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Nicholas Wittcoff

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The Watches

Porsche Design Celebrates Fifty Years

To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Porsche Design, which was founded by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche in 1972, Porsche Design is launching the Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition, a reinterpretation of its first product, the original Chronograph 1.

The new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition is a reinterpretation of its first product, the original Chronograph 1.

Long considered the first all-black watch, the Chronograph 1 design was directly based on the matte-black design of Porsche sports car dashboards. Porsche Design’s use of black PVD on steel (as well as employing the then-new Valjoux 7750 automatic movement) set an example emulated for decades afterwards by sports watchmakers across the globe. Early examples of the pioneering Porsche Design automatic chronograph are highly collectible.

Honoring the watch’s pioneering role in late 20th century watchmaking, Porsche Design launches its Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition with the original’s dial and 40.8mm case measurements while bringing it up to modern technical standards.

As on the original, Porsche Design places its historic logo on the dial, crown, clasp and case back. In addition, the tachymeter scale and date display retain the 1972 font and the watch’s baton hands bear the original rectangular shape. The movement, however is now the COSC- certified Porsche Design caliber WERK 01.140.

The COSC-certified Porsche Design caliber WERK 01.140.

Porsche Design will make the watch using the same high performance titanium for the 40.8mm case and strap as it uses in nearly all Porsche Design timepieces today. And new SuperLuminova will enhance the watch’s visibility in the dark.

Also new is where the Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition and its movement are manufactured. As of 2014, all Porsche Design Timepieces are produced in-house at Porsche Design Timepieces AG, the brand’s own timepiece-manufacturing facility in Solothurn, Switzerland.

The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition is limited to only 500 pieces worldwide and is now available at Porsche Design stores and online at www.porsche-design.com.   Price: $7,700.

Porsche Design will also offer a second example of the watch, the Chronograph 1 – 911 Edition 50Y Porsche Design (with an open caseback), exclusively to owners of the new limited edition Porsche 911 sports car, with both car and watch limited to 750 pieces globally.

The Chronograph 1 – 911 Edition 50Y Porsche Design for Porsche 911 owners has an open caseback.

In addition to the anniversary timepieces and vehicles, Porsche Design is also offering a wide range of its products with special fiftieth anniversary touches. The products include sunglasses, fashion, sportswear, accessories, bags and luggage.

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The Watches

Waldan Plays With Color in Sportline Collection

Waldan Watches updates its Heritage Sportline Collection with colorful new dials, each nicely paired with leather straps that highlight both contrasting and matching hues.

The new watches are the first additions to the U.S.-based watch company’s collection in 2022. Heritage Sportline is Waldan’s signature sporty series. Each watch is constructed with a double-stepped 40mm by 8.6mm 316L stainless steel case with a domed, anti-glare sapphire crystal and fifty meters of water resistance. (Readers might recall our review of one Waldan watch earlier last year, as well as our look into the company’s history in 2020.)

The new Heritage Sportline models feature eye-catching dials executed in Olive Khaki, Royal Blue and Champagne. The oil-pressed, linear style dials feature SuperLuminova above their baton-styled applied markers and show the time with matching baton hands with luminous tips. A sunken sub-seconds register can be found at the 6 o’clock position.

Waldan’s interchangeable straps are made in Italy. While the straps attached to these new models are matched to the dial, Waldan presents the wearer with the option of purchasing additional straps to mix and match as desired. The extra straps are $30 and available from the Waldan website.

Waldan continues to power each watch in this series with an all-metal American-made Ameriquartz Caliber 70200 movement. Fine Timepiece Solutions, the Arizona-based manufacturer of the Ameriquartz movements, guarantees that its all-metal calibers are defect-free for a full five years. Price: $299.

 

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The Watches

Tutima’s Sturdy Seven Seas Goes Green (and Yellow)

Tutima adds two models to its excellent M2 Seven Seas S adventure watch collection, and both catch the eye with a steel case and two interesting green or yellow gradient dials.

This newer of the M2 Seven Seas collections adds an S to its name to denote a use of a brushed and partially polished 43mm stainless steel case rather than a titanium case.

Where previous steel models offer red or blue dials, the newest M2 Seven Seas S offers a yellow or green dial, but with a twist. In the center, each dial option invites the viewer to enjoy the color’s slowly darkening hue until the color turns darkest along its periphery.

The new M2 Seven Seas S from Tutima Glashütte.

Glashütte-based Tutima then continues the gradient effect by enlisting the leather bracelet, which is colored to match the green on the dial of both new models.

Of course, Tutima offers a steel bracelet as well, priced with a very fair $400 premium, for those who prefer a more traditional approach.

The watch retains the collection’s full array of nautical-ready specifications, including a screwed crown, threaded caseback and, critically, an extra-thick (three-mm) pane of sapphire crystal protecting the dial. The unidirectional rotating bezel with a marker at the “12” is both functional and eye-catching.

The hands and markers here are wide and exceptionally easy to read. Tutima enhances that visibility by placing a generous coat of SuperLuminova on the markers, hands and the dot at the top of the dial.

Tutima’s use of both a screw-in caseback and an extra-thick crystal contribute to the very strong 500-meter water resistance rating for the M2 Seven Seas series. Inside the M2 Seven Seas S Tutima places its automatic ETA-based Caliber 330 that exhibits a standard 38-hour power reserve when fully wound.

Prices: $1,900 (leather strap) and $2,300 (steel bracelet).

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Featured News

Horological Reading: “Timepieces: A Lifelong Love and Passion”

By Michael Thompson

Recently I received a copy of “Timepieces: A Lifelong Love and Passion” by Connecticut-based watch appraiser and dealer Laurent Martinez. If you’ve been a long-time iW reader or regularly read our online offerings, you’re likely familiar with a least a few of the many feature stories about watch collecting Martinez has penned for our publications.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the just-published book, which is sub-titled “An Insider’s Guide to Watches and Tips for Watch Collecting.”

Martinez writes from the point of view of both a long-time collector and as an advisor to those just starting their own collections.

In the former guise, Martinez takes the reader through his life growing up just outside Paris, through a series of jobs in restaurants and businesses and eventually to the events that led to Martinez starting his own consulting firm in the United States.

As his story unfolds, one thread remains constant: his long-standing love of watches. Martinez’s story of acquiring his first watch, a Yema dive model, at twelve-years-old will strike a chord of familiarity with many iW readers. 

Many will also sympathize with the author’s recognition several years ago, at the age of fifty, that he was ready to launch his own watch business after years as a collector. It turns out that Martinez funded his new business, Laurent Fine Watches, at least in part by drawing from his lifelong passion – he bought and sold a dozen watches.

Much of the nearly 200-page book details a brief history of watches and defines a range of technical terms. But with that covered, Martinez really begins to dig in.

In chapters such as “Provenance is Everything” to “Real Versus Fake Watches,” Martinez gathers his experience as a collector and dealer to advise the reader, underscoring his points with hundreds of examples and even more glossy photos.

Any collector, new or veteran, will both enjoy and be enriched when reading “Timepieces: A Lifelong Love and  Passion.” You can find a copy ($39.95) on the laurentfinewatches.com website and on Amazon.

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The Watches

LVMH Watch Week: A Sleeker TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200

TAG Heuer this week adds a thinner, more refined version of the Aquaracer Professional 200 to its Aquaracer collection.

Echoing updates TAG Heuer made to its Aquaracer Professional 300 dive watch this past April, the changes to the Aquaracer Professional 200 also result in a thinner and slightly smaller design while also retaining the technical specifications of what TAG Heuer calls its “all-terrain luxury tool watch.”

TAG Heuer’s new Aquaracer Professional 200, now available in 40mm and 30mm sizes. Pictured is a 40mm automatic model.

Those specifications include the same six design points TAG Heuer has built into the collection since 2004, the year Aquaracer debuted as the watchmaker’s dive watch collection. These include: a unidirectional rotating bezel; a screw-down crown; water resistance to at least 200 meters; luminous markings; a sapphire crystal; and a double safety clasp.

To create the new automatic Aquaracer 200 Professional, TAG Heuer combines these guideposts with a more wrist-friendly size (40mm versus 41mm in its previous iteration) and a more sophisticated black, silver or blue dial finish. (Seven quartz-powered Aquaracer 200 Professional collection watches will also be available in both 40mm and 30mm case sizes, and two new automatic models measure 30mm in diameter.)

Steel bezel

In addition to the smaller dimensions, TAG Heuer replaces the former model’s ceramic bezel diving scale with an eye-catching, engraved twelve-facet steel bezel. The new design features a polished central bracelet link, adding extra style to what is primarily an all-weather sport watch.

Both the automatic and quartz watches feature a slimmed-down, more elegant bracelet.

Those familiar with last year’s updates to the Aquaracer Professional 300 will see similar sartorial touches with the Aquaracer Professional 200 update. Note the same refined, repeating horizontal lines on the dial and the sculpted, shorter lugs with brushed and polished finishes.

But unlike the deep dive watch’s decidedly sporty dial, the dial on the new Aquaracer Professional 200 is more classically finished. You’ll see straight-edged, trapezoidal hour markers, thinner sword-shaped hands, and crisper detailing across the dial.

TAG Heuer notes that while it has still coated the watch’s hour markers and hands with SuperLuminova, its dial makers have added no luminescent material to the bezel. The result, according to the watchmaker, is a “more sartorial look” for the Aquaracer Professional 200.

The 30mm automatic model sports a smoky black or blue dial, some with diamond markers.

As noted above, TAG Heuer is offering the new Aquaracer Professional 200 models with a choice of movements and sizes. Within the 40mm collection, there are two automatic and two quartz references, while at 30mm there are two automatics and five quartz options.

The watch’s reverse is engraved with a compass, replacing the diving helmet featured on earlier Aquaracer case backs.

These choices differ markedly from the options available with the 2021 Aquaracer Professional 300 update, which is only available with an automatic movement. In summary, the automatic Aquaracer Professional 200 models sport gradient dials, date windows, sweeping seconds hands and more detailed minute tracks. The quartz model dials are simpler and display no date, though several models offer diamond accents.

Prices: $2,500 (40mm automatic), $1,850 (40mm quartz), $3,200 (30mm automatic), $2,500 to $4,550 (30mm quartz with diamonds), $1,800 (30mm quartz).

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