Tag

automatic watch

Browsing
The Watches

MB&F Launches Metallic Blue HM8 Mark 2

MB&F returns to the race track with a new automtive-themed hue for its HM8 Mark 2, the compact version of the MB&F HM8.

The newest MB&F HM8 Mark 2 features a metallic blue body.

You might recall that the HM8 Mark 2 combines the supercar styling of the watchmaker’s HM5 with the driving watch display and open ‘hood’ of the MB&F HM8 from 2016. Its horizontal time display, inspired by a 1976 design from Amida Digitrend, is optically magnified and projected 90 degrees to the wearer via a series of sapphire prisms.

Launched last year in white or green options, the HM8 Mark 2 collection now includes this model with a glossy sapphire blue case, available as limited edition of thirty-three pieces. MB&F explains that with similar metallic pigments and a translucid material, the blue body panels on the new model recall the sheen on luxurious car paints.

While the initial HM8 models were built with titanium and gold, the newer HM8 Mark 2 is built from titanium topped with CarbonMacrolon, a composite material composed of a polymer matrix injected with carbon nanotubes.

The material, developed for MB&F, is eight times lighter than steel and can be colored, polished, bead-blasted, lacquered or satin-finished. MB&F creates a  more unisex appeal with the watch, taking full advantage of the new material to create a lighter, smaller and more brightly colored driving watch.

When it debuted last year, the first HM8 Mark 2 models also debuted  a new type of crown for MB&F. The crown’s ‘double de-clutch’ system works by pushing the crown in and turning it three-quarters of a turn to release it. This saves space and creates a tighter seal for the crown itself.

Price: $78,000.

Specifications: MB&F HM8 Mark 2

The MB&F HM8 Mark 2 is available:

– in titanium and green CarbonMacrolon body panels limited to 33 pieces;

– in titanium and white CarbonMacrolon body panels;

– in titanium and blue CarbonMacrolon body panels limited to 33 pieces.

Movement:

Three-dimensional horological engine, composed of a jumping hour and trailing minutes module developed in-house by MB&F, powered by a Girard-Perregaux base movement.

Mechanical movement, automatic winding

22-karat gold automatic winding rotor

Power reserve: 42 hours

Balance frequency: 28,800bph/4Hz.

Number of components: 247 components

Number of jewels: 30 jewels

Functions/indications:

Bi-directional jumping hours and trailing minutes, displayed by dual reflective sapphire crystal prisms with integrated magnifying lens.

Case: Grade 5 titanium with green, white or blue CarbonMacrolon

Dimensions: 47mm x 41.5mm x 19 mm

Number of components: 42, Water resistance: 30 meters

Sapphire crystals: Sapphire crystals on top, front and display back treated with anti-reflective coating on both faces. Dual reflective sapphire crystal prisms with integrated magnifying lens.

Strap & Buckle: Calfskin strap – white for the British green and sapphire blue models and green for the white model with a titanium tang buckle.

Price: $78,000.

by
Keep Reading
Featured Events

Watches and Wonders 2024: Patek Philippe

Among the eleven new watches debuted by Patek Philippe during Watches and Wonders, one debut in particular stands out for its technical advancement while others enliven existing collections with new colors, new casual (denim) straps, new case metals or, for one highlight, a sleek new bracelet.

New Patek Philippe World Time Reference Ref. 5330G-001.

World Timer localizes

The newest Patek Philippe World Time model joins the full collection after initially debuting as a limited edition last year during the Patek Philippe Grand Exhibition Watch Art Tokyo 2023.

The watch, Ref. 5330G-001, now displays a date display synchronized with local time, which is a patented world-first and a notably useful travel function.

Patek Philippe watchmakers have added a specialized differential system to the watch’s automatic movement. The resulting change means the local date will appear along the edge of the dial, indicated with a transparent glass hand (a first for Patek Philippe) with a red tip.

In this illustration, note that the new Patek Philippe Caliber 240 HU C features a patented central differential system comprising two concentric star-type gear wheels to manage the local-time date.

The local time is the time zone selected at 12 o’clock and indicated by the center hands.

With its 40mm white gold case and handsome blue-grey opaline dial (with a block-pattern carbon center), the dressy model allows the wearer to simply press the pusher at 10 o’clock to move the move the local time zone indicated on the watch in one-hour increments.

With this simple gesture, the traveller can both see the local time while also noting the time differences globally, as seen on the multi-city dial indicator.

Patek Philippe displayed the new World Time Reference Ref. 5330G-001 with a new denim weave strap, a casual bracelet also seen on other debuts. Price: $76,594.

The newest Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse

Golden Ellipse bracelet

Another head-turner at the Patek Philippe exhibition in Geneva was the supple new gold chain bracelet attached to the always elegant Golden Ellipse, Reference 5738/1R.

While often attached to various precious metal bracelets since its debut in 1968, the Golden Ellipse has in recent years been primarily a leather strap model, in part due to the difficulty in sizing the bracelet at the point of sale.

Patek Philippe explains that the new bracelet is the result of fifteen years of work. It is made of 18-karat hand-polished rose gold with a new, patented construction made of 363 parts, including more than 300 links, assembled manually.

The new clasp (above), with its engraved cover, offers a choice of three adjustment notches.

The bracelet debuts attached to a new rose gold edition of the 34.5mm-by-39.5mm fashion icon. For the debut Patek Philippe created a new sunburst ebony black dial with applied baton-type hour-markers and thin rose-gold hands.

Inside, Patek Philippe fits its celebrated self-winding caliber 240, an ultra-thin movement with off-center 22-karat gold mini-rotor. The movement’s thin profile means the Golden Ellipse Reference 5738 is now the slimmest watch in the Patek Philippe regular collection. Price: $60,097.

Other 2024 Patek Philippe debuts include:

A new dial on the Twenty~4 Reference 4910/1201R-010 ($47,607, pictured above) now displays eye-catching concentric waves coated with dozens of layers of translucent lacquer.

The new Patek Philippe Nautilus Flyback Chronograph, Reference 5980/60G-001.

A new edition of the Patek Philippe Nautilus Flyback Chronograph. The newest, Reference 5980/60G-001 ($78,951), revisits the hot sports model in white gold with a blue-gray opaline dial. Patek Philippe will deliver two matching straps with each watch.

One is a blue-gray calfskin embossed with a denim motif edged with contrasting white hand-stitching  (above) and the other is a blue-grey composite in a fabric motif.

The new Aquanaut Luce Haute Joaillerie Reference 5268/461G-001 ($235,674, pictured above) gleams in white gold set with diamonds and blue sapphires within snow and baguette settings.

On the rounded octagonal bezel, baguette-cut sapphires gradate from light blue to dark blue. Inside is Caliber 26-330 S, a self-winding movement visible through the sapphire-crystal back.

See all the 2024 debuts from Patek Philippe here.

Five Year Warranty

Also at Watches and Wonders 2024, Patek Philippe announced that for all new Patek Philippe watches sold as of May 1, 2024, the duration of the Patek Philippe warranty increases from two years to five years, counting from the date of purchase.

by
Keep Reading
Featured Events

Watches and Wonders 2024: The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph

 

The new TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph, TAG Heuer’s highlight Watches and Wonders 2024 debut, pairs the square Monaco case with a wholly new split-seconds chronograph caliber.

The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph features an all-titanium TH81-00 mechanical split-seconds chronograph caliber.

Made entirely of titanium, the watch’s TH81-00 movement is the lightest automatic chronograph movement ever created by the watchmaker, which teamed with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier to create the caliber.

While Heuer dominated sports timing, particularly automotive racing, during much of the 20th century with its ground-breaking split-second chronograph pocket watches and timers, the Le Locle watchmaker had not previously offered a mechanical wristwatch with the same function. (In 1989, TAG Heuer introduced a quartz split-seconds chronograph wristwatch that became a favorite of racing legends such as Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger and Michael Schumacher.)

“In developing this new watch we spent months researching complications, and quickly knew it had to be a chronograph, and particularly with a split-second function, which is the queen of chronographs,” explains Nicholas Biebuyck, TAG Heuer’s Heritage Director. A split-seconds function is capable of measuring two separate time intervals concurrently.

“We found documentation dating to 1889 that advertises the Heuer brand as specializing in the rattrapante platform. As it turns out, we had never made a (mechanical) chronograph with a split second for the wrist,” he adds. 

No compromise

To rectify that somewhat surprising omission, Biebuyck and Carole Forestier-Kasapi, TAG Heuer’s movements director, worked with TAG Heuer’s technical team to create the watchmaker’s first wrist rattrapante “with no compromise.”

The team started with a high-frequency 5-Hz movement to enhance split-second accuracy, and quickly determined that to make a highly wearable, lightweight and ergonomically impressive debut wrist rattrapante, it would need to be made of titanium.

“The reason we chose titanium for the case was because we wanted to create something particularly comfortable to wear, but we then extended this to the movement as well,” adds Forestier-Kasapi.

TAG Heuer offers various titanium-cased Monaco chronographs, though all are powered with traditionally manufactured movements. 

“I cannot think of an example where we have made an entire movement in titanium previously. Certainly not in a commercially available product,” says Biebuyck. Even when the all sides of the 41mm by 15.2mm case and the movement are combined, the TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph weighs a wispy 85 grams.

The new watch enhances the timepiece’s overall novelty with extensive application of sapphire to the case. The clarity created by the clear sapphire offers an open view into the titanium Calibre TH81-00 movement.

The back offers an unobstructed view of the signature checkerboard pattern on the center bridge and the fine-brushed balance wheel bridge. From the edges of the case we can also see the movement’s two column wheels and decorated bridges.

TAG Heuer offers two Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph models. A red variation with black DLC coating is inspired by TAG Heuer’s long history in the world of professional automotive racing.

A blue model pays tribute to the original color code of the Heuer Monaco. Here, gradient blue dial arches transition from light blue, an effect created through a painstaking anodizing process.

Price: CHF 165,000. 

      

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

H. Moser Dials Up the Green

H. Moser doubles up on green-dial mania with two debuts within its Pioneer Centre Seconds collection.

The new H.Moser Pioneer Centre Seconds Citrus

One model, the decidedly unsubtle 42.8mm steel-cased Pioneer Centre Seconds Concept Citrus Green, demands attention on the wrist thanks to its bright green dial. Entirely without a logo or any indexes, only the watch’s leaf-shaped hands are visible. With a generous helping of SuperLuminova, the hands are especially visible in the dark, framed by a SuperLuminova-filled inner flange circle.

H. Moser, an independent brand that revels in provocative dial design, calls the debut “a legit feel-good watch, it’s the perfect companion for hitting the waves or diving to the depths in style, all the way to 120 meters.”

A second, more traditional addition to the collection is the new Pioneer Centre Seconds Cosmic Green model, with a 40-mm steel case that only barely retains the H. Moser & Cie. logo.

The new H. Moser Pioneer Centre Seconds Cosmic Green

Visible upon close inspection, the logo can be seen, written in transparent lacquer, on the watch’s Cosmic Green fumé dial, which denotes time using classic faceted indexes and the same leaf-shaped hands as its brighter sibling.

H. Moser powers both models with its superb HMC 201 automatic caliber, which boasts automatic bi-directional pawl winding system, an engraved oscillating weight and a power reserve of three days.

See below for additional technical details for each of these H. Moser Green-dialed debuts.  

Price: $15,900. 

 

Specifications: H.Moser Pioneer Center Seconds Concept Citrus Green  

(Reference 3201-1204, steel model, Citrus Green fumé dial, rubber, textile, alligator leather strap or steel bracelet)

Case: Steel, 42.8 mm by 14.2mm, height without sapphire crystal: 10.6 mm. Domed sapphire crystal and see-through case-back, screw-in crown adorned with an “M”, water-resistant to 12 ATM.

Dial: Citrus Green fumé with sunburst pattern, leaf-shaped hour and minute hands filled with Super-LumiNova, white inner flange filled with SuperLumiNova.

Movement: HMC 201 automatic caliber, frequency: 21,600 Vib/h, 27 jewels, automatic bi-directional pawl winding system,

Engraved oscillating weight

Power reserve: minimum of 3 days

Hacking seconds

Original Straumann hairspring

Anthracite finish with Moser double stripes

Partially skeletonized bridges

Strap/bracelet:

Hand-stitched alligator leather, rubber, or textile strap or steel bracelet

Steel pin buckle engraved with the H. Moser & Cie. logo.

Price: $15,900.

Specifications: H.Moser Pioneer Center Seconds Cosmic Green

(Reference 3201-1201, steel model, Cosmic Green fumé dial, rubber, textile, alligator leather strap or steel bracelet)

Case: Steel, diameter: 40.0mm, height without sapphire crystal: 10.4 mm; Height with sapphire crystal: 12.0 mm, Domed sapphire crystal and see-through case-back, screw-in crown adorned with an “M”, water-resistant to 12 ATM.

Dial: Cosmic Green fumé with sunburst pattern

H. Moser & Cie. logo in transparent lacquer

Leaf-shaped hour and minute hands filled with Super-LumiNova

Faceted applique indices

Movement:

HMC 201 automatic caliber

Frequency: 21,600 Vib/h

Automatic bi-directional pawl winding system

Engraved oscillating weight

Power reserve: minimum of 3 days

Hacking seconds

Original Straumann hairspring

Anthracite finish with Moser double stripes

Partially skeletonized bridges

Strap/bracelet:

Hand-stitched alligator leather, rubber, or textile strap or steel bracelet

Steel pin buckle engraved with the H. Moser & Cie. logo.

Price: $15,900.

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Blancpain Adds Gold and Titanium to 42mm Fifty Fathoms 

Blancpain adds new models to its Fifty Fathoms Automatique collection, which the manufacture first launched in its new 42.3mm by 14.2mm size last year as a limited edition in steel.

The newest models of this famed dive watch, which debuted in 1953 to usher in the modern dive watch era, now include Automatique series examples in red gold and titanium in addition to the steel-cased version now included within the ongoing Fifty Fathoms Automatique collection. 

Caliber 1315

You might recall that in 2007 Blancpain launched the first 45mm Fifty Fathoms Automatique, which was equipped with specially developed Caliber 1315 with a five-day power reserve.

The newest Fifty Fathoms series adds the smaller diameter option to the full collection and makes it  available in three case metals.

In red gold, the watches are a bit more luxurious than a standard dive model, but equally functional and still highly legible.

In Grade 23 titanium, the watches are sportier looking, with the added bonus of offering a lightweight and highly scratch-resistant case, as well as superior anti-corrosion and anti-allergenic attributes.

All retain the collection’s characteristic sapphire-topped bezel and serious dive-ready specifications (including 300-meters of water resistance.) 

Available with a blue or black dial, the new red gold and titanium models are offered with an alluring choice of color-matched straps, including sail-canvas, NATO straps and textured rubber iteration inspired by the first model from 1953. For the titanium debut, Blancpain also offers a sharp-looking titanium bracelet.

Prices start at $15,700 in steel and $17,000 in titanium. Red gold model starts at $34,100. 

by
Keep Reading