The third instalment in Roger Dubuis’ inventive series of watches that draw on the legend of King Arthur and his round table, the Excalibur Knights of the Round Table III is the most avant-garde of the trio.

While the earlier editions featured 12 engraved and almost photorealistic bronze knights sitting on a black jade dial adorned with Celtic motifs, the new edition is decidedly more futuristic.

The knights are designed in “low poly”, a technique used in 3D modelling that relies on a smaller number of polygons to create faceted, and almost minimalist sculptures. Each knight is cast in gold, engraved and then hand-finished.

The table on which the knights present their swords is crafted from solid, wedge-shaped blocks of blue enamel alternating with pink gold inlay, and the entire dial takes some 45 hours to complete.

The watch is equipped with the self-winding Calibre RD 821 and bears the Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark.

Like the past two editions, the watch takes the form of Roger Dubuis’ 45mm Excalibur case which has a notched bezel and matching crown. As is tradition with the Knights of the Round Table series, the case back is engraved with the knights’ pledge as put forth by Merlin: “Around this table, the bravest knights will gather as equals. They will set forth in search of adventure, righting wrongs, protecting the weak and humbling the proud.”

Price and Availability

The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Knights of the Round Table III is a limited edition of 28 pieces, priced at SFr285,000 or S$388,000.

Produced from 1994 to 2005, Der Fliegerchronograph ref. 3706 was IWC’s first mechanical pilot’s chronograph, and one of the bestsellers during a period the IWC was resolutely Swiss-German. Together with the Mark XII and Der Doppelchronograph, it marked the return of IWC pilot’s watches in the post-quartz era. All of them relied on the same design language, inspired by the Mark 11 made for the Royal Air Force in the 1950s.

With the Mark XII just having been remade, now it’s the turn of the Pilot’s Chronograph (English only please), as an online-only reissue of the original. The most significant difference is size, it’s now 43mm compared to 39mm before.

The design of the dial is virtually identical, right down to the day-date display. Unlike the current line-up of Pilot’s watches, the reissue has baton hands, a slim typeface as well as a quarter-seconds track for measuring shorter periods of time – just like the original ref. 3706. In fact, it almost looks like how a 20-year old ref. 3706 would look today, with faux-patina lume on the indices and hands that mimic the look of aged tritium.

And the remake is powered by the same movement, the cal. 79320, which is still based on the reliable Valjoux 7750. But because the case has been enlarged while the movement diameter stays the same, the proportions of the dial are noticeably different from the ref. 3706.

As with all IWC pilot’s watches past and present, the movement is protected by a soft iron, antimagnetic inner cage.

Price and Availability  

Delivered on a green fabric NATO-style strap, the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Ref. IW377724 is available exclusively in the USA on iwc.com, priced at US$4,950, until September 2018. It will be available worldwide starting October 2018.

Patek Philippe is only known to have made a dozen or so watches in titanium, each a unique piece, with the most recent being last year’s titanium grand complication for Only Watch. Several of those were made for a charitable cause, which is again the rationale behind the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time ref. 5524T-010 in titanium. It’s a one of a kind creation, destined to be sold at Christie’s in October 2018, with proceeds going to Geneva charity Children Action.

Both the case and dial are unique on the titanium Calatrava Pilot, which is the third titanium watch Patek Philippe has put together for the charity. The case is titanium with a matte finish, while the ordinary versions are polished white or rose gold. And the dark grey dial has a hand-applied, vertically brushed finish.

The watch will be sold on October 15, 2018 at Christie’s Geneva. More details to come soon.