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Bulova Adds GMT to Oceanographer 

Bulova adds a GMT function to its vintage-style Oceanographer dive watch collection and creates three models to inaugurate the new series.

The new Oceanographer GMT retains the retro look of the existing Bulova Oceanographer ‘Devil Diver’ models, but with a new GMT hand to account for a second time zone.

One of three new Bulova Oceanographer GMT watches.

Two of the debuts feature 41mm steel cases, steel bracelets and a corresponding bi-directional rotating 24-hour bezel.

The third 41mm steel-cased model (below) comes with a rubber-strap instead of bracelet and also differs with an internal 24-hour track in place of a 24-hour bezel.

You might recall that the original 1972 Oceanographer dive watch was often called the Devil Diver when Bulova inscribed “666 feet” on the dial to note its underwater depth rating according to the Imperial system, which differed from the Swiss rating system.

Bulova revived the Devil Diver monicker several years ago within its Archive series with a hot-selling vintage-styled Oceanographer model.  

Bulova calls on a workhorse Miyota 9075 automatic movement to power the GMT hand to keep track a second time zone while also displaying the local time and date indications. The movement maintains accuracy of -10/+30 seconds per day and offers a 42-hour power reserve.

Look for three models in the new collection. One combines brown and black tones with an IP-plated rose gold tone steel case and bracelet. A second steel-cased edition features a familiar red and blue GMT design often built into dive watches as well as a matching steel bracelet.

The third Bulova Oceanographer GMT model boasts a more monochrome look with a gunmetal IP-plated case and bezel set with a full luminous white dial.

Here the unidirectional bezel offers elapsed time indication rather than the 24-hour display, which instead is seen  on the dial inside the bezel. Bulova fits the watch with a matching grey silicone textured strap.

All watches in the trio offer a screw-down crown, a double-domed box sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating and, of course, the 200 meters of water resistance as symbolized by the “666 feet” displayed on the dial, just below the excellent vintage descriptor “snorkel.”

Prices: $1,295 (luminous dial and rubber strap) and $1,395 (steel bracelet).

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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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Sky-Blue-Dialed Grand Seiko GMTs Celebrate Caliber 9S  

Grand Seiko continues to commemorate the quarter-century anniversary of its excellent Caliber 9S mechanical movement series with a new release of two GMT watches —one sporty model and one dressy edition—each powered by a specific edition of the caliber.

The new Grand Seiko Sport Collection GMT Caliber 9S 25th Anniversary Limited Edition SBGJ275.

Both watches feature dials that echo the skies over Mt. Iwate, in the Iwate Prefecture in Japan, where Grand Seiko hand-assembles its watches.

One model, the Sport Collection GMT Caliber 9S 25th Anniversary Limited Edition SBGJ275, underscores its artistic source of inspiration with a dial specifically meant to mimic the dense clouds at daybreak over Mt. Iwate, when humid air creates a blue and white tapestry.

Grand Seiko of course also provides a terrific view on the back of the new watch. Through the clear sapphire crystal case back you’ll see the movement’s titanium rotor, which the watchmaker has tinted light blue by using an anodic oxidation process.

The back of the sporty SBGJ275 GMT.

Not only is the back design noteworthy aesthetically and technically, it marks the first time Grand Seiko has placed a clear caseback on a mechanical watch with water resistance of 200 meters.

Back on the front, you’ll see a sapphire blue and white rotating bezel marked to indicate three time zones. Grand Seiko fits its Hi-Beat GMT Caliber 9S86 to power the watch, providing a frequency of 36,000 vph and very stable  precision. The 2,000-piece limited edition is priced at $7,600. 

Dressy model

On the dressier side of the debuts is the new Grand Seiko Elegance Collection Caliber 9S 25th Anniversary Limited Edition SBGM253.

The new Grand Seiko Elegance Collection Caliber 9S 25th Anniversary Limited Edition SBGM253.

This model is certainly more classical than the sporty debut, and its dial presents a more serene sunray finished blue dial depicting the sky over Mt. Iwate on a clear day.

Without the sporty bezel, this debut instead boasts a dressy mirror-finished bezel and case with curved lugs with a Zaratsu mirror finish and box-shaped sapphire crystal.

Like the sporty model, the model SBGM253 also clears a view to its movement, here a Caliber 9S66 GMT set with a titanium rotor also colored blue using the same anodic oxidation treatment as used on SBGJ275.

Caseback view of the new Grand Seiko SBGM253.

Like the sports model, the dressy debut allows for multiple timezone display, here two zones rather than three.

The movement allows the wearer to adjust the local hour hand independently while the tempered blue GMT hand can be aligned to a second time zone as indicated on the blue 24-hour scale.

A limited edition of 1,700, the watch is priced at $5,600.

 

Specifications: Grand Seiko Sport Collection Caliber 9S 25th Anniversary Limited Edition: SBGJ275 

(Limited edition of 2,000) 

Movement: Automatic Caliber 9S86, frequency: 36,000 vibrations per hour (10 beats per second) Accuracy (mean daily rate): +5 to –3 seconds per day, power reserve: 55 hours, GMT hand. Water resistance is 200 meters and magnetic resistance to 4,800 A/m.

Dial: Blue and white cloud pattern.

Case: 44.2mm by 14.8mm stainless steel, dual-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating See-through screw case back.

Bracelet: Three-fold clasp with push-button release.
Price: $7,600.

 

Specifications: Grand Seiko Elegance Collection
Caliber 9S 25th Anniversary Limited Edition: SBGM253 

(Limited edition of 1,700)

Movement: Automatic Caliber 9S66, frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour, accuracy (mean daily rate): +5 to –3 seconds per day, power reserve: 72 hours, GMT hand.

Case: 39.5mm by 13.7mm stainless steel, box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, see-through screw case back, water resistance to 30 meters, magnetic resistance to 4,800 A/m.

Dial: Sunray blue.
Bracelet: Three-fold clasp with push-button release.
Price: $5,600 

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The Watches

Teak Tock 

Swiss watchmaker Cvstos has been making avant-garde mechanical watches for eighteen years at workshops in the center of Geneva, with production facilities just outside the city. 

Specializing in bold, tonneau-shaped watches, Cvstos reports that it concentrates primarily on creating an “ultra-contemporary, yet sporty dimension to the most sophisticated complications.”

The Cvstos Challenge Sealiner PS.

Among the latest set of Cvstos debuts, the Challenge Sealiner PS certainly embodies all those descriptions. At 41mm by 54mm, the watch’s impressive sapphire case is endowed with a non-reflective coating on both sides and is affixed with specialized Cvstos polished titanium screws.

And while the sapphire case allows a clear view of the movement from the back, it’s the teak dial that really sets the watch apart from other nautically themed models.

Just below the stylized luminous hands (including a very cool propeller-shaped small-seconds hand) lies a teak-wood plate, echoing the woodwork found on many an ocean-cruising yacht.

Additional Challenge models include examples with colorful sapphires set in titanium framing the teak plate.

Cvstos will make twenty-five examples of the Challenge Sealiner PS with orange or turquoise dial and crown accents and matching rubber strap.  Price: $49,500. 

Specifications: Cvstos Challenge Sealiner PS

 (A limited edition of 25 in each of two colors) 

Case: Tonneau-shaped 53.7 x 41 mm sapphire crystal with non-reflective coating on both sides.

Caseback is open with sapphire crystal. Crown is screw-down with polished titanium Grade 5 or 5N rose gold rubber insert. Polished titanium (grade 5) screws in exclusive pattern.

Dial: Teak wood plate, rhodium-plated or golden decorative applique polished with Côte de Genève finish. Colorful sapphire indexes and Super-Luminova treated hands.

Movement: Skeletonized Cvstos CVS410, self-winding mechanical with 42-hour power reserve. 

Bracelet/Strap: Rubber, alligator leather or Alcantara with folding clasp.

Price: $49,500. 

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Bell & Ross Adds Smaller BR 03 Models

Bell & Ross introduces a new size to its BR 03 ‘circle-within-a square’ series, adding six models with a 41mm square case size.

Among the debuts is this model with an attractive copper dial, achieved through a galvanization process and enhanced by engraved black numerals and indexes.

Smaller by 1mm, watches in the new series also include a slimmer strap, narrower lug distance (from 4.5mm to 4.0mm) and a new automatic movement, BR-CAL.302, a Sellita-based caliber with an extended power reserve of fifty-four hours. All remain water resistant to 100 meters.

For the first time Bell & Ross combines a matte black ceramic case with a khaki dial on this new BR 03 Military Ceramic.

“With the new BR03, we modified the proportions of the collection by respecting its canons,” explains Bruno Belamich, Bell & Ross’ co-founder and Creative Director. “Our goal was to preserve the identity that has made the BR03 so successful, while adapting it to the new times and maintaining its allure.”

Look for three new models in a black case: Black Matte, Phantom and Heritage, as well as three new versions in polished steel – Black Steel, Blue Steel and Golden Heritage.

The latter feature truly retro black, blue and brown dials. Among the debuts is a models sporting a distinctive new copper dial model and another in a sharp-looking khaki-colored ceramic case.

Prices: $3,600 to $4,300.

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