Zenith works in a number of vintage territories, such as motorbikes, but more importantly classic cars. The El Primero 36.000 VpH Classic Car fits the image perfectly, with its high-speed column-wheel chronograph movement, the classic three counters in different colours, a “brushed engine” finish on the dial, and the perforated leather strap that recalls driving…
It looks like a classic pilot’s watch, but the Zenith Heritage Pilot Café Racer has a marketing campaign designed to connect with a different set of clients: classic motorbikes. The Café Racer movement was born in England in the 1920s, when riders customized their motorbikes and souped up their engines. The watch has all the…
This is a limited edition of Zenith’s El Primero chronograph, with an open dial revealing parts of the movement. Colours have been given a minimalist treatment, with everything in shades of grey except for the touches of red on the chronograph hands. The sense of depth on the dial is enhanced by the moulded letters…
The Laco Mission Manx Limited Edition celebrates vintage motorcycling and is perfect for those enthusiasts who own vintage motorbikes, and also dress the part, with bushy beards, soft caps, helmet and goggles, and aged leather gear. This piece is dedicated in particular to the Tourist Trophy race on the Isle of Man, and a German…
Breguet began making pilot’s chronographs in 1955, with the Type XX commissioned by the French air force and naval air arm. This was followed by the Types XXI and XXII, and they have been in production ever since. This year, Breguet presents the new Type XXI 3817 chronograph, an evocative piece with a vintage-look dial…
This watch by Montblanc, reference 112587, takes the sporty, accessible TimeWalker collection, mixes it with the sophisticated ExoTourbillon, adds the brand’s monopusher chronograph with semicircular counters, and blends it all with the latest high-tech materials. The result is a visually-satisfying watch with dynamic looks, one of the most surprising watches to be seen at the…
The Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Chronograph Quantième Annuel, reference 114876, is an “annual calendar,” and so it takes the different lengths of months into account, but doesn’t keep count of leap years. It has to be adjusted once a year at the end of February. As for many of Montblanc’s watches, the steel version is aggressively…
This flyback chronograph by Montblanc has an in-house movement, and it presents a lot of information on a well-designed dial. Its price of €6,900 makes it a very accessible piece considering its manufacture movement and the limited edition (1,110 pieces). The design has the visual characteristics of the 4810 series, with narrow bezel, dial with…
The Montblanc 4810 Chronograph Automatic, a good-value watch starting at €3,990, has all the visual codes of the 4810 series, with its red-gold-plated Roman numerals with a modern design, the star-shaped silver-white guilloché dial, and the circular dots of SuperLuminova on odd-numbered hours. The guilloché is very effective at catching the light and changing with…
For the brand Louis Moinet, this is an important year. Watchmaker Louis Moinet started work on his “compteur de tierces” in 1815 and completed it in 1816, 200 years ago. Jean-Marie Schaller founded the modern brand in 2004, and in 2013 he was able to purchase the original Compteur de tierces in an auction at…
This chronograph is part of Hamilton‘s new Broadway collection inspired by New York’s skyscrapers, and it is accompanied by the three-hand day-date model and a quartz version. The Hamilton Broadway Auto Chrono 43mm has the same elegantly curving steel case as the three-hand Day-Date version, but it looks a lot thicker. The case is in…
Several watch brands have experimented with transforming watches, such as Montblanc whose Metamorphosis II has a dial that morphs from a time-date format to a chronograph format by means of a mechanical transformation that takes about 15 seconds. This was a limited edition of 18 pieces, price on request so presumably a few hundred thousand…
The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun IW389001 and the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Miramar IW389002 are very similar, using the same movement and having the dial arrangement with combined analogue totalizer for chronograph minutes and hours at the top of the dial. They both use the same in-house 89361 movement. They are different…
The IW379108 watch was introduced in 2012 in a red gold case and has remained virtually identical since then. A steel version was presented in 2015, and the only new feature in the model that IWC introduced in 2016 is the brown calfskin strap by Santoni, with its orange lining. The digital date and month…
IWC have been making their Pilot’s Watch Chronograph since 2006, and this year, this family of IW3777 watches have only minimal differences with respect to the series introduced in 2012. The dial has been tidied up, removing the minute numerals that were previously incorporated into the chapter ring, and removing the triple date display. Apart…
Ferrari is one of the most powerful brands in the world, and Hublot have been enjoying their partnership with the racing-car marque since 2011. At Baselworld they presented four new Big Bang Ferrari watches, two with a case blending carbon and metal, in King Gold and titanium versions, and two with gaudier striped straps and…
For the 10th anniversary of the Big Bang Chronograph, Hublot have presented their first perpetual calendar chronograph, a watch that also includes a chronograph and a moon phase display. The information is combined on the dial in a design that expresses complexity, with skeletonized movement visible beneath the sapphire dial. The subdials combine different functions…
This is the operation that was announced by Hublot in November 2014 and presented at Baselworld 2015: the Hublot Big Bang Unico Italia Independent is the result of a partnership with Lapo Elkann’s company Italia Independent whose core business is eyewear. The Big Bang flyback chronograph is Hublot’s classic Unico, but with a case and…
At Baselworld 2015, Hublot presented three new Big Bang Unico models to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the watch that was pivotal to the brand’s success. The Full Magic Gold version is made with a case and bezel in scratch-resistant Magic Gold, an alloy created from 75% gold and 25% ceramic. The bezel has the…
Alpina has presented the Startimer Pilot Chronograph Big date 201st Squadron Limited edition, a tribute to the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force’s 201st Squadron which fought in the Second World War and became familiar worldwide as the “Aztec Eagles.” In 1945, volunteer pilots between 20 and 22 years old travelled to the Pacific war zone, and…