To celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversary, Frederique Constant unveils two new versions of its 41mm Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture.
Though one edition, an 18-karat rose gold limited edition of thirty-five, is not available directly in the United States, the second steel-cased model is being sold here.
The Frederique Constant Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture, in a steel case.
The steel-cased unlimited reference offers a brown dial and matching strap, with a lighter brown shadedominating the dial’s Earth symbol. On the orb Frederick Constant reveals latitude and longitude lines. A sunray finish highlights the date disc at 6 o’clock. The dial also offers luminous, silver-colored appliqué hour markers that match the three central hands.
The back of the watch displays the Frederique Constant manufacture FC-718 automatic caliber.
As a classic worldtimer, the watch displays twenty-four cities around the center on the external disc. These stand-in for the globe’s twenty-four primary time zones. Just inside this band, a second disc displays the time in each reference city. Light and dark section denote daytime or nighttime in the referenced city.
This celebratory variation comes with three straps: chocolate brown alligator leather with a nubuck finish, a matching rubber strap and a polished, brushed steel three-link bracelet.
The Frederique Constant Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture, in a gold case.
Frederique Constant places a soft blue dial within its gold model. As on the steel edition, the dial is slightly lighter within the center to better reveal the longitude and latitude lines on the engraved orb. Here, the hands and markers gold-colored and luminous.
For the gold model, Frederique Constant supplies an integrated blue alligator leather strap and a blue rubber strap.
Part of the watch’s success since its debut in 2012 is how simple it is to operate. All the features (hours, minutes, date, Worldtimer) can be adjusted using the crown thanks to the three-notch system Frederique Constant built in to the Manufacture FC-718 automatic caliber. The first click winds the watch, the second adjusts the date (upwards) and the reference city (downwards) and the third adjusts the time in the central display.
Price: $4,495 (steel model), and 25,995 euros (gold model).
Frederique Constant helps celebrate this July 4th with a red, white and blue U.S.-exclusive limited edition worldtimer. The Geneva-based watchmaker issues its 42mm steel-cased Classics Worldtimer Manufacture: Summer of 76 as a limited edition of seventy-six pieces to commemorate U.S. Independence Day.
The new Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture: Summer of 76.
With a red seconds hand and date accent, blue hands, blue dial and an appropriately hued trio of straps, the new watch clearly favors the colors of the American flag. And to underscore its American tribute, each watch will be sold with a red alligator leather strap with off-white stitching, a white alligator leather strap and a blue rubber strap.
Not enough July 4 references? Check out the red star that replaces the 4 in the date display and the American flag amid the U.S. cities listed on the 24-hour time flange.
Ten-year anniversary
First seen ten years ago, the Classics Worldtimer Manufacture has been one of the watchmaker’s best sellers, combining classical world time functionality with a contemporary display – and a surprisingly affordable price tag. Collectors have also been drawn to its in-house traditional world time movement (the FC-718 automatic caliber), a rare feature in a watch priced less than $5,000.
Like its pricier counterparts, this worldtimer allows its wearer to read the time in the twenty-four cities that represent the global time zones of reference, all with immediate indication of daytime or nighttime. And all Classics Worldtimer indications are set with the crown. This means that a traveler need not worry about changing the time as he or she enters another time zone. The local time (by central hands) and the domestic time (by the moving disk) are automatically synchronized with each other.
This latest worldtimer is the third made by Frederique Constant to celebrate the watch’s tenth anniversary. The watchmaker says that this U.S. exclusive edition shows “the importance of the U.S. market for the brand.”
Frederique Constant will offer the Classics Worldtimer Manufacture: Summer of 76 as a limited edition of seventy-six, with pre-ordering now for delivery in November.
Price: $4,795.
Specifications: Frederique Constant Classics Worldtimer Manufacture: Summer of 76
(FC-718USWM4H6, limited edition of 76)
Movement: Automatic FC-718 in-house caliber with all functions adjustable by the crown. Perlage & circular Côtes de Genève decorations , 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 alt/h.
Case: Polished 42mm by 12.1mm stainless steel three-part. Scratch-resistant and anti-reflective convex sapphire crystal, see-through caseback, water-resistant to 30 meters.
Dial: Light blue and silver with globe decoration, black pearl color applied indexes filled with white luminous treatment, 24H disc with day (white) & night (blue) indication, white city disc with 24 cities and U.S. flag. Hand-polished blue color hour and minute hands Hand-polished red color second hand. Light blue date counter at 6 o’clock with sunray guilloché decoration in the center, hand-polished silver color hand and a red star replacing the number 4.
Strap: Red alligator leather with off-white stitching. Includes an additional white alligator leather strap and a blue rubber strap.
Frederique Constant celebrates the tenth anniversary of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture with a pair of attractive blue-and-grey-dialed limited edition references.
Frederique Constant releases limited edition versions of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture in steel and in pink gold.
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 pink 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.
Frederique Constant will make the 42mm pink gold model as a limited edition of eighty-eight while the second, in steel, will be limited to 1,888 pieces. Both pieces arrive on a matching navy blue alligator strap with a folding buckle, decorated with the Frederique Constant logo.
Prices: $4,495 today and $4,695 as of April 15 (steel) and $18,995 today, $21,995 as of April 15 (pink gold).
Timed to coincide with the start of the lunar New Year on February 1, Ulysse Nardin has launched a new black ceramic ‘Blast’ version of its Moonstruck astronomical complication.
The Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck
This newest Moonstruck is a direct descendant of the Tellurium moonphase complication watchmaker and engineer Ludwig Oechslin created for Ulysse Nardin in 1992 as part of a trilogy of astronomical watches. And like that watch and subsequent Moonstruck models, the new, very contemporary Blast Moonstruck is meant to depict the rotation of the sun and moon as well as related astronomical events and measurements such tidal times, world time and of course local time and date.
The new Moonstruck maintains the collection’s centrally located depiction of the Earth as seen from North Pole. But for this Blast version, Ulysse Nardin has micro-engraved the continents and set them inside a sapphire crystal box encircled by a rose gold ring. That ring is engraved with the thirty-one days of the month to indicate the days.
A hyper-accurate moonphase indicator, using a realistic depiction of the Moon, shows the Moon’s position in relation to the sun, which Ulysse Nardin artisans have created from bronzite, a mineral rarely used in watchmaking. Even more impressive, the Moon display changes to appear a little brighter or dimmer in line with the lunar calendar.
Pushers on the left-hand side of the case allow the user to adjust the main time display forward or back to adjust to another time zone.
Worldtime is indicated via city names placed around the dial, as is often seen in traditional world time watches. While the hands can indicate the local time, they can also be set to any other time zone or to any one of the twenty-four time zones that corresponding to the city noted on the fixed flange.
Not surprisingly, Ulysse Nardin allows the wearer a particular ease at changing time zones. For years, the watchmaker has utilized a mechanism for changing the hour hand on its dual-time watches via two-pushers, here located on the left side of the case.
Ulysse Nardin’s own dial-making division has created a night-sky for the Blast Moonstruck on a disk made of aventurine.
Ulysse Nardin explains that the watch’s myriad settings can be set and adjusted using the crown.
“Manufacture caliber UN-106 subsequently manages all the displays on its own as long as the watch is worn, “ according to the watchmaker. “And when it isn’t, it just needs to be put back in the box supplied, which contains an automatic winder designed to take care of the winding and keep its calendar information accurate.”
The Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck is a multi-level 45mm watch in black ceramic and black DLC-treated titanium. It can be worn on a black alligator, black velvet or black rubber strap. Price: $73,900 (limited production).
Specifications: Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck
(Reference 1063-400-2A/3A)
Movement: Automatic UN-106 Manufacture caliber, 335 components, 28,800 vph. Power reserve of 50 hours.
Functions and displays: Hours, minutes, date, moon phase indication, days of lunar month, tidal coefficients, worldtimer, dual time, positions of the sun and moon around the globe.
Case: 45mm black ceramic, black DLC titanium, sapphire crystal on front and back, rose gold oscillating weight, 30 meters of water resistance.
Strap: Black alligator, velvet, or rubber with folding clasp, black DLC titanium and pink gold clasp.
Bulgari this week pays tribute to Gerald Genta with a renewed version of the famed designer’s Mickey Mouse watch. At the same time the watchmaker/jeweler adds a world time watch to its Octo Roma collection and revives a Papillon central tourbillon design, now set in an Octo Roma case. The original Papillon was a Daniel Roth jumping hour invention with ‘butterfly’ hands.
These debuts were just three Bulgari highlights at Geneva Watch Days 2021, where the Italo-Swiss watchmaker launched nine new models. These also included new models in the jeweled Divas’ Dream lineup and three Divina Mosaica watches, including one spectacular diamond-set model fitted with Bulgari’s thin minute repeater movement.
The new Gerald Genta Arena Retrograde with smiling Disney Mickey Mouse.
Gerald Genta Arena Retrograde with smiling Disney Mickey Mouse
Bulgari’s retro Retrograde watch, starring the world’s most famous mouse, pays tribute to the genius of Gerald Genta, who placed Mickey Mouse (and other Disney characters) on his own high-end watches starting in 1984. The Gerald Genta Mickey Mouse watches are today much sought-after by collectors.
You may recall that Bulgari in 2019 launched the first ode to Genta with its 50th Anniversary Arena Bi-Retro, which Bulgari released with only Gerald Genta’s name on the dial. Last year we saw a titanium version of the watch.
Those debuts recalled Bulgari’s acquisition of the Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth brands in 2000, a purchase that has played a significant role in building Bulgari’s haute horlogerie expertise.
Gérald Genta, who died in 2011 at the age of 80, designed many of the icons of modern watch design, including the Universal Genève Polerouter, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the IWC Ingenieur, Cartier’s Pasha, the Omega Constellation, the Bvlgari Bvlgari and the Patek Philippe Nautilus. Many of these designs remain bestsellers for their respective brands.
This new Gerald Genta Arena Retrograde with smiling Disney Mickey Mouse marks the return of one of the most sought-after Genta designs. The watch’s debut also marks the next level in Bulgari’s ongoing reboot of the Gerald Genta line as its own brand. To accompany that expansion, Bulgari is developing a new Gerald Genta website.
The new watch almost perfectly mimics many of the original Gerald Genta designs, here nicely settled into 41mm steel Gerald Genta Arena case. In this version you’ll find Mickey showing the time amid an also-playful rhodium-plated sunray dial. Mickey’s left arm and white-gloved hand indicates the minutes on a 210-degree retrograde dial as a jumping hour indicator shows the hour at the 5 o’clock position.
Bulgari is making the Gerald Genta Arena Retrograde with smiling Disney Mickey Mouse as a limited edition of 150-pieces, all available only online at Bulgari. Price: 16,500 euros, with January 2022 delivery.
Octo Roma WorldTimer
Bulgari developed a new movement, Caliber BVL257, to power this world time watch, a first for the Octo Roma collection. And as a travel watch, it features instant reading of the time in twenty-four cities, which corresponds to the world’s primary time zones. This launch comes just days after the debut of another well-received Bulgari travel model, the Aluminum GMT watch.
The new Bulgari Octo Roma WorldTimer.
Echoing classic world timer dial layouts, the Octo Roma WorldTimer offers a central display of the hours, minutes and seconds combined with a double rotating disc on the outer edge. One of the disks is set with the names of the reference cities while the second displays the 24-hour scale. When read in tandem, they allow the wearer to read the time in multiple time zones.
The Octo Roma WorldTimer is also available with a black DLC case and black rubber strap.
Bulgari took some liberties with the cities listed around the dial of this new watch, opting to swap the more common Bermuda for St. Barts, and representing cities where Bulgari has (or will soon have) one of its own hotels.
This sporty watch is built within the brand’ excellent multi-faceted Octo Roma 41mm steel case with a blue dial and matching steel bracelet. A stealthier version can be had in a black DLC case with a black textured rubber strap. Price: $8,350.
We’ll have more details about Bulgari’s Geneva Watch Days launches in upcoming posts. We’ve posted a few teasers below for those who can’t wait until then.
The new Octo Roma Central Tourbillon Papillon. At the end of the 60 minutes indicated by one of the “butterfly” hands, the disc jumps to display the new time in the aperture.The incredible Bulgari Divina Mosaica Minute Repeater.Two debuts in the Divas’ Dream collection include models with dials in lapis lazuli (pictured) and malachite.
Specifications: Gerald Genta Arena Retrograde with smiling Disney Mickey Mouse
Movement: Mono-retrograde movement, jumping hour aperture at 5 o’clock, retrograde minutes hand on a 210-degree sector, 28,800 vph, 42- hour power reserve.
Case: Jumping hour aperture at 5 o’clock, retrograde minutes hand on a 210-degree sector.
Strap: Red textured padded rubber with Gerald Genta folding clasp in polished stainless steel.
Price: 16,500 euros, with January 2022 delivery.
Specifications: Bulgari Octo Roma WorldTimer Stainless Steel
Movement: Automatic BVL257 with World time display, hours, minutes and seconds, 24 time zones and 24-hour indicator; 42-hour power reserve, frequency of 28,800 vph (4Hz).
Case: 41mm by 11.35mm 904L stainless steel with satin-brushed/polished finish, satin-brushed/polished bezel, transparent back, screw-lock steel crown set with a ceramic decoration and serving to set the time as well as the cities indication; water-resistant to 100 meters.
Dial: Blue sunburst, applied brushed rhodium-plated gold hour-markers.
Bracelet: Satin-brushed/polished steel bracelet with triple-blade folding clasp.
Price: $8,350.
Specifications: Bulgari Octo Roma WorldTimer Steel DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon)
Movement: Automatic BVL257 with World time display hours, minutes and seconds, 24 time zones and 24-hour indicator; 42-hour power reserve, frequency: 28,800 Vph (4Hz).
Case: 41mm by 11.35mm 904L steel, black sandblasted DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) finish, transparent caseback, screw-lock crown in DLC black steel set with a ceramic decoration and serving to set the time as well as the cities indication, water-resistant to 100 meters.
Dial: Matte black sandblasted, hour-markers, hours and minutes hands enhanced with SuperLuminova.
Strap: Black textured rubber strap with DLC steel pin buckle.
