Initially available only in red gold or platinum, the Glashütte Original Senator Chronograph Panorama Date has just been introduced at Baselworld 2017 in stainless steel, for half of what it costs in gold.
The movement remains the same: the calibre 37-01. It’s an integrated, self-winding movement with a flyback function and a somewhat unusual dial. The 12-hour counter sits at 12 o’clock, while the large date display is at six o’clock, inverting the typical chronograph layout.
The calibre 37-01 was designed to be as compact as possible, with a streamlined construction. For instance, it uses a simplified horizontal coupling to transmit power from the base movement to the stopwatch, minimising the height of the chronograph mechanism.
The entire movement is just 8mm high, relatively slim given considering it’s automatic and has a big date mechanism. By comparison the manually wound calibre L951.1 in the Lange Datograph is 7.9mm high.
The steel case is 42mm in diameter, matched with a black dial featuring pale blue Super-Luminova for a look that leans towards sporty. It’s available with a leather or rubber strap, or a steel bracelet.
Price and availability
The Senator Chronograph Panorama Date (ref.1-37-01-03-02-07) in steel costs €13,500 or S$23,100. It will be available starting mid-2017.
Greubel Forsey introduced its first time-only wristwatch last year, and now that’s been joined by the Balancier, which adds a power reserve indicator into the mix.
Making its debut during Baselworld 2017, the Balancier shows the time – hours, minutes and seconds – as well as the mainspring’s state of wind in a fan-shaped sub-dial at one o’clock. But the highlight is the exposed balance wheel at eight o’clock that bulges from the case, a stylistic feature taken from the brand’s tourbillons.
The balance wheel is a large 12.6mm in diameter, and fitted with six gold screws for regulation. It’s in place by a V-shaped steel bridge like that used on the Greubel Forsey’s tourbillons. The bridge is gorgeously finished with black polished surfaces and rounded arms.
The rest of the watch is equally lavishly executed, with polished countersinks on the blued steel hands and a frosted solid gold dial.
But over on the back, most of the movement is hidden behind a full bridge that covered in minute, relief text expounding on the philosophy of creation, a recurring theme in Greubel Forsey. It’s a shame not more of the movement is visible, since it will undoubtedly be finished to an exemplary degree.
The movement is hand-wound with a 72-hour power reserve, while the case is white gold. It’s largish, typical of Greubel Forsey, being 43.5mm in diameter and 13.94mm high.
Price and availability
The Balancier is a limited edition of 33 pieces in white gold, priced at just over SFr200,000 (or about US$200,000). It’ll be available from Greubel Forsey retailers towards the end of 2017.
Aficionados of high-end mechanical watches will find it curious but the Chopard Happy Diamonds is one of the best selling ladies watches ever. The floating diamonds that are its signature have now been sprinkled into a diver’s watch for ladies that makes its debut Baselworld 2017.
The Happy Ocean is a 40mm, stainless steel diver that’s hard to take seriously at first glance but is nonetheless rated to 300m and equipped with Chopard’s in-house calibre 01.01-C.
Produced in the Fleurier factory that also makes Chopard’s top of the line L.U.C movements as well as the Ferdinand Berthoud chain and fusee tourbillon, the 01.01-C is automatic with a 60-hour power reserve.
The dial has a generic dive watch style, with five free floating diamonds above it. The stones sit in between two sapphire crystals, one just above the dial and the other a conventional crystal on the outside.
Available with red or green accents on the bezel, the Happy Ocean is delivered on a fabric NATO-style strap.
Price and availability
The Happy Ocean is priced at SFr8200 (about US$8230) and will be available starting July 2017.
Introduced almost 20 years ago, the Glashütte Original perpetual calendar is distinguished by its functional and legible display, with four windows for each element of the calendar. Now at Baselworld 2017 the perpetual calendar has finally received a major upgrade with a new base movement, the Senator Excellence calibre 36, at a minimal price increase of about 5%.
Unveiled last year in time-only form, the calibre 36 is a robust automatic movement that’s destined to become the workhorse movement for the brand. It has a useful four-day, or 100-hour, power reserve, nearly double the 55 hours of the calibre 100 found in the earlier versions of the perpetual calendar. And it also has a silicon hairspring and free-sprung balance.
The perpetual calendar mechanism, however, remains the same. The two-disc, oversized date display remains at four o’clock, with the day, month and moon phase almost symmetrically position in the remaining quadrants of the dial. A small sub-dial at 12 o’clock indicates the leap year.
Available in red gold or steel, the case is 42mm in diameter, while the dial for both is silver-plated with a grained finish. Notably, rather than just being printed, the markings on the dial are laser engraved and then filled with black lacquer.
Price and availability
The Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar in red gold (ref. 1-36-02-02-05-01) costs €32,300 or S$57,600.
And in steel (ref. 1-36-02-01-02-01) it will cost €19,800 or S$34,600.
Available in stores starting June 2017, both versions cost about 5% more than the calibre 100-equipped models they replace.
Resurrecting a name Zenith has used for various sports watches in the past, the Defy El Primero 21 is equipped with the El Primero 9004, one of the most significant improvements to Zenith’s signature chronograph movement since 1969, and the brand’s highlight at Baselworld 2017.
Equipped with two balance wheels and mainsprings, what Zenith labels a “double-chain structure”, the new chronograph has a resolution of 1/100th of a second. Constructed in a manner reminiscent of the TAG Heuer Mikrograph that has the same features, the new El Primero was unsurprisingly devised by a team that included engineers from TAG Heuer.
The timekeeping half of the “double-chain” is conventional El Primero, running at 36,00 beats per hour (bph), and self-winding with a power reserve of 50 hours.
The back of the El Primero 9004
The other half of the movement runs the fraction of a second chronograph. This has a second balance wheel that runs at 360,000bph or 50Hz, which explains its smaller size and very short hairspring.
Dial side of the new calibre
Because the 1/100th of a second chronograph has its own mainspring, it has a 50-minunte power reserve that’s independent from the main timekeeping portion of the movement. Manually wound via the crown (25 turns for a full wind), the chronograph power reserve is shown on the dial at 12 o’clock.
The balance for the regular timekeeping portion of the movement is visible at eight o’clock, with its mainspring at one o’clock
The 1/100th of a second measurement is shown on the central chronograph hand, while the counter at six o’clock measures 60 seconds, and that at three o’clock, 30 minutes. The constant seconds is at nine o’clock.
Notably, both hairsprings are made of “carbon-matrix carbon nanotube composite”, a carbon-based composite strengthened with carbon nanotubes. The material is light, resistant to magnetism, and patented by LVMH, Zenith’s parent company.
The Defy El Primero 21 is 44mm in diameter, with angular lines inspired by 1970s El Primero chronographs. It’s available in titanium with an open-worked or silver dial, or in ceramised aluminium with an open-worked dial. The latter is an aluminium alloy that’s been treated to create a black ceramic oxide layer on its surface.
Price and availability
The Defy El Primero 21 will arrive in stores at end-2017, priced as follows in Swiss francs and Singapore dollars.
Titanium, silver dial (ref. 95.9001.9004/01.R582) – SFr10,900 or S$16,600
Titanium, open-worked dial (ref. 95.9000.9004/78.R582) – SFr11,900 or S$18,100
Ceramised aluminium, open-worked dial (ref. 24.9000.9004/78.R582) – SFr12,900 or S$19,500
Update March 29, 2017: Delivery date amended to end-2017, and not midyear as previously stated.
Conceived for fresh graduates, or even students if they are so lucky, the Nomos Club Campus collection is made up of a trio of wristwatches for both men and women with an unusual dial design.
Just unveiled at Baselworld 2017, the Campus watches are priced slightly lower than the equivalent regular models, but are no less appealing. In fact, the Club Campus watches have dials with a combination of Arabic and Roman numerals, along with funky coloured accents.
Known as the California dial, such dials were found on early Rolex and Panerai wristwatches (the latter were made by Rolex as well). Legend has it the the California moniker arose in the 1980s thanks to a company based there that refinished vintage watch dials in this style.
Another feature unique to the range is the flat case back that can be personalised with a complimentary engraved message for the graduate.
The base model is the Campus Club, a 36mm wristwatch for ladies with a silver dial and the hour markers in pink.
The Club 38 Campus is 38.5mm and available in two colours. The first in silver with pale blue hour markers outlined in red, and the second is the Club 38 Campus Nacht with a dark grey dial.
All three Campus watches are equipped with the Alpha movement, a hand-wound calibre with a 43-hour power reserve. Though produced in-house by Nomos, the Alpha relies on the Peseux 7001 for its construction.
Price and availability
The Club Campus watches will reach Nomos retailers end March 2017, with prices as follow.
Club Campus – US$1500
Club 38 Campus – US$1650
Club 38 Campus Nacht – US$1650
Revealed the day before Baselworld 2017 opens, the Black Bay Chrono is an amalgamation of greatest hits from vintage Tudor, with a notable new movement.
Smaller than the Heritage Chrono, the Black Bay Chrono is equipped with the MT5813, a new calibre that is surprisingly the result of a collaboration with Breitling.
Basics
The case is similar to that of the Heritage Chrono “Monte Carlo”, but slightly smaller with a diameter of 41mm, giving it more manageable proportions. It’s also blessed with the same polished bevel along the length of the lugs.
Both the crown and pushers are screw-down – the pushers are fluted as on vintage “Mk 0” Tudor chronographs – while the bezel is fixed and engraved with a tachymetric scale.
While the case is familiar in style, the movement inside is brand new, though hidden underneath a solid back. Equipped with all the features of a modern chronograph movement, the MT5813 was developed by Breitling and is based on the Breitling 01 (or B01), Breitling’s flagship chronograph movement. Breitling also manufactures the movement for Tudor.
Running at 28,800 beats per hour or 4Hz, its key features are a silicon hairspring, automatic winding, three-day power reserve, as well as a foolproof date that can be adjusted at any time.
While produced by Breitling, the MT5813 is fitted with Tudor’s in-house adjustable mass balance wheel.
The chronograph mechanism is controlled by a column wheel, with a vertical clutch for power transmission.
It has the unusual feature of a 45-minute counter at three o’clock, instead of the conventional 30-minutes. The sub-dial at nine o’clock is for constant seconds.
In comparison, both versions of the Heritage Chronos are equipped with ETA movements topped with Dubois-Depraz chronograph modules – simple and low cost mechanics.
Design
Slightly glossy with a fine, granular surface, the dial is obviously appropriated from the bestselling Black Bay dive watch, with the same hour markers and snowflake hands.
But the elements have been redesigned to suit the chronograph, primarily by reducing the scale of the hands and hour markers. So the snowflake hour hand is noticeably smaller than on the dive watch, though it still obscures the chronograph registers at times.
The chronograph registers are concave and slightly bowl-shaped, giving the dial a hint of depth.
Another design element appropriated from vintage dive watches is the depth rating in red, which is matched by silver-tone print for the rest of the text.
Yea or nay
An evident amount of effort was put into blending in the disparate vintage watch elements, without it being a straightforward remake as several of the other Tudor Heritage models are. There was no vintage Tudor that looks like the Black Bay Chrono.
And the reason is simple: the combination of a tachymetre bezel, a feature ostensibly for automobile racers, and the dive watch dial is incongruous from a strictly academic perspective.
But on a more visceral, fingers-to-the-metal level, the Black Bay Chrono looks and feels good. The relatively subdued colour scheme gives it a serious, functional look, something that the colourful Monte Carlo chronographs can never achieve.
For the money – less than 10% more than the Monte Carlo chronograph – the Black Bay Chrono is an excellent buy.
Lastly, it should be noted the Black Bay Chrono is an addition to the Heritage line, and does not replace the Heritage Chrono “Monte Carlo”.
Price and availability
Available with a tan “pull-up” leather strap or steel bracelet with riveted links – both versions are also delivered with a fabric NATO-style strap – the Tudor Black Bay Chrono (ref. 79350) is priced at SFr4500 on strap and SFr4800 on bracelet.
In Singapore it’ll cost S$6480 on the strap and S$6912 with the bracelet.
It’ll be available in stores July 2017.
Update March 22, 2017: Background information regarding Breitling’s development of MT5813 movement, as well as pricing info.
Last year during an exclusive interview, Ed Meylan, H. Moser & Cie.‘s chief executive let on he was exploring the idea of entry-level, stainless steel wristwatch priced between SFr9000 and SFr11,000. Now that idea has become reality, albeit priced just over the upper end of the range, in the form of the Pioneer Centre Seconds Automatic, powered by the new HMC 200 movement.
With a stainless steel case, the new sports model is a simpler version of the Pioneer in 18k gold introduced two years ago. H. Moser has offered steel watches before, but only as limited editions (as a perpetual calendar for instance).
The Pioneer is water-resistant to 120m and appropriately matched with a rubber strap. And the dial is a dark blue fumé, with a graduated blue tone that’s a favourite of the brand.
Conceived as a workhorse movement that can also be produced economically, the HMC 200 movement inside is self-winding with a three-day power reserve. Unusually, it’s a slow beat movement running at 18,000 beats per hour (bph), perhaps a concession for a lengthier power reserve and ability to build complications on top.
The same calibre, but dressed up with an 18k gold rotor, is also found in the new Endeavour Centre Seconds Automatic. This is a three-hand, time-only wristwatch in an 18k gold case.
The 40mm case has the brand’s trademark concave flanks, while the dial has baton hour markers and leaf hands. It’s available in four different fumé colours.
Price and availability
The Pioneer Centre Seconds Automatic will cost SFr11,900 (about US$12,000).
And the Endeavour Centre Seconds Automatic is priced at SFr19,900 (about US$20,000).
