The new watch, to be issued as a limited edition of 1,000, features a blue-grey central dial embossed with a light-reflecting ‘carbon’ pattern surrounded by a white railway track scale hour circle. The wide bezel, rare among Calatrava models, frames pierced baton hands (that might remind you of the 2017 Ref. 6006 Calatrava), applied and luminous Arabic numerals and a date at 3 o’clock.
In addition to the steel, a case material rarely used by Patek Philippe, the Geneva watchmaker also utilizes several other special features on the new watch, including a calfskin strap with white decorative seams and an embossed structure meant to recall fabric, all matching the color and structure of the central dial.
The commemorative Patek Philippe Ref. 6007A-001 Calatrava also comes with a sapphire-crystal caseback, exposing automatic Caliber 324 SC, and marked with a Calatrava cross and the “New Manufacture 2019” inscription. The year noted is when the first work groups moved to the new production building.
Under one roof
Patek Philippe’s newest manufacturing facility, now complete after five years of construction, unites all of the manufacture’s Genevan facilities under one roof. With ten floors, it expands the 1996 building complex and anticipates the manufacture’s growth in the next twenty to thirty years.
Patek Philippe’s new Manufacturing facility.
Patek Philippe describes the new building as appearing like an ocean liner from the exterior and filled with references to Patek Philippe watches inside. The building’s curved hallways are “reminiscent of the gently rounded octagon of the Nautilus case,” while the fire escape ladders offer a silhouette that resembles leaf-shaped hands.
The new Patek Philippe Ref. 6007A-001 Calatrava will be issued as a limited edition of 1,000 watches. Price: $28,351.
Specifications: Patek Philippe Ref. 6007A-001 Calatrava
Movement: Caliber 324 S C. Self-winding. Date in an aperture. Sweep seconds, central rotor in 21-karat gold. Frequency: 28,800 semi-oscillation per hour (4 Hz). Power reserve: 45 hours.
Dial: Gray-blue, dial center embossed with “carbon” pattern, gold applied numerals with luminescent coating. White gold white lacquered baton-style hands with luminescent coating.
Case: 40mm by 9.07mm steel, water-resistant to 30 meters, sapphire crystal case back decorated with the Calatrava cross and the inscription “New Manufacture 2019”.
Strap: Calfskin, embossed with fabric pattern, gray-blue. Prong buckle.
Skeleton watches can be a polarizing topic, one that elicits strong opinions from all sides. There are those who dislike skeletons for what they consider a lack of legibility. Others prefer the simplicity that a plain dial can offer and look askance at the busyness of a dial-free watch.
The Claude Meylan 6045-W Skeleton — with companion.
Then there are other critics who dismiss a skeleton watch as a frivolous gimmick.
But there are many skeleton enthusiasts who appreciate the watches for their fun and whimsical nature, two elements that can remind us why we initially became enchanted with timepieces in the first place.
The people in this camp understand that in a world flooded with quartz movements and smartwatches, which can perform hundreds of functions better, faster and more reliably, a skeleton display is one thing that a mechanical movement can always do better.
Look inside
For true fans, these special timepieces offer a rare glimpse into the innermost workings of the magic and the science involved in what makes a watch tick. By exposing all the parts, by cutting away any extraneous piece and distilling everything down to the basics, the curtain of mystery is pulled back, revealing a timeless ballet where every component works together in harmonious balance.
When the movement is exposed, every decision regarding what to remove and what to leave behind becomes critical.
Not only do skeleton movements reveal this mesmerizing piece of performance art every time we breathe life into them by winding the mainspring, they also serve a practical role as tiny timekeeping machines.
It is the blending of these two worlds, one of art, the other of science, that effortlessly combine in a skeleton to form a beautiful and beguiling whole.
Doing it right
That’s not to say that all skeleton watches are worthy of such praise. There is no shortage of examples of the skeletonization process done poorly. When the movement is exposed, every decision regarding what to remove and what to leave behind becomes critical. Too little decoration can leave a movement looking cold, while too much can make it look gaudy.
There are also important decisions to make regarding proper handsets that create enough contrast to enhance legibility.
Clearly, it is no easy task to create a skeleton watch that is beautiful, functional and practical.
The Claude Meylan 6045, with black rehaut (inner bezel ring).
Claude Meylan
Given this era of uncertainty, it is understandable for watch manufacturers to play it safe and perhaps release another dive watch or maybe a vintage-inspired heritage model. In a landscape awash with an ever-increasing number of safe bets, Claude Meylan has opted to instead steer clear of the trends and forge its own path.
The decision to avoid each new trend as it emerges can make for a perilous journey, yet taking the unpredictable, less-traveled road ensures that Claude Meylan’s timepieces stand apart.
The Claude Meylan name itself was aptly chosen as it pays homage to the very same pioneering spirit of the original Meylan family. As a distinguished clan, members of the family have figured prominently throughout Swiss horological history, and it is not uncommon to find individuals bearing the name still occupying key positions within the watch industry today.
Historical records reveal that the Meylans were one of the first four families to bring watchmaking to the Vallée de Joux in the Jura region of Switzerland.
In the Jura
It is in the small village of L’Abbaye, nestled in that same valley within the Jura mountains, that the modern Claude Meylan – surrounded by history – has decided to chart its future.
While others are content to play it safe and tiptoe past the bone yard, Claude Meylan has not. Despite featuring a range of traditionally dialed timepieces, les squelettes have figured prominently in the lineup from the early days of the company’s inception in 1988.
The Claude Meylan 6045, with white internal bezel ring.
With a retail price of $1,450, the 6045 Skeleton represents the entry-level within the Claude Meylan stable of timepieces.
A model from Claude Meylan’s Legends collection.
Other models in the lineup include chronographs in the Legends Line, the popular tonneau-shaped Tortue Series, the truly unique Poya, which sets a small watch movement within a larger case that serve to display tableaus of fantasy dreamscapes. The innovative Fenêtre sur Temps features watches with rotating disks with a window cut out to serve as the hour hand.
Unitas inside
The 6045 Skeleton utilizes a Unitas caliber 6497, initially introduced in 1950 as a pocket watch movement. Measuring 16.5 lignes or 36.6mm, the manual-wind movement had been quietly waiting in the wings for decades until being pressed into service to power wristwatches as in recent years as fashion trends pushed case sizes ever larger.
An ETA Unitas 6497 prior to being skeletonized.
The ETA Unitas 6497 is available in a few different skeletonized options, including a modern, angular design and even with PVD coated offerings.
The type Claude Meylan selected for the 6045 Skeleton is of a more traditional design and features the familiar scroll work that has come to be associated with skeleton movements.
Case and crystal
The watch’s 42mm stainless steel case is polished on all surfaces. Although of ample size, the watch wears comfortably owing to its relatively shorter lug length.
Despite its generous proportions and short lugs, the Claude Meylan 6045 wears comfortably.
The unsigned crown is well proportioned to the case and also is of substantial size, suitable for its role on a manual-wind movement.
The steel case is topped off with a flat sapphire crystal, giving the whole package a sleek modern feel while creating an interesting counterbalance with the traditional mechanical movement.
The spade-style hands are blued and contrast nicely against the steel plates of the movement, giving the watch a high level of legibility for a skeleton.
The blued handset creates a sharp contrast to the movement.
Because this Unitas was initially created as a pocket watch movement, the sub-seconds hand is found at the nine o’clock position when fitted into a wristwatch.
Dial and back
The silvered (or white or black) rehaut carries Roman numerals and is thin enough to be unobtrusive but substantial enough to adequately perform its function. It features two different finishes, a frosted main section and a polished inner rim that carries the minute marks.
These small touches and attention to detail impart upon the watch a quality that resonates well above its asking price.
Turning the watch over and observing the backside, the eyes are treated to an even more delightful view of the movement. Ruby-red jewels are juxtaposed against blued screw heads, both of which are sprinkled generously throughout, as if the engineers were bakers putting the final glittering touches atop a cake.
The reverse view is as interesting as the front.
Good Math
The designers at Claude Meylan continue to remind us that it is actually possible to achieve addition through subtraction. There is much for us to learn about how a watch functions simply by observing how all the components interact with one another.
But the most important thing we can learn from a skeleton has nothing to do with the science of timekeeping.
By stripping away everything down to the absolute necessities, we are left with nothing but the essential, and in doing so a skeleton reveals its greatest lesson: that the bare essentials are all we ever need.
Eric Gregoire is a watch collector and writer, who has covered a broad range of topics within the world of horology for more than twenty years. His latest book, “Eternal Springs: An Introduction to the World of Mechanical Watches,” is available for electronic download on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082HFCQMJ
Torgoen has partnered with Miracle Flights to raise funds for the charity, which transports critically ill children to specialized medical care far from home.
With every purchase made through Torgoen’s ecommerce site, a portion of proceeds will go to support Miracle Flights and help more children reach the life-changing medical treatment they need.
“Now more than ever, we’ve felt compelled to give back through our online platform,” says Torgoen brand manager Ziv Emmet.
“As a brand devoted to pilots and aviation enthusiasts, we immediately connected to the Miracle Flights mission. Together with our customers, we know we can make a positive impact on this organization and the thousands of families it serves.”
Founded in June 1985, Miracle Flights is the nation’s leading medical flight charity, providing thousands of free commercial flights each year to families across the country.
“We’re grateful to Torgoen – not only for their generous financial support but also for giving us such an elegant and memorable way to commemorate our 35 years,” says Miracle Flights CEO Mark E. Brown.
To learn more about Miracle Flights and its partnership with Torgoen, visit miracleflights.org.
Ball Watch this week combines its well-known dial illumination and solid crown protector with a racing tachymeter to create the Engineer Hydrocarbon Racer Chronograph, the brand’s first automotive racing watch in years.
The new Ball Watch Engineer Hydrocarbon Racer Chronograph
While Ball has long focused on designing watches with functions requested by explorers, divers, travelers and adventurers, the historical U.S. brand (now based in Switzerland) now seeks to reach automobile racing enthusiasts with this new chronograph collection. Ball Watch has offered other watches with tachymeters in years past, including the Engineer Master II Slide Chronograph and two Fireman Storm Chaser models, but this debut is the first in recent years specifically designed with such a bezel.
For Ball, adding a speed-monitoring tachymeter scale (here, in black ceramic) to the bezel of a chronograph is just a start. The remaining features Ball adds to the three-watch collection echo the brand’s attention to the needs of collectors who plan to wear their watch amid adverse conditions.
These features include a COSC-certified, chronometer-rated automatic movement (Ball’s Caliber RR1401, an upgraded and customized ETA Valjoux 7750), resistance to shocks of up to 7,500 g and anti-magnetic protection rated to 4,800 A/m.
That Ball crown protector (left), standard on the watches throughout the Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon collection, screws into the case once the owner sets the time on the watch. After the wearer clasps the patented steel protector over the crown, it won’t budge or allow dust or dirt to contamination the case interior.
And as noted, Ball’s proprietary H3 gas tube illumination (colored green on the dial and hands and yellow at 12 o’clock) means that the time – and the timing – remains visible day or night.
Three dials
Ball makes the new Engineer Hydrocarbon Racer Chronograph with a 42mm diameter stainless steel case with a black ceramic bezel and a choice of a black, blue or white dial.
Ball then finishes the watch with a stainless-steel brushed and polished bracelet with a folding clasp. Price: $3,599.
Alpina Watches has partnered with the Netherlands-based Gyre Watch to create the new Alpina Seastrong Diver Gyre Automatic collection featuring watchcases crafted from recycled materials. Sales of the watch, with its case forged from a mixture of fiberglass (30%) and plastic debris (70%) caught in fishing nets in the Indian Ocean, will support the National Park Foundation.
The new Alpina Seastrong Diver Gyre Automatic collection is composed of five models and is being officially launched to support World Oceans Day (June 8th). Alpina will donate $100 for every watch purchased through us.AlpinaWatches.com in order to help maintain the U.S. parks, both inland and coastal.
The collection
The full Seastrong Diver Gyre Automatic range includes three men’s models (44 mm, $1,395) and two models designed for women (36mm, $1,295).
All five watches share blue-shaded dials, including turquoise and dyed mother-of-pearl, and luminescent hands. Inside each watch Alpina places its Sellita-based AL-525 automatic movement.
In addition, as a dive model, the watch features the requisite unidirectional bezel and water-resistance to 300 meters.
The Alpina Seastrong Gyre Diver Automatic, 36mm size. Each case is made using recycled materials.
Alpina will ship all the new watches with one of three two-tone NATO-style straps made from recycled plastic bottles. In addition, Alpina will include a black vegetable leather strap made of recycled apple waste with every 44mm watch.
Gyre origins
Alpina explains that the word Gyre is a reference to giant circular ocean currents. The Geneva-based watchmaker adds that the new collection represents the start of a long-term collaboration with Gyre Watch.
Gyre Watch, founded in The Netherlands in 2017, makes watches from recycled ocean plastic. Local fishermen along the Indian Ocean earn a fee collecting fishing nets from the sea for recycling, which means Gyre also contributes to local economies.
Alpina will make the Seastrong Diver Gyre Automatic as a limited series of 1,883 pieces of each model, in reference to the year of Alpina’s founding. Each watch will be sold in an eco-friendly gift set made of recycled plastic and recycled plastic bottles.
To further enhance the collection’s ecological profile, Alpina is printing each watch’s guarantee and certificate of authenticity on one page of recycled paper and will utilize a paperless user manual, accessible via a QR code. The code will direct buyers to a dedicated site for the Gyre collection as well as the instruction and maintenance manual.
The commemorative Patek Philippe Ref. 6007A-001 Calatrava also comes with a sapphire-crystal caseback, exposing automatic Caliber 324 SC, and marked with a Calatrava cross and the “New Manufacture 2019” inscription. The year noted is when the first work groups moved to the new production building.
The building’s curved hallways are “reminiscent of the gently rounded octagon of the Nautilus case,” while the fire escape ladders offer a silhouette that resembles leaf-shaped hands.
All five watches share blue-shaded dials, including turquoise and dyed mother-of-pearl, and luminescent hands. 
In addition, as a dive model, the watch features the requisite unidirectional bezel and water-resistance to 300 meters.
