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Hublot’s Newest Sapphire Smile 

Hublot deepens its partnership with artist Takashi Murakami as its creates the MP 15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire, a dramatic new limited edition central flying tourbillon watch with a clear sapphire case, dial and crown.

The new Hublot MP 15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire.

The watch maintains Murakami’s well-known flower and smile-face motif, which Hublot and the artist have developed for previous special models, but enhances the focus here to clear sapphire.

Also central to the design is Hublot’s central flying tourbillon, a first for the watchmaker set within a series-produced model. The fully skeletonized movement, exposed without an upper bridge, appears to float in space.

In place of a traditional dial, Murakami places twelve clear sapphire flower petals that frame the tourbillon, onto which Hublot adds two titanium eyes and a broad titanium smile. Two small hands rotate, unusually, under the tourbillon cage, with their tips indicating hours and minutes.

In order to create this rare configuration, Hublot watchmakers pivoted the cannon pinion and the hour wheel around the tourbillon support, creating a co-axial construction.

Hublot tops the black-plated hands with SuperLuminova for thrilling night-time visibility.

The central flying tourbillon is also quite unusual— and technically interesting. With an impressive power reserve of 150 hours, the tourbillon can be fully wound via a supplied stylus. Rechargeable using a USB socket, the stylus is placed on the crown and winds it through 100 revolutions. The wearer can also wind the watch using the crown.

The Hublot MP 15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire is surprisingly modest in size (42mm by 13.4mm) and arrives on an integrated rubber strap. The watch will be made as limited edition model of fifty pieces.

Price: $316,000. 

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Greubel Forsey Debuts 8th Fundamental Invention 

 

Greubel Forsey redesigns its tourbillon to create the new titanium-cased Tourbillon Cardan, the watchmaker’s 8th Fundamental Invention and the latest in the series of patented, technically advanced timepieces. And while the oscillator here echoes the airy appearance of a traditional flying tourbillon, Greubel Forsey’s version is anything but classical.

The new Greubel Forsey Tourbillon Cardan.

Rather than the usual sixty-second rotation, the tourbillon here rotates once every sixteen seconds. In addition, the balance wheel is larger than usual (12.6mm), which tends to optimize its oscillations.

Greubel Forsey explains that not only do these two factors enhance chronometric precision, the tourbillon’s high inertia also makes it less sensitive to shocks and variations in speed.

Greubel Forsey combines this larger, faster tourbillon with a revolving 30 degree angle and two constantly tilting rings that guide the tourbillon, tilting backward and forward in forty-eight seconds. Though this movement may recall the use of gimbals in some marine chronometers, the new design is just a bit more complicated.

Greubel Forsey explains that in this new watch, the tilt of the rings is controlled with a range of +30° to -30°, which, when combined with the inclined tourbillon, offers a “better ratio of angular velocity to chronometric performance.”

With four stacked barrels, the Tourbillon Cardan offers an impressive eighty hours of highly chronometric power reserve.

Greubel Forsey showcases its new tourbillon within a 45.5mm titanium case with a domed sapphire crystal, which allows for a full view of the large balance wheel and swaying dual rings.

And of course Greubel Forsey hand-finishes each component of the Tourbillon Cardan.  Many of the finishing procedures here are unique to the watch, including the frosted titanium finish on the tourbillon cage and the large polished flank finishes above the titanium mainplate. (See the Greubel Forsey website for a full list of specifications.) 

Greubel Forsey plans to build about eleven Tourbillon Cardan watches annually, with a total output of fifty-five watches during the next five years. 

Price: $534,000.

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Franck Muller Launches 2023 Colorado Grand Series  

As the Official Timepiece sponsor of the Colorado Grand classic car charity tour, Franck Muller annually introduces special limited edition watches to commemorate the race.

Held during September for the past thirty-four years in its namesake state, the five-day race features one-hundred vintage pre-1960 automobiles that gently compete to finish first as they traverse 1,000 miles of scenic Rocky Mountain passes and bypasses, starting and finishing in the ski mecca of Vail.

One of four new limited edition Franck Muller Colorado Grand 2023 watches.

Race organizers raise funds for numerous local causes, including the Colorado State Patrol, and generate well over $500,000 annually for small Colorado charities, including college scholarships and medical facilities in small towns.

This year Franck Muller offers four new Colorado Grand watches, each limited to thirty-four examples (to celebrate the 34th anniversary of the event).

The new watches of the Franck Muller Colorado Grand limited edition expertly utilize the classic 45mm Vanguard tonneau-shaped case and dial as a canvas, creating dials inspired by automotive art and the technical details of vintage cars.

Notable is the silver perlage that graces each dial of the four-watch set. Set with bold hand-painted numerals, these dials recall vintage car dashboards. Four models are available, each with a colorful rendering of the numerals, crown-protector and minute track just inside the bezel.

Prices: $24,500 (rose gold case with blue accents), $13,000 (steel case with black accents), $13,000 (steel case with red accents) and $13,000 (titanium case with green accents).

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Porsche Design Revives Military Chronograph 

Porsche Design revives a late-1970s military flyback chronograph with the new Chronograph 1 Utility – Limited Edition, the watchmaker’s first titanium carbide chronograph not connected to a specific Porsche sports car.

The new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 Utility – Limited Edition.

By making the new watch using a titanium carbide case instead of a steel case like the original model, Porsche Design makes the chronograph’s case more scratch-resistant, much lighter and hypoallergenic.

But by remaking the matte black dial and using same easy-to-read font of the original, the watchmaker has created a technically updated ode to that 1979 design. 

While the dial of the historical model (which was made for the flying squadron of the U.S. Air Force) featured a tiger’s head, the new watch offers a screaming marmot image between 4 o’clock and 5 o’clock.

The “Mankei” (marmot) name on the dial also refers to the Mankeiwirt, Ferdi Porsche’s newly opened destination for car enthusiasts located near Studio F. A. Porsche in Zell am See, Austria. 

In addition to the font and technical features, the Chronograph 1 Utility – Limited Edition also pays homage to its historical model in several other ways. 

A new “TiC” logo is placed in the characteristic position between 1 and 2 o’clock on the dial referencing the use of titanium carbide, and is a modern reinterpretation of the 3H symbol (for tritium) of the military model. Tritium is here replaced by bright blue SuperLuminova.

The watch also features the historic Porsche Design logo on the dial and winding crown. Two dots on the dial at 12 o’clock provide a clear orientation of the displays in the dark.

The new watch (right) with the original model from 1979.

There are few differences of course, most critically the new movement and the larger case size. Originally 38mm, the new watch measures 42.7mm in diameter.

The watch is powered by a COSC-certified Porsche Design WERK 01.240 chronograph caliber that retains the flyback function of the original watch.

The back of the the new Chronograph 1 Utility – Limited Edition, showing the aviation style leather strap.

Also new: a thicker seconds hand and a larger minute hand.

Porsche Design attaches the new watch to a slate grey ‘Bund’ strap made of Porsche vehicle leather with a quick-release mechanism. As an additional option, the chronograph also comes with a white textile strap with a badge on which the coordinates of the F.A.T. Ice Race are printed.

The watch also comes with a white textile strap with a badge on which the coordinates of the F.A.T. Ice Race are printed.

Collectors can pre-order the Porsche Design Chronograph 1 Utility – Limited Edition now for $13,000. The watch will be available in stores starting January 15, 2024.

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Chronoswiss Launches Titanium Opus

Chronoswiss lightens its groundbreaking Opus skeletonized chronograph with the new Opus Chronograph Titanium, a modernized update of the original Opus, a watch Chronoswiss introduced in 1995 as one of the first serially-produced automatic skeletonized chronographs.

The new Chronoswiss Opus Chronograph Titanium, also available with green accents.

It’s hard to overstate the influence of the original Opus, which graced watch publications (including this one) and collector wrists worldwide in the years after its debut. Its transparency exposed a new generation of aficionados to the artistry and technical beauty of mechanical watchmaking.

The industry saw a general uptick in skeleton-dialed debuts from a wide range of watchmakers for years following the Opus debut.

Chronoswiss is now offering a contemporary take on the classic Opus design, casing two variations in grade-5 titanium.

The same levers, gears and cams remain as visible as ever here, with Chronoswiss adding a CVD-coating to the watch’s caliber C.741S, an ETA Valjoux-based integrated chronograph movement.

With galvanic black skeletonized bridges, the movement retains its mesmerizing allure to enthusiasts while adding a stealthy modern twist. Look for two color options, green and blue, each of which frame and complement the movement’s web of blackened and CVD-coated gears and levers. (See specifications below).

Offered in steel within the current Chronoswiss collection, the modern Opus Chronograph has not previously been made using a titanium case with the exception of a customized thirty-piece collection created with the Singapore-based Grail Watch.

“The new Opus Titanium arrives just in time to mark our 40th anniversary,” explains Oliver Epstein, CEO of Lucern-based Chronoswiss. “This watch is not just a product; it’s a statement of our relentless pursuit of innovation and our respect for tradition.”

Price: $14,500. 

Specifications: Chronoswiss Opus Chronograph Titanium

(References CH-7543T.1S-BL2 and CH7543T.1S-DGR) 

Case: 41mm by 14.80mm, solid 23 pieces, grade-5 titanium, with satin finish and polished, bezel with partial knurling and curved, double coated anti-reflective sapphire crystal, screw-down case back with satin finish and sapphire crystal, onion crown, water resistance to 100 meters, screw-in lugs with patented Auto bloc system. 

Movement: Chronoswiss Caliber C.741S, automatic (ETA Valjoux-based), skeletonized, 4 Hz., 28,800 vph, power reserve of 46 hours, skeletonized and CVD-plated rotor with Côtes de Genève, ball bearings; polished pallet lever, escape wheel and screws; skeletonized bridges and base plate with perlage, galvanic black.

Dial: Skeletonized, blue or green CVD-coated matte finish, Breguet lozenge-shaped hands, rhodium plated. 

Strap: Textile cordura. 

Price: $14,500

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