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Watches and Wonders 2022: Grand Seiko Adds Five Sporty Titanium Watches

At Watches & Wonders 2022 earlier this month, Grand Seiko introduced five sport models in its Evolution 9 collection. And echoing many of the other high-end watchmakers at the show, Grand Seiko also focused its debuts on titanium-cased designs.

(Grand Seiko also debuted its first mechanical complication watch, the Kodo Constant-force Tourbillon, which we’ll discuss in a future post).

But unlike all other watchmakers, Grand Seiko is able to offer a level of precision rare for any pure mechanical offering thanks to its proprietary Spring Drive movement, a mechanical-electronic hybrid built and finished to high watchmaking standards.

One of two new Spring Drive GMT models (SBGE285).

Within its relatively new Evolution 9 collection, Grand Seiko adds two GMT models (SBGE283 and SBGE285), two Chronograph GMT models (SBGC249, a blue-dialed 15th Anniversary Limited Edition, and SBGC251), and a 200-meter dive watch with caliber 9RA5 (SLGA015), a movement with an impressive five-day power reserve. All these titanium-cased watches offer screw-down crowns and a strong anti-magnetic resistance to 4,800 A/m.

For the debuts, Grand Seiko has refined its cases as well as various dial details. All the new models benefit from wider lugs and thicker bracelets. Also note the collection’s bolder hands that point to a new font along the bezel, notably on the GMT models. In addition, Grand Seiko now coats all its hands and indexes with more Lumibrite than we’ve seen previously. In addition, crown guards are somewhat smoother than on earlier sports models.

New Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT (SBGE283).
Up close on the dial of Spring Drive GMT SBGE285.

Spring Drive GMT

These two 41mm debuts (above) feature highly textured pattern dials in either black (SBGE283) or light gray (SBGE285). Both offer a box-shaped sapphire crystal, a 72-hour power reserve and are powered by Spring Drive Caliber 9R66, which offers incredible precision of plus or minus one second per day. Price: $8,400, and available in August.

The Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph 15th anniversary edition (SBGC249).

Two chronographs

The first of the two new 45.3mm Evolution 9 chronographs features a blue dial and offers a higher rate of accuracy than the already phenomenal one-second per day. This Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph 15th anniversary edition (SBGC249, above) is adjusted to achieve an enhanced accuracy rate of just half-a-second per day, (or plus or minus 10 seconds per month) and is offered as a limited edition of 700. In addition to the
 12-hour chronograph, the watch also features a rotating bezel and a GMT hand. Price: $12,400.

The black-dialed version (SBGC251, below) delivers the standard high accuracy of 1-second per day (±15 seconds per month) and otherwise offers the same design and specifications as the limited edition. Price: $11,400.

The SBGC251, one of two new new 45.3mm Evolution 9 chronographs.

Dark Dive Watch

Finally, Grand Seiko adds an impressive new 200m diver’s watch (SLGA015) to the Evolution 9 collection. As is often the case at Grand Seiko, the watch’s textured black dial arrives on your wrist already wrapped up with an inspiring origin story.

Grand Seiko’s impressive new 200m Black Stream diver’s watch (SLGA015).

Inspired by the Kuroshio Current, also known as the Black Stream, the dial echoes the darkness visible in the waters that flow northwards past Japan towards the North Pacific. The Black Stream’s darkness inspired Grand Seiko’s artisans to create the new watch’s particularly evocative dial.

Powered by Spring Drive Caliber 9RA5, the new 43.8mm by 13.8mm titanium Black Stream dive watch offers an accuracy rate of ±10 seconds per month and a five-day power reserve.

The diver’s hands are among the boldest we’ve seen on a Grand Seiko dial, and this bezel among the most robust. In fact, Grand Seiko has forged the bezel’s inside from ceramic to reduce the possibility of scratching. Price: $11,600 and available in August.

 

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The Watches

Louis Erard Reprises Enamel Dial Limited Edition

Louis Erard adds a new model, the Enamel Grand Feu II, to its Excellence series of limited edition watches created with hand-made grand feu enamel dials.

The new Louis Erard Excellence Enamel Grand Feu II.

The latest model, with a dial that echoes a slightly larger version released last year, is a steel-cased 39mm time-only watch with a white dial that features the existing design’s blue markers, but adds a red XII and a few red lines of the small seconds display at six o’clock.

The watch’s rich dial and its deep colors are the result of a firing process in a kiln set at more than 800°C. The colors result from deposits of small layers of silica, oxides and potassium that, after firing, are fixed forever and permanently bonded to their metal base.

This grand feu technique is usually utilized for watches priced higher than those offered by this small independent watchmaker. However Louis Erard has found success offering a series of moderately priced limited editions that boast partnerships with watchmakers (including Vianney Halter and Alain Silberstein), notable designers and with small-batch grand feu dials.

With this strategy, the Le Noirmont watchmaker continues to raise its profile among collectors in search of relatively affordable watches with truly original, eye-catching designs.

The dials are made by Donzé Cadran, an art enameller based in Le Locle and purchased in 2011 by Ulysse Nardin. Inside Louis Erard places a Sellita automatic movement, visible through a clear sapphire caseback.

The watch boasts the brand’s signature ‘fir tree’ hands in blued steel and comes on an brilliant red grained calf leather strap with blue stitching and lined in Louis Erard’s signature blue grained calf leather.

Price: CHF 3,900, limited to 99 pieces.

 

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The Watches

Hublot’s U.S. Special Edition is Bronze, Brown and Classic

For U.S. collectors, Hublot offers its 45mm Classic Fusion three-hand date model with a new brown dial and limited edition bronze-cased dress.

The Hublot Classic Fusion 45mm Bronze Brown

The handsome dress model, one of the watchmaker’s most unadorned watches, is simplicity at its core, with a classical time and date display framed by a hand-brushed bronze case and matching bezel.

Strapped to a chocolate brown alligator strap and powered by Hublot’s own Caliber HUB1112 automatic movement, the Classic Fusion 45mm Bronze Brown is available only through Hublot.com to customers in the United States of America. Hublot will make thirty watches with this unusual combination of materials and colors.

Hublot explains that the limited edition launch is meant as “a celebration of the intrepid lifestyles (that were unexpectedly put on hold for so long) and a demonstration of Hublot.com keeping pace with their clients and their adventures and pursuits.”

Specifications: Hublot Classic Fusion 45mm Bronze Brown

(Ref. 511.BZ.3480.LR.ECU21, Limited edition of 30)

Dial: Sunray brown, polished 3N gold-plated applique dial and markers.

Case: 45mm by 10.95mm brushed bronze, sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment, brushed bronze with black composite resin bezel, polished 3N gold screws. Water resistance to 50 meters. Micro-blasted black ceramic engraved back with “SPECIAL EDITION” “XX/30” and sapphire.

Movement: Caliber Hublot HUB1112 self-winding, date aperture, 4 Hz (28,800 A/h) frequency, power reserve is 42 hours. Hublot-designed tungsten openwork rotor is black-plated.

Strap: Brown alligator with brown stitching on black rubber, black blushed bronze and black- plated stainless steel deployant buckle clasp.

Price: $13,300

 

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Featured Events

De Bethune, Patek Philippe and Daniel Roth Highlight Ineichen’s “Precious Blues” Auction

Zurich-based Ineichen Auctioneers will focus on collectible watches made with a prominent shade of blue on its dial or case.

The “Precious Blues” auction will be live on April 23 with fifty watches. Look for pieces from Vacheron Constantin, De Bethune, Daniel Roth, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Greubel Forsey and Patek Philippe among the auction headliners.

Let’s take a look at a few highlights.

Lot 5

Patek Philippe

Nautilus Chronograph

Estimate: $85 900 to $107,400

From 2019, this 40.5mm stainless steel and rose gold wristwatch features a thickness of 12.2mm, a screw-down crown and sapphire caseback. Its blue sunburst and gradient (fumé) relief dial with applied luminous rose gold indexes, double sunken sub-dial with fine circular grooves is stunning.

Inside is Caliber CH 28-520 C/522, a self-winding movement with a 21-karat gold rotor, 55-hour power reserve and marked with the Patek Philippe seal. Functions: hours and minutes, flyback chronograph with central seconds hand and concentric 30-minute and 12-hour counters at 6 o’clock, date aperture at 3 o’clock. Nautilus bracelet with the first-generation triple folding clasp.

 

Lot 22

De Bethune

DB28 Kind of Blue

Estimate: $75,200 to $96,650

A rare and attractive model by De Bethune produced between 2016–2020. Its case is 42.6mm blued titanium,9.3mm thick, with mobile (‘floating’) lugs in blued titanium with pivoting system, sapphire caseback, blued titanium caseback rim with logo, scale of power reserve indicator, reference (as “DB28B Ti”) and watch number in numbered edition.

The watch features an open dial and rose gold hands. Thin hand-wound caliber DB2115V4 with balance and spiral on the dial side powers the watch with a double barrel and 6-day power reserve. Functions: hours, minutes, spherical moonphase indicator at 6 o’clock, accurate to within one day every 122 years, performance indicator (a kind of power reserve indicator) between 2 and 3 o’clock, and power reserve indicator on the caliber reverse. Black De Bethune leather strap with De Bethune pin buckle in blued titanium with gold pin. Numbered edition.

 

Lot 23

Greubel Forsey,

Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain

Estimate: $107,400 to $161,050

An extremely rare and important limited edition complicated wristwatch from Greubel Forsey. This limited edition of 33 pieces was launched in 2013. Its 43.5mm case is made of 18-karat rose gold and measures 15.2mm thick with a blue textured dial, transparent sapphire chapter ring, sapphire caseback.

Inside you will find hand-wound tourbillon GF01c with a power reserve up to 72 hours. Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds hand at 10 o’clock, 24-second inclined tourbillon, power reserve indicator at 4 o’clock. Dark blue leather strap, Greubel Forsey 18-karat rose gold triple folding clasp.

 

 

Lot 49

Alain Silberstein

Tourbillon Volant

Estimate: $16,150 to $21,500

An unusual limited-edition (of 500) stainless-steel wristwatch from Parisian architect and designer Alain Silberstein. This limited edition launched in 2003 and features a case in 40mm stainless steel, 11mm thick, with a sapphire caseback. Its skeleton dial features a peripheral silvered white chapter ring and white ceramic scale for date indication at 12 o’clock (date markings of the present example are patinated and nearly faded out).

Note the characteristic Silberstein Bauhaus-style red and blue hands. Inside is Caliber ASC 1.1, a Swiss made, hand-wound movement with blue PVD-coated mainplate and personalized copper-colored bridges, power reserve up to 72 hours. Functions: indication of time in hours and minutes, flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock, date pointer at 12 o’clock. Black leather strap, Alain Silberstein stainless-steel pin buckle.

Lot 29

Daniel Roth

Perpetual Calendar Unique Piece

Estimate: $42,950 to $53,700

This impressive sapphire-set platinum wristwatch features a baguette-cut sapphire bezel and lugs. The reference 121.Y.70.722 from the Master’s Grandes Complications collection was launched in 2007. Estimated production span: 2007–2010s. The double ellipse-shaped platinum case measures 44mm x 41mm and is 13mm thick with a matte silvered and mother-of-pearl skeleton dial.

The Perpetual Calendar Time Equation watch is powered by the self-winding DR114 caliber, based on a Girard-Perregaux GP3000 movement-blank and accommodates an additional in-house module for the perpetual calendar, equation of time, moonphase, and number of days in the month complications. Functions: indication of time in hours and minutes, perpetual calendar with date, day of the week, month and leap year indicators, equation of time sub-dial between 10 and 11 o’clock, number of days in the month indicator between 1 and 2 o’clock, moonphase indicator at 12 o’clock. Black leather strap with 18k white gold Daniel Roth double folding clasp. Piece unique.

Lot 32

Konstantin Chaykin

Genius Temporis Prototype

Estimate: $21,500 to $26,850

In the development of the Genius Temporis project, Konstantin Chaykin attempted to combine the Renaissance-style aesthetics of early portable personal clocks and watches of the 16th century with the sophisticated, quirky, modern mechanics of the switching time indication system he invented in 2012 (described in his patent RU2511700). He started working on the wristwatch prototype in late 2013, intending to show the watch at the Basel fair. The watch is powered by the hand-wound in-house K.01-5 caliber developed by Konstantin Chaykin for this model.

Collectors can register pre-bids and participate in the auction live via the website or by phone via +41 44 298 11 44.

 

Source: Ineichen Auctioneers

 

 

 

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The Watches

The Patek Philippe Launches Annual Calendar Travel Time, Adds a High-Speed Chronograph

Leading with a newly designed Travel Time watch that now includes an annual calendar, Patek Philippe at Watches and Wonders 2022 debuted twelve new watches, including three models designed with a feminine focus.

The new Patek Philippe new Ref. 5326G-001 Annual Calendar Travel Time.

But first, another debut

Perhaps to give the new Annual Calendar Travel Time its own spotlight, Patek Philippe waited until just after the Geneva show to launch a splashier technical innovation: the new 41mm platinum-cased Patek Philippe Ref. 5470P-001, a 1/10-of-a-second monopusher chronograph.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5470P-001, a 1/10-of-a-second monopusher chronograph.

To engineer its first high-frequency chronograph Patek Philippe started with its existing CH 29- 535 PS caliber from 2009. Watchmakers amped the frequency from 4 Hz to 5 Hz (36,000 vibrations per hour, or ten steps per second) and then equipped the movement with an additional 1/10th of a second chronograph mechanism.

As Patek Philippe explains, the designers provided the caliber CH 29-535 PS 1/10 with two independent and synchronized chronograph mechanisms, each of them driving a different central hand. The hand that performs a complete revolution per minute shows the stopped seconds in the traditional manner. The other hand (in red lacquered Silinvar) performs one revolution per twelve seconds.

We’ll have more details about the new Cal. 5470P in a future post. For details and a video, see the Patek Philippe website.

 

Travel time

The totally new Ref. 5326G-001 Annual Calendar Travel Time arrives in a new 41mm white gold Calatrava case with a terrific hobnailed case-side treatment meant to recall the hobnail bezels that have long characterized Patek Philippe’s traditional Calatrava collection.

The watch will also draw stares to its light-refracting textured charcoal gray dial that darkens to black toward its minute track. Vintage-styled applied numerals and white gold hour and minute hands are coated with an equally retro beige luminescence.

(This same dial, case, hand and marker layout is also found on another 2022 debut, the less complex Cal. 5226G, a three-hand 40mm white gold Calatrava with date–see below.)

The new Cal. 5226G, a three-hand 40mm white gold Calatrava with date, sports the same dial treatment as the new Annual Calendar Travel Time.

Patek Philippe’s watchmakers designed a new self-winding caliber (new 31-260 PS QA LU FUS 24H) for the new Annual Calendar Travel Time in which the Travel Time mechanism controls the Annual Calendar.

A view of Caliber 31-260 PS QA LU FUS 24H from the case back of the new Annual Calendar Travel Time.

The unusual setup, in which the watch’s date display is synchronized with local time, allows forwards and backwards date correction.

And to better retain the dressy Calatrava style, Patek Philippe resisted the need to install two pushers to control the two hour hands (a solid hand for local time and a skeletonized hand for home time). Instead, the wearer can correct the local time via the crown. Calendar indications can be adjusted via small case-side correctors located near their respective functions: day at 10, month at 2, date at 4 and moon phases at 8 o’clock. 

For this debut, Patek Philippe also updated its legendary Annual Calendar, which the brand essentially invented for the wristwatch in 1996.  And, Patek Philippe’s engineers shortened the Annual Calendar’s changeover time. Thanks to a new cam system, the changing dates and move to local time is five times faster (eighteen minutes) than the same actions in earlier annual calendars.

This change is among many that Patek Philippe has cited in eight patent applications for the new caliber. 

Patek Philippe delivers its Ref. 5326G-001 Annual Calendar Travel Time with two interchangeable straps, one beige calfskin with nubuck texture. The second black calfskin strap has embossed textile finish and beige decorative stitching. Price: $76,882. 

Additional highlights among the twelve 2022 Watches and Wonders debuts for Patek Philippe include:

Patek Philippe Ref. 5320G-011.

Cal. 5320G-011 Perpetual Calendar, an eye-catching new version of the contemporary vintage Patek Philippe perpetual calendar in 40mm white gold with a stunning rose-gilt opaline dial. With its three-tiered lugs, this debut recalls a Patek Philippe model from 1945. Price: $94,624.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5172G-010.

Cal. 5172G-010 Chronograph, a new version of the manually wound Manufacture chronograph in 40mm white gold, also features a rose-gilt opaline dial (above). You might recall this model from 2019 with a blue dial. $80,431. 

Patek Philippe also added a trio of olive green-dialed models and one green lacquered watch during Watches and Wonders 2022.

Patek Philippe Ref. 4910/1200A-011

The trio includes Ref. 4910/1200A-011 Twenty-4 manchette quartz watch in steel with a sunburst dial ($15,377 (above), Ref. 7130R-014 Ladies’ World Time watch in rose gold ($57,957) and a Ref. 5205R annual Calendar with moon phases ($55,592).

Ref. 7130R-014 Ladies’ World Time.
Ref. 5205R annual Calendar with moon phases.

For a new platinum Ref. 5270P-014 Chronograph with a perpetual calendar ($211,271), Patek Philippe applies a green lacquered dial with a black gradation (below).

The new platinum Ref. 5270P-014 Chronograph with a perpetual calendar.

 

We’ll have more reporting about the remaining Patek Philippe 2022 debuts in future posts. These debuts include several artisanal updates to the firm’s Worldtimer plus new gem set options for the platinum-cased Ref. 5374/300P Grand Complication with a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar and the Ref. 7121 Ladies’ Moon Phases watch. 

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