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Zenith E-Races With Copper-Brown Defy

Zenith’s third special edition Defy Extreme, with copper brown accents and recycled components, commemorates the watchmaker’s role as a partner of Extreme E electric rally racing and its latest race in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

The new Zenith Defy Extreme E Copper Prix.

Zenith unveils the new watch, called the Defy Extreme E Copper  Prix, alongside the Chilean copper mines that dot the South American desert where the next Extreme E championship races are underway.    

Based on Zenith Defy Extreme Carbon, a lightweight carbon-cased high-frequency chronograph series, the new watch incorporates recycled elements from championship race environment within its strap and packaging, all echoing the coppery-brown official race color.

 

Zenith has infused materials of Continental CrossContact tires used in the first season’s races into the watch’s Velcro strap. Zenith will also deliver the watch with two additional straps in black rubber and black Velcro, which can be easily swapped without any tools.

The case for the watch is made using components from E-Grip recycled tires while the plate covering for the box is made from parts of an Extreme E racing tarpaulin.

 

Zenith creates the 45mm Defy Extreme E Copper X Prix edition with carbon fiber pushers, crown and case, all protected with a twelve-sided bezel made of micro-blasted titanium. The watch’s openwork, multi-layered dial is built with tinted sapphire crystal embellished with coppery-brown accents meant to evoke the copper mines of the Chilean desert.

Inside Zenith fits its El Primero 9004 high-frequency chronograph movement, which offers 1/100th-of-a -second time measurements with two independent escapements. One beats at 5Hz (36,000 VpH) for timekeeping while the second vibrates at 50Hz (360,000 VpH) to activate the chronograph function. Zenith makes the nicely finished movement, a certified chronometer, visible through the sapphire display back, which is emblazoned with the Copper X Prix logo.

Zenith will release the new Defy Extreme E Copper X Prix as a limited edition of twenty. Price: $27,100.  

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The Watches

TAG Heuer and Porsche Celebrate the Carrera RS 2.7

TAG Heuer and Porsche this week celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 with two new watches that highlight that famed sports car’s colors and features.

The Red Edition TAG Heuer Carrera x Porsche RS 2.7 chronograph.

The new Blue Edition and Red Edition TAG Heuer Carrera x Porsche RS 2.7 chronographs represent the fourth watch design to debut as a result of the partnership between TAG Heuer and Porsche, which commenced officially in 2021.

The Blue Edition TAG Heuer Carrera x Porsche RS 2.7 chronograph.

These two new limited edition models pay tribute to the first 911 to bear the Carrera name: the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7. 

Designed for racing, the Carrera RS was the first Porsche 911 dedicated to motorsports and was nicknamed “Carrera.” This name inspired Jack Heuer when he prepared to design the 1963 watch destined to become the Heuer Carrera.

Porsche produced the car in white with twenty-seven color accent options and in a two-tone design with a solid color line along the side. TAG Heuer chose two of the most popular colors to enliven its new watch while retaining the two-tone design of the cars.

Thus, the dial on each model is white, with a blue or red accent the on the dial, flange, case side, and strap. On both watches, the right sub-counter design echoes the look of the car’s rims.

Based on the existing 42mm TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph with tri-compax layout, (namely, the  minutes and hour chronograph counters at 3 and 9 o’clock), the new watch is powered by in-house manufactured automatic Caliber Heuer 02 with its superior eighty-hour power reserve.

The Carrera two-tone coloring also appears on the back of the watch. TAG Heuer has customized the rotor to echo the look of the Porsche three-spoke steering wheel. The rotor also hosts both the TAG Heuer and Porsche name.

TAG Heuer is offering the Blue Edition as a steel-cased limited edition of 500 pieces. Here, TAG Heuer has placed blue lacquer on the chronograph and central hands, the push buttons and shield logo on the crown.

The Blue edition TAG Heuer Carrera x Porsche RS 2.7 will arrive with both a sporty fabric strap with the Porsche logo and Carrera markings and a steel bracelet with H-shaped links.

Red Edition 

The more luxurious Red Edition TAG Heuer Carrera x Porsche RS 2.7 chronograph is cased in polished rose gold and limited to 250 pieces. Its white dial is framed with a red circular line and features rose-gold-colored applied indexes, permanent second indicator, and hour and minute hands.

Like the Blue Edition, the Red Edition also features engraved caseback and rotor. Here, however, the strap is more luxurious, offered in red alligator with a solid rose gold pin buckle.

Both watches are being shipped with co-branded TAG Heuer × Porsche packaging with  colorful inserts. Prices: $7,750 (steel with blue accents) an $23,550 (rose gold with red accents).

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The Watches

Bell & Ross Adds Copper Brown Dial to BR 05

Bell & Ross adds a fourth dial color, copper brown, to the BR 05 collection, the watchmaker’s series of round-corner square-case watches with round dials and integrated bracelets.

The new Bell & Ross BR 05 Copper Brown.

The new BR 05 Copper Brown watch joins existing models in the collection with black, silver grey and navy blue dials. 

“You have to breathe life into a range”, explains Bruno Belamich, creative director and co-founder of Bell & Ross. “It can be achieved through technique (movement), materials, or details. For the BR 05 Copper Brown, we chose the color,” he adds.

Bell & Ross introduced the BR 05 in 2019 as a contemporary version of its well-known square-cased BR 03 collection. BR 05 signaled the brand’s entry into the expanding field of Swiss-made 1970s-style steel watches with integrated bracelets.

The new watch’s golden-brown dial is finished with a sunburst pattern. Made specifically for the new model, the dial finish and color requires Bell & Ross artisans to micro-engrave the metal plate of the dial in a circular pattern. Then, technicians add several coats of transparent brown varnish to the metal plate, creating a sense of depth.

Bell & Ross then adds the same metallic color to the indexes, which creates “the effect of a block of metal simply adorned by its sunburst brown dial,” according to Bell & Ross. The dial’s hands, indexes and numerals are coated with SuperLuminova.

The watchmaker will offer the BR 05 Copper Brown with either an integrated polished and satin-finished steel bracelet or on a sporty brown rubber strap.

Bell & Ross powers the watch with its Sellita-based BR-CAL 321 automatic movement. With the watch’s sapphire case-back the owner can view the caliber’s oscillating weight with sports-car-rim-inspired design.

Prices: $4,600 on rubber strap and $5,100 on a steel bracelet.

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The Watches

Hermès Celebrates New York Re-Opening With Two Limited Editions

Hermès celebrates the reopening of its Madison Avenue store in New York with two special edition watches.

The new Hermès H08 Madison.

One, the H08 Madison, includes a refashioned dial of the acclaimed cushion-shaped Hermès H08. On this special edition Hermès replaces the traditional 12 at the top of the dial with a 0 and also colors the numbers 6, 7 and 0 in yellow to form the address of the new Hermès boutique at 706 Madison Avenue. The same hue is echoed by the crystal seal, the minutes track and the varnished seconds hand. Hermès explains that it chose the yellow color to pay tribute to New York ‘yellow’ cabs.

The Hermès H08, you may recall, was designed in 2021 by Philippe Delhotal, creative director of Hermès Horloger, with a 39mm by 39mm cushion-shaped case, round dial and a contemporary time/date dial display.

For this model, Hermès uses the satin-brushed titanium case edition of the H08, topped by a black ceramic bezel and secured with a screw-lock crown. Inside you’ll find the Manufacture Hermès H1837 mechanical self-winding movement.

Hermès will deliver the new watch, a 185-piece limited edition, on a yellow or grey rubber strap.  Price: $7,450. 

Gene Kelly

The second celebratory model is the Gene Kelly, a 38mm rose gold, round-cased Arceau model with an unusual leather marquetry dial decorated with jazz dancers in action, a theme based on the Hermès ‘Tribute to Gene Kelly’ silk scarf designed by Canadian artist Geoff McFetridge.

The new Hermès Gene Kelly.

The rare leather dial is composed using micro-leather leather marquetry. As Hermès explains, its artisans select a dozen colorful full-grain calf leathers that are then trimmed to a thickness of 0.5 mm. 

The artisans then cut out the design elements and remove the leather fragments and assemble the scene on the dial. The design references Gene Kelly, a Hollywood musical legend, using bright colors, nine letters of his name, and dancers in moccasins and white socks.

Finally, Hermès sets eighty-two diamonds into the bezel and powers the hands with the automatic Manufacture Hermès H1912 movement.

Only twelve watches will be made, each fitted with a white Hermès calfskin strap. Price: $35,000. 

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The Watches

Ulysse Nardin Adds Trio to Marine Torpilleur Series

Ulysse Nardin adds three new models to its Marine Torpilleur collection, a series of nautically themed watches designed to echo nineteenth-century marine chronometers.

Ulysse Nardin has a long history of making Marine Chronometers for ships.

The new models retain the collection’s fluted bezel, long hands and Roman numeral hour markers, but each also highlights one particular aspect of Ulysse Nardin’s artistic or technical expertise. 

The new Ulysse Nardin Marine Torpilleur Dual Time.

The Marine Torpilleur Dual Time

The first model of the new trio adds Ulysse Nardin’s innovative dual-time display to the Marine Torpilleur collection. Fit with in-house caliber UN-334 with a silicon escapement wheel, anchor and balance-spring, the new watch adds an instant-change, dual-pusher GMT function to the series in a 44mm steel-cased model with a sun-ray satin-finished blue dial.

Developed initially by Ludwig Oechslin in 1994, the dual-time function was among the first to allow an instant-change, plus-or-minus GMT hour hand, activated using one of the two push-pieces.  While the home time display on the new Marine Torpilleur Dual Time operates continually in an aperture at 9 o’clock, the wearer can quickly move the hour hand forward or backward to show local time using the “+” and “-” push-pieces at 8 o’clock and 10 o’clock. All calendar functions remain in syncs regardless of the adjustment. Price: $11,500. 

The new Ulysse Nardin Marine Torpilleur Tourbillon Grand Feu.

Marine Torpilleur Tourbillon Grand Feu

Initially launched last year as a limited edition with a black Grand Feu enamel dial, the Marine Torpilleur Tourbillon is now offered in unlimited production with a white Grand Feu enamel dial.

The watch highlights the work of artisans at Donzé Cadrans, Ulysse Nardin’s own watch dial facility. The term Grand Feu means ‘big fire’ and refers to the melting the enamel powder in a furnace when creating the dial finish.

Ulysse Nardin makes all its own dials at its dial-making facility Donzé Cadrans.

On this enamel dial Ulysse Nardin fits the watch’s power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock and the namesake tourbillon aperture directly across the milky white expanse at 6 o’clock.  

Ulysse Nardin’s own UN-128 automatic caliber powers the flying tourbillon with constant escapement, which is fitted with a flying silicon anchor. You might recall that in 2015 Ulysse Nardin  won the Tourbillon Watch Prize at the GPHG (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève) ceremony with this patented system.

Price: $39,600. 

The Marine Torpilleur Moonphase in rose gold

 Ulysse Nardin debuted its first Marine Torpilleur Moonphase models in 2021 with a stainless-steel case and a blue or white dial as a limited edition of 300 pieces per model. This year, the watchmaker adds the watch to its permanent collection, but now sporting a more luxurious 42 mm rose gold case.

Inside Ulysse Nardin fits its automatic UN-119 caliber with silicon balance-spring and a DiamonSil escapement wheel and anchor. DiamonSil refers to the artificial diamond layer Ulysse Nardin places on the escapement wheel and silicon anchor. This coating results in improved resistance to magnetism, friction and shock.

Again, we see the power reserve display at 12 o’clock balanced on the dial layout with the small seconds and moon phase indicators at 6 o’clock. Note the silvery moon image on the disc elegantly contrasting with the blue PVD sky around it. Ulysse Nardin supplies the watch with a dark blue alligator-skin strap with rose gold folding clasp. Price: $22,600. 

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