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The Watches

Corum Creates Bubble with Street Artist Aiiroh

Corum teams with French street artist Aiiroh to create the Corum Bubble 47 x Aiiroh, the latest result of Corum’s artistic Bubble collaborations.

The new Corum Bubble 47 x Aiiroh.

The black-PVD-coated Bubble is a limited edition of eighty-eight pieces with a dial inspired by Aiiroh’s “Black Série Rose” artwork.

The 47mm watch continues a series of Bubble debuts Corum has created in the twenty-two years since the Bubble’s debut. The Swiss watchmaker has teamed with many artists and creative sources, more recently with Elisabetta Fantone, rapper Booba, and cymbals manufacture Paiste.

On the dial of the new Corum Bubble 47 x Aiiroh, a rose-shaped blackened aluminum grille tops a colorful collage of street posters, which also form a rose shape. 

Corum explains that its artisans used two different dial appliques to add depth and dimension to the Aiiroh-designed dial. The Bubble’s thick, domed crystal adds a pleasing layer of optical intrigue to the Pop-Art-inspired design.

Inside the 47mm Bubble Corum fits its automatic caliber CO 082 that offers 42 hours of power reserve. Check the sapphire caseback to view the Soprod-built caliber. Water resistance is 100 meters.

Corum will offer the watch with an artwork made by Aiiroh and Japanese modern artist Namisen, which was then made into a piece in resin by French visual artist Soyz Bank. This ‘sculptured wall art,’ inspired by Corum’s watch certificate, is created as a flat painting, semi-folded, and finished in resin.

Price: $8,000.

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The Watches

New Seiko Presage Series Echoes 1960s Styles

By Gary Girdvainis 

Seiko’s new Presage Style 60’s Series takes its inspiration from the Seiko original “Crown Chronograph” introduced in 1964. The watch, Seiko’s first wristwatch equipped with a stopwatch function, marked the beginning of Seiko’s chronograph wristwatch manufacturing.

The original Seiko Crown Chronograph, circa 1964.

While the new Presage Style 60’s Series combines the vintage feel of the 1964 version with modern updates, the new series does not include chronographs but instead creates a timeless look that will be always be comfortably in-style.

Seiko Presage Style 60’s reference SRPG07J1.

On their exteriors, the new designs real the vintage Crown Chronograph’s boxed crystal, faceted indexes and dauphine hands. The new Seiko Presage line also now offers nylon straps and, notably, offers a date display on most versions.

Inside, you’ll find the excellent Seiko 4R35 or 4R39 automatic winding mechanical movement ticking away at 21,600 vph with a 41-hour power reserve.

Seiko is offering seven variations, all crafted in stainless steel and measuring 40.8mm in diameter. The new series offers watches with dials in black, brown, ivory, and earth tones colors of blue and green reminiscent of the 1960s.

One version (above) offered in three color variations has the “heartbeat” cut-out dial highlighting the balance wheel and escapement ($525) with no date. The others have full-coverage dials ($575). Seiko applies its Lumibrite luminescent coating on all variations, and on some models the Lumibrite has a slightly faded color to enhance the vintage feel.

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The Watches

Bell & Ross Races With Formula 1

Bell & Ross adopts the new colors of its racing partner BWT Alpine F1 Team on the BR 03-92 A522, the watchmaker’s  latest Formula 1 watch.

The new Bell & Ross BR 03-92 A522.

As a partner the Renault F1 Team (now BWT Alpine) since 2016, Bell & Ross has launched watches that represent the colors and materials found on partner race cars. Bell & Ross says it was inspired this year by the steering wheel, chassis and graphics on the new Alpine A522 racing car.

The new Bell & Ross BR03-92-A522 is attached to the wrist with an ultra-breathable micro-perforated rubber strap.

“Beyond the style and the colors, we conceive above all a tool at the service of the driver, an ally at all times,” explains Bruno Belamich, Bell & Ross creative director and co-founder. 

The new BR 03-92 A522, a limited edition pf 999 pieces, features a 42mm matte-black ceramic-case with a black dial accented with white and blue, taking design cues from the speedometer of an Alpine racecar.

Also referencing the car is the counterweight of the central blue chrono seconds, which references the A of Alpine. The small blue, white and red flag echoes Alpine’s colors, while Alpine’s signature blue is used on the flange. 

Inside Bell & Ross fits its Sellita-based automatic BR-CAL.302 movement. Price: $4,500.

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The Watches

Detroit Watch Honors 1966 Daytona Winner

Detroit Watch Company expands its hot-selling M1-Woodward Sport Chrono Exhibition collection with racing livery with two new models emblazoned with number 98 on the dial.

M1-Woodward 24hr 1966 Daytona Winner Legends Chronograph Exhibition. A black DLC version is also available.

The number references the winning GT40 at 1966 Daytona driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby (red dial accents) as well as the Cobra Daytona coupe (blue/white dial) designed by the legendary American designer Peter Brock.

The new line retains the M1 Sport Chrono Exhibition collection’s steel-cased design, but now features the new 98 dial with either red accents on the Daytona Winner model or blue accents on the Daytona Coupe model. Inside the brushed and polished 42mm case you’ll find an ETA Valjoux 7750 chronograph with a customized Detroit Watch decoration visible through a sapphire back.

Detroit Watch offers the duo with a choice of steel bracelet or a leather strap. The new series is also available in blackened DLC finish with a stitched Kevlar strap (see below).

As a bonus, each watch includes a framed timepiece sketch and a special framed sketch of the matching race car. The drawings are by Detroit Watch Company’s Patrick Ayoub, who founded the company with his wife Amy nine years ago.

Prices: $2,200, $2,350 (black DLC edition)

 

Specifications: Detroit Watch Company M1-Woodward 24hr 1966 Daytona Winner Legends/Coupe Chronograph Exhibition

Movement: Custom Valjoux ETA 7750 automatic chronograph, Incabloc shock-absorber,  anachron hairspring, glucydur balance, 28,800 vph, 48-hour power reserve, custom DWC decoration.

Dial: Day-date display in window, minutes and hour subdial counters, small seconds subdial, hour markings, blue or red accents, number 98 on seconds subdial.

Case: 42mm by 14.5mm polished/brushed stainless steel, exhibition caseback, water resistant to 50 meters.

Strap: Calf leather with buckle and quick release spring bars. Ballistic (Kevlar) strap with deployant clasp on DLC edition.

Prices: $2,200, $2,350 (black DLC edition).

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The Watches

Ulysse Nardin Sets a Rainbow of Gems into Two Watches

Ulysse Nardin adorns its 39mm Lady Diver and 45mm black DLC titanium Blast Tourbillon X with purple, green, blue or pink gemstones to create a rainbow effect that echoes the iridescent rainbow colors of silicon.

The new Ulysse Nardin Blast Rainbow Tourbillon X.

The newly sparkling bezels and dials, which debuted during Geneva Watch Days, are meant to celebrate Ulysse Nardin’s pioneering use of silicon components. 

You may recall that in 2001 the Le Locle-based watchmaker was the first to debut a watch (the Freak) with silicon escapement components, jump-starting a technical revolution in the use of the material throughout the high-end Swiss watchmaking industry.

Ulysse Nardin sets the newest Blast Rainbow Tourbillon X with fifty rubies and sapphire baguette gemstones on its bezel and indexes.

The Blast Tourbillon X itself features a skeletonized X bridge and a black rectangular frame that geometrically opens views into the automatic flying tourbillon caliber UN-172. The impressive movement (pictured below), with its platinum micro-rotor and silicon escapement wheel, anchor & balance spring, is cased in black DLC titanium and sealed with a black ceramic polished and sandblasted upper case.

Ulysse Nardin’s Caliber-UN-172 with flying tourbillon.

Ulysse Nardin offers this new, glittery Blast Rainbow Tourbillion X as a limited edition of fifty. It arrives with a waterproof velvet rubber strap or a black alligator strap, together with a black DLC titanium and black ceramic self-deploying buckle. Price: $89,700.

The new Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Rainbow is offered with a steel case or a blackened 39mm steel case.

The new 39mm Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Rainbow, offered in either a steel case or a blackened steel case, is adorned with forty stones (ruby, aquamarine, topaz, tsavorite and sapphire) that the watchmaker has set on a concave unidirectional bezel. Eleven diamonds serve as indexes on the white-dialed or black-dialed watch.

Water resistant to 300 meters, the Lady Diver Rainbow is powered by Ulysse Nardin’s UN-816 automatic movement with silicon escapement components.

The watches, each limited to 300 units, will arrive attached to a white or black rubber strap. Price: $13,600. 

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