Category: Ultra-thin

A Technical Perspective – The Peripheral Rotor, a Smart and Stylish Solution

Since 2009 and the introduction of the Carl F Bucherer Calibre A1000, peripheral rotors are getting more and more in vogue. With this smart and stylish solution, the winding mass is an annular segment mounted and swinging around the movement, instead of a centrally mounted oscillating weight rotating over it. This offers an unobstructed view of the movement along with providing the convenience of automatic winding. In addition, peripheral rotors allow watchmakers to design thinner self-winding watches, without adding to their thickness with an oscillating weight rotating over the movement.

6 years ago

Video – Octo Finissimo, or How Bvlgari Became a Master of Ultra-Thin

Yes, the Italians did it again… Breaking one record after another, Bvlgari’s signature ultra-thin collection, the Octo Finissimo, continues its victorious onward march. Almost every year, the Roman brand comes out with something even more staggering, even thinner and still, highly contemporary in design. Bvlgari has not only managed to become a Master of the ultra-thin complication but it has literally revamped and refreshed a category that was usually quite conservative. And because the Octo Finissimo Automatic Tourbillon was introduced earlier this year as the thinnest automatic watch and the thinnest tourbillon watch, it is high time to understand how the brand became the master of wafer-thin movements.

6 years ago

Introducing – Bell & Ross BR-X2 Skeleton Tourbillon Micro-Rotor – Extreme Transparency

Bell & Ross is making another bold addition to its futuristic “Experimental” collection this year. Just announced, the new BR-X2 Skeleton Tourbillon Micro-Rotor is the evolution of the BR-X2 Tourbillon introduced last year. Stripped back to the absolute essentials, this ultra-modern watch takes the challenge of transparency to the extreme, offering crystal clear insight into the company’s interpretation of contemporary Haute Horlogerie.

6 years ago

Hands-on – The Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton now Available in Sandblasted Rose Gold

At Baselworld 2018, Bvlgari continued the expansion of its award-winning collection Octo Finissimo – and in the nicest possible way, with the world’s thinnest automatic and tourbillon watch, as well as a trilogy of automatic watches in sandblasted titanium, steel or gold. The latter – which we described in details here – clearly gave the collection its own personality. This is why the Octo Finissimo Skeleton, previously available in titanium, full black and two-tone, is now changing style with a Sandblasted Rose Gold case, in order to be coherent with the latest introductions.

6 years ago

Value Proposition – Junghans Meister Hand-Winding – An Elegant and Attainable Dress Watch (Review)

When a watch company celebrated its centenary in 1961, there’s no doubt that it’s very well established. Founded in 1861 by Erhard Junghans in Schramberg, Germany, Junghans took inspiration from American watch companies to mass produce timepieces in a way that allowed them to undercut the competition on price. That philosophy remains today as many of their mechanical pieces, some with multiple complications, can be had for under EUR 2,000. Their Meister Hand-Winding line brings elegance and simplicity in an affordable package, although a couple of models like the Meister Driver Handaufzug add some vintage flair to the dials. I’ve had one of their Meister Hand-Winding dress watches for a couple of weeks now, so let’s take a closer look.

6 years ago

Opinion – A Personal Take on the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Automatic Sandblasted Steel

No need to hide the truth, the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Automatic was one of the highlights of 2017 – if not the most impressive watch (ultra-complicated ones excluded) of the year. Not only it is ultra-thin, but it is also ultra-bold, modernly designed, inspired and innovative. Certainly, some created even thinner (that one) but not with the same stylistic audaciousness. Presented first in titanium, I thought I had found my perfect watch. But that was before Baselworld 2018 and the new Sandblasted Steel version. You think it doesn’t change much? Yes… and no.

6 years ago

Hands-on – The Breguet Classique Extra-Plate 5157 Pink Gold – Quintessentially Breguet

Creating a two-hand ultra-thin watch is, believe it or not, one of the most complex exercises for a watch-designer. Because of the extreme simplicity of such pieces, it is utterly easy to end up with the most boring watch possible – and how to differentiate yourself when you simply have nothing to express yourself…? This is where the Breguet Classique Extra-Plate 5157 (and its 2018 pink gold version) is brilliant. It manages to be extremely pure, clean and simple and at the same time, it is quintessentially Breguet.

6 years ago

Hands-on – The New, All-Black versions of the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton and L’Originale Chronograph

The Octo is a true compendium of Bvlgari’s sense of design. With its graphic shapes and pure lines, its style is powerful, modern yet elegant. Over the past few years, the Italian watchmaker turned one model into an entire men’s watch collection with striking launches including the unapologetically chic Finissimo Trilogy and its several world records – including the recently introduced thinnest automatic watch. The Octo line now welcomes two new models opting for the vigour and dynamism of black, the Octo Finissimo Skeleton Black Edition and the Octo L’Originale Chronograph Black Edition.

6 years ago

A Technical Perspective – The Mighty Return of Ultra-Thin Watches

Miniaturisation has always been one of the watchmaking industry’s main objectives. With the advent of complicated watches and the development of the wristwatch, this issue became critical. Fitting multiple functions into a single movement, which has to remain wearable, requires re-imagining space. This also led to the development of ultra-thin watches, guided initially by a desire for elegance, but also in the framework of constant improvement. Popular since the 1960s but slightly forgotten during the 2000s (with the trend for large timepieces), ultra-thin watches recently made a strong comeback – a trend that has sparked open warfare between Piaget and Bvlgari – amongst others.

7 years ago