Franck Muller Vanguard
A rather young horloger that has been made famous by a clientele that consists of celebrities, Franck Muller succeeds in consistently capturing the attention of watch enthusiasts by reinventing itself without losing the signature style for which it is famous. Giving its iconic Curvex case a clean and futuristic redesign, the watch brand unveiled this new collection at its own flagship event, the World Presentation of Haute Horlogerie, in Geneva earlier this year. Distinctly sporty, Vanguard features appliqué relief numbers as well as skeletonised hour and minute hands treated with Super-Luminova. The Croco strap with rubber inside is attached to the case with two unseen screws instead of the traditional spring bars, completing the reinvented look. Housing an automatic movement, Vanguard comes in titanium, 18K rose gold and red regal aluminium alloy.
Piaget Altiplano 38mm 900P
Famous for making ultra-slender timepieces, Piaget launched the world’s thinnest mechanical watch, Altiplano 38mm 900P, at this year’s SIHH and in celebration of the brand’s 140th anniversary. It took three years to get all of the 145 almost hair-thin parts together to form the final product, with some of wheels measuring just 0.12mm thick. Because of how thin the piece is it is more susceptible to exterior pressure, which could have affected its movement. To avoid that problem, the watchmaker fit the hands underneath the bridges instead of above, thereby freeing up space between the cannon-pinion and the crystal that will protect the hands from pressure. Characteristic of the Altiplano line, the face of the timepiece features an off-centred display of the hours and minutes, enhanced by the visible wheel-train that showcases the sophisticated mechanism. Offered in white gold case, pink gold case as well as gem-set white gold with 78 diamonds, this ultra-thin wristwatch offers a power reserve of 48 hours.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver in white ceramic
Another classic has been reinvented, this time the Royal Oak. But then this collection has never stopped evolving. After launching an edition in black ceramic last year, Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet seized attention at SIHH with another edition of Royal Oak Offshore Diver made with super white ceramic – nine times harder than steel. Sturdiness aside, the material has also formed a new look that is out of this world. As with the black ceramic rendition, this watch has a sapphire window in a titanium case back, a case measuring 42mm in diameter (versus 44mm of many styles of the collection launched since 1989), 13.9mm thick dive case with internal bezel adjuster at 10 o’clock and elongated crown guards on the right side of the case. On the white dial with Mega Tapisserie pattern there are faceted hour and minute hands and indices with blue accents. The calibre 3120 with engraved 22k gold rotor can be viewed through the case back window, making this piece a work of art to admire. Functionality-wise, it provides 60 hours of power reserve and is water resistant to 300 metres.
Omega Speedmaster Mark II
At the upcoming Basel World, from March 27 to April 3, Omega will be reintroducing one of the most famous classics: the Speedmaster. The collection was made an icon when NASA chose it as the watch for space missions. (Although records indicate that Neil Armstrong left his Speedmaster inside the spacecraft during his moonwalk, leaving Buzz Aldrin as the one who first put the watch to the test on the lunar surface.) The same year of the moon landing, in 1969, the Swiss watchmaker introduced the new-look Speedmaster Mark II with a streamlined case and powered by the same space-tested, hand-wound calibre 861 found inside the Moonwatch. At Basel, this classic will be presented with an automatic movement and transparent tachymetric scale lit from beneath by an aluminium ring filled with Super-Luminova. The barrel-shaped stainless steel case has a polished crown and pushers, and the face features a date corrector at 10 o’clock on the case, a 30-minute recorder at 3 o’clock, a 12-hour recorder at 6 o’clock and a small seconds sub-dial at 9 o’clock. The stainless steel bracelet is fitted with the brand's signature foldover rack-and-pusher clasp, and the watch is presented with a tool for adjusting the date. Water resistant to 100 metres, it’s powered by the Co-Axial calibre 3330, a self-winding movement equipped with an Si14 silicon balance spring and a column-wheel chronograph mechanism.
IWC Aquatimer Chronograph “Expedition Charles Darwin”
The revered Schaffhausen-based watch brand showcased its first ever piece with a bronze case. It is in commemoration of Charles Darwin’s expedition in the 1830s that led to the famous theory of evolution. Bronze was widely used in shipbuilding before stainless steel was invented, and this new piece is made of high-tech bronze alloy that is harder and more rigid than copper but equally rugged and wear-resistant. An ideal diving watch, this Aquatimer chronograph features a rotating bezel with the IWC Safe Dive system, which, after it is set, clicks audibly into place in one-minute intervals until the triangle on the internal rotating bezel points to the minute hand. It also features the newly designed sliding clutch system that transmits the movement of the bezel to the inside of the case. The mechanism is concealed under a protective cover at 9 o’clock, a feature immediately identifiable in the new Aquatimer generation. The warm bronze tone of the case is complemented by the luminescent coating on the hands, indices and the quarter-hour scale on the internal rotating bezel. That is in contrast to the sharp matte black rubber coating on the crown and push-buttons. The strap with the horloger’s own quick-change system is also made of black rubber. The watch is powered by the 89365 calibre, manufactured entirely in IWC’s own workshops, with the watchmaker’s double-pawl winding system. This Aquatimer is water-resistant to 300 metres.
