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The Watches

Ulysse Nardin Sets a Rainbow of Gems into Two Watches

Ulysse Nardin adorns its 39mm Lady Diver and 45mm black DLC titanium Blast Tourbillon X with purple, green, blue or pink gemstones to create a rainbow effect that echoes the iridescent rainbow colors of silicon.

The new Ulysse Nardin Blast Rainbow Tourbillon X.

The newly sparkling bezels and dials, which debuted during Geneva Watch Days, are meant to celebrate Ulysse Nardin’s pioneering use of silicon components. 

You may recall that in 2001 the Le Locle-based watchmaker was the first to debut a watch (the Freak) with silicon escapement components, jump-starting a technical revolution in the use of the material throughout the high-end Swiss watchmaking industry.

Ulysse Nardin sets the newest Blast Rainbow Tourbillon X with fifty rubies and sapphire baguette gemstones on its bezel and indexes.

The Blast Tourbillon X itself features a skeletonized X bridge and a black rectangular frame that geometrically opens views into the automatic flying tourbillon caliber UN-172. The impressive movement (pictured below), with its platinum micro-rotor and silicon escapement wheel, anchor & balance spring, is cased in black DLC titanium and sealed with a black ceramic polished and sandblasted upper case.

Ulysse Nardin’s Caliber-UN-172 with flying tourbillon.

Ulysse Nardin offers this new, glittery Blast Rainbow Tourbillion X as a limited edition of fifty. It arrives with a waterproof velvet rubber strap or a black alligator strap, together with a black DLC titanium and black ceramic self-deploying buckle. Price: $89,700.

The new Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Rainbow is offered with a steel case or a blackened 39mm steel case.

The new 39mm Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Rainbow, offered in either a steel case or a blackened steel case, is adorned with forty stones (ruby, aquamarine, topaz, tsavorite and sapphire) that the watchmaker has set on a concave unidirectional bezel. Eleven diamonds serve as indexes on the white-dialed or black-dialed watch.

Water resistant to 300 meters, the Lady Diver Rainbow is powered by Ulysse Nardin’s UN-816 automatic movement with silicon escapement components.

The watches, each limited to 300 units, will arrive attached to a white or black rubber strap. Price: $13,600. 

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Oris

Oris Launches Divers Sixty-Five With Caliber 400

Oris fits its acclaimed Caliber 400 into a full production Divers Sixty-Five model for the first time as the independent Swiss watchmaker launches the new Divers Sixty-Five 12 Hour Calibre 400.

The new Oris Divers Sixty-Five 12 Hour Caliber 400.

Oris this week also debuts a new Aquis Date series with brightly hued mother-of-pearl dials, available on a steel bracelet. Oris debuted both nautical-themed watches during this week’s Geneva Watch Days, a late summer watch show in Geneva that runs through September 1.

Long reserve

As an in-house movement with a long power reserve, the Oris Caliber 400 series is one of the few in-house Swiss automatic movements boasting a long power reserve (five days). It’s inclusion here also means the new watch, in addition to the long power reserve, offers the caliber’s elevated levels of anti-magnetism, a ten-year warranty and ten-year recommended service intervals.

Adding a Caliber 400 series movement to models within the Divers Sixty-Five collection extends the availability of the movement’s heightened features to one of the watchmaker’s most popular collections. Oris has already placed a Caliber 400 series movement into several of its bedrock collections, including within larger Aquis Date watches and within the ProPilot X collection.

But as the name of the new watch implies, Oris has also added a 12-hour bi-directional rotating bezel, which means this new black-dialed model is also the first Divers Sixty-Five offering a second time zone indicator bezel.

The new watch also boasts a sapphire crystal case back and the choice of either a leather strap or metal bracelet. Prices: $3,500 (leather strap) and $3,700 (steel bracelet). 

A trio of additions to the Oris Aquis Date 36.5mm Collection.

New dials

Oris is also introducing a trio of new Aquis Date 36.5 mm models with colorful mother-of-pearl dials. 

The shimmering dials, in Blush Pink, Aegean Blue and Seafoam Green, are both eye-catching and apparently on trend, given the success of pastel and blue dials among many other watchmakers in recent months.

The trio also enhances the smaller-diameter offering within the Oris Aquis Date collection, which primarily offers larger-cased options.

All Aquis Date 36.5 mm models are water resistant to 300 meters and are equipped with Sellita-based automatic Oris Caliber 733.

Prices: $2,400 (steel bracelet only). 

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The Watches

TAG Heuer Launches Blue and White Aquaracer

TAG Heuer continues to update its Aquaracer Professional 300 collection with a new blue, yellow and white GMT edition that offers a hyper-clean, highly visible model to this serious dive series.

The new 43mm-steel-cased TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 GMT.

TAG Heuer says its designers opted for the ocean-hued color scheme to “represent the sky, the sun, the water and the crashing waves near the shore.” 

The dial on the new 43mm-steel-cased TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 GMT retains the collection’s signature horizontal lines, here in dark blue, which makes the white luminous hands and markers all the more visible. Yellow comes in to the picture via the rhodium-plated central seconds hand, which has a yellow lacquer tip, and a yellow GMT hand.

TAG Heuer excels with it bezels, and this model’s two-color bi-directional rotating ceramic bezel underscores that sentiment. Set with a 24-hour GMT scale, the markers are engraved into the ceramic and then filled with contrasting colors: black for day time and white for night.

Note the detail where the numerals 18 and 6 seamlessly which cross the point where the blue and white ceramic meet.

In addition to signature fluted, 12-sided Aquaracer bezel and the generous luminosity, the watch’s dive specifications echo those found in earlier Professional 300 models, namely a screwed and protected crown, 300 meters of water resistance, a sapphire crystal, and a double safety clasp.

Like other TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 GMT models, this new edition features a steel back decorated with a repeating hexagon motif and the ‘scaphander’ diving suit, first seen on the 2004 Aquaracer.Inside, TAG Heuer fits its Caliber 7 automatic movement, with a power reserve of fifty hours.

TAG Heuer will offer the new Aquaracer Professional 300 GMT on either a stainless steel metal bracelet or on a deep midnight blue rubber strap to match the dial and bezel. Both feature an ergonomic fine adjustment system. 

Prices: $3,500 (rubber strap) and $3,800 (steel bracelet).

 

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Featured News

Watches With a Cause

By Gary Girdvainis 

The Maurice Lacroix Aikon #tide is made from #Tide plastics. This material, which includes fabric, rope and more, has been recovered and up-cycled for use as a watch case material.

Maurice Lacroix offers its Aikon #tide in ten colors on a white or black recycled strap.Truly a laudable ideal, recovering, reusing and recycling / upcycling is the wave (pun intended) of the future. More companies at-large, and a host of watch brands in-particular, are recognizing the value of conservation and recycling.

The Ulysse Nardin Lemon Shark

Whether this is an earnest effort by leadership concerned with the state and fate of the planet, or the more mercenary motivation of a marketing mantra is actually a moot point. Doing good is worth it, whether it comes from the heart – or feeds the bottom line.

Ulysse Nardin backs Ocearch’s mission to provide resources to better understand the shark’s role in the ocean’s fragile ecosystem.

Oris helps rebuild ocean reefs and invests in clean water initiatives, Ulysse Nardin supports the amazing work of Chris Fischer and the Ocearch research team gathering (and notably sharing) data on ocean going apex predators as well as sea turtles, Blancpain’s Ocean Commitment comes to life around the world in partnership with various scientific and oceanic entities to study and preserve various aquatic ecosystems. 

Other brands, like IWC, are vying for carbon neutrality in manufacturing, while Mondaine and others are using unusual sources to develop their own sustainable sources for environmentally friendly materials for cases and straps.

From my perspective as an avid outdoorsman and current resident of the planet, I appreciate these efforts and will continue to promote these relationships in our coverage and encourage more brands to engage as they are able to in conservation, philanthropy, and other altruistic endeavors. 

It’s About Time…to save the planet – one watch at a time…

This article first appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of About Time. 

 

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The Watches

Luminox Celebrates SEALs with Special ‘Smooth’ Dial

Luminox celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of the Navy SEALs, a long-time Luminox partner, by issuing a specialized version of its all-black Series 3580 Navy SEAL series watch, one of the watchmaker’s best-selling chronographs.

The Luminox “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast” Series 3580 chronograph.

To help celebrate the famed military unit’s anniversary, Luminox has emblazoned the SEAL mantra “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast” in all capital letters – and in red – on an otherwise dark dial. The tip of the seconds hand and the hour markers are the only other red accents on this nicely textured black dial.

The Navy SEAL mantra is meant to remind Luminox wearers that often the best and quickest way to accomplish any task is to take time and to slow down and focus on the task at hand.

The 45mm quartz-powered chronograph model is encased in Luminox’s carbon alloy called Carbonox, which also comprises the material for the unidirectional bezel.

As you’d expect from this brand, the new model incorporates Luminox Light Technology, which ensures that the markers and hands remain visible in any light condition for up to twenty-five years.

Luminox protects the Ronda quartz chronograph movement inside with 200-meters of water resistance, an especially hardened crown, a double security gasket and a steel caseback.

The watch’s black rubber strap is held to the wrist with a stainless steel brushed IP black signature Luminox buckle. Price: $595. 

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