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Zenith Adds Second Defy Revival 

Zenith unveils the second model in its collection of faithfully reproduced early Defy models with the Defy Revival A3691, a sharp-looking 37mm steel watch with a glossy red gradient dial that echoes the original from 1971.

The new Zenith Defy Revival A3691.

You might recall the first revival of the historic Defy series a few years ago when Zenith launched the Defy A3642. That debut recalled the original 1969 Zenith debut watch fans quickly dubbed the “bank vault” due to its thick 37mm octagonal case and fourteen-sided bezel.

This newest addition to the revival series retains the Defy fourteen-sided bezel set in an octagonal case. Zenith launched the original Defy A3691 model two years after the original ‘Bank Vault’ edition and with it introduced new colorful dials with a vignette or gradient effect that darkens towards the edges. 

Like the original, the new Revival A3691 also features unusual applied square hour markers with horizontal grooves and the Gay Frères steel ladder bracelet. Zenith says the bracelet has been updated with a more modern and ergonomic folding clasp.

The differences between the original model and the new revival are largely technical. The  new edition now utilizes a sapphire crystal, SuperLuminova-coated hands and a new Zenith Elite 670 automatic movement, which boasts a fifty-hour power reserve. 

Also new is the sapphire caseback, which allows a view of the movement and its four-point Zenith star rotor. And, despite the new clear back, Zenith has retained the watch’s healthy 300-meter water resistance rating.

Zenith adds the new Defy Revival A3691 to the ongoing Defy collection. Price: $6,900.

 

Specifications: Zenith Defy Revival A3691

Movement: Zenith Elite 670 automatic, 4 Hz frequency, power reserve of 50 hours. Star-shaped rotor with satin finish.

Case: 37mm steel, 300-meters of water resistance.

Dial: Ruby color gradient with rhodium-plated and faceted hour markers and hands, hands coated with SuperLuminova. 

Bracelet: Gay Frères ladder-style with updated folding clasp.

Price: $6,900. 

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Bulgari Expands Jeweled Collections 

During LVMH Watch Week 2023, Bulgari launched new models in its jeweled Divas’ Dream and Allegra collections. In addition, Bulgari has designed new bracelets and added new curves on new models in the snake-themed Serpenti Tubogas and  Serpenti Seduttori collections.

The new Bulgari Divas’ Dream Topaz & Tanzanite.

Divas’ Dream and Allegra

Look for new hues in Bulgari’s highly jeweled, dangly Allegra watch collection. New models mix  topaz, tanzanite, amethyst, tourmaline, ruby and pink or yellow sapphire.

The new Bulgari Allegra Yellow Sapphires.
The new Bulgari Divas’ Dream Amethyst & Tourmaline.

And within the Divas’ Dream and the two new Divas’ Dream Mosaica models, rose gold or white gold watches are outfitted with quartz or mechanical movements while the Allegra models show the time with a quartz movement.

The Divas’ Dream Mosaica in rose gold. The design of the bracelet’s gemset lugs echoes the dial motifs.
The Divas’ Dream Mosaica with blue sapphires is paired with a bracelet created by Bulgari’s goldsmiths.
The transparent caseback on the Divas’ Deam Mosaica Blue reveals a finely decorated Bulgari self-winding movement.

Prices begin at 32,100 euros, or about $34,000.

Up close on the head of the Bulgari Serpenti Tubogas Infinity.

Serpenti Tubogas Infinity

A year after Bulgari debuted the smallest round mechanical movement, the Piccolissimo caliber BVL 100, into its Serpenti High Jewelry models, the watchmaker/jeweler introduces Serpenti Tubogas Infinity. Here and for the first time, the famed serpentine shape continues from the watch case all the way to the bracelet.

To make the leap, Bulgari has added gems to the bracelet’s modular construction. Artisans mold each ring on the bracelet separately before then polishing, setting them with gems and assembling them on a titanium blade.

Serpenti Seduttori

Two new Serpenti Seduttori models offer deep black lacquered dials. One addition is cased in steel and another made of steel with a rose gold bezel and central bracelet links..

Here, Bulgari again creates a hexagonal scaglie (scale) bracelet that appears to merge seamlessly into the snakehead case. Both new 33mm models ares set with a quartz movement and a cabochon-cut pink rubellite crown. Prices: 5,400 euros (steel) and 9,400 euros (steel with rose gold bezel). 

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TAG Heuer Celebrates Carrera’s 60th Anniversary 

Within its LVMH Watch Week 2023 debut collection, TAG Heuer celebrates the six-decade anniversary of its Carrera with the new Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary, a 600-piece edition with a retro black and silver ‘panda’ dial.

The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary

In addition, the Le Locle watchmaker launches  a colorful Monza Flyback Chronometer ($13,850), reprises its light-powered TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph ($3,050) and expands its Connected smartwatch collection.

The new light-powered TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph.

 

The new TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer.

Below, we’ll look at the new Carrera celebratory debut. Look to upcoming posts for details about the new Monza Flyback, the Aquaracer Solargraph and the Connected debuts.

New Carrera

Since its debut in 1963, the Carrera has been a Heuer and TAG Heuer mainstay, representing the watchmaker’s deep connections to auto racing. By the late 1960s, Heuer offered the stylish Carrera reference 2447 SN with a either a silvered dial and black subdials, or the other way around, a design known respectively as ‘panda’ and ‘reverse panda’.

To celebrate Carrera’s sixty-year history, TAG Heuer’s new Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary reinterprets the original ‘panda’ version of the watch with a limited edition that mimics the original in faithful detail. 

The colors on the new edition are the same as the original, as are the black stripes down the central hands and hour markers, the double stops at 12, and the black counters with high-contrast white markings. Retro-fans will enjoy the vintage Heuer logo  with the Carrera monicker above it. Even the counter at 6 o’clock features the ‘Swiss’ rather than the modern ‘Swiss Made’.

Differences on the dial can be seen in the 60-minute and 12-hour counters, which here are reversed. In addition, you’ll not find the tritium indication (the letter T) on the dial for obvious reasons. 

TAG Heuer has protected the dial with a 39mm polished steel case and a glass box sapphire crystal. This retro style is underscored by the watch’s vintage pushers, beige luminescence and thin tension ring around the dial’s outer edge.

Inside, TAG Heuer fits its excellent Heuer 02, an in-house automatic chronograph caliber with a column-wheel and an eighty-hour power reserve. The modern caliber is also displayed in a contemporary manner with a clear sapphire caseback that reveals a special Carrera 60th Anniversary rotor.

TAG Heuer notes that this Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary is the first watch in planned series of releases to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Carrera.

Price: $7,400. 

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The Watches

Hublot Revives an Original

Among its wide-ranging LVMH Watch Week 2023 debuts (which include several new Big Bang and Spirit of Big Bang models) Hublot revisits its 1980 debut model, the first luxury Swiss watch that dared to arrive attached to a rubber strap.

The Hublot Classic Fusion Original is available in titanium, black ceramic and yellow gold, and in three case sizes.

Designed by Hublot founder Carlo Crocco in 1980, the 36mm ‘Classic Original’ embodied contemporary luxury with a polished black lacquered dial, no markers except for twelve screws along the bezel, a date window, facetted hands and a vanilla-scented black rubber strap.

Hublot founder Carlo Crocco with early Hublot models, including what Hublot now calls the Classic Original.

It didn’t take long for enthusiasts, in search of an original design, to agree that its spare dial and supple black rubber strap represented a modern approach to the typically busier dial and leather straps of classic Swiss watch design.

Hublot in 2023 revives the 1980 original with the new Classic Fusion Original, an updated version that adds a more sophisticated, multi-level case with a clear sapphire caseback.

The newest version also now offers the modern Hublot six-screw bezel design and, with two of the new models, is powered by modern Hublot MHUB1110 Sellita-based automatic movement. Even the Hublot logo at the top of the dial has changed over the years, though ever so subtly.

To reach the widest range of new enthusiasts, Hublot offers the new Classic Fusion Original in three different case metals and in three different sizes. Thus, you’ll find the new watch available in yellow gold, titanium and ceramic and the cases made in 42mm, 38mm and 33mm diameters.

We’ll show you all the LVMH Watch Week 2023 debuts in upcoming posts. 

Prices: 42mm:  $8,200 (Titanium), $10,000 (Black Magic) and $24,100.00 (Yellow Gold.)

For 38mm: $7,900 (Titanium), $8,500 (Black Magic) and $20,500 (Yellow Gold).

33mm quartz-powered: $6,500 (Titanium), $7,300 (Black Magic) and $17,800 (Yellow Gold).

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The Watches

Oris Debuts New Caliber in Big Crown Pointer Date

Oris adds to its Caliber 400 series of long power reserve movements with Caliber 473, a new manual-wind movement with a 120-hour (five-day) power reserve that the independent watchmaker will debut in a new watch, the Big Crown Calibre 473.

The new Oris Big Crown Calibre 473

While Oris has previously fit its Big Crown Pointer Date fit with the automatic Caliber 403, also a five-day-power reserve caliber, the new watch will premiere the latest manual-wind iteration of the Caliber 400 series, which debuted in 2020 as the first Oris in-house automatic movement in forty years.  The new caliber is the watchmaker’s tenth in-house caliber in ten years.

Derived from the firm’s well-known Big Crown Pointer Date, the new watch is a 38mm steel model with a blue dial displaying the familiar Big Crown’s familiar central two-hand time display with a central date hand and small seconds at 6 o’clock.

Like the full series of Oris Caliber 400 movements, Caliber 473 is also constructed to demonstrate high levels of anti-magnetism.

New Oris Caliber 473, a manual-winder with five-day power reserve.

And like earlier models fit with Caliber 400 series movements, the new watch also comes with a ten-year warranty and ten-year recommended service intervals. Oris notes that new caliber took four years to develop and is the subject of a pending patent.

The watchmaker has placed the 120-hour power reserve indicator on the back of Caliber 473 to inform the wearer when its time to rewind. As a bonus, Oris is premiering its new stainless steel butterfly clasp with fine adjustment system on the Big Crown Calibre 473. 

Price: $4,400.

 

Specifications: Oris Big Crown Calibre 473

Movement: Manual-wind Oris Caliber 473, 120- hour power reserve indicator on reverse, fine timing device and stop-second, accuracy -3/+5 seconds a day (within COSC tolerances), power reserve of 120 hours, highly anti-magnetic.

Case: Multi-piece 38mm stainless steel, domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating inside, stainless steel screw-in security crown. Caseback is stainless steel, screwed with see-through sapphire glass. 50 meters of water resistance.  

Dial: Blue with luminous indices, numbers and hands printed with Super-LumiNova. 

Strap: Olive brown, crafted from sustainably sourced deer leather produced by Oris’s Swiss partner Cervo Volante. New Oris-developed stainless steel butterfly clasp with fine adjustment system. 

Price: $4,400.

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