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Watch Of The Day

Omega Supports Orbis With New Trésor

Omega supports the Orbis eye-hospital charity with a new steel-cased DeVille Trésor, available with or without a diamond bezel.

The new steel-cased Omega DeVille Trésor, available with or without a diamond bezel. Sales support Orbis.

The 40mm watch sports a domed gradient blue dial, polished hands and applied 18-karat gold indexes that are also domed to match the dial.

Orbis Bears

To clearly reference Orbis directly on the watch, Omega has replaced the number 8 on the date indicator (at 6 o’clock) with an Orbis Teddy Bear.  A second reference to the mascot can be seen on the seconds hand, colored to match the Teddy Bear.

Sales of either the diamond-set or polished bezel version of the new watch benefits Orbis, an international non-profit NGO committed to preventing avoidable blindness in the world’s poorest regions. Purchasing one of the new Omega Trésor watches funds the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital and its team of medical professionals.

Omega has placed a luxury version of its Calibre 8511 with 60-hours of power reserve inside each watch. The caliber is the manual-wind version of Omega’s in-house ‘Master Co-Axial’ movement. It features a the Omega Co-Axial escapement, strong anti-magnetic properties, a free-sprung balance with silicon balance spring and two barrels mounted in series. The luxury designation means the movement features an 18-karat red gold balance bridge.

Visible through the casback is Cal. 8511, the manual-wind version of Omega’s in-house ‘Master Co-Axial’ movement.

Both watches have a blue leather strap with polished buckle. As an added bonus, Omega has created a presentation box and a Teddy Bear key holder that will arrive with the watch.

Omega has been supporting Orbis since 2011.

Prices:  $6,500 (polished bezel) and $11,800 (diamond-set bezel).

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Watch Of The Day

Seiko Prospex Divers Recall Historic Models

Two brand-new releases from Seiko Prospex recall historic diver’s models from 1968 while a third new diver’s watch, offered on a silicone strap or a titanium bracelet, features a lighter titanium dial and a bracelet built with references to a Shogun’s helmet and armor.

The Seiko Prospex SPB189 ‘Shogun’ features a titanium bracelet with super-hard coating and tri-fold push button release clasp with secure lock and extender.

The movement

Seiko has updated both models with the solid 6R35 automatic mechanical movement, which is appreciated for both its robust nature as well as its 70-hour power reserve.

Bi-directional winding via the magic finger system adds power to the movement while wearing the watch, but you can also manually wind it as well. Also, for all the watch “hacks” out there fixated on stopping the second hand in order to coordinate their next mission, the 6R35 does in-fact offer this over-appreciated feature.

While critics may search for other depredations in the fact that the frequency of the caliber 6R35 at 21,600 vph is a bit slower than other Japanese options, accuracy is the same or similar to those slightly faster mechanical heartbeats. One wonders if the internet’s instant experts have considered that putting less stress on a system that will inevitably need service and/or repair down the road might actually be a benefit rather than a detriment.

The Seiko Prospex SPB191 ‘Shogun’ ($1,350 on silicone strap).

Shogun debuts

Seiko fits this movement into its Propex “Shogun” series (SPB189 and SPB191) are crafted in a 43.5 mm hardened titanium case rated to 200 meters of water resistance with the crown at the traditional 3 o’clock position. A super-huge date display is made even larger by a magnifying cyclops window, with a uni-directional diver’s bezel atop. The sapphire crystal over the dial will be difficult to mar or scratch unless you shatter it entirely.

Side view of the Seiko Prospex SPB191 ‘Shogun.’

Like its sister dive models, the Seiko Prospex ‘Shogun’ could not be any easier to read; Broad hands coated in a thick layer of LumiBrite glow brightly – just like the hour markers. Time is clearly of the essence with these masterful classics. Offered with a choice of a silicone strap at $1,350, or a titanium bracelet for an extra $200, the Shogun will be a fan favorite for both real and “desk” divers.

Side view of the SPB189 Seiko Prospex ‘Shogun.’

For Japanese warrior fans, Seiko says the triangular notches in the rotating bezel on this model resemble the ornaments of a traditional Shogun helmet. The yabane or “arrow feather” link shape of the bracelet version, according to the brand, calls to mind weapons and armor.

The Seiko Prospex SPB185 is a contemporary interpretation of Seiko’s famous Diver from 1968.

Steel Sixties

Bringing us back to 1968, the Seiko Prospex Diver SPB185 and SPB187 are slightly smaller at 42mm, slightly heavier as they are cast in steel, and slightly less expensive due to the aforementioned reasons.

The new Seiko Prospex SPD187 is a new interpretation of Seiko’s famous Diver from 1968.

Broader shoulders separate the sister-types, as does a crown migrated slightly south to the 4 o’clock position. Other nuances of design define each as the hands, markers, and bezel are endemic to each design. Otherwise these are very similar in the chassis build quality. Available only on a solid link steel bracelet, the 185 and 187 retail for $1,200. 

 

 

 

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A. Lange & Söhne

A. Lange & Söhne Brightens Saxonia

Just in time for the holiday season, A. Lange & Söhne adds sparkle to two models within its Saxonia collection.

First, the Glashütte-based watchmaker is debuting its newest Saxonia Thin with a solid-silver dial coated with shimmering black gold flux. The newest model reprises the glittery aspect of the much-discussed blue-gold flux dial first seen on the Saxonia Thin from 2018.

The new A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin with a solid-silver dial coated with shimmering black gold flux. Limited to 50 pieces.

The newest edition is one millimeter larger in diameter (40mm versus 39mm for the blue flux dial version) but maintains the same 6.2mm thickness, slim hour and minute hands and applied baton-style markers. The new model’s unusual black gold flux dial shimmers thanks to tiny copper-colored particles, which make the deep-black surface sparkle.

A.Lange & Söhne explains that the production process for gold flux was discovered during the 17thcentury in Venice. The glass and its copper constituents are heated, forming microscopically small copper crystals. Artisans must then carefully cast the material onto the silver dial in order to maintain an even, homogeneous surface.

A. Lange & Söhne places the very thin (2.9mm) manual-wind wound caliber L093.1 inside the Saxonia Thin.

Inside, A. Lange & Söhne places the very thin (2.9mm) manual-wind wound caliber L093.1, A. Lange & Söhne’s thinnest movement that, despite its compact size, offers a power reserve of three days.

Like the blue version, the new black gold-flux dial on this Saxonia Thin is a premiere for any A. Lange & Söhne watch. The new model, unlike the earlier piece, is a limited edition, with fifty pieces on offer. Price: $25,800.

Saxonia Outsize Date

The watchmaker’s other dial update finds the A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Outsize Date now available with a silver-colored dial, offered on 38.5mm white gold or a pink gold case (above). This addition complements the existing black-dialed options.

The new A. Lange & Sohne Saxonai Outsize Date, here in white gold with an silver-colored dial.

You might recall that this collection highlights its otherwise minimalistic dial with a large presentation of the date near the top of the dial. Made specifically to enhance visibility, the large date indicator (a touchstone display for the brand) is unusual in that it utilizes two separate display surfaces for the units and tens and is at least twice as large as in watches of a comparable size.

A. Lange & Söhne balances the date with a subsidiary seconds dial at the 6 o’clock position. The watchmaker has developed its automatic L086.8 movement with a particularly strong mainspring barrel in order to deliver an impressive power reserve of 72 hours. Price: $27,700.

The new Saxonia Outsize Date (two models, at left) and the new Saxonia Thin.
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Watch Of The Day

Hublot Fuses More Concrete Into Chronograph

Hublot has updated its Fusion Concrete chronograph by expanding the amount of the material used to construct the watch, and by enhancing the resilience of the material itself.

The new Hublot Fusion Concrete Jungle New York

The watchmaker first debuted the watch in 2016 with only a concrete bezel set on a ceramic case that framed an open-worked dial. Now, Hublot introduces the Fusion Concrete Jungle New York, a second generation example of the unusual watch with concrete not only forming the watch’s bezel, but also its 45mm case and its two-subdial chronograph dial.

 

With the new watch, Hublot says it has created a more durable concrete mixture, now made of sixty-five percent to seventy-five percent fine cement, twenty-five percent to thirty percent epoxy resin (replacing the water in standard concrete) and five percent to ten percent fiberglass, replacing steel to reinforce the concrete.

Hublot in-house design team upgraded the epoxy resin with an anti-UV additive. This will prevent any color changes from occurring within the concrete components. In addition, Hublot added an anti-graffiti treatment to the finished components to prevent the concrete from becoming contaminated with dirt or other particles.

Like the first edition of the watch, this new limited-edition model is also dedicated to New York City, known historically as the first ‘concrete jungle.’ Hublot will first make the watch available at Hublot’s Fifth Avenue boutique in New York, and online, prior to being launched in stores across the United States.

Hublot has installed its in-house HUB1143 automatic chronograph movement into the watch, which also features black ceramic pushers and crown and an all-black textile strap with black stitching. Limited to fifty pieces, the Classic Fusion Concrete Jungle New York is priced at $18,800.

 

Specifications: Hublot Fusion Concrete Jungle New York 

 

MOVEMENT: HUB1143 manufacture automatic chronograph, frequency of 4Hz (28’800 bph), power reserve of 42 Hours.

REFERENCE 521.XC.3604.NR.NYC20 Limited to 50 pieces.

DIAL: Composite Concrete Dial, micro-blasted and ruthenium anthracite plated hands, bezel made of composite concrete with
6 H-shaped black PVD titanium screws.

CASE: 45 mm
x 13.85mm
 Composite Concrete, water resistance to 50m, caseback is micro-blasted black ceramic engraved with “LIMITED EDITION XX/50” and sapphire crystal.

STRAP: Black rubber and black textile with black stitching, micro-blasted black ceramic and black PVD steel deployant buckle clasp.

Price: $18,800

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The Watches

Tutima Pilots a Limited Edition Flieger Chronograph

Tutima has launched the Flieger Friday Edition, a limited edition that echoes the German brand’s famed pilot watch from 1941. In place of the original’s brass case, Tutima cases the new model in satin-finished steel as it did with its vintage-inspired Ref. 783-01 Flieger model from the early 1990s. The case size of the new watch is the same as the 1941 model however, measuring 38.5 mm in diameter.

The new Tutima Flieger Friday Edition.

Just as importantly, however, to collectors of vintage pilot watches, Tutima retained all the original model’s significant tactile features. Thus, here we find a bi-directional, fluted, rotating bezel with red reference marker. In addition, Tutima has designed the watch’s large cathedral hands to match the original. The dial features the Tutima logo and numerals in the watch’s original fonts.

The Tutima 1941 Flieger (right) and Classic Flieger 783 Chronograph from the 1990s.

Equally impressive to purists is the movement, which, like the 1941 edition, is built from a Valjoux 7760 chronograph caliber that Tutima enhances with a flyback function.  In its original run, the movement was known as Caliber 59 and was the first German-made two-pusher flyback chronograph wristwatch. Today, Tutima refers to it simply by its base manual-wind caliber, now made to modern specifications by ETA, and again enhances it with a flyback function.

Updates

Tutima has also updated other features on the watch, including the illumination of hands and markers. All are now treated with a bright SuperLuminova compound. Similarly, Tutima has coated the domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating for maximum legibility.

Tutima Flieger Friday Edition, showing caseback with gold-plated bridge on movement.

Also new, the caseback is fitted with a sapphire crystal to better showcase the gold-plated bridge Tutima has placed in the ETA Valjoux 7760 caliber. The clear back also exposes the Tutima engraving. The 1941 original was housed in a nickel-plated brass case with screw-down caseback.

The Tutima Flieger Friday Edition, showing dial illumination.

The limited-edition new member of Tutima’s Flieger collection comes with a vintage pilot style leather strap. Each of the 25 editions are individually numbered and engraved, and all arrive with a printed certificate of authenticity.

Price: $3,450

 

Specifications: Tutima Flieger Friday Chronograph Limited-Edition

Case: 38.5mm x 15.5mm steel with steel, fluted, bi-directional bezel. Water resistance to 100 meters.

Movement: Manual-wind ETA Valjoux 7760 modified by Tutima, 28,800 VPH, 48-hour power reserve, gold-plated bridge and Tutima engraving.

Dial: Displaying hours, minutes, small seconds, central chronograph seconds

Strap: Vintage pilot leather strap

Price: $3,450

 

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