The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph is a superb watch, with a clear dial, sapphire caseback, 100 metres water resistance, movement with column wheel and vertical clutch, and easily interchangeable straps. Its price makes it relatively unaccessible to most people but it is a dream of a watch. It celebrates the classic 1968 Polaris Memovox in its…
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Polaris Chronograph WT is a fantastic watch, it does everything to perfection, and it combines the chronograph function with a very functional world time display. It’s large at 44 mm, but it wears smaller, it’s only 12.5 mm thick, and the use of titanium makes it pleasantly light – lighter than the Polaris Automatic…
Laureato by Girard-Perregaux returned to the market in 2016, and this year at SIHH, the brand presented the Laureato Chronograph in 38 and 42 mm sizes, with a range of dial colours and strap or bracelet options: steel or pink gold, three dial colours, silver, black and dark blue. It is slim at 11.9 mm…
The 1858 collection by Montblanc is developing very nicely, with its pilot’s inspired automatics and chronographs, and its creative use of colours and materials. The most striking piece shown by Montblanc at SIHH was this gigantic 1858 Pocket Watch Limited Edition 100, a 60mm watch, 20.8 mm thick. The two still photos provided by Montblanc…
It feels a bit strange writing about the Wancher Storm Jet chronograph on 14 January 2018, the day before the start of SIHH, the show in Geneva that presents new watches by many of the world’s most prestigious brands, names such as Cartier, Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, Audemars Piguet, Parmigiani Fleurier and so forth. But one…
The Strela Cosmos CO42LAB is a reproduction watch made by the Strela company which operates in Munich, Germany, founded by Russian-born engineer Juri Levenberg. It assembles watches with Russian-made movements, and they offer the chance to buy a watch with an interesting hand-wound cam-controlled chronograph movement visible through the caseback, at an attractive price: €745.…
Tutima’s original 1941 Flieger flyback chronograph is a watch that I have always admired, one of the first flyback chronographs, featuring the fluted rotating bezel with red marker that has since become a Tutima hallmark. Now one of these historic pieces – that Tutima say has a commercial value of about €8,000 today, which surprised…
Saxon One Royal Blue by Tutima Glashütte is a beautiful chronograph with a lovely shade of blue used for the dial. It is unusual in that it is one of the few chronographs offering a radically different display: in this case, with centre-pivot hands for both chronograph seconds and chronograph minutes. Everything is nicely organized and well…
MotoGP is an important part of Tissot’s sponsorship activities, and every year the brand celebrates this partnership with a new watch. The Tissot T-Race MotoGP Automatic Limited Edition 2017 is dedicated to Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo, currently riding for Ducati. It is large (45 mm across, 16 mm thick), bold in its black and rose…
Hamilton’s latest version of the Khaki Aviation X-Wind is an example of a fairly common trend in watches, making them look complicated and tough. This must be one of the meanest, toughest and most complex chronographs of all, with three crowns in addition to the usual chronograph pushers, and three rotating bezels. All this equipment…
The TAG Heuer Autavia is a lovely re-edition of a racing driver’s chronograph first introduced in 1962, with design by Jack Heuer. The historic version chosen for the re-edition was selected by online readers from a selection of 16 vintage models, a piece originally worn by F1 driver Jochen Rindt. The new version has a…
Glashütte Original‘s Calibre 37 integrated chronograph presented in 2014 was very classical, with Roman numerals and blued hands, in platinum and red gold variants. In 2017, a stainless steel version of the Senator Chronograph Panorama Date has been introduced, with younger looks provided by the extensive use on blue SuperLuminova on the hands and hour…
Zenith confirms the generalized move towards vintage styles and smaller case sizes with the Heritage 146 chronograph. It is directly inspired by a 1960s watch and it has a 38 mm-diameter steel case, 12.45 mm thick. A water resistance of 10 atm (100 metres) is higher than usual and gives you the assurance that you…
Montblanc presented a new version of its 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter Limited Edition on 17 October 2017 at SIAR in Mexico. It’s a watch that shows just how successful Montblanc has been in its treatment of the Minerva brand, part of the Montblanc world since 2007. Montblanc has retained the Minerva identity along with the historic…
The perpetual calendar chronograph is a neat concept because it can measure intervals of time that range from the smallest feasible for a mechanical watch, an eighth or sixth of a second, right through to the four years of the leap-year cycle. The combination of these two classic complications creates complex, expensive watches. Only a…
The Patek Philippe 5270R Perpetual Calendar Chronograph combines two classic watch complications into a single timepiece that privileges clarity on the dial. Most Patek Philippe watches reflect the idea of a practical timepiece, but this is something of an exception because the date subdial interrupts two of the three chapter rings, the seconds scale, and…
The new Chopard Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph is made in two versions, for men and women, with two dial sizes and different colours. They all have a movement that is not made in-house, but in any case COSC-certified. They are lower-cost versions of the spectacular Chopard Mille Miglia Classic XL, and they share a lot…
The new IWC Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month is a spectacular perpetual calendar chronograph. One of the four new Ingenieur watches introduced in September 2017, like the other three it has elements from the very first Ingenieur, model 666A introduced in 1955, such as the circular case, simple dial and the layout of hour markers…
This year’s Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition by Chopard is, like last year’s model, a celebration of motor racing. The dial has an engine-turned dial finish, and counters inspired by vintage car dashboards. The case has automotive-inspired pushers, and an unmistakable rubber strap that looks just like a tyre. The solid caseback hides a Valjoux…
The Mille Miglia Classic XL by Chopard is a very cool chronograph, one of the finest of the year. For several reasons. It’s a limited edition, just 90 pieces. It has a logical dial. There are not many chronographs with this degree of clarity. On a pure white background, all the scales are perfectly functional…