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The Watches

Girard-Perregaux Brings Back the 1970s with an Updated Casquette

With the new Casquette 2.0, Girard-Perregaux revisits its Casquette, a futuristic tubular LED watch first seen in 1976. The watchmaker this week introduces an updated version of the quartz-powered watch with new case materials and new functions.

The new Girard-Perregaux Casquette 2.0.

Like the original model, which Girard-Perregaux offered from 1976 to 1978, the new version retains a forward-facing, driver’s-watch-style case and characteristic red LED display showing the hours, minutes, seconds, day, and date.

For the Casquette 2.0 update however, Girard-Perregaux has added several functions to the display, including the month, year, a chronograph, a second time zone display and a ‘secret’ date. (The latter function allows the wearer to save a memorable date, such as an anniversary or birthday, to appear each day at a time specified by the wearer.)

To complement the new features Girard-Perregaux also updates the Casquette’s watchcase by utilizing black ceramic and grade 5 titanium. The original Casquette was offered in three case variants: polycarbonate, yellow gold plate and steel.

The original Casquette, from a 1975 ad.

Only Watch

Astute observers may recall that Girard-Perregaux entered a Casquette into last year’s Only Watch charity auction. That one-off watch featured a new movement, the Caliber GP03980, which now powers the Casquette 2.0 series. Made in collaboration with Bamford Watch Department, the watch sold for CHF 100,000, and foreshadowed the release of the Casquette 2.0.

“Not all watches retain their looks and desirability with the passage of time,” says Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Girard-Perregaux. “However, since production of the original Casquette ceased in 1978, the interest in this watch has never diminished. We regularly receive inquiries and have witnessed these models attract much attention, fetching 10 times their original sales price on the pre-owned market.”

To display the time or access any of the new Casquette 2.0 features, the wearer must first press a pusher. This on-demand feature extends the quartz movement’s battery life, which Girard-Perregaux estimates is two years.

The newly designed ceramic bracelet features a rubber interior that Girard-Perregaux says is “more flexible and comfortable than its counterpart fitted to the original Casquette.” And you’ll now find a folding titanium buckle holding the bracelet to the wrist.

Girard-Perregaux is limiting the production of the new Casquette to 820 pieces– a reference to 8,200, the total number of Casquette watches made in the 1970s. The pricing for the Casquette 2.0 is almost as retro as the watch design: $4,700. Already sold out on the Girard-Perregaux website, you might find it in select Girard-Perregaux retailers.

Specifications: Girard-Perregaux Casquette 2.0

(A
 limited edition of 820 pieces)

Case: 42.40mm by 33.60mm by 14.64mm
 black ceramic and grade 5 titanium, grade 5 titanium pushers, sapphire crystal. Case-back: titanium secured by 4 screws. Water resistance: 50 meters.

Dial: Tubular LED display.

Movement: GP03980
quartz. Frequency: 32,768 Hz, 45
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, month, year, chronograph, second time zone, secret date.

Bracelet: Black ceramic with rubber interior and folding titanium buckle.

Price: $4,700.

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The Watches

Vostok-Europe Recalls the Space Race

By Gary Girdvainis

Vostok-Europe launches into orbit with its new Space Race edition. Celebrating the years 1957 through 1975 (as etched on the case back), the watch touches both sides of the Cold War-era of the last century.

The Vostok-Europe Space-Race, quartz chronograph model.

The critical dates and the events in the challenge to get to the moon occurred in this eighteen-year window. From Sputnik to Gagarin to John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, all these events and related personalities made their marks within those fateful dates. This is all honored in the new Space Race watch.

The Vostok-Europe Space-Race, automatic model.

Vostok-Europe is a boutique watch brand based in Vilnius, Lithuania, with seventeen years on the market. They build mostly sport and recreational watches, particularly dive watches.

The Space Race won’t be the only watch in their collection with ties to space travel. The Lunokhod II is inspired by a series of lunar rovers the Russians put on the moon. The N1 Rocket and the Energia both celebrate two of the most complex and largest rocket systems ever built.

The Space Race series features two models. One is driven by a YN55 automatic movement and the other is powered by a Miyota quartz chronograph movement. The case size is 47mm by 17mm, so these are not small watches.  A K1 glass system protects the watch. With a 200-meter water resistant design, this is nearly a professional grade diver, save for the required rotating bezel.

The Space Race comes in eight different color dial options. The strap is an extra thick leather and there are also mesh and rubber bracelet options.

Prices range from $369 to $549 and are available at www.R2Awatches.com

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Alpina

Alpina Limited Edition Chronograph Hits the Slopes

Geneva-based Alpina re-affirms its deep connections to the sporting world by introducing an eye-catching, affordably priced quartz chronograph in partnership with the snow sport Freeride World Tour.

The new Alpina Alpiner Quartz Chronograph Freeride World Tour Limited Edition.

The new limited edition Alpiner Quartz Chronograph Freeride World Tour 2022 commemorates Alpina’s fifth year as a partner of the ski and snowboarding competition series.

To be produced as a limited edition of 100 pieces, the 42mm steel watch is designed to recall the original 1938 Alpiner4, complete with Alpina’s red triangle logo at the base of the seconds hand.

Like the original Alpiner4, this new model also combines the four primary features that typically define a sports watch: anti-magnetism, shock resistance, water resistance and a steel case.

This limited model, however, incorporates the Freeride World Tour ‘alpine peaks’ logo at 12 o’clock and on its solid caseback (atop an engraving of the Swiss extreme skiing mountain Bec De Rosses). The watch also adds a chronograph, which is displayed here on the black dial via three counters, each framed by a silver circle.

Alpina touts an impressive four-and-a-half-year battery life for its quartz movement.

Price: $1,295.

 

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The Watches

LVMH Watch Week: A Sleeker TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200

TAG Heuer this week adds a thinner, more refined version of the Aquaracer Professional 200 to its Aquaracer collection.

Echoing updates TAG Heuer made to its Aquaracer Professional 300 dive watch this past April, the changes to the Aquaracer Professional 200 also result in a thinner and slightly smaller design while also retaining the technical specifications of what TAG Heuer calls its “all-terrain luxury tool watch.”

TAG Heuer’s new Aquaracer Professional 200, now available in 40mm and 30mm sizes. Pictured is a 40mm automatic model.

Those specifications include the same six design points TAG Heuer has built into the collection since 2004, the year Aquaracer debuted as the watchmaker’s dive watch collection. These include: a unidirectional rotating bezel; a screw-down crown; water resistance to at least 200 meters; luminous markings; a sapphire crystal; and a double safety clasp.

To create the new automatic Aquaracer 200 Professional, TAG Heuer combines these guideposts with a more wrist-friendly size (40mm versus 41mm in its previous iteration) and a more sophisticated black, silver or blue dial finish. (Seven quartz-powered Aquaracer 200 Professional collection watches will also be available in both 40mm and 30mm case sizes, and two new automatic models measure 30mm in diameter.)

Steel bezel

In addition to the smaller dimensions, TAG Heuer replaces the former model’s ceramic bezel diving scale with an eye-catching, engraved twelve-facet steel bezel. The new design features a polished central bracelet link, adding extra style to what is primarily an all-weather sport watch.

Both the automatic and quartz watches feature a slimmed-down, more elegant bracelet.

Those familiar with last year’s updates to the Aquaracer Professional 300 will see similar sartorial touches with the Aquaracer Professional 200 update. Note the same refined, repeating horizontal lines on the dial and the sculpted, shorter lugs with brushed and polished finishes.

But unlike the deep dive watch’s decidedly sporty dial, the dial on the new Aquaracer Professional 200 is more classically finished. You’ll see straight-edged, trapezoidal hour markers, thinner sword-shaped hands, and crisper detailing across the dial.

TAG Heuer notes that while it has still coated the watch’s hour markers and hands with SuperLuminova, its dial makers have added no luminescent material to the bezel. The result, according to the watchmaker, is a “more sartorial look” for the Aquaracer Professional 200.

The 30mm automatic model sports a smoky black or blue dial, some with diamond markers.

As noted above, TAG Heuer is offering the new Aquaracer Professional 200 models with a choice of movements and sizes. Within the 40mm collection, there are two automatic and two quartz references, while at 30mm there are two automatics and five quartz options.

The watch’s reverse is engraved with a compass, replacing the diving helmet featured on earlier Aquaracer case backs.

These choices differ markedly from the options available with the 2021 Aquaracer Professional 300 update, which is only available with an automatic movement. In summary, the automatic Aquaracer Professional 200 models sport gradient dials, date windows, sweeping seconds hands and more detailed minute tracks. The quartz model dials are simpler and display no date, though several models offer diamond accents.

Prices: $2,500 (40mm automatic), $1,850 (40mm quartz), $3,200 (30mm automatic), $2,500 to $4,550 (30mm quartz with diamonds), $1,800 (30mm quartz).

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The Watches

The U-Boat Bubble

By Gary Girdvainis

Under a domed crystal, a visible bubble quickly separates a U-Boat watch from most other watches. As this bubble dances over the dial, it actually serves the purpose of accommodating temperature variations that might otherwise damage the watch with the expansion of the limpid liquid within.

The U-Boat Darkmoon is available in a variety of colorful dial options.

The effect of the dance is amazing as the colorful U-Boat dials seems to leap out of the watch and project themselves onto the domed crystal, while the refraction effect mitigates any need for an anti-reflective coating.

The U-Boat Darkmoon is a full-sized watch with a crown-left position on its 44mm stainless steel and sapphire case. Inside is a Ronda 712.3 quartz movement powered by a quick-change battery that overcomes the problem of needing special equipment to change the power supply.

Water resistant to 50 meters, the U-Boat Darkmoon is available in a colorful array of dial options. Price: $1,420.

One caveat on owning this very cool quartz watch is that you do need to take care not to leave it in excessive heat or sunlight for too long as this may damage the watch – but that is sound advice for almost any watch.

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