Independent Swiss watchmaker Armin Strom adds retro-inspired markers to its contemporary Tribute 1 while also enhancing the color options for the manual-wind model’s already distinctive offset dial.
With the new Tribute 1 California, Armin Strom places so-called California markers onto the Tribute 1 dial, which can now also be ordered in a choice of five fumé colors that contrast nicely to the also-new black guilloché dial plate framing the dial.
The new Armin Strom Tribute 1 California, in one of five new dial color options.
While the new colors and markers highlight the new series, for many collectors it’s the dial plate itself that stands out here: Much-lauded Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen crafted each of the black guilloché dial plates by hand.
The California dial, distinguished by alternating Roman and Arabic numerals, differs fairly dramatically from the thin stick markers found on earlier Tribute 1 models. Their presence here, in combination with Voutilainen’s traditional guilloche plate, stylistically contrasts with the modernistic exposed and decorated mainspring barrel that dominates the lower section of the 38mm steel watch.
I suspect that this juxtaposition will jar very few contemporary minded Armin Strom collectors.
Armin Strom is offering five different fumé (sunburst-pattern) dials, including versions in blue, light blue, green, burgundy and black. The dials are each set with Armin Strom’s own distinctive hour, minute and seconds hands.
Inside Armin Strom places is own manual-wind manufacture Caliber AMW21 that boasts an incredible 100-hours of power reserve. Armin Strom notes that its watchmakers assemble, disassemble and reassemble each caliber to ensure that each individual part was cleaned, dried, reassembled and lubricated before being regulated, tested and placed back into its steel case.
Finally, Armin Strom adds that its presents each Tribute 1 California watch on a black alligator leather strap with stitching that matches the color of the dial. The Tribute 1 California is available in editions limited to five per color and Armin Strom will make only twenty-five of these new watches in total.
A 2019 Rolex GMT-Master and a very sharp-looking Chopard L.U.C men’s watch highlight the January Jewels and Timepieces live auction by Farber Auctioneers & Appraisers, set for January 11.
Also drawing collector attention in the 452-lot auction is a men’s tourbillon model by Franck Muller and an unusual Speake Marin Velsheda Piccadilly men’s watch.
U.S.-based auction house Farber Auctioneers & Appraisers is a favorite for many collectors in search of a wider range of watches than typically found at the larger auction houses. Farber maintains an active presence in its own New Jersey community and has a well-established global network.
Founded forty years ago, Farber Auctioneers & Appraisers specializes in fine jewelry, timepieces, sterling silver flatware and hollowware as well as United States coins and Collectibles.
Below is a look at a few of the highlights for the January 11 Jewels & Timepieces live auction. Bidding begins at 10 am EST. Click here for a list of all the auction’s watch and jewelry lots and for details on how to bid.
Rolex GMT-Master Stainless Steel from 2019.
Rolex
This vintage Rolex GMT-Master Stainless Steel Watch (Reference number 1675) features an automatic movement. Its case measures 39mm (excluding crown) and it has a gold gilt dial, acrylic crystal and a non-original stainless steel Oyster bracelet. Watch is in working order. Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date, GMT function. Watch comes with official Rolex Service Paperwork from 2019 and Rolex pouch with service box.
Starting bid: $15,000
Estimate: $30,000 – $40,000
Franck Muller Ronde Tourbillon Men’s Watch.
Franck Muller
The 42mm Ronde Tourbillon Men’s Watch features a manual wind 21-jewel movement. Its case measures 42mm x 49mm lug tip to lug tip. Original leather band and tang buckle.
Back view, Franck Muller Ronde Tourbillon Men’s Watch.
Watch is in working order. Function: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Tourbillon. Marked- Tourbillion, 7002 T, Number 75, Franck Muller marked on movement. Watch is in excellent pre owned condition. Does not come with box or papers.
Starting bid: $30,000
Estimate: $45,000 – $60,000
Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Celeste 18-karat Rose Gold Ladies Watch.
Jaquet Droz
This very nice 39mm Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Celeste 18k Rose Gold Ladies Watch features an automatic 28-jewel movement with an impressive 68-hour power reserve and is in working order. Functions: Hours, Minutes. The watch is in new store sample condition. Comes with box and papers.
Starting bid: $15,000
Estimate: $22,000 – $30,000
Chopard 18k White Gold Tourbillon Esprit de Fleurier Men’s Watch.
Chopard
This sharp-looking Chopard 18k White Gold Tourbillon Esprit de Fleurier Men’s Watch features a top-notch, highly decorated Chopard L.U.C manual-wind movement. Bearing components of the movement are solid 18-karat gold. The case measures 40.5mm x 49mm lug tip to lug tip.
Chopard, back view showing decorated L.U.C movement.
Original Chopard leather band and 18-karat gold tang buckle. Watch is in working order. Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, display showing the excellent eight-day power reserve. Marked ‘Chronometer Esprit de Fleurier, 11/15, 1911, LUC, 1691751.’
Starting bid: $35,000
Estimate: $55,000 – $70,000
Cartier Pasha Moonphase perpetual calendar.
Cartier
Two Cartier watches are particularly noteworthy. One (above) is an 18-karat yellow gold Cartier Pasha Moonphase perpetual calendar watch with a quartz movement. The 38mm watch comes with its box.
Starting bid: $6,000
Estimate: $12,000 – $18,000
Cartier Tortue 18k Gold Diamond Ladies Watch.
The second Cartier watch is this 18-karat gold Tortue Diamond Ladies Watch, featuring an 18-jewel manual-wind movement. Its case measures 28mm x 34mm. Original Cartier leather strap and gold deployant buckle. Watch is in working order. Functions: Hours, Minutes. Ref 2643. Marked ‘Cartier, 2643, 750, Swiss made, 18781CE.’
The watch is in excellent pre-owned condition and comes in Cartier pouch. No box or papers.
Starting bid: $6,000
Estimate: $9,000 – $12,000
Speake-Marin Velsheda The Piccadilly.
Speake Marin
This rarely seen 41mm Speake-Marin Velsheda The Piccadilly 18k Rose Gold Men’s Watch features an automatic 28-jewel movement with a 50-hour power reserve. The watch includes an original brown leather band with tang 18-karat gold buckle and is in working order. The watch is in new store sample condition and comes with box and papers.
Starting bid: $7,500
Estimate: $11,000 – $15,000
Back view of Speake-Marin Velsheda Piccadilly 18-karat Rose Gold Men’s Watch.
A different kind of auction house
(Sponsored) With more than forty years of experience, Farber Auctions is now expanding its fine jewelry and wristwatch categories with unique selling points for a wide scope of timepiece owners.
First of all, if you don’t want to wait for the auction to happen, Farber’s experienced team will evaluate your wristwatch (or jewelry item), confirm the authenticity and condition, and then develop a minimum valuation. At that point you can move forward with placing your item in the auction, or as an unheard-of service within the auction world, Farber will offer to buy your item at their original estimate right then and there – before it ever goes to auction!
Sellers who would rather let their item go forward in a given auction may very-well realize more than the “buy it now” estimate from Farber, but if for any reason your item does not reach the minimum bid, Farber Auctions will offer buy your wristwatch for their original quoted price after the auction is complete.
Eliminating the risk of leaving you empty handed when the auction is over sets Farber Auctions apart from the crowd and will no doubt appeal to a huge audience of collectors looking to divest themselves of part or all of their collections.
In another unprecedented service, Farber Auctions does not charge the seller any fee when an item is sold. Buyers do pay a premium, while sellers receive the full amount of the hammer price – another reason to look at Farber as a great option when you’re looking to get the most for your watches & jewelry. You simply can’t lose as you know the minimum you will receive for any given item.
Finally, while other auction houses tend to curate ultra-exclusive offerings to appeal only to the highest net worth individuals, Farber Auctions has an ethos that encompasses a wider swath of timepieces and jewelry to come under the hammer. While other auction houses turn their noses up at more moderately priced jewelry and watches, these accessories now have a new home at Farber Auctions.
Chopard adds a 44mm two-tone chronograph to its high-flying Alpine Eagle collection and, in a collection premiere, attaches the watch to a leather strap.
Previously available in Chopard’s own Lucent Steel alloy and/or cased in ethical rose gold, the sporty Alpine Eagle XL Chrono range now includes this model newly and luxuriously cased in ethical rose gold and a ceramic/ titanium alloy.
Chopard’s Alpine Eagle XL Chrono range now includes this model luxuriously cased in ethical rose gold and a ceramic/ titanium alloy.
Like all of the Alpine Eagle models, the dial here retains a radiant pattern meant to evoke the iris of an eagle. But the darker version visible on this new edition is a reference to the “intense black of mountain nights when wildlife reclaims its rights,” according to Chopard’s Co-President and creator of the collection, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.
The new chronograph maintains the collection’s fairly sleek profile, which here means the chronograph pushers are integrated on either side of a protective bumper adjacent to the crown.
The dial is easy to read. Its black counters for the 30-minute, small seconds and 12-hour indications are nicely proportioned. For those measuring average speed times, the tachymeter is clearly graduated and the chronograph seconds hand is tipped with red.
Beneath the dial of the new Alpine Eagle XL Chrono model Chopard fits its excellent 03.05-C flyback chronograph movement with column-wheel and vertical clutch, an in-house design featuring COSC-chronometer-certified operation and three patents. (See specifications below for details regarding the patents).
Chopard’s 03.05-C flyback chronograph movement with column wheel and vertical clutch.
As noted earlier, this new Alpine Eagle XL Chrono is the collection’s first series-produced timepiece with a black calf leather strap. Previously, only the Alpine Eagle XL Chrono created for the recent Only Watch charity auction included a leather strap. Here, the strap features hints red bridle stitching to echo the dial’s red accents.
Case: 44mm x 13.15mm ethical rose gold and ceramized titanium. Pushers in vertical satin-brushed rose gold with polished chamfers, crown guards in bead blasted ceramized titanium, case band in ethical rose gold, bezel in ethical rose gold with eight screws set at a tangent. Water resistant to 100 meters.
Movement: Chopard 03.05-C column-wheel chronometer-certified (COSC) chronograph with integrated construction. Annular balance with balance-spring featuring a flat terminal curve, patented chronograph zero-resetting system with pivoting hammers and elastic arm, patented seconds hand zero-resetting system, patented vertical coupling clutch. Open-worked ethical 22-karat rose gold central rotor.
Dial: Brass dial stamped with a sunburst pitch-black motif achieved by galvanic treatment and inspired by an eagle’s iris. Black counters with white transfers (and gilded surrounds for chronograph counters), applied gilded numerals and hour-markers enhanced with Grade X1 SuperLumiNova, black inner bezel ring and chronograph counters, gilded baton-type hours and minutes hands enhanced with Grade X1 SuperLumiNova.Gilded, red-tipped arrow-type seconds hand with eagle feather counterweight, gilded, red-tipped chronograph counter hands.
Strap: Black calfskin with red bridle stitching and gilded titanium inlay, pin buckle in engraved bead-blasted ceramized titanium.
Bell & Ross expands its popular, brightly accented Horolum series with a new model based on the watchmaker’s BR 05 collection. The latest model, the BR 05 Horolum, features extra-bright C5 Superluminova coating on its hands and indexes, echoing the extra luminescence added to all models in the Horolum series.
The new Bell & Ross BR 05 Horolum features the collection’s extra-bright C5 Superluminova coating on its hands and indexes.
This newest Horolum model recalls the very first Horolum from 2017 that placed extra luminous coating on the markers of a matte-dialed BR 03-92 design. For the new model, Bell & Ross not only includes the extra lume, but also continues to emphasize the series’ matte metallic dial and steel bracelet.
As a 40mm BR 05 design, the new watch inherently includes a steel bracelet, which for this collection is integrated directly into the steel case. Bell & Ross adds a contemporary bead-blasted finish throughout. Of course, Bell & Ross also offers an optional black leather bracelet for its steel BR 05 Horolum.
Bell & Ross explains that its Horolum series features matte finishing to adopt “more urban and more mineral references. Its lines and finish draw on contemporary architecture.”
Whatever your take on the design, it’s clear from the images of the new watch that its photo-luminescent indexes result in perfect clarity in darkness when reading the time.
The watch’s sapphire crystal back allows a view into the automatic Sellita-based CAL.321 with a metal 360-degree rotor designed to echo the look of wheel rims on sports cars.
The Bell & Ross BR 05 Horolum is a limited boutique edition of 250 pieces and is available online or in the fifteen Bell & Ross boutiques around the world. Price: $5,400.
Months after Audemars Piguet opened its sprawling Manufacture des Saignoles in Le Locle, which now hosts the workshops of Audemars Piguet Le Locle – previously known as Renaud & Papi – Audemars Piguet has just laid the first stone of its new building, named the Arc, adjacent to its existing facility in Le Brassus.
The Arc, designed by De Giuli & Portier Architects, will measure a full 17,000 square meters divided between three floors and a basement where the technical rooms are located.
A rendering of new Arc in Le Brassus.
In addition, the Arc will be connected to the current Manufacture des Forges. These two buildings will essentially combine all of Audemars Piguet’s industrial sites, which are currently spread across the Vallée de Joux. The courtyard situated between the Arc and the Manufacture des Forges will be converted into a garden.
Construction work for the Arc started in the spring of 2021 and is planned to finish in 2025. The building allows long-term flexibility thanks to its modular layout and anticipates the company’s future needs. The two buildings also highlight the brand’s dedication to and respect for their environment.
Situated in Le Locle, the Manufacture des Saignoles hosts the workshops of Audemars Piguet Le Locle.
The project has been developed from an ecological standpoint and incorporates a partial land use plan. A green roof will recreate an ideal biotope for insects and birds, while offering a panoramic view from of the Vallée de Joux’s meadows. The project will also benefit from a cutting-edge energy management plan. In addition to using industrial waste heat, the Arc will be connected to the remote fossil-free wood-based heating system, Le Brassus Bois, situated next to the train station. Photovoltaic panels will provide the Manufacture with an additional source of renewable energy.
