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Maurice Lacroix Enhances Pontos Day Date   

Maurice Lacroix adds new hues to its recently updated Pontos Day Date, enhancing the dial’s color contrasts, and now sells the watch in eco-friendly packaging.

One of three new Maurice Lacroix Pontos Day Date 41mm watches. Each is offered on a bracelet or strap.

The independent Swiss watchmaker recently added newly facetted (and applied) markers and hands to the popular (and affordable) 41mm Day/Date model.

The dial offers clearer contrasts than previous editions, especially with the new raised minute track that clearly delineates the dial indicators. The minute track, no longer along the edge of the dial, sits inside the hour track and creates a new, modern appearance. The track is slightly recessed and is set with clean markings and contrasting hues to enhance visibility.

As the watch’s name indicates, you’ll find a date and a day window, each deeper than you might expect. Maurice Lacroix teams the new dial layout with a choice of three new dial colors: black, silver and anthracite. All three are finished with a sunray motif and silver or golden-toned hands and indexes.

Maurice Lacroix brushes and polishes the stainless case 41mm case, which holds an automatic ML143 Sellita-based caliber, visible via the exhibition caseback. The watchmaker finishes the movement with Côtes de Genève while the rotor features vertical Côtes de Genève and sun brushing.

To attach the new watches to the wrist, Maurice Lacroix provides a choice of a three-row stainless steel bracelet or black leather strap, the latter of which sports the company’s M-logo. And of course you’ll be able to swap straps using the firm’s own Easy Strap Exchange System.

Finally, these newest Maurice Lacroix Pontos Day Date 41mm debuts arrive in new packaging made of recycled ocean-bound waste, echoing the material used to create the full Maurice Lacroix Aikon #tide watch series.

Price: Starting at $2,050 (strap) and $2,100 (steel bracelet).  

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Delma Adds Titanium, Ceramic to Shell Star 

Delma updates its Shell Star dive watch series with the Shell Star Titanium, a lighter, more compact version of the watch, which the independent watchmaker debuted in 1975 as its first professional-level dive model.

The new Delma Shell Star Titanium.

Now measuring 41mm in diameter and 13.6mm thick, the watch’s new titanium case retains all the water resistance (500 meters) of existing steel Shell Star models while also offering a lightweight option for divers.

Weighing 136 grams on its full titanium bracelet (compared to the 225-gram all-steel models) the new watch offers more than comfort.

Titanium is naturally corrosion resistant as a case material, but Delma also enhances the watch with a ceramic bezel, which offers a new level of scratch resistance to the watch.

That black ceramic bezel also creates a new, dramatic visual effect when framing the three dial colors (sand-textured black, blue or orange) Delma offers with this debut.

Delma retains the Shell Star’s hyper-visible dial, adding two types of luminous, bright blue glowing Super-LumiNova BGW9 on the bezel and neon green glowing Super-LumiNova C3 for the indexes and hands. Delma also keeps the collection’s signature Shell Star’s spade-shaped seconds hand and large luminous tip.

Delma seals the titanium caseback with a clear mineral crystal exposing a customized Delma rotor on the Sellita automatic movement.

The watchmaker is limiting production of the new Shell Star Titanium to 499 pieces, available online and in select stores. 

Price: $1,890.

 

Specifications: Delma Shell Star Titanium

(Limited edition of 499 pieces)

Movement: SW200-1 automatic movement with ball bearing, frequency 28,800 vph, power reserve of 38 hours.

Case: 41mm by 13.6 mm titanium case with screw-down crown, clear caseback, water resistant to 500 meters.

Dial: Black, blue or orange sand-textured with matching railway track. Hands and indexes with Super-LumiNova C3 with green glow. Unidirectional bezel in black ceramic with markers inSuper-LumiNova BGW9 with blue glow.

Bracelet: Titanium with deployant clasp with pushers.

Price: $1,890. 

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Girard-Perregaux Goes Green with Aston Martin 

For its latest collaboration with Aston Martin, Girard-Perregaux unveils the Laureato Green Ceramic Aston Martin Edition, a Laureato with the British Racing Green color favored by Aston Martin front and center.

The watch marks the first time Girard-Perregaux has fashioned its Laureato using a green ceramic case and a green ceramic bracelet.

The new Girard-Perregaux Laureato Green Ceramic Aston Martin Edition. The watch will be offered in 38mm and 42mm case sizes.

Girard-Perregaux will make the Laureato Green Ceramic Aston Martin Edition in two case sizes: 38mm and 42mm. The 42mm model is fitted with the Caliber GP01800, while the 38mm version is equipped with the Caliber GP03300.

Both are in-house movements that are visible through the watch’s see-through sapphire case-back on which Girard-Perregaux has engraved the Aston Martin logo.

On the back of the movement, Girard-Perregaux has applied straight Côtes de Genève and has embellished the oscillating weight with circular Côtes de Genève. These movements offer a power reserve of at least 46 hours (38mm) and 54 hours (42mm).

In addition to the green coloring, the dial itself marks an homage to Aston Martin. There you’ll see a cross-hatch, diamond-like pattern that the automaker used on its logo in the 1920s. The pattern also matches the look of certain Aston Martin quilted seats.

While Girard-Perregaux famously made the first Laureato collections in steel in 1975, in recent years the manufacture has launched many editions of the octagonal-bezel series using a range of other materials, including precious metals, sapphire and ceramic.

To make the case and bracelet for the new Laureato Green Ceramic Aston Martin Edition, Girard-Perregaux employs ultra-modern ceramic, a lightweight material made with zirconium oxide and color-infused metallic oxides.

The watchmaker explains that its ceramic mixture is particularly hard (up to seven times harder than steel), making the watch highly scratch resistant. The material will also never fade as ceramic is unaffected by changes in ambient temperature.

Price: $25,000 (38mm, limited to 188 pieces) and $25,800 (42mm, limited to 388 pieces). 

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Bulgari Debuts Octo Finissimo Tuscan Copper 

Bulgari unveils a new Octo Finissimo Automatic with a special copper-hued dial as a North American special edition.

The new watch is the latest in the Octo Finissimo Automatic collection, which Bulgari first introduced in 2017 as its third model in the ongoing, record-breaking Octo Finissimo series of ultra-thin watches.

The new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic Tuscan Copper is a limited edition of fifty pieces for the North American market.

This latest edition gleams with a new sunray-finished dial. Its color is inspired by the paintings of Italian artist Jacopo da Pontormo, an Italian painter from 16th century Florence.

Bulgari says its dial makers strove to mimic the painter’s soft metallic tone, a color  rarely seen on watch dials.

“Here, the particular metallic salmon tone – it is extremely rare in Bulgari watchmaking and has only been used once before – draws its inspiration not from the usual vintage aesthetic prized by collectors, but from the very roots of Italian art, that of the 16th century, and more precisely from a disruptive movement of the time, called Mannerism, which marked my own training as a designer,” explains of Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Product Creation Executive Director at Bulgari Horlogerie.

The new time-only model, the Octo Finissimo Tuscan Copper, is a limited edition of fifty pieces for the North American market, and is powered by Bulgari’s own ultra-thin mechanical self-winding movement, Caliber BVL 138, which boasts a micro-rotor and an impressive 2.23mm thickness measurement.

The thin movement means the entire piece measures only 6.4mm thin. Despite its thin size, the watch still retains a 100-meter water resistance rating.  

Price: $13,300. A North American Limited edition of fifty. 

 

Specifications: Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic Tuscan Copper 

Movement: Ultra-thin mechanical self-winding Caliber BVL 138 with micro-rotor (2.23mm in thickness); hours, minutes, small seconds counter at 7 o’clock; 60-hour power reserve; frequency 21,600 vph (3 Hz).

Case: 40mm by 6.4mm steel.

Dial: Metallic Tuscan copper sunray-finish dial, rhodium-plated applied indexes; steel screw-down crown with ceramic insert; transparent caseback; water resistant to 100 meters.

Bracelet: Satin-polished stainless-steel bracelet with integrated folding clasp.

Price: $13,300. Available starting in April. 

 

 

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Audemars Piguet Adds Steel to Code 11:59

Among the varied and impressive 2023 debuts from Audemars Piguet, seen earlier this year, six new references stood apart for their use of more traditional material: steel. For the first time since 2019 when Audemars Piguet debuted its much-discussed Code 11.59 collection, the manufacture is casing six examples of the series in steel.

One of three new chronographs in the debut Code 11:59 collection in steel.

Four of the new models are cased entirely in steel while the other two feature a combination of a black ceramic case middle with a steel bezel, lugs and case back. 

The two steel-cased models with a beige dial also feature a ceramic case center.

Three are chronographs and three are time-only models with date, and all display a new dial technique and pattern that Audemars Piguet has created especially for this collection.

Four of the six models (with blue and green dials) are made entirely from stainless steel while the two beige-dial examples combine steel and black ceramic.

New Dials

As noted, Audemars Piguet developed new dials for these debuts, and they are stunning. The stamped dial exhibits a pattern made up of concentric circles in a rippling pattern that emanates from the dial center.

The chronograph especially creates contrasting textures and hues within the sundials while the beige models exhibit a terrific gradation that becomes completely black towards the outer edge.

Developed by Audemars Piguet in collaboration with Swiss guilloché craftsman Yann von Kaenel, the dial pattern is slated to become a new signature design within Code 11:59. Look for the dial on future gold-cased and complicated watches within the collection.

Also new are the elongated hour-markers, replacing the Arabic numerals we’ve seen on Code 11:59 since its debut. The markers and hands are white gold that has been flattened, faceted, polished and then coated with SuperLuminova.

Audemars Piguet has also thinned the bezel on the new series. In addition, while earlier Code 11.59 models featured markers every five minutes, this new version offers a more detailed seconds scale. The watchmaker has made the crown more rounded and with shallower indentations than on previous models. (The crown on the steel models are steel while the crown on the beige-dialed models are black ceramic.)

Audemars Piguet fits its Caliber 4302 with a seconds and date indication into the time-only models while the Caliber 4401 integrated automatic chronograph movement with a column wheel and flyback function powers the chronograph.Each watch display the movement via a sapphire caseback, exposing a superbly decorated caliber with a brand new 22-karat pink gold openworked oscillating weight.

Audemars Piguet pairs each watch with a matching rubber strap decorated with a textile pattern and lined with calf leather.

Prices: Blue and Green dials: $35,000 (chronograph) and $25,300 (time, date).

Beige dial with black ceramic case center: $37,400 (chronograph) and $27,800 (time, date).

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