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May 2023

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The Watches

TAG Heuer Launches Skeleton-Dial Monaco Trio  

The new TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph extends TAG Heuer’s partnership with the Monaco Grand Prix while adding a contemporary titanium-cased model to its classic square chronograph series.

The Racing Red edition of the new TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph.
The TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph Turquoise edition with blackened dial and case.

The new models feature contemporary titanium cases, still sized classically at 39mm by 47.4mm, creating a lighter option to the Monaco’s traditionally steel case.

TAG Heuer accents the rotor of the Heuer 02 chronograph movement with an engraved oscillating mass, always visible through the sapphire case back.
The Blue version, echoing the colors of the original Monaco.

And within the new case TAG Heuer opens up the dial to expose the excellent in-house Heuer 02 chronograph, creating the first skeletonized dial for a serialized, unlimited Monaco model (not including the unusual Monaco V4).

TAG Heuer launches three versions of the new Monaco Skeleton Chronograph, each glowing with a different dial, rotor and column-wheel accent colors (blue, red and turquoise) chosen to draw historical connections to earlier Monaco watches.

The blue model, which TAG Heuer calls Original Blue, echoes the debut Heuer Monaco blue dial, with blue and red dial colors, a blue column wheel and rotor. These blue tints are pay homage to the original Heuer Monaco from 1969.

The red option, called Racing Red, references racing sparks, with black and silver accents on the dial and a red column wheel and oscillating mass.

The Turquoise piece is a nod to the coast of Monaco, mixing a red-accented dial with a turquoise subdials, column wheel and rotor. This model also differs from the other two with its black DLC-coated titanium case and a sandblasted black skeletonized dial.

To extend the contemporary feel of the new series, TAG Heuer adds a healthy amount of SuperLuminova on the dial’s carved indexes, hands and —in another Monaco debut — on the date window.

Similarly, modern bi-material straps, which meld rubber and leather and offered in blue or black, are attached to each TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph.

Prices:  $10,750 and $11,250 (Turquoise edition with blackened titanium case)

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The Watches

Introducing Edouard Koehn: Contemporary Chronographs and an Alarming World Timer

The newly revived Swiss watch brand Edouard Koehn is now being distributed in North America by the New Jersey-based Totally Worth It, which also distributes Ressence, Trilobe, Scatola del Tempo and Swiss Kubik.

The Edouard Koehn Tempus I, skeleton model in a 43mm steel case with black PVD coating and black ceramic bezel.

Named for master watchmaker Edouard Koehn, who in 1891 developed his eponymous watch brand in Geneva after decades at Patek Philippe, the new Edouard Koehn Master Watchmaker Manufacture is based in La Chaux-de-Fonds and offers three watch collections: Tempus I, Tempus II and World Heritage.

A Tempus I model, with blue Clous de Paris dial.

The Chronographs 

The two Tempus collections feature contemporary automatic chronographs with movements developed by Edouard Koehn in collaboration with famed Swiss movement maker Concepto. Tempus I is a sporty tri-compax chronograph in a PVD blackened steel case with a black ceramic bezel, offered in four dial colors and two skeleton versions.

One example of the Edouard Koehn Tempus II Monopusher self-winding mechanical Chronograph.

Tempus II is a Bi-Compax mono-pusher chronograph, and is much more ambitious, with a technical design that exposes an inverted escapement at the top of each dial.

This  “Open Heart” design, also framed by a black ceramic bezel, displays chronograph time via a central seconds hand and a large thirty-minutes chronograph subdial at the 3 o’clock position. Four dial colors are available.

Back view of Tempus II, showing back of the automatic monopusher chronograph caliber.

Prices: $7,950 (Tempus I) and $9,950 (Tempus II)

The Edouard Koehn World Heritage combines a world time function with an alarm function.

World Heritage

As the most traditional series in the Edouard Koehn collection, the World Heritage model is nonetheless technically challenging. The watch, built using a Concepto base caliber modified for Edouard Koehn, includes an alarm function, combining two complications highly useful to travelers.

While the world time function allows the wearer to see the world time in any of twenty-four time zones, the alarm function allows the wearer to set an alert that, for instance, might note an upcoming flight time. The double barrel EK-MVTWTA01 caliber simultaneously winds the watch and the alarm functions.

Edouard Koehn offers these World Heritage models as limited editions, with each of five dial options available in editions of eighty-eight pieces.

At 42mm in diameter, these World Heritage models are somewhat smaller than the chronographs. They are lighter too, cased in titanium rather than steel. All told, this makes for a lightweight watch with heavyweight technical functions.

Price: $8,950. 

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The Watches

Bell & Ross Adds to Patrouille De France Collection

Bell & Ross launches the BR 03-92 Patrouille De France 70th Anniversary watch to celebrate the seventh decade of the namesake French aerobatics team.

The new Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Patrouille De France 70th Anniversary watch.

Built using a high-tech, blackened ceramic 42mm by 42mm case, the new limited edition watch (999 pieces) features a sharp-looking dial matching the blue hue used by the Alpha Jet of the Patrouille de France.

To underscore the team’s blue identity, Bell & Ross opts to connect the case to the wrist with a matching blue calfskin and black synthetic canvas fabric strap. 

Bell & Ross has teamed with the Patrouille de France since 2021, creating several limited edition models for the elite aerobatic team.

To further enhance the partnership of the two French organizations, Bell & Ross also places the insignia of the team and the specific logo of its 70th anniversary directly on the Bell & Ross circle-in-a square dial. The logo is encircled with the colors of the French flag.

On the back of the watch, Bell & Ross engraves the silhouettes of the five aircraft that have flown since the creation of the Patrouille de France in 1953. The design reflects the wishes of the team’s pilots, according to Bruno Belamich, Creative Director and co-founder of Bell & Ross.

“Pilots are always consulted for the creation of watches: the primary goal of the (Bell & Ross) house is to meet the needs of these men and provide them with a tool to serve their mission,” he adds.

Inside you’ll find the Bell & Ross Sellita-based automatic movement BR-CAL 302, which powers the dial’s hours, minutes, seconds and date displays. 

Price: $4,100. 

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American Brands

A Watch Pro Launches ProTek

By Gary Girdvainis 

While Barry Cohen may not be a household name for most watch consumers, I can almost guarantee you know his work.

As the founder of Luminox back in 1989,  Cohen established a brand that deftly integrated the ethos of the brand directly into the name:  “Lumi” stood for illumination and “Nox” for night so the brand name meant it had superior night lume thanks to its self-illuminating tritium gas tubes.

Cohen sold the brand he founded for a variety of reasons. He returned with a new brand that would take the next logical steps in the design of a rugged sports watch that would not only look great – but would also make a strong value argument.

A model in the ProTek Dive Series. All sport a 42mm carbon composite case.

Enter ProTek

Priced aggressively from $450 to $525, ProTek watches are available in stainless steel, carbon composite, and surgical grade titanium cases, and all of them feature self-illuminating tritium tubes.

A new ProTek Official USMC Series model, with a 42mm carbon composite case.

ProTek offers several dive watch variations that sport carbon composite or steel cases.  

The Field Watch 

Featured here, the 3000 Series Field watch is crafted in a slim (11mm), lightweight titanium case weighing only 48 grams in either a natural or black IP version.

One model in the ProTek 3000 Series of field watches. Each features a 40mm titanium case.

All are capped with a flat sapphire crystal over a dial and hands enhanced with 3 colors of T-100 self-illuminating tubes.

These are the brightest self-illuminating tubes available and will emit their own radiance for up to twenty-five years without the need for exposure to external light to perform.

Rated and tested to a legitimate 100 meters of water resistance, the ProTek Series 3000 field watch can also be a casual-use water watch and is delivered with a waterproof Italian leather strap.

Clean dials in black, admiral blue, olive green and a silvery off-white are all easy to read. With a light weight of just over 48 grams (head-only), the watches are very comfortable on the wrist for extended use.

The threaded (screw-down) back is also crafted in titanium with a stylized “P” presented in deep relief, as it is on the double-gasket crown.

Inside the case is a Citizen/Miyota quartz movement with a four-year battery accurate to +/- 20 seconds per month. Retail price is $475 at www.watchgauge.com. 

 

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The Watches

Nomos Honors Glashütte Watchmaking History with Orion Trio

Nomos celebrates 175 Years of watchmaking in Glashütte with three classic watches in the Nomos Orion neomatik collection.

The larger (41mm) of the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches trio.

Student watchmakers historically create so-called practice watches, generally time-only or time and date models, and Nomos honors this tradition with the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte trio. 

The new three-hand Orion neomatik watches measure 36mm, 39mm and 41mm in diameter with the larger of the three sporting a date display. Each watch is signed, numbered and limited to 175 pieces.

All three debuts offer a three-part stainless steel case with a domed sapphire crystal and caseback. All also present the time with thin tempered blue hands above the domed, polished, galvanized and white silver-plated dial with gold embossed indexes.

Nomos does not recess the small seconds dial into the dials of these Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches – a first for Nomos and a nod to the elegant nature of the trio.

Inside the time-only models Nomos fits its DUW 3001 automatic caliber (pictured above on the 39mm model). The larger date model features DUW 6101. All calibers are built with traditional Glashütte three-quarter plate, Glashütte ribbing and tempered blue screws, and each is adjusted to chronometer standards.

As noted, Nomos has signed and number each watch in the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte series, which is limited to 175 watches of each model.

Watches this elegant, with superb in-house calibers and the fine detailing typical at Nomos are rare at these prices, so expect these to sell quickly. 

Prices: $3,580 (36mm), $3,920 (39mm) and $4,200 (41mm with date).

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