A wristwatch that is out of this world – literally – the De Bethune Dream Watch 5 Meteorite both awesome and shocking. Awesome, because the wondrously blue watch case is remarkably fluid in form but milled from a meteorite, while containing a cutting edge movement with a tourbillon regulator. And it is shocking because the Dream Watch 5 costs almost half a million dollars.

A one of a kind creation dreamed up by De Bethune co-founder David Zanetta, the Dream Watch 5 Meteorite is based on the first seashell-shaped Dream Watch, which was made of polished titanium but small in size. The latest Dream Watch is larger, measuring just under 50mm wide from tip to tip, and 39mm from top to bottom, but not overly so. In fact it feels rather compact on the wrist, helped by the sleekness of the case.

From heaven to wrist

The case material originates in Campo del Cielo, located northern Argentina. Translating as “Field of Heaven”, Campo del Cielo is a massive crater field that’s the result of a meteorite that impacted some four or five millennia ago. The largest meteorite ever found on Earth – it weight 600 tonnes before entering Earth’s atmosphere – Campo del Cielo was discovered in 1576. Since then some 100 tonnes of meteorite has been recovered, including a 3kg lump that was used for the Dream Watch 5 case.

Composed mainly of iron, with small amounts of nickel, cobalt and other metals, the chunk of Campo del Cielo was machined into the case and case back, and mirror polished by hand. Then the case was heat treated to achieve the striking blue that’s typical of many De Bethune watches. Because the meteorite material is a non-homogenous, the colour of the case is shaded as various metals react different to heat treatment. The nuances continue with the fissures that interrupt the smooth surface of the case, contrasting with its sleek, rounded form.

The crown is topped by a large, one-carat ruby cabochon, a lavish design accent in itself. But the red stone has been drilled out to accommodate a diamond inside for that extra bit of sparkle. This sort of detail that is hard to see and expensive to execute is typical of De Bethune, being both inexplicable and admirable.

The Dream Watch 5 tells the time with a pair of discs, a jumping hours and sweep minutes. Small and somewhat hard to read – but in a watch this fancy who cares? – they sit beside a blued titanium frame that contains the spherical moon phase display that’s a De Bethune trademark. The sphere is made of palladium and blued steel, each forming half the orb and pressed together. And like the time, the moon sphere is small enough that it’s impossible to make out the exact phase of the moon.

De Bethune is responsible for some of the most high-tech mechanical movements on the market, and the Dream Watch 5 is no exception, though the DB2144 inside is an existing one. Hand-wound with a lengthy six day power reserve, the calibre DB2144 is almost identical to the that in the DB28 Digitale, except the Dream Watch is also equipped with a high-speed, high-frequency tourbillon regulator that visible through a porthole on the back (the same tourbillon that’s found in several other De Bethune wristwatches, including the DB25T Zodiac).

Making one revolution every 30 seconds – conventional tourbillons do the same in one minute – the balance oscillates at 36,000 beats per hour. To do that the tourbillon cage is made of silicon and titanium for lightness. And the balance wheel is made of silicon and white gold, while the escape wheel is silicon.

The liberal use of silicon is intended to improve timekeeping since the material is light, nearly friction-free and manufactured to extremely fine tolerances. In fact, De Bethune is the only small scale independent watchmaker – the annual output is just 200 watches or so – that uses silicon so widely in its movements. That is not cost effective since silicon components are only economical on a large scale due to the high-tech etching process required to make them.

A closeup of the same De Bethune high-speed tourbillon inside the DB25T

Price and availability 

A tremendous amount of effort and thought has been put into conceiving the Dream Watch 5, from the meteorite case to the movement inside, that much is obvious. And relative to the competition De Bethune is still making some of the most ambitious, unusual and imaginative mechanical watches on the market. But the Dream Watch 5 is still a whopper, priced at SFr450,000 before taxes, equivalent to US$459,000.

Best known for its GPS devices, Garmin’s latest “multisport” smartwatch aims to look more like a conventional timepiece. The Fenix Chronos does way with the usual rubber and plastic of smartwatches, and is instead cased in steel or titanium, with matching bracelets.

While traditional watchmakers are trying, somewhat clumsily, to hop on the wearables bandwagon, electronics firms like Garmin are diversifying into smartwatches that look less and less like small computers. And above them all towers the Apple Watch, will which go into its second generation in September 2016, and probably still look like an Apple Watch.

Unlike smartwatches from Apple and Samsung, the Garmin Fenix Chronos has a distinctive fitness and outdoors slant. The Fenix Chronos, or “fēnix® Chronos” in Garmin-speak, is essentially an upgraded version of the basic Fenix 3 fitness smartwatch.

It’s a large watch, measuring 51mm in diameter and 16mm high. Besides the steel or titanium for the case and bracelet, the Fenix Chronos also features a sapphire crystal.

External parts aside, the Fenix Chronos is functionally similar to the basic models, with a long list of bells and whistles expected for a watch like this. They include GPS navigation, barometer, heart rate monitor, as well as smartwatch functions like email and text notifications, but also functions for specific sports like cycling, running, golfing and swimming – even a hunting and fishing calendar.

Compatible with both iOs and Android, the fully charged Fenix Chronos will run a week in smartwatch mode, 25 hours in UltraTac battery saver mode, and 13 hours in GPS navigation mode. It’s water-resistant to 100m.

Fenix Chronos titanium

The Fenix Chronos is available in titanium with a titanium bracelet that is unusually constructed, being an elastomer strap with individual titanium links attached on top. And it’s also available in 316L stainless steel – the same grade of steel used for most pricey watches – with either a leather strap or steel link bracelet. All versions are also accompanied by a silicone strap that is easily swapped.

Because of the alloys used, the Fenix Chronos weighs as much as a conventional timepiece, with the steel bracelet version weighing 186g or 6.56oz.

Fenix Chronos steel

Price and availability 

The Fenix Chronos costs US$1499 in titanium, US$999 in steel with a bracelet and US$899 in steel on a leather strap. This compares with the basic Fenix 3, which is just US$499.

Panerai returns to its roots with the pleasingly traditional Luminor 1950 3 Days PAM00673, a limited edition of 1000 watches modelled on the ref. 6152/1, complete with retro-style gilded pencil hands.

It’s been a hyperactive year for Panerai, having introduced new models at SIHH 2016, followed by a half dozen more just a few months later, plus a quartet of blue dial Special Editions, and the whopper of a watch, the Radiomir 1940 minute repeater. Many of the new releases diversify away from Panerai’s usual style, but in a smart manner, as with the slim Luminor Due for example.

The newest from Panerai, however, is eminently traditional. While it is more of the same, the classic Panerai aesthetic is timeless and compelling. The Luminor 1950 3 Days PAM673 ticks all the boxes for the vintage feel: a 47mm Luminor case in stainless steel, matte sandwich dial, engraved “Marine Militare”, and gold-plated pencil hands. In fact, the new PAM673 is essentially the Radiomir 1940 “Marina Militare” PAM587 with a crown locking mechanism.

Inside is the hand-wound P.3000 movement, a calibre with three days’ power reserve that is found in most hand-wind 47mm Panerai watches. The P.3000 inside is the second generation variant, with separate bridges for the gear train, but functionally identical to the first generation.

Price and availability 

Limited to 1000 pieces, the Panerai Luminor 1950 3 Days PAM00673 is priced at US$10,200, €9900, or S$14,600. It is available from Panerai boutiques worldwide.

Perhaps the most famous luxury watch ever, the Rolex Datejust is over 70 years old, but looks much the same as it did decades ago.

The unchanging aesthetic belies the significant improvements Rolex has made to its bestseller, culminating in the latest Datejust 41, powered by the next generation calibre 3235 movement. Though the new ceramic Daytona and Air-King got way more press at Baselworld 2016, the Datejust 41 unveiled at the same time is arguably more important, simply because Rolex will sell many, many more of them.

Rolex introduced the new Datejust 41 at Baselworld 2016 and was careful to keep the familiar Rolesor – that’s Rolex parlance for two-tone steel and gold – aesthetic that is simultaneously instantly recognisable, a status symbol in many places, and yet rather dated. For those seeking an exciting new look, move along.

Though the Datejust seems unchanged, it has been subtly and artfully tweaked, looking better for it. The Datejust’s makeover is similar to that given to last year’s Day-Date 40, giving it better proportions, along with stylistic refinements like slimmer lugs.

The major facelift

The Datejust 41 replaces the Datejust II, which was clumsily proportioned. The issue with the Datejust II (and also its cousin the Day-Date II) was that it relied on a movement designed for a smaller watch, despite being a larger watch. That led to an overly wide bezel and a disproportionately date window. Together these design elements threw the Datejust II off balance.

Though it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly is new with the Datejust 41, the whole look is obviously better. The new Datejust 41 is the same size as the watch it replaces, but has much better balance because the movement inside was designed from the ground up to fit the 41mm case.

The laser engraved flange bearing the serial number at six o’clock that’s standard on all Rolex watches

That’s obvious in the details: the bezel is appropriately sized, and so is the date window. Overall it feels properly sized, albeit still as old-fashioned – or a timelessly classic to be kind – as before.

Twin dots underneath the Rolex logo on the crown mean it’s a Twinlock with two seals for water-resistance

Awesome Oyster 

The Datejust 41 case also feels more refined thanks to lugs that taper a tiny bit more, ending in a finer point. The steel case, like many other external components of a Rolex watch, is wonderfully well made. Robust, rigid and rated to 100m, the Oyster watch case is almost as good as it gets.

The same can be said of the impressively engineered Oysterclasp. Spring-loaded and exceptionally well finished, even on the underside, the Oysterclasp won’t win awards for progressive design or beauty, but it’s a lovely piece of engineering.

Next generation movement

More substantive is the calibre 3235 inside the Datejust 41. It’s the second specimen of Rolex’s next generation movements to emerge from the secretive Geneva giant; the first was the calibre 3255 in the Day-Date 40.

The calibre 3235 inside the Datejust 41 boasts several features that improve its practicality and usability, many of which were pioneered on the Day-Date 40. Invisible and difficult to grasp for the layman, such innovations are actually significant progress in how a mechanical watch works and is used.

To start with, the calibre 3235 has a 70-hour power reserve, or about three days. That means it can be removed on Friday and picked up again on Monday without stopping over the weekend. That’s made possible with a redesigned gear train (the wheels that transmit power from the mainspring to the oscillator) that functions more efficiently, as well as a thin-walled barrel which means a longer mainspring can fit inside.

Further efficiency gains come from the patented Chronergy escapement, a redesigned lever escapement that beats with 15 per cent less energy than a conventional escapement.

And unlike most movements with date functions that should not be set in the hours before and after midnight, the date on the Datejust can be set at anytime without upsetting the mechanism.

Price and availability 

The Datejust 41 is currently only available in Rolesor, which is a combination of steel and either yellow gold or Everose gold. It is offered either with an Oyster or Jubilee bracelet, as well as a choice of a smooth or fluted bezel. A variety of dials are available, including the top of the line with diamond hour markers.

The options are relatively limited for now, but over time it will surely expand to dozens. References for the variants are as follows:

Datejust 41 ref. 126301 – Steel and Everose gold with Oyster bracelet and smooth bezel
Datejust 41 ref. 126303 – Steel and yellow gold with Oyster bracelet and smooth bezel
Datejust 41 ref. 126331 – Steel and Everose gold with Jubilee bracelet and fluted bezel
Datejust 41 ref. 126333 – Steel and yellow gold with Jubilee bracelet and fluted bezel

They are available at Rolex retailers, starting at US$12,300 or €11,450, and rising to US$15,000 or €13,000 for the diamond-marker model.

The compact, formal men’s watch went into retreat starting in the mid-2000s, as the diameters of wristwatches grew and grew and grew some more. Large, aggressively styled watches by the likes of Audemars Piguet, Hublot and Richard Mille are the quintessential wrist accessory of this era, so much so that Swiss bank Vontobel estimates that they are the only three brands that enjoyed revenue growth in 2015.

But the plain and simple men’s dress watch has come back to the fore, a trend complimented by the rising popularity of retro-inspired timepieces (case in point: Longines’ most recent launch, the Heritage 1969). This return to the past is driven by several factors, the earliest being Chinese consumers’ taste for conservatively styled, thin timepieces, Chinese demand for high-end watches has since declined. And the recession also had an impact, since revived the desire to spend discreetly. The rise of what is loosely defined as hipster culture is also relevant, since more discreet watches chime with all things artisanal, curated and purveyed.

Less apparent but also important is the business argument for smaller timepieces. Watch manufacturers are generally pleased with this return to classics, since thin watches require less precious metal to produce, lowering costs and the resulting retail price, a big plus in today’s slow market (the Swatch Group’s recent results are a striking illustration of this).

Historically the men’s dress watch was plain and unadorned, with typically devoid of any complications. Classics like the Patek Philippe Calatrava and Lange 1815 typify this genre. While most of them are round, some of best-loved, ageless designs are rectangular; the Cartier Tank in particularly has enjoyed unparalleled longevity.

A vintage Cartier Tank Normale with enamelled brancards

The mechanics of the ultra-thin watch reached their zenith in the 1970s and 1980s, paradoxically as a consequence of the popularity of the quartz watch. Battery-powered timepieces are still exceptionally slim, and that became the style du jour as quartz watches took the world by storm. Watch enthusiasts with memories long enough will remember the slim wristwatches with fine gold mesh bracelets that were all the rage back then.

Mechanical timepieces tried, and failed, to compete with quartz watches by as slim, or even thinner. Traditional watchmakers went all in, all attempting to outdo one another in creating extra-slim mechanical movements.

Several records were set in this period, including those for the thinnest hand-wound and thinnest automatic movement ever made. Both records still stand, though Jean Lassale, the company that engineered these delicate marvels, has long gone out of business. Founded in 1976, Jean Lassale made wristwatches that were so incredibly thin – its manual wind calibre was just 1.2mm high – strapping them on too tightly would stop the watch as the crystal would press against the hands.

Some of the innovations Jean Lassale devised, like the hanging barrel and floating wheels mounted on ball bearings, live on in various movements after the firm’s patents were bought by Lemania, which sold the resulting calibres to brands like Vacheron Constantin.

Today things have come full circle, with Piaget introducing the thinnest watch on the market in 2014, only to be surpassed by Jaeger-LeCoultre a year later when it unveiled the Master Ultra Thin Squelette. And unsurprisingly, several features of the movement that allow the entire watch to be just 3.65mm high are derived from the innovations pioneered by Jean Lassale, including using the case back of the watch as the plate to mount the movement components.

Reviving old ideas also illustrates that there are physical limits to the thinness of mechanical movements, which is why nearly all major watch brands today that boast ultra-thin movements still rely on designs that are several decades old.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre calibre 849 inside the Master Ultra Thin Squelette and Vacheron Constantin calibre 1003 were conceived in the sixties, while the Audemars Piguet calibre 2121 in the Royal Oak Extra-Thin “Jumbo” was introduced in the seventies. And the irony of the matter is that despite the different labels on the dial, all three calibres were originally developed by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

That even holds true for complicated movements. Bulgari claimed the title of the world’s thinnest minute repeater earlier this year with the Octo Finissmo, a brand new timepiece powered by a movement developed in 1981 by Gerald Genta.

Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo minute repeater, powered by a movement that was developed 30 years ago

The return of the classic men’s dress watch is colliding with the rise of the Apple Watch. The oblong Apple Watch is as far removed from the classic men’s watch as a Prius is from a Ferrari, but computer maker alone sells some 12 million Apple Watches a year, compared with 28 million for the whole of Switzerland.

The fact that the Apple Watch proudly looks like a gadget is one reason why some in high-end watchmaking are confident it will not supplant the traditional wristwatch. The belief that a bespoke suit and finely crafted shoes require an old school wristwatch is strong.

Some watch brands – Frederique Constant being one of the first – at the low to mid range of the market, however, are instead trying to create smart watches that resemble conventional timepieces. These smart watches are entirely analogue, relying on hands to display information from the activity tracker and alarm function, proving that even at the cutting edge of wrist technology the classic watch is back in vogue.

This story is based on an editorial originally published in The Peak Singapore magazine.

Announced just earlier this year, the Mars Exploration Program is the most recently announced leg of space programme led by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the country’s space agency. The press conference for the unveiling of the Mars rover in Beijing on August 23 was also the occasion to reveal TAG Heuer as the official timekeeper for the Mars programme.

TAG Heuer chief executive Jean-Claude Biver, who manages to be everywhere all the time, stood alongside Liu Jizhong, Director of the lunar exploration program and space engineering center under the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, in the watchmaker’s latest bid to build a long term presence in China. Though there’s no word yet on what exactly being the project’s timekeeper entails, TAG Heuer will surely aim to put one of its timepieces on the surface of Mars.

Liu Jizhong with Jean-Claude Biver, who’s sporting a replica of John Glenn’s Project Mercury stopwatch

The sports watchmaker is styling this appointment as a return to form, given that it was the first watchmaker in space with an American astronaut, though it wasn’t a watch that up. John Glenn wore a Heuer stopwatch converted into a wristwatch with an elastic strap when he became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962 on Mercury-Atlas 6.

John Glenn in February 1962, with the stopwatch visible on his right wrist

Glenn’s stopwatch, now in the Smithsonian

A TAG Heuer wristwatch arriving on Mars is still some way off, with the 200kg, unmanned Chinese rover expected to land on the Red Planet – which would require a journey of several months – in 2020. It will be dispatched on a Long March-5 rocket launched from Hainan island in Southern China.

Update August 25, 2016: Additional information on rover and launch.

Famous as the watch that went to the Moon, the Omega Speedmaster Professional remains part of NASA’s approved equipment for space. The Moonwatch is a no-frills, almost basic wristwatch, powered by the reliable but decades-old Lemania calibre 1872 (also known as the Omega calibre 1861).

Since its tryst with destiny in 1969, the Moonwatch has steadily evolved, improved, and gotten a lot fancier. The Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon “Meteorite” is one of the most elaborate variants to date, boasting a murderer’s row of features and innovations, inside and out – admittedly at a hefty price.

The meteorite Speedmaster is essentially a dressed up version of the ceramic Speedy that made it debut three years ago as the Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon (DSOTM). With almost all the external components made of ceramic – case, bezel, back, dial and even buckle – the DSOTM was an impressive feat of manufacturing technology.

Since then the DSOTM has grown to include white, grey and all the shades in between, somewhat diluting the novelty of the product. The Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon “Meteorite” brings back a tiny bit of the novelty with a meteorite dial.

Distinguished by abstract striations that resemble Impressionist brushstrokes, meteorite is a fitting material for the Moonwatch, but the latest Speedmaster is not the first to have cosmic rock for the dial. That distinction goes the Speedmaster Apollo-Soyuz 35th Anniversary (ref. 311.30.42.30.99.001) of 2010.

Rubble from the heavens

Exotic as it sounds meteorite is not a rare material, since thousands of cosmic rocks have fallen to Earth. National Geographic says over 60,000 meteorites have been discovered on the planet, while according to Cornell’s Astronomy Department the mass of sizeable meteorites that hit Earth each year is in the thousands of kilograms – that’s several tonnes a year.

Meteorites are either iron or stony, but iron meteorites are the inevitable choice for decorative objects, because of the attractive Widmanstätten pattern on the material. The material was first used for watch dials in the 1980s, with Corum being one of the first to do so. Since then meteorite, like many other fads in high-end watchmaking, has waxed and waned in popularity, being found on inexpensive watches, and also on last year’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Calendar Meteorite.

While the material itself is abundant, turning meteorite into a watch dial requires some skill. The rock is first cut into a tube, then sliced thinly to produce a dial disc that’s then polished. Being hard and delicate, the disc is prone to cracking, which makes it fortunate the material is not in short supply. An important process then follows: etching with acid (Nital, a mix of nitric acid and methanol) to highlight the distinctive Widmanstätten pattern of the material, something demonstrated in this Youtube clip.

Irregular and characterised by geometric striations, the Widmanstätten pattern is the result of the nickel-iron crystals inside iron meteorite, which are basically giant chunks of iron. Such meteorites are mostly made up of kamacite and taenite, minerals composed of iron and nickel, which react differently to acid, bringing the Widmanstätten into greater relief. The broad, lighter coloured streaks are kamacite, the narrow, darker bands are taenite, while the smoother areas are plessite, a combination of the two minerals.

From the stars to Namibia, and then to Bienne

The particular meteorite that supplied the material for Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon the Gibeon, a massive rock that hit Earth in prehistoric times, fragmenting into thousands of pieces strewn over several hundred kilometres in modern day Namibia. Weighing some 26 tonnes (according to the Meteoritical Society, a non-profit that studies the cosmos and catalogues meteorites), the Gibeon was discovered in 1836 and has been the source of meteorite for jewellery since.

Aside from the dial, the Grey Side of the Moon “Meteorite” is identical to the various “Sides of the Moon” Speedmasters. The case is ceramic and 44.24mm in diameter, big enough it won’t be missed on the wrist.

Unlike ceramic cases found in lower-priced watches that are uniformly glossy on all surfaces, the grey case of the Speedmaster is sintered, milled into shape and then polished. The result is a finish that resembles metal, with alternating brushed and polished surfaces intersected by neat borders. It looks good up close, revealing a precise finish that few can match; Audemars Piguet does with its ceramic Offshore watches that are perhaps superior in finishing, but much more expensive.

The sapphire crystal on the meteorite Speedmaster is a bit more elaborate than usual, with a “box-shape” form. Essentially a dome with a flat top and an angled edge, the box-shape sapphire crystal was historically found only on higher end timepieces or most notably, Grand Seiko, given the extra cost to produce, compared to a flat crystal. That being said, the advance of technology has made box-shaped crystal more common, even on watches like the accessibly priced Longines Heritage 1969.

Rosy forever

The bezel is 18k Sedna gold, Omega’s patented red gold alloy that never fades. Sedna gold is also used for the hands and applied hour markers, which give the dial contrast and an expensive air.

Ordinary rose or pink gold tends to lose its rosy lustre over time as chlorine encountered in daily life (in tap water for instance) dissolves the copper molecules on the metal’s surface, taking away its pink colour. Sedna gold, on the other hand, is colour-fast thanks to the addition of palladium that protects the copper molecules. The Everose alloy that’s proprietary to Rolex relies on a similar formula, using platinum instead, to ensure permanent color.

To get the grey filling on the bezel, it is first engraved to create relief lettering and then coated with silicon nitride, a hard, grey ceramic that’s also used to make the case of the featherweight Rado HyperChrome Ultra Light. Then the bezel is polished down to render the ceramic flush with the metal, creating a smooth surface.

Calibre 9300

The Speedmaster meteorite is powered by the calibre 9300, one of Omega’s top of the line movements that’s put together in a high-tech facility in Grenchen, the hometown of movement giant ETA. It’s a large – large enough it almost fills up the 44mm case – fully featured chronograph movement with all the bells and whistles: column wheel, vertical clutch, silicon hairspring, and Co-Axial escapement.

Functionally it also has a long list of features, including hour and minute counters on the same register at nine o’clock, an independently adjustable hour hand for setting when crossing time zones, and a 60-hour power reserve.

Like the rest of Omega’s high-end movements, it’s finished with Cotes de Arabesques, a spiral damascening on the bridges and rotor. All of the decoration is mechanically applied, but attractively and elaborately done.

The only thing it is missing is the magnetism resistance of Omega’s latest generation of movements, the METAS-certified Master Co-Axial calibres that are unaffected by magnetic fields in excess of 15,000 Gauss, equivalent to some MRI machines. But that upgrade will surely come on the next generation of chronograph movements.

Costing just under US$16,000, the Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon “Meteorite” is a lot of movement relative to the average Omega. In fact, it’s about 25 per cent more expensive than the basic Dark Side of the Moon.

But on its own merits the Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon “Meteorite” is a lot of watch for the money, literally. There is a lot in it, in terms of materials, movement features and even manufacturing quality.

Pricing and availability 

Available starting September 2016, the Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon “Meteorite” (ref. 311.63.44.51.99.001) is priced at US$15,600, €12,800 or S$20,200.

Manufacture Royale’s latest is a variation of its Androgyne Origine tourbillon, characterised by a large, peculiar and mechanical-looking case. The Androgyne Royale is equipped with a skeleton movement with the bridges, base plate and tourbillon cage finished with a bright blue or grey coating.

The Androgyne watch case is instantly recognisable, 43mm in diameter with articulated, screwed lugs and very large screws on the bezel for a steampunk-ish look. At 10.2mm high, however, the case is slimmer than expected given the styling. While the case is an acquired taste, the movement is more easily digestible.

The MR06 calibre inside is hand-wound with a flying tourbillon regulator with a silicon escape wheel. The movement has been open-worked in a modern style, forming long, arching bridges. This reveals the linear layout of the movement, one that’s typical of most tourbillons, with the mainspring at 12 o’clock, gear train in the centre, and tourbillon at six.

Manufacture Royale is named after the short-lived watch factory established by Voltaire while he was living in Geneva after being banned from Paris by the French king; perhaps also explaining the origin of the apocryphal quote oft attributed to him: “If you see a Swiss banker jumping out of a window, follow him, there is surely money to be made.”

Though small in scale with only a handful of models in its catalogue, Manufacture Royale enjoys the advantage of having its own movement factory in the form of sister company TEC Ebauches. This has allowed the brand to develop watches with in-house movements that are priced competitively, like the novel 1770 Voltige.

Pricing and availability 

In a similar vein, the Androgyne Royale is priced at US$61,600 or SFr56,000, a lot of money but not so much as such watches go. This puts the Androgyne in the same ballpark as similar watches from a similarly equipped and positioned brand, Arnold & Son (and by extension its sister company Angelus).

In a video to promote the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games that went viral, the serious faced Japanese Prime Minister transformed into Super Mario, the iconic character from Nintendo’s hit video game. With help from another legend of Japanese pop culture, blue robot cat Doraemon, the PM then popped out of a green drainpipe dressed Super Mario in at the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics, much to the delight of the internet. #AbeMario instantly began trending on Twitter.

From politician to plumber

In the scene preceding his transformation into the Italian plumber, Abe is shown riding in a Toyota Century, the Japanese carmaker’s top of the line automobile that’s sold only in Japan, and the only one it makes with a V12 engine. In the same scene, however, the the prime minister is shown checking his wristwatch, which is a 1960s Omega Constellation “C-Case” in stainless steel.

The Omega logo and chronometer text are recognisable

At least the car’s Japanese

Distinctive for its cushion-shaped case (said to resembled a pair of interlocking Cs hence the name), the Constellation C was designed by Gerald Genta, and was chronometer certified. But it is not a Seiko or Citizen or any other Japan-made wristwatch, a missed opportunity for the country’s modest watchmakers no doubt.

Screenshots credit to NHK

Vacheron Constantin overhauled its entire line of sports watches in 2016, not just restyling the Overseas but also endowing the range with new, in-house movements. Arguably the sportiest of the new range is the Overseas Chronograph (ref. 5500V), the largest watch of the line that’s powered by the calibre 5200. Vacheron Constantin’s latest is a contestant in a brutal arena, with rivals like Patek Philippe Nautilus Travel Time ref. 5990 and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph, and to a lesser extent Richard Mille, that dominate the ring. The bar is set high.

Lots of attention has been put into the styling of the new Overseas, which manages to look different while sticking to the familiar form of past versions. Much of the detailing, however, is subtle enough to go unnoticed on first pass.

At 42.5mm in diameter, the Overseas Chronograph is big enough to look and feel like a sports watch on the wrist; though the Overseas World Time is larger, the chronograph looks sportier. It’s not immediately apparent but the case sides rise outwards, so the bezel of the watch is larger than its footprint, which enhances the perception of size – not a bad thing in a sports watch. Though new Overseas retains the signature notched bezel of the line, the case shape is more ovoid than round, which gives it a slight seventies vibe.

While the bezel is an obvious nod towards the arms of the Maltese cross, the logo of Vacheron Constantin, less obvious are notches in the screw-down crown and pushers that sit at an angle, also being inspired by the arms of the Maltese cross.

Looks aside, a luxury sports watch has to be nuanced and refined. The case of the Overseas Chronograph manages this, with neatly brushed surfaces that insect with wide, polished bevels on the edges. The contrasting surface finishing of the metal continues with the bracelet, with each link shaped like an arm of the Maltese cross. That being said, the Overseas case is not quite as complex as that of the Royal Oak.

Three dial colours are offered for the Overseas Chronograph, with the easiest to like being the deep blue. The colour works well with a sports watch, and is executed with a glossy, slightly translucent lacquer that gives the dial a mirrored effect at certain angles. And depending on how the light hits the dial, the shade of blue changes from dark to bright.

That being said, though the blue dial seems to be the archetype for this genre of watch, the chestnut dial is the most eye-catching of the lot. A rich brown shade with a metallic finish, the chestnut dial shades red and even purple at certain angles. A more detailed story on the chestnut chronograph will be forthcoming.

The dial design sticks to a well worn route, no risks were taken but the dial is handsome. One advantage the Overseas Chronograph has over its siblings in the line-up is the utility of the outermost minute scale with hashmarks for a quarter of a second.  The prototype pictured show hashmarks for a fifth of a second, which is incorrect. The production watches have quarter second hashmarks.

That is functional, since the chronograph can record up to a eighth of a second, running at 28,800 beats per hour (that’s eight beats per second). On the Overseas watches without chronographs, the extra minute scale looks superfluous since there’s no elapsed seconds hand to stop.

The first in-house automatic chronograph 

The calibre 5200 is Vacheron Constantin’s first in-house automatic chronograph, with all the features associated with modern, high-end stopwatches: the start-stop of the chronograph is controlled by a column wheel, while the power transmission relies on a vertical clutch. The calibre 5200 a largish movement, measuring 30.6mm in diameter, which helps give the face balance by allowing the chronograph registers to sit closer to the perimeter of the dial. Fortunately, it is also slim, being 6.6mm high. And the calibre 5200 has twin barrels for a 52-hour power reserve.

Though the movement is quite large, the chronograph components like the column wheel and levers are comparatively small. That’s because the calibre 5200 is built on the self-winding calibre 5100 in the Overseas Automatic (ref. 4500V), necessitating a compact layout.

Most of the movement is hidden underneath large bridges, though details like the relief compass rose on the rotor and Maltese cross column wheel are attractive. While the features pass muster, the movement is not particularly beautiful from a design perspective.

Up close the movement decoration is pleasing, and meeting the criteria of the Poinçon de Genève, or Geneva Seal. That means the decoration is neat and consistent, with most done by hand, sometimes with a bit of help from a machine. Put simply the finishing is on par with competitors in the same genre and price range.

Notably, the in-house movement is a big plus in its favour when compared against the Royal Oak Chronograph, which still relies on the sophisticated and compact Frederic Piguet calibre 1185 made by Blancpain.

The Overseas Chronograph is very good, ticking all the right boxes. In terms of tangible features and quality it holds its own against the competition. But because the competition is so entrenched, dislodging them requires an monumental, exceptional timepiece.

Versions and pricing 

The steel version is packaged with three strap options, rubber, alligator and a steel bracelet, while the rose gold model is supplied with only rubber and alligator straps. Like all the watches in the Overseas range, the chronograph has a quick strap change mechanism – pull a tab on the back of the bracelet and it comes off.

The Overseas Chronograph is priced at US$28,900 or S$44,500 in stainless steel and US$49,000 or S$75,500 in rose gold. That puts it right in the middle of the price range, with the Royal Oak Chronograph priced about 17 per cent less, while the Nautilus Travel Time costs twice as much (surely worthy of a discussion on value for money).

While it still costs a large sum of money, the Overseas Chronograph is positioned equitably since it’s equipped with an in-house movement, which the Royal Oak lacks, but does not have any other complication besides the chronograph and date (the Nautilus has an extra time zone, but justifying the price is another matter).

The Overseas Chronograph is available from Vacheron Constantin retailers.

Correction August 23, 2016: Included explanation of the hashmarks for the seconds scale on the dial, which will be marked for quarter seconds on the production version.