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Bulova Places Meteorite Dial on Lunar Pilot 

Bulova fits its vintage-inspired Lunar Pilot with an unusual meteorite dial, offering the new Limited Edition Meteorite Lunar Pilot.

The new Bulova Limited Edition Meteorite Lunar Pilot.

You might recall that in 2021 Bulova launched the Lunar Pilot collection to pay tribute to the original Bulova chronograph watch that accompanied Apollo 15 astronauts to the moon in 1971.

The latest edition of the steel-and titanium-cased watch also references outer space with its Muonionalusta Meteorite dial, created from a thin sliver of a meteorite formed 4.5 billion years ago.

Bulova explains that meteorites obtain their unusual crystalline pattern as the result of a combination of gravitational compression, collisions and the decay of isotopes. The meteorite goes through a slow-cooling process, forming a unique pattern, over the course of millions of years in space and after chemical interactions with its parent asteroid.

Bulova’s new Meteorite Limited Edition Lunar Pilot replicates the size of the original (at 43.5mm in diameter) and features a sandblasted titanium grade-5 and stainless steel case. Inside Bulova fits its proprietary NP20 High Precision Quartz (HPQ) chronograph movement accurate to 1/20th second.

Additional features include a sapphire crystal, a stamped tachymeter scale on the dial, luminous hands and markers and 50 meters of water resistance. The watch’s screw-down case-back features a lunar relief design with the watch’s production number.

Bulova is making 5,000 Meteorite Limited Edition Lunar Pilot watches, each presented in special box with a storybook, a limited edition card and a Certificate of Authenticity. 

Price: $1,495.

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LVMH Watch Week: Zenith’s Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar

Zenith revisits an esteemed calendar watch from 1969, launching the new Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar with the same case proportions as the original.

The new Zenith Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar.

Not only is the new model’s 38mm steel case the same size as the Zenith reference A386 from 1969, but so is its bezel-free  construction, domed sapphire crystal and its complete calendar with moonphase mechanism.

The Zenith compact triple calendar provides its time and date information with unusual clarity, displaying the days of the week and the months in symmetrically positioned windows above the chronograph  counters.

The date is visible at the 4:30 position, which is standard for watches that utilize Zenith’s high-frequency El Primero one-tenth-of–a–second chronograph caliber movement. Finally, Zenith places the moonphase display within the chronograph’s 60-minute counter at the 6 o’clock position.

 

The new watch echoes a particular crucial point in Zenith’s development of its groundbreaking automatic high-frequency El Primero chronograph. The 36,000 vph caliber, it seems, was initially designed to accommodate the triple calendar and moon phase functions right from the very beginning.

Zenith explains that “A series of 25 prototypes was produced in 1970 as a proof of concept, using the same round case as the A386. But given the success of the core chronograph version, it was decided to wait a few years before releasing the first version of the El Primero triple calendar in a watch, which  by the 1970s took on a much more space-age design.”

Zenith is offering two versions of the new Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar. One is a sporty silver-white “panda” opaline dial with black counters and a 1/00-of-a-second scale. The other debut features a familiar opaline slate-grey dial with silvery-white counters and scale, a pattern inspired a series of El Primero triple calendar prototypes from 1970.

A third dial variant (above) designed for Zenith boutiques (physical and online) features a more unusual sunburst olive-green tone with golden applied markers  and hands. Note that on each version, the calendar wheels match the dial colors.

Inside each model is Zenith’s latest generation El Primero automatic high-frequency El Primero 3610 that operates at a rate of 5 Hz (36,000 VpH), delivering one-tenth-of-a-second chronograph functionality. Zenith shows off its caliber through a clear sapphire back, exposing the movement’s blue column wheel and open rotor marked with the brand’s five- pointed star logo.

Prices: $13,900 (on a steel bracelet) and $13,400 (on a leather strap). 

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LVMH Watch Week: TAG Heuer Revisits Carrera Dato 

TAG Heuer revisits its 1968 Carrera Dato with a monochrome teal green TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph that features the Dato’s signature minute counter subdial at the three o’clock position and date window at the 9 o’clock position.

The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph.

The new watch joins a slate of TAG Heuer debuts during LVMH Watch Week. Additional unveilings also include a Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon with a teal green dial that matches the new chronograph, an Aquaracer Solargraph and a new Carrera Date Plasma model set with lab-grown diamonds.  

The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph joins an expanding collection of Carrera models topped with the domed sapphire Glassbox crystal first seen on many of the watchmaker’s 2023 debuts. The Glassbox pays homage to domed hesalite crystal designs from the 1970s.

The new 39mm steel watch nicely melds TAG Heuer’s vintage design with technical updates and a few modern touches. These include circular brushed finishing and a slightly curved flange that runs along the edge of the dial, enhancing marker visibility.

The watch also showcases TAG Heuer’s impressive in-house Heuer 02 (TH20-07), which offers a strong eighty-hour power reserve and bidirectional automatic winding.

TAG Heuer attaches the new Carrera Chronograph to a black alligator leather strap. 

Price: $6,550. 

Also new in 2024:

TAG Heuer unveils this TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon (pictured below) with its own teal green circular brushed dial. The 42mm watch features a tourbillon cage at 6 o’clock and is cased within the watchmaker’s Glassbox crystal.

The curved sapphire crystal provides the wearer with a clear view of the tourbillon.

Inside is the Heuer 02 – TH20-09 with bidirectional automatic winding. Price: $24,050. 

Also look for a notable expansion of the Aquaracer Professional Aquaracer Solargraph collection, now with a series 34mm steel-cased models, each with a different dial color and two with diamond markers.

The new size joins existing 40mm models and comes with the key features of the full Aquaracer collection: a unidirectional rotating bezel, screw-down crown, water resistance to 200 meters, luminous markings, sapphire crystal and a double safety clasp.

Of course, here the timekeeping is powered by light. Prices begin at $2,150. 

TAG Heuer also adds a new model to its glittering Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde series, adding a version with yellow diamonds.

The new 36mm white-gold-cased model, with a sparkling polycrystalline dial, features 4.8 carats of lab-grown diamonds and 1.4 carats of yellow lab-grown diamonds.

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Hublot Debuts Tenth MP Model

Hublot unveils the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium, the watchmaker’s tenth Manufacture Piece (MP) and a technical standout among a wide-ranging set of debuts for the Swiss watchmaker during LVMH Watch Week.

The new Hublot MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium.

Additional debuts include a colorful green model within Hublot’s Unico Saxem series, new yellow and light blue Orlinsky tourbillon models, two new Big Bang Integrated time-only ceramic models and a host of Spirit of Big Bang gem-set watches. 

No Hands

Continuing the avant-garde focus of the MP series, the MP-10 shows the time without hands, instead indicating hours and minutes via an aluminum roller display built directly within a linear movement.

Seconds are shown directly on the tourbillon case on the lower section of the dial. All three of these primary indicators utilize the same white lacquer typography and red triangular marker.

A fourth indicator displays the state of the watch’s 48-hour power reserve. This is shown with red and green disc.

Hublot powers the automatic movement and its 35-degree-inclined tourbillon via two linear weights, one of either side of the movement.

Hublot explains that its watchmakers have developed a patent-pending system of shock absorbers for these weights in order to wind the movement bidirectionally. 

In addition to its automatic system, the MP-10 can be wound manually by rotating the crown at 12 o’clock. The time is set using a second crown on the case-back.

Hublot notes that while the two-piece titanium case (54.1 mm by 41.5mm by 22.4mm) is relatively straight-forward, the sapphire crystal that sits on top is the watchmaker’s most complex yet as it combines inclined planes on three axes. The same applies to the integrated rubber strap, which Hublot calls “the most refined ever designed by the Manufacture.”

Price: $264,000. Hublot is offering the  MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium as a limited edition of fifty watches. 

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Zenith Launches Boutique-Only Pilot Models

Zenith unveils boutique editions of its existing Pilot Automatic and Pilot Big Date Flyback watches, both of which feature the brilliant blue dials we’ve seen on previous Zenith boutique-only launches.

The new Zenith Pilot Automatic, Boutique Edition

These latest models give a new look to two of Zenith’s top 2023 debuts. Each highlights the watchmaker’s signature sky blue hue as rendered on textured, grooved dials meant to recall the corrugated metal sheets of vintage aircraft. Both watches also sport the word Pilot on the dial, which Zenith notes is an especially significant detail. That’s because only Zenith holds the rights to mark its dials with the term.

Zenith makes one of the two new watches, the Pilot Automatic Boutique Edition, with a 40mm stainless steel case that features a distinctive flat-top round bezel, which complements the watch’s satin-brushed, rounded case. 

Above the date window you’ll see a luminescent hour marker in the form of a flat white line. This detail is meant to recall the artificial horizon instrument in plane’s cockpit.

The new 42.5mm Zenith Pilot Big Date Flyback, Boutique Edition.

As the second of the new boutique-only watches, the new 42.5mm Pilot Big Date Flyback Boutique Edition offers a monotone sky-blue big date wheels to match the dial. More complicated with its flyback function, the watch’s namesake display that, combined with its large crown, was originally made for pilots who wore thick sheepskin gloves.

The flyback function allows the chronograph to be reset to zero and restarted by a single push of a button, simplifying the pilot’s operations and offering the possibility to record consecutive times without having to stop and restart.

From the back of the Pilot Big Date Flyback the wearer can eye an El Primero 3652 chronograph caliber with its “artificial horizon” rotor visible. (See below for all technical specifications). 

Zenith fits the watch on a blue rubber strap and also provides a brown  calfskin strap. All the straps come with an integrated quick-release mechanism for easy swapping without tools.

Prices: $7,500 (Pilot Automatic) and $11,500 (Pilot Big Date Flyback), both available in Zenith physical and online boutiques. 

 

Specifications:

Zenith Pilot Automatic, Boutique Edition 

(Reference: 03.4000.3620/51.I003)

Key points: El Primero 3-hands watch. High-frequency movement (5Hz). Full interchangeable strap system. Boutiques Edition.

Movement: El Primero 3620 SC, automatic

Frequency: 36,000 VpH (5 Hz)

Power reserve: Approx. 60 hours

Functions: Hours and minutes in the centre. Central seconds hand. Date indication at 6 o’clock.

Finishes: Special “Pilot artificial horizon” black oscillating weight

Material: Stainless steel

Water resistance: 10 ATM

Case: 40mm

Dial: Blue with horizontal grooves

Hour markers: Applied Arabic numerals in SuperLuminova SLN C1

Hands: Blue & white with SLN C1

Bracelet & Buckle: Comes with 2 straps: Blue “Cordura” effect rubber and a brown calfskin leather with folding clasp.

 

Zenith Pilot Big Date Flyback, Boutique Edition

(Reference: 03.4000.3652/51.I003)

Key points: Automatic El Primero column-wheel chronograph with flyback function. Patented Big Date at 6 o’clock. Instantaneous Big Date jump in 0.007 sec (0.02 for discs jump & stabilization). Full Interchangeable strap system. Boutiques Edition.

Movement: El Primero 3652, automatic

Frequency: 36,000 VpH (5 Hz)

Power reserve: approx. 60 hours

Functions: Hours and minutes in the centre. Small seconds at 9 o’clock. Instantaneous Big Date at 6 o’clock. Flyback Chronograph. 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock.

Finishes: Special “Pilot artificial horizon” black oscillating weight

Material: Stainless steel 

Water resistance: 10 ATM

Case: 42.5mm

Dial: Blue with horizontal grooves

Hour markers: Applied arabic numerals in SuperLuminova SLN C1

Hands: Blue & white with SLN C1

Bracelet & Buckle: Comes with 2 straps: Blue “Cordura” effect rubber and a brown calfskin leather with folding clasp.

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