Most people who purchase a Swiss-made watch imagine it was meticulously crafted in a small workshop. For clients of Aerowatch, this actually is the case because the company’s headquarters are located in Saignelégier, within the heart of the Jura mountain region.
The company has operated continuously since 1910 and is still family-owned and managed by the Bolzi siblings: Jean-Sébastien (director of sales & marketing) Fred-Eric (master watch constructor) and Adeline (administrative manager). Aerowatch offers a range of quartz and mechanical offerings, including the distinctive Skeleton Spider.
The Aerowatch Skeleton Spider.
The Spider
I’ve always been enticed by mechanical skeletonized watches, and the Skeleton Spider is a great example. With a stainless-steel case measuring 43mm it should appeal to a broad demographic of buyers, including the unisex market. With its classical proportions, it felt very comfortable on the wrist and would be suitable for daily use.
Ultimately this stylish watch would look equally good with casual or formal attire. Personally, I could imagine sporting this timepiece with a finely tailored dinner suit to a gala ball or private function. However, because it’s only water-resistant to a depth of fifty meters, it wouldn’t be suitable for swimming or diving.
Visually the Skeleton Spider has a strong identity that is designed to make a bold statement. What makes this watch so special is the anthracite spider web skeletonized dial with red spider small seconds indication.
Other features include a refined satin red chapter ring, luminous indexes and domed sapphire crystal. Powering the watch is a customized manual-winding Calibre 6497-1 movement from Unitas (ETA), which oscillates at a frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour. This mechanism is visibly showcased via the sapphire crystal exhibition caseback. Functionally the Skeleton Spider features hours, minutes, and small seconds and has a power reserve of fifty-two hours.
Aerowatch also offers the watch with yellow and black coloring .
As a perfect final touch, Aerowatch presents the Skeleton Spider on a black leather strap with a complimentary folding steel clasp. For a watch of this quality, I feel it is competitively priced at $3,150.
Steve Huyton is an industrial designer, illustrator and author who publishes Total Design Reviews
Any visitor to Franck Muller’s vast headquarters in Genthod, adjacent to Geneva, will vouch for the technical depth this manufacture exhibits throughout the facility. Case after case of watches set with tourbillons and multiple complications testify to decades of watchmaking with a distinctive style, typically built into the brand’s trademark Cintrée Curvex-shaped case.
But there’s much more to Franck Muller than its range of Master Bankers, large tourbillons and jaw-dropping skeleton models. Few watchmakers can match the wide-ranging fluency the brand also demonstrates year after year with its gem-set collections.
Two examples of the new Franck Muller Double Mystery Peony.
Franck Muller has again paired its technical chops with its gem-setting expertise with the release of the new Double Mystery Peony, which combines gemstone setting and its enchanting Double Mystery time display system.
In the Double Mystery collection, Franck Muller replaces watch hands with two rotating discs, each with an arrow-shaped indicator. Patented in 1998, the technique allows Franck Muller to experiment by setting a colorful spectrum of gemstones across and atop of the two rotating discs.
In this latest Double Mystery Peony, Franck Muller sets 662 diamonds and colored gemstones (4.87 carats) on each dial, all shaped and patterned across the dial to recall the namesake bloom. The watches, powered by an automatic movement topped with the Double Mystery complication, are offered in white gold and yellow gold and in 42mm and 39mm cases. Price: $88,700
Jonathan Ward may be best known for his automotive company, Icon4x4, which custom-builds classic cars furnished with modern tech and cutting-edge materials, but he is first and foremost an industrial designer and craftsman. In addition to his sublime car restoration projects, Ward also likes to channel his creativity into making handmade leather goods (think jackets, luggage, purses, and wallets) – and into designing watches.
Jonathan Ward
The ICON4x4 founder comes from a line of car guys—his grandfather owned a repair shop in Virginia, where a young Jonathan would spend his school vacations studying auto parts and tools from the fifties. Ward’s early interest in cars was further fueled by his father’s enthusiasm for them. Father and son would attend car shows together.
Ward believes you are either born with or without an appreciation for details. At seven years old, he moved from a small town in Maryland to New York City. That move made a significant impression on the soon-to-be designer.
The sky-high architecture and ground-level store displays sparked his lifelong curiosity about how things are made, and more importantly, what does it take to make them even better. He remembers being fifteen years old in his dad’s garage taking apart a digital flip clock and putting it back together just to understand how it worked.
While not formally trained in design, Ward had an open mind to find inspiration everywhere. Whether transportation, architecture, or consumer goods, the challenge of being an industrial designer is to create a cohesive package that balances looks, engineering and utility. While he is certainly mechanically capable, Ward makes sure he surrounds himself with a team of expert engineers so he can focus on design.
Ward and his wife Jamie started the TLC Land Cruiser service center in the mid-1990s, which paved the way for Jonathan to become a consultant for Toyota. His work with Toyota and Mr. Toyoda resulted in the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser.
The 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser.
Watch guy
Given his appreciation for design and mechanics, it comes as no surprise that Jonathan is a watch guy too. He is a passionate watch collector but quite different in his approach from other collectors I’ve met. Rather than caring about particular brands and ultra-popular models, he focuses on designs, styles, and aesthetics that speak to him.
For instance, until relatively recently, he resisted collecting Rolex watches as he believed those pieces are more about making a social statement.
One of his first watches was a Bulova with a red LCD. However, he found his passion for watches when he found his grandfather’s Hamilton in the attic and restored it to its full glory as a birthday gift to his grandfather. This exercise sent him down the rabbit hole of Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and Streamline design language in the world of horology.
At the time, his collection was limited to six or seven timepieces. Once his business was established, he was able to indulge in his watch hobby.
Today, Ward owns more than 115 watches, ranging from $40 watches to vintage classics with great patina and tropical dials to high-end avant-garde pieces. He also makes his own watchstraps, which he believes augment the look of the timepiece—especially for smaller 32mm to 34mm cases.
Jonathan Ward owns more than 115 watches.
Design language
When Ward buys a watch, the first thing he looks at is design language, identity, and consistency. He prefers time-only watches or GMT watches, and has a particular interest in the provenance of the watch.
When he bought a military watch at a car show in Germany, the set included photos of the owner wearing the watch, which he loves. Thanks to actual images, Ward can imagine that military pilot wearing his watch while flying a plane during combat so many decades ago.Ward also owns an unbranded early marine chronograph that was gifted to Jacques Cousteau who then gave it to one of his main divers. The watches Ward collects are not necessarily expensive—for example, he owns a Waltham that was produced in low numbers—because he’s all about the designs and stories behind the watches.
The Icon Duesey
Along with designing cars, Ward has also poured his passion for watches into designing them.
His first watch design is the Icon Duesey, which is inspired by the dashboards of the vintage Duesenberg SJ automobile. The jump hour display of the watch is modeled after the original trunk-style gauge of the car.
Using Fusion 360 CAD software, Ward designed the case, crown, clasps, dials, and other components of the watch until he was finally able to print a few prototypes with his 3D printer. He used Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) machining to manufacture the case and a Dubois Dépraz-modified ETA base caliber for the movement.
Ward’s Icon Duesey merges traditional aesthetics with modern materials.
During the process, Jonathan realized how complicated it is to develop and manufacture a watch—especially if you want to follow the Swiss Made parameters. He wanted to ensure that any advanced watchmaker could service the watch.
It took Ward a tremendous amount of time to get the deep black porcelain dial right. The straps all had to be made according to highly specific requirements. Just like the Icon cars, the Icon watch merges traditional aesthetics with modern materials; the case is crafted from T5 titanium while the bezel is formed from T2 titanium. Why? Because Jonathan’s friend is allergic to traditional titanium.
As a designer with an obsession for details, even the box that the Icon Duesey includes special storage underneath that can house five watches.
I think this is a very clever idea. Ward supervised the entire manufacturing process of the ICON Duesey because, after all, his ultimate goal was to make the perfect watch for himself.
Only fifty examples of the ICON Duesey were made. Only a few remain for sale. Amazingly, ICON watch buyers are not the same as ICON car buyers. Ward says he has successfully enticed an entirely new audience for his company. I can sense just how proud he is of the watch.
As Ward’s wife Jamie is the more financially conservative of the two, Jonathan has agreed that he’ll only start creating a new watch once every Icon Duesey piece is sold. He has a GMT model in mind since he’s a frequent traveler. And this time, the design inspiration will be a yacht; a classic teak-deck style for the dial and copper and brass for the case.
I look forward to seeing what Jonathan Ward will come up with because I know, whatever he makes is driven by his unwavering passion for great design.
Laurent Martinez is the proprietor of Laurent Fine Watches Greenwich, Connecticut. Read more by him at blog.laurentfinewatches.com or visit his store’s site at www.laurentfinewatches.com.
Alpina’s Startimer pilot collection and its Seastrong diver series boast an impressive (and nicely priced) selection of contemporary and vintage-styled adventure watches. This week, the Geneva-based watchmaker adds one more watch to the vintage column of each collection, which Alpina dubs its Heritage series.
The new Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage Automatic.
First up, the new Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage Automatic is the fifth watch in this best-selling series combining 1960s-style dials with modern calibers and cases.
Appropriately water-resistant to 300 meters, the 42mm watch features a rotating inner flange (adjusted using the crown at 2 o’clock) to time dives and brightly luminescent hands to allow full visibility in the dark.
Unlike previous examples in this collection with two-color dials, this latest model offers a uniform black lacquered sunray-brushed dial. In addition, the new model offers no date display, which technically is not required for a successful dive.
Inside Alpina places a Sellita-based AL-520 movement, protected on top with a sapphire crystal. Both crowns are screwed-in to ensure water resistance, and the caseback is engraved with Alpina’s historical logo.
Already a strong value, the watch is even more interesting with Alpina’s package, which includes two attractive straps, one in brown calfskin leather and the other in beige topstitched rubber. Price: $1,695.
New Startimer Dial
Alpina’s second Heritage addition, the new Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic, is inspired by Alpina designs from the 1920s and 1930s. This new variation adds a new dial color to the existing black model we showed you last year.
The Alpina Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic, showing new blue dial.
The new watch maintains the Pilot Heritage Automatic specs: a 44 mm steel case framing a matte dial (now blue) that displays luminescent beige hour, minute and 24-hour markers that nicely replicate a typical shade used on early pilot watches.
As we noted on the 2020 model, Alpina adds to the watch’s vintage styling by placing the original triangular Alpina logo on the dial. This logo, which differs from the logo Alpina places on its contemporary pilot models, serves a practical purpose by separating the 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock markers.
And finally, Alpina underscores the watch’s vintage vibe by outfitting the Pilot Heritage Automatic with a hunter-style caseback that flips open with the flick of a finger. Through the clear caseback the wearer can view the watch’s Sellita-based AL-525 automatic movement.
Alpina is limiting the Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic with blue calfskin leather strap to 288 pieces. The watchmaker will continue its support of the National Park Foundation by donating $100 for every watch purchased through its U.S. website.
Specifications: Alpina Startimer Pilot Heritage Automatic
(Limited edition of 288 pieces.)
Movement: Sellita-based automatic AL-525 with 38-hour power reserve.
Case: 44mm by 11.55mm brushed and polished 3-part case, sapphire crystal, hunter caseback (at left). Water-resistant to 30 meters.
Dial: Blue with beige minutes and seconds graduation outward, beige 24 hours graduation inward, applied silver color Arabic numbers with beige luminous treatment. Date window at 3 o’clock, silver color hour and minute hands with beige luminous treatment, silver color second hand with red triangle.
Movement: Sellita-based automatic AL-520 with 38-hour power reserve.
Case: 42mm by 12.3mm polished 2-part, sapphire crystal, engraved back, water-resistant to 300m, screw-in crown.
Dial: Black with sunray finishing, yellow gold color minutes and seconds graduation, applied yellow gold-plated indexes, black outer ring with yellow gold color, minutes and seconds graduation yellow gold-plated, hour, minute and second hands with white luminous treatment.
Bracelet: Brown calf leather, additional black rubber strap.
A few years ago I featured a very special watch called the Crazy Wheel by Franck Dubarry in my “Independent Watchmakers” book. This watch was really a last-minute inclusion because at the time I wasn’t that familiar with the brand.
The original 43mm Franck Dubarry Crazy Wheel, made using titanium, forged carbon and Kevlar.
However, my editor absolutely loved the aesthetic and felt it was a worthy addition. What makes this piece so special is the 360° in-house gravitational flying-hour module, which takes center place on the dial. This amazing mechanism was conceived by specialist watchmaker Dominique Renaud, renowned for his work with high-end brands like Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille.
The Crazy Wheel is available in many versions including a Maori Tattoo version, which is my personal favorite. If you like brands like Audemars Piguet, Hublot and Linde Werdelin, this watch will really hit the spot.
The newest Crazy Wheel Gemma models sport bright colors and gemstones.
Feminine models
Originally, Crazy Wheel was targeted at the masculine and potentially unisex market. However, recently, I received a press release from the brand unveiling a new feminine model called the Crazy Wheel Gemma.
The ‘Crazy Wheel Gemma’ adopts the same 43mm x 50mm geometric case as the original version. A few years ago it would have been inconceivable that a watch this size would appeal to the feminine market. However, times are changing and now certain ladies prefer bolder designs.
To create a softer façade, Franck Dubarry has added precious gems into the composition. There are three new Maori engraved versions (two with bronze cases) with pink sapphire, blue sapphire and green emerald encrusted bezels. These stone perfectly compliment the meticulously finished lacquered colors on the flying-hour module. Prices start at $19,800.
Steve Huyton is an industrial designer, illustrator and author who publishes Total Design Reviews.
Ward also owns an unbranded early marine chronograph that was gifted to Jacques Cousteau who then gave it to one of his main divers. The watches Ward collects are not necessarily expensive—for example, he owns a Waltham that was produced in low numbers—because he’s all about the designs and stories behind the watches.
