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Michael Thompson

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The Watches

New Pink Gold Dial Transforms the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual

    A. Lange & Söhne surprised many earlier this summer when it introduced new colors to two of its best-known complicated models.

    The Glashütte-based manufacturer applied a platinum case to its famed Lange 1 Time Zone while also adding a stunning pink gold dial to its 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar in a white gold case. 

    Here, we’ll look at the latter model with its visually transformative new dial hue.

    The newest A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar, now in a white gold case with a pink gold dial.

     

    The 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar’s dimensions, movement and technical details remain as impressive they were when the piece debuted ten years ago when it won the Grand Complications award at the 2013 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie in Geneva.

    We’ve seen the dial color and case metal combination here previously when the watchmaker offered the design on its Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon (2019) and its Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar (2021).

    The look is almost vintage, especially when eyeing the dial’s very traditional railway minute scale and its classical four-subdial layout.

    And this make perfect sense since A. Lange & Söhne designers meant to recall the dials of earlier Lange pocket watches. Thus, we see the combined calendar at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions while the left subsidiary dial shows the date and day of the week and the right displays the month and leap year.

    At the same time, we see the expressive moon phase display within the subsidiary seconds display at 6 o’clock and the minute counter and power-reserve indicator at the top of the dial.

    The beautiful display continues on the back of the watch with a clear view of the watchmaker’s spectacular manual-wind L101.1 movement with its clearly visible rattrapante mechanism and superior finishing. Stunning.

    A.Lange & Sohne will make 100 examples of the new 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar. 

    Price on Request.

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    The Watches

    Wempe Adds Rubber Straps to Iron Walker

    Wempe now offers blue or black rubber straps for its sporty Iron Walker collection of sharp-looking sports watches available with Diver, Tide or GMT functions. 

    Wempe introduced the Iron Walker collection in 2020 as a high-value series that complements its dressier Wempe Chronometerwerk collection, a high-end series powered by in-house mechanical movements.

    The Wempe Iron Walker GMT.

    The new rubber strap options offer a sportier look to the 42mm functional-focused series with weather-resistant synthetic rubber that matches the watch’s dial coloring. Wempe already includes rubber-strap options within its top-selling 44mm Iron Walker Automatic Chronograph collection.

    The Wempe Iron Walker Diver.

    Rather than simply fitting an off-the-shelf movement into each Iron Walker Dive, GMT or Tide watch, Wempe modifies a Swiss automatic Sellita movement in its Glashütte workshop, adding an in-house fine adjustment subassembly regulated to pass the stringent testing procedure in Glashütte’s own historical observatory.

    As a result all the watches in the collection are officially certified chronometer-rated according to the ISO 3159 norm.

    The Wempe Iron Walker Tide.

    All models also offer 300-meter water resistance, a sapphire crystal, SuperLuminova-coated markers and fifty-six hours of power reserve.

    Currently Wempe is also updating all the offering within its Wempe Zeitmeister and Iron Walker collections to meet the same strict technical specifications. Prices: $4,150 (diver), $4,440 (GMT) and $4,185 (Tide).

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    Featured Events

    Zenith to Exhibit Historic Pilot Watches in NYC

    Zenith will exhibit a selection of its vintage pilots watches at the Watches of Switzerland Hudson Yards location in New York from August 8 until September 10. The exhibit is meant to celebrate the watchmaker’s new Pilot collections, which debuted earlier this year during the Watches and Wonders watch fair in Geneva.

    A Zenith military pilot watch circa 1928-1930.

     

    At the Watches of Switzerland Hudson Yards store visitors will find six Zenith Pilot heritage pieces alongside Zenith’s new Pilot collection, which includes stainless steel and ceramic three-hand automatics and flyback chronographs.

    A Zenith Chronographe Cairelli Type CP2 from the 1960s.

    Zenith will display an impressive selection of historic aviation watches, including the Dashboard Altimeter (1910s), Pilot Wristwatch (1928-1930s), Chronograph Tipo CP2 (1968-72), El Primero Pilot-Diver (1972), El Primero Rainbow Fly-Back (1997), and El Primero Pilot Big Date Special (2010).

    An altimeter from 1910.

    Collectors are likely aware that Zenith registered the trademark “Pilote” in 1888, followed by the English “Pilot” in 1904, which allowed the brand to exclusively use the word on its dials.

    A new Zenith Pilot Chronograph in steel.

    Zenith watches were worn by Louis Blériot, who made history by accomplishing the first flight across the English Channel in 1909.

    The 1997 El Primero Rainbow Flyback.
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    The Watches

    Luminox Brightens Pacific Diver 

    Luminox adds bright colors to its Pacific Diver Series with a pair of 200-meter dive watches with new tropics-inspired orange and yellow hues.

    One of two new models in the Luminox Pacific Diver series.

    The new watches extend the color options within the watchmaker’s Pacific Diver 3120 collection, a solid group of 44mm three-hand date models with superior easy-to-read dials, tough unidirectional carbon bezels and a wide array of steel and rubber bracelet options.

    Luminox of course has long separated itself from the pack of watchmakers offering quartz-powered dive watches thanks to its unique application of self-powered micro-gas tube illumination on its watch dials and hands.

    Here, Luminox places illuminated green hour markers around each dial with orange illumination at the 12 o’clock location and on the minute hand.

    The watchmaker says this Luminox Light Technology will provide glowing source of dial-reading assistance for twenty-five years.

    Price: $645.

    Specifications: Luminox Pacific Diver 

    Movement: Quartz Ronda 515 with 50-month battery life.

    Case:44mm by 12mm steel with Carbonox uni-directional rotating bezel fitted at 12 o’clock with a protected colored light tube, screwed-in sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, screw-in protected crown and case back. 200-meters of water resistance.

    Strap: Yellow or orange rubber. 

    Dial: Yellow or orange with black and colored light tube markers. Hands also with colors light tubes. 

    Price: $645.

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    The Watches

    Porsche Design Celebrates the Porsche 911

    Porsche Design celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Porsche 911 with a new anniversary edition of its original Chronograph 1, the first blackened steel Porsche Design watch from 1972.

    The new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 911 S/T.

    The new model, the Chronograph 1 – 911 S/T, is a flyback chronograph that features design elements and colors that specifically pay homage to the Porsche 911 S/T 2.4.

    Porsche Design is reserving the new watch for the owners of the newest Porsche 911 S/T. 

    The car is known for its lightweight design concept, which is why Porsche Design built cases for the new watch in lightweight uncoated and sandblasted titanium, and in two hues: Ceramica (high gloss) or Brilliant Silver.

    The black dial of the new watch, framed by a black bezel ring, mimics the car’s instrument panel, as does the green and red minute scale, which includes a red 60 to echo the look of the car’s retro rev counter.

    The dial of the new Chronograph 1 – 911 S/T also features a day display in both German and English with the date colored in a brilliant phosphorous green. The white stop-seconds hand, which echoes the rev counter pointer, is coated with a generous amount of SuperLuminova.

    Finally, Porsche Design has copied the font used to indicate the car’s gear shift pattern and applied it to the dial on the new watch, specifically on the chronograph sub-dials. The shift pattern itself can also be found on the dial.

    Inside Porsche Design fits its excellent COSC-certified Porsche Design WERK 01.240 with flyback function and specially designed rotor available three options: high-gloss, silver or black. The movement is visible behind a sapphire crystal caseback.

    Porsche Design offers the Chronograph 1 – 911 S/T in a Heritage version that incudes a Classic Cognac-colored genuine leather strap and a winding rotor on the back that features the Porsche crest. The S/T version includes a black leather strap and the S/T-branded rotor. Both versions come with the additional titanium bracelet.

    All watches will have the limited edition number (of 1,963) engraved on the back of the watch. Porsche Design is also including a range of accessories with each watch, including a plaque featuring the 911 S/T image and the individual limitation number.

    Price: $13,500.

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