Tag

automatic movement

Browsing
The Watches

Oris Celebrates 119 Years With Purple-Dialed Diver

Oris celebrates its origin story with the Hölstein Edition 2023, a 250-piece limited edition watch named for the watchmaker’s hometown in the Swiss Jura mountains.

The Oris Hölstein Edition 2023.

For the first time Oris draws from its Aquis dive watch family to create its birthday watch, a series Oris began four years ago. And to celebrate its 119th birthday, the independent Swiss watchmaker offers its first purple dial and also adds some extra celebratory joy to the 41.5mm watch’s caseback.

 

There, you’ll find an engraved image of the Oris Bear diving in his scuba gear alongside the watch’s limited-edition number. As Oris explains, it decided to add the engraving simply because of the fun factor.

 

“Why? Because why not.” Oris explains. “It’s fun and it made us smile. And to be literal for a moment, because it shows this is still a diver’s watch water-resistant to 30 bar (300 meters).” 

The purple-dialed, fun-backed Aquis also celebrates Oris’s birthday with an omission: For the first time, Oris creates an Aquis with no date display.

 

Oris customers have requested the date be removed from Aquis in the past, according to the watchmaker, and those requests are answered in this Holstein Edition.

 

Inside the steel-cased watch Oris fits its much lauded Caliber 400 automatic movement with five-day power reserve, enhanced anti-magnetism, better than chronometer accuracy (-3/+5 seconds a day) and ten-year warranty. As a limited edition of 250 pieces, each watch is delivered in a wooden presentation box.

 

Oris offers the Holstein Edition 2023 exclusively on its website. Price: $4,300.  

 

Specifications: Oris Holstein Edition 2023 

(Limited edition of 250)

Case: 41.5mm multi-piece stainless steel case, uni-directional rotating bezel with grey ceramic bezel insert. Sapphire crystal, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside. Caseback is stainless steel, screwed with numbered engraving, Oris Bear printed motif. Stainless steel screw-in security crown with crown protection. Water resistance to 300 meters. 

Movement: Automatic Oris Caliber 400, Accuracy of -3/+5 seconds a day (within COSC tolerances), highly anti-magnetic, 120-hour power reserve.

Dial: Purple, hands and indices filled with Super-LumiNova.

Bracelet: Multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet, security folding clasp with clasp extension.

Price: $4,300. 

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

TAG Heuer Launches Skeleton-Dial Monaco Trio  

The new TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph extends TAG Heuer’s partnership with the Monaco Grand Prix while adding a contemporary titanium-cased model to its classic square chronograph series.

The Racing Red edition of the new TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph.
The TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph Turquoise edition with blackened dial and case.

The new models feature contemporary titanium cases, still sized classically at 39mm by 47.4mm, creating a lighter option to the Monaco’s traditionally steel case.

TAG Heuer accents the rotor of the Heuer 02 chronograph movement with an engraved oscillating mass, always visible through the sapphire case back.
The Blue version, echoing the colors of the original Monaco.

And within the new case TAG Heuer opens up the dial to expose the excellent in-house Heuer 02 chronograph, creating the first skeletonized dial for a serialized, unlimited Monaco model (not including the unusual Monaco V4).

TAG Heuer launches three versions of the new Monaco Skeleton Chronograph, each glowing with a different dial, rotor and column-wheel accent colors (blue, red and turquoise) chosen to draw historical connections to earlier Monaco watches.

The blue model, which TAG Heuer calls Original Blue, echoes the debut Heuer Monaco blue dial, with blue and red dial colors, a blue column wheel and rotor. These blue tints are pay homage to the original Heuer Monaco from 1969.

The red option, called Racing Red, references racing sparks, with black and silver accents on the dial and a red column wheel and oscillating mass.

The Turquoise piece is a nod to the coast of Monaco, mixing a red-accented dial with a turquoise subdials, column wheel and rotor. This model also differs from the other two with its black DLC-coated titanium case and a sandblasted black skeletonized dial.

To extend the contemporary feel of the new series, TAG Heuer adds a healthy amount of SuperLuminova on the dial’s carved indexes, hands and —in another Monaco debut — on the date window.

Similarly, modern bi-material straps, which meld rubber and leather and offered in blue or black, are attached to each TAG Heuer Monaco Skeleton Chronograph.

Prices:  $10,750 and $11,250 (Turquoise edition with blackened titanium case)

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Bell & Ross Adds to Patrouille De France Collection

Bell & Ross launches the BR 03-92 Patrouille De France 70th Anniversary watch to celebrate the seventh decade of the namesake French aerobatics team.

The new Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Patrouille De France 70th Anniversary watch.

Built using a high-tech, blackened ceramic 42mm by 42mm case, the new limited edition watch (999 pieces) features a sharp-looking dial matching the blue hue used by the Alpha Jet of the Patrouille de France.

To underscore the team’s blue identity, Bell & Ross opts to connect the case to the wrist with a matching blue calfskin and black synthetic canvas fabric strap. 

Bell & Ross has teamed with the Patrouille de France since 2021, creating several limited edition models for the elite aerobatic team.

To further enhance the partnership of the two French organizations, Bell & Ross also places the insignia of the team and the specific logo of its 70th anniversary directly on the Bell & Ross circle-in-a square dial. The logo is encircled with the colors of the French flag.

On the back of the watch, Bell & Ross engraves the silhouettes of the five aircraft that have flown since the creation of the Patrouille de France in 1953. The design reflects the wishes of the team’s pilots, according to Bruno Belamich, Creative Director and co-founder of Bell & Ross.

“Pilots are always consulted for the creation of watches: the primary goal of the (Bell & Ross) house is to meet the needs of these men and provide them with a tool to serve their mission,” he adds.

Inside you’ll find the Bell & Ross Sellita-based automatic movement BR-CAL 302, which powers the dial’s hours, minutes, seconds and date displays. 

Price: $4,100. 

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Nomos Honors Glashütte Watchmaking History with Orion Trio

Nomos celebrates 175 Years of watchmaking in Glashütte with three classic watches in the Nomos Orion neomatik collection.

The larger (41mm) of the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches trio.

Student watchmakers historically create so-called practice watches, generally time-only or time and date models, and Nomos honors this tradition with the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte trio. 

The new three-hand Orion neomatik watches measure 36mm, 39mm and 41mm in diameter with the larger of the three sporting a date display. Each watch is signed, numbered and limited to 175 pieces.

All three debuts offer a three-part stainless steel case with a domed sapphire crystal and caseback. All also present the time with thin tempered blue hands above the domed, polished, galvanized and white silver-plated dial with gold embossed indexes.

Nomos does not recess the small seconds dial into the dials of these Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches – a first for Nomos and a nod to the elegant nature of the trio.

Inside the time-only models Nomos fits its DUW 3001 automatic caliber (pictured above on the 39mm model). The larger date model features DUW 6101. All calibers are built with traditional Glashütte three-quarter plate, Glashütte ribbing and tempered blue screws, and each is adjusted to chronometer standards.

As noted, Nomos has signed and number each watch in the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte series, which is limited to 175 watches of each model.

Watches this elegant, with superb in-house calibers and the fine detailing typical at Nomos are rare at these prices, so expect these to sell quickly. 

Prices: $3,580 (36mm), $3,920 (39mm) and $4,200 (41mm with date).

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Chopard Commemorates the California Mille 

The annual California Mille classic car rally ran in late April with Chopard again (for the fifth time) as the rally’s Official Timer. In addition to its timing duties, the Swiss watchmaker has launched a commemorative watch to mark the 2023 event: The Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Chrono California Mille 32nd Edition, a 44mm Lucent Steel certified chronometer dressed in grey with Hagerty Motorsports black and blue racing stripes.

The Chopard Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Chrono California Mille 32nd Edition.

As is typical of Chopard’s always notable racing-themed chronographs, the dial on this latest example is meant to recall the dashboard of a classic car. Thus, you’ll see the bright red accents on the California Mille logo and the tip of central sweep-seconds hand contrasting nicely with the grey dial and the racing stripes.

Additional racing themed designs are seen around the dial, with the watch’s thin black bezel displaying a tachymeter scale with contrasting white graduations that can be used to measure average speed ranging from 60 to 400 km/h by means of the chronograph seconds hand.

Inside, Chopard provides an COSC-certified ETA Valjoux-based automatic caliber with a 48-hour power reserve. Sturdy mushroom-type pushers are knurled on top to assist with a grip while in use. Likewise, Chopard adds a large crown with a ratcheted edge to ensure a good grip.

Finally, the Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Chrono California Mille 32nd Edition timepiece is fitted with a black calfskin strap lined with rubber. In keeping with the codes established at the birth of the Mille Miglia collection, the lining is patterned like the tread of 1960s Dunlop Racing tires.

Chopard offers its Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Chrono California Mille 32nd Edition as a limited edition of thirty pieces. 

Price: $8,500.

by
Keep Reading