HANDS-ON: Seventies style at its best – the Oris Chronoris Date
One watch leapt out at me from Oris’ 2017 collection – the Chronoris Date. Not only is the colour scheme and tonneau case shape pretty eye-catching, but it’s also an honest and authentic homage to the timepieces of the ‘70s. In fact the Chronoris name refers to a 1970 design that was the brand’s first chronograph. This reinterpretation isn’t a chrono, but it’s certainly an era appropriate design. Given that I’ve got an incredibly soft spot for this sort of fun and funky design (I’ve been wanting an Omega Memomatic for ages, and – until it died – a compressor cased Bulova Accutron was one of my all time faves) my attraction to the Chronoris is perhaps unsurprising. Personal bias aside, the Chronoris Date is a winner of a watch, with a solid 39mm cushion shaped case with a pleasing radial brushed finish, paired with a domed sapphire crystal, 100m of water resistance and, as we’ve come to expect from Oris, it comes on a range of solid strap options. However, my favourite part of this watch is the dial. Seriously, look at it. The colour scheme of white, grey and black, with orange accents is just hot. I particularly…
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Even here in Australia – relatively under-populated and enormous as it is – you need to venture out to the country to get a proper look at the stars. There’s really no ignoring the stubborn corporate buildings and incessant traffic that means our cities and towns are constantly bathed in urban glow. So how do we get our fix of the pure unadulterated night sky? Easy: regular camping trips out in the bush. And for those times of year when that’s not possible? Well, how about a spot of star gazing via the Frederique Constant Slimline Moonphase Stars Manufacture, which has just been unveiled at Baselworld. We got a sneak peek ahead of the fair, and it really is lovely. The key feature is clearly the moon phase, which rotates elegantly just beneath the 12 o’clock position, appearing to scatter stars across the midnight dial as it does so. At 38.8mm, it’s fairly large for a women’s timepiece, and with sixty diamonds sparkling around the bezel, it runs the risk – on paper at least – of being overwhelming. In actual fact, it’s nothing of the sort, and on the wrist, it looks daintier than its size would suggest. There’s…
Captain James Cook was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy and he is credited as being the first European to make contact with the eastern coastline of Australia. Considering the number of Europeans that make contact with the east coast these days – especially the bit between Sydney and Cairns – he definitely started a route that started the whole of Europe tanning. In more interesting news, to have a ‘Captain Cook’ in Australian (possibly Cockney) rhyming slang is to have a look at something. Yes, really. With those local references, how could we not be drawn to this reissue of a watch first released by Rado in 1962 of the same name (minus the HyperChrome) that swings both ways with contemporary/commercial and vintage designs? There are three new references, including a white women’s version with diamonds, a limited edition (of 1962) 37mm dark grey sunburst dial version (pictured here) on vintage leather strap and a larger 45mm titanium model. Despite water resistance of 100m in the first two versions and 200m for the titanium one, In our meeting Rado’s staff were quick to point out that it’s “not a dive watch”, functionally speaking. The Hyperchrome Captain Cook is quite petite by modern standards, a perception further enhanced by…
The Hublot booth at Baselworld is a busy place, a multi-level monolith that’s more akin to a mini city than a trade show stand. We spent a few hours there, taking photos, shooting video and generally getting acquainted with the new collection. We had the door of our little room open, and we could hear the constant, polite hubbub that, in a lot of ways, defines Basel. One French phrase made its way repeatedly to our ears – ‘La Rainbow’. Curiosity got the better of us and we asked to see this rainbow everyone was talking about. A few minutes later a covered tray appeared in the room, and La Rainbow was unveiled. The Big Bang Unico Sapphire Rainbow, to give this piece its proper name, is one heck of a watch. Like the rest of Hublot’s sapphire-cased watches it’s housed in a 45mm Big Bang case, crafted from ice-like sapphire, with a composite resin dial which allows a clear view of the HUB1242 flyback chrono movement. So far so sapphire. The bezel though is something else entirely. The base is 18K white gold, and it’s set with 48 baguette cut stones – sapphires, rubies, topazes and tsavorites – in all the colours…
It’s Longines’ 185th anniversary this year, as you might have seen so it’s no surprise that the key heritage pieces were very strong at Baselworld. As we’d hoped, the new Lindbergh Hour Angle model – which I developed strong feelings for after a visit to the Longines headquarters in Saint Imier earlier this year – did drop early, ahead of the 90th Anniversary of the pioneering aviator’s famous New York to Paris crossing. If the watch was somewhat expected, the style was not; it has has a surprisingly contemporary feel. Hello there black PVD bezel, for example. And the Longines Heritage 1945, well that gave us a serious case of de ja vu back to 2015, when the supremely talented artist Sunflowerman painted an almost identical model for the Longines Watercolour Watch Project. The king move, though, was Longines launching their first range to be fully COSC-certified, the Record collection. It’s an extremely accessible range in terms of price that may answer prayers for those wanting a time and date chronometer without the usual cost, but it may also serve to raise questions about why rival brands charge such a premium for a certification when Longines has managed to have prices from…
Two of the most visible trends at Basel 2017 have been bright colours and unusual materials. For their second collection in collaboration with the Renault Sport Formula One team, Bell & Ross’ BR-X1 combines both in one big, bold package. The chassis for this popping Bell & Ross is the large BR X1 case, in lightweight, hi-tech Carbone Forgé. The engine is the same, skeletonised automatic, modular chronograph we’ve seen in previous BR X1 models. But the real winner is the colourful livery. Renault Sport’s yellow is vey much in evidence, in case details and chronograph rockers as well as the thin outer bezel. But it’s inside the dial where things start to get really colourful. The 60-minute scale is demarcated into bold five-minute blocks, with chronograph hands in yellow, running seconds in green and a date window picked out in red. The combination of size, weight and colour makes this a very fun watch to wear. Of course Bell & Ross did not just pick these colours out of the ether, the inspiration comes from the highly technical steering wheel of an F1 car, where colour is used as the fastest way for drivers to identify functions in an environment where…
The dust is settling on Baselworld 2017, and we’re finally able to step back from the excitement and drama to have a bit more of an objective look at the fair as a whole. And it appears that, overwhelmingly, brands have been playing it calm and cautious. Fewer complications than usual were presented, but smartly priced steel watches were the order of the day. It doesn’t look like Hublot got that memo. One of the brands at the heart of the LVMH watch empire had a big, unashamedly bold line up of releases that made for a refreshing change of pace. You might be able to tell by my tone of voice. I was (and still am) excited. The headline release was the completely new, technical Techframe Ferrari, but they also had some pretty confident line extensions, like the King Gold Sang Bleu and Meca-10 models, as well as a bevy of outrageous new sapphire numbers. There is absolutely no doubt that these aren’t safe, conservative choices designed to appeal to as many wrists as possible. And I think that Hublot deserves some kudos for walking their own path.