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The Watches

Breitling Adds Tourbillon to Top Time 

Breitling adds a tourbillon to three models in its Top Time Classic Cars Collection, the series of luxurious sporty chronographs that celebrate classic automobiles. The new models honor the legacies of the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette and Shelby Cobra, three famed cars Breitling has linked to existing watches in the collection.

The new Breitling B21 Top Time Ford Mustang.

The watchmaker combines the new tourbillon addition with a variety of case metals and dial treatments (including one with a walnut burl dial) meant to add some contemporary technology to the essentially retro-themed Top Time collection.

The new Breitling Top Time B21 Shelby Cobra

Breitling fits each watch with Caliber B21, the same movement Breitling developed with the movement maker Manufacture La Joux-Perret and the same caliber seen first inside last year’s Breitling Premier Tourbillon.

The new Breitling Top Time B21 Chevrolet Corvette.

The Caliber B21 has a column-wheel-controlled design with a horizontal clutch and is a COSC-certified chronometer with a skeletonized oscillating weight. The wearer can enjoy a view of the column wheel on each watch through the caseback.

Breitling first introduced the Top Time Collection in the 1960s and revived it in 2021 as a ‘modern retro’ series built with mushroom-style chronograph pushers and an up/down dial design. 

For the new models, Breitling places the tourbillon carriage at 12 o’clock with the chronograph minute counter at the 6 o’clock position, in part to recall the look of vintage automotive dashboard gauges. You’ll also find tachometer scale just inside the bezel of all three new models.

The Watches

One debut model, the Top Time B21 Ford Mustang, boasts a 43-mm bronze case with a titanium back and a green dial, colored to match the first-generation Ford Mustang (1964 to 1974.)

Breitling Top Time B21 Shelby Cobra

A second debut, the Top Time B21 Shelby Cobra, has a 44-mm black ceramic case with a titanium back, crown, pushers, and buckle. Its blue dial matches the color theme of 1962 model, famously developed by Le Mans winner Carroll Shelby.

Breitling Top Time B21 Chevrolet Corvette.

The third debut, the Top Time B21 Chevrolet Corvette, pairs its 44-mm black ceramic case with a titanium back, crown, pushers, and buckle. Its unusual walnut burl dial and perforated leather racing strap are an homage to the steering wheel and dashboard inlays of the legendary 1960s “Sting Ray” Chevy Corvette.

Price: $47,000.

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The Watches

Bell & Ross Blues its Cyber Skull 

Bell & Ross expands its BR 01 Cyber Skull collection with the new BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire Ice Blue, a 45mm clear sapphire watch with an automaton skull whose jaw moves when the watch’s crown is turned while winding the movement.

The new Bell & Ross BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire Ice Blue.

The high-tech composite sapphire case allows a completely clear view of the manual-wind caliber and its components, whether viewed from the front or back of the watch. The highlight ice blue skull, made of galvanized brass and blue PVD (on the dial side), serves as a backdrop and mainplate for the skeletonized caliber BR-CAL.209, with its 48-hour power reserve and 28,800 vph frequency.

Bruno Belamich, creative director and co-founder of Bell & Ross, explains that the newest skull hue “combines perfectly with the transparency of the sapphire of the case, like a faceted iceberg.”

The watchmaker notes that the case’s sapphire material is almost as hard and scratch-resistant as diamond. To produce the case, technicians use a hydrogen flame to heat an alumina powder to a temperature exceeding 2,000°C., a delicate and painstaking process

Bell & Ross equips the watch with a transparent soft silicone strap held to the wrist with a polished and satin-finished steel pin buckle. The new BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire Ice Blue is a limited edition of 25 pieces, each priced at $115,000. 

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The Watches

Chronoswiss Unveils New Grand Regulators

Chronoswiss adds two new models to its Grand Regulator series, a collection of primarily 44mm steel watches featuring the watchmaker’s trademark regulator dial arrangement with a large central minute hand and smaller off-center hour hand.

The new Chronoswiss Grand Regulator Cowboy.

One model, the Grand Regulator Cowboy, offers a black case with a skeletonized black dial nicely accented with gold markers and typeface. The Cowboy comes affixed to a brown hornback alligator strap.

The new Chronoswiss Grand Regulator Night Prowler.

 

The second debut, the Grand Regulator Night Prowler, features a deep blue skeletonized dial, blue accents and markers and a black case. This model is attached to a black alligator strap.

Both watches are powered by a handsome skeletonized manual-wind movement, C.677S, which Chronoswiss builds from an ETA Unitas base caliber.

The independent Lucerne-based brand has teamed regulator timekeeping with a wide variety of other functions and displays since 1987, when Chronoswiss debuted the first serially produced wristwatch with a regulator-type dial.

In recent years, the Chronoswiss regulator collection has focused on bold, 44mm partially or fully skeletonized manual-wind watches, as well as automatic models in smaller (37mm and 41mm) diameters, many displaying more classical, dressy dials with time-only indications.

Chronoswiss will make each watch as a limited edition of thirty pieces.

Price: $13,300.

 

Specifications:  Flying Grand Regulator Skeleton 

(Two Limited Editions of 30)

CH-6725S-BKBL “Night Prowler” 

CH-6725S-BKGO “Cowboy”

Displays: Off-center hours at 12:00, central minutes, small seconds at 6:00. 

Case: Solid 21-part 44mm by 12.48mm stainless steel with a DLC-coating, satin finish and polished bezel with side knurling and curved, non-reflecting sapphire crystal, screw-down case back with satin finish and flat sapphire crystal, onion crown, water resistance up to 3 bar, strap bars screwed in with patented Autobloc system.

Movement: Chronoswiss caliber C. 677S, manual winding from a Unitas base, modified on Regulator dial; skeletonized, 18,000 vph, 46-hour power reserve. 

Dial: Multi-level on skeletonized base with funnel construction. Middle level with individual number of limitation. Top level screwed on foundation blocks, hands are gold-plated or lacquered.

Strap: Hornback crocodile leather / Alligator leather ; hand-sewn with folding clasp.

Price: $13,300 (each model)  

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The Watches

H. Moser Thins Streamliner with New Micro-Rotor

H. Moser & Cie. creates its thinnest and smallest Streamliner yet with the new Streamliner Small Seconds Blue Enamel, a sleek 39mm cushion-cased steel watch that debuts automatic caliber HMC 500, the independent watchmaker’s first movement with a micro-rotor.

The new H. Moser Streamliner Small Seconds Blue Enamel.

Boasting a very slightly elongated cushion shape and a seriously stunning Grand Feu ‘Aqua Blue’ enamel dial, the new watch retains Streamliner collection’s organic curves and integrated bracelet design.

And with the new, thin movement the watch is among H. Moser’s thinnest at 10.9mm high.

H. Moser mounts its new platinum micro-rotor on a ball bearing and equips it with a bi-directional pawl winding system that offers a solid seventy-four-hour power reserve.

Despite a smaller escapement, the movement’s performance remains as strong as H. Moser’s existing, larger calibers. (See full specifications below).

Made from solid platinum, the micro-rotor is mounted on a ball bearing, equipped with a bi-directional pawl winding system.

Developed in tandem with H. Moser’s sister company, Precision Engineering AG, the movement will serve as a base for the watchmaker’s small-case designs going forward, and will “enable us to introduce new complications, by combining it with modules developed in-house or in collaboration with our partner Agenhor,” explains Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser & Cie.

H. Moser artisans wash three different color pigments, which are then finely crushed and applied to the dial.

Moser creates the logo-free translucent enamel by painstakingly firing the substance twelve times to create the fumé effect. In a nice contrast to this primary dial, an offset small seconds display at 6 o’clock is lacquered with a circular pattern.

Price: $32,900.

 

Specifications: H. Moser Streamliner Small Seconds Blue Enamel

(Reference 6500-1200, steel model, Aqua Blue fumé dial, integrated steel bracelet.) 

Case:

Steel topped by a slightly domed sapphire crystal

Diameter: 39.0 mm

Height without sapphire crystal: 9.3 mm; Height with sapphire crystal: 10.9 mm

See-through case-back 

Screw-in crown adorned with an “M”

Water-resistant to 120 meters

Dial:

Aqua Blue fumé “Grand Feu” enamel with hammered texture 

Applique indices 

Hour and minute hands with Globolight inserts 

Lacquered small seconds sub-dial with a circular pattern

Movement:

Automatic calibre HMC 500, partially skeletonized

Diameter: 30.0 mm or 13 1/4 lignes

Height: 4.5 mm 

Frequency:  21,600 Vb/h

Automatic bi-directional pawl winding system 

Solid platinum micro-rotor engraved with the H. Moser hallmark 

Power reserve: minimum of 74 hours

Original Straumann hairspring 

Finish with Moser stripes 

Strap/bracelet:

Integrated steel bracelet  

Folding clasp with three steel blades, engraved with the Moser logo 

Price: $32,900.

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The Watches

Frederique Constant Celebrates with Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar 

Frederique Constant celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary and the fifteenth anniversary of its Manufacture tourbillon with a limited-edition version of its Manufacture Highlife Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar.

The new Frederique Constant Manufacture Highlife Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar.

The Geneva-based watchmaker will release thirty-five examples of the new 41mm by 12.65mm pink gold watch. 

With a contemporary design, the watch melds both of its namesake technical complications within a blue dial, carefully adapting the upper half the tourbillon aperture to fit alongside the calendar displays.

This shape differs from the classically round aperture found within the watchmaker’s existing tourbillon models. 

On the dial you’ll find the day, date and month indications at the 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions. Each shows its indication with a hand, though the month/years display (at the 12 o’clock position) requires two hands. In addition to the month hand, another hand indicates leap years.

Frederique Constant’s characteristic Highlife globe pattern subtly underpins the watch’s dial, complete with map-like meridians and parallels. Each dial sector is finished slightly differently in either satin or sunburst patterns to enhance readability.

Frederique Constant’s own tourbillon regulator is fit with the watch’s seconds hand, which rotates just above the balance wheel, a series of blued screws and a gold-finished baseplate. Artisans engrave each plate with the watch’s individual serial number.

The movement here is Frederique Constant’s own FC-975 Manufacture caliber, which the watchmaker decorates with circular grained and Côtes de Genève finishes. The movement boasts a 38-hour power reserve and water resistance to 30 meters. 

Frederique Constant supplies the watch with interchangeable leather and rubber straps, allowing its owner to easily switch between traditional and sportier  looks. 

Price: $48,995. 

Specifications: Frederique Constant Highlife Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Manufacture 

(Limited to 35 pieces, available in January)

Movement: FC-975 in-house automatic caliber, perpetual calendar, tourbillon, 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 alt/h. 

Case: 41mm by 12.65mm brushed and polished rose gold three-part with
scratch-resistant and anti-reflective convex sapphire crystal. See-through case back. Water-resistant to 30 meters. 

Dial: Blue with matte finishing and globe pattern embossed in the center, rose gold plated applied indexes filled with white luminous treatment, rose-gold-plated hour and minute hands filled with white luminous treatment, date counter with rose-gold-plated hand. Heart Beat opening at 6 o’clock with 60-seconds tourbillon, rose-gold-plated seconds hand, day counter at 9 o’clock with rose-gold-plated hand. Month and (leap) year counter at 12 o’clock with rose gold plated hands. 

Strap: Navy blue alligator leather with nubuck finishing. Also included: additional navy blue rubber strap. 

Price: $48,995.

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