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Bulgari focuses on its eight-sided Octo Roma collection for early 2023 as it launches the collection’s first chronograph. In addition, look for three new Bulgari  Octo Roma Automatic dial options and four Octo Roma Tourbillon watches, each with its own technical twist. 

Octo Roma Chronograph

As an early 2023 focus debut, the new Octo Roma Chronograph introduces a new Bulgari movement, Caliber BVL 399, visible through the watch’s clear sapphire back.

The new Bulgari Octo Roma Chronograph, here with a blue dial. It’s also offered with a black dial.

Two models are included in the debut, one with a black dial and one in blue. Both feature an eye-catching Clous de Paris, or hobnail, pattern that appears as small pyramids across the dial, here broken only by the three sunburst-pattern chronograph subdials.

Bulgari has been especially careful designing the pushers, which are nicely integrated into the 42mm by 12.4mm steel case. The pushers are only slightly visible, seemingly flowing from the angled lugs directly to the crown protector.

The new Bulgari Octo Roma Chronograph also features a screw-in steel crown with a ceramic insert, is water-resistant to 100 meters and offersSuperLumiNova-filled metallic hands, indexes and numerals.

Bulgari attaches the watch to the wrist with a polished and satin-brushed stainless-steel bracelet with a folding clasp and includes an easily interchangeable rubber strap with each watch.

Price: 9,900 euros. 

The new Bulgari Octo Roma Automatic, here with a white dial and rubber strap.

Octo Roma Automatic 

Sporting the same fetching Clous de Paris dial treatment as the new chronograph, the three new automatic models each offer a three-dimensional dial option to the Roma Automatic collection. Differing ambient light levels will subtly alter the character of the dial, though the large 12 and 6 and the long hour markers allow time to be read quickly at any angle. The hands, hour markers and Arabic numerals are enhanced with SuperLumiNova.

Bulgari offers three colors with the new dial pattern: blue, anthracite and white.

This 41mm by 9.1mm steel watch with three hands and date is powered by the existing in-house Caliber BVL 191 movement decorated with Côtes de Genève motif, visible through the clear sapphire back.

Bulgari equips both the Octo Roma Automatic and the Octo Roma Chronograph with a tool-free interchangeable wristband system. Each watch is also water-resistant to a depth of 100 meters. 

Price: 7,900 euros.

 

Four Octo Roma Tourbillon Watches

Two of the Tourbillon models, the Octo Roma Precious Naturalia (165,000 euros) and Precious Tourbillon Lumière (190,000 euros) both feature minerals within their cases or dials.

The Bulgari Octo Roma Precious Naturalia features a slice of tiger’s eye on the caliber and the indexes.

The former includes polished tiger eye on its caliber, mainplate and indexes while then latter glows with diamonds set across a 38mm rose gold case.

The Octo Roma Precious Tourbillon Lumière features a new 38mm case size.

Two Bulgari Octo Roma tourbillon debuts are especially contemporary. One, the 44mm Octo Roma Papillon Tourbillon (130,000 euros) is a black DLC titanium-cased, jumping hour model named in reference to the Daniel Roth precursors of yore. Sporting a very rare central tourbillon, the watch shows the hour through a fixed window at noon, while the minutes are displayed on a semicircle graduated from 0 to 60 and alternately traversed by two diamond-shaped hands.

A sketch of the Bulgari Octo Roma Papillon Tourbillon. Images coming soon.

The second contemporary model is an Octo Roma Striking Tourbillon Sapphire (85,000 euros) that revives an earlier flying tourbillon chiming model, but with a newly refined black DLC titanium and sapphire case. We’ll have more information and images of these two new models in future posts.


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A year after Grand Seiko introduced complicated and sporty models to its  Evolution 9 Collection, the watchmaker adds its first automatic chronograph to the collection.

The new Grand Seiko Tentagraph.

The new model, the Tentagraph, features Grand Seiko’s high-beat (36,000 mph) movement, Caliber 9SA5, which is enriched with two barrels and an ultra-efficient Dual Impulse Escapement. The existing GMT chronograph within Evolution 9 is powered with Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive technology (Caliber 9R96). 

With these technical enhancements, Grand Seiko says the Tentagraph will retain its power reserve in chronograph operating mode for seventy-two hours, which the watchmaker call the “longest power reserve in the industry today.”

Grand Seiko tests its Tentagraph movement for twenty days with a strict precision goal of +5 to -3 seconds per day.

The new 43.2mm by 15.3mm titanium-cased watch retains the eye-catching Evolution 9 textured dial finish, here colored blue. The dial’s large indexes and recessed sub-dials deliver a quick read for the wearer.

Grand Seiko also gently curves the chronograph seconds downward so that the tip of the hand is as close as possible to the dial’s markers, again enhancing legibility.

The chronograph features a running seconds sub-dial at the three o’clock position, a 30-minute chronograph counter at nine, and a 12-hour chronograph counter at six o’clock.

Grand Seiko’s own proprietary Dual Impulse Escapement efficiently transfers energy to the free-sprung balance wheel indirectly through the pallet fork and also directly from the escape wheel, enhancing the movement’s efficiency.

In addition, Grand Seiko builds a vertical clutch and a column wheel into the movement, both of which enhance accuracy and chronograph control.

On the dial Grand Seiko places its signature Mt. Iwate pattern, named for the nearby mountain visible through the windows of the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi.

The Tentagraph’s bezel is made of ceramic.

The Grand Seiko will make the Tentagraph available at the Grand Seiko Boutiques and select retail partners starting in June. Price: $13,700.  

Specifications: Grand Seiko Evolution 9 Collection Tentagraph

(Ref. SLGC001) 

Movement: Caliber 9SC5
Driving system: Automatic
Frequency: 36,000 vibrations per hour (10 beats per second)
Accuracy (mean daily rate): +5 to -3 seconds per day
Power reserve: 72 hours
Chronograph with 30-minute counter at 9 o’clock and 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock

Dial: Blue ‘Mt. Iwate’ pattern finish.  

Case: 43.2mm by 15.3mm high-intensity titanium, box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, ceramic bezel, see-through screw-on case back, screw-down crown, water resistance to 100 meters and magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m. 

Bracelet: Three-fold titanium clasp with push button release.

Price: $13,700.

 

New Masterpiece

At Watches and Wonders 2023 Grand Seiko also debuted a hand-engraved, manual-wind platinum model in its Grand Seiko Masterpiece Collection.

Its dial consists of the now familiar Shinshu white birch pattern, though here Grand Seiko artisans have added a slightly different tone and a more metallic texture.

Inside Grand Seiko fits its Spring Drive Caliber 9R02 (first seen in 2019). The caliber’s superb eighty-four hour power reserve is the result of a dual spring barrel in which both mainsprings are set in parallel within the single barrel. 

Grand Seiko has set an 18-karat gold plaque on the 38.5mm watch’s lower bridge engraved with the words “Micro Artist.” However, the owner can instead customize it. Price: $79,000 (limited edition of fifty).

Finally, Grand Seiko introduces a Spring Drive jewelry watch inspired by the Brand’s emblematic white lion. The watch’s case and dial gleam with 5.62 carats of diamonds and 1.25 carats of blue sapphires, all set by hand.

The sapphire crystal case back reveals a beautifully finished Caliber 9R01 movement’s one-piece bridge, designed in the image of Mt. Fuji. Price: $260,000. 

A year after squaring its Big Bang Unico, Hublot launches three new versions of the Square Bang Unico in sapphire and ceramic cases, again showcasing the watchmaker’s expertise in working with high-tech materials.

The trio, which includes one Square Bang Unico Sapphire model and two Square Bang Unico Ceramic watches (above), join what Hublot calls its Shaped Collection of square and barrel-shaped watches

For these watches, which Hublot debuts during Watches and Wonders 2023, the watchmaker continues to utilize its emblematic sandwich-like case construction and now well-known Big Bang characteristics such as the six functional H- shaped screws, micro-blasted and polished finishes, exposed movements and long-power reserve calibers.

Hublot’s new Square Bang Unico Sapphire.

Hublot will offer one debut, the Square Bang Unico Sapphire, in a limited run of 250. Its 41mm by 12mm square sapphire case remains fully water resistant to fifty meters, despite the challenges inherent in working with sapphire cases.

Inside the sapphire case (and inside both ceramic debuts) Hublot fits its time-tested HUB1280 Unico automatic chronograph with flyback. For this  model, the sapphire case enhances the view of the movement, allowing unobstructed view of its column-wheel and chronograph gearing. The movement offers a superior seventy-two-hour power reserve.

Hublot places the HUB1280 into its two new Square Bang Unico Ceramic models, which are not limited editions. Offered in 41mm by 12mm white ceramic or black ceramic cases, each watch is fitted with a rubber strap with a titanium deployant buckle clasp.

Hublot notes that while a matching black or white rubber strap comes with these models, its One Click interchangeable system makes it possible to customize either watch by swapping straps.

Prices: $27,000 (black ceramic), $26,200 (white ceramic) and $95,000 (clear sapphire).

Square Bang Unico Diamonds

Hublot at Watches and Wonders 2023 also extended its existing Square Bang Unico collection with four Square Bang Unico Diamonds models.

Each artfully sets diamonds into the bezel and/or adjacent upper and lower case (on Pave models) of the existing square series cased in titanium and Hublot’s own King Gold alloy.

Also new in 2023

In addition to the enhancing its Square Bang Unico collection, Hublot at Watches & Wonders 2023 updated its Big Bang Time Only models with Black Magic and diamond-set steel models.

Hublot’s new Classic Fusion Chronograph Orlinsky.

Also look for an expanded Orlinsky collection, which now includes a Classic Fusion Chronograph edition ($14,600 and $18,200 on a titanium bracelet), a Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Full Texalium Carbon ($127,000), and host of new colors within the hot Classic Fusion Akashi Murakami collection (along with matching NFTs).

One of thirteen Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow models. Each is a unique piece.

For Hublot’s the full-on complicated MP series, look for an all-new Big Bang MP-13 Tourbillon Retrograde BiAxial Titanium ($158,000).

The new Hublot Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Full Texalium-Carbon.
The 44mm Big Bang MP-13 is encased entirely in brushed titanium and for the first time brings together two complications—the two-axis tourbillion and the retrograde display.

We’ll feature many of these other 2023 Hublot debuts in future posts as well as within our print editions.    

Oris has teamed with Kermit the Frog to produce Kermit Day, a special edition of its ProPilot X Calibre 400.

The new Oris ProPilot X Kermit Day

As debuted during Watches and Wonders 2023, the new 39mm titanium watch sports a notably bright green dial that echoes the famed amphibian’s own hue. But for added fun Oris tacks on another function: On the first of every month, the date window at 6 o’clock is filled with a Kermit the Frog emoji.

Kermit Day is all about having some fun, according to Oris. “If an Oris watch can make someone’s day better, we’ve done our job,” Oris explains in its description of the watch.

The remainder of the watch retains the existing specifications of the ProPilot X Caliber 400. The watch is an aviation-inspired vehicle that nicely exhibits the Oris Caliber 400, an Oris-built movement with an impressive five-day power reserve and highly anti-magnetic construction.

Oris notes that the Caliber 400 is accurate to -3 to +5 seconds a day (within chronometer certification standards). Its anti-magnetism stems from more than thirty non-ferrous and anti-magnetic parts (including a silicon escape wheel and a silicon anchor).

Oris underscores all its Caliber 400 Series watches with ten-year warranties and ten-year recommended service intervals.

Price: $4,600.

Also New in 2023

Oris enhances the performance of its groundbreaking automatic mechanical altimeter and places it into a new carbon-fiber composite case.

The new Oris ProPilot Altimeter

The new Oris Pro Pilot Altimeter is now thinner and more lightweight than it was in 2014. We’ll have details in a separate post next week.

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.