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Audemars Piguet Adds Steel to Code 11:59

Among the varied and impressive 2023 debuts from Audemars Piguet, seen earlier this year, six new references stood apart for their use of more traditional material: steel. For the first time since 2019 when Audemars Piguet debuted its much-discussed Code 11.59 collection, the manufacture is casing six examples of the series in steel.

One of three new chronographs in the debut Code 11:59 collection in steel.

Four of the new models are cased entirely in steel while the other two feature a combination of a black ceramic case middle with a steel bezel, lugs and case back. 

The two steel-cased models with a beige dial also feature a ceramic case center.

Three are chronographs and three are time-only models with date, and all display a new dial technique and pattern that Audemars Piguet has created especially for this collection.

Four of the six models (with blue and green dials) are made entirely from stainless steel while the two beige-dial examples combine steel and black ceramic.

New Dials

As noted, Audemars Piguet developed new dials for these debuts, and they are stunning. The stamped dial exhibits a pattern made up of concentric circles in a rippling pattern that emanates from the dial center.

The chronograph especially creates contrasting textures and hues within the sundials while the beige models exhibit a terrific gradation that becomes completely black towards the outer edge.

Developed by Audemars Piguet in collaboration with Swiss guilloché craftsman Yann von Kaenel, the dial pattern is slated to become a new signature design within Code 11:59. Look for the dial on future gold-cased and complicated watches within the collection.

Also new are the elongated hour-markers, replacing the Arabic numerals we’ve seen on Code 11:59 since its debut. The markers and hands are white gold that has been flattened, faceted, polished and then coated with SuperLuminova.

Audemars Piguet has also thinned the bezel on the new series. In addition, while earlier Code 11.59 models featured markers every five minutes, this new version offers a more detailed seconds scale. The watchmaker has made the crown more rounded and with shallower indentations than on previous models. (The crown on the steel models are steel while the crown on the beige-dialed models are black ceramic.)

Audemars Piguet fits its Caliber 4302 with a seconds and date indication into the time-only models while the Caliber 4401 integrated automatic chronograph movement with a column wheel and flyback function powers the chronograph.Each watch display the movement via a sapphire caseback, exposing a superbly decorated caliber with a brand new 22-karat pink gold openworked oscillating weight.

Audemars Piguet pairs each watch with a matching rubber strap decorated with a textile pattern and lined with calf leather.

Prices: Blue and Green dials: $35,000 (chronograph) and $25,300 (time, date).

Beige dial with black ceramic case center: $37,400 (chronograph) and $27,800 (time, date).

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The Watches

Maurice Lacroix Enhances Pontos Chronograph 

Maurice Lacroix tweaks its Pontos Chronograph 43mm with four new references that expand the collection’s high-value chronograph options with new sun-brushed black or gunmetal grey dial hues.

The latest Maurice Lacroix Pontos Chronograph 43mm offers a choice of black or gun metal dials.

These debuts echo the existing blue-dialed Pontos Chronograph with Arabic numerals and partially open-worked hands.

Look for additional SuperLuminova on the central chronograph hand as well, matching the enhanced luminescence of the hands. Maurice Lacroix has also added a color-coordinated date display disc to the 12-hour chronograph register at 6 o’clock.

Maurice Lacroix’s automatic ETA-based ML112 caliber, visible through the watch’s caseback, is finished with Côtes de Genève and circular graining, while the rotor is embellished with vertical Côtes de Genève and sun brushing.

The new models can be paired with a leather strap or a three-row steel bracelet. 

Finally, to echo its Aikon models, the new Pontos Chronograph 43mm now features the brand’s Easy Strap Exchange System, which allows a quick strap/bracelet swap if desired.

Maurice Lacroix now packages it all its watches with the same material it uses for its eco-friendly Aikon #tide collection. This means the new series is boxed with packaging made of recycled ocean-bound waste bottles. The watchmaker says it takes thirty-four bottles to make each watch box, which means thirty-four fewer bottles polluting the sea.

Prices:  $3,250 (steel bracelet) and $3,200 (leather strap).

 

Specifications: Maurice Lacroix Pontos Chronograph 43mm 

Case: 43mm by 15mm steel, 100 meters water resistant, clear sapphire back.

Movement: Automatic ETA 7750-based ML112 chronograph. 

Functions: Hours and minutes, small second at 9 o’clock, centered second chrono, 30 minutes chrono at 12 o’clock, hours chrono at 6 o’clock, date at 6 o’clock.

Dial: Black sunray; snailed and sandblasted counters and rhodium polished rings or gunmetal sunbrushed lacquered dial. Gold or rhodium-finished hands and markers. 

Bracelet: Three-row stainless steel, black leather strap alligator imitation with gold 4N M-logo. Both with Easy Change system. Butterfly buckle in stainless steel.

Prices:  $3,250 (steel bracelet) and $3,200 (leather strap).

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The Watches

Vacheron Constantin Launches ‘Panda’ Overseas Chronograph

Vacheron Constantin adds a new ‘panda’-styled chronograph to its sporty Overseas collection in a nod to the chronographs of 1960s motorsports.

The new Vacheron Constantin ‘Panda’ Overseas Chronograph.

The new 42.5mm steel chronograph features a silver-toned, sunburst satin-finished dial, snailed black counters, black-velvet-finished flange, 18-karat white gold hour-markers and hands. All hands are finished with a generous dollop of SuperLuminova.

The contrasting light-dark dial styling of the so-called panda dials was aimed at enhancing the visibility of the chronograph function.

Inside the watch Vacheron Constantin fits its superb automatic Caliber 5200 that boasts twin barrels, a column wheel and vertical clutch.

The movement also features a 22-karat gold oscillating weight adorned with a wind rose, visible through the watch’s sapphire caseback.

Like all Overseas models since Vacheron Constantin launched its much-touted 2016 re-design, the new model is also sold with an interchangeable bracelet and two straps to allow the wearer to easily swap styles as desired without the need for tools. Price: $32,400.

Specifications: Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph ‘Panda’

(Ref. 5500V/110A-B686) 

Movement: Caliber 5200 self-winding with 22-karat gold Overseas oscillating weight, approximately 52 hours of power reserve, 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations/hour), Hallmark of Geneva certified timepiece. 

Case: 42.5mm by 13.7mm steel, soft iron casing ring ensuring anti-magnetic protection, screwed-down crown and quarter-turn screw-lock push-pieces, transparent sapphire crystal caseback,
water-resistant to 150 meters.

Dial: Silver-toned, sunburst satin-finished base, translucent varnish, black velvet-finished flange and snailed counters, 18-karat white gold hour-markers and hours, minutes, seconds and counters hands, highlighted with Super-LumiNova.

Bracelet: Steel bracelet, half Maltese cross-shaped polished and satin-brushed links, black calfskin leather with grey stitching, black rubber. Stainless steel bracelet secured by a stainless steel triple-blade folding clasp with push-pieces and comfort-adjustment system, delivered with a stainless steel triple-blade folding clasp with push-pieces and patented interchangeable system compatible with both additional straps. 

Price: $32,400. 

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American Brands

Accutron and Bulova Revive Space Age Designs 

Accutron and Bulova celebrate their shared history with NASA and the U.S. Space Program by launching the Accutron Astronaut and Bulova Lunar Pilot, each inspired by vintage Space Age designs.

The new Accutron Astronaut

NASA worked closely with Accutron to devise timekeepers for watches, instrumental panel clocks and internal mechanisms integral to the numerous missions into space starting in the mid-1950s through the 1970s.

Similarly, Bulova watches were worn by astronauts and pilots in the same era. On August 2, 1971, Apollo 15’s mission commander made lunar history while wearing a Bulova chronograph.

An Accutron and NASA 60-minute timer from the 1960s space program.

Accutron Astronaut

Referencing the 1968 “T” version of its Astronaut model, Accutron now relaunches the model with an update that specifically highlights the watch’s distinctive day/night bezel. The new 41mm steel-cased Accutron Astronaut is the first re-edition in what Accutron says will be “an exciting new series of Accutron Astronaut timepieces.”

The new model offers a vintage-perfect double box sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, but updates the movement with a Sellita SW330 GMT automatic caliber that, in another update, is partially exposed via an exhibition case back.

Accutron fits the watch with a ‘bullet’ steel bracelet. The Accutron Astronaut is a limited edition of 300 pieces. Price: $3,500.

Bulova Lunar Pilot 

With two new Lunar Pilot watches, Bulova expands its popular Archive Series with genuine vintage-sized replicas of the Bulova watch worn on the Moon. You might recall the first (and very successful) watch in the series, the 50th Anniversary Lunar Pilot Limited Edition, a 45mm model which Bulova in 2021 celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission.

The new Bulova Lunar Pilot, with black dial.

For the latest model, the case size remains surprisingly contemporary, measuring a full 43.5mm in diameter. 

Bulova is offering the new watch with either a black dial (like the original) or a with a sporty two-tone blue and white chronograph dial.

The new Bulova Lunar Pilot, with blue and white dial.

Bulova fits both models the brand’s proprietary NP20 High Precision Quartz (HPQ) chronograph movement accurate to 1/20th second.

Both watches are available on steel bracelets and each also arrives with a matching leather strap.

Bulova connects the black-dialed edition with a black leather strap and offers a blue leather strap with the two-tone chronograph. Both straps are attached to the wrist with latched spring bars for interchangeability with the bracelet as desired. Price: $895.

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The Watches

TAG Heuer Revives Monza With Color and Carbon

TAG Heuer earlier this month revived the cushion-cased Monza, one of the watchmaker’s historic auto-inspired designs, with a contemporary tribute that features a lightweight carbon case and an unusually colorful dial.

The new TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer.

The new TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer is a special edition with a 42-mm case and a two-register black dial with a translucent fumé blue sapphire crystal chronograph counter at 3 and the permanent second at 6 o’clock. Even more unusual is the luminescent blue date window, the blue lacquered indexes and the black and white lacquered, luminous hours and minutes hands.

TAG Heuer revived the Monza (which debuted in 1976 as one of the first black-cased watches) in the early 2000s, but offered infrequent updates since that initial reboot.

In addition to its almost startling colors and intense luminosity, the new watch retains the dark case but opens up its dial with a skeletonized layout that exposes an in-house Calibre Heuer 02 Flyback, a chronograph movement with COSC certification.

A new movement for Monza, the caliber is the watchmaker’s much-lauded chronograph movement with COSC certification. Previously TAG Heuer has only utilized the flyback chronograph in its contemporary collections inside the TAG Heuer Autavia.

TAG Heuer also includes the expected tachymeter scale here, but adds a pulsometer, which helps determine heart rate per minute. The rate might quicken as the wearer eyes his or her dial, especially with its luminescent blue and bright red chrono counter hands and date window frame.

TAG Heuer matches the blue hue on the TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer dial with the stitching on the included custom textile strap. 

Price: $13,850.

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