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The Watches

Ochs und Junior’s Raw Brass

The Settimana Raw Brass is the newest exercise in pure minimalism from Ochs und Junior. The independent watchmaker launched a silver-dialed version of the watch late in 2021, and this latest edition adds a raw brass dial to the series, which is being offered in 36mm and 40mm titanium-cased options.

The new Ochs und Junior Settimana Raw Brass, available in 36mm and 40mm sizes.

La Chaux-de-Fonds-based Ochs und Junior was founded in 2006 by renowned scholar and watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin, alongside Kurt König, managing director of Swiss watch retailer Embassy, and Beat Weinmann.

Oechslin’s seven-component module meshes with a Sellita automatic movement and is simplicity at work. It consists of the brass dial with a functional back, a gear with weekday display (point), a triple function wheel and a transmission wheel.

In addition to indicating the time in hours, minutes and seconds via the hands, the dial also indicates the days of week via a black dot that rotates clockwise between the 1 o’clock and the 7 o’clock positions. The dot rotates from 1 o’clock (Monday) to 7 o’clock (Sunday). At the beginning of the week, the dot moves quickly to cover the 8 o’clock to 12 o’clock segment, restarting the new week each Monday morning.

Ochs und Junior artisans coat the hands and the rotating dot (day indicator) with black SuperLuminova.

Oeschlin also designed the case, using two titanium parts. In keeping with the overall industrial feel to the collection, artisans leave visible machining and milling traces on the case. An Oeschlin-designed crown and buckle complete the package.

The watch is fitted with a black Cordura strap and a leather case, both handmade by designer Sabina Brägger. Price: CHF 2,215 (36mm or 40mm titanium case).

 

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The Watches

Shinola Debuts a Yacht Timer

Released just in time for the 98th annual Bayview Mackinaw freshwater sailing race (which commenced July 16), the Shinola Mackinac Yacht Watch Automatic Chronograph is the Detroit-based watchmaker’s latest automatic chronograph – and first yacht timer.

The Shinola Mackinac Yacht Watch Automatic Chronograph.

By engaging the watch’s five-minute countdown subdial, a skipper can time his or her entry into position at the start of any official regatta. As Shinola explains, boats “get up to cruising speed in a stretch of water parallel to the starting line. Using a yacht timer at countdown, a boat crew can precisely cut into position, get the perfect angle, and cross the starting line at the start signal.”

The Shinola Mackinac’s 40mm square steel case frames a bright canary yellow dial with orange and red accents. The yacht timer subdial, with its broad orange hand, stands out for easy viewing at the 3 o’clock position in three-tone blue.

Shinola fits a customized Sellita automatic movement inside, showing it off via an exhibition case back. The entire case is fit to the wrist with an interchangeable yellow rubber strap.

The Mackinac Boat Race is one of the longest and most difficult fresh-water races in the world. It starts in the lower waters of Lake Huron where hundreds of boats compete for two hundred nautical miles to the channel just off Mackinac Island. 

Price: $3,500.

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The Watches

Bell & Ross Decorates BR 05

Bell & Ross dresses up its BR 05 with 1930s-era industrial design accents to create the new BR 05 Artline, a limited edition of 250 pieces.

The new Bell & Ross BR 05 Artline.

The Franco-Swiss watchmaker introduced the “round within a square” BR 05 design with integrated bracelet in 2019 and it quickly became a best seller. Now, Bell & Ross adds new artistic style to underscore the fluid lines of the collection.

Called Artline, the new décor accents the case and bracelet of the watch with distinctive aerodynamic lines.

“This name indicates that it incorporates an artistic dimension (art) in its design (line). When you look at it, you immediately think of the American style of the Stream-Line,” explains Bruno Belamich, co-founder of Bell & Ross. The new finish appears on the one-piece bezel, which is fixed to the case with four screws, and on the central bracelet links, uniting the overall style.

Belamich, who is also creative director for the brand, explains that the somewhat ornate BR 05 Artline design was inspired by air travel and architecture.

The folded metal, he explains, recalls the first transport planes of the 1940s, which were known for their corrugated aluminum fuselage. The technique instilled lightness and resistance to deformation to the airplane.

The BR 05 Artline’s architectural inspirations can also be seen in the aluminum facades of buildings and on avant-garde lighting and furnishings.

The new watch also utilizes a new dial color for Bell & Ross: sunburst ruthenium grey. The result of metallization process, the dial nicely complements the steel case, especially with its generous use of Superluminova on the hands and markers.

Bell & Ross powers the BR 05 Artline with its Sellita-based automatic BR-CAL 321 caliber, which is visible through a sapphire caseback. The movement’s rotor is designed to echo the look of a sports car rim.

The new BR 05 Artline is a limited edition of 250 pieces and is on sale online in Bell & Ross boutiques. Price: $5,500.

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Oris

Oris ‘Oyster’ Diver Raises Funds to Clean New York Harbor

Oris continues its industry leading efforts to clean up our oceans with a new watch created to benefit the Billion Oyster Project, a non-profit working to restore New York Harbor’s oyster population. Sometime called the ocean’s trees, oyster colonies create ecosystems for other marine life, and form natural storm barriers.

The new Oris New York Harbor Limited Edition.

The new Oris New York Harbor Limited Edition is a 2,000-piece limited edition based on its 41.5mm steel-cased Aquis diver’s watch collection (see full list of specifications below). Oris devised a green mother-of-pearl dial inspired by the color of the harbor’s water and by the shimmering nacre of the oyster shell.

Note that Oris has long been a proponent of cleaning the oceans and has partnered with numerous environmental organizations over the years as part of its Change for Better program. Just last year Climate Partner independently certified Oris as a climate neutral company. As detailed in its Sustainability Report, Oris plans to reduce its climate footprint by ten per cent a year for the next three years.

Billion Oyster Project began in 2014. Founded by educators Murray Fisher and Pete Malinowski, it has brought together 11,000 volunteers, 8,000 students, 100 
New York City schools and more than fifty restaurant partners together to place oysters and build reefs.

Thus far, the Project has introduced 75 million juvenile oysters to eighteen restoration sites in New York Harbor, and the oyster population is now self-sustaining.

 

Oris will release the New York Harbor Limited Edition with a special presentation box that also includes a rubber strap, metal bracelet and strap-changing tool. Price: $2,700.

 

Specifications: Oris New York Harbor Limited Edition

(Limited edition of 2,000 numbered pieces)

Case: 41.5mm stainless steel case, unidirectional rotating bezel, stainless steel bezel with minutes scale in relief
, 
 sapphire crystal domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside
, screwed caseback in stainless steel with special engravings, steel screw-in security crown
, water resistance to 300 meters.

Dial: Green, mother-of-pearl, luminous hands and indices.

Strap: Green rubber, supplied with additional multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet with folding clasp with extension and strap changing tool.

Movement: Automatic Oris 733 (Sellita-based) showing hours, minutes and central sweep seconds hands, date with quick setting, stop second device, date window at 6 o’clock. 
Power reserve of 38 hours.

Price: $2,700.

 

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The Watches

Maurice Lacroix Downsizes a Skeleton

Maurice Lacroix has worked with movement specialist Sellita to create a new skeletonized version of the watchmaker’s best-selling Aikon. And unlike most of the watchmaker’s existing skeletonized watches, this new model, the Aikon Automatic Skeleton 39mm, with its namesake 39mm diameter case size, is the smallest –and first unisex – open-worked watch within the full Maurice Lacroix collection.

The new Maurice Lacroix Aikon Automatic Skeleton 39mm.

Collectors familiar with Maurice Lacroix know that it has a long history of making skeleton watches. Especially within its Masterpiece collection, this contemporary manufacture has long offered alluring open-worked dials alongside a host of interesting models with multi-hand retrograde functions.

Noting that it wanted to create an affordable skeleton watch with the brand’s existing high quality-price ratio, Maurice Lacroix aimed to work with Sellita to “apply its expertise to the creation of a new, contemporary model with smaller case dimensions.”

With this new Aikon Automatic Skeleton 39mm, the company adds to existing work with the movement specialist to create Automatic ML115 (base SW200). With considerable transparency, circular grained finishing and combined sun-brushed and sandblasted décor, the new watch successfully says ‘contemporary’ within an often very classic mechanical watch category.

Thus, instead of delicate filigree we see curved, matte-finished bridges that nicely expose the movement’s gearing and escapement while maintaining the torsional strength needed in a casually sporty watch.

Maurice Lacroix also fits the Aikon Automatic Skeleton 39mm with the brand’s Easy Strap Exchange system which allows the wearer to swap the bracelet for one of the leather or rubber strap options without using any tools.

Price: $3,450.

 

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