Watches by Pierre DeRoche always have something a bit unusual. For one thing, this is the first watch by the brand to have a solid dial: all their other watches, such as the TNT Chrono 43 or the TNT Royal Retro Skull, have deconstructed dials that reveal part of the movement. The TNT GMT Power Reserve 43 combines the tough, stealth-like looks of the 43 mm TNT case with a more classical dial that has a power reserve display at bottom left balanced by the GMT subdial at top right, and a banker’s date arrangement, a long date hand with crescent tip pointing to numerals on the inner bezel flange. It’s a truly tough, all-weather watch, with a screw-lock crown and a water resistance rating of 100 metres. It could be placed in the “sports watch” category (click here for the Top Ten Sports Watches).
Distinctive hour and minute hands, seconds rotor
The hour and minute hands have a jaunty design, mirrored by the small GMT hand showing the time in a second time zone. At first glance, there seems to be no indication of the seconds, but in fact the small rotor on top of the central pivot for the hands rotates and shows that the watch is running. I think that the reason for reducing the seconds hand to a rotor is to improve dial visibility. There is SuperLuminova on the hour and minute hands, and the hour indices.
Self-winding Dubois Dépraz movement
You can see the same four-blade design on the centres of the rotor visible through the sapphire caseback. The rotor has an interesting trellis structure. All time adjustments are performed through the crown: the pusher at 10 o’clock is for quick date adjustment. The movement is made by Dubois Dépraz, the movement-manufacturing company owned by the three Dubois brothers, one of whom – Pierre – founded Pierre DeRoche with his wife Carole in 2004. The movement is self-winding, with a power reserve of 42 hours, and 21 jewels (curiously, the engraving on the rotor in the photo says 49 jewels, perhaps it’s a prototype version).
Update: Pierre Dubois kindly answered my question about the number of jewels. “The movement has 21 jewels. As the plates covering the rotor ball bearing were not ready for Baselworld, we have put another one, available in our stock, with the “49 jewels” mention (Caliber N° PDR 4012 engraved refers to our TNT Penta chronograph). We apologize for this confusion, but when the watch will be delivered, it will be with the right plate! The watch will be available in early November 2017.” Thank you Pierre!
Versions and prices
The watch is made in two versions, one with a titanium and steel case and an anthracite black dial (reference TNT10012ACTI0-001CAO), and one with a black DLC-treated case and sand-toned dial and strap (reference TNT10012ACTI2-002CAO). The strap is in rubber with a folding clasp. The watches are two limited editions, each of 201 pieces. The version with anthracite black dial costs 13,900 Swiss francs, the version with sand-toned dial costs 14,100. Read more at the Pierre DeRoche website.
Pierre DeRoche TNT GMT Power Reserve 43, case in natural titanium with steel bezel and lugs, anthracite-coloured dial
Pierre DeRoche TNT GMT Power Reserve 43, case with black DLC finish, sand-coloured dial
This post was published on 3 April 2017 and updated on 25 June 2017.