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.
Porsche Design launches a new flyback chronograph for buyers of the new Porsche 911 Dakar, a specially designed 911 named after the famed Dakar auto rally.
The new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar.
For these owners, Porsche design offers its new Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar and a variation, the Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar Rallye Design Edition (with an additional dial graphic). Both watches are cased in a new titanium alloy called titanium carbide.
The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar Rallye Design Edition, with added Dakar graphic.
The new material represents a continuation of Porsche Design’s long history as an innovator of titanium watch cases, which were introduced into watchmaking forty years ago by Porsche Design in tandem with IWC.
The newest titanium alloy is highly scratch resistant, according to the watchmaker, which says that the “smallest scratches caused by fine sand, for example, are now a thing of the past.” In addition, titanium carbide is not subject to any visible aging process, is hypoallergenic, and is lighter than traditional case-grade titanium.
Porsche Design is understandably quite proud of its new metal and even calls it out in red at the top of the new watch’s dial with a new abbreviation “TiC” (titanium carbide).
While Porsche Design still makes the crown and pushers on the Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar with standard titanium, the entire 42.7mm case for the watch is made using the new material, which the company spent years developing.
Porsche Design explains that the material is created by first compressing titanium carbide granules under several tons of pressure, and then sintering them at over 2,000 degrees Celsius. “This condenses the granules and irreversibly turns them into a homogeneous compound.”
The watchmaker explains that the case blank is then milled and honed into shape.
The dial
Porsche Design ensures a quick reading the dial of the new chronographs with a highly visible red 60 in the minute scale. This perfectly matches with the red color of the chronograph stop hands as well as the word ‘flyback.’ In addition, the watchmaker’s designers have widened the markings of the small hour display for whole hours as compared to the half-hour markings.
The Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar Rallye Design differs from the Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar only with the colorful graphic within the running seconds aperture at 9 o’clock. Its white, blue, gold, and red lines represent the colors on the modified Porsche 953 that won the Rallye in 1984.
Porsche Design designed the watch’s rotor to match the Porsche 911 Dakar rims, and makes them available for the watch in either black satin or solid white. For the Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar, the winding rotor is also available in Vesuvius gray.
Porsche Design fits its COSC-certified Porsche Design WERK 01.240 movement into the watch. This excellent in-house caliber features a flyback function that combines starting, stopping, and resetting in a single operation. The movement is visible through a titanium caseback and clear sapphire crystal. Each watch will bear an engraved limitation number on the caseback to match the number on the owner’s automobile.
As on all Porsche Design watches, th new chronograph allows straps to be changed without the use of tools. Porsche Design makes the watch’s handsome strap of black leather with contrast stitching in Shadegreen, the same hue found on the seat middle of the Porsche 911 Dakar. For the Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar Rallye Design Edition the stitching ismade of Race-Tex in Shark Blue.
The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar and Chronograph 1 – 911 Dakar Rallye Design Edition can be ordered only by buyers of the new Porsche 911 Dakar and 911 Dakar Rallye Design automobiles at authorized local Porsche dealers.The watches in both liveries are limited to a total of 2,500 pieces, each priced at $14,500.
Movement: Caliber Porsche Design Caliber WERK 01.240, chronograph with flyback function, day and date display in German and English, COSC certified Rotor 360° rotor in wheel design in White, Black or Vesuvius Grey with Porsche Crest. Decorative features include matte black color with chrome-plated bridges, plates and polished screws, engraved Porsche Design icon. Power reserve is 48 hours and its frequency is 28,800 semi-oscillations per hour [4Hz].
Case: 42.7mm by 15.5mm titanium carbide with glass bead blasted finish.Crown and pushers in titanium, Sapphire crystal with hard coating, scratch-resistant and with sevenfold anti-glare properties on both sides. Caseback in black titanium with sapphire crystal. Water resistant to 100 meters.
Dial: Black/white minute and hour hands with SuperLumiNova, seconds hand in white; chronograph hand in neon orange; day and date display in German and English at 3 o’clock; red TiC graphic between 1 and 2 o’clock; chronograph second; 30-minute display at 12 o’clock, 12-hour display at 6 o’clock; small seconds at 9 o’clock.
Strap: Perforated leather strap made of genuine Porsche vehicle leather in black with backing in Race-Tex in Shade Green and decorative stitching in genuine Porsche vehicle thread in Shade Green or Shark Blue. Black titanium folding clasp with pushers.
Oris adds to its Caliber 400 series of long power reserve movements with Caliber 473, a new manual-wind movement with a 120-hour (five-day) power reserve that the independent watchmaker will debut in a new watch, the Big Crown Calibre 473.
The new Oris Big Crown Calibre 473
While Oris has previously fit its Big Crown Pointer Date fit with the automatic Caliber 403, also a five-day-power reserve caliber, the new watch will premiere the latest manual-wind iteration of the Caliber 400 series, which debuted in 2020 as the first Oris in-house automatic movement in forty years. The new caliber is the watchmaker’s tenth in-house caliber in ten years.
Derived from the firm’s well-known Big Crown Pointer Date, the new watch is a 38mm steel model with a blue dial displaying the familiar Big Crown’s familiar central two-hand time display with a central date hand and small seconds at 6 o’clock.
Like the full series of Oris Caliber 400 movements, Caliber 473 is also constructed to demonstrate high levels of anti-magnetism.
New Oris Caliber 473, a manual-winder with five-day power reserve.
And like earlier models fit with Caliber 400 series movements, the new watch also comes with a ten-year warranty and ten-year recommended service intervals. Oris notes that new caliber took four years to develop and is the subject of a pending patent.
The watchmaker has placed the 120-hour power reserve indicator on the back of Caliber 473 to inform the wearer when its time to rewind. As a bonus, Oris is premiering its new stainless steel butterfly clasp with fine adjustment system on the Big Crown Calibre 473.
Price: $4,400.
Specifications: Oris Big Crown Calibre 473
Movement: Manual-wind Oris Caliber 473, 120- hour power reserve indicator on reverse, fine timing device and stop-second, accuracy -3/+5 seconds a day (within COSC tolerances), power reserve of 120 hours, highly anti-magnetic.
Case:Multi-piece 38mm stainless steel, domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating inside, stainless steel screw-in security crown. Caseback is stainless steel, screwed with see-through sapphire glass. 50 meters of water resistance.
Dial: Blue with luminous indices, numbers and hands printed with Super-LumiNova.
Strap: Olive brown, crafted from sustainably sourced deer leather produced by Oris’s Swiss partner Cervo Volante. New Oris-developed stainless steel butterfly clasp with fine adjustment system.
With the new Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon, Zenith extends the reach of one of its most technically complex movements, El Primero Caliber 9020, by placing it into two ongoing Defy Extreme designs.
The new Zenith Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon, here in a carbon case with rose gold.
The 1/100th-of-a-second high-frequency chronograph movement, with a seconds hand that races around the dial once per second, is already among the watchmaker’s defining technical achievements.
The new Zenith Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon, here in titanium, is now an ongoing Defy Extreme model.
Found previously powering special limited editions, the caliber utilizes two independent tourbillons, each regulating a different function. One tourbillon completes its rotation in sixty seconds to regulate the time display while the second tourbillon rotates in just five seconds to regulate a high-frequency chronograph.
The new watch is now most complicated model in the Zenith Defy collection. And true to Defy’s sporty character, the new model is set in a hefty 45mm case and will be offered with two different executions.
One version features a titanium case with a mix of satin-brushed, polished and matte surfaces (including the titanium bracelet). The second model, offered on a black rubber strap, is cased in carbon fiber with sandblasted matte rose gold twelve-sided bezel and pusher protectors. Both offer open-work dials to better display the dual tourbillons and their star-shaped cages.
Zenith’s El Primero Caliber 9020, front view.
Zenith has finished the watch’s El Primero 9020 movement to emphasize its decidedly contemporary nature.
El Primero Caliber 9020, rear view.
Artisans have satin-brushed its bridges and coated them with a layer of black PVD. The finishing touch is a rose gold highlight meant to expose the various geometric shapes throughout the caliber.
Zenith is offering the new Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon as an ongoing model, in both versions, at retailers, Zenith boutiques and online Zenith boutiques.
Prices: $79,700 (carbon case, rose gold) and $69,600 (brushed titanium).
(Reference: 12.9100.9020/78.I200, black carbon and rose gold)
Movement: El Primero 9020, COSC-certified chronometer with 50 hours power reserve for the watch / 50 min for the chronograph.
Functions: Hours and minutes in the centre. Double Tourbillon. 1 escapement for the Watch (36,000 VpH / 5 Hz – cage makes a turn in 60 second). 1 escapement for the Chronograph (360,000 VpH / 50 Hz – cage makes a turn in 5 second). 1/100th of a second Chronograph:
– Central chronograph hand that makes one turn each second
– 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock
– 60-second counter at 6 o’clock
– Chronograph power-reserve indication at 12 o’clock
Special oscillating weight with satined finishings
Case: 45mm black carbon & 18-karat rose gold, water-resistance to 200 meters.
Dial:Openworked, with gold-plated, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova SLN C1 markers and hands.
Strap & Buckle: Black Rubber with micro-blasted titanium triple folding clasp.
Movement: El Primero 9020, COSC-certified chronometer with 50 hours power reserve for the watch / 50 min for the chronograph.
Functions: Hours and minutes in the centre. Double Tourbillon. 1 escapement for the Watch (36,000 VpH / 5 Hz – cage makes a turn in 60 second). 1 escapement for the Chronograph (360,000 VpH / 50 Hz – cage makes a turn in 5 second). 1/100th of a second Chronograph:
– Central chronograph hand that makes one turn each second
– 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock
– 60-second counter at 6 o’clock
– Chronograph power-reserve indication at 12 o’clock
Special oscillating weight with satined finishings
Case: 45mm brushed titanium, water-resistance to 200 meters.
Dial:Openworked, with gold-plated, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova SLN C1 markers and hands.
Bracelet & Buckle: Titanium bracelet with titanium folding clasp.
Oris teams with Canadian aerial firefighters Coulson Aviation to create the Coulson Limited Edition, a Big Crown ProPilot watch with an unusual 3D-printed carbon fiber case and a fiery gradient orange dial.
The Oris Coulson Limited Edition, a Big Crown ProPilot watch with an unusual 3D-printed carbon fiber case.
Oris created the 41mm case with the assistance of Switzerland’s ETH Zurich university (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). Researchers there utilized a high-grade polymer PEKK developed for the aerospace industry. Technicians weave the material with carbon fiber to create a rigid, ultra-lightweight material.
According the Oris, the process is so precise that you can create a pattern on the case. Most carbon fiber watch cases develop random patterns.
Oris then finishes the watch with a grey-PVD-plated titanium fixed bezel, screw-down crown and case back and a black textile strap. The watch and the movement together weigh a wispy 65 grams.
The fiery dial is meant to recall the work of Coulson’s firefighting pilots, who rush toward blazes while others turn away. Inside Oris fit its excellent and equally innovative COSC-rated Caliber 400, an anti-magnetic movement with a five-day power reserve.
In conduction with the release of the Coulson Limited Edition, Oris is promoting a documentary called “Birds of the Fireline.” Oris produced the fourteen-minute short-form documentary in-house.
Coulson Aviation in action.
Coulson Aviation is a Canadian-based family-run independent company that sends pilots, planes and equipment to areas of the world affected by wildfires.
