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Day two is in the books. After a somewhat calm press preview day (which you can hear all about right here), we got right into the thick of Baselworld 2019 bright and early this morning and saw a ton of watches from a variety of brands. Cole, James, and I get into all of the most interesting novelties from the Zenith El Primero A386 Revival pieces to the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic to the TAG Heuer Autatvia Isograph. Before that though, we had to address the elephant in the room: people's negative reactions to the Tudor Black Bay P01. I won't spoil our response here, but even Ben jumped in to give his thoughts on the backlash. Oh yeah, there's also the matter of a $70,000 solid gold Doxa chronograph, but that's another story entirely.
Make sure you listen to the end – we get a visit from a few special guests that you won't want to miss. Enjoy and we'll see you right back here tomorrow, same time and place.
Maybe it was right near where I was standing, or maybe it was a hundred yards away. Either way, 50 years ago, folks in Baselworld’s Hall 1 gathered to see the brand new Zenith El Primero for the very first time. It was 1969, and the year was all about the debut of the automatic chronograph. Zenith’s A386 reference was the vehicle of choice to debut this soon-to-be-legendary caliber. The watch has a streamlined case and a bold dial with three different colored sub-registers and an angled date window at 4:30. Combine that with the high-speed automatic chronograph movement inside and the watch was unlike anything the world had ever seen.
Fast-forward to 2019 and Zenith is debuting (almost) the exact same watch, only this time it comes in three precious metals – white, rose, and yellow gold – to celebrate 50 years of El Primero. Judging by these three pieces, it looks like the last half-century has treated Zenith quite well, and these 50th-anniversary watches treated me quite well too when I got to see them in the metal yesterday. They're killer. The combination of the tri-color registers and the various forms of gold just works. Here’s a closer look and you can find more details and specs here.
From a distance, you'd be forgiven for not even realizing that this watch is a new introduction to Rolex's collection. I mean, it looks so much like something that could have been in the catalog for decades, but it's actually as fresh as it gets. This is the first 42mm time-and-date Yacht-Master, offering a larger option for those who still find 40mm too conservative, and it comes with a sleek combination of a black dial and an unbelievable bezel made of white gold with a matte black Cerachrom insert. The markings on that insert are raised and polished and the result is totally stunning. Inside is the caliber 3235, which is Rolex's most state-of-the-art, time-and-date movement. It uses the Chronergy high-efficiency escapement and is regulated to a crazy +2/-2 seconds per day. If you liked the Everose gold Yacht-Master introduced back in 2015 but wanted something bigger and sleeker (and somehow even more reliable), your prayers have been answered.
Initial Thoughts
The Yacht-Master line can be a bit confusing, even for people who know their Rolex references backwards and forwards. First off, like with the Explorer, there's a standard Yacht-Master (which is what you're looking at here) and a Yacht-Master II (which is 44mm and has a regatta timer complication). As far as the simpler time-and-date models go, there are now three sizes: 37mm, 40mm, and 42mm. There are a mix of metal configurations, including steel and platinum, steel and Everose gold, all Everose gold, and now all white gold. And don't even get me started on the various incarnations of the Oyster bracelet and Oysterflex bracelet that you can choose from.
For me, the new Yacht-Master 42, despite adding a bunch of new options to the mix, is the purest expression of the model yet. The white gold case is luxe and hefty while still giving off the appearance of being a hearty tool watch, the matte black bezel is straight-up mean looking, and the Oysterflex bracelet is practical and casual. This is a watch for someone who wants to look low-key but likes things just so. And I can squarely get behind that.
Diameter: 42mm Case Material: 18k white gold Dial Color: Black Indexes: Applied white gold and Chromalight Lume: Chromalight on hands and hour markers Water Resistance: 100 meters Strap/Bracelet: Oysterflex bracelet with white gold Oysterlock clasp
The Movement
Caliber: 3235 Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date Diameter: 28.5mm Power Reserve: 70 hours Winding: Automatic Frequency: 4 Hz (28,800 vph) Jewels: 31 COSC Chronometer Certified Additional Details: Regulated to +2/-2 seconds per day, utilizes Chronergy escapement
The new Autavia Isograph is a considerable departure from the format established by the history of Autavia, offering a time-and-date layout with a diver-like unidirectional bezel crossed with the bold time display of a pilot's watch. You can read more about the new line here, but feel free to scroll down for an in-the-metal look at the new models in all of their variety. Take note of the sporty 42mm steel or bronze cases, the gradient dials, the copious lume, the bevy of straps (including a bracelet with tool-less quick-release), and the strong legibility and balance which is aided by the six o'clock date. Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for a much more in-depth look at how the Autavia Isograph was designed, coming next week.
Tudor first introduced introduced the Heritage Black Bay Bronze at Baselworld 2016, and it created quite a stir, adding a new case material (bronze), a larger case size (43mm), and an in-house movement (caliber MT5601) to the brand's dive watch arsenal. Since then, we've seen a few variations on that theme, including a special edition in blue for Bucherer and a piece unique for Only Watch. At Baselworld 2019 Tudor has introduced yet another BB Bronze, this time with an absolutely knock-out slate grey dial and bezel. Technically, the watch is the same as the original from three years ago, but this new color scheme changes everything, giving the watch a new layer of depth due to the sunburst gradient of the dial and the subtle contrast of the bezel. A duo of grey-toned straps finishes things off, with your choice of nubuck leather or fabric. It's amazing how big a difference a smart color change can make.
Initial Thoughts
This watch is flat out awesome and it totally caught me by surprise. Of all the Black Bay models in Tudor's relatively diverse collection, the Bronze is the only one that's never really excited me. That all changes with this new slate grey rendition. The subtle ombre of the dial is so good – I'm talking "one of the best sports watch dials I've seen in years" level good. It maintains the legibility of a black dial, but with a lot more charm. The 3-6-9 numerals with their gold surrounds and the gilt printing keep everything nice and warm, giving the watch an almost magnetic appeal. If this thing were 41mm or small, I think I'd have already placed an order, but sadly the 43mm size is still just a hair too big for me to wear comfortably. If you're not opposed to slightly bulkier sports watches, this is the gold-toned watch that you didn't know you needed (but you definitely do).
The Basics
Brand: Tudor Model: Black Bay Bronze Reference Number: 79250BA
Diameter: 43mm Case Material: Bronze with bronze-colored PVD stainless steel case back Dial Color: Slate grey Indexes: Applied dots and Arabic numerals Lume: Yes, on hands and hour markers Water Resistance: 200 meters Strap/Bracelet: Black nubuck leather strap or slate grey fabric strap with bronze buckle
If you followed our coverage from last year's Baselworld, you might remember that when asked to choose my "grail watch" of the fair, I picked the Akrivia Chronométre Contemporaine without a moment's hesitation. I had never really given much thought to the small independent brand before seeing that watch, sort of by accident I might add. I knew they did objectively good things, but it wasn't really in my wheelhouse. However, the Chronométre Contemporain is a watch that has haunted my dreams for a full year now and when it came time to make our Baselworld 2019 schedule, booking my appointment with Akrivia was one of the first things I did.
Stepping into the booth this morning, I immediately noticed something interesting on the wrist of Rexhep Rexhepi, the brand's founder and the man whose name sits at 12 o'clock on the watch's grand feu enamel dial. Paired with a light colored strap was the lone stainless steel prototype of the Chronométre Contemporain. This watch, in steel? Give me a break. It truly doesn't get any cooler than that. Rexhep, being the extremely warm and nice guy that he is, took it off his wrist, handed it to me, and told me to enjoy. Here are a few photos of the watch that got my heart racing:
The Chronométre Contemporain is a classically-inspired watch but with an idiosyncratic personality.
The blue markings looks absolutely gorgeous on the white grand feu enamel dial.
The hour hand has spear-like shape and is a tiny sculpture on its own.
I mean...have you ever seen a movement quite like this?
The symmetrical architecture is a key part of the CC's caliber.
The man himself: Rexhep Rexhepi.
For some context, a few things have changed from the prototype to the final production Chronométre Contemporain. Most notably you'll see a metallic track around the sub-seconds dial and there are a few variations in the movement finishing too. Here is what the watch looks like in platinum with that same stunning white and blue dial.
Last year in Basel, we saw a 38mm three-hand Navitimer with a beaded bezel equipped with a slide rule. Sure, it was on the smaller side for a Breitling, but it was also a clear signal that under its then-new new management, Breitling was going to be open to trying new things to reach a wider range of watch buyers. This year, we see the same aesthetic applied to a 41mm mid-size three-hander with date.
It's a good looking watch that takes the aesthetic of the Navitimer, a tool watch if there ever was one and definitely Breitling's most iconic design, and applies it to a fashionable time and date in a wide range of executions incorporating various dial colors, two case metal configurations, and choice of a leather strap or a bracelet. Based on the shear number of examples within this new collection, it would appear that Breitling expects this collection to be a big success and a pillar for the brand. The Breitling 17 is not produced in-house, but it's based upon one of the most widely used and time-tested movements in all of Swiss watchmaking, ETA's 2824-2.
Initial Thoughts
I'm a fan of the Navitimer aesthetic, and I think a lot of you out there are too. It's definitely Breitling's best-known watch and easily one of the most instantly recognizable pilot's watch designs from any watchmaker. These new time and date models successfully transfer the design language of an iconic tool watch to more of an everyday watch with mass market appeal. There are a heck of a lot of different possible configurations here – I count 15 when taking the optional folding clasp versus pin buckle into account, and I think some of them look really great: the blue dial option below matched with a blue strap, for example.
Diameter: 41mm Thickness: 10mm Case Material: Steel or steel and red gold Dial Color: Silver, black, blue and carbon Indexes: Applied Lume: Yes Water Resistance: 3 Bars Strap/Bracelet: Either available
You're looking at Doxa's latest vintage-inspired limited edition, the new SUB 200 T. Graph in solid 18k yellow gold. With a retail price of $70,000, while it's certainly a hilarious watch, it's also an undoubtedly puzzling move for a historic brand known for dive watches under $3,000. Made in reference to the 1969 Sub 200 T. Graph (which is celebrating its 50th birthday), this new edition is 43mm wide (in solid yellow gold), it uses a Valjoux 7734 hand-wound movement with a date at six and a two-register layout offering a 30-minute chronograph with central seconds. Using the brand's tonneau case, this wild chronograph is limited to just 13 units. Yes, 13.
Thirteen. In solid gold. For $70,000. Or you could have a solid gold Patek Nautilus chronograph. Or two solid gold Speedmasters.
For a bit of context, the original model was steel, offered in all three dial variants (Sharkhunter, Professional, and Searambler) as a limited run of 200 units per dial. To make this solid gold model, and to do so in such a limited run, is a strange way to pay tribute to a watch as good as the original steel SUB 200 T. Graphs. There are 13, so I guess the question is... are there 13 buyers that want a $70,000 solid gold Doxa?
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One of the best things about Baselworld is that pretty much the entire watch world descends on the small Swiss town for a few days and it's nearly impossible to walk 10 feet without running into someone you know. After an impromptu encounter with longtime HODINKEE editor-at-large Jason Heaton, we decided to do today's recap episode with him and James Stacey, making it something of a HODINKEE Radio/The Grey NATO crossover. We get into all the stuff you'd expect like Oris dive watches, Doxa dive watches, Rolex dive watches – you get the point – but we also talk about why James's surprise hit of the show is a totally insane Hublot Ferrari chronograph, get Jason's take on the new TAG Heuer Autavia Isograph, and hear about an independent watch that Stephen is completely obsessed with.
Remember to come back tomorrow for our last Baselworld recap episode, where we'll have all of our on-the-ground editors looking back at the most interesting moments and most compelling watches of this year's fair. Enjoy!
This year is the 20th anniversary of Grand Seiko's unique Spring Drive technology (which you can learn all about right here, if you're not already familiar). As you'd expect, a celebration is in order and the Japanese watchmaker is doing so in a number of important ways. We already showed you the limited edition hand-wound anniversary dress watches and the new hand-wound Elegance collection, but now we've got something else entirely for you to enjoy: Meet the SBGA403, a new sports watch that brings together an automatic Spring Drive movement with a new style of case and an absolutely stunning dial. The entire package is inspired by the lion, a longtime symbol of Grand Seiko.
Let's start with the new case. Made from high-intensity titanium and measuring in at 44.5mm across, it has a distinct shape with faceted lugs and dramatically curved sides that give it a ton of dynamism. The underside of the case angles inward, making it wear lower to the wrist and ensuring that the faceting doesn't make the watch uncomfortable (you don't want "sharp lugs" to go from being a compliment to being a warning, after all). The shape of the lugs is inspired by the claws of a lion. There is a black ceramic 60-minute bezel too, which frames the dial nicely and emphasizes the sportiness of the new case. There are two anniversary Spring Drive chronographs built on the same case architecture, but that's a story for another time.
And then there's the dial. I mean...wow. The olive green color can read as slightly grey or slightly brown, depending on the light, and the pattern is the result of a hand-carved stamp that is inspired by a lion's mane. As you move the watch, the texture seems to jump right out at you. The applied markers and diamond-cut hands with luminous centers keep things super legible though, despite the intensity of the overall pattern.
But don't forget, this watch is all about celebrating Spring Drive and the caliber 9R15 inside is an automatic movement that's been specially regulated to +/- 10 seconds per month (GS also quotes a crazy +/- 0.5 seconds per day). The rotor has a gold lion on it in a final nod to the watch's inspiration.
The SBGA403 is limited to 500 pieces and will be available from May. It is priced at $10,600.
Initial Thoughts
When I first saw photos of this watch I was blown away. But when I saw that it measured 44.5mm across, I was a bit crestfallen. How the heck was I going to wear a watch that large? Luckily, after seeing it in the metal I can report that never in a million years would I have guessed the dimensions from wearing it on the wrist. The new case design, beyond being beautiful and showing off what Grand Seiko can do with Zaratsu polishing, is extremely comfortable and the way the short lugs integrate with the bracelet and the way the case sides taper make it wear much more like a 42mm watch than I'd expected. Lucky me.
Though the case is obviously big news, I think the dial is the stand-out element here for me. Grand Seiko does great dials, we all know this. From the Snowflake to the Eichi II, they make some of the most incredible dials on planet Earth. I would put this dial in the same class as those without a moment's hesitation. The pattern has a ton of three-dimensionality to it, and it has an almost holographic effect as you roll your wrist back and forth. The olive color is extremely subtle, taking on different hues in different light, and I could see it being very easy to work into your wardrobe, no matter your style.
It would be silly of me not to at least address the movement inside, which really shows off what Spring Drive can be. It's extremely precise and practical, while offering something that you just can't get anywhere else. Two decades in, it's clear that Spring Drive is something here to stay. While there are plenty of people who balk at the fact that it's not a traditional mechanical movement, those who truly understand what Spring Drive is know that it's a special part of 21st-century watchmaking and something worth paying close attention to – especially when it's used for a watch this awesome.
The Basics
Brand: Grand Seiko Model: SBGA403
Diameter: 44.5mm Thickness: 14.3mm Case Material: High-intensity titanium Dial Color: Olive Indexes: Applied Lume: Yes, on hands and hour markers Water Resistance: 200 meters Strap/Bracelet: High-intensity titanium bracelet with three-fold clasp, push button release, secure lock, and slide adjuster
The Movement
Caliber: Spring Drive 9R15 Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, power reserve indicator Power Reserve: 72 hours Winding: Automatic (with manual winding) Jewels: 30 Additional Details: Regulated to +/- 10 seconds per month (approximately =/- 0.5 seconds per day)
Pricing & Availability
Price: $10,600 Availability: From May 2019 Limited Edition: 500 pieces
I said it in our Baselworld 2019 preview episode of HODINKEE Radio, but I want to reiterate that one of the best parts of the watch industry's largest annual gathering is getting to see watchmaker Philippe Dufour out in the wild. The guy is a living legend – and he knows it. Every year he tells me or one of my colleagues about some yet-unkown watchmaker that we should be paying attention to (past endorsements have included Romain Gauthier and Rexhep Rexhepi) and he's not afraid to lob criticism at what he perceives as sub-par watches that besmirch the good name of haute hologerie. In a word, he's the man.
So, when our intrepid producer Greyson Korhonen spotted him enjoying his signature pipe outside of Hall 1, we knew he had to see what was on the man's wrist. Would it be the Datograph that he's long talked up as one of the best watches of all time? Would it be something rare and of his own making like a Simplicity or a Duality? Nope. Philippe Dufour, dear readers, was rocking a Rolex.
The watch in question is a GMT-Master II ref. 126710 BLRO, which is stainless steel, has a Pepsi bezel, and is fitted on a Jubilee bracelet. This is the watch that was introduced last year to great fanfare and which resulted in waitlists that are often quoted in years, not months. You might remember that Dufour mentioned being on the waitlist for this watch when he spoke with Jack on HODINKEE Radio back in September – it looks like his name finally came up! He was relaxing and we didn't want to bother him too much, so we don't have the full story on how everything went down or why it was his pick for a day at Baselworld, but just seeing one of the greatest watchmakers of the last century wearing something like this brought a smile to my face.
Creating a watch that immediately feels as though it has always been around, Oris has made the move to add a GMT feature to their 43.5mm Aquis dive watch. With a steely blue metallic dial and yellow GMT accents, the new Aquis GMT Date uses a second time zone display that slides in nicely next to the execution of radial date displays on watches like the Aquis Source of Life LE or the new Aquis Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III.
On a full steel bracelet or either a black or dark blue rubber strap, the Aquis GMT Date uses an Oris-modified Sellita SW 330-1 with a date display at three and a 24-hour independent GMT hand. Functionality is enhanced with a lovely ceramic-clad 24-hour bezel, which allows for the tracking of an additional time zone against that of the GMT hand, which has its own hour track on the dial. Priced at $2,500 on the rubber and $2,700 on the bracelet, all of these elements come together to form what is likely my favorite Aquis models to date and one that I would love to take diving somewhere very far away from home.
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It's hard to believe it, but for team HODINKEE, Baselworld 2019 is a wrap! After four days of non-stop watch madness, we're getting ready to head back home, but with a lot to think and talk about. Today I sat down with Cara, Cole, Jack, and Joe to talk about a few brands we hadn't gotten to yet, not least of which was Grand Seiko (a real stand-out, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Spring Drive this year). After that, Joe gave us the inside scoop on the mood the at the fair, what Baselworld 2020 might look like, and what the fair truly means to the industry at large. Finally, to wrap things up, we each offer up our favorite thing about Basel 2019 and what we're hoping for this time next year. Thank you for tuning in the last few days, we sincerely hope you've enjoyed our daily dispatches. Let us know down in the comments what you think and what else you'd like to see from these "live" episodes of HODINKEE Radio.
Just a reminder, we will not have a HODINKEE Radio episode hitting your feed this upcoming Monday (March 25). We will be back the following week though, and it's going to be a good one. See you then!
There are few collections of watches that offer better value across the board than Seiko's Presage collection. You get beautifully designed watches with solid movements and various extra little touches for generally affordable prices. Back in 2017, Seiko introduced a collection of stainless steel watches that featured fired white enamel dials in a few different configurations. This week we got new versions of two of those watches with Arita porcelain dials, bringing a bit of a different traditional Japanese craft to the wristwatch party. Aside from the new dials and an upgraded movement with a longer power reserve for the time-and-date model, these watches retain all the features we love from the originals. Both come in under $2,000, with the simpler SPB095 running $1,700 and the time, date, and power reserve SPB093 costing $1,900. Here's a look at what these new introductions are like in the metal.
The Aerospace GMT reissue is funky, it's got some historical significance, and it's accessible – well, maybe not totally accessible, but more on that later. It's a watch that I was looking forward to seeing at Baselworld, and I finally had the opportunity to spend some time with it and speak to the folks responsible for its development.
Zodiac used to be a massive presence in the market. The company was built on value and volume. The slogan "Twice as much time for your money" – referring to the ability to track two time zones – was used in the original Aerospace GMT ads along with illustrations that looked like your typical '50s and '60s pulp adventure comic. It sort of makes sense that Fossil group bought Zodiac, given the original positioning of the mid-century brand. They've also retained the pricing philosophy of yesteryear and put this watch on the market at a reasonable $1,695.
There are a number of ways to revive a forgotten brand and re-start production for today's market. One is to buy the rights to a defunct watch company, perhaps an obscure watch brand that died during the quartz crisis, then hire a skilled copywriter to spruce up its history. Meanwhile, all that's needed is a plane ticket to Asia, a few contacts with suppliers, and a Squarespace e-commerce shop. Voilà! Another vintage-inspired, value-oriented watch enters the market.
Companies as large as Fossil don’t necessarily do it that way. They pour tons of capital into getting things right, and I think that shows with the Aerospace GMT. Fossil even produces movements with an arm of the group called STP, and you'll find the STP 3-13 in watches like the Super Sea Wolf. Unfortunately the Aerospace doesn't use an STP movement, however, but the price of the watch would most likely go up if STP had developed a GMT movement specifically for this application. Instead Fossil uses the ubiquitous (as far as GMT movements go) ETA 2893-2.
I look at it like this: I'm okay with Fossil’s massive profit margins built into their line of mall kiosk quartz watches packaged in tin cans if it enables them to fund honest-to-goodness R&D on in-house movements and getting designs like the Aerospace GMT as close to perfect as possible. The spillover benefit of Fossil putting economies of scale to work is that enthusiasts get to enjoy some killer designs from niche brands in their portfolio like Zodiac. Also, with a blue chip company managing Zodiac, it's unlikely they'll go out of business a second time. The same cannot be said for many microbrands.
The best way to work through the Aerospace GMT is to start with the Sea Wolf. The first time around in the '60s, Zodiac took the Sea Wolf case and used it for the Aerospace GMT. In effect, they simply put in a new movement in and replaced the diver's bezel with a GMT one. Of course, a new dial and four hands came with the update. With the modern re-edition, it's the same exact story. The head of product development confirmed that it's the same modern Super Sea Wolf case, except that the lugs are chamfered and the bezel is reworked. That's it. To get an idea of how the Aerospace GMT wears, try on a modern Super Sea Wolf. My guess is that a good number of potential buyers already have one.
Even though it looks new and novel, the baby blue and burnt orange colorway have been part of Zodiac lore since the beginning. To be clear, this colorway never came on the Aerospace GMT, but it was used on the original Sea Wolf. The first Zodiac I ever owned was a vintage Sea Wolf with blaze orange accents and grey bezel. They brought that exact grey and blaze orange combo back a few years ago with the Super Sea Wolf 53 Compression. Now for the new Aerospace GMT, they tweaked the grey to more of a powder blue. The design guys at Zodiac say it's like the morning sun gleaming off the water. My mind immediately goes to the '67 Ford GT40 Mirage in Gulf livery when I see it. Both are beautiful.
The black and grey colorway did come on the original Aerospace, along with a red and blue "Pepsi" version. The folks at Zodiac told me they didn't want to revive the Pepsi colorway because it was simply too predictable. They wanted to do something unexpected, and let's be real – there are plenty of other red and blue GMT watches.
I tried on the vintage Aerospace GMT and the modern one in the same session. Even after switching from the old 35mm watch right to the new 40mm case, the new one still wore small. I'm partial to conservative sizing, so I found the dimensions just right. The bezel action is smooth and more importantly, grippy. This is closer in execution to your fun summer watch rather than a dedicated tool watch, but it's got the right stuff to see heavy duty use. I get "weekend at the beach" vibes from this watch more than the Navy SEAL aesthetic typically associated with super-serious dive watches. But it's a GMT watch first and foremost, so that certainly checks out. With 200 meters of water resistance and a gratifying bezel, I'm confident I could knock it around some.
The polished center links also contribute to the fun aura of the watch instead of the brushed-finished tool watch schtick. The bracelet wears nicely; it's clearly oyster-inspired, and that works visually and thematically. One of my favorite things about the old Zodiacs is that familiar and warm bracelet stretch, but that's just a vintage thing. Crown guards are absent, and I think that contributes largely to the watch wearing small. One thing's for sure: it’s begging for a NATO or three. Perhaps in grey.
Half a century of wear has turned the indices on the surviving vintage Aerospace watches soft. I have no way of knowing what they looked like brand new, but I can tell you unequivocally that on the 2019 version, the indices pop and shine. Big time. They're large and lustrous, and they match nicely with that bright toothpaste-colored lume. No fauxtina here. It's a very clean execution. The GMT hand, which isn't independent, adds that little punch of color to offset the black dial.
Now back to what I said earlier about being accessible. I think they're priced right where they should be. That's not the accessibility problem. The problem is the “Gulf” colorway is already sold out on Zodiac's website, and I have a feeling the black and grey model isn't far behind. They only made 182 of each. I guess that's just the nature of doing limited editions. It puts the manufacturers in a "damned if you do, damned if you don’t" scenario, and may create plenty of disappointed potential buyers. If they ramp up production and turn it into an unlimited model then they've just undermined the initial LE designation. If they don't produce the watch after demonstrated demand once the initial run is gone in an attempt to preserve the limited status, then you leave a whole lot of aspiring wrists empty. Some companies have found a workaround where they take a small detail – like text on the dial or the 12 o'clock marker on the bezel – and change the color, therefore creating a "different model" that follows different production ramifications. The folks at Zodiac have to figure this one out.
So I asked them what's next.
The good news? Their response confirmed my suspicion that these folks were plugged in. They were excited about making this watch – and others – for enthusiasts. The bad news: There isn't a cut and dry answer in terms of solving the limited supply issue. They said they might turn to their social channels and see what people want. That's the sort of democratic approach that I love seeing when it comes to product evolution. Nobody but a true watch geek would consider purchasing a re-edition of a value GMT watch from the '60s anyway, so it's a smart business decision to pay very close attention to them. It's made for a very slender slice of the market, but a demographic that's hyper-obsessive over details. They did mention that the Aerospace GMT could potentially look awfully neat in the popular melon colorway used on the Super Sea Wolf 53 Compression. We’ll see.
My favorite part of Baselworld every year is when I get to take a few hours to leave Hall 1.0, with its grandiose booths and internationally recognized names, for the comfort of what has come to be called "Les Ateliers." Each year its physical location seems to move, but Les Ateliers is where you'll find many of the high-end independent watchmakers. These are the guys who, for the most part, are making tens or hundreds of watches per year, mostly by hand, and with distinct points of view. Names like Urwerk, MB&F, Kari Voutilainen, and the like are all there. The booths are at a slightly more manageable scale and the person you're sitting down with is likely the person whose name is on the sign out front. It's awesome.
Yesterday was my day and I found more than a few incredible things. Some are crazy, some are conservative, and some are totally out of left field. We'll have tons more coverage of these watches over the coming days and weeks, but I wanted to give you a small peek at what I found in Les Ateliers at Baselworld 2019. Enjoy.
Sarpaneva Lunations
Finnish watchmaker Stepan Sarpaneva is known for his distinctive moon phase design, with its arched eyebrows and intense gaze. here, Sarpaneva puts it at the very center of the watch, both physically and theoretically. This is his first truly in-house movement, and he started by designing the moon phase complication first before then designing a caliber around it. The moon phase indicator uses an optical fiberglass display that appears to "project" the rear Super-LumiNova disc right up to the front of the caliber. You can set the moonphase down to the second via a set of scales on the back and the hacking seconds and once set it's accurate to one day every 14,000 years. Yeah, years. While I'm not sure this is a watch I could personally wear on a regular basis, I'm really darn glad Stepan made it.
Okay, I'm kind of cheating here, since this isn't actually a new new watch. The 1941 Principia was introduced back in October 2018 but I hadn't got a chance to spend time with one in the metal until today. While it still comes in a hair over $30,000 in stainless steel, it's the entry point into the Grönefeld line-up and a damn good one at that. The watch has the same case at the 1941 Remontoire but with a time-only automatic movement inside. The caliber is finished to the same standards as the horological brothers' other movements, which is to say to a level bordering on insanity. The black polishing, graining, beveling, etc. are all dramatic and striking, and the caliber has a familiar-feeling radial design that gives them tons of room to show off their skills. There are a few dial and case metal options, but I'm all about the steel case/salmon dial combo. If you want a very serious wristwatch that you can wear and enjoy every day, this is it.
When Cole introduced us to The One by Urban Jürgensen a few weeks ago, I wasn't quite sure what to think. I tend to like what the brand does (especially watches like The Alfred), but this is quite the departure for them. No intricately sculpted dress watch case, no fine grain dial, no scrolling numerals. Instead, this is UJ's take on something like the Nautilus or the Royal Oak, a luxury stainless steel sports watch. In the metal, I must admit the results are quite impressive (despite the skepticism with which I went into the meeting). There isn't a single straight line on the entire case, with the entire design being based on a series of overlapping circles and ovals. The geometry of those middle bracelet links alone is worth a story (don't worry, it's coming). If this is the sort of watch you're at all predisposed to like, I highly recommend you find a way to get one on your wrist for a few minutes. It's an experience you won't regret.
What if I said to you, "Kari Voutilainen, only inside out"? That's exactly what this watch is. The familiar Vingt-8 gets a reversed and slightly re-engineered caliber while the dial has been all but entirely removed, giving you an unobstructed view of the incredible movement right there up front. The hour and minute hands glide over the top of what you'd normally admire through a sapphire caseback, and while legibility might not be ideal I don't think anyone is going to complain here. The depth of Kari's movement is incredible and he's arguably one of the greatest movement finishers of all time – like I said, no complaints. When you turn the watch over you still get a surprise, this time in the form of the running seconds and power reserve indicators. Only eight pieces will be made in this configuration with a titanium case, and I think they're likely going to become the stuff of watch nerd lore down the road.
Is this something I would wear on my wrist? Nope. Is it something I would put on my wall or my desk as a clock? Maybe. Am I glad that this watch exists and that someone was mad scientist enough to create it? You're damn right I am. The new HL Sphere from Hautlence is a retrograde minutes, jumping hours watch, but in a way you've never seen before: The hour indicator is a sphere that spins 450 degrees every time the minutes hands reaches the bottom of the dial and jumps back up to the top, revealing the next hour. It's crazy to see in person, and I don't even want to start thinking about what Hautlence's watchmakers had to consider in terms of power management here – I'm sure it was one heck of a headache. If you ever have a chance to see this watch in action, you'd be a fool not to take it.
Designed in collaboration with Ferrari's Centro Stile (the brand's in-house design group), the new Hublot Classic Fusion Ferrari GT is a marked departure from the sharply angular and structural design common to most Hublot watches. Designed by the same people behind the jaw-dropping Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2, the Ferrari GT is curvy, a bit strange, and to my eye a rare example of successful design that overlaps elements from both cars and watches. Available in titanium, King Gold, and a special polymer matrix composite called 3-D carbon, the Ferrari GT is 45mm wide and uses Hublot's in-house UNICO HUB1280 flyback chronograph movement.
On wrist, it sits low, feels great, and looks even better. The chronograph action is lovely and the titanium has a muted look and a lightweight presence that is really only challenged by the more hardcore look of the 3-D Carbon model. A major departure from the standard design language of the Classic Fusion, only 2,000 examples will be produced, including 1,000 pieces of the $22,000 titanium model and 500 each of the $27,300 3-D Carbon and $38,800 King Gold versions. While it feels out of character to be praising one of Hublot's Ferrari watches, I shouldn't be all that surprised that the team behind the incredible SP2 could manage to make a great looking Ferrari-inspired watch.
Thanks largely to the convex saucer-like case profile, the Ferrari GT wears much smaller than the sizing would suggest, with hooded lugs and an oversized screw down crown accenting smooth and flowing case edge. While certainly wild watchmaking and daring from a design aspect, Im not generally a fan of most Hublot designs, let alone anything from the Ferrari line. That said, I like the Ferrari GT a lot and it's definitely one of my favorite watches from Baselworld 2019.
The Horological Society of New York's award-winning classes are on the road again! Classes will be held in Silicon Valley, California, over the weekend of April 6-7, hosted by Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry. Next, over the weekend of April 13-14, HSNY heads to Houston, Texas, for classes hosted by Chopard.
At HSNY's Horological Education classes, students discover what actually makes a watch tick. The hands-on classes are taught by HSNY's staff of professional watchmakers. Students work on a mechanical watch movement, studying the gear train, winding and setting mechanisms, and escapement. The weekend half-day classes cover everything taught during the individual evening classes held in New York.
Enrollment is now open for the Silicon Valley and Houston classes, and we look forward to seeing you there!
HODINKEE is a sponsor of the Horological Society of New York.
Watch collecting is a funny pursuit, in that enthusiasts are both always in search of that next great thing and healthily skeptical of anything that they haven't seen before. When a watch is discovered that is unique, unusual, and properly documented, it's a perfect storm, and that's what we have here for you today. Phillips has announced that as part of its Geneva Watch Auction: Nine, taking place May 11, 2019, it will offer up a Vacheron Constantin minute repeater with retrograde calendar that, until recently, only existed in a single black-and-white photograph.
So here's the short version of the backstory. If you flip through the 1992 tome L’Univers Vacheron Constantin Genève by Carole Lambelet and Lorette Coen, you'll eventually stumble upon a lone photo of a tonneau-shaped minute repeater with retrograde calendar marked "ref. 3620." It's arranged in a grid with countless other pocket watches and wristwatches of all kinds, and you'd be forgiven for turning the page and not even noticing it. But for die-hard collectors, this unusual piece, dating to the 1930s, became a white whale. Repeating wristwatches from that era are already rare, but the combination of the tonneau case, crown at 12 o'clock, Brooking Madrid signature, retrograde calendar and day-of-the-week indicator, and repeater slide on the right side of the case, not to mention the fact that it came from Vacheron Constantin, made it almost impossible to believe. And for the last 27 years, this lone photo was basically all anyone knew about this watch. Many assumed it was lost.
But, luckily for us, the watch surfaced last year and Phillips is now going to be offering it for sale in May. Upon discovering the watch, Phillips Watches boss Aurel Bacs was delighted to see that the case hand't been polished and that the dial was totally unrestored. He made the decision to get Vacheron Constantin involved in a few different ways, including plumbing their archive for information on the watch, creating a new, but historically accurate dial for the watch, and getting the movement back in working order. It turns out the watch was delivered with both a non-luminous dial and the radium-laden dial you see here, hence the discrepancy between the black-and-white photo and the watch as it presents today.
The watch was a custom order by a client named Francisco Martinez Llano, and he wanted both options (as well as his monogram on the watch's caseback). Llano's nickname was apparently Don Pancho, which is extremely convenient for nickname-loving watch collectors and dealers. Who wouldn't want to own "the Don Pancho repeater?" Whoever buys the watch in a few months will have the choice to keep the original dial on the watch or to have the new dial mounted. Either way, he or she gets both, so nothing original will be lost.
Llano started corresponding with Vacheron Constantin via Madrid retailer Brooking in 1935, and after much back-and-forth the watch was delivered in January 1940. He would go on to wear it for seven years until he died in 1947. It represented a substantial investment, having cost CHF 3,750, which would come out to around $1.2 million were he to buy the same watch today. Since his passing, the watch sat in the family vault for nearly three-quarters of a century. The vault was not sealed against humidity and temperature changes, hence the heavy aging to the dial, and when Phillips and Vacheron Constantin got their hands on it, the incredible movement needed to be fully restored back to working order.
If you want to get the full story of this watch, how it was restored, and why it matters so much to the collector community, I recommend you take a look at this video produced by Phillips. You'll see some familiar faces, including Aurel Bacs, John Goldberger, and even Philippe Dufour.
So yeah, as far as vintage watches go, this is about as good as it gets. We've got a watch only known to the public via one lone photograph finally surface, and it's both in unrestored condition and in the hands of the original owner's family. The chances of that happening are very slim, to say the least. That Phillips and Vacheron Constantin were able to work together with the owner's family to fill in the historical record and properly restore the watch without damaging any of the original components makes this something truly special. I would imagine that interest in this watch will be huge come auction time, though considering the uniqueness it's hard to say exactly where I think the hammer will fall. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
The Phillips Geneva Watch Auction: Nine will be held in Geneva on Saturday, May 11, 2019. The catalog is not yet published, nor has Phillips released an estimate yet for this watch, but we'll be sure to update this story when they do. For now, you can learn more by visiting Phillips Watches online.
Bronze watches are big right now. Two-tone gold and steel watches are totally in right now, too. But can you have both? Oris thinks so, and the Divers Sixty-Five is the platform on which they’re testing out that theory. They call it the "Bico," a crafty contraction of “bi-color.” You still get the the 40mm case, the domed sapphire, and the vintage looks, but it comes in the novel combination of bronze and stainless steel.
Last Baselworld, Oris introduced the Divers Sixty-Five Bronze Bezel, which mixed steel and bronze in a way that resulted in about a four out of 10 on the in-your-face bronze scale. The bezel was made from bronze, but the typical insert was still present, creating a subtle ring of color. Rose gold accents also jazzed up the dial a bit to match the bezel. But otherwise it was pretty understated.
This year, they've turned it up to an eight or so. Instead of just a bronze bezel with a standard insert, they flipped the design and gave us a bronze insert positioned in a steel bezel. The center links of the bracelet are also done in bronze, and the same rose gold accents are present on the dial.
Initial Thoughts
To me, the two-tone motif is a symbol of luxury and the eighties. It’s very Wolf of Wall Street in my mind. The classic combination of metals already has an identity that’s been solidified over decades. That’s why I’m having such a hard time understanding this watch. It’s also why I think it’s so fascinating. The Divers Sixty-Five "Bico" twists the two-tone identity into something that I think people who have never been into two-tone before can appreciate.
Look at this watch. It’s pretty wild, right? The reddish hues of the bronze throw off preconceived notions of what two-tone is all about. Now imagine in a few years when the bronze gets that nice patination and character it’s known for. Bronze develops a dark coating that hides the luster of the metal, and sometimes you get patches of green maritime-looking funk. This is a watch that has a strong case of multiple personality disorder in such a cool way. The look of steel will stay constant aside from picking up a few marks, since it tends to keep its sharpness and luster. But that isn’t the case with bronze. It gets a little messy. As time goes on the personality of these two metals will move further and further apart and you’ll end up with a look that’s both sharp and well-worn in the same watch. You can always inhibit the patination process, of course, but I think that’s the most interesting aspect of this watch. It’s neat now, but it will be even more interesting years down the road.
Diameter: 40mm Case Material: Steel and bronze Dial Color: Blue Indexes: Rose gold PVD Lume: Super-LumiNova Water Resistance: 100 meters Strap/Bracelet: Steel and bronze bracelet or brown leather strap
The Movement
Caliber: Oris 733 (based on Sellita SW200-1) Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date Diameter: 25.6mm Power Reserve: 38 hours Winding: Automatic winding Frequency: 4 Hz (28,800 vph) Jewels: 26
Pricing & Availability
Price: CHF 2,200 on the two-tone bracelet Availability: April 2019
