Bucherer describe their new jewelled Manero Peripheral as a women’s watch, but personally I think that this timepiece is virtually unisex. The diamonds on the bezel are discreet and almost have a functional aspect: there are sixty diamonds, and so they mirror the divisions of the minute scale. The version with a chocolate-brown mother-of-pearl dial has a beautiful mottled tobacco look, you can almost sense the rich tang of a good cigar. As hygge as watch can get. 40.5 mm diameter makes it OK for just about all wrists.
Girlfriend watch
If a boyfriend watch is a men’s watch that a girl borrows for a night out, this could easily be a girlfriend watch. I mean, it’s only fair: the girls borrow our shirts, rugby shirts, dinner jackets, it’s time for a bit of equality. To be serious, this version of the Manero Peripheral joins the existing watch of the same name, without diamonds, introduced in 2016, more masculine in character. It’s the same timepiece, with the addition of jewels on the bezel.
Case and dial
The Manero Peripheral has classical looks, with its circular case, and dial with small seconds at 6 o’clock. At 11.2 mm thickness, it’s easy to wear with its alligator leather strap and stainless steel buckle. Water resistance is the usual 3 atm, 30 metres. The 60 diamonds on the bezel comprise a total of 0.6 carats of diamonds. The faceted hour indices are applied, and their shape is mirrored by the hour and minute hands.
Superb in-house movement
The watch changes character completely when you turn it over. The movement is modern in its bridge layout, with angular design enhanced by the Côtes de Genève finish. A constellation of jewels, and the differentiated gear finish, provide touches of colour.
The movement is the in-house CFB A2050, which has the brand’s hallmark peripheral winding rotor. The balance runs at 4 Hertz, 28,800 vibrations per hour; the movement provides 55 hours power reserve, and it is COSC-certified (max deviation -4/+6 seconds per day). Bucherer’s first in-house movement, the CFB A1000, was presented in 2009 after their purchase of movement design company Téchniques Horlogères Appliqués: the CFB A2050 is a development of that movement, with the same peripheral winding system in which the rotor runs on rollers and ball bearings, so without a central pivot. It has an adjustable mass balance, with inertia weights used for regulation.
References and prices
Two versions of the diamond-set Manero Peripheral are available. Reference 00.10917.08.73.11 has a white mother-of-pearl dial, and it costs $9,800 (last year’s men’s version without diamonds costs $7,200 in steel).
Reference 00.10917.08.83.11 has a chocolate-brown mother-of-pearl dial and it costs the same, $9,800.
More information from the Carl F. Bucherer website.