2017 marks the 60th anniversary of one of my favorite watches: the Omega Speedmaster – and its Railmaster & Seamaster siblings. After yesterday’s release of the wonderful #SpeedyTuesday limited edition, this now has me wondering what’s left in store for BaselWorld…
Omega Speedmaster Professional 60th Anniversary 31110393001002 will be a limited edition of 180 pieces. The case is stainless steel. It is powered by caliber 1861. It comes with a bracelet, brown strap, and grey NATO strap. The difference with the -001 I’m sure will present itself in time.
Additionally, there will be the Omega Speedmaster Professional ‘Loyalty’ 31130423001008. Both case and bracelet are stainless steel; it is powered by caliber 1863. It looks pretty standard from the front – I guess we’ll see what the ‘Loyalty’ bit will come to mean?
I’m sorry – this is it. No pictures, nothing. Keep an eye to our database as I will upload more info as soon as possible.
Ahead of SIHH 2017, IWC just revealed a glimpse of its new Da Vinci collection, including the IW392101 Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar.
The 2017 IWC Da Vinci collection marks a return of the round case with flexible lugs, a style first seen in the 1985 reference 3750 – which of course had the honor of serving as the debut piece for Kurt Klaus perpetual calendar module. While the 3750 was far from the first IWC to carry the Da Vinci name, to many it is THE Da Vinci. Footsteps that proved hard to fill for the 2007-2017 tonneau-shaped generation.
IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar IW3921-01
The 2017 IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar features a case of 43mm in -for now- either red gold (IW392101) or stainless steel (IW392103). The former is paired with a silver dial, while the latter features a slate grey dial. Both are fitted with Santoni straps. They are powered by the new caliber 89630, pairing IWC’s in-house flyback chronograph with its traditional perpetual calendar lay-out, including the signature 4-digit year indicator.
Other models include 36mm versions with either a date window or a moonphase window, based on movements we’ve come to know from the Portofino collection. I’ll upload these to our IWC database as soon as I have more information.
For now, here’s the links to the Perpetual Calendars;
During recent research I came across an interesting and unusual project Omega seems to be working on: a wristwatch with luminous indexes illuminated through the dial by a light source powered by an electrical energy source. And it’s activated by the bezel!
Omega Seamaster 300 High Tech Bezel / Image 3-4
Geeking out is fun. And when I have exhausted all my usual resources, at times I browse through patent databases to try and find that one bit of information that can tip off what the manufacturers are working on. Many of these patents are hardly worth reporting on. They cover only mildly interesting bits like clasp designs, they are too technical or they are backdated. But earlier I came across this interesting bit of innovation that I thought is worth sharing. And while I’m not at all sure that we’ll see anything like this at BaselWorld 2017, I hope at least a few of you will enjoy getting in on this tech at this early stage, only to find out later how it will be incorporated in real world watches.
The original patent can be found by clicking HERE.
Omega Seamaster 300 High Tech Bezel / Image 5-6
So, what are we looking at in these images? In the abstract, Omega defines it:
Wristwatch comprising a watch case (1), a bezel (4) mounted rotatably on the watch case (1) and a dial (8) fitted with at least one luminous index (12a-12e), said luminous index (12a-12e) being illuminated through the dial (8) by at least one light source (28) arranged under the dial (8) and supplied by an electrical energy source (54), an activation component (72) of the light source (28) being housed in the rotating bezel (4) and engaging with a detection component (76) housed in the watch casing (1), the activation component (72) being arranged such that, in a determined position of the rotating bezel (4), the presence of same is detected by the detection component (76), the detection component (76) then transmitting an electrical signal which is addressed to a microprocessor circuit (46) housed in the watch case (1), the microprocessor circuit (46) transmitting, in response to reception of the electrical signal sent by the detection component (76), an electrical signal which orders the switching on of the light source (28) for a determined period of time.
Omega Seamaster 300 High Tech Bezel / Image 7-8
So basically what we’re looking at is a Omega Seamaster 300, whose ‘sandwich’ style dial is illuminated using a light source located below the top layer – in the present construction specifically the markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9. The light is activated by some kind of action involving the bezel; most likely rotating it. It is my understanding that the bezel is ‘connected’ to the electrical part through special magnets and magnetic sensors. And this is probably the most interesting part, as it opens up a whole new range of possible functions for which to use the bezel – for instance, Omega itself imagines us turning off an alarm or opening a car using a combination of NFC and this bezel tech. How 007.
It’s a brave new world!
Again, the original patent can be found by clicking HERE. If anyone being either more technical or better in French than me has additional insights / corrections, I’d love to hear it!
Earlier this month Oris introduced a new member in its successful Divers Sixty Five collection, sporting a silver dial with sunburst finish.
Oris Vintage Dive Watch Silver Dial
A couple of weeks ago I spend some time with Gijs van Hoorn of Oris the Netherlands and his private collection of vintage Oris watches. Among them was this little 1960’s divers watch with an unusual silver dial. And BOOM – like many other watches from Gijs collection, this one too served as the inspiration for a modern re-interpretation.
The latest member of Oris Divers Sixty-Five collection sports a silver dial. An unusual color for a dive watch (the Doxa Searambler comes to mind), the sunburst-finished dial sports over-sized indexes with a warm ‘vintage’ tone, like seen before on the blue and green variations.
The new Divers Sixty Five is available with a choice of straps. Click to be transported to the entries in our watch database for more information including prices.
The end of 2016 marks the surprising return of the Portugieser Rattrapante in -for now- three different iterations. This watch, reference 3712, had been absent from the collection for some 10 years.
The IWC Portugieser Chrono-Rattrapante 3712 was introduced in 1995, accompanied by the less complicated -and highly popular- 3714 in 1998, and finally discontinued after the introduction of the Italian-market limited edition IW3712-14 in 2006. But this year IWC decided to bring this cult-classic C back to life with a series of limited editions dedicated to three of its European boutiques;
– The IW3712-15, a limited edition of 100 units in red gold, was created in honor of the Milan boutique. It features a blue dial with both a tachymeter and telemeter scale.
– The IW3712-16, a limited edition of 200 units in stainless steel, was created in honor of the Paris boutique. It features a grey / black dial.
– The IW3712-17, a limited edition of 200 units in stainless steel, was created in honor of the Munich boutique. It features a blue dial.
While at the time of writing this little update the -15 and -17 were already launched, details on the -16 are still a bit sketchy. I will update ASAP.
Add to this the new 3714-88 Bücherer and 3714-89 Seddiqi, and 2016 makes for quite a year for fans of the timeless Valjoux-based Portugiesers. Now how about a new 3705?
After extensive teasing, Tudor just revealed the latest addition to its Pelagos collection: the Tudor Pelagos LHD,
The Tudor Pelagos LHD is a left-handed variation of the regular Tudor Pelagos, the titanium brother of the popular Black Bay. Once decisively modern, the Pelagos LHD now takes after its Heritage-line siblings, with beige Luminova and a subtle splash of red text.
For a watch touted as a Professional Instrument, the world of the Breitling Emergency is surprisingly colorful and diverse. I just updated our database with a number of rare and unusual variations.
The Breitling Emergency II was introduced in 2013 as a replaced of the original 1995-2012 Emergency watch. While I won’t go into too much detail in this post, it’s safe to say that it featured a few impressive (/shocking) updates in terms of technical specifications, size and price.
The professional specifications of the Emergency watch has never stopped Breitling from releasing some wild variations. Remember the white & yellow gold versions of the original Emergency? While Breitling has refrained from giving us a precious metal version of the II [thus far; and at over 140 gram without strap for the titanium version it might be for the better], they do have a few configurations that can be considered ‘out there’ – how about mother-of-pearl dials or black diamonds on your 51mm ‘Dual Frequency Locator Beacon’? Breitling has got you covered.
Just before posting this I realized I was missing the Bentayga Edition – #19 on my carefully laid out 6*3 grid… It’s not yet in our database as I have to check the reference number, but it will be added soon.
Nomos introduced its Neomatik movement in 2015 in the Minimatik, Tangente and Metro models. The choice of dial was either silver or champagne. With the ‘nachtblau’ watches, Nomos has now added a third option – and IMHO it looks stunning. The dark blue tone gives these watches a whole different vibe- chic, mysterious, luxurious – without loosing any of the Nomos character [that I’ve come to love so much]. All three feature a neon orange seconds hand.
Today I updated our Patek Philippe 5960 database with the unique stainless steel 5960/1A-011.
The 5960/1A-011 is believed to be a piece unique created for Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Thai billionaire and owner of Leicester City. Its chronograph hands are done in the colors of his Premier League football club, while the case back features an engraved image of a fox, the mascotte of the club.
Michael Phelps & Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph – picture by Omega
Hodinkee recently posted an article on Michael Phelps and Omega’s timing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. To my surprise, the added promotional picture showed Phelps wearing a previously unknown variation of the Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph, sporting a black dial with lighter subdials.
Update: DEBUNKED?!
A jump over to the Omega website didn’t reveal anything – not a single word on this mysterious new Planet Ocean. Omega has a history of honoring its ambassadors’ achievements (remember the Speedmaster The Legend?) – could this be something similar? I hope we’ll find out soon, but for now the finer details are still in the dark,. Nonetheless, here’s our provisional image and corresponding database entry. I will edit these as soon as more information comes in and as always: don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any details!
