Maurice Lacroix unveiled a new version of its Masterpiece Double Retrograde at Baselworld this year – and the watch has never looked so good. Here is a hands-on look at this tastefully executed facelift with a new clous de Paris dial that is definitely more modern and chic – and still with this great display, complex and legible at the same time.
Forgive me, this will be a deeply one-sided article. I will not focus on anything else but my own love and experience for once. Usually we see the light AND dark side of something, and try to relate that to you, our readers. Not this time, oh no! Now, it has become personal! Why? Because of my passion for all things “Zuffenhausen“. Yes, there will be talk about watches and yes I will share hands-on experience with you, however first I have to get something off of my chest…
Forgive me, this will be a deeply one-sided article. I will not focus on anything else but my own love and experience for once. Usually we see the light AND dark side of something, and try to relate that to you, our readers. Not this time, oh no! Now, it has become personal! Why? Because of my passion for all things “Zuffenhausen“. Yes, there will be talk about watches and yes I will share hands-on experience with you, however first I have to get something off of my chest…
Maurice Lacroix unveils new animations for their classical Pontos Chronograph and Pontos Day Date. The collection is one of the most emblematic of the brand and was revamped in 2016. Both models are now offered with a new range of elegant calf leather straps with off-white stitching – the perfect opportunity to get a close look at these two models.
This year was the year of the exceptional for Vacheron Constantin, a year of ultra-complex, ultra-rare and ultra-precious watches. The two main novelties were indeed the Celestia and the Symphonia. One is an astronomical watch with 23 complications, tourbillon and massive power reserve (6 barrels…!) The other one is no less than a Grande Sonnerie. Good for angels… However the brand also had some novelties for us, mere mortals. And one of them is this highly elegant and rather original Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Moon Phase And Retrograde Date.
Ulysse Nardin, a new-comer for the SIHH, is well known for its Marine roots, as the manufacture has been active in the field of Marine Chronometers (to be placed on boat decks) since its inception in 1846. You won’t be surprised though to see that one of the main highlights of the 2017 collection is strongly linked to this rich past. Still, Marine is not the only field where Ulysse Nardin is active. Innovation is another one. Based on the highly simplified annual calendar introduced last year on the Marine Chronograph, this year the brand comes with a more traditional version, the Ulysse Nardin Marine Annual Calendar Chronometer – and that’s not the only thing that pleases us here…
After the massively impressive (yet far from accessible) A. Lange & Söhne Tourbograph Perpetual introduced yesterday, as the main highlight of the SIHH 2017 collection by the Saxon manufacture, we have to go back to the real world and to more usable and pragmatic watches. Well, sort of, as we talk Lange. As part of the novelties is a highly interesting calendar watch, with what certainly the most relevant option to us, the annual calendar – a complication that sits right in the middle between a normal calendar and a perpetual calendar. Here is the discreet and elegant A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Annual Calendar.
When in 2015 Vacheron Constant presented the Harmony, it was already an entire collection, comprising a simple Dual Time, a small size chronograph (women-oriented), a Monopusher Chronograph (the superb 3300), a Tourbillon Chronograph and a stunning ref. 3500 ultra-thin, automatic, split-seconds chronograph. Even if there was no new editions at the 2016 Edition of the SIHH, which was entirely focussed on the Overseas, it’s time now for the Harmony Collection to see evolutions. As a sort of early Pre-SIHH, here are several new Vacheron Constantin Harmony models, including a brand new and elegant Complete Calendar Moonphase and new iterations of existing versions.
Recently, we had to review a watch that actually quite impressed us, a watch with a nice display, based on a date and a moonphase, with a classical case, voluntarily vintage-inspired and, overall, a very nice price / pleasure ratio: the Frederique Constant Manufacture Classics Moonphase. The style of the watch is clearly identify in its name and this watch even adds an officer caseback, to complete the package. However, this watch has an also desirable sister, more modern, however ver close: the Frederique Constant Slimline Moonphase Manufacture, which comes now with an elegant ivory dial. Same movement, same display, different pleasures.
The new Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronograph Annual Calendar was introduced earlier this year at Baselworld, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the brand’s Marine collection. Inside ticks the newly developed calibre UN-153, which actually is the in 2014 introduced Ulysse Nardin in-house chronograph calibre UN-150, with an additional annual calendar mechanism. This is definitely not “yet …