Blancpain in high gear

by Elizabeth Doerr

When long-time aficionados consider Blancpain, most think of elegant, round, classic timepieces and the words of former CEO Jean-Claude Biver ringing in one’s ears: “We will never make a quartz watch!” While battery-operated timepieces remain thus far taboo at Blancpain, the company’s current CEO, Marc A. Hayek, is now leading this Swatch Group firm in a fairly new direction.

New feel for luxury
The new vision didn’t happen overnight. It’s a strategy that has probably been a long time coming. Luxury—like everything else in life—is subject to trends. Many solvent young professionals no longer enjoy the “stuffy” side of luxury as much as the previous generation. They are looking for luxury that fits their lifestyle and doesn’t need to conform to preconceived ideas.
Hayek started working at Blancpain in 2001 at the age of 30 and became its CEO one year later. Needless to say, Hayek is a prime example of his own target group. One might even say that he would know better than anyone else what someone in his own shoes is going to buy.

Visibility
Visitors to BaselWorld 2009 were already treated to a harbinger of the new concept: one of the Lamborghinis racing in the Super Trofeo series graced the vestibule of the centrally located booth, causing quite a stir among passersby. Neighboring booths were additionally treated to a periodic engine roar emanating from loudspeakers.
The automobile theme did not end there: once inside the Blancpain booth, the new watches presented were far different from those introduced at Basel in years past. The classic Fifty Fathoms sports watch concept was taken a step further, and the L-evolution was introduced to the waiting watch world along with the Super Trofeo Chronograph.

SIHH: The Lange 1815 Moonphase Returns

Lange 1815 Moonphase FA Lange Edition

2010 is Lange’s 165th anniversary, and to mark the occasion they are creating new versions of 3 well-known models in a new metal called honey gold, which is not only a unique color, but it is also nearly twice as hard as regular gold. Together, the new models are known as the F. A. Lange Homage Collection. Among the new releases is an 1815 Moonphase.

The original 1815 Moonphase limited edition from 1999 was a hit with collectors, selling at auction for nearly triple the original selling price. This newest version will certainly carry on that tradition. Limited to 265 pieces and with a European MSRP of 18,500 euro, the new 1815 Moonphase case and balance cock are formed from Lange’s new and proprietary honey gold. Like the other pieces in the Homage to F.A. Lange Collection, the 1815 Moonphase also features three-quarter plate with hand-engraved traditional decoration. Of course the moon phase display is accurate to an amazing 1 day in 1058 years.

Complete technical specifications appear below the image, which you may enlarge with a click.

Lange 1815 Moonphase F.A. Lange Homage Collection

Technical Details

Movement: Lange manufacture calibre L943.2, manually wound, crafted to the most exacting Lange quality standards and largely decorated and assembled by hand; precision-adjusted in five positions; three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver, with
sunburst finish; balance cock in honey-colored gold, engraved by hand

No. of movement parts: 220

No. of jewels : 26

Escapement : Lever escapement

Oscillation system: Shock-resistant glucydur screw balance, superior-quality balance spring manufactured in-house, frequency 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour, whiplash-spring beat adjustment system

Power reserve: 45 hours when fully wound

Functions: Time indicated in hours, minutes, and subsidiary seconds with stop seconds; moon-phase display

Operating elements: Crown for winding the watch and setting the time, push piece for the moon at 10 o’clock

Case dimensions : Diameter: 37.4 millimeters; height: 8.9 millimeters

Movement dimensions: Diameter: 27.5 millimeters; height: 3.9 millimeters

Case: Honey-coloured gold

Dial : Solid gold, argenté, guilloched; lunar disc in solid honey-colored gold

Hands: Blued steel

Glass and caseback: Antireflection-coated sapphire crystal (hardness 9)

Strap: Hand-stitched, red-brown crocodile strap with Lange prong buckle in solid honey-coloured gold

Edition: 265 watches

SIHH: IWC Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph

IWC Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph

IWC brings the Yacht Club back in the iconic Portuguese case as the 45.4mm Yacht Club Chronograph, the first sporty model in the Portuguese family. The movement is IWC’s manufacture caliber 89360. Its chronograph permits the recording of aggregate times of up to twelve hours on the common counter for the minutes and hours and can be reset to zero via the flyback function at any time while running, so that it is instantly ready to start measuring a new time.

Built for sea duty, a screw-in crown and crown protection help protect against the elements, and the case offers 6 bar water resistance. Consistent with the sporty theme, this watch has luminescent indices and hands – a first in the Portuguese family.

The Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph is available in three variants:

- steel with a silver-plated dial, rhodium-plated luminescent hands and appliqués.

- steel with a black dial, silver-plated flange and rhodium-plated hands and appliqués, also luminescent.

- 18 carat red gold with a slate-colored dial with a sun pattern ground finish, subtly contrasted by the black small seconds display circle and the black ring for the aggregate minutes of the chronograph. This model is distinguished additionally by gold-plated hands and solid red gold appliqués.

All three variants are worn on a black rubber strap with a folding clasp. The sapphire-glass back offers a clear view of the IWC-manufactured movement with double-pawl winding.

The Yacht Club Chronograph is priced at $12,600 in steel and $23,100 in red gold. Look for it at IWC boutiques in June, with a broader launch in September.

Additional technical details appear below the images, which can be enlarged with a click.

IWC Yacht Club Chronograph

IWC Yacht Club Chronograph

Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph

Chronograph with IWC-manufactured automatic movement and IWC’s double-pawl winding, flyback function, stopwatch function with hours, minutes and seconds, hour and minute counters combined in a single subdial at 12 o’clock, date display, small hacking seconds, crown protection

Movement: Calibre 89360

- Beats: 28,800/h
- Jewels: 40
- Power reserve: 68 h
- Winding: automatic

Glass: sapphire, convex, anti-reflective coating on both sides

Back: see-through sapphire-glass back

Crown: screw-in

Water-resistant to 6 bar

Diameter 45.4mm

Height 14.5mm

Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph

SIHH: IWC Portuguese Hand-Wound

IWC Portuguese Hand-Wound


For IWC, 2010 is the “Year of the Portuguese” and fans of the brand will be happy to read that the manufacture is offering two beautifully simple 44mm models in stainless steel cases, each with an original pocket watch movement of the type that the first pocket watch-style wristwatch appeared with seventy years ago.

Two models are available. The first is stainless steel with a black dial, rhodium-plated Arabic numerals and the characteristic feuille hands with a silver-plated seconds subdial featuring a distinctive “60” in signal red. Its sibling model with a silver-plated dial and rose gold-plated indices and hands stands out with its seconds subdial in light gray, also with a small red “60”. Features common to both are the typical chapter ring in the traditional railwaytrack style and, as the drive mechanism, the IWC-manufactured 98295 caliber with stylistic echoes of the first Jones movements, such as the nickel-silver three-quarter bridge and the elongated index to facilitate precision adjustment of the effective length of the spring.

The Portuguese Hand-Wound will be priced at $8300. It will be in IWC boutiques in June with broader distribution beginning in September.

Additional details appear below the image, which you may click to enlarge.

IWC Portugueser Hand-Wound

Features

Mechanical movement, balance with high-precision adjustment cam on the balance arms, Breguet spring, plate and nickel-silver three-quarter bridge, elongated precision adjustment index, special decoration (Geneva stripes), small hacking seconds

Movement

-Caliber 98295
-Beats 18,000/h
-Jewels 18
-Power reserve 46 h
-Winding hand-wound

Case Materials

- stainless steel with black dial and black alligator leather strap, pin buckle in stainless steel

- watch in stainless steel with silver-plated dial and black alligator leather strap, pin buckle in stainless steel

Glass

Sapphire, arched edge, anti-reflective coating on both sides

Back

See-through sapphire-glass back
IWC,
Water-resistant: 3 bar

Height: 10mm

SIHH: Girard-Perregaux 1966 Full Calendar

Girard-Perregaux 1966 Full Calendar


The 1966 collection has quickly become one of Girard-Perregaux's icons. The collection is named for the Neuchatel Observatory's Centenary Prize, awarded to GP in 1966 for its achievements in the field of chronometry. The 1966 Full Calendar is available in red gold, and in a limited edition of 199 pieces in palladium. The displays include date, day of the week, month and moon phases. The 40mm case has a sapphire back revealing the GP033M0 mechanical self-winding movement designed by the Manufacture.

Palladium is a very white metal that is part of the platinum family and twenty times less abundant than gold. It does not require any rhodium plating, and it does not tarnish. The Full Calendar is priced at $19,800 for either the palladium or red gold versions and deliveries to retailers should begin around June.

GP Full Calendar in palladium

Technical specifications

Palladium case
Diameter: 40 mm
Antireflective sapphire crystal
Sapphire case-back
Water resistance: 30 meters

Girard-Perregaux movement GP033M0
Mechanical with automatic winding
Calibre: 11 ½’’’
Frequency: 28,800 vibrations/hour (4 Hz)
Power reserve: minimum 46 hours
Jewels: 27
Functions: hour, minute, central second, full calendar with date, day of the week, month and moon phase indicators

Alligator strap with pin buckle

Breitling’s Chronomat B01 With Manufacture Movement

chronomat_b01_dial_detail_200

Breitling is practically synonymous with chronograph, and on May 28, 2009, Breitling will officially launch the Chronomat B01 with their new in-house automatic-winding chronograph movement, known as Caliber B01. Initially the watch will be available at only about 35 retailers in the U.S., with additional retailers coming on-line quickly. As of late March, about 2000 pieces had been produced. Production will eventually reach about 50,000 pieces annually.

chronomat_caliber_b01_full_450

Caliber B01 has been in development for 5 years, and its launch coincides with Breitling’s 125th anniversary. A new, four-story addition to Breitling’s facility at La Chaux –de-Fonds houses the caliber’s construction. The movement incorporates a column-wheel switching mechanism and a vertical clutch, two hallmarks of a well-made chronograph. The vertical clutch assures that the chronograph seconds hand does not jump when the chronograph is engaged. The B01 has central chronograph seconds, continuous seconds at 9, and a jumping 30 minute totalizer at 3. The instant-change date is located at 4:30. The date can be changed at any time, including near midnight. The movement includes a patented system for adjusting the start, stop and reset hammers. The 47 jewel movement uses a flat hairspring and a smooth balance wheel. A single barrel provides 70 hours of power reserve. The B01 ticks along at 28,800 vph, and as with all Breitlings, the Chronomat B01 is COSC-certified.

chronomat_b01_back_450

chronomat_b01_colwhl_450

At Basel, Vice-President Jean-Paul Girardin said that Breitling decided to produce Caliber B01 to satisfy market demand for a manufacture movement, and to assure Breitling’s future. The company felt that it must have a reliable supply of mechanical chronograph movements, as this type of watch accounts for 55% of Breitling’s sales.

The Chronomat B01 measures 43.5mm in diameter and it will be available in four versions: all steel, steel with a steel bezel with four gold quarter-hour markers, steel with a gold bezel, and solid 18K (4N) red gold. A total of 18 different dials will be available The unidirectional bezel turns smoothly with 240 teeth. The sapphire crystal is anti-reflective coated on both sides. Steel and two-tone models are water resistant to 500 meters, while the all-gold model can be taken down to 100 meters.

chronomat_b01_450

The Chronomat B01 starts at about $6500 for a steel model on a leather strap. The opening price for the two-tone version on a bracelet is $7770. An all-gold model on a strap will start at $21,610. The B01 tops out at $44,125 for the red gold and diamond version on a red gold bracelet.

Big Shots: Images from 2009

Patek Philippe ref. 5106

For those of you who like to collect watch images, we’ve assembled a few that we presented in larger resolutions during the past year. We have a little of everything… something old, something new, something for everyone. Simply click the smaller images to view the larger versions. Enjoy!

Lange 1 Daymatic

Lange 1 Daymatic

AP Carbon 1

AP Carbon 1

AP Carbon 1

AP Jules Audemars Chronograph

Breguet 1160

Breguet No. 5

Breitling Cosmograph

Chronoswiss Zeitzeichen

GO Meissen Tourbillon

GO Taschenuhr

Jaquet Droz Email Blue

JLC Tourbillon

UN Acqua Perpetual

Omega LiquidMetal

Chronoswiss Opus

Patek ref. 5106

Seiko Sportura Kinetic Direct Drive

TAG Heuer Silverstone

UN Maxi Marine Diver

Urwerk King Cobra

VC Caliber 1003

Blancpain Spécialités Tourbillon Diamants

Blancpain Spécialités Tourbillon Diamants

Countering the trend toward lower-priced offerings, Blancpain announces the newest Spécialités Tourbillon Diamants, a 40mm men’s model with more than 20 carats of diamonds. The white gold 3 piece case is set with 571 stones totaling 14.15 carats, and the dial adds another 164 diamonds and 5.17 carats. The clasp, crown and hands add the remaining carat, give or take. The automatic caliber 25A tourbillon movement is composed of 238 components with 29 jewels (not diamonds) with a 168 hour power reserve. If you have to ask, the price is $1,342,700.

Blancpain Spécialités Tourbillon Diamants

Blancpain Spécialités Tourbillon Diamants

JLC Master Compressor Diving Alarm Navy SEALs Incursion Edition

JLC Master Compressor Diving Alarm Navy SEALs LE

Jaeger-LeCoultre announced today they will produce the Master Compressor Diving Alarm Navy SEALs Incursion Edition. Limited to 19 pieces in black gold and 62 pieces in titanium grey PVD, this series will only be available for sale at the Jaeger-LeCoultre Beverly Hills Boutique. The JLC Beverly Hills Boutique Connoisseurs Club had direct input with the Manufacture in creating these pieces.

These series represent the first use of black gold and grey PVD titanium in Jaeger-LeCoultre timepieces. The 44mm case houses JLC Caliber 956. Custom accessories include 2 special straps with each watch. The black leather cordura strap will have matching accent colors in the stitching and alcantara strap backing. The second strap will be a black cordura made of especially rugged material suited to diving. JLC will host special delivery events for buyers. Complete technical specifications appear below. The black gold model is priced at $24,000 and the Titanium PVD model is priced at $14,000.

Master Compressor Diving Alarm Navy SEALs Incursion Edition Black Gold

Technical Characteristics – Black Gold

Reference: Q1832420

Movement: mechanical automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 956, crafted, assembled and decorated by hand; 28,800 vibrations per hour; 45-hour power reserve; 268 parts; 23 jewels; 7.45 mm thick

Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, date, alarm, rotating inner bezel ring

Dial: Color accents: Faded Burnt Orange on the second hand tip and compressor crown arrows with addition of the same color to inner ring numerical five second interval markings.

Two tone:
-black outer ring with stamped and luminescent hour-markers and numerals,
-charcoal grey inner alarm ring with circular finish matching the case

Date: white numerals transferred against a black background

Hands: hours and minutes: trapeze-shaped, open worked, luminescent

Crystal: Sapphire with JLC NSA Logo etching on crystal instead of the Alarm disk.

Crowns: one black rubber-molded crown at 2 o’clock equipped with a compression key, for winding the alarm, adjusting it and fast date adjustment; one black rubber-molded crown at 4 o’clock equipped with a compression key, for starting the watch and adjusting the time. Matching burnt Orange compressor crown arrows.

Case: 44 mm in 18ct Black gold, with black ceramic diving bezel.

Straps: black cordura strap with matching orange stitching as well matching alcantara strap backing & PVD buckle. Alternative strap: black Cordura® with a rip-and-grip strip.

Accessories: Unique packaging that goes hand in hand with the theme of Incursion Edition. Detailed specification to be unveiled at a later date.

Master Compressor Diving Alarm Navy SEALs Incursion Edition Titanium Grey PVD

Technical Characteristics – Titanium PVD

Reference: Q183T420

Movement: mechanical automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 956, crafted, assembled and decorated by hand; 28,800 vibrations per hour; 45-hour power reserve; 268 parts; 23 jewels; 7.45 mm thick

Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, date, alarm, rotating inner bezel ring

Dial: Color accents: Faded Navy SEAL Yellow on the second hand tip and compressor crown arrows with addition of the same color to inner ring numerical five second interval markings.

Two tone:
-black outer ring with stamped and luminescent hour-markers and numerals,
-charcoal grey inner alarm ring with circular finish matching the case

Date: white numerals transferred against a black background

Hands: hours and minutes: trapeze-shaped, open worked, luminescent

Crystal: Sapphire with JLC NSA Logo etching on crystal instead of the Alarm disk.

Crowns: one black rubber-molded crown at 2 o’clock equipped with a compression key, for winding the alarm, adjusting it and fast date adjustment; one black rubber-molded crown at 4 o’clock equipped with a compression key, for starting the watch and adjusting the time. Matching faded Yellow compressor crown arrows.

Case: 44 mm in grade 5 titanium grey matte finish PVD with black ceramic diving bezel.

Straps: black cordura strap with matching yellow stitching as well matching alcantara strap backing & PVD buckle. Alternative strap: black Cordura® with a rip-and-grip strip.