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Maurice Lacroix Enhances Pontos Chronograph 

Maurice Lacroix tweaks its Pontos Chronograph 43mm with four new references that expand the collection’s high-value chronograph options with new sun-brushed black or gunmetal grey dial hues.

The latest Maurice Lacroix Pontos Chronograph 43mm offers a choice of black or gun metal dials.

These debuts echo the existing blue-dialed Pontos Chronograph with Arabic numerals and partially open-worked hands.

Look for additional SuperLuminova on the central chronograph hand as well, matching the enhanced luminescence of the hands. Maurice Lacroix has also added a color-coordinated date display disc to the 12-hour chronograph register at 6 o’clock.

Maurice Lacroix’s automatic ETA-based ML112 caliber, visible through the watch’s caseback, is finished with Côtes de Genève and circular graining, while the rotor is embellished with vertical Côtes de Genève and sun brushing.

The new models can be paired with a leather strap or a three-row steel bracelet. 

Finally, to echo its Aikon models, the new Pontos Chronograph 43mm now features the brand’s Easy Strap Exchange System, which allows a quick strap/bracelet swap if desired.

Maurice Lacroix now packages it all its watches with the same material it uses for its eco-friendly Aikon #tide collection. This means the new series is boxed with packaging made of recycled ocean-bound waste bottles. The watchmaker says it takes thirty-four bottles to make each watch box, which means thirty-four fewer bottles polluting the sea.

Prices:  $3,250 (steel bracelet) and $3,200 (leather strap).

 

Specifications: Maurice Lacroix Pontos Chronograph 43mm 

Case: 43mm by 15mm steel, 100 meters water resistant, clear sapphire back.

Movement: Automatic ETA 7750-based ML112 chronograph. 

Functions: Hours and minutes, small second at 9 o’clock, centered second chrono, 30 minutes chrono at 12 o’clock, hours chrono at 6 o’clock, date at 6 o’clock.

Dial: Black sunray; snailed and sandblasted counters and rhodium polished rings or gunmetal sunbrushed lacquered dial. Gold or rhodium-finished hands and markers. 

Bracelet: Three-row stainless steel, black leather strap alligator imitation with gold 4N M-logo. Both with Easy Change system. Butterfly buckle in stainless steel.

Prices:  $3,250 (steel bracelet) and $3,200 (leather strap).

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The Watches

Richard Mille Launches its First Sports Watch for Women

Richard Mille debuts its first women’s sports watch with the new RM 07-04 Automatic Sport,  a collection of six colorful models with a new automatic skeletonized movement and a highly shock-resistant, 30.5mm-by-45mm lightweight quartz or carbon case.

The new Richard Mille RM 07-04 Automatic Sport comes in six color options with either a colorful quartz case or a black carbon case.

Richard Mille says it took three years to develop the new series. Many of its technical features were devised after consulting with six female athletes who described the comfort, features and aesthetics of their ideal watch for wear during and after their sporting activities.

The collection’s CRMA8 caliber, the most compact movement developed by Richard Mille, features the brand’s emblematic function selector.

Eliminating all pressure on the winding stem, the selector is linked to a push-piece at 4 o’clock and allows the wearer to easily choose from among the neutral (N), winding (W) or time setting (H) positions. A hand at 5 o’clock displays the active function.

The RM 07-04 Automatic Sport is shock resistant with a highly tested and demonstrated ability to withstand accelerations of over 5,000 g’s. Richard Mille ensures this rigidity by constructing the baseplate and bridges from titanium with black PVD and electro-plasma treatments. Richard Mille then satin-finishes, micro-blasts and bevels these components by hand.

The complete case construction of the series is water-resistant to fifty meters thanks to two Nitrile O-rings, twenty titanium spline screws and 316L stainless steel washers. Each watch is also lightweight at 36 grams, strap included.

Five of the new watches (creamy white, mauve, salmon, green and dark blue) are cased in Quartz TPT while one (black case, below) is made from Carbon TPT.

As each is made with multiple layers of parallel carbon fiber or silica filaments, each looks just a bit different from the others, even when finished with the same color. Richard Mille finishes each watch’s titanium crown with a satin-finishing that is then micro-blasted and polished.

In an unusual touch, Richard Mille says it created the specific colors of each RM 07-04 Automatic Sport case to “interact perfectly with those of the bracelets, the tips of the hands, or the flange, according to a palette of shades to which Richard Mille alone knows the secret.”

Price: $185,000.

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Blancpain Expands Fifty Fathoms  

On the seventieth anniversary of its groundbreaking Fifty Fathoms dive watch, Blancpain unveils the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa, a new dive watch with a bezel that makes it possible to measure immersion times of up to three hours.

The new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa.

The bezel, and an accompanying hand that completes one revolution in three hours, combine to form an innovative new dive watch tool. Blancpain CEO Marc A. Hayek and diver and photographer Laurent Bellesta have filed for a patent for the mechanism at the heart of the new watch, which Blancpain first began to develop in 2019.

Blancpain launches the new watch as it also celebrates the tenth anniversary of Gombessa , an undersea research initiative that Bellesta and Blancpain helped create in 2013. The Tech Gombessa also marks the launch of a new line in Blancpain’s dive watch collection. 

Longer immersions

Bancpain explains that since the first Fifty Fathoms diver immersion times have notably extended, with the most experienced divers now capable of spending several hours underwater. Hayek and Ballesta devised the new three-hour timing mechanism to “meet the needs of all extreme divers, starting with the members of the Gombessa Expeditions whose research work involves long- duration deep dives.”

With an exterior that fits within the existing Fifty Fathoms family, the Tech Gombessa is nonetheless loaded with technical tweaks. 

Inside the 47 mm Grade 23 titanium case demonstrating 300 meters of water resistance, Blancpain fits a new movement, automatic Caliber 13P8 with an impressive five-day power reserve. In addition, Blancpain created a black ceramic bezel inlay instead of the traditional sapphire, which has been given a stronger curve and tilt (towards the dial).

Blancpain has also endowed the Tech Gombessa dial with a new ‘absolute black’ finish said to capture almost 97% of the light. The watch’s hour-markers luminescent block-shaped orange appliques with blue luminescence, colors that differentiate between time-related information and diving times. 

As with all Fifty Fathoms timepieces, the crown is screwed down, though here it is protected by a new crown guard with a trapeze-shaped design to match the watch’s new lug shape.

From the back, the wearer can see the new movement’s anthracite-colored oscillating weight, stamped with the Gombessa Expeditions logo, and which itself is given three large openings to better spy the movement. 

Finally, Blancpain will supply the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa with a black rubber strap screwed to the back of the lugs. The strap is reinforced with titanium and is teamed with an extension for wearing the watch over a diving suit.

Owners will also receive the watch in a special water-tight presentation box that houses a rest for the watch, the strap extension, a travel pouch, a magnifying glass, as well as a set of dividers and cutting tools.

Price: $28,000.

Specifications: Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa

Case: 47mm grade 23 titanium, helium valve, central lugs attached from the inside of the case middle.

Dial: Absolute black, luminescent orange block-shaped appliques with blue emission, unidirectional 3-hour scale bezel with black ceramic inlay tilted towards the dial with white luminescent green markers, 3-hour dive-time hand.

Movement: Caliber 13P8, self-winding with 5-day power reserve.

Bracelet: Integrated black rubber strap with extension.

Price:$28,000.

 

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The Watches

Frederique Constant Celebrates With New Worldtimers

To celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversary, Frederique Constant unveils two new versions of its 41mm Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture. 

Though one edition, an 18-karat rose gold limited edition of thirty-five, is not available directly in the United States, the second steel-cased model is being sold here.

The Frederique Constant Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture, in a steel case.

The steel-cased unlimited reference offers a brown dial and matching strap, with a lighter brown shade dominating the dial’s Earth symbol. On the orb Frederick Constant reveals latitude and longitude lines. A sunray finish highlights the date disc at 6 o’clock. The dial also offers luminous, silver-colored appliqué hour markers that match the three central hands.

The back of the watch displays the Frederique Constant manufacture FC-718 automatic caliber.

As a classic worldtimer, the watch displays twenty-four cities around the center on the external disc. These stand-in for the globe’s twenty-four primary time zones. Just inside this band, a second disc displays the time in each reference city. Light and dark section denote daytime or nighttime in the referenced city.

This celebratory variation comes with three straps: chocolate brown alligator leather with a nubuck finish, a matching rubber strap and a polished, brushed steel three-link bracelet.

The Frederique Constant Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture, in a gold case.

Frederique Constant places a soft blue dial within its gold model. As on the steel edition, the dial is slightly lighter within the center to better reveal the longitude and latitude lines on the engraved orb. Here, the hands and markers gold-colored and luminous.

For the gold model, Frederique Constant supplies an integrated blue alligator leather strap and a blue rubber strap.

Part of the watch’s success since its debut in 2012 is how simple it is to operate. All the features (hours, minutes, date, Worldtimer) can be adjusted using the crown thanks to the three-notch system Frederique Constant built in to the Manufacture FC-718 automatic caliber. The first click winds the watch, the second adjusts the date (upwards) and the reference city (downwards) and the third adjusts the time in the central display.

Price: $4,495 (steel model), and 25,995 euros (gold model). 

 

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TAG Heuer and Porsche Race to Sixth Design 

With the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x Porsche Orange Racing, TAG Heuer and Porsche launch their sixth watch in the two years since the two companies became official partners.

The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x Porsche Orange Racing

The new orange-tinged entry echoes recent partnership launches with its use of the excellent in-house Calibre Heuer 02, a  chronograph movement that boasts a column wheel, a vertical clutch and an impressive power reserve of eighty hours.

As its name implies, a vibrant racing orange highlights the new watch’s livery and can be seen on the Porsche logo on the bezel and on the crown in several dial details, including the chronograph counters and the seconds hand. The orange nicely contrasts with the 44mm black DLC case and the black dial.

 

TAG Heuer continues to utilize the same customized rotor here as is found on the earlier Porsche partnership designs. Visible through the sapphire back, the oscillating weight pays homage to the Porsche steering wheel and is labeled with the Porsche and TAG Heuer names.

 

As an added treat, TAG Heuer has even customized the column wheel by coloring it the same racing orange seen elsewhere on the watch. It’s a nice touch that perfectly ties together the racing and timing aspects of both TAG Heuer and Porsche.

 

TAG Heuer wraps up the theme with a carbon-like black calfskin strap with orange accents. The stitching on the strap is a nod to Porsche seat upholstery. 

TAG Heuer offers the new Carrera Chronograph x Porsche Orange Racing at TAG Heuer boutiques and via e-commerce as well as at retail partners.

Price: $7,050.

Specifications: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x Porsche Orange Racing 

(Ref. CBN2A1M.FC6526)

Movement: Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic, powering hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph. 

Dial:  Black vertical brushed, inspired by speed marks, orange outline, black flange with white markings.  Three orange-outlined counters: at 3 o’clock: black “azuré” minute chronograph counter; black gold plated, orange tip, polished hand; at 6 o’clock: black grained, matte permanent seconds indicator; black gold plated, orange tip, polished hand; at 9 o’clock: black “azuré” hour chronograph counter; black gold plated, orange tip, polished hand. 

Case: 44mm black DLC steel, black ceramic tachymeter fixed bezel, Porsche lettering, beveled, domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment, black DLC and orange lacquered steel crown, black DLC steel screw-down sapphire case back with special engraving. Water resistance: 100 meters. 

Bracelet/strap: Soft touch, textured black calfskin leather strap with orange lining, black DLC steel folding clasp with double safety push buttons.

Price: $7,050. 

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