Ulysse Nardin celebrates the Year of the Rabbit in the traditional Chinese Zodiac with the Classico Rabbit, a 40mm rose-gold-cased limited edition watch with a stunning champlevé and cloisonné dial depicting the symbol of good fortune for 2023.
The new Ulysse Nardin Classico Rabbit, a 40mm rose-gold-cased limited edition watch.
Starting with a sketch, artisans at Ulysse Nardin’s dial workshop Donzé Cadrans carve directly into the rabbit motif dial, creating individual “cells” that they then fill with enamel. The artisans then fire the enamel, smooth and polish it. They then carefully enrich the scene by chiseling metal elements onto the surface.
Ulysse Nardin also applies textured cloisonné elements to the dial for added three-dimensional effect.
For the Classico Rabbit, champleve gold-wire folding represents up to fifteen working hours per dial.
To do this artisans create compartments using a very thin gold wire to deposit enamel with hyper precision. For the Classico Rabbit, this gold-wire folding represents up to fifteen working hours per dial, according to Ulysse Nardin.
At the Donzé Cadrans workshop, this high-level of craftsmanship is applied to a wide range of Ulysse Nardin watches. Collections benefits from the application of an array of enameling techniques, including Grand Feu, Cloisonné, Champlevé and Flinqué.
The Le Locle-based watchmaker will produce the Classico Rabbit in a limited-edition series of 88 timepieces, each powered by the UN-815 automatic movement. The watch arrives with a black alligator strap with a rose-gold buckle and a clear sapphire caseback.
Piaget enhances its ultra-thin Altiplano collection with a set of four artisanal Métiers d’art Altiplano Moonphase watches, each displaying a translucent blue enamel sky created by master enameler Anita Porchet.
The four new Piaget Métiers d’art Altiplano Moonphase watches, each representing a different season.
The four Métiers d’art Altiplano Moonphase watches display Chinese constellations, each represented by small white dots and precious stones. At night, hidden SuperLuminova-coated artwork lights up to reveal the moon and the season’s ‘Guardian’ constellation.
Each of the four models is associated with a different Guardian of the season: The Azure Dragon stands for the East and is associated with Spring and wood; the red bird, representing the South, is close to Summer and fire; the white tiger, looking West, is a friend of Autumn and finally a black turtle (for the North) represents Winter.
One the lower half of each watch Piaget displays moon rays made of graduated diamonds, sapphires and garnets. The large moon phase display features a moon window framed with gold ring set and graduated diamonds. Each 36mm watch is cased in white gold or rose gold with a baguette diamond bezel.
Following two years of work, the new models are among the first in the Altiplano collection to feature a moon phase display. Two additional models, each with mother-of-pearl dials, also debut the moon phase display within Altiplano.
Piaget powers the new series with its 580P Altiplano Manufacture automatic mechanical movement. On the back you’ll find a deep blue-lacquered moon-shaped oscillating weight.
Porsche Design launches a special edition of its Chronograph 1 to commemorate the brand’s fourth year as timing partner of the GP Ice Race in Austria.
The 250-piece limited-edition echoes the original Chronograph 1 from 1972, which is often considered the first all-black chronograph.
The new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – GP Ice Race 2023 Edition.
The new Chronograph 1 – GP Ice Race 2023 Edition, like the original watch, delivers the appearance of a Porsche 911 dashboard to the wrist, complete with luminescent hour markers and a matte-black dial.
But on the new watch Porsche Design updates certain details, such as using a pointed minute hand and red chronograph hands. The minute hand on the original model was rectangular while the chronograph hands on that 1972 edition were white.
Also reflecting moderntechnology, Porsche Design builds the new watch with antireflective, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal and an uncoated, 40.8mm lightweight silver titanium case.
Inside the watchmaker fits its excellent COSC-certified WERK 01.240 caliber with flyback function that powers a quick-switch date display and a bilingual day display. Porsche Design has engraved the edition number and the unusual GP logo on the caseback. The logo, which depicts Yeti sitting on a tractor, is unique to this limited edition.
Porsche Design also provides two bracelet options: a textile variant and a classic black version made of vehicle leather and with a matte-black titanium folding clasp.
The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – GP Ice Race 2023 Edition can be ordered at the Porsche Design website and in Porsche Design Stores. Price: $9,650.
At the end of the year, it’s time to note our favorite 2022 debut watches. Through the end of the week, we’ll re-acquaint you with our top timekeepers of the year.
Below is the third installment of our four-day review of our favorites, in no particular order.
Zenith: Gold Chronomaster Sport
The second Zenith that makes our favorites list this year is a gold edition of its very hot Chronomaster Sport, which has become a top seller for the brand since its introduction last year. Zenith now offers the Chronomaster Sport in rose gold (including the bracelet and engraved bezel with 1/10th of a second scale.)
Available with either a black or white dial with the signature El Primero three-color counters, golden hands and applied markers. Price: $38,200.
TAG Heuer: Carrera Red Dial Limited Edition
TAG Heuer heated up its Carrera collection in 2022 with the new TAG Heuer Carrera Red Dial Limited Edition, a crimson-red-dialed Carrera that echoes the watchmaker’s long-standing role as a watch of choice among professional race car drivers.
Seen infrequently within the full TAG Heuer collection today (with the exception of a few Formula 1 models and this stunning bronze-cased Autavia watch), red has long been a favorite accent color for the watchmaker. A red tachymeter scale dominated many Carrera models in the 1960s. Similarly, we’ve also seen bright red hands for decades on the Heuer Monaco. More recently, a few of you might recall the 2010 remake of the stunning 1974 Heuer Silverstone.
This newest red-dialed beauty features a brushed sunray dial with nicely snailed chronograph counters that allow light to reflect and refract.
Inside, TAG Heuer places its excellent Calibre Heuer 02, which boasts eighty hours of power reserve, a (red-tinted) column-wheel and special engraving that extol the limited nature of this new watch, which TAG Heuer is offering as a limited edition of 600 pieces. Price:$6,750.
Detroit Watch: M1 Sport Chrono Exhibition 24 H Legends 98
Detroit Watch Company expanded ts hot-selling M1-Woodward Sport Chrono Exhibition collection with racing livery with two new models emblazoned with number 98 on the dial.
The number references the 1966 winning GT40 at Daytona driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby as well as the Cobra Daytona coupe designed by the legendary American designer Peter Brock.
The new line retains the M1 Sport Chrono Exhibition collection’s steel-cased design, but now features the new 98 dial with either red or blue accents on tachymeter internal bezel. Inside the brushed and polished 42mm case you’ll find an ETA Valjoux 7750 chronograph with a customized Detroit Watch decoration visible through a sapphire back.
Prices: $2,200, $2,350 (black DLC edition)
Franck Muller: Colorado Grand Vanguard
Franck Muller debuts four new colorful Vanguard watches to commemorate the 1,000-mile vintage car rally known as The Colorado Grand.
As the event’s exclusive watch sponsor, Franck Muller designed each model to represent an emblematic automobile: pine green for the Bentley; fire red for the Ferrari; “French blue” for the Bugatti; and stunning silver for the Mercedes. Each is also created using different case material. These are: polished steel (red dial), rose gold (blue dial), titanium (green dial) and micro-blasted steel (silver dial).
The four models will be made in limited editions of thirty-three to honor the 33rd running of the Colorado Grand. Prices: $23,500 (rose gold case), $16,500 (micro-blasted steel case), $14,500 (titanium and polished steel case).
Greubel Forsey: GMT Balancier Convexe
Greubel Forsey moves its titanium globe to the center of its new GMT Balancier Convexe, altering its long-standing dial-borne universe in the process.
The globe, an eye-catching component of the watchmaker’s GMT, GMT Earth, GMT Quadruple Tourbillon and GMT Sport, appears at the heart of the 46.5mm titanium watch. In those earlier GMT models, the globe rotated along the edge of the case.
GMT Balancier Convexe
The new GMT Balancier Convexe joins six existing models within the independent watchmaker’s relatively new Convexe collection.
The centrally located globe isn’t the only premiere here. For the first time within a GMT model, the watchmaker’s signature 30-degree inclined balance wheel vibrates nearby, held by a flat black-polished and barrel-polished steel balance wheel bridge on polished steel pillars. Adjacent to this, note the small seconds, displayed with a blue gold hand.
Where the dial-side of the new watch is impressively redesigned, the back of the watch retains Greubel Forsey’s signature disc with 24 time zones indicating the UTC time. The only variation here is a minor one:the UTC of Paris has been replaced by La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, home for Greubel Forsey.
All this drama is framed by Greubel Forsey’s unusual convex case, with its curved geometry and undulating lines that, along the top, are higher on the sides and lower at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions. The case itself is also asymmetric, with a diameter of 46.5mm around the bezel and 43.5mm around the case band. This means it nicely hugs the curve of the wrist.
Greubel Forsey will make sixty-six GMT Balancier Convexe timepieces at the rate of twenty-two per year between 2022 and 2024. Each is available on either a titanium bracelet or a textured rubber strap. Price: CHF 350,000.
Grand Seiko: GMT Sports Models
Grand Seiko in 2022 added two new GMT models to its Sports Collections, and both are powered by the decorated and hyper-precise quartz Caliber 9F86.
The duo, Grand Seiko models SBGN027 and SBGN029, are each built within a 39mm steel case, slightly smaller than most models in the collection.
One model, SBGN029 features a blue sunray dial with red accents—-most notably a red GMT hand to indicate a second time zone. The other debut, SBGN027 features a black sunray dial with monochromatic highlights.
Using the clearly differentiated GMT hand, the wearer of either model can quickly note the second time of choice using the 24-hour dial ring, which is divided into two 12-hour sections for AM and PM.
Both watches offer hands and dial indexes with generous Lumibrite coating for superior visibility in darker conditions. In addition, each watch is rated to 100 meters of water resistance and features a screw-down crown and a dual-curve sapphire crystal.
Grand Seiko supplies both models with its well-known three-row steel bracelet with high-end Zaratsu-polished surfaces .
Grand Seiko collectors are familiar with Caliber 9F series, which the watchmaker created as the “ultimate quartz watch.” This Caliber 9F86 provides extremely high accuracy, with a rating of +/-10 seconds a year. And critically for a travel watch, the movement allows the wearer to adjust the hour hand without interrupting the timekeeping.
Price: $3,300.
Maurice Lacroix: Pontos S Chronograph
Maurice Lacroix unveiled the latest version of its popular Pontos Chronograph with the newPontos S Chronograph, a sporty-elegant duo with dominant chronograph sub-dials along the vertical axis and a slim, almost retro ceramic tachymeter bezel.
With two new sandblasted white or dark blue dials, the new look is somewhat sportier than earlier editions but retains the collection’s touch of class.
You’ll now find a day-date indicator at 3 o’clock rather than the date at 6 o’clock on this new Pontos chronograph, while the small seconds sub-dial is still at 9 o’clock.
However, note the almost panda-like contrast with the newly styled chronograph indicators and the very sharp dial finishing here. Maurice Lacroix has purposefully endowed both with sandblasted sub-dial centers framed by snailed measuring tracks. A choice of faceted hour markers adds a retro feel to the dial as well.
Maurice Lacroix retains the Pontos collection’s existing design elements, namely its elongated pushers, double-stepped lugs, and a satin-brushed and polished 43mm steel case.On the back the wearer can spy the back of the ETA-based automatic ML112 chronograph caliber, decorated with a combination of Côtes de Genève, perlage and sun-brush finishes.
The watchmaker is supplying the new Pontos S Chronograph with a color-coordinated M-branded nylon strap lined with nubuck leather. The watch is also available with a three-row steel bracelet. Owners can also swap between the strap or bracelet without the need for tools.
Prices: $3,250 (silver-white or dark blue sandblasted dial with stainless steel bracelet.
$3,100 (nylon strap) or $3,380 (special package with steel bracelet & nylon strap).
At the end of the year, it’s time to note our favorite 2022 debut watches. Starting today, and through the end of the week, we’ll re-acquaint you with our top timekeepers of the year.
Today, we re-post entries about our favorite 2022 debuts, in no particular order.We’ll have additional entries throughout the week.
The TAG Heuer Autavia 60th Anniversary Flyback Chronograph.
TAG Heuer: 60th Anniversary Autavia Flyback Chronograph
TAG Heuer in early 2022 fit a Caliber Heuer 02 COSC Flyback movement into two new Autavia 60th Anniversary Flyback Chronographs.
One of the two new flyback chronographs features a ‘panda’ style silver dial framed by a polished stainless-steel case. The second Autavia flyback model features an all black dial and black DLC-coated case. As a reminder, theflybackfunctionmakesitpossibletoresetthechronographhandand immediately restart a newtiming event.
Prices: $6,300 (silver dial flyback chronograph), $6,950 (black dial, black case flyback chronograph) and $4,200 (GMT).
Delma: Blue Shark III Black Edition
Independent Swiss watchmaker Delma continues to swim with the sharks with a new dive watch made to venture far deeper than most of its similarly priced competitors.
The new Delma Blue Shark III Black Edition, water resistant to an incredible 4,000 meters, retains this collection’s very sporty technical features, including professional-level helium escape valve and crown protection, but now offers added protection of a scratch resistant black DLC coating on its 47mm steel case.
Built as a limited edition of 300 pieces, the new watch is hyper-visible on a diver’s wrist with large luminous hands and indexes and luminous markers along its broad bezel.
Delma is making 300 examples of the new Blue Shark III Black Edition in each of three dial colors: black, blue or orange dial. All three versions come with an additional black genuine rubber strap and a black DLC-coated buckle with tools for interchanging the bracelets.
Price: $2,750.
RGM: Fat Arrow
American watchmaker Roland G. Murphy, whose eponymous Pennsylvania-based RGM Watches pioneered independent watchmaking in the United States, teamed with renowned watch photographer and artist Atom Moore to create a terrific limited edition series of ‘Fat Arrow’ military style watches.
The series, the Equation of Time Fat Arrow, reprises a late 2021 prototype developed by Moore and Murphy’s Equation of Time division, which specializes in watches designed with input from collectors.
Moore’s original dial art piece “Fat Arrow” is based on the name given to the World War II-era watches with the larger dial arrows, which were used to signify British military equipment.Starting with Moore’s Fat Arrow dial design, Murphy devised a complementary steel-cased 36mm military style watch.
Visible through the caseback is a manual-wind Sellita SW210-1 finished with Geneva stripes and radially brushed gears. Price: $2,995 (limited edition of 99).
Franck Muller: USA Limited Edition Bill Auberlen Vanguard Racing
The seconds indicator on the new Franck Muller USA limited edition Vanguard Racing Skeleton Bill Auberlen starts with double zero at the bottom of the dial, not at the top. This layout, while rare on a watch dial, allows seconds to be read from both ends of the seconds hand and echoes the dashboard Auberlen would see while piloting his racecar.
The dial layout is just one of many racer-friendly details that Franck Muller built into the sporty automatic watch. The watch is the latest Franck Muller model built with Auberlen’s direct. One of America’s most successful racecar drivers, Auberlen has won sixty-three races.
Another example can be found in Franck Muller’s choice of case materials for the tonneau-shaped 44m by 53.7mm Vanguard watch. One version of the watch is built with carbon, the same ultra-light, high-performance material racecar makers utilize. Another version features an unusual blue-tinged high-tech composite called Technologie Bleu, which the watchmaker says is created by mixing ‘high purity metals and other exotic elements.’
Franck Muller offers its Vanguard Racing Skeleton Bill Auberlen in three case materials:rose gold ($34,000), carbon ($27,400) and Macro molecular Technologie Bleu ($26,200).
Frederique Constant celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture with a pair of attractive blue-and-grey-dialed limited edition references.
In keeping with this Geneva brand’s ‘affordable luxury’ tenet, the Classics Worldtimer has been among the highest-value Swiss-made examples of it type, particularly as it’s supplied with an in-house worldtimer caliber (visible through the sapphire caseback).
We’ve seen Frederique Constant release the Classics Worldtimer Manufacture in a variety of hues and metals during the past decade. This new offering, in a choice of a rose gold or steel case, combines the most classic combination that represents the earth’s blue oceans surrounded by white clouds.
The worldtimer dial allows the time to be read in twenty-four time zones with clear daytime or nighttime indication. Frederique Constant applies luminescent indexes (and on the hands in the steel model) to the fairly traditional globe décor world time display. This all frames a handsome sunray guilloché date hand display at the 6 o’clock position.
Prices: $4,695 (steel) and $21,995 (pink gold).
G-Shock: GMWB5000RD-4
Casio in 2022 added an eye-catching, all-new watch to the G-SHOCK Full Metal Series, the brand’s premium line.
This GMWB5000RD-4 carries on the look and feel of the original G-Shock DW-5000C with its classic square case shape and digital display. To that, G-Shock adds a hard-to-miss red stainless-steel case with screw-on back. And while it looks fashionable, the bracelet is as tough as the case, according to G-Shock, as it is made of solid stainless steel, here finished with a red IP color and diamond-like carbon finish that matches the case.
G-Shock lets the wearer rest assured that the Full Metal watch’s fashionable good looks are accompanied with G-Shock technical features, including Bluetooth Connectivity via the G-Shock Connected app, and Multi-Band 6 Atomic Timekeeping for self-adjusting hour and date display virtually anywhere on earth.
Additional technical specifications include: shock resistance, 200-meters of water resistance, Super Illuminator LED light, world time in 39 cities, stopwatch, daily alarms, countdown timer, 12/24 Hr. formats and a full automatic calendar.
Each season of the 
Available with either a black or white dial with the signature El Primero three-color counters, golden hands and applied markers. Price: $38,200.
