Casio celebrates G-Shock’s 40th anniversary with two full-carbon-cased versions of its first-ever G-Shock watch, the DW5000.
The new models, GCWB5000UN-1 and GCWB5000UN-6, each place the watch’s already high-tech solar-powered timekeeping (paired with Bluetooth and radio controlled accuracy) into a choice of two new lightweight, three-layer carbon cases, each with the G-Shock 40th anniversary logo engraved on the back and the year of G-Shock’s birth noted on the dial .
These are premium models within the extensive 5000 series, which has presented the rectangular G-Shock dial and case for four decades to ardent collectors.
Available now for the first time in Carbon cases, each of the anniversary editions is built from three types of carbon materials – forged carbon, carbon fiber reinforced resin, and multi-layered carbon. Carbon layers also appear within the dial and the extra thick bracelet.
One model, the GCWB5000UN-1, boasts a monochromatic midnight black hue while the other, GCWB5000UN-6, features a spacey, textured purple design.
Not only are these debuts newly cased in carbon, each case is also somewhat thinner than earlier offerings within its Full Metal sister line. The thinner case and the carbon, case, bracelet and clasp means these new model weight in at 64 grams while the full metal series tips the scales at 167 grams.
Of course both watches feature all the technical features you’d expect from the newest 5000 series models, including the aforementioned solar-powered timekeeping with Bluetooth and radio control, as well as a Super Illuminator (high-brightness full auto LED backlight), shock resistance, 200 meters of water resistance, strong magnetic resistance, four daily alarms, a snooze alarm, world time, countdown timer (24 Hr.), a stopwatch and 12/24-hour time formats.
Look for each model to arrive in 40th-anniversary special packaging.
The G-SHOCK GCWB5000UN-1 and GCWB5000UN-6 are each priced at $2,000 and are available at select retailers, gshock.casio.com/us, and the G-SHOCK Soho store. For more information about the G-SHOCK brand, visit gshock.casio.com/us.
The Father of G-SHOCK, Kikuo Ibe, speaks during the G-Shock 40th Anniversary celebration in NYC on Nov. 9.
Oris introduces a version of its ProPilot X Calibre 400 with an unusual, colorful laser-cut dial produced using a technique new to watchmaking.
The new Oris ProPilot X Calibre 400 Laser.
The titanium dial, created with the assistance of ETH Zürich university, shimmers with color changes, appearing to change from blue to green to violet to echo the colors seen on iridescent beetles.
Based on the principles of biomimicry, the phenomenon is a natural one called ‘optical interference.’ This means that red light waves are destroyed, while blue and green waves are reflected.
There is no color pigment on the dial.
While the eye sees colors, there is not one drop of color pigment on watch’s dial. The surface instead splits the light into its components to create the visible rainbow effect.
The entire dial is laser cut. Oris and engineering students at ETH Zurich created the logo, indexes, minutes track and dial text using another laser process that creates a three-dimensional effect.
In addition to the spectacular dial, the watch retains the familiar components and specifications found on the ProPilot X Calibre 400, which Oris debuted in 2022. These include a 39mm titanium case, titanium bezel and crown and a three-link titanium bracelet.
Oris fits its superb Calibre 400 inside the watch, offering chronometric accuracy, high levels of anti-magnetism and a ten-year warranty with ten-year recommended service intervals.
For the first time, Nomos dresses its automatic Tangente in rose gold, launching the Tangente Rose Gold Neomatik as a limited-edition model in honor of the 175th anniversary of watchmaking in Glashütte.
The new Nomos Tangente Rose Gold Neomatik 175 Years of Watchmaking.
As the latest addition in the Nomos 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte series, the new watch is a luxurious ode to both the German city’s long watchmaking history and to the Tangente itself, which has been a bestseller (in its usual 35mm steel case) for the watchmaker for thirty years.
The Tangente Rose Gold Neomatik has a white silver-plated dial with an outer ring, sub-seconds dial, and minute markers in gold.
Limited to 175 pieces worldwide, the new watch adds a sub-seconds dial and minute markers in rose gold to the original’s galvanically white silver-plated dial.
At 6.9mm high, the Tangente rose gold neomatik from Nomos Glashütte is just a bit taller than Tangente with manual winding.
And while the first Tangente series reveled in its manual-wind minimalism, the new model is poweredby the Nomos DUW 3001, a thin automatic movement adjusted to chronometer standards.
The in-house neomatik movement DUW 3001 with the Nomos Swing System is thin and regulated to chronometer standards for the special edition.
Nomos attaches the celebratory model to an equally luxurious precious strap and clasp. The Berlin-designed clasp, crafted from 18-karat gold and hand-polished, holds a strap from Horween made of thick shell Cordovan.
Greubel Forsey redesigns its tourbillon to create the new titanium-cased Tourbillon Cardan, the watchmaker’s 8th Fundamental Invention and the latest in the series of patented, technically advanced timepieces. And while the oscillator here echoes the airy appearance of a traditional flying tourbillon, Greubel Forsey’s version is anything but classical.
The new Greubel Forsey Tourbillon Cardan.
Rather than the usual sixty-second rotation, the tourbillon here rotates once every sixteen seconds. In addition, the balance wheel is larger than usual (12.6mm), which tends to optimize its oscillations.
Greubel Forsey explains that not only do these two factors enhance chronometric precision, the tourbillon’s high inertia also makes it less sensitive to shocks and variations in speed.
Greubel Forsey combines this larger, faster tourbillon with a revolving 30 degree angle and two constantly tilting rings that guide the tourbillon, tilting backward and forward in forty-eight seconds. Though this movement may recall the use of gimbals in some marine chronometers, the new design is just a bit more complicated.
Greubel Forsey explains that in this new watch, the tilt of the rings is controlled with a range of +30° to -30°, which, when combined with the inclined tourbillon, offers a “better ratio of angular velocity to chronometric performance.”
With four stacked barrels, the Tourbillon Cardan offers an impressive eighty hours of highly chronometric power reserve.
Greubel Forsey showcases its new tourbillon within a 45.5mm titanium case with a domed sapphire crystal, which allows for a full view of the large balance wheel and swaying dual rings.
And of course Greubel Forsey hand-finishes each component of the Tourbillon Cardan.Many of the finishing procedures here are unique to the watch, including the frosted titanium finish on the tourbillon cage and the large polished flank finishes above the titanium mainplate. (See the Greubel Forsey website for a full list of specifications.)
Greubel Forsey plans to build about eleven Tourbillon Cardan watches annually, with a total output of fifty-five watches during the next five years.
Louis Vuitton upgrades Tambour with a new in-house movement, a sleeker case and an integrated bracelet.
In the twenty-plus years since Louis Vuitton debuted its first Tambour watches, the global fashion house has achieved a goal that still eludes many much older watchmakers: to create a case shape and watch than can be easily recognized while on a wrist across the room.
Louis Vuitton has carefully tailored Tambour’s drum-shaped case while also applying technical and aesthetic updates. The collection’s success has eased the French couture house’s entry into high-end watchmaking, steering Louis Vuitton into position as a peer among the world’s leading makers of high-end watches.
The new Louis Vuitton Tambour, here in its debut steel case and bracelet.
This year, Louis Vuitton updates Tambour with new finishes and a decidedly slimmer, sculpted case. The new collection is more luxurious overall and notably highlights an all-new in-house movement and a sleek integrated steel bracelet.
Two new models
Two new steel watches launch the collection’s upgrade. One is a chic monochrome model with a silver grey dial and the second one sports a deep blue dial. Both are built to highlight the new unisex 40mm by 8.3mm case, its new caliber LFT023 and the new bracelet. A rose gold model and a two-tone gold and steel edition are also now available.
The 22 karat gold microrotor helps provide fifty hours of power reserve.
The movement here is Louis Vuitton’s first proprietary automatic three-hand movement. It has been designed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in conjunction with movement specialists Le Cercle des Horlogers.
With its 22-karat gold micro-rotor, stylized Louis Vuitton decor, micro-sandblasted bridges, polished edges and chamfers, the new caliber announces a new era of three-hand movements for Tambour, which has previously utilized modified ETA-based and Zenith-El Primero-based calibers, as well as quartz movements for certain models.
Boasting a strong fifty-hour power reserve, the new movement is chronometer certified, withtimekeeping accuracy of between -4s and +6s per day. The certification, from the Geneva Chronometric Observatory under the auspices of the TIMELAB Foundation, ensures that the movement complies with ISO 3159 a serious level of accuracy that befits this new higher-end Tambour series.
“With this launch, we seek to open a new chapter in the history of the Maison’s watchmaking by creating a watch with strong horological credentials while identifiably Louis Vuitton in style”, adds Arnault.
The watches
Louis Vuitton has retained Tambour’s curves for these new designs, but has softened them with fluid edges and a curved back that gently hugs the wrist. The sloped, sandblast-finish bezel here is thinner than on existing Tambour models, but still retains the twelve Louis Vuitton namesake letters at each hour mark.
Louis Vuitton has taken great care to bring comfort to its premiere integrated steel bracelet. The bracelet, particularly novel for Tambour, offers no hint of even the small lugs we’ve seen previously within Tambour. Its clean integration into the case echoes the almost sporty look you’ve likely already seen in other well-known, high-end integrated steel watches.
A closer look at the bracelet reveals links that are convex on both sides to create a rounded profile, which guarantees smooth contact with the wrist. The folks at Louis Vuitton, a company built on fine leather products, remind us that this new bracelet, while all steel, offers “slim, curved links providing a close and comfortable fit on the wrist to rival the softest leather strap.”
Louis Vuitton has brush-finished the new Tambour case and bracelet—with a few exceptions. These include the polished bracelet chamfers and central links and the polished, drum-shaped crown.
The dial
Tambour’s new, three-dimensional dial features micro-sandblasted surfaces, gold indexes and a clean layout despite the seconds sub-dial. The markers are nicely separated as are the minute ring and the hour ring, all of which enhances the sense of balance on the dial.
Louis Vuitton revels in the details here. The watchmaker has paired recessed five-minute markers with raised, applied hour markers. The company explains that this difference in the height level of the markers allows for quick reading, since the light interacts variably between them. All numerals and hands are filled with Super-LumiNova.
Price: $18,500. The collection also includes a rose gold edition, price at $52,000, and a two-tone model price at $26,500.
Specifications:
Louis Vuitton Tambour, silver dial (W1ST10)
Case: 40mm by 8.3mm stainless steel, sapphire crystal and back.Water-resistant to 50 meters.
Dial: Grey/silver with small seconds counter at 6 o’clock; white gold hands, numerals and indexes, with SuperLumiNova coating on the hands and numerals.
Movement: Automatic caliber LFT023, visible through the sapphire caseback, 22-karat rose gold micro-rotor, 50 hours of power reserve, 28,800 vph, certified chronometer by the Geneva Chronometric Observatory.
Bracelet: Stainless steel with invisible 3-blade folding buckle.
Price: $18,500.
Louis Vuitton Tambour, blue dial (W1ST20)
Case: 40mm by 8.3mm stainless steel, sapphire crystal and back.Water-resistant to 50 meters.
Dial: Blue with small seconds counter at 6 o’clock; white gold hands, numerals and indexes, with SuperLumiNova coating on the hands and numerals.
Movement: Automatic caliber LFT023, visible through the sapphire caseback, 22-karat rose gold micro-rotor, 50 hours of power reserve, 28,800 vph, certified chronometer by the Geneva Chronometric Observatory.
Bracelet: Stainless steel with invisible 3-blade folding buckle.
