Tag

automatic movement

Browsing
The Watches

Maurice Lacroix Bronzes its Aikon Automatic

Maurice Lacroix adds a bronze-cased model to its best-selling Aikon collection with the new Aikon Automatic Bronze.

The new Maurice Lacroix Aikon Automatic Bronze.

Paired with a new brown fumé pattern gradient dial, the watch comes nearly six years after the previous automatic Aikon in bronze, which sported a dark blue patterned dial with Arabic numerals.

This latest example, which Maurice Lacroix issues as a limited region of 888 pieces, matches the bronze hue with a dressier ‘smoked chocolate’ dial.

The elegant Clous de Paris pattern is set with a brown hue that gradually darkens toward the edges. Thin stick indexes in gold also set a more sartorial tone to the watch, as do the gold hands.

Maurice Lacroix adds a few details to the watch’s 42mm case that enhance its dressy appeal, including a brushed bronze finish and sandblasted ‘riders’ on the bezel, meant to add a sense of depth to the moderately sized 11mm thick case.

Maurice Lacroix fits the new Aikon Automatic Bronze with a Sellita automatic movement, which is manufactured to Maurice Lacroix’s specifications to create the Automatic ML135 caliber. These newer specs include rhodium-plated components with snailing and perlage circular graining finishes. The rotor is visible through the open caseback and is fit with the Maurice Lacroix logo.

Finally, Maurice Lacroix attaches the watch to an integrated vintage brown leather strap embellished with the brand’s M logo in 4N gold. An EasyStrap system allows the wearer to swap straps as desired without the need for a special tool.

Price: $2,550.

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Bell & Ross Adds Green to Bronze Diver

Bell & Ross expands its bronze-cased offerings with the new BR 03-92 Diver Black & Green Bronze, the latest model in the watchmaker’s dive collection.

The new Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver Black & Green Bronze.

Boasting a color that might recall recent green-dial additions to the above-ground BR 05 collection, the new watch’s dial appears as a subdued matte green rather than the glossy green of those earlier land-based examples.

Bell & Ross teams the green dial with a bronze case that fits perfectly within  existing bronze-cased offerings in this collection. Last year the watchmaker  launched one new model in bronze, and a year earlier we saw the debut of two bronze-cased BR 03 Dive models.

Bronze cases are valued by many collectors for their ability to display the results of oxidation, a process that creates an individualized brownish, reddish or green patina pattern on each watch. Bronze is also an alloy of choice on sailing boat fittings. As Bell & Ross notes, “bronze gives watches extra soul and puts the wearer in touch with nature.”

As with all Bell & Ross dive watches, the new BR 03-92 Diver Black & Green Bronze is built to meet international standard ISO-6425, which states that a “diving watch” is a watch that must withstand immersion in water to a depth of at least 100 meters and have a highly visible time control system, among many other dive-ready specs.

Bell & Ross employs its automatic BR-CAL.302 movement (based on Sellita SW300-1) that beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations/hour and guarantees a 54-hour power reserve.

Protecting the movement, the solid steel caseback has been engraved with an image of a vintage bronze diver’s helmet. Bell & Ross attached the case to a black rubber strap with ‘ultra-resilient’ black synthetic fabric. 

Price: $4,900 (limited edition of 999 pieces).

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Vulcain Revisits Grand Prix 

Vulcain continues to tap its deep collection of winning historical designs with the Grand Prix, another terrific re-issue that revisits a 1960s design.

The Vulcain Grand Prix, also available with a Champagne and a light-grey dial option.

At 39mm in diameter and 12.7mm thick, the steel-cased Grand Prix delivers classic mid-20th century style with its time-only display, domed crystal, sunray dial finish and long, thin hour markers.

Slender hands enhance the dial’s retro-appeal.

Vulcain offers the Grand Prix with a refined dial of Champagne, light grey or black hues, all nicely matched with either a brown or black leather strap.

A case water resistant to fifty meters will easily protect the Swiss-made Landeron L24 automatic movement in most leisure settings. Expect a power reserve of forty hours.

Vulcain has released a series of retro-inspired designs during the past two years following Guillaume Laidet’s entry into the Le Locle-based company as its CRO (Chief Revival Officer). You might recall the sharp-looking Monopusher Heritage and Vulcain Nautical, both launched as revival collections this past fall.

Price: $1,340. 

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

LVMH Watch Week: Zenith’s Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar

Zenith revisits an esteemed calendar watch from 1969, launching the new Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar with the same case proportions as the original.

The new Zenith Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar.

Not only is the new model’s 38mm steel case the same size as the Zenith reference A386 from 1969, but so is its bezel-free  construction, domed sapphire crystal and its complete calendar with moonphase mechanism.

The Zenith compact triple calendar provides its time and date information with unusual clarity, displaying the days of the week and the months in symmetrically positioned windows above the chronograph  counters.

The date is visible at the 4:30 position, which is standard for watches that utilize Zenith’s high-frequency El Primero one-tenth-of–a–second chronograph caliber movement. Finally, Zenith places the moonphase display within the chronograph’s 60-minute counter at the 6 o’clock position.

 

The new watch echoes a particular crucial point in Zenith’s development of its groundbreaking automatic high-frequency El Primero chronograph. The 36,000 vph caliber, it seems, was initially designed to accommodate the triple calendar and moon phase functions right from the very beginning.

Zenith explains that “A series of 25 prototypes was produced in 1970 as a proof of concept, using the same round case as the A386. But given the success of the core chronograph version, it was decided to wait a few years before releasing the first version of the El Primero triple calendar in a watch, which  by the 1970s took on a much more space-age design.”

Zenith is offering two versions of the new Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar. One is a sporty silver-white “panda” opaline dial with black counters and a 1/00-of-a-second scale. The other debut features a familiar opaline slate-grey dial with silvery-white counters and scale, a pattern inspired a series of El Primero triple calendar prototypes from 1970.

A third dial variant (above) designed for Zenith boutiques (physical and online) features a more unusual sunburst olive-green tone with golden applied markers  and hands. Note that on each version, the calendar wheels match the dial colors.

Inside each model is Zenith’s latest generation El Primero automatic high-frequency El Primero 3610 that operates at a rate of 5 Hz (36,000 VpH), delivering one-tenth-of-a-second chronograph functionality. Zenith shows off its caliber through a clear sapphire back, exposing the movement’s blue column wheel and open rotor marked with the brand’s five- pointed star logo.

Prices: $13,900 (on a steel bracelet) and $13,400 (on a leather strap). 

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Maurice Lacroix Shines Up Aikon with PVD 

Maurice Lacroix adds a distinctive metallic sheen to its best-selling Aikon collection with two new models, each dressed with a glossy PVD hue.

The new Aikon PVD entries add a 39mm dark blue model and a 42mm gunmetal grey edition to the wide-ranging collection. Maurice Lacroix will make each new model as a limited edition series of 888 watches.

One of two new Maurice Lacroix Aikon PVD models.

Since the Swiss watchmaker debuted Aikon in 2016 we’ve seen it expand to include quartz-powered and automatic models, with a many boasting eye-catching skeletonized designs.

Each of the new watches displays the time from an impressive fumé dial finished using a Clous de Paris motif. As a fumé design, the color (which matches the case) is lighter at the center and darker toward the edges.

From the back of the watch wearers can see the automatic Sellita-based ML115 movement, which Maurice Lacroix finishes with perlage and colimaçon.

As with all Aikon watches, these debuts are equipped with the Maurice Lacroix Easy Strap Exchange system, which means the wearer can quickly change the included rubber strap as desired without the need for tools.

Price: $2,450. 

by
Keep Reading