Tag

automatic watch

Browsing
The Watches

Teak Tock 

Swiss watchmaker Cvstos has been making avant-garde mechanical watches for eighteen years at workshops in the center of Geneva, with production facilities just outside the city. 

Specializing in bold, tonneau-shaped watches, Cvstos reports that it concentrates primarily on creating an “ultra-contemporary, yet sporty dimension to the most sophisticated complications.”

The Cvstos Challenge Sealiner PS.

Among the latest set of Cvstos debuts, the Challenge Sealiner PS certainly embodies all those descriptions. At 41mm by 54mm, the watch’s impressive sapphire case is endowed with a non-reflective coating on both sides and is affixed with specialized Cvstos polished titanium screws.

And while the sapphire case allows a clear view of the movement from the back, it’s the teak dial that really sets the watch apart from other nautically themed models.

Just below the stylized luminous hands (including a very cool propeller-shaped small-seconds hand) lies a teak-wood plate, echoing the woodwork found on many an ocean-cruising yacht.

Additional Challenge models include examples with colorful sapphires set in titanium framing the teak plate.

Cvstos will make twenty-five examples of the Challenge Sealiner PS with orange or turquoise dial and crown accents and matching rubber strap.  Price: $49,500. 

Specifications: Cvstos Challenge Sealiner PS

 (A limited edition of 25 in each of two colors) 

Case: Tonneau-shaped 53.7 x 41 mm sapphire crystal with non-reflective coating on both sides.

Caseback is open with sapphire crystal. Crown is screw-down with polished titanium Grade 5 or 5N rose gold rubber insert. Polished titanium (grade 5) screws in exclusive pattern.

Dial: Teak wood plate, rhodium-plated or golden decorative applique polished with Côte de Genève finish. Colorful sapphire indexes and Super-Luminova treated hands.

Movement: Skeletonized Cvstos CVS410, self-winding mechanical with 42-hour power reserve. 

Bracelet/Strap: Rubber, alligator leather or Alcantara with folding clasp.

Price: $49,500. 

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Balmont Introduces Itself with Adventure Watches 

Balmont, a new France-based maker of affordable adventure watches, hits the road with two impressive models built with solid 40mm steel cases and plenty of panache.

Balmont’s BDX debut models.

With four different dial options, the watchmaker’s BDX series offers somewhat dressy dials that nonetheless front an automatic watch designed to confront darkness, heavy rain and multiple shocks.

 

Balmont fits each watch with an automatic Soprod P024 caliber tested to -7/+7 seconds per day and offering a 38-hour power reserve.

Framed with a stainless steel case water resistant to a full 200 meters, and capped with a large screw-down crown, the BDX offers a generous application of luminous material on the dial’s hands and markers, all protected by a sapphire crystal and a clear sapphire caseback.

 

And to underscore its adventure-focused mission, Balmont provides a second strap (nylon) with each watch, which arrives on a leather strap.

Balmont offers its BDX with a choice of a ceramic-coated black, silver, slate or white dial, each priced at $715.

Limited Model

In addition to its ongoing BDX series, Balmont supercharges its debuts the LAX001, a special model offered as a limited edition of 100 pieces. As its name implies (LAX is the Los Angeles airport code) the Balmont LAX001 features a classic so-called California dial that mixes Arabic and Roman markers, all of which glow brightly with SuperLumiNova BGW9 and C3.

The LAX001 retains the same technical specifications as the BDX, but comes on a cognac-colored Italian suede strap to more closely align with its California dive-model references. The supplied second strap is black nylon.

The watch’s dial is also sportier than the dial of the BDX with railroad track markers just inside the bezel and a glowing marker triangle rather than the brand’s logo at 12 o’clock.

Interestingly, the limited edition LAX001 also retains the same $715 price tag as the ongoing BDX model. I suspect the watch will quickly sell out after its September release date.

by
Keep Reading
The Watches

Maurice Lacroix Engraves a Skeletonized Aikon 

Maurice Lacroix adds to its hot Aikon series with the new Aikon Skeleton Urban Tribe, a 39mm steel-cased watch characterized by an intricately engraved case and bracelet displaying a detailed architecture-themed pattern.

The new Maurice Lacroix Aikon Skeleton Urban Tribe.

Framing a skeletonized Automatic ML135 automatic movement made in cooperation with Sellita, the case here is rife with lines, triangles, rays and other shapes frequently seen during a walk in any modern metropolis.

The new watch echoes the now-sold-out 2021 Aikon Urban Tribe model, but with added open-work that creates new avenues for light to reflect and refract through the watch.

Similar shapes and textures also line the entire top of the steel bracelet, enhancing the unusual nature of the Urban Tribe design.

Maurice Lacroix has even customized the oscillating weight with sandblasted and sun-brushed decor and has finished the movement itself with circular graining and snailed finishes.

To mimic street lights and building flourishes, Maurice Lacroix facets the watch’s SuperLuminova-coated hands to better reflect light. All this is framed with luminescent indexes and a dark grey flange.

As with all Aikon models, this new Aikon Skeleton Urban Tribe style features Maurice Lacroix’s own Easy Strap Exchange System, which means the wearer can quickly swap the bracelet for a strap if desired. 

With this model’s specially designed bracelet, however, I suspect the quick-change system will be very infrequently used.  

Price: $4,250. 

by
Keep Reading
American Brands

Isobrite Makes Waves with New Naval Series 

Miami-based ArmourLite Watch Company debuts the Isobrite T100 Naval Series, a trio of solid, eye-catching 300-meter dive watches.

One of three new watches in Isobrite T100 Naval Series. Pictured is the Naval Mariner.

Known for its highly shatter-resistant Armourglass crystals and luminous dials that feature Swiss-built tritium self-illuminated micro-tube watches, ArmourLite offers sports watches under its own name and under the Isobrite monicker. 

The watchmaker offers the new Isobrite T100 Naval Series in three models: a blue-dial Naval Mariner, the black-dial Naval Amphibian (above) and the all-black Naval Destroyer.

The Naval Destroyer

ArmourLite builds each 44mm watch in the series using 316L stainless steel, which frames sixteen tritium markers that glow to provide more than ample illumination for evening and underwater visibility.

Each features a high-end unidirectional sixty-click ceramic bezel, a screw-down, double-gasket crown and a solid engraved caseback.

ArmourLite fits a reliable Swiss-Made Ronda 715Li quartz movement (with a 10-year lithium battery) inside, fully protected with a 300-meter water resistance rating.

The Isobrite T100 Naval Series combines specifications rarely seen in a steel-bracelet watch priced at $595. And at $549 on a rubber strap, it’s an even stronger high-value option for weekend boaters and divers.

by
Keep Reading
Featured Events

Oris Goes Deep With New AquisPro 4000m

Oris expands its dive watch collection with the AquisPro 4000m, a particularly deep-dive model that also offers an extra-long five-day power reserve.

The new Oris AquisPro 4000m.

Not only is the AquisPro 4000m the most water-resistant diver’s watch we’ve seen from this independent Swiss manufacturer, but its also the sportiest Oris watch to include Oris Calibre 400, a superior automatic mechanical movement that boasts the aforementioned five-day power reserve, plus strong anti-magnetism and chronometric accuracy.

At 49.5mm in diameter, the watch is a wristful, but given its 4,000-meter water resistance rating, thin is out of the question. Check out any of the other Oris dive models for your day-to-day nautical watch needs.

With this new watch, you’ll get professional level features such as the Oris Rotation Safety System bezel, which will lock the unidirectional bezel in place. Also note the serious security folding clasp extension system, which allows the wearer to easily adjusted for length to better fit over a wetsuit.

The watch’s titanium case frames an easy-to-read blue gradient dial with a seaworthy wave pattern.

Oris fits a blue ceramic insert with the requisite minutes scale into the unidirectional bezel and caps off the case with a blue rubber strap.

Very nice.  Price: $6,200.

Recycled net dials

In addition to the new AquisPro 4000m, Oris is also partnering with Bracenet to create new watch dials from recycled fishing nets. The first watch made using the technology is the Oris X Bracenet, an Oris Aquis model outfitted with the swirled, pearlescent blue, green and white dial.

The two new Oris X Bracenet models feature dials made using recycled fishing line material.

Oris explains that to create these dials Bracenet warms small green, blue and white fishing net ‘offcuts’until they melt into a sheet of colorful material. Bracenet then sands the sheet until it’s 0.3mm thick, which Oris then cuts and places into each watch.  The material contains no additives, fillers or glues and no two dials are the same.

Oris will offer two stainless steel versions of the watch, one with a 43.50 mm case and a second with a 36.50 mm case. Each is outfitted with Sellita-based Oris automatic mechanical movements and each features the full set of Aquis dive watch specifications (see below for details.). Price: $2,600.

 

 

Specifications: Oris AquisPro 4000m
(Ref. no. 01 400 7777 7155-Set) 

Case: Multi-piece 49.50mm titanium case, lockable Rotation Safety System bezel, ceramic bezel insert, sapphire crystal domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside. Case back in titanium, screwed with special engravings. Stainless steel screw-in security crown. Water resistance to 4,000 meters.

Movement: Automatic Oris Caliber 400 with 120 hours of power reserve. High-level anti-magnetic protection. 

Dial: Blue gradient with printed wave structure, Super-LumiNova indices. Center hands for hours, minutes and seconds, date, fine timing device and stop-second.

Strap: Blue rubber with titanium security folding clasp with extension. 

Price: $6,200. 

 

Specifications: Oris X Bracenet

Case: Multi-piece 43.5mm and 36.5mm stainless steel with sapphire crystal and screwed, see-through mineral caseback glass, special engravings on case. Stainless steel screw-in security crown with crown protection. Water resistance to 300 meters. 

Movement: Automatic Sellita-based Oris 733 with 38-hours of power reserve.

Dial: End-of-life fishing net material melted and sanded to create unique pattern.  Hands and indices filled with Super-LumiNova. Center hands for hours, minutes and seconds, date window at 6 o’clock, instantaneous date, date corrector, fine timing device and stop-second.

Bracelet Multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet, security folding clasp (43.50 mm version comes with clasp extension). 

Price: $2,600.

 

 

 

by
Keep Reading