Greubel Forsey redesigns its tourbillon to create the new titanium-cased Tourbillon Cardan, the watchmaker’s 8th Fundamental Invention and the latest in the series of patented, technically advanced timepieces. And while the oscillator here echoes the airy appearance of a traditional flying tourbillon, Greubel Forsey’s version is anything but classical.
The new Greubel Forsey Tourbillon Cardan.
Rather than the usual sixty-second rotation, the tourbillon here rotates once every sixteen seconds. In addition, the balance wheel is larger than usual (12.6mm), which tends to optimize its oscillations.
Greubel Forsey explains that not only do these two factors enhance chronometric precision, the tourbillon’s high inertia also makes it less sensitive to shocks and variations in speed.
Greubel Forsey combines this larger, faster tourbillon with a revolving 30 degree angle and two constantly tilting rings that guide the tourbillon, tilting backward and forward in forty-eight seconds. Though this movement may recall the use of gimbals in some marine chronometers, the new design is just a bit more complicated.
Greubel Forsey explains that in this new watch, the tilt of the rings is controlled with a range of +30° to -30°, which, when combined with the inclined tourbillon, offers a “better ratio of angular velocity to chronometric performance.”
With four stacked barrels, the Tourbillon Cardan offers an impressive eighty hours of highly chronometric power reserve.
Greubel Forsey showcases its new tourbillon within a 45.5mm titanium case with a domed sapphire crystal, which allows for a full view of the large balance wheel and swaying dual rings.
And of course Greubel Forsey hand-finishes each component of the Tourbillon Cardan.Many of the finishing procedures here are unique to the watch, including the frosted titanium finish on the tourbillon cage and the large polished flank finishes above the titanium mainplate. (See the Greubel Forsey website for a full list of specifications.)
Greubel Forsey plans to build about eleven Tourbillon Cardan watches annually, with a total output of fifty-five watches during the next five years.
Bell & Ross partners with the Tara Océan Foundation to create the BR 03-92 Diver Tara, a new dive watch built to meet the needs of the crew on board the oceanography exploration schooner Tara. The ship carries out the organization’s marine biodiversity research aimed at observing and anticipating the impacts of climate change and pollution.
The new Bell & Ross BR03 Diver Tara
On board the Tara, researchers are wearing the new watch, which features a 42mm matte blue ceramic case and unidirectional rotating blue and orange ceramic bezel.
Now joining the Bell & Ross BR 03 Diver series, the new watch (a limited edition of 999 pieces) retains all the required dive specs, including the high-visibility dial, the aforementioned graduated bezel and a solid 300-meter water resistance rating.
Echoing other watches within the BR 03 Diver series, the deep blue dial displays highly visible indications even underwater thanks to its generous helping of white SuperLuminova on the applied indexes and graduated bezel. The seconds hand features an orange tint,
Inside Bell & Ross fits its Sellita-based BR-CAL 302 automatic movement, which powers the hour, minute, seconds and date displays.
“At its core, Bell & Ross is a supplier for explorers and elite units, with each watch designed to meet precise specifications set by the professional world it will enter,” explains Carlos-A Rosillo, President and Co-Founder of Bell & Ross. “That’s why we felt it was important to mark this joining of forces and celebrate the first year of our partnership with a new piece, the BR 03 Diver Tara.”
Rosella adds that for every watch sold, part of the profits will be donated to the France-based Foundation. Even the strap is built for conducting research in extreme weather with its blue woven rubber lined with an ultra-resistant technical material, all held to the wrist with a steel pin buckle.
“The Tara teams on board the schooner, and even at the North Pole in the near future, will be required to dive on a regular basis,” explains Romain Troublé, general director of the Tara Ocean Foundation.
Louis Vuitton upgrades Tambour with a new in-house movement, a sleeker case and an integrated bracelet.
In the twenty-plus years since Louis Vuitton debuted its first Tambour watches, the global fashion house has achieved a goal that still eludes many much older watchmakers: to create a case shape and watch than can be easily recognized while on a wrist across the room.
Louis Vuitton has carefully tailored Tambour’s drum-shaped case while also applying technical and aesthetic updates. The collection’s success has eased the French couture house’s entry into high-end watchmaking, steering Louis Vuitton into position as a peer among the world’s leading makers of high-end watches.
The new Louis Vuitton Tambour, here in its debut steel case and bracelet.
This year, Louis Vuitton updates Tambour with new finishes and a decidedly slimmer, sculpted case. The new collection is more luxurious overall and notably highlights an all-new in-house movement and a sleek integrated steel bracelet.
Two new models
Two new steel watches launch the collection’s upgrade. One is a chic monochrome model with a silver grey dial and the second one sports a deep blue dial. Both are built to highlight the new unisex 40mm by 8.3mm case, its new caliber LFT023 and the new bracelet. A rose gold model and a two-tone gold and steel edition are also now available.
The 22 karat gold microrotor helps provide fifty hours of power reserve.
The movement here is Louis Vuitton’s first proprietary automatic three-hand movement. It has been designed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in conjunction with movement specialists Le Cercle des Horlogers.
With its 22-karat gold micro-rotor, stylized Louis Vuitton decor, micro-sandblasted bridges, polished edges and chamfers, the new caliber announces a new era of three-hand movements for Tambour, which has previously utilized modified ETA-based and Zenith-El Primero-based calibers, as well as quartz movements for certain models.
Boasting a strong fifty-hour power reserve, the new movement is chronometer certified, withtimekeeping accuracy of between -4s and +6s per day. The certification, from the Geneva Chronometric Observatory under the auspices of the TIMELAB Foundation, ensures that the movement complies with ISO 3159 a serious level of accuracy that befits this new higher-end Tambour series.
“With this launch, we seek to open a new chapter in the history of the Maison’s watchmaking by creating a watch with strong horological credentials while identifiably Louis Vuitton in style”, adds Arnault.
The watches
Louis Vuitton has retained Tambour’s curves for these new designs, but has softened them with fluid edges and a curved back that gently hugs the wrist. The sloped, sandblast-finish bezel here is thinner than on existing Tambour models, but still retains the twelve Louis Vuitton namesake letters at each hour mark.
Louis Vuitton has taken great care to bring comfort to its premiere integrated steel bracelet. The bracelet, particularly novel for Tambour, offers no hint of even the small lugs we’ve seen previously within Tambour. Its clean integration into the case echoes the almost sporty look you’ve likely already seen in other well-known, high-end integrated steel watches.
A closer look at the bracelet reveals links that are convex on both sides to create a rounded profile, which guarantees smooth contact with the wrist. The folks at Louis Vuitton, a company built on fine leather products, remind us that this new bracelet, while all steel, offers “slim, curved links providing a close and comfortable fit on the wrist to rival the softest leather strap.”
Louis Vuitton has brush-finished the new Tambour case and bracelet—with a few exceptions. These include the polished bracelet chamfers and central links and the polished, drum-shaped crown.
The dial
Tambour’s new, three-dimensional dial features micro-sandblasted surfaces, gold indexes and a clean layout despite the seconds sub-dial. The markers are nicely separated as are the minute ring and the hour ring, all of which enhances the sense of balance on the dial.
Louis Vuitton revels in the details here. The watchmaker has paired recessed five-minute markers with raised, applied hour markers. The company explains that this difference in the height level of the markers allows for quick reading, since the light interacts variably between them. All numerals and hands are filled with Super-LumiNova.
Price: $18,500. The collection also includes a rose gold edition, price at $52,000, and a two-tone model price at $26,500.
Specifications:
Louis Vuitton Tambour, silver dial (W1ST10)
Case: 40mm by 8.3mm stainless steel, sapphire crystal and back.Water-resistant to 50 meters.
Dial: Grey/silver with small seconds counter at 6 o’clock; white gold hands, numerals and indexes, with SuperLumiNova coating on the hands and numerals.
Movement: Automatic caliber LFT023, visible through the sapphire caseback, 22-karat rose gold micro-rotor, 50 hours of power reserve, 28,800 vph, certified chronometer by the Geneva Chronometric Observatory.
Bracelet: Stainless steel with invisible 3-blade folding buckle.
Price: $18,500.
Louis Vuitton Tambour, blue dial (W1ST20)
Case: 40mm by 8.3mm stainless steel, sapphire crystal and back.Water-resistant to 50 meters.
Dial: Blue with small seconds counter at 6 o’clock; white gold hands, numerals and indexes, with SuperLumiNova coating on the hands and numerals.
Movement: Automatic caliber LFT023, visible through the sapphire caseback, 22-karat rose gold micro-rotor, 50 hours of power reserve, 28,800 vph, certified chronometer by the Geneva Chronometric Observatory.
Bracelet: Stainless steel with invisible 3-blade folding buckle.
Since it first launched, Zenith’s Chronomaster Sport has seen a variety of cases, dials, sizes and colors. Today, Zenith is releasing a collaboration on a new Chronomaster Sport with brand ambassador Aaron Rodgers, four-time NFL MVP and future football Hall of Fame quarterback.
The new Zenith Chronometer Sport developed with Aaron Rodgers.
Taking on the New York Jets team color, “Gotham” Green (pantone – PMS 7484 C), Zenith’s newest member of the Chronomaster Sport series keeps all the quality points and construction of its 41mm predecessors – this time in the affiliated garb of the brand’s favorite pigskin protagonist.
The El Primero Striking Tenth, which Zenith debuted in 2011, elevated the chronograph function to a logical zenith in human-actuated interval timekeeping. Zenith did this by taking the already high-speed El Primero movement beating at ten beats per second and adding a center chronograph seconds hand that moves along in 1/10th seconds intervals when actuated.
This finite timing, which breaks the second into tenths, is really at the very peak of human reaction time and represents both technical prowess and logical functionality. Of course there are mechanical watches that divide the second into hundredths, or even thousands, but when the best human reaction times to stimuli are at about .15 seconds, dividing the second into such small increments is more an example of technical achievement than actual useful functionality.
In addition to sporting the Gotham Green dial and bezel, this limited edition also has Aaron Rodgers’ logo engraved on the sapphire crystal back. Price: $12,800.
Jaeger-LeCoultre invites collectors to learn about its famed Reverso collection through an exhibition starting November 3 in New York City.
The exhibit, called Reverso Stories, is touring the world and arrives in New York to mark the opening of the watchmaker’s new flagship boutique on Madison Avenue.
Located at IRON 23 (29 West 23rd Street) and open from November 3rd to November 22, the exhibit explores the Reverso story through four key themes: Story of an Icon, Style and Design, Innovation, and Craftsmanship.
The watchmaker also places the Reverso’s history amid nine decades and explores the wider creative and cultural universe surrounding it.
Also enhancing the exhibit is an immersive digital art installation by Korean artist Yiyun Kang; a space devoted to the video series ‘In the Making’, which reveals the secrets of the 180 crafts practiced in the Jaeger-LeCoultre manufacture; a room dedicated to Japanese artist Hokusai, whose works have been reproduced on Reverso timepieces, a café serving an Art Deco-inspired menu and hands-on watchmaking workshops.
A Reverso Tribute Chronograph.
In addition to historic timepieces, the exhibits will include the 2023 Reverso models launched at Watches and Wonders and two new Reverso Tribute Enamel models that will be launched during the New York season of ‘Reverso Stories’.
Source: Jaeger-LeCoultre
Reverse Stories: Opening hours and admission:
November 3 to November 22, 2023
Tuesday to Thursday 11am until 7pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 7pm, Sunday 11am to 6pm, closed on Monday.
Guests will be able to walk in or book guided visits online.
