Mondaine fits its well-known Swiss railway dial design into a sharp-looking cushion-shaped steel case to debut a full Cushion Collection. The brand’s famed red dot seconds hand glides around the dials of two models, one a 41mm chronograph and the other a 31mm time-only model.
The new 41mm Mondaine Grand Cushion.
These designs are distinctive and very Swiss. Traveling through Switzerland by train means frequently sighting the source of Mondaine’s minimalist watch dial named for the Federal Swiss Railways (SBB).
The Mondaine Petite Cushion, a 31mm time-only model.
At every train station you’ll see an easy-to-read black-and-white-dial clock originally designed by Hans Hilfiker in 1944 when he was working for the SBB. The design was enhanced in 1947 with the addition of a paddle-shaped seconds hand based on the stationmaster’s hand-held train signal.
Mondaine offers the 41mm Grand Cushion model with a Ronda quartz chronograph movement and a choice of three dial color options: dark green, dark blue and white.
Each watch arrives with a quick-release black or green strap as well as a Milanese mesh stainless steel bracelet.
The watchmaker’s Petite Cushion model fits best on smaller wrists. Like the chronograph model, the Petite Cushion is powered by a Ronda quartz movement and topped with a double-domed sapphire crystal.
Mondaine sells the smaller model only with a white dial (for now) but adds the color with two distinctive, eco-friendly straps: black vegan grape leather, red vegan grape leather.
With your choice of strap, Mondaine includes a Milanese mesh stainless steel bracelet and makes it easy to swap between strap and bracelet.
Greubel Forsey is launching its Balancier Convexe S² and its Double Balancier Convexe with smaller titanium cases, with the former now 2mm smaller at 41.5mm across while latter model drops 1mm to now measure 42.5mm across.
The new sizes retain the watchmaker’s existing Balancier and Double Balancer movements and places each into a slightly slimmer Convexe titanium case.
The new Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe S² (41.5 mm, at left) and the Double Balancier Convexe (42.5 mm).
Greubel Forsey’s Convexe collection is characterized by an undulating bezel, first presented in 2019, and a curved layout that dramatically displays the caliber’s open-worked gears, wheels and bridges.
The new Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe S², now in a slimmer 41.5mm titanium case.
The collection is meant to be this high-end maker’s contemporary ‘daily wear’ collection. You’ll see none of the Greubel Forsey foundational phrases engraved on the dial or bezel within this collection. And, with 100 meters of water resistance and fully integrated lugs, the watches fits snugly on the wrist for wearing comfort rain or shine.
The watchmaker says the new sizes retain the “harmony of their proportions and the architectural requirements of the movement.” Each model limited in production and only be available between 2023 and 2026.
Balancier Convexe S²
Notably, the new size of this model places the hour ring closer to the sapphire crystal while the remaining double open-worked arch bridge maintain’s the multi-dimensional architectural design of the original.
Look for the newest Balancier Convexe S² in either a grey or blue livery (two editions).
In the grey model, Greubel Forsey utilizes a wide range of finishes meant to magnify each chromatic variation. This is created using frosted plates and straight-grained and mirror-polished surfaces. Breaking the grey layout is a colorful power reserve featuring an arrow that points out the long seventy-two-hour reserve performance.
On the blue version, Greubel Forsey offers a lighter-hued mainplate, a dark blue hour-ring and raised luminescent hour-markers. These make the large balance and small seconds display at 8 o’clock stand out.
Greubel Forsey will make eighty-eight pieces of each new 41.5 mm Balancier Convexe S² in titanium.
The Greuble Forsey Double Balancier Convexe is slightly smaller in a 42.5mm titanium case.
Double Balancier Convexe
For this model, Greubel Forsey has re-configured the case as well as the movement. The new 42.5mm case now slips more easily than its larger forebear under a fitted sleeve. It also displays a more natural titanium hue with a polished bezel with satin finishes, allowing for more dramatic light reflection, depending on the viewing angle.
Flanking each corner are the watch’s namesake two balance wheels, each inclined at 30° and separated by a constant spherical differential between the 6 o’clock and 7 o’clock positions that ‘calculates’ their average timing rate. (See below for full specification details.)
Within the bezel you’ll seem elements of contrasting light and shadow. For instance, the lettering on the barrel cover blends well with the case while the bridges of each balance wheel reveal the high level of hand-applied black polishing that characterizes Greubel Forsey movements.
Greubel Forsey offers the 42.5 mm Double Balancier Convexe with a grey rubber strap or on a beautifully integrated titanium bracelet.
Highlights: Hours and minutes, small seconds, power-reserve, 30° inclined Greubel Forsey balance wheel system.
Movement: Manual Wind with 72-hour power reserve, frequency of 21,600 vibrations/hour.
Barrels:Two coaxial series-coupled fast-rotating barrels (1 turn in 3.2 hours), one of which is equipped with a slipping spring to avoid excess tension, relief-engraved text, circular-grained, black treatment.
Bridges and main plates: Titanium, frosted, polished beveling and countersinks, anthracite or blue treatment according to the version, multi-level, open-worked suspended-arch bridge, black treatment, straight-grained and polished, polished beveling and countersinks.
Movement side: Frosted bridges, polished edges and beveling, gold plate with engraved limitation number, circular- grained, polished beveling and countersinks, straight-grained flanks .
Escapement:Titanium inclined at a 30° angle with frosted, polished countersinks, large straight-grained inclined facet, multi-level, open-worked balance wheel bridge, straight-grained and polished, polished beveling and countersinks.
Case: 41.5mm by 12.48mm (14.80mm with sapphire crystal) titanium with curved synthetic sapphire crystal, three-dimensional, variable geometry-shaped bezel, hand-polished with hand-finished straight graining, profiled lugs, screwed fixing, transparent back with high domed synthetic sapphire crystal, titanium security screws, raised engraving “Balancier Incliné” and “Greubel Forsey.”
Dial: Three-dimensional, variable geometry hour-ring, polished, with engraved and lacquered minute-circle, three-dimensional, variable geometry hour indexes, polished, with Super-Luminova, power-reserve indicator, engraved and lacquered, gold small seconds dial with polished bevel.
Strap and clasp:Non-animal material, rubber with texture in relief, titanium folding clasp, engraved GF logo. Three-row metal bracelet in titanium, folding clasp with integrated fine adjustment, engraved GF logo on demand.
Highlights: Double Balancier, hours and minutes, small seconds, 4-minutes spherical constant differential rotation, power-reserve display.
Movement: Hand-wound movement with 72-hour power reserve. Frequency of 21,600 vibrations/hour.
Bridges and main plates: Titanium with frosted, polished beveling and countersinks, grey treatment, multi-level, open-worked centre bridge, polished beveling and countersinks.
Movement side: Flat black polished steel differential bridge, gold plate with engraved limitation number, circular-grained, polished beveling and countersinks, straight-grained flanks.
Barrels: Two coaxial series-coupled fast-rotating barrels (1 turn in 3.2 hours), one of which is equipped with a slipping spring to avoid excess tension, relief-engraved text, circular-grained, black treatment, polished chamfer.
Escapements:Inclined at a 30° angle, steel, straight graining, hand-polished beveling and countersinks, polished steel pillars, open-worked steel balance wheel bridges, hand-polished beveling and countersinks, flat black polished.
Case: 42.5mm by 14.35mm (with crystal) titanium with curved synthetic sapphire crystal, three-dimensional, variable geometry-shaped bezel, hand-polished with hand-finished straight graining, profiled lugs, screwed fixing, transparent back with curved synthetic sapphire crystal, titanium security screws, raised engraving “Double Balancier” and “Greubel Forsey.”
Dial:Three-dimensional, variable geometry hour-ring with engraved and lacquered minute-circle, three-dimensional, variable geometry hour indexes, polished, with Super-Luminova, power-reserve indicator, engraved and lacquered, differential rotation and small seconds indicators ingold. Power-reserve hands, 4-minutes and small seconds in polished steel, blued according to the version, flat black polished head.
Strap and clasp:Non-animal material, rubber with texture in relief, titanium folding clasp, engraved GF logo. Three-row metal bracelet in titanium, folding clasp with integrated fine adjustment, engraved GF logo on demand.
TAG Heuer revives its Carrera Skipper this week, four decades after the colorful regatta countdown timer disappeared from the watchmaker’s line-up.
The new TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper.
Returning as a 39mm steel watch, the new TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper retains its brightly colored dress, sporting a circular-brushed blue primary dial with sub-dials in contrasting teal, green and orange.
The new model also features the Carrera’s new bezel-free ‘glassbox’ design with a broader sapphire crystal and curved flange dial, a combination that extends the viewing angle for the dial.
The new Skipper also retains many of the design features that marked the original, including large triangle-shaped markers at five-minute intervals around the outer curved flange, a bright orange central seconds hand and the Skipper name emblazoned at the base of the 12-hour counter. The new model adds a date to the dial.
New Series
The launch is just the start of a maritime revival for the watchmaker. TAG Heuer says it plans to create a new series of nautical watches led by the revived Carrera Skipper. The series will “mark TAG Heuer’s return to the world of yachts and yachting,” according to the watchmaker.
The new TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper (right) with the original from 1968.
TAG Heuer’s involvement in yacht racing starts in the 1940s, but the Skipper’s history commenced after the 1967 America’s Cup. That’s when Jack Heuer provided with winning yacht, the Intrepid, with a set of hand-held yachting stop watches and equipped her crew with Aquastar wrist watches featuring a customized countdown timer made of a red and white disc that rotated behind a series of five holes.
To celebrate that win, Heuer created the Skipper chronograph in 1968 with a 30-minute subdial that was adapted to count-down the fifteen-minute regatta ‘pre-start’ in three, five-minute segments. Later versions of the Skipper used the Autavia case, according to TAG Heuer, though the very first examples were based on the Carrera chronograph.
TAG Heuer is powering the new Carrera Skipper with its TH20-06 movement that boasts bi-directional winding and an impressive 80-hour power reserve.
Dial:Blue circular brushed. Blue flange with 60 second / minute scale 3 counters:
– 3 o’clock: green, orange & teal color lacquered 15-minute count-down indicator; rhodium plated polished hand – 6 o’clock: blue permanent second indicator; rhodium plated polished hand – 9 o’clock: teal color lacquered hour chronograph counter; SKIPPER printed; rhodium plated polished hand.
Rhodium-plated facetted, polished applied indexes, rhodium-plated facetted, polished hour and minute hands with white SuperLumiNova and orange lacquered triangle-shaped tip. Orange lacquered central hand 6 o’clock angled date
Case: 39mm by 13.9mm fine brushed and polished steel, bezel free construction, ‘glassbox’ domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment. Water resistance is 100 meters.
Bracelet:Blue fabric strap with polished steel folding clasp with double safety pushbuttons
Greubel Forsey plans to nearly triple the size of its manufacturing facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds with an investment of 20 million Swiss francs. Set to be completed by 2026, the expansion is aimed at strengthening the watchmaker’s research and development, heighten its watchmaking autonomy and gradually increase production capacity.
Expanding from 2,000 square meters to 5,460 square meters, Greubel Forsey intends to build a new building that will encompass the existing structure (which dates from 2009) while retaining the architectural features specific to this site. Work is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2024, marking the brand’s 20th anniversary.
The underground level of the new facility will include storage areas and an employee wellness room, while the ground floor will house production, logistics, quality control and R&D areas. The upper floors will be dedicated to assembly, hand finishing, clean rooms, laboratories, product development with research and design offices, as well as after-sales service, administration and other related areas.
The adjacent 17th-century farmhouse, a symbol of Greubel Forsey’s traditional roots, will be transformed into a VIP area, a lounge, a museum and a restoration workshop.
The Greubel Forsey GMT Balancier Convexe.
“This new facility will enable us to integrate new skill sets, create new workshops – especially in R&D Innovation – and push the boundaries of hand finishing excellence with a team dedicated solely to hand finishing R&D,” says Greubel Forsey CEO Antonio Calce. He adds that a number of workshops will be set up, including one dedicated solely to mastering the regulating organ (balance spring and balance wheel) and another to making complex cases.
Greubel Forsey’s 30˚ inclined balance wheel, seemingly suspended in mid-air, is held by a beautiful flat black polished and barrel polished steel balance wheel bridge on polished steel pillars.
Greubel Forsey reports that in 2022 it manufactured 260 timepieces, all of which were delivered to collectors and enthusiasts. Look to the watchmaker launching new timepieces and an 8th Fundamental Invention this year.
Zenith adds three very cool Ice Blue models to its Defy Skyline collection and debuts a new comprehensive strap service on its online boutique.
One of three new Zenith Defy Skyline Icy Blue Boutique editions debuts, here in 36mm.
Offered in 41mm and 36mm sizes, the new Defy Skyline Ice Blue Boutique Edition models maintain the Skyline’s signature angular steel case with a dodecagonal bezel, a shape Zenith credits to its own Defy designs from 1969.
The new Zenith Defy Skyline Ice Blue Boutique Edition, 36mm model with diamond bezel.
Instead of the dark blue dials of many earlier Skyline debuts, this new trio exhibits a summer-ready icy blue metallic color engraved with the Skyline’s four-pointed-star pattern. As with all Zenith Skyline models, the date wheels are colored to match the dials.
Zenith is launching one 41mm model and two 36mm models with the new color scheme. One of the 36mm models is set with a diamond bezel.
The new Zenith Defy Skyline Ice Blue Boutique Edition 41mm model with the 1/10 second indicator.
At the same time Zenith unveils a new service on its online boutique that allows buyers to browse and purchase from a selection of compatible straps. While the service is debuting in Europe now, online customers in North America and Japan will be able to use the service starting in September.
Inside the 41mm model Zenith fits its El Primero 3620 automatic high-frequency(36,000 vph) caliber that offers a unique 1/10th-of-a-second indicator driven directly from the escapement. The watch features a power reserve of sixty hours.
The back of the Zenith Elite 670 caliber.
The two smaller models are powered by Zenith’s Elite 670 automatic manufacture movement, which offers a power reserve of fifty hours. Each model features a star-shaped oscillating weight that can be viewed through a sapphire display back.
Zenith is supplying each watch in the new Defy Skyline Ice Blue Boutique Edition with a steel bracelet finished with a satin-brushed surface and chamfered, polished edges.
In addition, each watch arrives with an ‘Ice Blue’ rubber strap with a starry sky pattern and a steel folding clasp. The customer can quickly swap straps without using any tools thanks to Zenith’s quick strap-change mechanism.
Finally, while the 41mm is available only on the Zenith online boutique, both 36mm models are available from both physical and online boutiques.
Prices: $8,500 (36mm), $9,000 (41mm) and $12,000 (36mm with diamonds).
With your choice of strap, Mondaine includes a Milanese mesh stainless steel bracelet and makes it easy to swap between strap and bracelet. 
