Novelty Archives - Page 354 of 357

In-Depth: Why the TAG Heuer CH80 (now named Heuer-03) comes back? (and a visit of the relaunched Chevenez Manufacture)

One week ago, we introduced to you (and far in advance) the first prototype of the TAG Heuer Autavia “Jochen Rindt” reedition, one of the first customer-designed watches made by the industry in a long time. Well, already a good news on its own, this watch was not the only point of interest here, as inside its case is ticking something we didn’t expect to see anymore from TAG Heuer, the Calibre Heuer-03 (ex. CH80, which was supposed to be a project killed before its birth). During the Heuer collectors summit, we had the chance to visit the Chevenez Manufacture (the one that was supposedly stopped…), to see the new movement, to understand the evolutions and finally to talk with the teams, including Jean-Claude Biver, just to bring the light on this complex but, in the end, happy situation.

Introducing – Dietrich O.Time now in colored forged carbon (and even a luminescent carbon one…)

In watchmaking, who thinks innovative materials usually says high price. That’s somehow a rule. Look at recent watches with sapphire crystal cases. Most of them are over half a million CHF – even the cheapest one isn’t cheap… Same goes for complex ceramics, or watches associating different kind of solid, ultra-light or ultra-resistant materials. Carbon fibre isn’t always ultra-high-end, however few are the watches with such material priced under 10k. Well, Dietrich watches, with their usual value for money rule, will bring you forged carbon cases, some with colored incrustations and even luminous cases (yes, for real) together with a mechanical movement for a price you don’t expect. Here are the Dietrich O.Time now in colored forged carbon.

Roger Dubuis adds colored stones to the Excalibur Spider Skeleton Flying Tourbillon

What do we know about Roger Dubuis? Well, to make it short, Roger Dubuis is a proper manufacture of Haute Horlogerie, creating extremely refined skeleton movements, and being the only brand to have its entire production stamped with the Hallmark of Geneva (and that alone must already give an indication of the beauty of the production…). Roger Dubuis is also a combination of complex mechanisms with a unique design, bold, sporty and clearly recognizable. Well, all of that can be seen in the latest addition to the catalogue, the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Skeleton Flying Tourbillon, which now receive colored stones incrusted in its rubber bezel.

Frederique Constant introduces 2 new HeartBeat Manufacture Watches for 2016

What can be seen now as a natural collection for Frederique Constant was not that of a gimmick and neither just another collection, back in 1994. When it has been introduced, the Frederique Constant HeartBeat was a sort of first of its kind. Showing the beating heart of a watch on the dial was not that usual, apart from the high-end tourbillon. This HeartBeat collection has expanded since then, and continues to do so this year, with two new references. Here are the 2016 Frederique Constant HeartBeat Manufacture Watches, with new dials and one edition with Date by Hand.

Value Proposition – Alpina adds a GMT Business Timer and an Automatic to its Alpiner 4 Collection

While Frederique Constant has a clear classical, elegant and refined vocation, the other branch of the group, Alpina, is much more oriented on heritage and sports watches. Once again, the motto is the same: accessibility, value for money, very decent quality and functionality – but in another style category. The main collection of Alpina, the Alpiner, was mainly focussing on Chronographs and vintage-oriented pieces until now. This year, the brands adds two references in the catalogue, two robust sports watches, the Alpina Alpiner 4 Automatic and the Alpina Alpiner 4 Automatic GMT Business Timer.

Value Proposition – The E.C.Andersson North Sea, a robust sports watch with Seiko mechanical movement

Launching a watch brand is not that simple, mainly because you have to face an established industry, with its brands, its suppliers and its habits (and some are secular ones…) The watchmaking industry was extremely difficult with newcomers, until our 2.0 era brought to small independent people, however full of ideas, a process called crowdfunding. E.C.Andersson is among them, with the idea of a sporty pillow-shaped watch with a smaller size than the most famous of all the pillow watches (a certain Officine…), with mechanical movement, for a low price and with nice design. Here is the E.C.Andersson North Sea.

Introducing – RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls

When you think about RJ-Romain Jerome, you know it’s going to be bold, to be large and to boast rather unique inspirations (well, there are few brands inspired by steampunk, the Titanic, Batman or PAC-MAN…). There’s another theme that RJ-Romain Jerome cherishes: skulls. Like it or not (the skull-head is a recurrent inspiration in watchmaking), the brand knows how to incrust them in a watch, with quite some style. And the RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls that we’re about to show you won’t break the lineage, but however adds more watchmaking content and lightness to these bold watches.

EXCLUSIVE: First look at the TAG Heuer Autavia 2017 (the result of the Autavia Cup) – Updated with Price and Availability

If you remember, earlier this year, in March 2016, TAG Heuer came with a superb idea: the opportunity for collectors to vote and to decide which vintage Heuer Autavia will be the inspiration for a modern reedition of this mythical watch. The audience chose one of the coolest editions, the Autavia 2446 Mark 3 “Jochen Rindt”. The result of the development was to be expected at Baselworld 2017… However, we had to take into account J.C Biver’s productivity and a certain event, the Heuer Collectors Summit (where we are today!) And guess what… the very first prototype of the TAG Heuer Autavia 2017 is already shown to the attendants of the Heuer Collectors Summit, and we get to show it to you.

EXCLUSIVE: First look at the TAG Heuer Autavia 2017 (the result of the Autavia Cup)

Introducing – Ulysse Nardin Executive Skeleton Tourbillon – A lightweight skeleton tourbillon for a reasonable price

Ulysse Nardin… quite a manufacture, with bold designs, inspired by the world of Marine. But that’s for the visual side. Technically, this brand has so much to offer. They are from the most innovative of them all. They introduced silicon in watchmaking, they created complex watches with extremely simple mechanisms (thanks to master watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin) but they also have traditional and complex timepieces. Today, not only they come with a new skeleton tourbillon, widely opened and lightweight-oriented, but they do it with a quite interesting piece tag (to say the least). Here is the Ulysse Nardin Executive Skeleton Tourbillon.

Watch Dandy

Category: Novelty