Franck Muller teams with acclaimed Paris-based artist Hom Nguyen to create the Cintrée Curvex Double Mystery, a unique piece with a tourbillon at 6 o’clock and an artistic dial meant to represent the face of a child looking up to the sky.
The Franck Muller Cintrée Curvex Double Mystery features lines that represent a child gazing at the sky.
On the watch, which Franck Muller debuted earlier this year and is just now making available, the artist draws directly on the matte black Curvex dial to create an emotionally charged design that “embodies the trajectories of human lives,” according to the Franck Muller.
Without hands, the dial’s signature Double Mystery design depicts time using two rotating discs. The full face of the child in the artwork takes full shape when the discs are perfectly aligned at 12 o’clock.
The manual-wind watch, which offers a power reserve of sixty hours, is packaged in a special box also designed by Nguyen. The case is a box entirely decorated with the faces of children the artist met in Cambodia.
California-based Wilbur expands its EXP collection with the EXP C-1, a new model encased in black ceramic and a customized gold alloy.
The new watch is the first edition of the eight-sided, nine-part EXP case Wilbur has built using a precious metal. The EXP-C1 joins two existing EXP offerings, one with a steel case and another with a ceramic/steel case.
The new gold model adds an option to collectors in search of a more luxurious version of the Wilbur EXP, a 41.5mm open-worked, three-hand watch with date.
“We fell in love with a set of champagne gold wheels on a Porsche GT2 and set out to replicate the color,” explains Wilbur founder Jason Wilbur. “We wanted a modern and futuristic gold not a traditional gold, so we developed our own.”
He notes that the contrast between the matte black ceramic case-core and the TechGold steel lugs and bezel makes for a “super modern and unique version of a gold watch.”
The new Wilbur EXP C-1.
The EXP fits into the Wilbur collection between the entry model called Launch Edition and the new, highly customized LEO. Like the other Wilbur designs, the EXP offers a futuristic three-dimensional architectural design that exposes its automatic movement, which appears to be floating within its skeletal case. The watch’s chapter ring seems to float above a semi-transparent dial that clears the view to the automatic movement.
Like all EXP models, the C1 version is built in the United States using a Sellita automatic movement at its base, modified and regulated in-house by Wilbur. The watchmaker also makes a selection of colorful silicone straps for the EXP-C1, all of which can be quickly changed by the wearer.
Price: $7,125.
Wilbur EXP silicone strap options.
Specifications: Wilbur EXP-C1
Case: 41.50mm by 41.50mm by 14.70mm ceramic & Tech Gold DLC (not including lugs & crown), 9-Part Modular Exo-Chassis, sapphire crystals with anti-reflective coating, 50 meters water resistance, hand finished, exhibition back.
Movement: Wilbur-modified, in-house regulated Sellita automatic with 38-hours of power reserve.
Dial: Suspended, 3-D with hand-finished details, semi-transparent dial, floating chapter ring, time and date, EXP rotor.
Straps: Standard straps or silicone quick-change in multiple colors, ballistic nylon and cordura options available, bolt-on buckle.
Reservoir darkens its Sonomaster to create the Sonomaster Chronograph Black Thunder, a rock-n-roll-inspired black PVD edition of the Paris-based watchmaker’s unusual bi-retrograde design.
The new Reservoir Sonomaster Chronograph Black Thunder.
Like the existing Sonomaster models, the new Chronograph Black Thunder takes its dial design cues from the retro look of VU meters on analog stereo amplifiers. Rather than showing volume levels, Reservoir displays seconds (left side) and the date (right side) on the dial.
With its all-black dress, the new watch is meant to echo the prevailing color of rock concerts, where the needle on a VU meter might just reach 11. Reservoir extends the high-volume inspiration with the design of the watch’s pushers and crown, which are made to look like the treble and bass buttons on rock amplifiers.
The bi-retrograde dial retains the Sonomaster’s existing 120° date and seconds displays, which also shows chronograph timing via central second, the 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock position and the hour counter at 6 o’clock.
Reservoir teams with Swiss custom movement maker La Joux-Perret to create the 43mm steel watch’s movement, automatic caliber RSV-Bi120, a manufacture bi-retrograde chronograph with column wheel.
Well-known for its dashboard-inspired jump-hour watches, Reservoir earlier this year introduced the Sonomaster Chronograph. In addition to the debuting the unusual bi-retrograde display, the watch was the brand’s first with a traditional two-hand hour and minutes display.
Price: $6,350.
Specifications: Reservoir Sonomaster Chronograph Black Thunder
Case: 43mm PVD black stainless steel with brushed finish, tachymeter bezel. Water-resistant to 50-meters, open back with domed sapphire crystal.
Dial: Hands with Superluminova, chronograph (central second, 30-minute counter at 12, hour counter at 6), bi-retrograde date and seconds, at 120°, hour, minute.
Movement: Caliber RSV-Bi120, a manufacture bi-retrograde chronograph movement, automatic mechanical winding and column wheel (LJP-LC01 base), 60-hour power reserve, 28,800 alt./h.
Strap: Black leather with black stitching, steel butterfly folding clasp.
Bell & Ross honors Patrouille de France pilots with a new analog-digital watch that delivers optimal readability and a range of cockpit-friendly functions.
The new Bell & Ross BR 03 Type A Patrouille de France.
In addition to the time, the new BR 03 Type A Patrouille de France displays a 1/100th-of-a-second chronograph with intermediate and additional time, a countdown timer, an alarm, the date and a second time zone.
The new watch is the third BR-03 model Bell & Ross has designed for the elite French aerobatic pilots, who fly in close formation at speeds of between 300 and 800 km/h, thrilling crowds across France.
Bell & Ross started its partnership with the team in 2008 when the Air Force requested that Bell & Ross design a BR 03 Type A instrument for fighter pilots. Last year, Bell & Ross formalized the partnership and debuted the BR-03 94 Patrouille de France.
The latest model also utilizes the Bell & Ross 42mm square BR 03 case in steel and sports a matte blue dial and the Patrouille de France logo.
The watch’s quartz-powered caliber allows for a full thirty months of battery life. Hours and minutes are displayed with conventional hands, while the seconds and chronograph times are displayed on a digital screen.The window at the top of the dial shows the chosen function and the window at the bottom of the dial digitally displays the measurement. The pilot chooses the function by pressing the crown.
Specifications: Bell & Ross BR 03 Type A Patrouille de France
Movement: BR-CAL.103, a multi-function quartz instrument watch with analogue-digital display.
Functions: Permanent analog display: Hours Minutes. Digital display activation/deactivation: 1/100 chronograph and lap times, countdown, second time zone, alarm, perpetual calendar. Choice of languages FR, EN, ES, DE.
Case: 42mm by 11.25mm satin-polished steel. Bi-directional rotating steel bezel with 60 graduations. Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, 100-meters of water resistance.
Dial: Matte blue paint, Patrouille de France logo at 9 o’clock. White transfer numerals and indexes with white SuperLuminovacoating.
Strap: Blue rubber with Patrouille de France engraved logo at 12 o’clock and ultra-resilient black synthetic fabric. Satin-polished steel pin buckle.
With the new Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon, Zenith extends the reach of one of its most technically complex movements, El Primero Caliber 9020, by placing it into two ongoing Defy Extreme designs.
The new Zenith Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon, here in a carbon case with rose gold.
The 1/100th-of-a-second high-frequency chronograph movement, with a seconds hand that races around the dial once per second, is already among the watchmaker’s defining technical achievements.
The new Zenith Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon, here in titanium, is now an ongoing Defy Extreme model.
Found previously powering special limited editions, the caliber utilizes two independent tourbillons, each regulating a different function. One tourbillon completes its rotation in sixty seconds to regulate the time display while the second tourbillon rotates in just five seconds to regulate a high-frequency chronograph.
The new watch is now most complicated model in the Zenith Defy collection. And true to Defy’s sporty character, the new model is set in a hefty 45mm case and will be offered with two different executions.
One version features a titanium case with a mix of satin-brushed, polished and matte surfaces (including the titanium bracelet). The second model, offered on a black rubber strap, is cased in carbon fiber with sandblasted matte rose gold twelve-sided bezel and pusher protectors. Both offer open-work dials to better display the dual tourbillons and their star-shaped cages.
Zenith’s El Primero Caliber 9020, front view.
Zenith has finished the watch’s El Primero 9020 movement to emphasize its decidedly contemporary nature.
El Primero Caliber 9020, rear view.
Artisans have satin-brushed its bridges and coated them with a layer of black PVD. The finishing touch is a rose gold highlight meant to expose the various geometric shapes throughout the caliber.
Zenith is offering the new Defy Extreme Double Tourbillon as an ongoing model, in both versions, at retailers, Zenith boutiques and online Zenith boutiques.
Prices: $79,700 (carbon case, rose gold) and $69,600 (brushed titanium).
(Reference: 12.9100.9020/78.I200, black carbon and rose gold)
Movement: El Primero 9020, COSC-certified chronometer with 50 hours power reserve for the watch / 50 min for the chronograph.
Functions: Hours and minutes in the centre. Double Tourbillon. 1 escapement for the Watch (36,000 VpH / 5 Hz – cage makes a turn in 60 second). 1 escapement for the Chronograph (360,000 VpH / 50 Hz – cage makes a turn in 5 second). 1/100th of a second Chronograph:
– Central chronograph hand that makes one turn each second
– 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock
– 60-second counter at 6 o’clock
– Chronograph power-reserve indication at 12 o’clock
Special oscillating weight with satined finishings
Case: 45mm black carbon & 18-karat rose gold, water-resistance to 200 meters.
Dial:Openworked, with gold-plated, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova SLN C1 markers and hands.
Strap & Buckle: Black Rubber with micro-blasted titanium triple folding clasp.
Movement: El Primero 9020, COSC-certified chronometer with 50 hours power reserve for the watch / 50 min for the chronograph.
Functions: Hours and minutes in the centre. Double Tourbillon. 1 escapement for the Watch (36,000 VpH / 5 Hz – cage makes a turn in 60 second). 1 escapement for the Chronograph (360,000 VpH / 50 Hz – cage makes a turn in 5 second). 1/100th of a second Chronograph:
– Central chronograph hand that makes one turn each second
– 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock
– 60-second counter at 6 o’clock
– Chronograph power-reserve indication at 12 o’clock
Special oscillating weight with satined finishings
Case: 45mm brushed titanium, water-resistance to 200 meters.
Dial:Openworked, with gold-plated, faceted and coated with SuperLuminova SLN C1 markers and hands.
Bracelet & Buckle: Titanium bracelet with titanium folding clasp.
The bi-retrograde dial retains the Sonomaster’s existing 120° date and seconds displays, which also shows chronograph timing via central second, the 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock position and the hour counter at 6 o’clock.
