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Parmigiani Fleurier Launches Tonda PF Sport 

Parmigiani Fleurier launches a pair of sporty models within its Tonda PF collection, adding the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph and Tonda PF Sport Automatic, two models that effectively replace the watchmaker’s Tonda GT collection.

The new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph, available in a 42mm steel or rose gold case.

Both watches extend the watchmaker’s Tonda PF collection, first introduced two years ago as a slate of knurled platinum-bezel dress models with clean dials and revamped bracelets.

The new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Automatic is available in a 41mm steel or rose gold case.

The new ‘tailored’ approach to the design drew has drawn strong collector acclaim. The watchmaker has responded with a series of high-profile rattrapante designs and complicated models within the expanding Tonda PF collection.

Parmigiani Fleurier offers the new models in both steel and rose gold. As sporty watches within a fairly dressy collection, both the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph and Tonda PF Sport Automatic display design touches that confirm their sportier appeal, including a bolder bezel and broader guilloché dial pattern.

The knurled bezel on each Tonda PF Sport watch features 160 cuts rather than the finer 225-incision bezel found on the dressier Tonda PF collection.

The new dial features a hand guilloché ‘triangular nail’ pattern known as clou triangulaire, a sportier look when compared to the guilloché grain d’orge of the existing Tonda PF collection.

In addition, Parmigiani Fleurier coats the applied hour markers here with black SuperLuminova while also supplying each watch with a rubber-treated textured and stitched strap. Both watches are water-resistant to 100 meters.

For the 42mm by 12.9mm ‘panda’-style chronograph, Parmigiani Fleurier has removed the large date found on the firm’s previous GT chronographs in order to leave space for the PF logo.

This mimics the dial on the current, dressier, Tonda PF chronographs. The (smaller) date is now found between the 4 o’clock and 5 o’clock position. In addition, the new design features shorter indexes and a somewhat smaller flange.

Similarly, on the 41mm by 9.8mm Tonda PF Sport Automatic the watchmaker places a small date aperture at the 6 o’clock position to allow for a clean dial marked only by a logo at the 12 o’clock position.

The PF Tonda Sport Chronograph displays its Caliber PF070 movement via a clear sapphire back.

Inside the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph Parmigiani Fleurier fits its stunning Caliber PF070, a superb high-frequency (5Hz – 36,000 vph) manufacture movement with an integrated column wheel chronograph and a vertical clutch. The COSC-certified chronometer offers a power reserve of sixty-five hours.

A view of the caliber PF770 from the back of the Tonda PF Sport Automatic.

Inside the Tonda PF Sport Automatic you’ll find a Caliber PF770 with a serial-mounted double barrel and a power reserve of sixty hours. To extend the sporty design, the watchmaker also created a new, skeletonized oscillating weight for both watches. The watchmaker says the rotor now looks somewhat like the steering wheel of a Ferrari 250 GTO. 

Prices: $50,200 (chronograph in rose gold), $29,000 (chronograph in steel), $38,200 (automatic in rose gold) and $21,300 (automatic in steel). 

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Citizen Expands Series 8 with GMT Models

Citizen expands its Series 8 collection of automatic watches with a highly anti-magnetic GMT model. Offered in three contemporary designs, including one limited-edition gold-colored model, the new watches add a highly practical function to the offerings within this much-acclaimed Citizen collection.

One of three new Citizen Series 8 automatic GMT models.

With their traditional GMT function, the new watches allow the wearer to read the time in up to three time zones via the bi-directional rotating bezel.

The bezel colors are split into daytime and nighttime hues, represented by blue and black on the black-dialed model and red and light blue on the model with the dark blue dial.

Citizen created a dial designed to mimic Tokyo at night with a pattern meant to recall skyscrapers and windows of different sizes. The pattern updates a classic checkerboard design, which in Japan are said to represent prosperity.

Citizen finishes the 41mm by 13.5mm steel case on the two ongoing models with both mirror and brushed finishes with multiple patterns. Automatic caliber 9054 is visible through the clear caseback. Citizen adds strong magnetic resistance to the caliber and case, which helps the watch maintain average daily accuracy of-10 to +20 seconds and a fifty-hour running time.

The yellow-gold-colored Series 8 GMT is a limited-edition of 1,300 pieces worldwide. Citizen explains that its designers were inspired by the “warm golden rays of the autumn sun in Japan” when coloring the case, bracelet and dial.

The embossed dial pattern here is particularly impressive. Meant to recall the appearance of light and shade created by long autumn grass during the sunset, it elevates the visual appeal of this limited edition with an artisanal approach not typically seen at this price level.

Here, Citizen frames the dial with a pleasing brown and cream-colored GMT bi-directional bezel. And like the ongoing GMT models, this limited edition also exposes its Caliber 9054 movement through a clear caseback. 

Prices: $1,795 (limited edition) and $1,695.

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Bulova Adds Two to Marine Star

Bulova expands its nautically inspired Marine Star collection with a dramatic automatic model and an eye-catching orange-dialed quartz chronograph.

The new Bulova Marine Star Series A watch.

The 45mm steel-cased automatic Marine Star Series A watch shows off its mechanical heart by exposing the Miyota Caliber 82S5 movement’s escapement through an aperture on the dial and its rotor though the clear case back.

Bulova surrounds that ticking space with a sunburst-finished central dial and a sun-ray textured hour track. Orange accents enliven the dial even more on the running sub-seconds dial and the Arabic minutes markers.

The sporty watch is water resistant to 200 meters with the assistance of a screw-down crown.

Bulova pairs the watch with a matching silver-tone stainless steel bracelet with a push-button deployant clasp. Price: $650. 

The new Bulova Series B Marine Star Chronograph features a silver-tone 43.5mm stainless steel case with brushed and polished facets framing a bright orange dial that some collectors may recognize from Bulova’s famed Devil Diver.

The new Bulova Series B Marine Star Chronograph.

Black accents pair with silver-tone polished stainless steel hands and applied markers, all treated with luminescent material.

Bulova completes the dial with an internal rotating 60-minute timing case ring operated by the 10 o’clock crown.

Bulova fits the new watch with a matching silver-tone stainless steel bracelet with brushed and polished finishing and an extendable sport fold-over clasp with pushers and a safety bar. Price: $525. 

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Porsche Design Celebrates 75 Years of Porsche 

Porsche Design celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Porsche 356 ‘No. 1’ roadster, the first namesake automobile made by Ferry Porsche.

The new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 75 Years Porsche Edition.

The celebratory model, called the Chronograph 1 – 75 Years Porsche Edition, echoes the first blackened steel Porsche Design watch from 1972 with its Porsche dashboard-inspired matte-black dial with Porsche Design logo and lettering, red seconds hand and tachymeter.

For the new model, Porsche Design updates the 40mm case, which here is glass-bead-blasted and carbide-coated black titanium. And instead of the Valjoux 7750 found in the original, Porsche Design’s own excellent COSC-certified WERK 01.140 powers the chronograph.

For this limited edition, however, Porsche Design also adds a few flourishes, starting with the caseback. This Chronograph 1 – 75 Years Porsche Edition features a winding rotor in the shape of the famed Fuchs wheel, including a Porsche crest in color, as well as the specific limited edition number.

Porsche Design has also created a new textile/leather strap with light blue stitching and a woven red stripe in the middle to mark the anniversary. The chronograph is also available with a black leather strap and matching black stitching. Both straps can be changed quickly using Porsche Design’s snappy quick-change system.

Porsche Design is offering the Chronograph 1 – 75 Years Porsche Edition as a special edition limited to 475 pieces. Price: $11,000. 

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MB&F Revisits Driving Watches with Sleek HM8 Mark 2 

MB&F is back at the race track with the new HM8 Mark 2, a more compact version of its auto-inspired HM8 that combines the supercar styling of the watchmaker’s HM5 with the driving watch display and open ‘hood’ of the MB&F HM8 from 2016. 

The new MB&F HM8 Mark 2.

The new watch also features a similar horizontal time display optically magnified and projected 90 degrees to the wearer via a series of sapphire prisms.

But instead of the titanium and gold casing used in the earlier models, the new HM8 Mark 2 is built from titanium topped with CarbonMacrolon, a composite material composed of a polymer matrix injected with carbon nanotubes.

The English racing green version of the new MB&F HM8 Mark 2 is a limited edition of 33.

The material, developed for MB&F, is eight times lighter than steel and can be colored, polished, bead-blasted, lacquered or satin-finished. 

MB&F takes full advantage of those properties to create a lighter, smaller and more brightly colored driving watch, inviting a more unisex appeal to the debut.

For this debut, MB&F opts for a white or British racing green finish, matte on the top and high polish on the sides. The white version is paired with a green CVD rotor and light-green minute markers.

The British racing green version (a limited edition of 33) comes with a red gold rotor and balance wheel and turquoise minute markers. 

MB&F explains that the double-curved sapphire it uses on three sides of the HM8 Mark 2 is thirty to forty times more expensive than standard domed sapphire, and a result the watchmaker could find only one supplier for the component.

The trademark battle 22-karat gold axe rotor is also a chore to construct as it is only two-tenths of a milimeter thick and can’t be made by machine. Instead, it must be stamped, with the engraving already incorporated into the stamp.

The new watch’s crown is also unusual. Echoing the “double de-clutch” system found on race-cars, it operates by pushing it in and turning it three-quarters of a turn to release it. This ensures the watch’s 30 meters of water resistance while also maintaining a less intrusive profile.

The MB&F HM8 Mark 2 launches in two editions:  Titanium and green CarbonMacrolon body (limited to 33 pieces) and titanium and white CarbonMacrolon body panel.

Price: $78,000. 

 

Specifications: MB&F HM8 Mark 2 

Movement: Three-dimensional horological ‘engine’ composed of a jumping hour and trailing minutes module developed in-house by MB&F, powered by a Girard-Perregaux base movement. Mechanical movement, automatic winding with 22-karat gold automatic winding rotor. Power reserve is 42 hours, balance frequency is 28,800 bph.

Functions/indications: Bi-directional jumping hours and trailing minutes, displayed by dual reflective sapphire crystal prisms with integrated magnifying lens.

Case: Grade 5 titanium with green or white CarbonMacrolon, dimensions: 47mm x 41.5mm x 19mm. Water resistance to 30 meters. Sapphire crystals on top, front and display back treated with anti-reflective coating on both faces. Dual reflective sapphire crystal prisms with integrated magnifying lens.

Strap & Buckle: Calfskin: White for the British green model and green for the white model with a titanium tang buckle.

Price: $78,000

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