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Alpina

Alpina Dives into Green-Dialed Seastrong

Alpina presents the Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage in a new dark green dial paired with a color coordinated green rubber strap. Measuring 42mm in diameter and water-resistant to 300 meters, the watch’s two-piece stainless steel case mounts two screw-down crowns; one for time setting and winding, the other for rotating the inner rotating rehaute specifically for timing a dive – or any other event up to a one-hour limit.

The new Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage.

This retro-inspired design revisits the brand’s Super Compressor 10 Seastrong dive watch, first introduced in 1969. While dive watches have long tended to have neon bright yellows and safety orange dials, Alpina dove head-first into the current trend for green colors with this quite dark seaweed-green dial and British racing green strap. Bold hands are luminous, as are the indices on the inner bezel.

As with external bezels, diver down times are shown with by Seastrong’s internal black rehaut, which can be adjusted using the upper crown positioned at the two o’clock mark. Unlike most internal bezels, the Seatrong’s can be rotated in either direction before being locked in place by screwing the extra crown down.

The stainless steel case is polished and brushed on the sides with a solid steel case back engraved with Alpina’s namesake Alps as well as a trident as a nod to the nautical nature of the watch. Inside is the Sellita-based AL 520 automatic winding movement beating at 28,800 with 38 hours of power reserve. Price: $1,695.

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Alpina Re-Sizes its Regulator

Alpina relaunches its Extreme Regulator, first seen in 2005, with a new dial and a smaller cushion-shaped case.

Alpina’s new Alpiner Extreme Regulator.

The new model, which debuts this week at Geneva Watch Days, is called the Alpiner Extreme Regulator and is now set in a more widely appealing 41mm steel case, considerably smaller than the 48mm case of the initial model and the 45mm size of more recent examples.

The Regulator was considered a flagship model when Alpina launched it as the Avalanche Extreme Regulator seventeen years ago. But even with a new size, the latest model evokes a similar assertive, modern appeal. 

Behinds its regulator display of separate hours, minutes and seconds hands, the new Alpiner Extreme Regulator maintains its adventure-focused mission with a thick screw-in crown and caseback, and a strong 200-meter water resistance rating.

Strong Dial

Likewise, the dial projects strength. Alpina’s triangle logo is employed as a grid across the dial, symbolizing Alpine peaks. The grey pattern captures light, creating a more visually compelling dial than the initial models, on which the logo decorated only the center of the dial. Alpina adds even more visual texture with the case finish, which is nicely brushed, with polished corners.

Atop the grey ‘peaks,’ Alpina places highly luminescent hands in an almost typical regulator layout, with a large central minutes hand and separate hour and seconds subdial.

The hour subdial on regulator clock dials is classically positioned along the central axis at the top or bottom. Alpina however positions the hour subdial between the 9 o’clock and 11 o’clock positions, focusing the eye more clearly toward the minutes hand.   

Inside the Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic Alpina retains its time-tested automatic ETA-based AL-650 caliber, the movement that powered the 2005 Regulator.

Alpina’s choice to host a regulator dial within its bedrock collection has long set the Geneva brand apart from many watchmakers offering affordably priced Swiss sports watches.

The choice to revive the regulator is equally courageous, especially given the regulator’s niche appeal among collectors, especially at this price range. But at first glance, Alpina’s update, with its appealing new case size and terrific dial design, offers more than enough well-considered change to meet that challenge. 

Alpina is limiting the Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic to 888 pieces. Price: $2,195.  

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Alpina Debuts Recycled-Steel-Case Diver

Alpina launches the Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic Calanda, its first timepiece made with a 100% recycled stainless steel case. The watch, named to pay tribute to the Calanda, the first ship to fly the Swiss flag, uses recycled steel sourced from the shipping industry and made by Thyssen Krupp. Alpina pairs the watch’s 42mm case with a recycled plastic wristband.

The new Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic Calanda.

The Geneva-based watchmaker adds the new dive watch to its expanding lines of eco-friendly models. You might recall that Alpina also launched the Seastrong Diver Gyre Automatic collection in 2020. That watch features a case made largely (70%) from plastic fishing net debris. In addition, that model’s strap is made using recycled plastic bottles while its box is made from recycled plastic.

Available as a limited edition of 300 units, the Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic Calanda’s case is polished with a satin finish, while its unidirectional rotating notched bezel is brush-finished. Alpina embeds the hour and minute hands with vintage beige luminescence and tips the seconds hand with a red triangle Alpina logo.

Alpina sets the watch’s matte black dial with appliqué indexes that have also been brushed with the vintage beige luminescence. Fit with an AL-525 Sellita-based automatic movement, the watch is water-resistant to 300 meters thanks to its full screw-in case back and crown. Alpina embellishes the caseback with mountain peaks placed under a trident in a nod to the watch’s seaworthiness.

As noted above, Alpina has paired the watch’s recycled case with a recycled plastic (PET) strap in grey and black. Each watch comes in a case entirely made from recycled plastic, alongside a single-page warranty and a certificate of authenticity printed on FSC Recycled-certified paper.

Price: $1,895.

 

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Alpina Updates Startimer Pilot Automatic

Alpina has updated its aviation-themed Startimer collection with a new design featuring a new case, new bezel and new 41mm diameter size.

One of the first new mechanical models displaying the updated design, the Startimer Pilot Automatic, sports a blue or black dial, a steel case and a steel bracelet or a top-stitched calfskin leather strap.

The new Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic.

Alpina notes that the new collection more closely echoes its own early pilot watch designs, with the newest size offering a compromise between the existing 44mm and 40mm versions, both of which will remain in the collection.

The new fluted bezel is especially notable for its retro appeal and was initially designed in the early part of the last century to give pilots wearing gloves a surer grip. Likewise, the watch’s crown is fluted to enhance a gloved grip, and is screwed down to ensure water resistance to 100 meters.

In addition, Alpina has revised the Startimer’s hands, changing the earlier leaf shape to the newer cathedral design, filled with luminous material. A new fine tip enables the index markers to be read more precisely. The seconds hand has also been updated with the Alpina triangular counterweight.

Both the new hands point to smaller Arabic numerals and a railway style minutes track. The five-minute intervals are marked by a luminous marker next to the numeral on the track.

Finally, Alpina has moved the date window from its previous location at 3 o’clock to a more traditional pilot watch location at 6 o’clock.

On the back is an engraving that features an airplane about to fly over a mountain, accompanied by the vintage version of the Alpina logo.

Inside Alpina fits its Sellita-based FC-525 automatic movement.

Look for the new Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic in three variations: with a black dial on a steel bracelet (not pictured), a black dial on a black strap or a blue dial set with a brown calfskin strap.

(Note that Alpina also offers a quartz-powered Startimer Quartz Chronograph Big Date with the same design updates described above.)

Prices:  $1,295 (SS bracelet), $1,195 (leather strap).

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Alpina Limited Edition Chronograph Hits the Slopes

Geneva-based Alpina re-affirms its deep connections to the sporting world by introducing an eye-catching, affordably priced quartz chronograph in partnership with the snow sport Freeride World Tour.

The new Alpina Alpiner Quartz Chronograph Freeride World Tour Limited Edition.

The new limited edition Alpiner Quartz Chronograph Freeride World Tour 2022 commemorates Alpina’s fifth year as a partner of the ski and snowboarding competition series.

To be produced as a limited edition of 100 pieces, the 42mm steel watch is designed to recall the original 1938 Alpiner4, complete with Alpina’s red triangle logo at the base of the seconds hand.

Like the original Alpiner4, this new model also combines the four primary features that typically define a sports watch: anti-magnetism, shock resistance, water resistance and a steel case.

This limited model, however, incorporates the Freeride World Tour ‘alpine peaks’ logo at 12 o’clock and on its solid caseback (atop an engraving of the Swiss extreme skiing mountain Bec De Rosses). The watch also adds a chronograph, which is displayed here on the black dial via three counters, each framed by a silver circle.

Alpina touts an impressive four-and-a-half-year battery life for its quartz movement.

Price: $1,295.

 

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