What Frederique Constant has succeeded in achieving over a relatively short period of time is astounding. Sufficient vertical integration to equip some of their watches with in-house movements, and pricing that they justifiably refer to as accessible luxury. At Baselworld 2017, Frederique Constant presented their “Flyback Chronograph Manufacture.” They say that the process of design…
Breitling’s Navitimer Rattrapante is an exceptional watch. It has a new in-house split-seconds chronograph movement that incorporates two patents, it is COSC chronometer-certified, and it operates using the most prestigious chronograph layout, column wheel and vertical clutch. It comes in two versions, steel and gold, and the gold version has a display caseback. The dial…
The Perrelet Turbine Chrono Sport is one of the few new chronographs to have a layout differing to the usual two or three subdials. The brand’s hallmark is the turbine on the dial, in this piece with a honeycomb texture (based on the segments of a soccer ball), which rotates with every movement of the…
Tutima, founded in Glashütte, Germany, in 1927, celebrates its 90th anniversary with a new version of the Tutima Fliegerchronograph made in the 1940s. At the time, the Fliegerchronograph was a landmark piece, perhaps the first German-made flyback chronograph. The flyback function was given the name Tempostopp at the time, and this has been used for…
The chronograph is the most common watch complication, but the basic design has remained substantially the same for almost a century. Every year, watch brands produce new chronograph models, all with two pushers for start/stop and reset. The field is wide open for innovation, but not many companies are investing into research. No pushers, just…
The new Teutonia Sport I by Mühle-Glashütte is the sports version of the Teutonia family, and so it joins the vast sector of automotive-inspired watchs. The touches of red on dial and strap provide an immediate identification with motor sports, reinforced by the technical-looking strap texture and the nice red piston-ring groove on the pushers.…
At Baselworld 2017, Eberhard & Co. celebrate their 130th anniversary with a new version of their classic Chrono 4 with four counters in a row. The counters display minutes, hours, 24 hours and small-seconds, with date at 12 o’clock. It’s a very unusual chronograph, launched originally in 2001. The arrangement was patented by Eberhard and…
Baume & Mercier have presented two chronographs with Valjoux 7750 movements as part of the Clifton Shelby Cobra collection. While the brand’s primary focus is on reference 10344, with a flyback chronograph, 10342 and 10343 are also two attractive watches, with a far more accessible price at 3,900 Swiss francs, €4,100, US $4,450. Consistent design…
The Baume & Mercier Shelby Cobra Limited Edition reference M0A10344 is a flyback chronograph and a tribute to the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé car. It’s a good-looking piece, undoubtedly the most distinctive watch in Baume & Mercier’s 2017 collection. Like previous versions of the flyback chronograph in the Capeland series, this watch is fairly expensive…
Baselworld is approaching, and all the watch nerds going there know that we’re going to see the usual swathe of chronographs based on the Valjoux 7750 calibre, which has been with us since 1973 and shows no signs of wanting to retire. This movement has helped perpetuate the chronograph layout with two or three subdials,…
The New Blue Seafire is part of the Spirit collection by Speake-Marin, comprising men’s watches with a military inspiration. As is customary for the brand, this watch is completely different to anything else out there and in particular, it has nothing in common with the customary pilot’s watch aesthetic. There are distant echoes in the…
Fizzy graded colours, squared cushion-shaped cases, a 1960s look: the new Sixties Iconic Square Collection by Glashütte Original continues the theme already launched by the Original Sixties Iconic collection. This is a limited edition collection, with just 25 pieces available for each of the five colours. Dials are made in Pforzheim by a company that…
I really like this watch, for several reasons. First of all, it’s a bit crazy. A massive, bulky piece, 50 mm in diameter, 15.2 mm thick, the sort of exaggerated passion that is quite unusual for a measured, Germanic brand such as Montblanc. It has a refreshing brashness. Second, it has some features which, refined…
This is the first watch presented by Richard Mille in 2017, and it reflects the partnership that he signed with McLaren in 2016, a ten-year agreement. It is based on Richard’s authentic passion for McLaren: he watched the McLaren team’s debut in Monaco in 1966. The watch incorporates high-tech materials such as titanium and Carbon…
Parmigiani Fleurier’s Bugatti Aérolithe Performance has changed a lot. With a titanium case 41 mm in diameter and 12.77 mm thick, the new features are visible above all on the dial, with double tachymeter scales in km/h and mph, in red and blue respectively, providing a link to the Bugatti car’s signature colours. There are…
The start of a regatta is pure adrenalin. You’re stooging around trying to keep your eyes on the imaginary starting line between the jury boat and the buoy, as well as on the other boats, and then there is a series of signals, for example one at five minutes from the start, signalled by raising…
This is a preview of a watch that TAG Heuer will be presenting in Geneva later this month (January 2017), a chronograph entirely in ceramic, including the bracelet. It is based on the Carrera Heuer-01 launched in 2015, with a 12-piece case that allows a range of combinations of materials and colours. The 2017 version…
The incorporation of Minerva, a watchmaking company founded in Villeret in 1858, into Montblanc has added a lot of depth to the brand’s range of products. At Villeret, it’s all about traditional watchmaking, using traditional machine tools. The watches emerging from Villeret are priced much higher than those made at Montblanc’s other manufacturing unit in…
The Ulysse Nardin Diver Chronograph Artemis Racing celebrates the brand’s partnership with America’s Cup team Artemis Racing, and it gets some good stuff from the deal. The Artemis Racing logo is very effective and it appears on one of the metal elements on the rubber strap, and on the 30-minute chronograph at 9 o’clock. There…
Chronographs with column wheel and vertical clutch have some significant benefits with respect to those with horizontal clutch or with cam chronograph movements. There is virtually no extra energy absorption when the chronoograph is running, and in some vertical clutch chronographs, the balance wheel amplitude actually increases slightly. You can leave the chronograph running all…