcelain is an uncommon material for watch dials, though it has been used before, notably by Glashütte Original, which used Meissen porcelain dials in the past.

The same material that’s used to make fine chinaware, porcelain has to be fired at high temperatures in an oven, leaving it hard and resistant. It’s usually unglazed, resulting in a slightly glossy finish that gives the Art of Porcelain wristwatch a restrained look. A stark white with printing numerals and markings, the dial is produced and finished by hand at Zsolnay; fait main translates as “hand made”.

Stainless steel and 40 mm in diameter, the case is simple in form, with fluted sides being the only decorative element. It’s fitted with the self-winding FC-302 movement, a basic calibre that Frederique Constant makes in-house.

The Art of Porcelain is limited to 188 pieces, with a retail price of US$2195 or €1895.

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Ressence watches are difficult to grasp, being deceptively simple visually but with complex mechanics underneath. Since the brand’s founding in 2010, its timepieces have evolved to take the rounded, almost seamless form that characterise Ressence watches. Just introduced at Baselworld 2016, the Type 5BB is an all-black variant of its Type 5 dive watch. “BB” is short for “Black Black”, which describes the inky black dial and diamond-like carbon (DLC) coated case.

The brand’s unusual products set it apart from other watch brands, a quality that can be attributed to the fact its founder is not a watchmaker. Benoît Mintiens is an industrial designer with keen, clever ideas about watchmaking; the sort of person a watch nerd would appreciate. Based in the port city of Antwerp in Belgium, Ressence concentrates on design and prototyping, while manufacturing and assembly are done in Switzerland.

The brand’s slogan is “Beyond Hands”, explaining its signature planetary time display. The hours and seconds are indicated on sub-dials that rotate around the dial, while the minute hand is central. The coloured scale is a thermometer that indicates the temperature of the time display module, with green being optimal.

First introduced with the New Type 3 last year, the thermometer is necessary because the time display module is filled with oil; a feature particularly handy for a dive watch as it removes any distortion or illegibility underwater. The optical effect of the oil renders the time display seemingly pressed flat against the domed crystal, even though the dial only slightly convex. But because the volume of oil changes with temperature, seven tiny bellows are incorporated into the time display module. These compensate for any change in oil volume, with the temperature gauge serving to indicate what the bellows are doing – red means the oil has expanded while blue means the oil has contracted.

A less obvious benefit of the oil-filled display, though one that’s easily predictable, is more efficient functioning of the movement. Because the oil-filled display works with significantly less friction, the movement gains efficiency, evidenced by the gain in amplitude over an conventional calibre. The base movement is an ETA 2824, a tried and tested movement that’s basic but reassuringly robust.

While the time display is strikingly clear, setting the time takes effort. That’s because the time display is inside a sealed capsule to keep the oil inside. There are no physical connections to the movement below, instead magnets are used for setting and driving the hands. A patented case back winding system eliminates the crown, but also renders challenging to set the time; while the Type 5 lacks a date, adjusting the date using the same setting mechanism on the Type 3 requires many, many turns of the back. And because the Type 5 is a dive watch, it also featured a locking system for the case back when not in use.

But the result of the crown-less inconvenience is a watch case beautifully shaped, rounded like a pebble and unusually sleek on the wrist. While the pronounced size of the Type 5 diver – the diameter is 46 mm while it’s 15.5 mm high – gives it a substantial presence on the wrist, the watch is light and ergonomic. Rated to 100 m, the case is titanium, with a black DLC coating.

The Type 5B diver in titanium

The Type 5 BB costs €31,500 including 20 percent tax, meaning the tax-free price is €26,250 or US$29,700.

Intriguingly, and with a frankness that’s rare in high-end watchmaking, company founder Mintiens declares he wants to execute his watch concepts at a lower price so more people can afford it, an ambition he hopes to realise when his output increases.

Omega makes many Speedmaster limited editions – the emphasis on “editions” and not “limited” – so you can have the Moonwatch with Snoopy, in titanium, in “racing” livery, and so on. Yet such watches are easy to like, for three reasons. The biggest is the Speedmaster name, it’s a Speedmaster – the watch that went to the moon – and that will never get worn out. Second, despite the many iterations the look hews closely enough to the original to be recognisable. And of course it helps that they are generally affordable, relatively speaking.

The Speedmaster Moonwatch CK2998, fresh from Baselworld 2016, is yet another limited edition, but it’s likeable for those very reasons. Modelled on the original Speedmaster CK2998, the reissue has the styling of the original, but with a modern colour scheme as well as better materials.

Introduced in 1959, the CK2998 was the second Speedmaster model; the first being the exceptionally valuable CK2915, which, as sure as the Speedmaster went to the moon, will return as a limited edition remake one day. The original CK2998 has several crucial elements that characterise it: lance-shaped “alpha” hands, the “Base 1000” tachymetre bezel, a “lollipop” seconds hand, and straight lugs. All of them have made it into the reissue.

While the CK2998 remake has all the key details of the original, the blue and silver colour scheme is new, and handsome. The look is that of a new watch with a hint of vintage, rather than trying too hard to mimic the original.

Notably the new CK2998 has a more nuanced finish than the original, a common feature of modern remakes given better manufacturing technology (and also far higher prices after adjusting for inflation). The minute track on the outermost edge of the dial, for instance, is finished with a fine concentric guilloche that’s invisible except up close.

All the baton hour markers are polished and applied to the dial; ditto for the Omega logo. The blue bezel insert is fade-resistant ceramic that’s been engraved and filled with Super-Luminova so its markings glow in the dark. And the sapphire crystal is “box-form”, meaning it rises above the bezel with a slight domed profile, a shape that costs notably more than an ordinary flat crystal. More importantly, it looks more congruent with the retro style, since it approximates the look of a mineral crystal while being scratch-resistant.

The steel case is 39.7 mm in diameter with straight lugs and a 19 mm-wide strap,  just like the original. But it has the precise finish that’s distinct to modern watches, with brushed flanks and polished top surfaces. The case back, on the other hand, is a modern addition, embossed with a hobnail finish and a relief Speedmaster seahorse logo.

Underneath the case back is the Omega calibre 1861, the hand-wound movement that’s found in the basic Moonwatch models. Made by Lemania as the calibre 861, it powered the Moonwatch starting in 1968, and has continued, with minor upgrades, since then. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Pricing and availability 

The Speedmaster Moonwatch CK2998 is limited to 2998 pieces and will hit stores in July 2016. The retail price is US$6500, while in Singapore it’s S$8400.

The RGM 151 Corps of Engineers is a smaller brother to the 801 Corps of Engineers that made its debut last year. Both share the same inspiration – pocket watches issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the First World War – and hence the same look (that is familiar from the recent Longines RailRoad). The 151-COE is fitted with a white dial finished with vitreous enamel, essentially glass melted in an oven to form a glossy hence the term “grand feu enamel”, hard finish, just like the WWI originals.

When the United States entered WWI, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dispatched nine regiments of railroad engineers as part of the American Expeditionary Forces that sailed for Europe in 1917. Sent to build roads, railways and bridges, the combat engineers were issued with American-made Hamilton railroad pocket watches, the same sort used by civilian railway engineers back home. Soon, in an effort to reduce transatlantic shipping, these were replaced by Swiss watches made by Ulysse Nardin and Zenith, while chronograph watches were made by Vacheron Constantin. Roland G. Murphy, whose initials form his company’s name, once worked for Hamilton.

Firing enamel dials in an oven

The RGM 151-COE is modelled on these WWI combat engineers’ timepieces, though it more closely resembles the Swiss variants rather than the earlier Hamilton watches. Large Arabic numerals in mustard Super-Luminova mimic the look of aged radium found on the vintage originals, while the cathedral hands are in blued steel.

While the first RGM Corps of Engineers was 42 mm in diameter, the new 151-COE is a more modest 38.5 mm, with a brushed finished on all surfaces; the case metal is offered in either titanium or stainless steel. Curiously, the 151-COE is equipped with an Omega 1120 movement, to which RGM has installed a 14k gold rotor. In the photo below the Omega logo and “1120” are faintly visible just above the balance wheel. A self-winding calibre that’s based on the ETA 2892, the 1120 has been improved and decorated for Omega. The reasons for the Omega movement are a mystery; perhaps an Omega parts retailer was suffering an overstock of the 1120.

The 151-COE is priced at US$6,950 in stainless steel, and US$7,950 in titanium.

Back in 2008 Vacheron Constantin introduced the  Quai de l’Île, am ambitious wristwatch with a complex, 10-part case that could be customised with each component in a different metal. And the multi-level dial was made of sapphire featuring metal appliqués and security features adopted from passports including micro-printing and invisible ink. Launched with much fanfare – the watch even came with a paper passport doubling as a warranty booklet – the Quai de l’Île was expensive, complex in a manner that was hard to understand and sold modestly.

Now Vacheron Constantin has stripped the Quai de l’Île of many of its intriguing but superfluous features, distilling it to the essentials and making it more affordable. The new Quai de l’Île is in stainless steel, and retains many of the recognisable design elements of the original.

The 41 mm case is the same cushion shape, but constructed in a simpler manner with the lugs being part of the case middle instead of separate, screwed-on components. A similar rationalising has been applied to the dial: it keeps the same Arabic numbers that distinguished the original, and the streamlined style improves its legibility. While the original had an exposed date disc, the new steel Quai de l’Île has a fixed date disc made of clear mineral crystal (no more sapphire) with a triangular pointer that travels round the dial.

Inside the new Quai de l’Île is the self-winding calibre 5100/1 that has a 60-hour power reserve and is hallmarked with the Geneva Seal. The movement is practically identical to the calibre 5100 inside the Overseas ref. 4500V introduced at SIHH 2016, except it lacks the luxury of a solid gold rotor.

Available with a silver (ref. 4500S/000A-B195) or black dial (ref. 4500S/000A-B196), the new Quai de l’Île in stainless steel is priced at US$14,900, €13,500 or SS$23,200, about half the price of the cheapest of the fancier Quai de l’Îles.

Update April 27, 2016: Retail prices in Euros, US and Singapore dollars added.

Fans of Urwerk will remember the UR-103 as the watch that put the watch on the horological map. It reproduced the centuries old wandering hours complication, but inside a case that was remarkably avant-garde for the time. The time was shown along a narrow window on the bottom edge, leaving the rest of the case a blank canvas for engraving.

With the UR-105 T-Rex the brand returns to that original design with a remarkably striking watch. While recent Urwerk watches have tended towards the gadgety, with numerous gauges and scales all over the case, the T-Rex is minimalist, at least from a functional point of view. The time is displayed – in vivid yellow-green Super-Luminova – along a small “U” shaped window. As is traditional for the wandering hours complication, the hour numeral points to the minutes as it travels clockwise along the minute track.

The rest of the case is impressively machined with a raised hobnail pattern that evokes the leathery hide of an ancient reptile, explaining the name. It’s made of bronze – the first time Urwerk is using the fashionable alloy – that has been finished multiple times to give it an aged look. The result is something that would look perfectly at home as a prop on Game of Thrones. Even more fearsome is the crown, which is very large and covered in spikes, looking like a miniature club; a pleasingly aggressive detail that looks perfectly at home.

Turn it over and the look is more conventional, with the same case back as the standard UR-105. Made of titanium with a black ceramic coating, the case back has two key features. The first is the winding speed lever that goes from “Full” to “Red” to “Stop”. This controls the automatic winding, with “Full” allowing it to wind at maximum efficiency, “Red” short for reduced efficiency, while “Stop” halts the winding mechanism.

The logic behind it is to optimise the winding based on the wearer’s physical activity: a motionless paper pusher should have winding set to “Full” to ensure the watch is wound despite his indolence, while a warrior brandishing a bloodied, spiked club can do with “Red” since rampaging all over the battlefield does wonders for winding the mainspring.

Pricing and availability 

The UR-105 T-Rex is a limited edition of 22 pieces, with a price of SFr65,000 without taxes (about US$66,400). The price in Singapore is S$114,900 including local taxes.

There is art in fine watches, in the design, finishing, construction and concept of the timepiece. But some of the art might get lost as the watch industry matures. Luxury watchmaking is changing and becoming more like two closely related but much larger businesses: automobiles and fashion.

Historically watchmaking was a cottage industry, because it is relatively simple, even today, to make watch components or very nearly an entire watch with a home workshop. That is why small scale independent watchmakers still exist today, making a few dozen timepieces a year with a small room’s worth of antiquated equipment.

Car making, in contrast, was a massive industrial endeavour early on. Henry Ford pioneered it, and now the whole industry operates on the same model, essentially making more and more of the same. The economics and nature of producing automobiles means it is not feasible to make them on a small scale, except at very, very high prices, like what exotic carmaker Pagani does. And even though Volkswagen sold 450 Bugatti Veyrons for a whopping €2.3 million on average, the German carmaker still lost about twice that on each car, according to a 2015 Bloomberg report.

That is why most cars in the world are made by one of the big car making conglomerates – over two thirds of the world’s motor vehicles came from the 10 largest carmakers. And all the big carmakers have ambitions to get bigger, Fiat for example took over Chrysler in 2014 and its chief executive is still agitating for further consolidation. Similarly, the watch industry now revolves around the three major groups: the Swatch Group, Richemont and Rolex – plus LVMH and Kering having bulked up to join the big boys – plus a handful of independent, family-owned brands large enough to go solo, like Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet.

Small brands are being squeezed out under pressure from forces on both ends of the supply chain. Many makers of specialised components are being acquired by the large watchmaking groups, who then inevitably reduce or terminate supply to independent brands. The recent slowdown in luxury watchmaking has given independents some breathing space in terms of components supply, since revenue is a much more precious thing now, even if it comes from outside the group.

At the other end of the supply chain retailers are being pressured by the big brands, which by virtue of their huge scale and desirability have leverage over retailers. The results of this is obvious: each time a major watch store undergoes a renovation, the big brands end up with larger and more prominent displays, while small brands are either relegated to the back of the store or disappear altogether.

That is a shame because small brands tend to be more interesting, look at MB&F or Nomos, who tend to make watches that big brands cannot or will not. Because major watchmakers need economies of scale, they often need to make an easily palatable watch that appeals to the greatest number of people – lowest common denominator.

Highest common denominator but affordable

And that is why the watch industry is evolving towards a model similar to that of the fashion industry, with several collections presented during the year. Whereas in past years watch brands unveiled their new watches once a year at either one of the two major trade fairs, Baselworld or SIHH, they now show off new wares several times a year.

That is driven by the need for exposure in magazines and newspapers, and most important of late – eyeballs on the internet. New products are what dominate the headlines, so watchmakers have responded in the most obvious way: continually create new products.

But because it is impossible to create a genuinely new product – meaning an entirely new model or movement – several times a year, watchmakers instead generate variations on a theme – new dial colours, different fonts for the numerals, and so on. In fact, it was obvious at Baselworld 2016 that many brands are now banking on safe bets; tweaking bestsellers to make them even more appealing like Rolex with the steel and ceramic Daytona or Tudor with the Black Bay Bronze.

It is bad news that diversity and art in watchmaking will diminish as the evolution of the industry continues. But as long as watch buyers remain discerning and demand something different and special, watchmakers will have to continue to create it. And in some small way, that is what I hope to nurture.

This is an edited version of an editorial written for The Peak Singapore.

Glashütte Original’s latest watch is modest looking, but its discreet style belies the impressive movement inside. From the front the Senator Excellence is a classically styled wristwatch, perhaps even plain looking. But the timepiece is well thought out, and the calibre inside is smartly designed and constructed to keep good time. As a whole package, the Senator Excellence is a pretty compelling proposition.

The first of the next generation movements by Glashütte Original (GO) – made entirely in-house naturally – the calibre 36 significantly larger than most movements in watches this size, which means it looks proper from the back, being just right for the case size. The calibre 36 is 32.2 mm in diameter, compared to just over 26.2 mm for the calibre 39, Glashütte Original’s longstanding workhorse movement descended from its East German calibres.

Conceived to keep better time

That means a larger mainspring can accommodated, explaining the impressive and useful 100-hour – that’s just over four days – power reserve. A hundred hours means the watch can be taken off at the end of the working week, and put on again come Monday without needing setting. A long mainspring also promises more stable timekeeping by providing a steady, lengthy power source to keep the amplitude of the balance wheel healthy (meaning to the degree through which the balance oscillates).

Timekeeping quality is further boosted by the newly developed, adjustable mass balance wheel, something custom-made for GO by Nivarox, the industry giant specialising in such components that is GO’s sister company in the Swatch Group. As is traditional for precision watches, the balance is free-sprung, meaning it is attached to a balance spring of fixed length, and adjustment is done by moving the four weights on the rim of the balance. That is slightly more tedious than a having a regulator, but a free-sprung balance tends to be more stable. And in a first for GO, the hairspring is made of silicon, a material now popular with watchmakers for being non-magnetism and immune to changes in ambient temperature.

The sharp eyed amongst you, dear readers, will be wondering what the swan neck regulator is for. Being free-sprung, a regulator index is unnecessary, so it’s used for isochronism adjustment – shifting the position of the hairspring so it breathes concentrically even as the watch winds down. Even then the swan neck is not crucial, but it is a traditional feature of GO movements, and one that is attractively finished with flat polishing. The movement could do without it, but then it would look slightly bare given the recognisable style of GO calibres.

Like nearly all GO movements, the calibre 36 has a three-quarter plate, though it’s not especially obvious being covered by the rotor. In typical GO style the rotor features a double “G” logo and a rim made of 21k gold. It winds in both directions, thanks to reverser gears that sit in a neat line.

And instead of being held inside the case by screws, the movement is locked in place with a bayonet mount like that of a removable camera lens; put in, turned and locked in place. This ensures its position in the case is error-free, and also shortens the time needed for assembly and servicing.

All the features of the calibre 36 mean that GO has devised a more rigorous test for the Senator Excellence that takes place over 24 days. It’s tested in six positions, instead of the usual five, and checked for precision as well as amplitude. As a result, each Senator Excellence is accompanied by a certificate detailing the test results, as well as a quality seal for the 24-day test engraved on the case back.

The calibre 36 feels encouragingly honest – its claims to do better and it obviously does. Especially heartening is the absence of visible shortcuts in the movement construction, for instance there are no wire springs, an easy, low cost but functional solution that you can find the calibre 899 of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control (that admittedly costs less).

Some of the decoration of the movement is evidently mechanically applied, but as you’ll see in our report on GO’s production process, its movements are finished with a combination of machine and hand-finishing. The perlage on the base plate is done manually, while the striping on the bridges is automated.

Contrasting dial styles 

The Senator Excellence is a wearable 40 mm in diameter and just 10 mm high. Simple in form, the case has a stepped bezel with mirror-polished top surfaces, along with a contrasting brushed surface on the flanks. A subtle bevel on the lugs gives it a bit more detail.

Two dial styles are available, both looking rather drastically different. The first, and more attractive, has a military-style dial in matte, grained black with large Arabic numerals – that is available only in steel as ref. 1-36-01-03-02-01. Inspired by vintage military deck watches and also found on the Senator Observer, the look is strikingly legible. The dial colour, however, makes the watch seem smaller than it is, even smaller than the Senator Excellence in silver.

The other option for the Senator Excellence is a grained silver dial with just a hint of colour in the form of red five minute markings. Formal and sedate, the dial is nonetheless interesting up close: the markings are not printed, instead they are laser engraved and then filled with black lacquer. This dial option is available in steel (ref. 1-36-01-01-02-01) or red gold (ref. 1-36-01-02-05-01).

Pricing and availability  

Available starting June 2016, the Senator Excellence is priced as follows:

Stainless steel – US$9700 or €8500 or S$14,300
Red gold – US$17,700 or €15,500 or S$26,000

Euro and Singapore dollar prices include taxes of 19 and 7 percent respectively.

We launched the new website a month ago and now we are growing. If you love watches and can write about them – hopefully photograph them too – get in touch with a résumé and sample work. We’re seeking both full-time and part-time writers, based in Singapore but possibly elsewhere.