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MB&F Dresses its Perpetual Calendar in Zirconium

MB&F wants you to wear its new Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO anywhere you go.

The new watch, which MB&F debuts today, is an exuberant, ultra-tough version of its innovative and GPHG-award-winning Legacy Machine Perpetual (from 2015) that MB&F has now dressed in a new case and outfitted with enhanced shock resistance and increased water resistance.

The new MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO.

Cased in lightweight zirconium, an extremely durable silvery-grey metal frequently used by medical instrument makers, the new watch immediately differentiates itself from the earlier LM Perpetual by displaying no bezel. Instead, MB&F has fused the watch’s domed sapphire crystal directly to the 44mm case.

This re-configured case/crystal configuration opens up the wearer’s view of the watch’s eye-catching, hovering balance wheel, a signature MB&F design element. But more than that, the new design also decreases the watch’s overall height-to-diameter ratio, which can reduce the chances of accidental impact to the crystal.

Zirconium, while difficult to machine, makes for a particularly lightweight case; it also features enhanced hypoallergenic and anti-microbial properties.  MB&F has only used zirconium to case two previous watches, the HM3 Frog and HM5.

FlexRing

Perhaps the most critical addition to the original perpetual calendar’s movement design is a one-piece stainless steel dampener called the FlexRing. MB&F fits this new round component between the watch’s case and movement to enhance shock protection along the vertical and lateral axes.

MB&F designed a new shock-resistant component called FlexRing for the new movement.

According to MB&F, the new component “makes for the most robust Machine ever to emerge from MB&F.”

In addition to these adjustments, MB&F has transformed the watch’s pushers, which are larger and oblong instead of small and round, and has enhanced the water resistance of the crown (which is now screw-down) on this updated perpetual calendar. The sleeker pushers in particular signal the EVO’s sportiness.

To increase the watch’s water resistance to 80-meters MB&F has connected the crown to a new type of winding stem that disengages the crown from the winding mechanism when it is pushed in and tightened. This also prevents the wearer from over winding the mainspring barrel.

The movement

As a reminder, Stephen McDonnell effectively redesigned the traditional perpetual calendar when he first devised the LM Perpetual for MB&F five years ago.

McDonnell built the LM Perpetual with a “mechanical processor” (a series of superimposed disks) that takes the default number of days in the month at 28 and then adds the extra days as required by each individual month. This removes the chance that the date will jump incorrectly. He also built in a safety feature that disconnects the pushers during the date changeover to eliminate any risk of damage to the movement when the date is changed.

One of three plate color options, dubbed Atomic Orange, is new for MB&F.

New colors

In addition to bolstering the shock and water resistance of its perpetual calendar, MB&F is also emphasizing the LM Perpetual’s EVO’s sporty nature with new movement plate PVD or CVD colors and a rubber strap that fits snugly between two polished lugs.

One of three plate color options, dubbed Atomic Orange, is new for MB&F. The watchmaker says it has devised a new coating material and CVD coating technique that allowed it to add this sporty hue to its component color options.

The clear caseback reveals superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th century style with internal bevel angles and hand-polished bevels.

MB&F is offering two other dial-plate colors, PVD black and CVD blue, for the LM Perpetual EVO and is producing each of the three shades in a limited series of fifteen pieces (in celebration of the brand’s 15th anniversary). Strap colors are white, grey and black. Price: $167,000.

 

Specifications:  MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO

Movement: Fully integrated perpetual calendar developed for MB&F by Stephen McDonnell, featuring dial-side complication and mechanical processor system architecture with inbuilt safety mechanism. Manual winding with double mainspring barrels, bespoke 14mm balance wheel with traditional regulating screws visible on top of the movement. Superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th century style; internal bevel angles, polished bevels, Geneva waves, hand-made engravings. A FlexRing, an annular dampener fitted between case and movement, provides shock protection along the vertical and lateral axes, screw-down crown, 72-hour power reserve, 18,000 bph balance frequency (2.5Hz).

Functions/indications: Galvanic black dials with both SLN numerals and hands (except for the leap year and power reserve). Hours, minutes, day, date, month, retrograde leap year and power reserve indicators.

Case: 44mm by 17.5 mm zirconium, water resistance to 80 meters, sapphire crystals on top and display back treated with anti-reflective coating on both faces

Strap: Rubber strap with titanium folding buckle.

Price: $167,000.

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Watch Of The Day

TAG Heuer Adds Black Dial, New Bracelet to Monaco

TAG Heuer answered collector requests for a new black-dialed Monaco last week when it debuted the Monaco Chronograph 39 Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic, the first new black-dialed Monaco in a decade. And to enhance the offering, which also includes a new blue-dialed model, the watchmaker builds the newest Monaco with its in-house Caliber Heuer 02 automatic movement and pairs both with an all-new steel bracelet.

The newest Monaco, the TAG HeuerMonaco Chronograph 39 Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic.

These two new Monacos, with the same black-dialed model also matched to a new black alligator leather strap, are meant to continue the brand’s 50th anniversary celebration of the Monaco, which began in 2019.

The new blue and black watches feature dials that have been sunray brushed and configured with a familiar three-register layout with square, silvered hour and minute chronograph subdials. On both models, the running seconds indicator is marked by a simple crosshair pattern.

New bracelet

For many, the new bracelet will likely be as welcomed as the new black dial. Monaco hasn’t seen a fully new steel bracelet update in two decades. The new bracelet, which echoes the design of the H-shaped bracelet Heuer used on the Monaco in the early 1970s, features wider lugs than the earlier models and tapers a bit more around the wrist. It’s held with a new butterfly clasp.

“The bracelet is particularly important for any wristwatch – without a good bracelet, the timepiece lacks desirability,” says TAG Heuer’s Heritage Director, Catherine Eberlé-Devaux. “For the new Monaco timepieces, we have alluded to its brilliant past with a familiar design and color while reinforcing that the collection is moving forward with innovative new technology.”

TAG Heuer fits all three new editions with the excellent in-house manufacture Caliber Heuer 02, an automatic movement with a vertical clutch, column wheel and an impressive eighty-hour power reserve.

With a few exceptions, regular collection Monaco chronographs in recent years had been set with ETA-based Caliber 12 or Sellita-based Caliber 11.   

Prices: $6,750 (on steel bracelet) and $6,350 (on leather strap).

Specifications:
TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph 39mm Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic (bracelet model)

(Reference CBL2113.BA0644 and reference CBL2111.BA0644, blue dial available January 2021)

Movement: Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic with vertical clutch, column wheel, 80-hour power reserve.

Case: 39 mm polished and fine-brushed stainless-steel, bevelled, domed sapphire crystal
Sapphire caseback, water-resistant to 100 meters.

Dial: Blue or Black sunray brushed, rhodium-plated indexes, rhodium-plated hour and minute hands with white SuperLuminova, red lacquered central hand, white TAG HEUER printed logo, angled date display at 6 o’clock

–3 counters:
– 3 o’clock: silver minute chronograph counter
– 6 o’clock: black or blue permanent second indicator
– 9 o’clock: silver hour chronograph counter.
Bracelet: Alternating, three-row stainless steel with stainless-steel butterfly folding clasp with double safety push button.

Price: $6,750.00

 

TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph 39 mm Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic (alligator leather strap)(Reference CBL2113.FC6177)

Movement: Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic with vertical clutch, column wheel, 80-hour power reserve.

Case: 39 mm polished and fine-brushed stainless-steel, bevelled, domed sapphire crystal
Sapphire caseback, water-resistant to 100 meters.

Dial: Black Sunray-brushed, rhodium-plated indexes, rhodium-plated hour and minute hands with white SuperLuminova, red lacquered central hand, white TAG HEUER printed logo, angled date display at 6 o’clock

Three counters:
– 3 o’clock: silver minute chronograph counter
– 6 o’clock: black permanent second indicator
– 9 o’clock: silver hour chronograph counter
Strap: Black alligator leather, stainless-steel folding clasp with double safety push buttons

Price: $6,350

 

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The Watches

Nomos Celebrates 175 Years with Steel Lambda Trio

Earlier this year Nomos celebrated its 175th anniversary by offering a trio of anniversary themed Nomos Ludwig models. This week, the Glashütte-based watchmaker launches another anniversary trio, this time featuring Lambda models. And for this special series, Nomos is creating the first set of steel cases within the historically gold-cased Lambda collection.

One of the new Nomos Lambda 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte steel models, offered with black, white or blue enamel dials.

The novel case material is not the only special feature here that sets this anniversary edition apart from existing Lambda models. Nomos has also endowed the trio with particularly glossy enamel dials (in black, white and blue) and is debuting a new 40.5mm case, which measures just between the existing 39mm and 42mm gold Lambda collections. Nomos will make 175 examples of the Lambda 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches in each dial color.

Polish and elegance

Each enamel dial, framed by dressy thin bezel, is highly polished to match the Lambda’s polished steel case. As with existing Lambda models, the hands here are quite thin, with the power reserve hand in special focus at the top of the dial.  That hand, which sweeps across the dial to denote the unusually long 84-hours power reserve of the DUW 1001 manual-wind movement, make Lambda perhaps the most elegant of all Nomos collections.

The Nomos manual-wind movement, DUW 1001, showing sunburst finish.

That long power reserve stems from the dual barrels of the DUW 1001, a movement Nomos nicely decorates with six hand-polished screwed chatons, polished edges and serious black polishing on individual steel parts.

Nomos hand-engraves the movement’s balance cock with “Lovingly produced in Glashütte” in German.

Most notably, Nomos finishes the traditional Glashutte three-quarter-movement plate with the same fine sunburst polish the brand debuted within this collection years ago. Similarly, Nomos continues to hand-engrave the movement’s balance cock with “Lovingly produced in Glashütte” in German.

Price: $7,500.

 

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Watch Of The Day

Seiko Prospex: Ice, Ice, Baby

By Cordwainer Byrd

Seiko’s rich legacy of products that represent absolute real estate in the rich tapestry of wristwatch history lend themselves to recreations and homages, with 2020 delivering a singular treat in the release of a three-watch edition that charts the story of Seiko’s indelible mark on adventure, diving and outdoor sports.

Released this September, Seiko’s Prospex “Built for the Ice Diver” collection represents a material homage to Seiko’s 55-year history of producing sports diving watches, beginning in 1965 with the release of Japan’s first dive watch, the 62MAS.

The Original Seiko Diver’s watches. From left we see the 1968 Hi-Beat Diver’s 300m, the famed 1965 62MAS and the 1975 Professional Diver’s 600m.

New classics

The new collection is comprised of recreations of highly desirable classics that represent modern technology brought to bear on a vintage subject.

“Built for the Ice Diver” is a reference to Seiko’s position as Japan’s watch for the adventurer, tested in extreme conditions both underwater and as a companion to high mountaineers. The 62MAS set the standard for many subsequent Seiko dive watches, with an automatic movement, quickset date and 37mm stainless steel case capped with a plexiglass crystal and rectangular tritium minute markers, ratcheted bezel and broad hands. Vintage examples sell for more than $4,000.

This particular watch, of the many, many variations of Seiko’s developed across multiple markets, grew to prominence because of two men, one real and one fictional. The first, acclaimed Japanese Adventurer Naomi Uemura, chose the original Seiko 62MAS because it was a robust, waterproof watch, and made in Japan to boot.

Japanese Adventurer Naomi Uemura, pictured with the historical Seiko dive watches.

Sure, he could have picked a Rolex Explorer or Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, like any other run-of-the-mill international adventurer, but Uemura was a standard bearer for his country and selected that most Japanese of all brands, Seiko. He (probably) wore the watch throughout many of his treks, which included a one-man dog sled run from Greenland to Alaska, the first solo walk to the North Pole and ascension of the North American Denali Mountain, which marked his last adventure. He disappeared on the Denali hike, presumably with a Seiko on his wrist.

The second man in the Seiko storybook is the legendary “Captain Willard” from Francis Coppola’s film, “Apocalypse Now.” Willard, played by Martin Sheen, wore a Seiko in the same dive watch family, which gave rise to the watch’s status among collectors, (we love our little tribute names, don’t we), and its value on the secondary vintage watch market.

The legendary “Captain Willard” from Francis Coppola’s 1979 film “Apocalypse Now” wearing his Seiko diver.

Seiko has re-issued this watch in several variants over the years, and at varying price points, creating secondary and tertiary collectors’ markets for the multiple iterations of this product.

The new collection

For the uninitiated collector, deciphering the complicated soup of Seiko designations, per market, is itself a treasure hunt and the stuff many lengthy Seiko forum discussions. Suffice to say, the current Prospex Ice collection is alluring enough to satisfy anyone interested in wearing a tough watch that looks like a classic from the analogue era. So, let’s get on with now.

The Ice Diver collection is comprised of three watches, each with its own twist on our theme. Shop for SKUs SPB175 (grey dial/bezel), SPB177 (green dial/bezel) and SPB179 (blue dial/bezel), packaged in the Seiko Sumo case, released exclusively in the North American market and priced at a very competitive $900.

The Sumo variant is a wide (44mm), thin (12mm) all stainless watch case and signed bracelet, powered by a Seiko automatic caliber 6R35 movement, beating at a frequency of 21,600 BPH, pivoting on 24 jewels, with a 70-hour power reserve. It’s water resistant to 600 feet and has a dual curved sapphire crystal. It has a date indicator, rotating bezel, Lumibrite hands and markers and a three-year manufacturer’s warranty.

Seiko Prospex Ice Diver SPB175, priced at $900.
Seiko Prospex Ice Diver SPB177, priced at $900.

And if that’s not enough, it’s supplied to the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE), which means that the homage on an homage on an homage is now itself a bona fide collectible with its own nascent back story. Face it folks, for $900 this is one hell of a watch – and by the time you read this it will probably be sold out anyway, and headed to become a $1,500 watch on the collector’s market. And so it goes with Seiko.

Seiko Prospex Ice Diver SPB179, priced at $900.

Prospex is Seiko’s mid-range sports watch brand, with its own higher end LX series. It’s fascinating to watch Seiko grow and prune their brands into unique shapes, like an artistic gardener tending to a Bonsai tree.

With the chain-sawing of brands across many U.S. distribution points in 2019, Seiko drew a line in the sand: cut broad distribution, cut SKU’s, focus heavily on retailers and educate the consumer on the products to create new demand.

This release reflects that tactic in action. The Ice Diver collection plays off the perception of heritage, coupled with limited availability, backed by a lot of watch for the money. Instant collectible equals increased market desire for subsequent releases. Hats off to the company for delivering sales during a time period when we’re seeing other companies disappear into the vanity fueled, limited edition, lofty priced abyss.

Seiko Extra: The Spring Drive Prospex LX SNR029

For those seeking a classic-looking Seiko homage with all the attributes of current issue Seiko technology, take a look at the GPHG-award-winning Seiko Prospex LX SNR029.

Seiko Prospex LX SNR029

This watch literally straddles both of our planet’s unknown universes: space and water. At a list price of $6,000, this watch gives its Grand Seiko cousin a run for the money. This Prospex LX is titanium, with a case developed by Porsche designer Ken Okuyama and powered by Seiko’s 5R65 Spring Drive movement that is less susceptible to atmospheric deviations than a standard automatic watch.

 

The movement is found in Grand Seiko models and was actually worn in space by video game designer Richard Garriott, a citizen who paid the Russians to make him the sixth non-astronaut to travel to space. Needless to say, he wore a Seiko Spring Drive watch (whaddya think about that, Omega, Breitling, Casio, Rolex and Fortis). If you can get your hands on this classic – grab it!

 

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TAG Heuer Emphasizes Elegance with New Carrera

TAG Heuer added four dressy chronographs to its bedrock Carrera collection a few weeks ago, in part to balance the sporty line with sleek, tachymeter-free options.

One of four new TAG Heuer Carrera Elegant Chronographs.

Along with the new aesthetic choice, however, TAG Heuer powers all these new Carrera Elegant Chronographs with its in-house Caliber Heuer 02, the brand’s highly efficient column-wheel chronograph with vertical clutch that delivers an impressive eighty-hour power reserve.

TAG Heuer emphasizes its use of the top-line caliber with “Heuer 02 80 Hours” capitalized on the dial just below the date.

Thin bezel, slim bracelet    

The dressier profile here doesn’t simply rely on the generally unencumbered chronograph dial. The steel bezel itself, while reminiscent of the original Carrera from 1963, frames a simple one-fifth seconds track and connects the ends of a thin steel bracelet with rounded inner and outer links, or to a classic brown alligator strap. The result creates a subdued case and bracelet (or strap) that slides nicely under any shirt cuff.

The four dial hues extend TAG Heuer’s message of elegance-focused sport. The Le Locle manufacturer is making the Carrera Elegant Chronograph with dials of opaline black or sunray brushed blue, anthracite and silver (with rose-gold-plated hands). The recognizable TAG Heuer “azurage” subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock and the polished hands echo many other TAG Heuer offerings.

TAG Heuer is offering the watches with black and blue dials initially on the steel bracelet while pairing the bicolored version with a silver-colored dial and rose- gold-plated hands and the model with the anthracite dial are paired with the brown alligator leather strap.

From the back, you’ll view the Caliber Heuer 02, which features an also-dressy rose-gold-colored oscillating mass.

Prices: $5,350 and $5,550 (for model with silver-colored dial and rose-gold-plated hands).

 

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