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Gerald Charles Chronograph Now in Titanium 

Gerald Charles adds a titanium-cased Maestro Chronograph to its collection of elegant curved-case watches. With the new watch, the independent watchmaker (founded in 2000 by famed watch designer Gerald Charles Genta) creates the first titanium case within its characteristic Maestro Chronograph line, echoing the earlier production of a titanium case within the Gerald Charles GC Sport collection.

The new Gerald Charles Maestro GC3.0-TN Chronograph is a titanium-cased addition to the collection.

The new chronograph’s Sunburst royal blue dial, seen earlier on a gold Maestro Chronograph model, beautifully reflects ambient light and quite effectively complements the polished titanium frame. 

As with the case on the GC Sport model, the titanium case for the chronograph required extensive development, according to Gerald Charles.

The watch’s unusual curved shape is a challenge to the case maker as Grade 5 titanium is much harder than stainless steel or even gold to manipulate into curved forms.

Another challenge arises when attempting to set and polish the Maestro’s pushers, which are set directly at two curves adjacent to the crown.

Gerald Charles notes that the new titanium Maestro GC3.0-TN Chronograph weighs less than half its sister model in stainless steel. 

Inside the watch Gerald Charles fits the GCA3022/12 Manufacture automatic chronograph caliber developed in partnership between Gerald Charles and Swiss movement specialists Vaucher Fleurier Manufacture. (See below for detailed specifications.)

The chronometer-standard caliber is beautifully hand finished and visible through a sapphire crystal case back. On the dial, Gerald Charles applies and polishes counters at 3, 6 and 9, to display the running seconds, chronograph hours and chronograph minutes.

Price: $25,400.

Specifications: Gerald Charles Maestro GC3.0-TN Chronograph

(Reference GC3.0-TN-01)
Movement: Automatic GCA3022/12 manufacture chronograph caliber, with counters at 3, 6 and 9, 50-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph, stop-second system, 351 components, 46 rubies, 6.07mm thickness

Case: 39mm x 41.7mm by 11.5mm grade 5 titanium, polished with screw-down crown also in grade 5 titanium with Clous de Paris finish and embossed logo, sapphire crystal and back. Water resistance to 100 meters.

Dial: Sunburst royal blue, hands and applied indexes filled with SuperLumiNova.

Strap: Royal blue vulcanized rubber strap with titanium pin buckle.

Price: $25,400 

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The Watches

Reservoir Updates Kanister 

Reservoir enhances its vintage-auto-themed Kanister collection with the new Kanister 316, now supplied with a new retro five-link bracelet and newly powered by Reservoir’s recently updated proprietary Caliber RSV-240.

The new Reservoir Kanister 316. A silver dial model is also available.

With its dial inspired by the dashboard instruments of the legendary Porsche 356 Speedster, Kanister is the Paris-based independent watchmaker’s translation of that car’s RPM display onto a watch dial.

Offered with either a black or silver dial, the new Kanister 316 displays the time as indicated via Reservoir’s distinctive jump-hour function. This indicates minutes via a large hand sweeping 240-degrees across the dial and jumping back to restart each hour. Hours are shown digitally in the aperture at the 6 o’clock position, just above a power reserve display.

The dashboard of a 1956 Porsche 365 Speedster, the inspiration for the Kanister dial.

Reservoir recreates a 1950s feel with colorful dial treatment on the otherwise black dial model. Pastel green minute indexes and a swirl of the same green hue dominate, with red accents.

The silver dial edition is more classical, with a silver minute hand and only a hint of color reserved for the power reserve display. The watchmaker brush-finishes the watch’s 41.5mm steel case.

Reservoir fits the Kanister 316 with Caliber RSV-240, the watchmaker’s latest update of its signature jump-hour movement. Introduced last year, the caliber is made in association with the Swiss engine manufacture TELOS.

The automatic caliber makes use of a La Joux-Perret LJP-G100 base with a proprietary 113-piece module. With the new Caliber RSV-240, power reserve jumps to an impressive fifty-six hours. 

Reservoir plans to deploy the new caliber to all its jump-hour collections in the next few months.

Price: $4,600. 

 

Specifications: Reservoir Kanister 316  

Case: 41.5 mm, 316L stainless steel with brushed finish, screw-down crown, water-resistant to 50 meters. clear sapphire caseback.

Dial: Black or silver color. Retrograde minute, jumping hour and power reserve displays. 

Movement: Calibre RSV-240, manufacture automatic with patented proprietary 113-pieces module (LJP G100 base), 56-hour power reserve.

Bracelet: Stainless steel with butterfly folding clasp, additional black leather or Ostrich taupe leather strap. 

Price: $4,600. 

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The Watches

Chronoswiss Launches a Hurricane  

Lucerne-based Chronoswiss brews up a storm with its all-black Open Gear ReSec Hurricane, the latest model within the independent watchmaker’s regulator-layout Open Gear ReSec collection. Each new limited edition in the collection displays an inventive, hand-crafted movement-plate ‘dial’ treatment, and this new model is no exception.

The new Chronoswiss Open Gear ReSec Hurricane.

On the new Open Gear ReSec Hurricane, the namesake storm is crafted by hand by Chronoswiss with the aid of a century-old rose-engine turning machine. The swirling guilloché appears across the multi-level movement plate. The hour ring hovers above the fray alongside the 120-degree retrograde second display bridge.

This multi-part dial, which is actually part of the automatic Chronoswiss C.301 movement, highlights the regulator’s large central minute hand that crosses atop the prominent hour display at 12 o’clock.

Named for its premier function (ReSec stands for Retrograde Seconds), the watch’s jumping seconds hand along the lower half of the dial operates in a half-circle, leaping from the thirty seconds position back to start its arc to complete counting each minute.

Chronoswiss wisely builds large pillars of solid SuperLuminova to create the five-minute markers, which appear like beacons in the storm at night.

The 44mm black DLC-cased steel Open Gear ReSec Hurricane, with the familiar Chronoswiss knurled bezel and onion crown, is a limited edition of fifty.

Price: $12,000. 

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American Brands

Benrus Reboots a ‘Robot’ Diver 

Benrus revives its 1972 “Orbit Robot” dive watch, remaking that model’s 41mm by 13mm cushion-shaped steel case, eye-catching grey fumé dial and orange accents. 

The new Benrus Orbit Robot.

The recently-revived U.S-based watchmaker, well known for its military field watches and dive watches, perfectly mimics the original Orbit Robot’s exterior dimensions and hues.

When reproducing the dial, Benrus notes that it took extra steps to “fully replicate the depth and radiance of the original grey watch model.”  At the dial’s center you’ll see a light grey metallic color that subtly darkens toward the bezel. The luminous orange-framed hands echo the original.

Inside, Benrus updates the new watch’s technical details, powering the Orbit Robot with a new Soprod P024 automatic movement.

The watch’s caseback features a custom Benrus robot orbiting the Earth.

A domed sapphire crystal covers the dial, held with stainless steel bidirectional friction-fit bezel and protected to 200 meters of water resistance with a screw-down crown and a solid, decorated caseback. Only the lug dimensions have changed, now measuring 20mm (inner lug size) to accommodate modern 20mm straps and bracelets.

Price: $995.

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The Watches

Jacob & Co. Spins a New Roulette Wheel

With a white ceramic ball bouncing around a miniature roulette wheel with thirty-seven pockets, the new Jacob & Co. Astronomia Casino is a watch lover’s best high-end bet. This playful addition to the ongoing Astronomia collection is a slimmer version of the 2019 edition and it places all bets on the dial while a flying tourbillon enlivens the back of the watch.

By removing the rotating orbs, flying tourbillon and skeletal dial (as seen on the earlier edition) from the top of the watch, Jacob & Co. has devised a more wrist-friendly Casino. Now 16mm thick (rather than the 24mm size of the earlier model), the watch’s 44-mm diameter rose gold case is crafted from polished rose gold and topped with a domed sapphire case.

When the user presses the pusher at the 8 o’clock position, the roulette wheel spins, almost friction-free. This causes the ceramic ball to bounce in a truly random manner between the crystal and the mirror-polished wheel-track flange. The ball will find its way to one of the thirty-seven pockets. Then, presumably, the winner collects.

Emulating a high-end betting house, Jacob & Co. has appointed the Astronomia Casino with appropriately luxurious fittings. The hours and minutes dial is made of a single slab of polished black onyx. Jacob & Co. has shaped dial’s applied 5N gold indices in a nod to the kite-cut sapphires it uses in several of its other watches.

As noted, Jacob & Co. places its flying tourbillon on the back of the watch, which is powered by the new caliber JCAM51 that boasts a comfortable seventy-two-hour power reserve. The arms on the flying tourbillon carriage are engraved and lacquered to match the roulette wheel on the opposite side. The same pattern is also seen on two plates on the caseback that act as winding and time-setting crowns.

Place your bets! Everyone’s a winner.

The ante for the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Casino is $280,000.

 

Specifications: Jacob & Co. Astronomia Casino

Movement: Manufacture Jacob & Co. manual winding JCAM51 with a power reserve of 72 hours.

Functions: Hours and minutes, flying tourbillon on caseback at 6 o’clock, 1 rotation/min., roulette animation on demand with Pusher at 8 o’clock, winding and time-setting on caseback.

Case: 44mm by 16.3mm rose gold with rose gold back with engravings and lacquered roulette pockets. Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment, water resistance to 30 meters. 

Dial: Black Onyx with 5N gold kite-shaped indices.

Hands: Skeleton with 5N Gold, red tip and white SuperLuminova.

Roulette: Red, black and green lacquered pockets, ceramic ball.

Flange: Black PVD, 8 rhodium-plated diamond-shaped deflectors.

Bracelet: Black alligator strap with 18-karat rose gold deployant buckle. 

Price: $280,000 (limited edition of 101 pieces).

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