Porsche Design celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Porsche 356 ‘No. 1’ roadster, the first namesake automobile made by Ferry Porsche.
The celebratory model, called the Chronograph 1 – 75 Years Porsche Edition, echoes the first blackened steel Porsche Design watch from 1972 with its Porsche dashboard-inspired matte-black dial with Porsche Design logo and lettering, red seconds hand and tachymeter.
For the new model, Porsche Design updates the 40mm case, which here is glass-bead-blasted and carbide-coated black titanium. And instead of the Valjoux 7750 found in the original, Porsche Design’s own excellent COSC-certified WERK 01.140 powers the chronograph.
For this limited edition, however, Porsche Design also adds a few flourishes, starting with the caseback. This Chronograph 1 – 75 Years Porsche Edition features a winding rotor in the shape of the famed Fuchs wheel, including a Porsche crest in color, as well as the specific limited edition number.
Porsche Design has also created a new textile/leather strap with light blue stitching and a woven red stripe in the middle to mark the anniversary. The chronograph is also available with a black leather strap and matching black stitching. Both straps can be changed quickly using Porsche Design’s snappy quick-change system.
MB&F is back at the race track with the new HM8 Mark 2, a more compact version of its auto-inspired HM8 that combines the supercar styling of the watchmaker’s HM5 with the driving watch display and open ‘hood’ of the MB&F HM8 from 2016.
The new watch also features a similar horizontal time display optically magnified and projected 90 degrees to the wearer via a series of sapphire prisms.
But instead of the titanium and gold casing used in the earlier models, the new HM8 Mark 2 is built from titanium topped with CarbonMacrolon, a composite material composed of a polymer matrix injected with carbon nanotubes.
The material, developed for MB&F, is eight times lighter than steel and can be colored, polished, bead-blasted, lacquered or satin-finished.
MB&F takes full advantage of those properties to create a lighter, smaller and more brightly colored driving watch, inviting a more unisex appeal to the debut.
For this debut, MB&F opts for a white or British racing green finish, matte on the top and high polish on the sides. The white version is paired with a green CVD rotor and light-green minute markers.
The British racing green version (a limited edition of 33) comes with a red gold rotor and balance wheel and turquoise minute markers.
MB&F explains that the double-curved sapphire it uses on three sides of the HM8 Mark 2 is thirty to forty times more expensive than standard domed sapphire, and a result the watchmaker could find only one supplier for the component.
The trademark battle 22-karat gold axe rotor is also a chore to construct as it is only two-tenths of a milimeter thick and can’t be made by machine. Instead, it must be stamped, with the engraving already incorporated into the stamp.
The new watch’s crown is also unusual. Echoing the “double de-clutch” system found on race-cars, it operates by pushing it in and turning it three-quarters of a turn to release it. This ensures the watch’s 30 meters of water resistance while also maintaining a less intrusive profile.
The MB&F HM8 Mark 2 launches in two editions: Titanium and green CarbonMacrolon body (limited to 33 pieces) and titanium and white CarbonMacrolon body panel.
Price: $78,000.
Specifications: MB&F HM8 Mark 2
Movement: Three-dimensional horological ‘engine’ composed of a jumping hour and trailing minutes module developed in-house by MB&F, powered by a Girard-Perregaux base movement. Mechanical movement, automatic winding with 22-karat gold automatic winding rotor. Power reserve is 42 hours, balance frequency is 28,800 bph.
Functions/indications: Bi-directional jumping hours and trailing minutes, displayed by dual reflective sapphire crystal prisms with integrated magnifying lens.
Case: Grade 5 titanium with green or white CarbonMacrolon, dimensions: 47mm x 41.5mm x 19mm. Water resistance to 30 meters. Sapphire crystals on top, front and display back treated with anti-reflective coating on both faces. Dual reflective sapphire crystal prisms with integrated magnifying lens.
Strap & Buckle: Calfskin: White for the British green model and green for the white model with a titanium tang buckle.
Chronoswiss continues to explore the universe with the new Space Timer Solaris, the independent Swiss watchmaker’s third watch in its relatively new Space Timer collection.
Like the earlier Space Timer Moonwalk and Space Timer Jupiter models, the new entry into the regulator-style collection boasts an unusual high-tech dial inspired by galactic-themes, patterns and colors.
As its name implies, the Space Timer Solaris’s fiery orange and red dial is meant to mimic the surface of the sun. Chronoswiss artisans created the dial’s textured surface by placing seventeen layers of nano-printed and laser-sculpted metal onto a gold-plated surface.
The watch’s multilayered dial is composed in part of a raised date disc and hour ring, each built from clear ITR2, a carbon nano-tube synthetic material.
Though employing a regulator dial display like the existing Open Gear ReSec series, the newer Space Timer collection offers a celestial dial theme that replaces that collection’s retrograde seconds hand with a large moon phase and date sub-dial.
That date subdial is a heat-colored titanium globe with SuperLuminova that display the moon’s rotation and a few stars. Around the globe, miniature steel (0.6mm) ’planet’ balls serve as date indicators between Arabic numerals.
The remainder of the dial echoes the familiar Chronoswiss Open Gear regulator dial layout, with a polished and skeletonized bridge supporting the raised, decentralized hour display.
A long central minute hand and central seconds hand both rotate above the full Space Timer Solaris universe.
Chronoswiss fits its ETA-based C.308 automatic caliber into a 44mm by 15.2mm steel case to power this impressive galactic display.
Chopard returns to Brescia in Italy for the 36th time in succession as the World Sponsor and Official Timekeeper of the 1000 Miglia, slated to begin June 13.
Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele will compete in the race from Brescia to Rome and back, having first taken part in 1989 with six-times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Jacky Ickx in the navigator’s seat.
The pair will team-up again this year (as on more than a dozen previous occasions), once more tackling the gruelling course in the instantly recognizable‘metallic raspberry’ Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in which they made their 1000 Miglia debut.
Chopard will continue its tradition of introducing new Mille Miglia timepieces, with four Mille Miglia Classic Chronographs, plus an additional, very special ‘Italian Limited Edition’ of the Mille Miglia GTS Chronograph – some of the proceeds from which will be donated to victims of the recent Emilia-Romagna flood disaster.
—Source: Chopard
We’ll take a closer look at the new Mille Miglia GTS Chronographs in an upcoming post.
Hublot will be sponsoring two teams at the 84th edition of the the Bol d’Or Mirabaud, the world’s largest inland regatta. The brand will accompany its ambassador, Alan Roura, aboard Solano, and the Sailing Squad, an all-female crew of three young international sailors sponsored by Hublot in association with Mirabaud.
The 84th edition of the BOM, which commences June 10, is an opportunity for Hublot to celebrate the return of Alan Roura to Lake Geneva for a race in which he last competed in 2021 and 2017. The offshore sailor will be teaming up with Pascal Feryn, Alberto Corneli, Francesco Bianchi et Francesco Sabatini.
Sailing Squad – Season 3
Created by Mirabaud bank in 2021, the crew, which changes every year, will comprise three sailors working as a team for the first time in this race. A unique human enterprise, the all-female crew is coached by Shirley Robertson, an elite sailor, double Olympic gold medallist and talented commentator for the BBC and CNN. Hublot and the Sailing Squad will be looking to set a good time aboard Christian Wahl’s D35, Double You Team.
For this third season, the Sailing Squad 2023 will feature three promising young sailors who have all competed at an international level and gained world rankings:Anja von Allmen, 20, Switzerland. She is currently preparing for the 2024 Olympics in the ILCA 6 Elite class. Eilidh McIntyre, 29, UK. 470 Olympic Champion at the 2020 Olympics. Silvia Mas, 26, Spain. 470 World Champion.
The event kicks off in front of the Société Nautique de Genève yacht club on Saturday, 10th June at 10 am.