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Alpina Updates Heritage Dive & Pilot Models

Alpina’s Startimer pilot collection and its Seastrong diver series boast an impressive (and nicely priced) selection of contemporary and vintage-styled adventure watches. This week, the Geneva-based watchmaker adds one more watch to the vintage column of each collection, which Alpina dubs its Heritage series.

The new Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage Automatic.

First up, the new Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage Automatic is the fifth watch in this best-selling series combining 1960s-style dials with modern calibers and cases.

Appropriately water-resistant to 300 meters, the 42mm watch features a rotating inner flange (adjusted using the crown at 2 o’clock) to time dives and brightly luminescent hands to allow full visibility in the dark.

Unlike previous examples in this collection with two-color dials, this latest model offers a uniform black lacquered sunray-brushed dial. In addition, the new model offers no date display, which technically is not required for a successful dive.

Inside Alpina places a Sellita-based AL-520 movement, protected on top with a sapphire crystal. Both crowns are screwed-in to ensure water resistance, and the caseback is engraved with Alpina’s historical logo.

Already a strong value, the watch is even more interesting with Alpina’s package, which includes two attractive straps, one in brown calfskin leather and the other in beige topstitched rubber. Price: $1,695.

New Startimer Dial

Alpina’s second Heritage addition, the new Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic, is inspired by Alpina designs from the 1920s and 1930s. This new variation adds a new dial color to the existing black model we showed you last year.

The Alpina Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic, showing new blue dial.

The new watch maintains the Pilot Heritage Automatic specs: a 44 mm steel case framing a matte dial (now blue) that displays luminescent beige hour, minute and 24-hour markers that nicely replicate a typical shade used on early pilot watches.

As we noted on the 2020 model, Alpina adds to the watch’s vintage styling by placing the original triangular Alpina logo on the dial. This logo, which differs from the logo Alpina places on its contemporary pilot models, serves a practical purpose by separating the 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock markers.

And finally, Alpina underscores the watch’s vintage vibe by outfitting the Pilot Heritage Automatic with a hunter-style caseback that flips open with the flick of a finger. Through the clear caseback the wearer can view the watch’s Sellita-based AL-525 automatic movement.

Alpina is limiting the Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic with blue calfskin leather strap to 288 pieces. The watchmaker will continue its support of the National Park Foundation by donating $100 for every watch purchased through its U.S. website.

Specifications: Alpina Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic

(Limited edition of 288 pieces.)

Movement: Sellita-based automatic AL-525 with 38-hour power reserve.

Case: 44mm by 11.55mm brushed and polished 3-part case, sapphire crystal, hunter caseback (at left). 
Water-resistant to 30 meters.

Dial: Blue with beige minutes and seconds graduation outward, beige 24 hours graduation inward, applied silver color Arabic numbers with beige luminous treatment. Date window at 3 o’clock,
silver color hour and minute hands with beige luminous treatment, silver color second hand with red triangle.

Bracelet: Blue calf leather.

Price: $1,295.

 

Specifications: Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage Automatic

Movement: Sellita-based automatic AL-520 with 38-hour power reserve.

Case: 42mm by 12.3mm polished 2-part, sapphire crystal, engraved back, water-resistant to 300m, screw-in crown.

Dial: Black with sunray finishing, yellow gold color minutes and seconds graduation, applied yellow gold-plated indexes, black outer ring with yellow gold color, minutes and seconds graduation yellow gold-plated, hour, minute and second hands with white luminous treatment.

Bracelet: Brown calf leather, additional black rubber strap.

Price: $1,695

 

 

 

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The Watches

Citizen Boosts Solar Energy with New Navihawk

Citizen launches a new limited edition pilot’s watch this week in conjunction with 1% for the Planet and Everybody Solar, two energy conservation organizations.

The watch, which joins the Promaster series, is an Eco-Drive (light- powered) Limited Edition Navihawk. The 48mm black ion-plated steel watch boasts a cobalt blue dial with pilot-friendly orange accents.

The new Citizen Promaster Eco-Drive Limited Edition Navihawk.

The watch includes not only fully synchronized radio-controlled timekeeping technology (which will update time automatically in twenty-six time zones) but also a chronograph, a complete perpetual calendar, 12/24-hour time options, a power reserve indicator and day/date display.

Citizen’s Eco-Drive technology, demonstrated here, powers the watch using only light.

Sales of the watch will benefit the two conservation organizations and Citizen’s new “Purposeful Power” ad campaign. For every #mylight moment shared to @citizenwatchesus, Citizen will donate $5 to Everybody Solar towards the goal of 100% funding of a solar installation project next Spring. This would be the second joint project  between Citizen and Everybody Solar. In recent months, Citizen’s donations helped complete the new 35 kilowatt (kW) array at Glacier National Park’s headquarters.

“Our message of Purposeful Power is aspirational so as to reflect the desire of both the Citizen brand and our consumers to treat the planet, and those around us, with respect and to make a positive contribution to the world,” says Jeffrey Cohen, President of Citizen Watch America.

Citizen includes a matching Citizen clock with each watch.

Citizen is limiting production of the watch to 1,500 pieces worldwide. As an added bonus, Citizen is also including a matching Citizen clock with each watch. Price: $850.

 

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The Watches

Chopard Soars With High-Speed Alpine Eagle

One of Chopard’s most impressive debuts from its wide-ranging late 2021 roster is the Alpine Eagle Cadence 8 HF, a limited-edition titanium watch tricked out with Chopard’s own ultra-high frequency escapement.

The Chopard Alpine Eagle Cadence 8 HF.

Operating twice as fast as a conventional escapement, Chopard’s L.U.C 8HF in 2012 was among the very first such calibers with an ultra-high speed escapements to be serialized into production. The escapement, which Chopard builds with lubrication-free silicon components, vibrates at 57,600 (8 Hz), and keeps the Caliber 01.12-C in this new model operating at a higher rate of precision over a longer period of time than traditional calibers.

Because the movement’s escapement is faster than usual, each vibration has statistically less impact on the timekeeping rate. In addition, the high frequency allows for a steadier beat and quicker rate recovery from any shocks.

The Automatic Chopard 01.12-C boasts a frequency of 57,600 vph (8 Hz).

And with a smaller balance wheel, which requires less energy, the new caliber maintains the same sixty-hour power reserve found in the standard-frequency calibers throughout Chopard’s sporty Alpine Eagle collection. Not surprisingly the watch holds chronometer certification as issued by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC).

The watch’s caliber features a lubrication-free silicon silicon impulse-pin, pallet-lever and escape-wheel.

Titanium case, bracelet

At first glance, Chopard’s Alpine Eagle Cadence 8 HF looks outwardly similar to its Alpine Eagle brethren, all of which share the same fully integrated metal bracelet design. Its 41mm diameter echoes watches already in the collection.

But Chopard cases the new watch in titanium, a first for the Alpine Eagle collection. Chopard until this model has cased all its Alpine Eagle models from the custom Lucent Steel A223, in ethical gold, or in a combination of both metals.

The dial here also differs from those found in the existing collection.

While the new watch dial also features the Alpine Eagle’s “eagle iris” sunburst pattern, here it displays a hand-colored dial in a slightly darker hue than we’ve seen in the collection. Chopard reports that grey quartzite roof tiles found in the Swiss village of Vals inspired its artisans to create the dial finish.

In addition, Chopard has simplified the dial iconography, which has been very sensibly minimized to simple baton-type hour markers at 3, 6 and 9. The dial maintains the same Roman numeral 12 seen throughout the collection, but here joined by the logo atop ‘8 HZ Chronometer’ and the cool retro-style arrow logo found on all Chopard high frequency watches.

Chopard will make 250 numbered examples of the Alpine Eagle Cadence 8HF. Price: $19,000.

 

Specifications: Chopard Alpine Eagle Cadence 8HF

(250-piece limited edition, Ref. 298600-3005)

Case: 41mm by 9.75mm grade 5 titanium, water resistance to 100 meters, steel screw-down crown with compass rose, vertical satin-brushed bezel with eight indexed screws, sapphire crystal, sapphire crystal exhibition case-back with the words “Cadence 8HF.”

Movement: Automatic Chopard 01.12-C with a frequency of 57,600 vph (8 Hz), power reserve of 60 hours, annual balance-spring with flat terminal curve, patented high-frequency regulating organ, silicon impulse-pin, pallet-lever and escape-wheel, chronometer-certified (COSC).

Dial: Brass stamped with a sunburst pattern in a patinated Vals grey. Rhodium-plated applied hour-markers and numerals, painted with Grade X1 SuperLumiNova, rhodium-plated baton-type hours and minutes hands painted with Grade X1 SuperLumiNova. Rhodium-plated arrow-type seconds hand with eagle feather counterweight.

Bracelet: Tapering in grade 5 titanium, wide links with satin-brushed sides and polished central cap, triple folding clasp in grade 5 titanium with steel blades.

Price: $19,000.

 

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The Watches

Patek Philippe Updates Three Chronographs

Patek Philippe this week introduces new versions of three existing chronographs, including one (Reference 5905) with an olive-green dial set into a steel case with an Aquanaut-inspired steel bracelet.

The other two debuts, new versions of Reference 5204 (a split-second chronograph with perpetual calendar) and Reference 5930 (a world time flyback chronograph) each feature new case metal and/or a new dial color.

The new Patek Philippe 5905/1A-001 is a flyback chronograph and annual calendar in a 42mm polished stainless steel case.

Reference 5905/1A-001
A

Patek Philippe first launched this self-winding flyback chronograph with annual calendar in platinum in 2015 and then in rose gold in 2019. Now, the watch enters the market as a sporty 42mm steel watch, complete with an integrated steel bracelet inspired by the brand’s all-sporty Aquanaut (Reference 5167/1A).

And combined with a trendy sunburst olive green dial, this debut will likely become the latest Patek Philippe watch with demand far exceeding production. Patek Philippe rarely cases its watches in steel, and the metal’s use here will only amplify the already strong demand for the brand’s pioneering and highly legible annual calendar, especially as combined with a flyback chronograph.

Specifically, the dial offers a central chronograph hand, a large 60-minute subdial at 6 o’clock and three day/date/month apertures helpfully arranged along the top of the dial. For setting purposes, Patek Philippe includes a day/night indicator at 6 o’clock.

As seen through the clear sapphire caseback, Caliber CH 28-520 QA 24H shows Patek Philippe’s technical and artisanal mettle, with a vertical disk clutch column wheel. This means the central chronograph seconds hand can also be used as a permanent (running) seconds display.

The new watch will join existing references in platinum with a blue dial and in rose gold with a brown dial. Price: $59,140.

 

Reference 5204R-011
A

Patek Philippe dresses up its classically styled split-seconds chronograph and perpetual calendar with a more contemporary sunburst slate grey dial and matching strap.

The new Patek Philippe 5204R-011 is a split-seconds chronograph and perpetual calendar in a 40mm rose gold case.

The 40mm watch’s highly desirable technical pairing, first offered in rose gold in 2016, is, like the annual calendar, notable for its legibility. It displays day and month in two apertures at 12 o’clock. Small seconds and the instantaneous 30-minute counter appear on two subdials at 9 and 3 o’clock, while two round apertures display the leap-year cycle between 4 and 5 o’clock. And helpfully, the date hand (at 6 o’clock) includes a moonphase display.

Through its clear sapphire caseback the Reference 5204R allows a view of the manual-wind Caliber CHR 29-535 PS Q, first introduced in 2012. This caliber, with two column wheels, a horizontal clutch and a split-seconds mechanism, is a recipient of seven patents.

The watch is available on a shiny slate gray calf leather strap with an embossed alligator pattern and a rose gold fold-over clasp. Available with interchangeable sapphire crystal and solid caseback, it is joining the two existing versions in rose gold. Price: $309,893.

 

Reference 5930P-001

This automatic World Time Flyback Chronograph is resplendent with its all-new 39.5mm platinum case, especially as it complements a sexy green dial and matching strap.

The new Patek Philippe 5930P-001 World Time Flyback Chronograph is set into a 39.5mm platinum case.

Not only are the green city names right on trend, they do so in a retro style particular to Patek Philippe: In 1940 the Geneva watchmaker actually placed a similar green dial on a one-off model of its famed world timer. Furthermore, the case features the wing-type lugs often seen on Patek Philippe world timers in the 1940s-1950s.

If the design here looks familiar from more a recent era, it’s because Patek Philippe debuted the 5930 in 2016 in a white gold version with a blue dial and matching strap. Here, the green dial center has been guillochéd by hand in a circular pattern while the hands and applied hour markers are coated with a generous application of luminescent coating.

Inside, Patek Philippe’s caliber CH 28-520 HU is equipped with a column wheel and a disk-type vertical clutch. This allows the central chronograph hand to be used as a permanent (running) seconds display without affecting accuracy or power reserve.

Patek Philippe offers the new Reference 5930P-001 on a shiny green alligator strap with a platinum fold-over clasp. It joins the collection alongside a white gold 5930G-010 version with blue dial and strap. Price: $100,538.

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Franck Muller Adds Bracelets to Vanguard

Franck Muller now offers metal bracelet options for the first time for its top-selling Vanguard collection.

The tonneau-shaped Vanguard collection, which includes a wide range of the Geneva watchmaker’s primarily sporty models on leather or textile straps, can now be attached to the wrist with a bracelet composed and finished with either brushed steel, polished steel, brushed titanium and black brushed titanium.

Franck Muller will make the polished and brushed link bracelets to fit into the two different Vanguard case sizes, 41 mm and 45mm.

The firm’s technicians have also developed a fine adjustment system that allow the bracelet to be sized to fit proportionally and ‘perfectly’ on the wrist, according to Franck Muller. Links can be quickly removed or added to lengthen or shorten the bracelet.

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