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By Steve Huyton

The Mr. Roboto from Azimuth is one of my favorite watches. Essentially this watch is the reason I fell in love with the brand in the first place.

Azimuth’s Mr. Roboto R1 Original.

Over the past twenty years, Azimuth has really established itself as a big player on the horological landscape. In particular the Azimuth avant-garde SP-1 collections have gained enormous critical acclaim. For this reason the brand has become synonymous for exceptional design and Swiss quality normally associated with more expensive watchmakers.

In fact it’s fair to say their progressive approach to watchmaking has led the pathway for many micro brands. 

Over the last few years, I’ve frequently communicated with Chris Long and got to learn what makes him tick. As a brand owner, you can essentially invent a title and Chris playfully describes himself as the Chief Product Visionary. This perpetuates his approach to watchmaking, which is mainly inspired by childhood fantasies.

The Mr. Roboto Artist Series with rat and gears.

Ultimately this was the catalyst for iconic creations like Mr. Roboto that pay homage to the Golden Robot of the 1950s. The Mark I variant was originally released in 2008 and measures 42.6mm x 49.5mm. For the price, there was nothing comparable at the time and it instantly became collectable with watch enthusiasts.

What originally impressed me about the original Mr. Roboto was the meticulous attention to detail. This watch has a sophisticated geometry and several bespoke sapphire crystal windows. The eyes display the hours (left), and GMT/second-time zone (right), with his red triangular nose featuring seconds and minutes in a retrograde format.

Certainly, in 2008 it was an ambitious project for a small independent brand. However, for Chris Long, this became a perfect springboard. 

In 2016 Azimuth took on another partner, Giuseppe Picchi, who now runs the technical side of the operation from Neuchatel in Switzerland. This allowed the brand to experiment with more sophisticated designs and build on a solid reputation.

In 2017 Azimuth unveiled the Mr. Roboto R2, which is a larger more muscular version of the original. The primary objective was to give the watch an ‘Haute Horlogerie’ aesthetic similar to MB&F and Urwerk.

Mr. Roboto R2

In my opinion, they were very successful and this is an exceptionally fine watch. However, interestingly Long revisited the original version to create several limited editions constructed from bronze. 

Notable highlights include the Mr. Roboto Bronzo Artist Series, a collection of unique 1/1 pieces. These feature hand-engraved bezels inspired by steampunk, bitcoin and motorcycle themes.

Mr. Roboto Bronzo.

For those that prefer a natural finish there was also a 100-piece limited edition Mr Roboto Bronzo that’s long sold out. 

Recently Chris Long informed me of a very special 43mm x 50mm sapphire crystal model, which will be limited to twenty pieces worldwide (to commemorate Azimuth’s 20th anniversary). Certainly, it’s the most exclusive model they’ve created to date and visually the boldest.

Mr. Roboto Sapphire.

Not surprisingly Azimuth will be entering this masterpiece for a prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award.

Personally, I feel it’s a perfect recipient for this type of accolade and maybe a natural conclusion to Mr. Roboto’s story.

Steve Huyton is an industrial designer, illustrator and author who publishes Total Design Reviews

 

Oris celebrates its origin story with the Hölstein Edition 2023, a 250-piece limited edition watch named for the watchmaker’s hometown in the Swiss Jura mountains.

The Oris Hölstein Edition 2023.

For the first time Oris draws from its Aquis dive watch family to create its birthday watch, a series Oris began four years ago. And to celebrate its 119th birthday, the independent Swiss watchmaker offers its first purple dial and also adds some extra celebratory joy to the 41.5mm watch’s caseback.

 

There, you’ll find an engraved image of the Oris Bear diving in his scuba gear alongside the watch’s limited-edition number. As Oris explains, it decided to add the engraving simply because of the fun factor.

 

“Why? Because why not.” Oris explains. “It’s fun and it made us smile. And to be literal for a moment, because it shows this is still a diver’s watch water-resistant to 30 bar (300 meters).” 

The purple-dialed, fun-backed Aquis also celebrates Oris’s birthday with an omission: For the first time, Oris creates an Aquis with no date display.

 

Oris customers have requested the date be removed from Aquis in the past, according to the watchmaker, and those requests are answered in this Holstein Edition.

 

Inside the steel-cased watch Oris fits its much lauded Caliber 400 automatic movement with five-day power reserve, enhanced anti-magnetism, better than chronometer accuracy (-3/+5 seconds a day) and ten-year warranty. As a limited edition of 250 pieces, each watch is delivered in a wooden presentation box.

 

Oris offers the Holstein Edition 2023 exclusively on its website. Price: $4,300.  

 

Specifications: Oris Holstein Edition 2023 

(Limited edition of 250)

Case: 41.5mm multi-piece stainless steel case, uni-directional rotating bezel with grey ceramic bezel insert. Sapphire crystal, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside. Caseback is stainless steel, screwed with numbered engraving, Oris Bear printed motif. Stainless steel screw-in security crown with crown protection. Water resistance to 300 meters. 

Movement: Automatic Oris Caliber 400, Accuracy of -3/+5 seconds a day (within COSC tolerances), highly anti-magnetic, 120-hour power reserve.

Dial: Purple, hands and indices filled with Super-LumiNova.

Bracelet: Multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet, security folding clasp with clasp extension.

Price: $4,300. 

The newly revived Swiss watch brand Edouard Koehn is now being distributed in North America by the New Jersey-based Totally Worth It, which also distributes Ressence, Trilobe, Scatola del Tempo and Swiss Kubik.

The Edouard Koehn Tempus I, skeleton model in a 43mm steel case with black PVD coating and black ceramic bezel.

Named for master watchmaker Edouard Koehn, who in 1891 developed his eponymous watch brand in Geneva after decades at Patek Philippe, the new Edouard Koehn Master Watchmaker Manufacture is based in La Chaux-de-Fonds and offers three watch collections: Tempus I, Tempus II and World Heritage.

A Tempus I model, with blue Clous de Paris dial.

The Chronographs 

The two Tempus collections feature contemporary automatic chronographs with movements developed by Edouard Koehn in collaboration with famed Swiss movement maker Concepto. Tempus I is a sporty tri-compax chronograph in a PVD blackened steel case with a black ceramic bezel, offered in four dial colors and two skeleton versions.

One example of the Edouard Koehn Tempus II Monopusher self-winding mechanical Chronograph.

Tempus II is a Bi-Compax mono-pusher chronograph, and is much more ambitious, with a technical design that exposes an inverted escapement at the top of each dial.

This  “Open Heart” design, also framed by a black ceramic bezel, displays chronograph time via a central seconds hand and a large thirty-minutes chronograph subdial at the 3 o’clock position. Four dial colors are available.

Back view of Tempus II, showing back of the automatic monopusher chronograph caliber.

Prices: $7,950 (Tempus I) and $9,950 (Tempus II)

The Edouard Koehn World Heritage combines a world time function with an alarm function.

World Heritage

As the most traditional series in the Edouard Koehn collection, the World Heritage model is nonetheless technically challenging. The watch, built using a Concepto base caliber modified for Edouard Koehn, includes an alarm function, combining two complications highly useful to travelers.

While the world time function allows the wearer to see the world time in any of twenty-four time zones, the alarm function allows the wearer to set an alert that, for instance, might note an upcoming flight time. The double barrel EK-MVTWTA01 caliber simultaneously winds the watch and the alarm functions.

Edouard Koehn offers these World Heritage models as limited editions, with each of five dial options available in editions of eighty-eight pieces.

At 42mm in diameter, these World Heritage models are somewhat smaller than the chronographs. They are lighter too, cased in titanium rather than steel. All told, this makes for a lightweight watch with heavyweight technical functions.

Price: $8,950. 

By Gary Girdvainis 

While Barry Cohen may not be a household name for most watch consumers, I can almost guarantee you know his work.

As the founder of Luminox back in 1989,  Cohen established a brand that deftly integrated the ethos of the brand directly into the name:  “Lumistood for illumination and “Nox” for night so the brand name meant it had superior night lume thanks to its self-illuminating tritium gas tubes.

Cohen sold the brand he founded for a variety of reasons. He returned with a new brand that would take the next logical steps in the design of a rugged sports watch that would not only look great – but would also make a strong value argument.

A model in the ProTek Dive Series. All sport a 42mm carbon composite case.

Enter ProTek

Priced aggressively from $450 to $525, ProTek watches are available in stainless steel, carbon composite, and surgical grade titanium cases, and all of them feature self-illuminating tritium tubes.

A new ProTek Official USMC Series model, with a 42mm carbon composite case.

ProTek offers several dive watch variations that sport carbon composite or steel cases.  

The Field Watch 

Featured here, the 3000 Series Field watch is crafted in a slim (11mm), lightweight titanium case weighing only 48 grams in either a natural or black IP version.

One model in the ProTek 3000 Series of field watches. Each features a 40mm titanium case.

All are capped with a flat sapphire crystal over a dial and hands enhanced with 3 colors of T-100 self-illuminating tubes.

These are the brightest self-illuminating tubes available and will emit their own radiance for up to twenty-five years without the need for exposure to external light to perform.

Rated and tested to a legitimate 100 meters of water resistance, the ProTek Series 3000 field watch can also be a casual-use water watch and is delivered with a waterproof Italian leather strap.

Clean dials in black, admiral blue, olive green and a silvery off-white are all easy to read. With a light weight of just over 48 grams (head-only), the watches are very comfortable on the wrist for extended use.

The threaded (screw-down) back is also crafted in titanium with a stylized “P” presented in deep relief, as it is on the double-gasket crown.

Inside the case is a Citizen/Miyota quartz movement with a four-year battery accurate to +/- 20 seconds per month. Retail price is $475 at www.watchgauge.com. 

 

Nomos celebrates 175 Years of watchmaking in Glashütte with three classic watches in the Nomos Orion neomatik collection.

The larger (41mm) of the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches trio.

Student watchmakers historically create so-called practice watches, generally time-only or time and date models, and Nomos honors this tradition with the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte trio. 

The new three-hand Orion neomatik watches measure 36mm, 39mm and 41mm in diameter with the larger of the three sporting a date display. Each watch is signed, numbered and limited to 175 pieces.

All three debuts offer a three-part stainless steel case with a domed sapphire crystal and caseback. All also present the time with thin tempered blue hands above the domed, polished, galvanized and white silver-plated dial with gold embossed indexes.

Nomos does not recess the small seconds dial into the dials of these Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches – a first for Nomos and a nod to the elegant nature of the trio.

Inside the time-only models Nomos fits its DUW 3001 automatic caliber (pictured above on the 39mm model). The larger date model features DUW 6101. All calibers are built with traditional Glashütte three-quarter plate, Glashütte ribbing and tempered blue screws, and each is adjusted to chronometer standards.

As noted, Nomos has signed and number each watch in the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte series, which is limited to 175 watches of each model.

Watches this elegant, with superb in-house calibers and the fine detailing typical at Nomos are rare at these prices, so expect these to sell quickly. 

Prices: $3,580 (36mm), $3,920 (39mm) and $4,200 (41mm with date).