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Watches & Wonders 2023: Grand Seiko Updates Evolution 9 with Automatic Chronograph 

A year after Grand Seiko introduced complicated and sporty models to its  Evolution 9 Collection, the watchmaker adds its first automatic chronograph to the collection.

The new Grand Seiko Tentagraph.

The new model, the Tentagraph, features Grand Seiko’s high-beat (36,000 mph) movement, Caliber 9SA5, which is enriched with two barrels and an ultra-efficient Dual Impulse Escapement. The existing GMT chronograph within Evolution 9 is powered with Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive technology (Caliber 9R96). 

With these technical enhancements, Grand Seiko says the Tentagraph will retain its power reserve in chronograph operating mode for seventy-two hours, which the watchmaker call the “longest power reserve in the industry today.”

Grand Seiko tests its Tentagraph movement for twenty days with a strict precision goal of +5 to -3 seconds per day.

The new 43.2mm by 15.3mm titanium-cased watch retains the eye-catching Evolution 9 textured dial finish, here colored blue. The dial’s large indexes and recessed sub-dials deliver a quick read for the wearer.

Grand Seiko also gently curves the chronograph seconds downward so that the tip of the hand is as close as possible to the dial’s markers, again enhancing legibility.

The chronograph features a running seconds sub-dial at the three o’clock position, a 30-minute chronograph counter at nine, and a 12-hour chronograph counter at six o’clock.

Grand Seiko’s own proprietary Dual Impulse Escapement efficiently transfers energy to the free-sprung balance wheel indirectly through the pallet fork and also directly from the escape wheel, enhancing the movement’s efficiency.

In addition, Grand Seiko builds a vertical clutch and a column wheel into the movement, both of which enhance accuracy and chronograph control.

On the dial Grand Seiko places its signature Mt. Iwate pattern, named for the nearby mountain visible through the windows of the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi.

The Tentagraph’s bezel is made of ceramic.

The Grand Seiko will make the Tentagraph available at the Grand Seiko Boutiques and select retail partners starting in June. Price: $13,700.  

Specifications: Grand Seiko Evolution 9 Collection Tentagraph

(Ref. SLGC001) 

Movement: Caliber 9SC5
Driving system: Automatic
Frequency: 36,000 vibrations per hour (10 beats per second)
Accuracy (mean daily rate): +5 to -3 seconds per day
Power reserve: 72 hours
Chronograph with 30-minute counter at 9 o’clock and 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock

Dial: Blue ‘Mt. Iwate’ pattern finish.  

Case: 43.2mm by 15.3mm high-intensity titanium, box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, ceramic bezel, see-through screw-on case back, screw-down crown, water resistance to 100 meters and magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m. 

Bracelet: Three-fold titanium clasp with push button release.

Price: $13,700.

 

New Masterpiece

At Watches and Wonders 2023 Grand Seiko also debuted a hand-engraved, manual-wind platinum model in its Grand Seiko Masterpiece Collection.

Its dial consists of the now familiar Shinshu white birch pattern, though here Grand Seiko artisans have added a slightly different tone and a more metallic texture.

Inside Grand Seiko fits its Spring Drive Caliber 9R02 (first seen in 2019). The caliber’s superb eighty-four hour power reserve is the result of a dual spring barrel in which both mainsprings are set in parallel within the single barrel. 

Grand Seiko has set an 18-karat gold plaque on the 38.5mm watch’s lower bridge engraved with the words “Micro Artist.” However, the owner can instead customize it. Price: $79,000 (limited edition of fifty).

Finally, Grand Seiko introduces a Spring Drive jewelry watch inspired by the Brand’s emblematic white lion. The watch’s case and dial gleam with 5.62 carats of diamonds and 1.25 carats of blue sapphires, all set by hand.

The sapphire crystal case back reveals a beautifully finished Caliber 9R01 movement’s one-piece bridge, designed in the image of Mt. Fuji. Price: $260,000. 

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Watches and Wonders 2023: Hublot Expands Square Bang Unico 

A year after squaring its Big Bang Unico, Hublot launches three new versions of the Square Bang Unico in sapphire and ceramic cases, again showcasing the watchmaker’s expertise in working with high-tech materials.

The trio, which includes one Square Bang Unico Sapphire model and two Square Bang Unico Ceramic watches (above), join what Hublot calls its Shaped Collection of square and barrel-shaped watches

For these watches, which Hublot debuts during Watches and Wonders 2023, the watchmaker continues to utilize its emblematic sandwich-like case construction and now well-known Big Bang characteristics such as the six functional H- shaped screws, micro-blasted and polished finishes, exposed movements and long-power reserve calibers.

Hublot’s new Square Bang Unico Sapphire.

Hublot will offer one debut, the Square Bang Unico Sapphire, in a limited run of 250. Its 41mm by 12mm square sapphire case remains fully water resistant to fifty meters, despite the challenges inherent in working with sapphire cases.

Inside the sapphire case (and inside both ceramic debuts) Hublot fits its time-tested HUB1280 Unico automatic chronograph with flyback. For this  model, the sapphire case enhances the view of the movement, allowing unobstructed view of its column-wheel and chronograph gearing. The movement offers a superior seventy-two-hour power reserve.

Hublot places the HUB1280 into its two new Square Bang Unico Ceramic models, which are not limited editions. Offered in 41mm by 12mm white ceramic or black ceramic cases, each watch is fitted with a rubber strap with a titanium deployant buckle clasp.

Hublot notes that while a matching black or white rubber strap comes with these models, its One Click interchangeable system makes it possible to customize either watch by swapping straps.

Prices: $27,000 (black ceramic), $26,200 (white ceramic) and $95,000 (clear sapphire).

Square Bang Unico Diamonds

Hublot at Watches and Wonders 2023 also extended its existing Square Bang Unico collection with four Square Bang Unico Diamonds models.

Each artfully sets diamonds into the bezel and/or adjacent upper and lower case (on Pave models) of the existing square series cased in titanium and Hublot’s own King Gold alloy.

Also new in 2023

In addition to the enhancing its Square Bang Unico collection, Hublot at Watches & Wonders 2023 updated its Big Bang Time Only models with Black Magic and diamond-set steel models.

Hublot’s new Classic Fusion Chronograph Orlinsky.

Also look for an expanded Orlinsky collection, which now includes a Classic Fusion Chronograph edition ($14,600 and $18,200 on a titanium bracelet), a Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Full Texalium Carbon ($127,000), and host of new colors within the hot Classic Fusion Akashi Murakami collection (along with matching NFTs).

One of thirteen Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow models. Each is a unique piece.

For Hublot’s the full-on complicated MP series, look for an all-new Big Bang MP-13 Tourbillon Retrograde BiAxial Titanium ($158,000).

The new Hublot Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Full Texalium-Carbon.
The 44mm Big Bang MP-13 is encased entirely in brushed titanium and for the first time brings together two complications—the two-axis tourbillion and the retrograde display.

We’ll feature many of these other 2023 Hublot debuts in future posts as well as within our print editions.    

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Watches and Wonders 2023: TAG Heuer Celebrates Carrera 

At Watches and Wonders 2023 TAG Heuer adds two new Carrera watches that feature a new domed ‘Glassbox’ crystal.

One of two new 39mm Carrera Chronographs fit with a vintage-inspired Glassbox crystal.

One debut, a 39mm Carrera Chronograph, will arrive in two dial options and with an updated movement. The second is a Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon, a sister watch to a collection of previously introduced extra sporty Carrera tourbillon watches.

The new 42mm TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon is set under a Glassbox crystal.

In addition to these debuts, TAG Heuer adds color to two existing 42mm steel Carrera Chronographs. With a black or a blue dial, these new chronographs inject vivid orange detailing meant to recall the look of classic race car speedometers.

TAG Heuer also expands its Aquaracer nautical watch collection with an all-gold Aquaracer Professional 200 sporting a new movement, manufacture Caliber TH31-00, which delivers an 80-hour power reserve.

A second new Aquaracer Professional 200 series adds bi-color gold and steel models to the collection, offering four models in two case sizes: two at 40mm and another pair at 30mm. We’ll have more about TAG Heuer’s new expansion of the Aquaracer collection in an upcoming post. 

Glassbox Carreras

TAG Heuer continues to celebrate Carrera’s sixtieth anniversary with all these debuts. 

The new Glassbox chronographs are inspired in part by the reference 3147 “Dato 12” , the first Carrera with chronograph and calendar functions, and the rare reference 2447 NS.

But TAG Heuer looked to the 1970s for the inspiration for the new domed crystals that top these debuts, remaking in sapphire the hesalite crystals found on Carrera watches from that era.

The new crystal features a curve that flows seamlessly over the tachymeter scale, which runs around the dial edge and into the case. TAG Heuer has also added curves to the flange and indexes. 

The additional curvature pleases the eye and also means the tachymeter can be read from a wider range of angles. The new steel-cased chronographs also sport new pushers.

To kick-off the new collection, TAG Heuer offers one new model with a familiar blue dial on a blue calfskin leather strap. The second model debuts with a sportier black and silver ‘reverse panda’ dial (above) and comes on a black perforated calfskin leather strap.

Both of the new TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox Chronographs are powered by Caliber TH20-00, an updated version of the Heuer 02. Visible through the clear sapphire caseback, the new movement now features enhanced decoration and a bi-directional oscillating weight. Earlier versions only charged the movement’s mainspring when rotating in one direction. Both are priced at $6,450. 

According to TAG Heuer Movements Director Carole Forestier, this new rotor design is a more significant change than you might imagine. When rotating daily, the new rotor is said to deliver faster and more reliable winding to ensure that the watch is more precise and that it is running closer to its maximum 80-hour power reserve.

Also new is the date display position. The date is at 6 o’clock on the blue-dialed model and at 12 o’clock on the ‘reverse panda’ version. Both new positions are said to clarify the wearer’s reading of the chronograph.

Chronograph Tourbillon

With the new Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon (above, $21,000), the watchmaker adds a sister model to the existing Carrera tourbillon, but here the tourbillon is framed (for the first time) with a smaller case (42mm) and a glass box crystal.

Echoing the look of the new Glassbox chronographs, the new tourbillon model is powered by Caliber TH20-09, TAG Heuer’s in-house tourbillon movement. This is a chronometer-certified automatic caliber with a chronograph function and an impressive sixty-five-hour power reserve.

With the Glassbox crystal, TAG Heuer expands the ability of the viewer to view the tourbillon. On the dial, TAG Heuer has curved the flange and indexes to both mirror and complement the edge of the crystal. 

New silver rings make the chronograph sub-dials especially easy to see while the chronograph’s central seconds hand is triangular shaped much like hands seen on 1960s race car dashboard instruments.

 

New 42mm Carrera Chronographs

One of two new 42mm Carrera Chronographs, each with new colorful dial accents.

In addition to its Glassbox debuts, TAG Heuer also adds new color options to existing 42mm Carrera Chronographs.

With a black or a blue dial, these new chronographs offer orange details. Both are powered by TAG Heuer’s Heuer 02, an in-house automatic chronograph movement, and both arrive on high-end calfskin straps. Price: $5,550.

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Watches and Wonders 2023: Zenith Re-boots Pilot Watches 

Zenith in 2023 highlights its aviation watches with two new models, the Pilot Automatic and the Pilot Big Date Flyback. 

Both new watches, which Zenith debuts today at the 2023 Watches & Wonders, will be available in newly designed steel or black ceramic cases.

The new Zenith Pilot Big Date Flyback, here in a black ceramic case.

The Pilot Automatic will be offered as a 40mm three-hand time and date watch while the Pilot Big Date Flyback offers a 42.5mm chronograph with both a large date display and a flyback function.

The new Zenith Pilot Automatic, in a 40mm steel case.

The flyback function allows the wearer to quickly reset the chronograph to zero and then restart it by a single push of a button. Historically, this allowed pilots to record consecutive times without stopping.

Both designs update Zenith’s long-standing pilot collection. Those familiar with the watchmaker may recall that Zenith in 1888 actually filed a trademark for the French term “Pilote” and filed for the English “Pilot” in 1904. Zenith today remains the only brand to hold the rights to mark its dials with ‘Pilot.’

In the early 20th century the watchmaker specialized in watches and dashboard instruments for pilots, notably supplying Louis Blériot, who made history by making the first flight across the English Channel in 1909. 

 

Pilot Automatic

In addition to the new case design, Zenith gives this model a distinctive flat-top round bezel.  Zenith satin-brushes the steel case version and micro-blasts the black ceramic model to give it a contemporary matte finish. On the watch’s black opaline dial Zenith fits oversized Arabic numerals in traditional early 20th-century pilot style. The dial’s horizontal grooves are meant to mimic the look of corrugated metal on the fuselage of older aircrafts.

At 6 o’clock above the date window, Zenith adds a new flat luminescent hour marker to replace an Arabic 6. This white line recalls the artificial horizon instrument found in cockpits. A similar line is found just below the date on the Pilot Big Date Flyback.

Seen through the sapphire display back is Zenith’s El Primero 3620 high-frequency manufacture movement, which delivers a power reserve of sixty hours when fully wound. Zenith will supply straps to match both models: The black ceramic version is delivered on a black cordura-effect rubber strap as well as a khaki rubber strap.

Zenith supplies the steel model on the same black rubber strap, but adds a second strap made of vintage-like brown calfskin leather. Of course, these straps can be easily swapped with the quick-release mechanism integrated directly into the back of the straps.

Pilot Big Date Flyback

Powered by the new El Primero 3652 automatic high-frequency chronograph (a new version of the Zenith El Primero 3600), the new watch displays its namesake functions with panache.

The steel model is especially notable for its vintage ‘Rainbow Flyback’  references with its chronograph’s minutes totalizer finished in alternating colors, which will make it easier to distinguish between the five-minute marks.

In addition, the steel model’s central chronograph seconds and its chronograph minutes hands are bright orange. This is another nod to the Zenith El Primero Rainbow from 1997. 

The model’s black ceramic version offers a more utilitarian look with luminescent white markers and hands that contrast nicely against a black corrugated dial. On both models, the date display features a new, patented mechanism that advances and stabilizes both of the big date’s wheels in less than 0.03 seconds.

Zenith will deliver the new Pilot Big Date Flyback in ceramic with a black and khaki rubber strap. For the steel version Zenith includes the black rubber strap and a brown leather strap.

Prices: 

Pilot Automatic – Black Microblasted Ceramic: $9,600 

Pilot Big Date Flyback – Black Microblasted Ceramic: $13,500

Pilot Automatic – Steel: $7,500 

Pilot Big Date Flyback – Steel: $11,500

More Dark 2023 Debuts

Also for Watches and Wonders 2023 Zenith debuts an all-black micro blasted titanium Defy Revival Shadow, with a matte black dial ($7,400).

Zenith’s new Defy Revival Shadow.

Additional all-black debuts include the Defy Skyline Ceramic ($15,000), which features a black galvanic dial with a sun-ray finish, and a new Defy Skyline Skeleton Ceramic ($17,000), with an open dial that highlights a blackened large central four-pointed star.

The new Zenith Defy Skyline Black Ceramic.

The watch’s skeleton movement features black bridges and main plate.

The new Zenith Defy Skyline Skeleton Black Ceramic.

 

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The Watches

Doxa Launches Slimmer SUB 200 C-Graph Series

Doxa thins and slims its SUB 200 C-Graph dive watch series, adding a selection of models with a 42mm diameter (down from the 45mm of the existing series from 2020) and a reduced thickness of 15.85mm. The new series, called SUB 200 C-Graph II, also boasts a new sunburst dial finish, all offered in the collections’s familiar six-colors.

One of six new DOXA SUB C-Graph II models, each available with a rubber strap or ‘beads of rice’ steel bracelet.

Despite its new size, the Doxa vintage-themed series retains its Tri-Compax dial layout, its unidirectional rotating steel bezel and its minute indication highlighted in white SuperLuminova. The White Pearl model (below) features a ceramic bezel.

A close look at the dials of the bright new SUB 200 C-Graph II watches reveals the details of the light-refracting sunburst finish.

Thin brushed lines, created by artisans using metal filament brushes, radiate outward from the center of the dial (like sun rays). The effect serves to illuminates each of the collection’s six dial colors.

Devised for long dive times, the SUB 200 C-Graph II allows up to twelve hours of time to be measured using the stopwatch function.

A sweep center-seconds hand begins its revolutions, when the chronograph is activated, and works in concert with minutes and hours registers.

Doxa fits each watch with an ETA-based automatic three-hand movement offering a power reserve of 56 hours and protected with 200 meters of water resistance. Prices start at $2,850 (see details below).

Specifications: Doxa SUB 200 C-Graph II

Case: 42mm by 46mm by 15.85mm stainless steel, screw-down crown,
sapphire crystal, unidirectional rotating bezel, solid steel back, screw-in.
Water resistance: 200 meters. 

Dial: Sunray-finished, available in the six colors of the collection, hour, minute and counter hands coated with Super-LumiNova. Bezel marker at 12 o’clock coated with white Super-LumiNova, Caribbean & SharkHunter models: Super-LumiNova on all markers, except the timer White Pearl ceramic model: no Super-LumiNova on the bezel.  

Movement: Swiss automatic, 3 hands, chronograph power reserve of approx. 56 hours, frequency: 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz). DOXA decorations. 

Strap/Bracelet: Stainless steel “beads of rice” bracelet, attached by screws for a secure fit, folding clasp with wetsuit extension, embossed “DOXA fish” symbol
or FKM rubber strap, tone-on-tone color-matched with the dial. Buckle featuring the exclusive “DOXA Fish” symbol.  

Prices: Models with stainless steel bezel insert: 

Stainless steel bracelet: $2,890. Rubber strap: $2,850. 

Model with ceramic bezel insert: 

Stainless steel bracelet: $2,990. Rubber strap: $2,950. 

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