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Girard-Perregaux Races Again with Aston Martin

The new Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph AM F1 Edition, the third model in partnership with Aston Martin and its Formula 1 team, once again is a winner right at the starting line. The watchmaker mixes racing carbon with titanium powder and rubber to premiere a watch with a very sharp-looking lightweight case and an ultra-strong high-tech Racing Green strap.

The new Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph AM F1 Edition.

As noted, the new watch, a very sporty black and green chronograph with an unusual carbon case, is the third collaboration from Girard-Perregaux and Aston Martin. The companies have previously collaborated on two watches: the Tourbillon with Three Flying Bridges Aston Martin Edition and the Laureato Chronograph Aston Martin Edition.

Carbon case

In keeping with its partner’s racing lineage, Girard-Perregaux’s case makers mixed various carbon components used in two 2021 F1 race cars with titanium powder to forge the new watch’s case.

When combined with a green-tinted resin, the resulting 44mm octagonal Laureato case is as tough as steel, according to the watchmaker. In addition, this mixing of materials means each watch will display a slightly different green and black pattern on its case, bezel and crown protector.

The dial on the watch is presented in sunray ‘Aston Martin Racing Green’ and is adorned with a cross-hatching motif that can be traced back to the Aston Martin ‘AM’ badge of 1921.

Girard-Perregaux also extends its technical innovation to the watch’s strap to create another first for the watchmaker: The strap is made of rubber and carbon elements taken from two 2021-season Formula One racecars. The strap is then combined with Aston Martin Racing Green fabric covering and linked to the wrist with a micro adjustment system.

Inside Girard-Perregaux fits its excellent Caliber GP03300-1058, which is visible via a sapphire caseback­. That visibility is a first for any Laureato Absolute Chronograph.

Girard-Perregaux is limiting its Laureato Absolute Chronograph AM F1 Edition to 306 pieces, which represents the total distance in miles drivers Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel will aim to cover on race day at the 2022 British Grand Prix.

Price: $27,800.

 

Specifications: Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph AM F1 Edition (Reference: 81060-41-3071-1CX
, a limited edition of 306 pieces).

Case: 44mm by 15.15mm titanium and carbon case, with carbon extracted from two Formula One racecars. Sapphire crystal and back. Back with white Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team decal.


Dial: Sunray ‘Aston Martin Racing Green’ with cross-hatching, indexes with luminescent green emission. 
Hands: skeletonized baton type with luminescent green emission. Chronograph hands in yellow. Water resistance to 100 meters.

Movement: GP03300-1058 automatic, frequency of 28,800 Vph, power reserve of 46 hours. 
Functions: Chronograph, hours, minutes, small seconds, date.

Strap: GP Rubber Alloy in Aston Martin Racing Green – a mix of rubber and carbon extracted from two Formula One race cars used during the 2021 season, fabric effect and green stitches. Buckle: Folding with micro adjustment system, titanium with black PVD treatment.

Price: $27,780

 

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The Watches

Nomos Brightens its Tetra Neomatik

Nomos launches four square-cased Tetra watches with automatic calibers and shiny, enamel-like dials.

The new Nomos Tetra Neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte Blue.

The new watches, called Tetra Neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte, retain Tetra’s well-known shape and the Tetra Neomatik’s existing 39mm diameter and automatic DUW 3001 caliber, but reveal four crisp dial colors.

Nomos explains that the red, blue, black and off-white dial colors here are lacquer-coated using a technique similar to that used when making enamel dials. Incoming light is not absorbed by the opaque surfaces but instead reflected, creating depth, according to the watchmaker.

Incoming light is not absorbed by the opaque surface but instead reflected. Pictured is the new Nomos Tetra Neomatik red.

Recognizing the decidedly unsubtle dial hues, Nomos says the new watches “are not for everyone.” The few Existing Tetra Neomatik watches are available in more subdued silver, blue or white dials.

The Tetra is a signature Nomos collection primarily offered only with a manual-wind caliber.

“The watches are bolder than sneakers with a jacket,” according to Nomos product manager Heike Ahrendt.

The automatic DUW 3001 caliber, visible through the sapphire crystal glass back, is regulated according to chronometer values.

The chronometer-adjusted Nomos DUW 3001 automatic caliber is visible through a sapphire caseback on each watch, framed by an engraving noting the limited nature of the Tetra Neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte collection. The new series is limited to 175 units of each color.

Nomos attaches each case to a remborde strap made of Horween Genuine Shell Cordovan, oiled by hand and struck with glass balls to create a shiny finish. Price: $3,860.

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The Watches

Bulgari Races Alongside Ducati with New Chronograph

With the new Aluminum Chronograph Ducati Special Edition, Bulgari combines its sporty aluminum-cased chronograph design with Ducati’s racing-infused motorbike colors and typography. The watch’s conspicuous use of materials such as titanium (caseback, crown and pushers) and rubber (bezel) also match Ducati’s high-performance image in this colorful iteration of the original Bulgari Aluminum watch first seen in 1998.

Bulgari Aluminum Chronograph Ducati Special Edition.

In its premiere co-design with Ducati, Bulgari’s new 40mm, 1,000-piece limited edition features three dark subdials set within a dial colored with the same deep red hue used throughout historic Bologna-based factories. And more specific to Ducati, the dial’s 10, 11 and 12 o’clock numerals echo the same layout found on the dashboards of famed Italian motorbikes.

As Bulgari’s sportiest design, the Bvlgari Aluminum series has long been one of the Italian-Swiss watchmaker and jeweler’s most successful collections, with its lightweight case and bold Bvlgari Bvlgari-branded black (and sometimes blue) rubber bezel.

Bulgari originally fit its Aluminum series with a mechatronic-quartz movement but updated the collection in 2020. Here, Bulgari fits the latest in the series with its automatic BVL 130 caliber.

Bulgari offers the watch with its own aluminum and rubber presentation box bearing the logos of both the Italian brands. Price: $5,000.

Specifications: Bulgari Aluminum Chronograph Ducati Special Edition

(1,000-piece limited edition)

Movement: Automatic Caliber BVL 130 with chronograph and date, 42-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency.

Case: 40mm aluminum, titanium caseback with DLC coating and engraved Ducati logo; rubber bezel, crown and pushers in DLC-coated titanium. Water-resistant to 100 meters.

Dial: Red Ducati-color, hour-markers and hours and minutes hands filled with SuperLuminova, three black counters with red hands; date window.

Bracelet: Rubber strap with aluminum links, aluminum pin buckle.

Price: $5,000.

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Frederique Constant’s Blue Moon

Frederique Constant refreshes its Classics Heart Beat Moonphase Date with a new model that boasts a rich blue dial emphasizing the watch’s mostly contemporary design.

The Frederique Constant Classics Heart Beat Moonphase Date, now with a rich blue dial.

In this handsome update, the light blue classic moonphase display nicely balances the very modern open Heart Beat aperture exposing a portion of the movement – a long-time Frederique Constant signature.

This pleasing symmetry is just one of many pleasures Frederique Constant reliably (and affordably) delivers with this refreshed design, which the Geneva-based manufacturer first debuted with lighter dials eight years ago.

The 40mm steel watch allows the wearer to read the current moonphase, the time and the date while also gazing at a portion of the balance wheel within the Heart Beat aperture beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour. On display is the watch’s Sellita-based automatic FC-335 movement, which is also visible through the sapphire back.

The watch’s Sellita-based automatic FC-335 movement is visible through the clear sapphire back.

To maintain its visual balance, the watch features no third aperture to display the date. Instead, a fourth hand with its own arrow tip points towards the date, shown in a circle on the flange.

The watch’s winding, hours, minutes, date and moon phases are all adjusted with the single crown. Its four positions allow for full control of the displays. The first position winds the movement, while the fourth adjusts the time. In an unsurprisingly display of technical fluency, the wearer can change the date in the second position and the moon phases in the third, as long as the hands are first positioned at 10:10. This protects the mechanism from being damaged.

As is often the case with Frederique Constant’s Classic models, the dial here is decorated with Clou de Paris guilloche.

Price: $2,095

  

Specifications: Frederique Constant Classics Heart Beat Moonphase Date

(Ref. FC-335MCNW4P26)

Movement: Automatic FC-335 caliber (Sellita-based), 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph.

Case: 40mm by 10mm polished stainless steel, two-part, scratch-resistant convex sapphire crystal, see-through case back. Water-resistant to 60 meters.

Dial: Navy blue with clous de Paris guilloché in the center. Printed white Roman numerals
, date graduation on outer ring, white hour, minute, second and date hands. Heart Beat opening at 12 o’clock, moonphase display.

Strap: Navy blue calf leather with off-white stitching, steel pin buckle.

Price: $2,095

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The Watches

Porsche Design Revisits All-Black Icon

Porsche Design revisits its Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition from earlier this year with the new Chronograph 1 All Black Numbered edition, an all-black titanium version of the historic design, to be issued as an individually numbered limited edition of 1,000.

Porsche Design’s new Chronograph 1—1972 All Black Numbered Edition

Like the previous model, which sold out quickly in early 2022, the new 40.8mm matte black titanium edition also echoes the original 1972 model’s size and design.

For both watches Porsche Design references its Chronograph 1, long considered the first all-black watch. The company’s use of black PVD on steel (as well as employing the then-new Valjoux 7750 automatic movement) set an example emulated for decades afterwards by sports watchmakers across the globe. Early examples of the pioneering Porsche Design automatic chronograph are highly collectible.

This newest version differs from the earlier model not only due to its individual number, but also because it features a clear sapphire caseback. That’s where you’ll see the watch’s number and a clear view of the Porsche Design WERK 01.140 caliber with COSC certification and the Porsche Design Icon winding rotor.

From the back you’ll see the watch’s number and a clear view of the Porsche Design WERK 01.140 caliber with COSC certification and the Porsche Design Icon winding rotor.

The remaining specifications echo the earlier edition, notably the highly legible dial inspired by the dashboard in the Porsche 911. Its tachymeter and the day/date display use the current Porsche font while the minute hand revisits F. A. Porsche’s own tapered design.

Porsche Design will make the watch’s 40.8mm case and bracelet with the same high performance titanium it uses in nearly all Porsche Design timepieces today. And new SuperLuminova will enhance the watch’s visibility in the dark. All Porsche Design Timepieces are produced in-house at Porsche Design Timepieces AG, the brand’s own timepiece-manufacturing facility in Solothurn, Switzerland.

Each watch arrives on a black titanium detachable bracelet with minutely adjustable folding clasp.

Porsche Design’s new Chronograph 1—1972 All Black Numbered Edition is set for release later in 2022 but can now be pre-ordered on the Porsche Design site as well as in Porsche Design Stores and from selected watch retailers. Price: $10,500.

The new Porsche Design Chronograph 911 Sport Classic, available to Porsche owners.

New 911 Sport

Porsche Design has also launched a new retro-inspired model, the Chronograph 911 Sport Classic, to owners of the recently released Porsche 911 Sport Classic.

The watch features a two-tone titanium and black case while the dial, white hands, green digits, and scale markings are inspired by the automaker’s Heritage Design tachometer. The design of the 360-degree winding rotor is based on the wheel options available for the 911 Sport Classic. And for the first time, Porsche Design is offering a range of different dials for the timepiece. Price: 12,500 euros.

 

 

 

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