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Watch Of The Day

Zenith Revives Brown-Dialed A385 El Primero

Zenith reaches back to 1969 once again with its latest Revival debut, the Chronomaster Revival A385, a near-exact 37mm reproduction of the original El Primero chronograph from 1969.

The Zenith Chronomaster Revival A385.

As one of very first automatic chronographs, and the very first operating at a high frequency of 36,000 vph, Zenith’s A385 debuted alongside the Zenith A384 and A386. The A385 was notable for its smoked brown gradient pattern, which Zenith revives on this new release.

To accurately echo the original, Zenith says it conducted a “reverse engineering” of the 1969 watch to create the new model. As a result, each part of the A385’s 37mm tonneau-shaped stainless-steel case (even its pump-style pushers) mimics the original. The only differences here are the domed sapphire crystal, which replaces an acrylic version, and a clear sapphire back that replaces instead the original’s closed solid steel caseback.

Marketing materials for the 1969-1970 Zenith El Primeo launches.

The clear back offers a view of the newer El Primero caliber, Zenith’s 400 chronograph movement with column-wheel, that powers the watch.

Smoking Dial

But it’s the dial here that draws eyes, and Zenith has nailed the attractive brown gradient dial, which notably features a vignette effect that blackens towards the edges. This colorful slight of hand appears to deepen the dial, mimicking the light-bending effect of a domed crystal, but without the dome.

To further deepen the nostalgia, Zenith adds the same red chronograph central second hand and silvery-white chronograph counters found on the original model.

Zenith offers the Chronomaster Revival A385 in two options. One is equipped with a steel “ladder” bracelet, a modern remake of the Gay Frères bracelets Zenith utilized on those original models. The second option is a light brown calf leather strap that will develop a patina over time.The Zenith Chronomaster Revival A385 is available at Zenith Boutiques and online shop, as well as at authorized retailers. 

Price: $7,900 (leather strap) and 8,400 CHF (approximately $9,500) for steel bracelet model.

 

Specifications: Zenith Chronomaster Revival A385

Reference: 03.A384.400/385.M385 (steel bracelet), Reference: 03.A384.400/385.C855 (calf leather strap)

Case: 37mm steel with sapphire back, 50 meters water resistance.

Movement: El Primero 400 automatic column-wheel chronograph with 36,000 Vph (5 Hz), power-reserve of 50 hours.

Functions: Hours and minutes in the center, small seconds at 9 o’clock. Chronograph: Central chronograph hand, 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock. Tachometric scale. Date indication at 4:30.

Dial: Smoked brown gradient dial with white-colored counters. Rhodium-plated, faceted hour markers and hands, coated with beige Super-LumiNova.

Bracelet: “Ladder” bracelet with stainless steel double folding clasp, or light brown calf leather strap with protective rubber lining and a stainless-steel pin buckle.

Price: $7,900 (leather strap) and 8,400 CHF (approximately $9,500) for steel bracelet model.

 

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Watch Of The Day

Hublot Fuses More Concrete Into Chronograph

Hublot has updated its Fusion Concrete chronograph by expanding the amount of the material used to construct the watch, and by enhancing the resilience of the material itself.

The new Hublot Fusion Concrete Jungle New York

The watchmaker first debuted the watch in 2016 with only a concrete bezel set on a ceramic case that framed an open-worked dial. Now, Hublot introduces the Fusion Concrete Jungle New York, a second generation example of the unusual watch with concrete not only forming the watch’s bezel, but also its 45mm case and its two-subdial chronograph dial.

 

With the new watch, Hublot says it has created a more durable concrete mixture, now made of sixty-five percent to seventy-five percent fine cement, twenty-five percent to thirty percent epoxy resin (replacing the water in standard concrete) and five percent to ten percent fiberglass, replacing steel to reinforce the concrete.

Hublot in-house design team upgraded the epoxy resin with an anti-UV additive. This will prevent any color changes from occurring within the concrete components. In addition, Hublot added an anti-graffiti treatment to the finished components to prevent the concrete from becoming contaminated with dirt or other particles.

Like the first edition of the watch, this new limited-edition model is also dedicated to New York City, known historically as the first ‘concrete jungle.’ Hublot will first make the watch available at Hublot’s Fifth Avenue boutique in New York, and online, prior to being launched in stores across the United States.

Hublot has installed its in-house HUB1143 automatic chronograph movement into the watch, which also features black ceramic pushers and crown and an all-black textile strap with black stitching. Limited to fifty pieces, the Classic Fusion Concrete Jungle New York is priced at $18,800.

 

Specifications: Hublot Fusion Concrete Jungle New York 

 

MOVEMENT: HUB1143 manufacture automatic chronograph, frequency of 4Hz (28’800 bph), power reserve of 42 Hours.

REFERENCE 521.XC.3604.NR.NYC20 Limited to 50 pieces.

DIAL: Composite Concrete Dial, micro-blasted and ruthenium anthracite plated hands, bezel made of composite concrete with
6 H-shaped black PVD titanium screws.

CASE: 45 mm
x 13.85mm
 Composite Concrete, water resistance to 50m, caseback is micro-blasted black ceramic engraved with “LIMITED EDITION XX/50” and sapphire crystal.

STRAP: Black rubber and black textile with black stitching, micro-blasted black ceramic and black PVD steel deployant buckle clasp.

Price: $18,800

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Watch Of The Day

H. Moser Blues its Award-Winning Streamliner Flyback Chronograph

Fresh from winning the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) award as the year’s Best Chronograph for its Streamliner Flyback Chronograph, H. Moser & Cie. this week underscores the collection’s distinctive H. Moser design by offering a new edition of the watch with a Funky Blue fumé dial, a signature color for the brand.

The H. Moser Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic Funky Blue.

Moser has applied the Funky Blue dial, with its sunburst pattern and eye-catching gradient color effect, throughout its collection, complementing similar fumé style dials with brown, red and even green hues. The color appears light in the center of the dial and becomes darker and deeper towards the outer edges.

This newest edition H. Moser Streamliner Flyback chronograph retains the technical ingenuity of debut that re-shapes how a flyback chronograph tracks elapsed time. Instead of developing a flyback function for a central seconds hands, H. Moser devised a wholly original method of tracking elapsed time with two chronograph hands, one for the minutes and one for the seconds. The minimalistic dial also shows current time with two display hands, one for the hours and one for the minutes.

The movement wizards at Agenhor developed the column-wheel chronograph with support from the technical teams at H. Moser & Cie. Also notable is the placement of the tungsten oscillating weight, which lies between the movement and the dial, allowing a clear view of the beautifully designed and finished caliber through the caseback.

The watch’s handsome steel cushion case measures 42.3mm in diameter, features an off-center crown and is topped with a slightly domed glass box-type sapphire crystal. Its new integrated steel bracelet features fluid lines based on organic forms. H. Moser named the Streamliner to recall the curved shapes that dominated the first high-speed trains of the 1920s. Price: $43,900.

SPECIFICATIONS: H. Moser Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic Funky Blue, (Reference 6902-1201)

Movement: Automatic Caliber HMC 902 developed with AGENHOR for H. Moser & Cie., frequency of 21,600 vibrations/hour, bi-directional winding, tungsten oscillating weight, positioned between the movement and the dial, double barrel, column wheel chronograph, two-stage chronograph mechanism, horizontal clutch with friction wheel; smooth wheel equipped with micro-teeth, tulip yoke allows the chronograph to be triggered or released. Power reserve: minimum 54 hours

Case: 42.3mm by 12.1mm steel topped by a domed sapphire crystal, chronograph push-buttons at 10 and 2 o’clock, screw-in crown at 4 o’clock adorned with an engraved M, see-through case-back.

Dynamic water resistance to 120 meters, allowing the chronograph and flyback function to be used underwater.

Dial: Funky Blue fumé, hour and minute hands with Globolight inserts, minute track for the elapsed seconds and minutes, tachymeter on the flange, Hours and minutes displays, chronograph with central display and indication of the elapsed minutes and seconds, flyback on the minutes and seconds.

Bracelet: Integrated steel, folding clasp with three steel blades, engraved with the Moser logo.

H. Moser was awarded two prizes at the 2020 GPHG: One for the Streamliner Flyback Automatic Chronograph (Best Chronograph) and another for its Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon H.Moser X MB&F model (Audacity Prize).
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Watch Of The Day

Patek Philippe Unveils Three-Strike Minute Repeater

Patek Philippe this week launches a platinum-cased Grand Complication, the Ref. 6301P Grande and Petite Sonnerie, Minute Repeater with Jumping Seconds, the Geneva watchmaker’s primary technical watch debut for 2020.

Patek Philippe’s new platinum-cased Grand Complication, the Ref. 6301P Grande and Petite Sonnerie, Minute Repeater with Jumping Seconds.

With its black grand feu enamel dial, slanted Breguet numerals and relatively unadorned time and power reserve indications, the new watch understates its impressive and complex chiming mechanism. While eyeing a classically presented time display, a wearer can also place an ear to the 44.8mm case and enjoy a rarely orchestrated symphony of three gongs: a grande sonnerie (full strike), petite sonnerie (small strike) and an on-demand minute repeater.

Patek Philippe has also added an unexpected layer of complexity to the new watch by incorporating a jumping seconds indicator, prominently displayed at the 6 o’clock position on the dial. Patek Philippe looked to its Reference 5275 from 2014 for inspiration on this complication, as that chiming model boasted jumping hours, minutes and seconds.

Patek Philippe opted to place the strike mode selector at 6 o’clock on the case.

New slide

Patek Philippe watchmakers, well-versed in designing and building the brand’s highly regarded and extensive range of chiming watches, developed the new caliber GS 36-750 PS IRM movement directly inspired by Caliber 300 used in the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300 from 2014.  

Unlike most chiming watches from Patek Philippe and elsewhere, the new watch’s chime control center is located below the 6 o’clock position rather than on the left side of the case. On this watch, the selector can be adjusted to petite sonnerie mode (left side), grande sonnerie (center) and silence (right). The user activates the minute repeater on request with the pusher in the winding crown.

Because Patek Philippe opted to place that strike mode selector at 6 o’clock on the case, the watchmaker needed to move its traditional small-diamond platinum case indicator to the side of the case at the 12 o’clock position.

The diamond, here at 12 o’clock, indicates that the case is platinum.

Two barrels

Two series-connected twin mainspring barrels power the new caliber GS 36-750 PS IRM movement. One assures a power reserve of 24 hours for the striking mechanism while the second ensures a 72-hour power reserve for the movement.

New the new caliber GS 36-750 PS IRM is inspired by Caliber 300 used in the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300 from 2014.

All this chiming and timing occurs within a platinum case that may look familiar. Inspired by the Ref. 5370 split-seconds chronograph Patek Philippe presented in 2015, the case features rounded contours, a concave bezel and a slightly cambered sapphire crystal.

Details of the striking mechanism with three gongs.

In summary, the new Patek Philippe Ref. 6301P Grande Sonnerie includes these six complications:

  1. Grande sonnerie
  2. Petite sonnerie
  3. Minute repeater
  4. Movement power-reserve indicator
  5. Strikework power-reserve indicator
  6. Jumping seconds

In addition, the new watch offers unique technical achievements that have resulted in the Geneva watchmaker earning three patents, which Patek Philippe describes below:

  • Isolation of the grande sonnerie in the silence mode (Patent CH 704 950 B1). In the silence mode, this mechanism totally isolates the grande sonnerie from the power flow and eliminates energy consumption.
  • Selection of the strike work mode (Patent CH 706 080 B1). This mechanism enables the selection of the strike work mode (petite sonnerie, grande sonnerie, silence) with a single lever and a single slide switch. Two slide switches were formerly required for this operation.
  • Jumping display with a jumping seconds wheel (Patent CH 707 181 A2). This innovative mechanism for jumping displays does not require springs and levers but instead uses wheels and a release lever that instantaneously unblocks the wheel train every second, and features a coiled return spring as the only power element. The advantage of this system is that it makes energy consumption easier to regulate and control.

Patek Philippe will offer the new Ref. 6301P Grande Sonnerie  on a shiny black, hand-stitched alligator leather strap with square scales, secured with a fold-over clasp. The price for the limited production watch is available upon request.

 

Specifications: Patek Philippe Ref. 6310P Grande and Petite Sonnerie, Minute Repeater with Jumping Seconds

Movement: Patek Philippe Caliber GS 36-750 PS IRM, manual winding, minute repeater with 3 classic gongs, grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, jumping small seconds at 6 o’clock, power reserve indicators for the movement 
(72h) and for the strike work (24h), frequency of 25,200 bph 
(3.5 Hz), power reserve of 72 hours, strike work power reserve of 24 hours.

Dial: Grand Feu black enamel with glazed finish, gold applied Breguet numerals, 18-karat gold dial plate, white gold leaf-shaped hands 
with luminescent coating.

Case: 44.8 mm
 by 12mm platinum, humidity-and dust-protected only 
(not water-resistant), interchangeable solid and sapphire crystal 
case backs.

Strap: Alligator leather with square scales, hand-stitched, shiny black, fold-over clasp.

 

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Casio

G-Shock Enhances MT-G with Carbon Fiber

G-Shock just made its already hyper-secure steel-cased MT-G series even more resistant to sudden shocks.

With its new G-SHOCK MTGB2000 Casio reinforces the collection’s metal core with a one-piece carbon fiber frame on two new MT-G watches. The new technical pairing takes full advantage of carbon fiber’s light weight as well as its rigid nature.

The new G-Shock MTGB20000D-1A

G-Shock calls this melding of materials a “Dual Core Guard.” Yet, despite the addition of the carbon fiber ring, these new MT-G debuts retain the metal-case appearance that drew G-Shock fans to the premium-priced, mid-sized collection if the first place.

G-shock is debuting the new design with two models initially. One, the G-Shock MTGB2000D-1A, features a black bezel and dial with a composite bracelet made of resin and metal (which is about 15% lighter than previous metal bracelets).

The second watch, the G-Shock MTGB2000B-1A2 features a black dial with blue accents and a blue bezel. This model arrives on a soft urethane strap.

G-Shock has also enhanced the new models’ electronic components. Both watches now utilize the same three dual-coil motors we’ve seen on other G-Shock models. When activated by radio-wave time-calibration signals via the G-Shock app, the hands will reset almost instantly.

Other features include G-Shock’s own Triple G Resist anti-shock platform (shock resistance, vibration resistance and centrifugal force resistance) and the watch will automatically adjust to the local time when crossing time zones. True to MT-G, the new watches retain complete calendar, world time, alarm and stopwatch functions.

For a full list of features, and to learn more about the new Dual Core Guard enhancements in these latest MT-G models, click here.

The G-Shock MTGB2000B-1A2 ($950) and the G-Shock MTGB2000D-1A ($1,000) will be available in November at G-SHOCK retailers, the G-SHOCK Soho Store and gshock.com.

 

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