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Detroit Watch Launches Pilot Series

Detroit Watch Company looks to the skies as it expands its primarily ground-based collection of affordably priced automatic models, most of which are inspired by its local industry and – unusually – its area code. Look for a new set of pilot-styled watches called Aviator in the collection, which are debuting with two options: a power reserve model and a chronograph.

The Detroit Watch Company Aviator Chronograph.

You might be familiar with the company’s very cool City Collection 313, which mimics an analog telephone dial, or its impressive M1-Woodward series, named for a legendary Detroit avenue. Each delivers distinctive style borne of its hometown as filtered through the eyes of Detroit Watch Company founders Patrick and Amy Ayoub, who started the company together nine years ago.

The Detroit Watch Company Aviator Chronograph, black DLC version.

The pair’s latest designs, each limited to 100 pieces, echo popular pilot watch designs, but with a Detroit twist. Both are built with 42mm steel cases, with a black DLC option also available in an additional twenty-five editions both models. And each features a dial and crown imprinted with a Detroit Fleur-de-Lys.

The Detroit Watch Company Aviator Power Reserve, black DLC edition.

On the Aviator Power Reserve you’ll find a prominently placed power reserve indicator at the 6 o’clock position, alongside a large sub-seconds indicator.

The Detroit Watch Company Aviator Power Reserve.

The Aviator Chronograph offers pure pilot styling with a day-date display, a red-tipped chronograph seconds that also boasts a stylized Detroit ‘D’.

These are super-solid steel-cased watches with distinctive styling, Swiss automatic movements – all sold at an impressively affordable prices. Prices: $1,495-$1,595 (Aviator Power Reserve) and $2,200 – $2,350 (Aviator Chronograph)

 

Specifications: Detroit Watch Company Aviator Power Reserve

(Limited to 100 numbered pieces. 001/100. 25 pieces in DLC)

Movement: Automatic Swiss Sellita SW279-1, deluxe finishing, Glucydur balance, Incabloc shock absorber, date, 28,800 vph, 38-hour power reserve. Decorated movement with blued screws, perlage, Cotes de Genève.

Dial: Black or green, date display in window, power reserve subdial counter.

Case: 42mm x 9.7mm polished/brushed stainless steel, screw down crown. Exhibition caseback. Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. Also available in DLC (with black dial). Water resistant to fifty meters.

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

Price: $1495-$1595 (DLC Edition)

Specifications: Detroit Watch Company Aviator Chronograph

(Limited to 100 numbered pieces. 001/100. 25 pieces in DLC)

Movement: Custom Swiss Valjoux Eta 7750 automatic & manual winding, chronograph. Shock-absorber-Incabloc, anachron hairspring, Glucydur balance, 28,800 vph, 48-hour power reserve, custom DWC decoration.

Dial: Blue or black, day-date display in window, minutes subdial counter, hour subdial counter, small second subdial.

Case: 42mm by14.2mm polished/brushed stainless steel, exhibition caseback sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, water resistant to 50 meters.

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

Price: $2,200-$2,350 (DLC edition).

 

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Tutima Launches Smaller, Darker M2 Seven Seas

Tutima Glashütte releases the M2 Seven Seas S-PVD, an addition to one of its best selling collections, with a smaller steel case, a hardened black PVD coating and spectacular yellow dégradé dial that melts to green at its edges.

The new Tutima M2 Seven Seas S-PVD.

Now with a debut 40mm case, considerably smaller than the collection’s standard 43mm diameter, Tutima’s new M2 Seven Seas S-PVD retains its sportiness, notably with an ultra-hard black ceramic unidirectional rotating bezel and a full 500-meter water resistance rating.

For those who prefer a moderate-sized sports watch, this new 40mm case fits well on narrower wrists, especially with the M2 Seven Seas’ integrated lugs. The lugs support a sharp-looking leather and rubber strap, which has its rubber underneath (on the skin) and its top with green-stitched leather, nicely matching the green color around the dial’s edge. All hands and indexes are coated with a generous helping of SuperLuminova.

As ever, Tutima fits a practical folding clasp to the strap to allow the wearer easy adjustment. Inside you’ll find Tutima’s automatic ETA-based Caliber 330.

Price: $1,980.

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Ulysse Nardin Adds Shark-Themed Great White Chronograph

Ulysse Nardin launches the Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White, a shark-themed version of its Diver Chronograph, and expands its fund-raising for shark conservation.

The Ulysse Nardin Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White.

The new watch is the latest of the Le Locle-based watchmaker’s extensive collection of shark-themed models. 

Ulysse Nardin launched its first such line in 2010 with the Diver Hammerhead and has added several shark-themed watches since that time, including the Diver Blue Shark (2019) and last year’s Diver Lemon Shark. Each debut included a fund-raising element for shark environmental health.

Ulysse Nardin pairs the debut of the new watch with several environmental initiatives. These include donating to One Percent For The Planet, which means Ulysse Nardin will donate one percent of annual sales of all “shark watches” to support non-profit organizations focused on sharks.

Mike Coots wears the new Ulysse Nardin Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White.

Ulysse Nardin will also partner with Sharktrust, a leading European shark conservation charity. In addition, the watchmaker adds shark expert and photographer Mike Coots to its ‘friends of the brand” list. 

The new watch is a 44mm titanium-cased chronograph with a white, unidirectional rotating rubberized bezel. The bezel frames a grey “shark skin” dial with blue and white accents and the words Great White just below the Ulysse Nardin logo.

Not surprisingly, you’ll find a shark silhouette on the watch’s white rubber strap. An image of a great white shark is stamped on the case back. As a serious dive watch, water resistance is a full 300 meters.

Inside Ulysse Nardin fits its excellent automatic Caliber UN-150 with silicon escapement wheel, anchor and balance spring.

Ulysse Nardin is making the Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White as a limited series of 300 pieces. Price: $13,300. 

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Grand Seiko Adds Dark ‘Birch’ Dial

Grand Seiko launches the SLGH017 Night Birch, a darker sibling of the award-winning Grand Seiko White Birch from 2021. With similar size and technical characteristics as the earlier Birch model, the new design will display a vertically patterned deep black dial and will be cased in titanium rather than steel.

The new Grand Seiko SLGH017 Night Birch.

The original Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours SLGH005 White Birch, which launched Grand Seiko’s new Evolution 9 series, was awarded the Men’s Watch Prize at the 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

This new Night Birch edition will not only serve as a darker version of the original, but is the first in the Birch series to be built with Grand Seiko’s proprietary High-Intensity Titanium alloy. The watchmaker says its titanium alloy offers a brighter appearance than is seen on other titanium watches while also offering a greater hardness.

As its name implies, the Night Birch features a black and gray dial that portrays the white birch tree forest at night, more specifically during a moonlit night. Grand Seiko artisans press the dial multiple times to create its unusual depth.

Inside Grand Seiko fits its excellent caliber 9SA5, first seen in 2020. The ten-beat (36,000 vph) movement boasts eighty hours of power reserve and a precision rate of +5 to -3 seconds a day. It incorporates three Grand Seiko technical features: a Dual Impulse Escapement, a free-sprung balance and a horizontal gear train. Available in August for $10,400.

Inside Grand Seiko fits its excellent caliber 9SA5, visible through the see-through back.

 

Specifications: Grand Seiko SLGH017 Night Birch

Movement: Caliber 9SA5 Hi-Beat 36000, automatic with 80-hour power reserve, Accuracy from +5 to -3 seconds per day (when static), free-sprung balance, dual-impulse escapement, twin barrels, 36,000 vph.

Dial: Black and gray, vertically patterned, baton markers.

Case: 40mm by 11.7mm high-Intensity titanium, box-shape sapphire crystal, Zaratsu polished, distortion-free mirror finish and delicate hairline finish, see-through back, screw-down crown. Water resistance to 100 meters.

Strap: High-Intensity Titanium with clasp.

Price: $10,400.

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Benrus Re-issues Type II Dive Watch

Benrus re-launches the Type II dive watch, one of the historic American brand’s best-known military watches.

The Benrus Type II dive watch.

Echoing the earlier Benrus Type I, the new retro-inspired model retains the original’s no-logo dial that focuses the eye only toward its strictly functional 12/24-hour ring with its ultra-clear numerals, markers and hands, all of which are highly infused with SuperLumiNova. The bi-directional rotating 12-hour bezel and double-domed sapphire crystal underscore the dive watch’s primary function, which is also aided with a 300-meter water resistance rating.

Benrus originally produced the Type I and Type II as U.S.-military-specified dive watches between 1972 and 1980 with no changes to the design. Benrus notes that approximately 16,000 Type I and II watches were produced and issued to the Elite Forces from the Vietnam War through the 1980s, but were never made available to the public.

“Since the release of the Type I, we have made it our mission to retell the significance Benrus had in watchmaking history with the U.S. military,” says Michael Goeller, COO of Benrus.

As with the earlier release of the Type I, Benrus says this newest reissue “faithfully follows original design details with improvements for everyday use and to meet and/or exceed the original military specifications.”

The watch’s engraved caseback features original markings.

The new watch is a 42.5mm steel model fit with a Soprod P024 automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve. Benrus will make 500 individually numbered Type II watches with an engraved caseback featuring original markings. Each will be supplied with a black two-piece nylon seatbelt NATO strap with quick release functionality. Price: $1,495.

 

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