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Oris Debuts Steel Aquis to Help Save Coral Reefs

Oris has once again partnered with the Florida-based Coral Restoration Foundation to create the new Aquis Carysfort Reef Limited Edition, a steel version of the fifty-piece gold limited edition introduced earlier this year. The new model will offered as a limited edition of 2,000 timepieces. Sales will support the Foundation.

The new Oris Aquis Carysfort Reef Limited Edition, with steel bracelet.

The Carysfort Reef collection is named for the eponymous coral reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It is part of the Florida Reef Tract, the third largest barrier reef in the world and the only barrier reef in the United States. Sadly, a changing climate has caused it to degrade over the past several decades and the coral populations to concurrently dwindle. This, in turn, affects the health of our oceans, which produce seventy percent of the world’s oxygen.

The watch

The new watch features a 43.5mm steel case with a bi-directional ceramic bezel and GMT scale. The watch’s blue gradient dial forms the backdrop for SuperLuminova-treated hands and indexes and a date window at three o’clock, while the solid screwed caseback features special engravings alluding to the brand’s support of Carysfort Reef. Oris has worked with the Coral Restoration Foundation since 2014.

As you might expect, Oris has made the watch fully prepared for use outdoor and even underwater. The watch is water resistant to 300 meters, thanks in part of its screw-in stainless steel security crown.

The automatic movement (the Sellita-based Oris 798) includes multiple functions: hours, minutes, seconds and 24 hour indication via central hands, as well as an instantaneous date and 24-hour corrector, fine timing device and stop seconds. Its power reserve is 42 hours.

The back of the watch shows its solid screwed caseback with engravings noting Oris’s support for the Carysfort Reef.

In its new steel case, the Oris Aquis Carysfort Reef Limited Edition can be strapped to the wrist with a solid Oris stainless steel bracelet or an orange rubber strap, both of which are complemented by a stainless steel security folding clasp with an extension. The presentation box is both attractive and satisfying: it is constructed using sustainable algae.  Prices: $3,000 (metal bracelet) and $2,800 (orange rubber strap).

 

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The Watches

Tudor Adds a Blue Black Bay Fifty-Eight

Tudor expands its flagship Black Bay Fifty-Eight this week with a new model sporting a navy blue dial and matte blue bezel.

The new Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue, also available with two different fabric straps.

The retro-styled 39mm Black Bay Fifty-Eight, which quickly became a Tudor best seller after it debuted in 2018, traces its lineage back to Tudor dive models from the early 1950s, with most of its features linked to the Tudor reference 7924 from 1958, known as the Big Crown edition.

Gone are the gilded touches to the markers, bezel and the hands we saw on the Black Bay Fifty-Eight from two years ago. Here Tudor replaces those accents with sportier steel on the dial and silver-colored markers and numerals on the bezel, perfectly matching the case and bracelet.  

Modern movement

As with the 2018 black-dialed edition, the new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue inhabits its retro style while steeped in modern technology, most notably underneath its dial. There you’ll find an in-house Tudor Caliber MT5402, an automatic caliber with a non-magnetic silicon balance spring and an impressive seventy-hour power reserve.

Tudor’s own automatic manufacture Caliber MT5402 with bidirectional rotor system,  Swiss chronometer certified by COSC.

Tudor notes that its caliber, tailor-made by Tudor for the 2018 Black Bay Fifty-Eight, performs with greater precision than its official COSC chronometer certification requires. Where COSC allows for an average variation in the daily running rate of a watch movement of between -4 and +6 seconds in relation to absolute time, Tudor says it applies a tolerance of between -2 and +4 seconds’ variation in its daily rate on the assembled watch.

While the front and even the sides of the new watch recall their origins in the 1950s and 1960s (notably regarding the Snowflake hands, seen first in 1969), the closed caseback gives away the game with engraved references to the manufacture caliber within.

Unscrewing the back, a watchmaker (or intrepid owner) would see a distinctly modern finish on the MT5402 caliber, notably a one-piece tungsten rotor that Tudor has open-worked, satin-brushed and sand-blasted. Tudor also alternates sand-blasted surfaces, polished surfaces and laser decorations on the movement’s bridges and mainplate.

Straps & bracelet

Those familiar with Tudor will know that its modern identity, and its success, is in part due to its unerring facility with fabric NATO-style straps, which the brand has embraced wholeheartedly since at least 2010.

Tudor continues that tradition with the new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue, for which Tudor offers a handsome navy blue and silver-striped woven fabric strap (above) made in France by Julien Faure, a 150-year old family company. Tudor also offers a riveted steel bracelet (polished and satin finish) with folding clasp and safety catch and a blue “soft touch” strap with folding buckle and safety clasp.

Tudor offers this blue “soft touch” strap with folding clasp and safety catch as an option with the Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue.

The remaining Tudor-curious collectors who were not sold on the 2018 Black Bay Fifty-Eight’s slightly luxe black and gold accented dial and bezel back in 2018 have their watch with this new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue. It’s sportier, beautifully blue-hued and supplies the same Tudor high-value mechanicals teamed with expert retro dress.

With the same pricing as the earlier model ($3,700 for the bracelet model and $3,375 for fabric strap), the watch serves up no visible obstacles to any motivated fan.  

 

Specifications: Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue

(Ref. 79030B)

Movement: Automatic manufacture Caliber MT5402 with bidirectional rotor system, Swiss chronometer officially certified by COSC, 70-hour power reserve, variable inertia balance, micro-adjustment by screw, non-magnetic silicon balance spring; 28,800 bph (4 Hz) frequency.

Case: 39mm steel with polished and satin finish, unidirectional rotatable bezel in 316L steel with 60-minute graduated disc in matte blue anodized aluminum and silver gilded markings and numerals, steel screw-down winding crown with the Tudor rose in relief, with circular satin-brushed 316L steel winding crown tube, domed sapphire crystal, water resistant to 200 meters

Dial: Navy Blue, domed

Bracelet: Riveted 316L steel with polished and satin-brushed finish, or blue “soft touch” with folding clasp and safety catch, or blue fabric strap with silver band and buckle.

Prices: $3,700 (bracelet model) and $3,375 (either fabric strap)

 

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Featured News

Ulysse Nardin Teams with Shark Researcher

Ulysse Nardin has partnered with Ocearch, a scientific organization that works with researchers and educational institutions to better understand the movement and habits of sharks.

The Le Locle watchmaker has historically manufactured marine chronometers and has even more recently released dive watches symbolized by the shark. The new partnership means Ulysse Nardin will financially back Ocearch’s mission and assist researchers in their work and provide resources to better understand the shark’s role in the ocean’s fragile ecosystem.

Ulysse Nardin U.S. brand president François-Xavier Hotier says he has wanted to align the brand with a nonprofit marine life conservation organization since he started with the watch company in 2018.

Ulysse Nardin U.S. President Francois-Xavier Hotier

“Ocearch’s passion and their commitment to the shark species equaled that of our company’s and I knew Ulysse Nardin could make a positive impact toward their, and truly our, collective mission to save the shark species and therein help balance the ocean’s delicate ecosystem,” he said in a press release.  

“In speaking with François-Xavier Hotier we came to realize, not only our shared passion for the impact of shark-based research but of the importance of doing good work for good,” says Chris Fischer, founder of Ocearch. “We rely on companies like Ulysse Nardin to help raise awareness for our mission and look forward to working with the team behind the scenes and on future research expeditions.”

Ulysse Nardin will support Ocearch on its upcoming expeditions and work together to raise awareness around marine research. The organization is currently planning two expeditions for the end of 2020. The first will take place August 5-20 in Massachusetts and the second from September 3-28 in Nova Scotia.

Recent Ulysse Nardin dive models that pay homage to different shark species include two limited editions, the Diver Chronograph Hammerhead Shark and the Lady Diver Great White. Both are pictured below.

The Ulysse Nardin Diver Chronograph Hammerhead Shark Limited Edition. Hammerhead Shark Limited Edition. The watch is offered with a titanium or rose gold case and with rubber or fabric strap.

 

 

The Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Great White. The watch has a domed crystal and a concave unidirectional bezel and its dial is designed to look like the granular skin of a great white shark.

 

 

Caseback view of the Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Great White Limited Edition.
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The Watches

Bell & Ross Brightens its Diver

Just a few months after releasing its BR 03-92 Grey LUM, Bell & Ross adds an even brighter brother to the LUM family with a limited edition BR 03-92 Diver Full LUM.

Where the previously seen dive watch features brightly illuminated numerals, hands and five-minute markers, this newest family member features a full dial painted with green SuperLuminova.

In addition to a fully painted dial, the new watch also glows with a second hue because Bell & Ross has filled the watch’s metallic applique skeletonized indexes and the numerals on the bezel with a different shade of green SuperLuminova.  In order to maximize the period of luminescence for these markers, Bell & Ross opted to use a type of SuperLuminova (C3) that offers very long durability in the dark.

Bell & Ross notes that ever since it debuted its first square-cased BR 03-92 dive models in 2017 the watchmaker has been sure that its dive collection maintains all international ISO 6425 standards for dive watches. Those standards include water-resistance to a minimum depth of 100 meters, the presence of a unidirectional rotating bezel with a graduated minutes scale, an operation indicator and luminescent markers, legibility in the dark; anti-shock and anti-magnetic protection.

With this newest model, Bell & Ross exceeds those standards by wide margins, with a 300-meter water resistance rating, a black ceramic uni-directional bezel (for enhanced contrasts) and, in reference to its name, superior dial legibility with a more-than-gimmicky focus on luminescence.

Added bonus: Bell & Ross includes a rubber strap and a fabric strap with each watch.

Price: $4,500.

  

Specifications: Bell & Ross BR 03 92 Diver Full LUM

(Ref: BR0392-D-C5-CE/SRB, a limited edition of 999 pieces.)

Movement: Sellita-based automatic Caliber BR-CAL.302

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds and date.

Case: 42mm matte black ceramic, unidirectional rotating ceramic bezel with 60-minute scale, sapphire crystal, 300-meters of water resistance. 

Dial: Luminescent green painted with SuperLuminova. Metal applique skeleton Super-LumiNova-filled numerals and indices.

Straps: Woven black rubber and ultra-resilient black synthetic fabric with pin buckle of black PVD-coated steel.

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Watch Of The Day

Luminox Dives into Pacific

Luminox underscores its direct links with the Pacific Ocean with the Pacific Diver 3120 Series, a new dive watch collection named for the body of water central to the Luminox story.

The watch brand, founded in California in 1989, initially designed its watches to align with requirements of the Navy SEALS, whose members train in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. 

This new Pacific Diver 3120 Series of four 44mm by 12mm quartz-powered steel diver watches all boast a carbon uni-directional bezel and a healthy water resistance rating to 200 meters.

Luminox also ensures that each watch features a screw-in crown and caseback, sapphire crystal and Luminox’s own tritium-gas-based Always Visible dial illumination, which Luminox says will keep the dial readable in the dark for up to twenty-five years.

Luminox engraves its motto, “Every Second Counts,” on the stainless-steel caseback, which protects a Ronda 515 quartz movement.

The four versions of the Pacific Diver 3120 Series include: An all-black model with dark dial, black bezel and black DLC case ($595) sold on a rubber strap, a black dial and black bezel model sold on a steel bracelet ($640), a model with blue dial and a black bezel sold on a steel bracelet ($640), and a black dial and black bezel model on rubber ($545).

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