2024 has been a stellar year for IWC Schaffhausen. They launched the new look Portugieser collection at Watches & Wonders 2024, which I felt was one of the best collections released at the fair this year. Whilst other brands focused their efforts on just a few models or high complications, IWC took the opportunity to re-vamp the entire line, with new colourways reflecting the times of the day and in steel and precious metals. They also had an epic soundtrack playing in their booth, which could be heard throughout the Palexpo, so it was almost as if IWC provided the soundtrack to Watches & Wonders 2024.

They also released the Portugieser Eternal Calendar as part of this collection which was the brand’s contribution to the high-end pieces we saw throughout the fair, which then went on to break the Guinness World Record for most accurate moon phase in a wristwatch, and most recently taking out the Aiguille D’Or, the top prize at the GPHG awards last month.

So with all this playing out with the Portugieser collection, we’ve been lucky enough to get our hands on a couple of the new releases this year. Chamath was seen sporting the IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar in Horizon Blue (my personal favourite of the entire collection), last month for a bit, and I’ve now been able to wear the Portugieser Chronograph 41 in the ‘Dune’ colour for a week.

First impressions

Well, it is really my second, actually, third first impression with this piece, having had the chance to see it first at Watches & Wonders, then a few months ago at an event in Brisbane with IWC and The Hour Glass. But each time was a little fleeting, and with lots of other people, so this was the first time I had it in my hands and all to myself to get a proper “First Impression” of the watch.

The Dune colourway is unique in the fact there are not too many other watches on the market today that have a similar colour dial. I’m getting more and more into watches that are not your typical watch, and while that is a broad statement, when it comes to dials, something a little different to the standard black, white or dark blue is refreshing.

It is an elegant-looking watch as well, which is kind of the point of the Portugieser collection. It’s part contemporary and part historical, something that Christian Knoop, Chief Design Officer at IWC Schaffhausen talked to us about when we caught up with him earlier this year in Geneva.

“In the Portugieser you have to respect that it is more consistent and is going in a continuous and timeless direction. We look at the Portugieser as still a very contemporary watch, and not a kind of traditional watch…It’s not like people look at this and say, Oh, this is a traditional watch! No, it should be received as an incredibly modern watch!”

Christian Knoop, Chief Design Officer for IWC

That being said, I still see the Portugieser as being a little more formal in nature, and with the alligator leather strap, it is even more so than on the rubber, so I was keen to see how I would go with a more dressy watch compared to my usual pure sports pieces. The one area I’ll point out that is different in the ‘Dune’ Portugieser Chronograph is the monochromatic dial. While the other colour variants have contrasting numerals and hands, this is all done in the golden ‘Dune’ colour. More on that later…

The Design

The IWC Portugieser dates back to the late 1930s, and rather than the Art Deco design style, which was popular at the time, IWC went the more German Bauhaus route. This DNA can be seen in the Portugieser today, but with a whole suite of modern design cues, not to mention materials. These design cues are present across the entire range of the Portugieser collection, but in reference to this particular model, the 41mm Chronograph, we can see the modern and clean interpretation of the DNA shining through.

RELATED READING: Legacy Of Iconic Watch Designs – The IWC Schaffhausen Portugieser

The dials on the new collection are the focus points for the Portugieser, so much so that they have been designed with different times of the day in mind. With ‘Dune’, it reflects the way the light permeates everything in a golden glow in the late afternoon, that time just before dusk. You can see this coming out in the striations of the beautifully finished sunray dial, and to create this depth and effect, IWC applies 15 layers of transparent lacquer, part of the 60-step process that goes into designing just the dials themselves. Having the symetrical two-subdial design, there is no date window on the IWC Portugiser Chronograph. For me, I love to have a date as it adds to the functionality of the watch, I’m constantly using it. For others, it won’t matter much at all, so it depends on which side of the fence you sit on this issue as to whether this will bother you or not.

The ‘Dune’ Portugieser has hand-applied numerals on the dial, done in a rose gold plating and polished, allowing them to catch the light and reflect it at different angles. This also goes for the hands on the Portugieser Chronograph, finished beautifully with a slim curved profile. This elevates the watch and takes it out of the sports watch category and into a more dress watch category. The sub-dials have a beautiful graining to them, milled directly into the brass dial and then the way IWC prints on them allows for a greater 3D effect.

The one element I found with the dial, being all the same colour, is the lack of contrast. For me, the matching colours of the dial, subdials, hands and numerals were perhaps a little too much. Compare this to the ‘Horizon Blue’, the ‘Obsidian’ or the ‘Silver Moon’ dials which all have contrasting dial elements. ‘Horizon Blue’ has rhodium-plated hands and numerals that are silver to contrast with the light blue dial, the ‘Obsidian’s’ are gold on the black dial and on the ‘Silver Moon’, you have blue hands and numerals that pop against the silvery dial. This is more a personal preference, so depending on your likes or dislikes, may or may not be for you.

RELATED READING: IWC Launches New Portugieser Chronograph Collection

The case is pure Portugieser in the sense that is so recognisable when looking at it compared to the original reference 325. The curved lugs help the watch to get a better fit, and the shape has remained relatively unchanged for almost 100 years, albeit more refined, obviously. This is where the DNA of a watch comes in. Those design cues are iconic and lets a watch transcend time, allowing it to be both modern in style, and timeless in design. It’s a hard line to walk, but the best watchmakers do it well. The Portugieser is no exception and the combination of the brushed steel case, the flat pump style chronograph pushers and the polished raised bezel encompassing the dial let the Portugieser Chronograph fit in with our tastes in 2024, without losing the heritage of the past.

How It Wears

On my 17.5cm wrist, it looks pretty proportionate and the curved lugs make it wear pretty well. It doesn’t seem overly thick either, and at 13.1mm it is in the range of not being thin, but not too thick either. Also, thanks to the case design with only about half of the thickness being attributed to the actual case side itself, you don’t notice it as much. I feel it wears pretty true to the measurements on paper, potentially looking slightly bigger than 41 millimetres perhaps due to the lack of a flat bezel and a larger dial area, but only slightly. It’s really neither here nor there.

From the top down, you get another perspective here, and as a comparison, I’ve added in Champs’ wrist to show the 17.5cm circumference of my wrist compared to the 16.5cm of Champs’. While it potentially fits mine slightly better (I also don’t wear my watches as tight as Chamath does), the 41mm diameter and 48mm lug-to-lug on his wrist seems proportionate as well.

If you can get the right fit, it feels fairly comfortable to wear, but as it’s on a leather strap with a folding clasp and pin buckle, you will just need to play around with this and wait for the leather to soften and mould to your wrist after a little bit of wear. Being warm at the moment, I found that my wrist was in between the holes on the strap so a good fit wasn’t easy for me to achieve. As a result, I had to wear it on the slightly loose side, but in the warmer weather, this is most certainly not a bad thing!

One thing I don’t love about the claps on the IWC is it is hard to undo once on the wrist as it’s a friction release clasp, not a push button. So taking it off does require you to grasp it firmly on either side and pull it, alternatively, slide your finger under the clasp as a lever to unclip it. With this style of clasp, which is not unique to IWC I’ll say, they are always a little tricky to open, so my preference would be to have a push button release to make it easier and with less wear and tear.

Now, coming back to the style factor here, being a more dressy watch, I wanted to see how this piece wore around town, and given it’s now summer and the hot weather is here to stay, how I felt with it on in more casual attire. I’m not talking about gym clothing or singlets and boardshorts, but more just your day-to-day wear when out in the city, doing school drop-offs, coffee at a café, that sort of thing. I feel it did play the more casual part, elevating what I was wearing to a point and given that the Portugieser isn’t a dress watch so to speak with more sporty elements to it, you don’t feel like you’re trying to pass it off as something it’s not. This probably exemplifies what Christian Knoop spoke about with the modernity of the piece – those subtle style and design cues allow it to be more than one thing.

I mentioned in a previous review about the way many brands are now doing the reverse style strap, threading the strap though towards the body (if you’re wearing it on your left as most people do), which is the case on the Portugieser, rather than away from the body. I personally find this a little weird, only because I’m not used to it for the most part. I did mention however in the aforementioned review that the end of the strap would catch my pockets as I walked thanks to the longer strap and it protruding a little. It was something I hadn’t considered with the strap around this way, until it happened numerous times that is. Thankfully, the Portugieser didn’t have this issue at all as the strap is a little shorter at the end, and the double strap minders keep it in place.

The Movement

IWC are putting more and more emphasis on their movements these days. Back in 2018, they released the Calibre 69355 which was a full in-house manufactured movement brought out to help celebrate their 150 years. This is part of IWC’s 69000 family of calibres, which is the automatic winding chronograph utilising a column wheel and a bidirectional pawl-winding system. For the calibre 69355, IWC has altered this to drop the chronograph hour sub-dial function, basically due to aesthetic reasons to balance out the dial itself. The movement pivots on 27 jewels, is adjusted to five positions and beats at a 4Hz beat rate with a standard 46-hour power reserve. Yes, the power reserve could be better and bumped up to 72 hours, which is becoming more and more the standard these days, but as this is a piece meant for everyday wear, then it’s less of an issue.

Operating the chronograph, the buttons are crisp, with the start/stop pusher having a small amount of resistance when starting the timer. The reset button is a little bit softer to the touch, with a bit less resistance, but I feel this is a good thing as it makes the chronograph easier to use when resetting it quickly. While I may be a little critical of the way the pushers feel, that is the watch reviewer coming out in me. For the average person however, this won’t matter all that much, or even be noticeable, whereas for me, I’m comparing this to all other chronographs I’ve tried and tested over the years.

The pull-out crown is easy to operate when changing the time. The knurling is enough to offer grip and there is very little movement or give in the crown when setting the time, meaning you’re not turning the crown much before the hands start to move. You sometimes have this on less well-made watches, turning the crown sometimes up to 30 degrees before the hands turn, making it harder to set the time accurately. It’s a big bugbear of mine, and if this happens, it shows that the crown stem isn’t tight allowing movement in it before the ratchet wheel starts to come into play against the gear train.

The winding mechanism also has a great tactile feel in this watch when winding it manually. I would say it is a smooth crispness, not gritty or clunky like some. Again, this is a watch nerd thing, but is one way of seeing, feeling and hearing how well the movement is put together. The crisper and smoother the feel, the better (in most instances) the movement is made.

Final Thoughts

IWC at its core is a brand that has an engineering heart, designing watches with movements that are engineered very well, both in design language and construction. You see this with not only the Portugieser collection but most of their watches across the different model lines. The Portugieser, for me anyway, has always been a collection that is about simplicity and elegance, but with that slightly sportier edge, and because of this, I have slightly mixed feelings about the IWC Portugieser Chronograph ‘Dune’.

On one hand, it’s a great watch, with a timeless design, from a brand that I have a lot of respect for and is elegant with a touch of sportiness about it, as I’ve just mentioned. On the other hand, I’m not sure if the ‘Dune’ colourway was for me personally, and without a date function, and on a leather strap, it’s less of a day-to-day piece for my lifestyle – so I’m slightly conflicted. That being said, this variant is the only steel model of the new chronograph models released this year, with Horizon Blue and Obsidian in white and red gold respectively, so it’s more durable for everyday wear but elegant enough for dressing up for more formal occasions.

My feeling is that for someone like me, who gravitates a lot more towards sports steel pieces, it takes a little while to warm up to. But that’s ok as sometimes watches grow on you the more you wear them, and the Portugieser Chronograph in ‘Dune’ did just that. It grew on me over the week, and because of this, I found myself picking outfits that would better compliment the watch, and I did feel a little dapper with it strapped to my wrist.

Overall I enjoyed wearing it – it gave me something different to wear on a daily basis that pushed me out of my comfort zone so to speak, in a colour that is different to what I would have traditionally chosen. In this statement, there is a lesson for me, and for those readers out there stuck in a certain way when it comes to watches. That is, try on different pieces and get out of your comfort zone. Try something you wouldn’t normally wear and see how it makes you feel, and when it comes to your next purchase, you may just find yourself picking out a watch that adds more variety to your collection!

References: IW371624 ‘Dune’

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 41mm, 13.1mm thick & 48mm lug-to-lug
• Case Material: Brushed and polished Stainless Steel
• Dial: Sunray brushed ‘Dune’ colour with applied numerals, milled subdials and red-gold plated hands
• Crystal: Sapphire, convex, antireflective coating on both sides
• Water resistance: 30m / 3 Bar
• Movement: IWC-manufactured calibre 69355 beating at 4Hz (28, 800 VpH) and 27 jewels
• Power reserve: 46 hrs
• Strap: Black alligator with steel folding clasp with pin buckle

Australian Recommended Retail Price: A$13,200

Availability: Available now at IWC Boutiques, authorised retailers or online at IWC.com

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Square watches, and we’re not talking about your more formal rectangular dress watches either, no we mean SQUARE! – they can be divisive, as not everyone loves them. But, there are some great watches out there from some of the biggest, and not-so-big, names in the industry. They can be sporty, or they can be much more dressy, but either way, no matter what your style or lifestyle is, there is a square-shaped watch out there for most tastes. So, if you’re thinking about that perfect square-shaped watch, then we’ve hand-picked 10 square watches at a range of price points that are sure to win someone over this Christmas, even if that someone is you!

Bell & Ross BR-05 Skeleton Arctic Blue

Bell & Ross are famous for their square watches, more specifically, the circle inside the square which was inspired by instrument panels on old planes – hence their tagline, Instruments for Professionals. However, their Urban collection takes this concept and refines it a little with sleeker and more modern-looking pieces, and the skeletonised BR-05 Arctic Blue takes this one step further with a skeletonised blue dial designed to look like it’s been carved out of ice. It is 40mm wide and 10.33 mm thick, so it will suit most wrists out there, Bell & Ross bracelets are comfortable, so it’s a great everyday piece for those who want something sporty and a little left of centre. The best part? It is limited to 250 pieces, so you will have something a little unique.

• Reference: BR05A-AB-SKST/SST
• Australian RRP: A$12,800

For more information, visit BellRoss.com

Cartier Santos de Cartier Green

Is there anything more iconic in the square watch world than the Cartier Santos? The Santos was the world’s first pilots watch, and wristwatch for that matter with a history dating back to 1904 when Louis Cartier gifted pioneering aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont a watch to help with his flying endeavours. These days, the Santos de Cartier is more modern, with different sizes and materials, but the DNA of the original is still there. We’ve chosen the Santos de Cartier Automatic Medium in green, hey, it’s Christmas and the green dial is perfect for the season, or anytime really. The Santos has an interchangeable green alligator leather strap as well, and with the quick change mechanism, you can swap between the two each day. A staple for any collection, or for someone who wants that one watch that can be highly versatile, worn each day and for any occasion.

• Reference: WSSA0061
• Australian RRP: A$11,500

For more information, visit Cartier.com.au

Cartier Panthère de Cartier Medium Rose Gold

Yes, it’s another Cartier, but this time, we’ve chosen the Panthère medium in rose gold. Cartier is famous for their case shapes, and they do square watches so, so well. The Panthère de Cartier is having a bit of a renaissance of late as well and can be for both men and women, so it’s quite the versatile piece. Due to its size: 29mm x 37mm, with a thickness of just 7mm, it is a quartz watch, but this means it’s highly accurate and will keep ticking for many years before a battery change is needed. The Panthère de Cartier is another timeless piece that will pair well with most outfits. it dresses up casual attire and completes any formal look too. A great one to put on the Christmas wish list!

• Reference: WGPN0007
• Australian RRP: A$43,200

For more information, visit Cartier.com.au

Hublot Square Bang Unico Titanium Blue Ceramic

We all know Hublot doesn’t follow the trends, they set them, and the Square Bang is their version of a square-shaped watch, with Big Bang Unico vibes. In this instance, it’s the titanium and blue ceramic version, which is a great versatile colourway, and coming in at 42mm, it’s not too big for most to pull off! It’s a bold-looking piece, but is light thanks to the titanium case and ceramic bezel, on top of that, it has Hublot’s in-house HUB1280 Unico 2 movement which is one of the smoothest flyback chronographs on the market today.

• Reference: 821.NL.5170.RX
• Australian RRP: A$37,600

For More Information Visit: Hublot.com

Hermès H08 Rose Gold

Hermès doesn’t get enough credit as a watchmaker. It is a typical story of a high-end fashion brand getting into the watch world, and people not associating it with pure horology. But, the leather goods manufacturer has come a long way with their watch division, now having in-house movements to the point where they are developing some amazing high complications, like the Arceau l’Heure de la Lune. The H08 Rose Gold is a great precious metal sports watch, with an 18k rose gold outer case, ceramic bezel and a black DLC titanium case back. Inside is the Hermés 1837 calibre with a 50-hour power reserve and this piece is 100m water resistant, so with the rubber strap, you can enjoy it without worry. It is a great mid-sized watch with a 39mm diameter and 42mm across the wrist, so will suit many wrists, both men and women, and the price is pretty good as well for a gold watch.

• Reference: W060124WW00
• Australian RRP: A$26,000

For More Information Visit: Hermes.com

Patek Philippe Cubitus

So we had to put the Cubitus in here, it would be wrong not to! There’s been perhaps no watch this year that’s had just a mixed reception to it than Patek Philippe’s Cubitus. But, putting all the conjecture aside, it’s a decent looking square sports watch, and lets face it, there’s quite a lot of celebrities that haver been seen wearing it and we’re going to go out on a limb here and say it will be a hot watch to get…eventually. It’s wide at 45mm, but its slim at just 8.3mm and from all reports, as long as you don’t have tiny wrists, you can get away with it. Can you easily get one? No, not unless you’re already a customer, or you’re in the know, but one to put on the list anyway!

• Reference: 5821/1A
• Australian RRP: POA

For More Information Visit: Patek.com

Rado True Square Open Heart

Rado is known as the Master of Materials and for good reason. The brand has been working with ceramics for decades and were one of the pioneers of it. Their High-Tech ceramic looks great and even better when polished, like this True Square in polished black High-Tech Ceramic. It’s also part of their Open Heart range, with skeletonised dials showcasing the movement underneath. Lightweight, almost scratch-proof (my wife has had a Rado True Thinline white ceramic for 10 years and still looks brand new!), water resistant to 50m and with an 80-hour power reserve, it is a good all-round watch. Coupled with this, at 38mm in diameter and 9.7mm thick, it can be worn by most wrist sizes on both men and women. Don’t like black? That’s ok, Rado has a range of colour variants to choose from.

• Reference: R27086152
• Australian RRP: A$4,350

For More Information Visit: Rado.com

SevenFriday CuXedo

You may not have heard of SevenFriday, it’s not a hugely well-known or popular brand, but it does have a strong following from those who know, and those who know, love it! They do some cool retro-styled pieces and in a rounded square shape for the most part and the CuXedo is a great example. With an openworked dial, rotating small seconds ring and rather than the date, a window indicating the day make this a fun watch. The animation ring is done in Damascene, a process that fuses different metals together to create a unique pattern. Sized at 47.6mm, it’s a large watch, but it’s fun and for someone who wants to buck the norm and go their own way in the watch world.

• Reference: PS2/02 CuXedo
• Australian RRP: A$2,550

For More Information Visit: AU.SevenFriday.com

TAG Heuer Monaco Titanium Pink

What would a square watch gift guide be without one of the OG square sports watches? The TAG Heuer Monaco is a classic, made famous when Steve McQueen wore one in Le Mans over 50 years ago. Since then, it has become a classic, and the modern iterations have taken the DNA of the Monaco and made it relevant for today’s watch lover. This example is the latest Monaco released just last month and features a skeletonised dial with hot pink accents, housed in a black DLC titanium case and with TAG Heuer’s in-house TH20-00 chronograph movement with an 80-hour power reserve. Speaking from experience, don’t be fooled by the size on paper – 39mm, 47.4mm lug to lug & 15.2mm thick. This is a great watch that is super easy to wear each day, and looks great on the wrist, albeit a little different to what you may see others wearing at your local café. But that’s a good thing.

• Reference: CBL218B.FT6236
• Australian RRP: A$16,300

For More Information Visit: Tagheuer.com

Tissot Lovely Square

Tissot is known for its value-for-money propositions, and the Tissot Lovely Square is no exception here. Measuring 20mm x 20mm, this is a watch for those ladies who want something small and elegant on their wrist that can be paired with just about any outfit. Reminiscent of ladies’ dress watches from the 1960s, the Tissot Lovely Square is made from 316L steel, water-resistant to 30m and has a Swiss Quartz movement for no fuss. It is also great bang for buck at less than A$500, so it’s perfect as a gift for that special girl in your life, or a cheeky gift for yourself!

• Reference: T058.109.11.041.00
• Australian RRP: A$495

For More Information Visit: Tissotwatches.com

There you have it. 10 square watches at various prices for the discerning watch lover in your life. If you haven’t seen our Christmas Gift Guide To Chronographs, then make sure you check it out as well and stay tuned for more Gift Guide ideas over the next 2 weeks in the lead-up to Christmas.

Fine cigars and watches have a lot in common. Both are made by skilled people who have taken years to hone their craft, both are enjoyed by aficionados of their respective categories (sometimes both) and both have a history and story to tell. When a brand like Hublot, who likes to buck convention and go its own way teams up with one of the world’s best Cigar families, the result is always going to be striking. And this is what we have in the latest Hublot x Fuente timepiece, the sixth between the two. This time, is a King Gold Classic Fusion Chronograph, and I can say it is definitely a good-looking piece in the metal!

Back in 2012, Carlito Fuente and his family cigar business, Arturo Fuente Cigars celebrated their 100th birthday, and for this, joined forces with Hublot to create timepieces with a charitable bent – with a portion of the profits from the watches supporting the Dominican population through the Fuente Family Foundation. Since then, there have been five Hublot x Fuente collaborations, and this year it’s a special year as the Fuente family is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Fuente Fuente OpusX line – the first Dominican puro cigar produced by Carlito Fuente and one of the most acclaimed cigars ever produced thanks to the way they are made.

This year, Hublot and Arturo Fuente, headed up by Arturo Fuente’s grandson, Carlito Fuente celebrate the family’s most sought-after cigars, the Fuente Fuente OpusX. These cigars are made by the most skilled and experienced cigar rollers, “torcedores” who have to undergo a further 10 months of training before being allowed to make the OpusX cigars. Unlike other premium cigars that use 5 leaves, OpusX uses 9 leaves, and are then left for 2 years to mature and gain the robust and mature aromas they are famous for. So, for Hublot, creating a piece that spoke to this craft was essential, and created the Classic Fusion Chronograph Arturo Fuente King Gold, with all the hallmarks of Hublot, the Classic Fusion and adding in elements that bring out the Arturo Fuente brand.

Done in an 18-carat King Gold (Hublot’s version of rose gold) case, and measuring 42mm in diameter and 11.9mm thick, the watch is striking in the metal as the contrast of the fumé gradient smoked green dial and green alligator strap really offset this piece. Hublot has laser-engraved tobacco leaves on the bezel, and this helps to bring to life the partnership and a nod to the famous cigar family. As a design aesthetic, it also helps to frame the dial and give the otherwise brushed bezel great character.

The dial has been done in a smoked gradient fumé green, that starts out as a deep, dark green at the outer, then lightens as you move towards the centre of the dial. This, mixed with the King Gold hands, hour markers, and chapter rings on the chronograph sub-dials give a striking contrast and if you’ve read previous articles of mine, I’m quite partial to a deep green dial matched and rose gold watch. The OpusX logo can be found on the small seconds dial at 3 o’clock, another nod to the cigar collection.

The Classic Fusion Arturo Fuente Chronograph has been given a celebratory case back, with a limited edition number of 50 inscribed into the case. The Fuente OpusX 25-year motif is engraved with black and green lacquer, along with Carlito Fuente’s signature and the name of the family estate in the Dominican Republic – Chateau de la Fentue. Inside is the HUB1153 self-winding chronograph movement, beating at 4Hz and giving the watch a 48-hour power reserve. It’s a passable power reserve, but at the end of the day, standard for this movement and not one to worry too much about if you’re wearing this piece on a regular basis.

Like other Fuente collaborations, this piece comes in a green lacquer box, that doubles as a cigar humidor, designed in collaboration with Manny Iriarte, long-time creative partner. For those who are cigar lovers, this is a great secondary prize here as you’re not left with a watch box lying around that like most of us with these, sitting in a drawer or closet gathering dust.

Initial Thoughts

I’m not a cigar guy, and I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you the difference between the OpusX Forbidden X or the OpusX Angel’s Share cigars. But that doesn’t matter as I know that these are made with skill and love for a craft that is over a century old in the case of the Fuente Family. And does it mean I like the watch less because of this? No. In fact, because of the watch, I want to delve deeper into the cigar side of this collaboration and learn more about it. It’s the innate curiosity in me I guess, but also, the watch has an altruistic component as well, which is a bonus.

No matter how much of a watch nut you are, or how much you delve into the ins and outs of the watch, the movement, and all that geeky stuff we do, sometimes a watch is just plain cool. You’re drawn to it because of the way it looks and feels on the wrist and the way it makes you feel. For me, this is exactly what happened with this piece when the team and I had a play with it prior to the launch this week. The green and gold colourway is great, it pops. The design of the bezel with the cigar leaves is cool, and it is different. The watch is a talking point, and with only 50 pieces available, not a piece you’ll see in the wild much, if at all.

Reference: 541.OX.8980.LR.OPX24 – limited to 50 pieces

Specification:

• Case: 42mm x 11.9mm thick
• Case Material: Satin-finished and Polished 18K King Gold
• Dial: Gradient Green Sunray with 18k King Gold hands and hour markers. OpusX logo on the small seconds dial
• Crystal: Sapphire with Anti-reflective Treatment
• Movement: HUB1153 Self-winding Chronograph Movement, beating at 4Hz / 28,800 Vph & pivoting on 39 jewels
• Case-Back: 18k King Gold with black and green lacquered OpusX 25 motif
• Water resistance: 50 metres / 5 ATM
• Power reserve: 48 hours
• Strap: Black Rubber and Green Alligator Leather Strap with 18K 5N Gold and Black-plated Stainless Steel Deployant Buckle Clasp

Australian Recommended Retail Price: A$60,500

Availability: Available through Hublot Boutiques, and online at Hublot.com

Back in July, we reported the re-shuffling of CEO roles over at Richemont, which all started when Nicolas Bos, then-current CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels took the role of CEO of Richemont from June 1st this year. This move then started a domino effect of sorts, with a shuffling of other brands to fill the CEO role at Van Cleef & Arpels as well as the top role at Cartier thanks to Cyrille Vigneron’s departure.

These moves resulted in Catherine Rénier, then CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, moving into the CEO role at Van Cleef & Arpels, a good move by the company. Taking Cyrille Vigneron’s role at Cartier was Vacheron Constantin Boss, Louis Ferla. These two moves left a few empty CEO seats, and last week it was announced that they have now been filled.

Jérôme Lambert, an industry veteran has been tapped on the shoulder to take over the top role at Jaeger-LeCoultre. Some may know Jérôme Lambert already as he previously held the CEO position of Jaeger-LeCoultre from 2002 to 2013. He has had an illustrious career with Richemont, Starting out at Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1996 as the brand’s financial controller, then CFO before becoming CEO. Since leaving the CEO role, he has gone on to head up Mont Blanc and in 2017 he became Richemont’s Group Head of Operations, and in the same year, Group Operations Officer overseeing most of the Jewellery and Watchmaking operations. This set him up for the top role, with Mr Lambert becoming the Group Chief Executive Officer from September 2018 to May 2024, before stepping into the Group Chief Operating Officer role in June of this year.

“It is with profound honour and genuine pleasure that I return to the Grande Maison, the place where I first set foot into the magnificent world of Swiss watchmaking. This opportunity is both a privilege and a homecoming to the craft and heritage that have shaped my career.”

Jérôme Lambert, incoming Jager-LeCoutlre CEO

Alongside Mr Lambert at Jaeger-LeCoultre, Laurent Perves fills the CEO role at Vacheron Constantin, and again, is no stranger to the brand. Having joined the Maison in 2016, first as Chief Marketing Officer, then as the Chief Commercial Officer since 2021, he, too, is a luxury industry veteran with over 20 years of experience. Mr Perves has worked at the LVMH group as Change Manager over a number of years, and then 10 years in the ‘Prestige Products’ Division of Procter & Gamble, where he occupied various functions in Consumer Intelligence, Marketing, Creation and Business Development, before reaching a Global Brand Leadership position on Gucci Parfums.

In 2014, he entered the world of Swiss Watchmaking as Head of Brand Communication for Audemars Piguet before moving into the CMO role at Vacheron Constantin, where he worked hand in hand with Vacheron’s previous CEO, Louis Ferla.

Both Jérôme Lambert and Laurent Perves will start their new roles from the 1st of January 2025. We wish them all the best!

The Arsham Droplet is typically Hublot, even though it doesn’t look like anything else Hublot has produced. Ever. That statement sounds like an oxymoron a little, but if you know Hublot, then you’ll know that they pride themselves on creating pieces that are like no other watch brands out there. Just take a look at their watch collaborations. Orlinski, Sang Bleu, and Murakami to name a few. Or their Manufacture Pieces, like the MP-05 LaFerrari, the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System, or MP-13 Tourbillon Bi-Axis Retrograde. These are all Hublot, and while all very different, all have that distinct Hublot style, embedded with Hublot DNA at their core.

One of the main reasons these are all unique is Hublot gives create reign to their designers and collaborators, to infuse as much of them into the pieces as Hublot. To me, I love this. Rather than sticking a logo on an already existing watch with a new colour dial, Hublot makes its pieces in partnership with those people who work with the brand. Take the latest Big Bang Unico x Djokovic. Yes, it looks like a Big Bang Unico, but it is made with Novak Djokovic in mind, and also in collaboration with him, using his old requests and shirts and making the watch ultra-light and shock-resistant, designed to be worn whilst playing.

Another great example is the long-running partnership Hublot has with Takashi Murakami. What watch would better embody the famous Japanese artist than a flower, the shape and design Takashi Murakami is famous for and incorporates into his art? So a flower-shaped watch it is! So it would come as no surprise that when Hublot teamed up with Daniel Arsham, the multi-disciplined visual artist, this collaboration would be something not seen before. And it was!

First Impressions

This was one of those releases that as much as the images online showcased it, you had to see it in person to understand it and see how it actually looked and felt in the hand. It may have taken 6 months to get our hands on it, but it did not disappoint when we did. Firstly, it isn’t a wristwatch. So this alone puts it into the ‘intriguing’ basket. Secondly, Hublot and Daniel Arsham have come up with a unique drop-shaped, full sapphire watch, which is also a three-in-one piece. While it may sound contradictory, this fact makes it both versatile and usable, but also not at the same time. Again, this is Hublot through and through – a contradiction in terms but somehow, it works.

I’ll say this at the start – pictures don’t really do this justice, and photographing it with the way the sapphire curves and plays with the light isn’t easy, but that is not what is important. It’s how it feels in the hand and looks to the eye. The first time in the hand, you get the appeal instantly as it’s so different, and while you’re not 100% sure what to make of it, you just know you like it.

The Design

The Arsham Droplet is just that, a droplet. When coming up with the design, contemporary artist Daniel Arsham took his inspiration from the way water flows and forms drops in nature. You can see this in the strange asymmetrical-shaped case, which is made from sapphire crystal. It isn’t your typically shaped drop, but more a strange form of fluidity, like the way liquid metal starts to form and pull together when separated. What is instantly noticeable is the clarity of the sapphire, something Hublot excels at. It is as if the watch was dipped into a super clear liquid, and it solidified instantly forming the shape with no impurities or ripples whatsoever. What is more remarkable here is this isn’t one piece of sapphire either, it is two pieces, moulded and put together around an inner skeleton.

Inside the watch is a full titanium skeleton, which you can see in the image above clearly. This skeleton forms the base of the watch and holds all the vital organs in place. The titanium has been shaped with a range of different-sized circles and ovals, which together give the watch structure, but also enhance its visual aspect, assisting in bringing the droplet theme to life even more.

RELATED READING: In Person With Ricardo Guadalupe, Former CEO & Honourary President Of Hublot

Each half of the Arsham Droplet is crafted by the engineers at Hublot’s Nyon manufacture, and placed perfectly on either side of the inner skeleton and movement to create the overall shape. Sapphire is one of the hardest substances to work with, and somehow, Hublot has perfected it. Around the outside is a thin band of titanium, with a light “Arsham Green” rubber inset to assist when holding the watch. The last thing you want is this to slip through the fingers and become a very expensive insurance claim! The ‘H’ styled Hublot screws hold all this in place.

The dial is fully skeletonised to show off the Meca-10 movement. The hour markers with Super-LumiNova are done in Arsham Green varnish and are attached to the colour-matched outer track below the rehaut. At the top of this sits the Arsham logo, and the hands along with the small seconds at 9 o’clock are also done the same semi-matte varnished green. This gives off a fresh colourful vibe, and if this was a wristwatch, I’d be saying here that it just may be a great summer watch.

The watch has Hublot’s one-click system, which makes it easy to change the way you use the watch. The chains for the pocket watch or pendant can be easily interchanged with the click of a button, or with the desk clock mount, the watch can be attached to this. This fact means that you can have the Arsham Droplet on you all day, and when you get home, unclip it and place it in the dock for the table clock.

The chains for the pocket watch and the pendant are also made from full titanium with a combination of polished and microblasted areas. This keeps the weight of the Arsham Droplet down, as the piece itself has weight to it thanks to the full sapphire crystal construction, so the last thing you want when wearing it around the neck as a pendant is a full steel chain to add more weight.

How It Wears (no, wait) Usability & Versatility

This is the part where I usually talk about how the watch wears. The comfort on the wrist, the way the strap feels, how the watch sits on the wrist, the size in comparison to the wearer etc. But, this isn’t a wristwatch, so most of that is a little redundant. So instead, I’ll talk about how it’s used and its functionality, as this piece has been designed for those who want a statement piece of sorts, and one that is totally different from the crowd and used in a (now in modern-day) unconventional way.

Over 100 years ago, pocket watches were the norm. To tell the time, a gentleman would pull out his pocket watch from his fob pocket, which was attached to a chain, flip open the watch, glance at the time and then close it and put it securely back in. Nowadays, we have watches on our wrists, and replacing the pocket watch’s functionality is a phone. At least for most people anyway. So when you see a brand do something left of centre, like the Arsham Droplet, you know it will be appealing to a certain type of person. As we have stated many times before, Hublot is not a brand for everyone, and with the Arhsam Droplet, this is very much the case. There are also only 99 pieces, so by virtue, this is a piece for only 99 people in the world.

As I alluded to earlier in the article, the Arsham Droplet has been designed in a certain way, mimicking the flow of liquid in nature, but also to conform to the contours of the hand. It isn’t something you think about much until you hold the Arsham Droplet. The green rubber inset around the edge makes it non-slip, important when taking it out of the pocket to check the time, and the curvature of the piece itself means that no matter if you are left or right-handed, it fits. While it is larger than most wristwatches, coming in at 73.2mm in length x 52.6 mm wide x 22.5 mm thick, by our normal standards this would be a giant watch. But, it isn’t a wristwatch, so all that matters is this is easy to read, easy to hold, and will fit in a pocket, which it does!

My one small criticism of this piece is the way the crystal shape distors the light, especially around the lower dial. This in on way impedes reading the time, but it does make the lower part of the dial around the power reserve indicator and balance look slightly off. Depening on the angle you view it from, it will either look right, or like those fun-house mirrors. In person, as you can move the watch around in your hand, this becomes less of a problem when compared to still images, but depending no how you look at it, (no pun intended) you’ll either love the quirkiness of it, or you wont.

Now I’m not one for modelling a pendant, it’s not quite my style nor would I do this piece justice as I’m not super fashionable, but Daniel Arsham is, so I’ll show how he wears the piece, as it should be worn. I will say this though, if you’re not used to wearing heavier jewellery around the neck, this piece may not be for you as I mentioned earlier, there is a little bit of weight to the watch. I feel you would only wear it this way sparingly, as a statement piece of artistic jewellery to an event. I’ve been to plenty of events over the years with celebrities, influencers, and those who are into fashion and are at the pointy end of fashion who I can see wearing this easily. But for me, I’d rather have this as a pocket watch, and use it to tell a story, a conversation starter that I can pull out and show people.

The third way of using this piece is as the desk clock. Hublot has come up with an ingenious way of doing this, by detaching the Droplet from the chain and docking it into the clock via the One-Click system. However, the watch itself isn’t large enough to be used as a proper clock, so the mount and display itself is a large magnifying glass, designed with a similar style to the Arsham Droplet itself.

With a titanium base, and two “bubbles” one acting as the crystal clear magnifying glass to show the time, the other in a translucent green to match the Arsham Green on the watch, the clock set up is something unique, and again, a statement piece for the home or office. I’ve always been fascinated by unique and interesting desk clocks, and I would love to have a carefully selected desk clock in my house one day. That is as soon as my kids are a little older and my fear of them taking it and playing with it, thus ending in tragedy subsides. that aside, I could quite easily see the Arsham Droplet as a clock in my house, taking pride of place in the living area for all to see. For me, this is how it would spend most of its time, but it would be undocked occasionally and shown off at events, as per my previous comments about wearing it.

The Movement

The movement is on full display with the Arsham Droplet, which is kind of the point here being a sapphire watch. For this, Hublot has chosen the in-house designed and manufactured HUB1201 Meca-10 movement to power the watch. To me, this makes complete sense as you are not wearing it on your wrist, so you need a manual wind movement, and when it comes to Hublot, there is no better manual winding movement than the Meca-10. You can power it up, and then not have to worry about it for a full 10 days. While it would be great to see more of the movement through the reverse side of the Arsham Droplet, there is Daniel Arsham’s logo on the back in the Arsham Green and black, so this does obscure it somewhat. Personally I would have loved to have seen the Meca-10 on full display with the three bridges being visible – a hallmark of the Meca-10 movement which resembles Meccano sets.

For those that are not aware of how the Meca-10 movement was developed, or why, you can read about it in a lot more detail in our Watch Education Article on the Movements Of Hublot. For those who want the abridged version, then the inspiration for Hublot to create the Meca-10 began when the designers looked back into their childhood days (remember those?) when imagination was limitless.  As a homage to all those who spent hours designing and building with Meccano, a more sophisticated version of Lego Technic that includes plates, wheels, and gears, Hublot created the Meca-10 range. So groundbreaking at the time, the Meca-10 won the Red Dot Award back in 2017 for innovation, so it doesn’t stand as a testament to Hublot’s movement capabilities.

RELATED READING: Hands-On With The Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 Ceramic Blue

The HUB1201 Meca-10 is a hand-wound movement, with a full 10-day, or 240-hour power reserve stemming from two barrels inside the movement, both delivering 5 days’ worth of power to the watch. Unlike most watches, those with the Meca-10 are best viewed from the front, as this is where it is on full show. The genius of the Meca-10 is the way it both distributes the power, but more so, the way it lets the user know how much power it has left. This is shown on the two discs at the front, with the smaller wheel at 6 o’clock telling you how many days power if left, then on the larger disc at 3 o’clock, the oval-shaped window shows starts to go white when the power reserve is down to 48 hours, a little like your car when almost empty.

The other unique factor with the Meca-10 is the way it drives the power reserve indicators. The top barrel in the movement drives the rack and pinion mechanism, which can be seen just behind the Hublot logo at 12 o’clock, this in turn drives the power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock. Another throwback to Meccano sets and the way the gears and mechanisms all come together to make the models work.

Final Thoughts

The Arsham Droplet is unique. It is quirky and serious at the same time, embodying everything that Hublot does best – meticulously crafted and shaped sapphire, an award winning in-house movement, and collaborating with an artist to design and develop a piece that other wont, or can’t! In addition to this, they have gone outside the box to develop a watch that is to be worn and admired, but not on the wrist.

This last statement is the reason why I said at the start, this piece is a little bit of a contradiction in the fact that it is versatile in it’s own nature, but at the same time it is not. However, this is not a bad thing at all, it’s just how you approach a watch like the Arsham Droplet. If you fully appreciate what Hublot and Daniel Arsham have come up with, then you’ll love it. If you fail to see the concept, then you’ll not, but then this is not a pice that is for you, or for everyone.

The price point will also make most of us think twice about it – at A$132,000 it’s definitely a piece for those who have means, and by virtue of the watch itself, as well as the price, it will be a piece for collectors who are looking for something new that is nothing like they have in their current collection. If I had the coin for this, would it be on my radar? Short answer – Yes, as it would look great in my house on display for me to admire, and for anyone who came over, a great talking point. I also fully appreciate how this piece is made, and what it represents, not just from a timekeeping perspective, but as a piece of functional and wearable art. Not to mention bringing it out at watch get togethers would be fun and something very different from the stock standard pieces you always see.

Reference: 916.NX.5202.NK – MP-16, limited to 99 pieces

Specification:

• Dimensions: 73.2mm in length x 52.6 mm wide x 22.5 mm thick
• Case Material: Polished Sapphire with anti-reflective coating, inner titanium skeleton with outer band made from titanium and rubber
• Dial: Skeleton dial in grey PVD with matte varnish Arsham Green hands, hour makers and small seconds. 10-day power reserve and low power indicator at 3 and 6 o’clock
• Movement: HUB1201 Manufacture Manual-winding Skeleton Power Reserve Movement. Beating at 21,600 VpH / 3Hz and pivoting on 24 Jewels
• Case-Back: Microblasted M3 Titanium Skeleton, engraved and printed Arsham Green logo
• Water resistance: 30 metres / 3ATM
• Power reserve: 10 Days / 240 hours
• Necklace: Full Titanium with Polished Links / Shiny Microblasted Clasp and One-click Tip
• Pocket Chain: Full Titanium with Polished Links / Shiny Microblasted Carabiner and One-click Tip
• Table Stand: Microblasted Titanium / Polished Green Arsham Colour Sphere and Mineral Magnifying Glass

Australian Recommended Retail Price: AUD $132,200

Availability: Available through Hublot Boutiques or enquire online at Hublot.com

If there’s one thing that Perrelet is known for, it’s their Turbine collection. The unmistakable watch with 12 spinning blades activated by the wrist’s movement gives the wearer a fun piece to play with. And they are fun, take it from me. What seems as a non-serious watch, has in fact got serious engineering behind it, both on the dial side and in the back, and for those who aren’t aware of the brand’s story and history, Perrelet also has this to rival some of the industry’s biggest names.

RELATED READING: IN PERSON – With Hugo Lesizza, Brand Director For Perrelet

If you’ve been following us for a while, you will have seen some of our coverage of Perrelet’s releases at Geneva Watch Days 2024, and also our interview with Hugo Lesizza, Brand Director for Perrelet. In all honesty, the brand doesn’t get as much attention as they maybe deserve, at least out here in Australia. Perhaps it is because of the Turbine and its whimsical nature, perhaps like a lot of brands, they’re not marketing themselves as much as the big brands. Either way, all of us have Perrelet, or rather, Abraham-Louis Perrelet, to thank for the automatic winding mechanism most of the industry’s automatic movements are based on today, which he came up with when the brand was founded in 1777. This makes Perrelet one of the oldest watch brands in the world, up there with the likes of Vacheron Constantin, Brequet, and Blancpain etc.

And speaking of Geneva Watch Days, we had the privilege of shooting some of Perrelet’s unreleased pieces whilst there talking to Hugo, and we can finally showcase these in the metal today – the new Red, Yellow and Khaki turbines. Perrelet has also released a limited edition rainbow Turbine to coincide with the trio of colours, limited to 99 pieces. Whilst we would have loved to have shot this as well, it wasn’t yet ready. Nonetheless, we have the press shots regardless, but in our eyes, the other colours look just as good!

RELATED READING: Perrelet Unveils Two New Turbine Ice Blue Timepieces At Geneva Watch Days

The three new colourways are done in the 44mm polycarbonate and carbon fibre case, the same as the Ice Blue released at Geneva Watch Days. While this sounds a little daunting size-wise, the black slims the case down, and even as I was writing this, I did a double take on the case sizing as these definitely don’t wear like a 44mm case at almost 14mm thick. In fact I did go back to double check this was indeed the case!

The case itself is made in polycarbonate and carbon fibre, which gives the watches a lightness to them and the bezel is steel, but with a matte black PVD coating. The main star of the show is the dial, with the 12 lightweight aluminium blades that spin on a ball bearing and rotor system, which took Perrelet quite some time to perfect and get that perfect silky smooth spinning effect.

“Basically, the product team in charge took the inspiration for the turbine from the turbines on the jet engine, which was the initial inspiration for the development of the turbine. It took time to develop it because as you know in the watch-making industry you have constraints, which is not easy to handle, and with the turbine, we had to get the balance and spinning just right, even down to developing the ball bearings it spins on!”

Hugo Lesizza, Brand Director for Perrelet

Each watch comes with a colour-matching alligator leather strap, which has a great feel on the wrist and a sheen to it that really enhances the colour of each watch, not to mention the wrist presence. The strap drops away well thanks to the highly angled lugs, so the 44mm case dimensions are not in person what they are on paper. As you can see from the image below, this is 44mm on my 17.5cm wrist, but in my opinion, wears a couple of millimeters smaller at least.

In addition to the new trio, Perrelet has introduced a special limited edition Sunset piece, with 99 units available. This piece takes the best of their colours, and blends them all into one unique dial variant which is designed to mimic the colours at sunset – from the darker hues in the sky above, to the lighter oranges and reds towards the horizon where the setting sun fades. And looking at the dial, you can certainly see where they’ve got their inspiration from.

The Sunset edition keeps the same size and specs as the red, yellow and khaki versions, with the major exception of the strap. Rather than colour-matching the dial, which, lets face it, would have been a stretch (although other brands have done this to an extent) Perrelet have opted to keep the alligator strap black, for a more subtle look. This makes the dial stand out just that little more with a shroud of black for the gradient sunset colour to pop out of.

Inside all these watches is the in-house manufactured self-winding calibre P-331-MH. This is a full in-house movement via Perrelet’s movement manufacture, Soprod. Beating at 4Hz, 28,800 VpH and pivoting on 25 jewels, it is COSC certified and has a 42-hour power reserve. This is probably on the lower side of the power reserved spectrum, but, at this price point, I don’t think you can complain all that much.

Initial Thoughts

Perrelet is one brand that doesn’t come to mind all that much, and that is a shame as there are some real watch-making credentials within the brand, and while there is a rich history there, the brand has taken a more fun approach to watches with the introduction of the turbine on the dial. This has probably put off more serious watch enthusiast if I’m honest, and is a party trick that may not be for everyone. But that is ok, as Perrelet only make about 2,500 watches a year, then not everyone will be able to buy them, even if they wanted to. And that makes them unique in the watch world, which is something I like.

Sameera covered the Ice Blue releases at Geneva Watch Days, and he personally felt the smaller 41mm Titanium model was better, with less colour on the dial, whereas the 44mm Carbon has the Ice Blue outer track below the rehaut as well. With this release, Perrelet has taken the best of both worlds here and made the numeral track in the black, with just the small rehaut in the red, yellow and khaki, and Sunset. It is less overwhelming, but without taking away from the colour of the dial. All in all, these are fun pieces to add to a collection, and for those that want to walk on the not too serious side of watch collecting!

References:

• Turbine Carbon Red –Ref. A4065/6
• Turbine Carbon Yellow –Ref. A4065/7
• Turbine Carbon Khaki – Ref. A4065/8
• Turbine Sunset (99-piece limited edition) – Ref. A4065/S7

Specifications:

• Case Size: 44mm
• Case Thickness: 13.82mm
• Case Material: Case body in polycarbonate and carbon fibre, flat steel bezel in stainless steel with black matt PVD coating.
• Dial: Yellow, Red, Khaki or Sunset with the depiction of the turbine achieved through the polished/satin finish. 12 black anodised aluminium turbine blades with five tungsten counterweights. Colour matching minute flange with black hour track with a mix of luminescent white Arabic, Roman numerals and indices.
• Movement: In-house manufacture self-winding calibre P-331-MH beating at 28,800 VpH (4hZ)
• Power reserve: 42hrs
• Water resistance: 10 bar (100 meters)
• Crystal: Sapphire glass with double anti-reflective treatment on the dial
• Case back: Case back in stainless steel with black PVD coating and sapphire glass porthole
• Strap: Colour-matched calf leather strap with an alligator pattern and rubber lining. Folding clasp in black PVD stainless steel embellished with the Perrelet logo

International Recommended Retail Pricing: Red, Yellow and Khaki – CHF 4,980. Sunset Limited Edition – CHF 5,200

Availability: Enquire online at www.perrelet.com

When Zenith released the DEFY Skyline back in 2022, it was an instant hit with collectors. I even took the plunge myself and got a coveted blue dial, which at the time was so in demand that Zenith could not keep up with the demand on release and took almost 6 months to be delivered. But I was happy to wait, and thankfully, it was on my wrist soon enough!

RELATED READING: The Owner’s Perspective: Reviewing The Zenith Defy Skyline

Since then, Zenith has evolved the DEFY Skyline collection to include new colours, sizes, skeleton dials, complications and materials. They’ve also embarked on some great collaborations and limited editions, with the likes of Philipe Pantone. And now, they’ve teamed up for a second time with Collective Horology, which started in 2018 as a collector-initiated community, now a fully-fledged retailer with a slight bent to the independent watch scene.

The new Zenith DEFY Skyline C.X. Edition is everything great about Zenith, and the DEFY Skyline, but with the customisations of the team over at Collective Horology. You still have all the major hallmarks of the DEFY Skyline – the dodecagonal bezel, angles integrated lugs and bracelet, semi-skeletonised hands and a choice of the integrated quick change bracelet or strap, both included by the way, so the choice is just what you want to wear on the day! However, Collective Horology has made a few subtle changes.

RELATED READING: Zenith’s Skyline Tourbillon Gets An Artistic Makeover

The first, and most noticeable is the change of the 1/10th second subdial moved from 9 o’clock to the 6 o’clock position. The date window at 3 o’clock has been done away with as well, so you now have a cleaner and more balanced dial than the original DEFY Skyline. For those people who love a date window, like me, you’ll most probably be torn between the balanced clean aesthetics and the reduced functionality of the watch. For those purists who want a clean and more balanced dial, then you’ll be in heaven!

The other major change on the dial is the way that Zenith and Collective Horology have decided to make it a gradient dial. Instead of the starry night pattern going all the way to the edge of the dial and rehaut, this dial sees the stars start to fade away as you get close to the edge, thus giving the watch dial more depth of character.

Moving to the case, the standard DEFY Skyline is done in stainless steel, but vertically brushed for a more edgier look, something I quite like and some would say reminiscent of a Royal Oak. For the DEFY Skyline C.X. Edition, the steel is now sandblasted, giving the watch an entirely matte finish, with the only polished areas being the side of the bezel and the side of the case back. This also applies to the dial, so you don’t have the shiny sunburst finish you find on other Skylines.

RELATED READING: REVIEW: Hands-On With The Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph

While the whole look of the watch is very monochromatic when on the steel bracelet, the DEFY Skyline does have a small pop of orange on the dial, with the tip of the 1/10th second hand in orange, and the number 10 at the top of the subdial, which is a nod to this being the 10th collaboration Collective Horology has done in total. However, if you want a fresh, bright summery look, then never fear, as you can quickly swap out the steel bracelet for the included orange strap at the click of a button. To me, this is one thing that Zenith does well, as it’s easy and seamless to operate. The downside is, it is proprietary, so you can’t buy aftermarket straps for this. However, I’ve never found this an issue, to be honest, as the strap is designed perfectly for the watch, and looks great with the detailing of the stars to compliment the dial.

Inside of the DEFY Skyline is the El Primero 3620 SK. A time-only automatic movement, beating at 5Hz or 36,000 VpH, a key feature of the Zenith El Primero movement, and the reason for the speed of the 1/10th second subdial spinning around every 10 seconds. Yes, it isn’t functional at all, but it is Zenith saying, “Look what we can do!” In all honesty, it is very cool to look at, and once you’re used to it, a normal 60-second subdial seems overly slow! The El Primero 3620 SK has a 55-hour power reserve which is not massive but respectable given this is a piece you can wear as a daily. It also has hacking seconds, but to me, this is slightly irrelevant as you are never sure of the exact time to the second due to there being no way to measure the 60 seconds. But that’s neither here nor there.

Initial Thoughts

I do love a collaboration. Sometimes these hit the mark, and sometimes they miss. In this case, I feel that Zenith and Collective Horology have hit the bullseye on this piece. They stuck to what makes the DEFY Skyline the DEFY Skyline and made subtle but positive changes I feel to the original, like the subdial move to 6 o’clock, the sandblasted case and dial, as well as the dial gradient. And rather than having multiple logos or ostentatious colour changes that are in your face, Zenith and Collective Horology have gone the less is more approach. The only way you know this is a collab visually is the C.X on the case back, as well as the limited edition number, and the number 10 on the subdial. All else could just as well be part of the standard lineup with orange accents to go with the blue, black, and white dials with associated straps.

Personally, I would love a date window down at the bottom of the 6 o’clock subdial – this would keep the balance, and give you the added date functionality which would be ideal for people like me. But, we can’t have it all, can we? Putting that aside, it is a great-looking watch, and on the rubber strap these wear so well, which is how I prefer it, but if you get sick of the rubber, the steel bracelet is about 30 seconds worth of effort away. Either way, you shouldn’t be disappointed!

The DEFY Skyline C.X. Edition is limited to 200 pieces worldwide, and sold through Collective Horology, or online at Zenth-watches.com and will be available via Zenith Boutiques worldwide from December 19 2024.

Reference: 06.9300.3620/63.I001

Specification:

• Case: 41mm, 46mm lug-to-lug and 12mm thick
• Case Material: Sandblasted steel
• Case back: Steel screw-down with sapphire display back
• Dial: Matte grey/silver, star-patterned gradient dial with 1/10th second small seconds subdial
• Crystal: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
• Water resistance: 100 Metres (10BAR) with Screw-Down Crown
• Movement: El Primero 3620 SK high-frequency automatic movement, beating at 5Hz / 36,000 Vph
• Power reserve: 55 Hours
• Strap/Bracelet: Integrated steel bracelet with interchangeable orange strap with quick change system

Australian Recommended Retail Price: AU$19,100

Availability: Available now online at Zenith-watches.com or Collectivehorology.com, and via Zenith Boutiques from December 19th 2024

2024 has been a celebratory year for A. Lange & Söhne. The Saxony brand has celebrated two birthdays this year, the first being the 25th Anniversary of the Datograph, which was showcased at Watches & Wonders this year with the stunning Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen and the Datograph Up/Down, but the second, and maybe the most important was the 30th Anniversary of the Lange 1, the first modern watch the brand created after being brought back to life.

RELATED READING: Happy 30th Birthday to A. Lange & Söhne’s Lange 1!

So, it is safe to say that the Lange 1 is a special piece when it comes to A. Lange & Söhne, and when we interviewed A. Lange & Söhne’s Asia Pacific Managing Director, Nicolas Gong, a couple of months ago, he had this to say about the Lange 1, and I think he summed it up perfectly:

“It’s the first watch that we launched and part of the first collection we launched. For me, it was a striking launch because basically A. Lange & Söhne disappeared for 40 years and up to that point, no one had seen anything contemporary from the brand, so it’s the start of contemporary watchmaking for us. It was really unique at the time because if you look through the Lange 1, you have the outside state, which is inspired by the 5-minute clock (talking about the large date window), and you have all the details behind the watch, meaning the movements. You have the hand polishing, you have the three-quarter plates, a signature of German watchmaking and A. Lange & Söhne. It’s everything related to the Lange history.”

First Impressions

A. Lange & Söhne has been somewhat of an underappreciated brand in my view, and only recently has started getting the attention it rightly deserves. In a world where Swiss watches reign supreme and the Geneva Seal is coveted, the way A. Lange & Söhne creates, crafts, and finishes their watches is sublime. What is also astounding is that even though the brand was resurrected in 1990, and the first watch not being released until 1994, in that time, A. Lange & Söhne have been able to bring back the craftsmanship Ferdinand Adolph Lange started back in 1845, and over the past 30 years, have created 73 in-house movements, all with impeccable finishing I might add.

When it comes to a beautiful dressier piece, then I can think of no better brand than A. Lange & Söhne to put on the wrist, and if you’re going to have such a nice piece, then why not add in a complication or so just to top it off? Enter the Lange 1 Time Zone. Now I can’t stress enough how nice these pieces are on the wrist, and it is one of those things that you need to try for yourself. The weight of the watch, combining the white gold case and German silver in the movement and dial has a sort of luxuriousness about it. The leather strap compliments the piece beautifully, and while it is 42mm, A. Lange & Söhne has been able to pack all the functionality of this piece into a case that is less than 11mm thick. Its clever design and engineering, both something the Germans are renowned for.

The Design

The design of the Lange 1 is unmistakable. The offset main dial, smaller sub-dial, and large panorama date are all hallmarks of the brand, as are the smooth polished case and welded lugs. In the case of the Lange 1 Time Zone, these hallmarks are all there, just more. A. Lange & Söhne have cleverly added more functionality to the watch and showcased this on the dial with ease.

You still have the asymmetrical dial design, with the man time zone centre left, and the small seconds have been moved from the main sub-dial normally at 4 o’clock down to the bottom of the main dial. In its place is the second time zone with a day/night indicator at 4:30 allowing you to see at a glance a secondary time, which, depending on your destination country, can be set by the pusher at 8 o’clock. Pushing this allows you to cycle through the world time disc on the outer dial, which is aligned to the white gold arrow hand with the red marker between the 4 and 6 on the sub-dial. If the marker is red, it indicates that the city has daylight savings time, if it is not, then the city doesn’t observe this. While this is useful, you still need to set the time based on this, as there is no way the watch is able to adjust for the 1 hour time difference at certain times of the year. It’s one issue with 99.9% of all mechanical world timers, all but the Bovet Recital 28 Prowess 1 which just won the GPHG Mechanical Exception Prize, being the first mechanical watch to solve the daylight saving time zone issue automatically.

The Lange 1 Time Zone also indicates the day/night with the small blue rings on the inner of the main and second time-zone dials, which you can see in the image above. When the hour hand is in this zone, it means the time is between the hours of 6pm and 6am, thus indicating night. In the above image, the main time would be 1:50pm in the afternoon, and the second time zone would be 6:50pm in the evening.

RELATED READING: The Legacy Of Iconic Watch Designs: A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

On the outer part of the dial on the right is the power reserve indicator, showing how much of the 72-hour power reserve you have left. AUF = full, and AB = empty, (this isn’t the literal translation from German to English, it’s more to explain the points on the scale), so it’s a handy function for those who may not wear this piece each day, and like all Lange 1 models, the large outsized date at 1:30. Now I love the look of the outsized date, but the one thing that has always bugged me about it is the start of the month, specifically between the 1st and the 9th of the month. When the date is in double digits, I.e. 10th onwards, it looks great, it’s balanced. But between the 1st and the 9th of the month, only the numeral in the right window appears with the left window empty, and thus, looks unbalanced. Personally, I’d love to see the single-digit dates represented as “01”, “02”, “03” etc to keep the consistency with the other 66% of the time.

A. Lange & Söhne has designed the case with 18-carat white gold (in this model specifically) and has the lustre you just don’t get with steel. The case is a combination of high polish on the bezel, lugs and underside of the case, and the middle section is brushed, which gives it more texture and alleviates some of those pesky surface swirls you get with polished white gold. As Lange opts to do most things the traditional way, the case and lugs are separate, with the lugs being welded onto the case, and then hand-finished to create a clear definition between them. What always amazes me is how sharp the artisans can get the join, with almost no signs of the welding apparent, and a nice clean finish that sightly angles or steps in at the top of the lug where it joins into the case.

How It Wears

The 42mm, well, 41.9mm to be specific, sized case may seem a little large for some, as A. Lange & Söhne have used the Grand Lange case for the Time Zone, but the proportions for me seem pretty spot on for a watch like this. You need the dial real estate to show the numerous functions clearly, which there is plenty of here, but that being said, the domed bezel helps to effectively slim, or shrink the watch down visually across the wrist.

With a lug-to-lug of just under 50mm, the Lange 1 Time Zone does feel a little broad across the wrist, but it’s not overly so thanks to the broader than normal 22mm lug width of the Grand Lange case. This actually gives the watch a better proportion, and as you can see below, the lugs in combination with the 41.9mm case still has plenty of wrist on either side.

At just 10.9mm thick, this is not a thick watch, especially when you consider that A. Lange & Söhne have packed in a dual time zone, geographic or world time, power reserve, small seconds indicator and an outsized date into the piece along with a display case back. Even so, the Lange 1 Time Zone wears slightly thinner on the wrist thanks to the stepped case back, meaning the watch sits into the wrist a little, and there is less side case visible. The domed bezel also helps to thin it out in addition to making it seem a little smaller in diameter thanks to the curvature of it.

In terms of style, Lange 1’s are not sports watches. For me, they sit in the dress watch realm, but I’ll caveat this by saying they are technically not dress watches by definition. They are however, a good blend of traditional style meets modern tastes, a watch that can be dressed up or down depending on what you’re wearing on the day. Would I wear this to a kids sports match on the weekend? Probably not. Would I wear it on the weekend out to lunch or afternoon drinks? Definitely! I feel shorts and a T-shirt would be a stretch, but a nice pair of jeans and a polo shirt would be elevated by the Lange 1 Time Zone, equally, a suit would perfect the look also, hence my choice of business casual for the photoshoot here. I may have gone too Don Johnson with the cream-on-white look, but it worked nonetheless.

Taking the above comments into account, I would say this: The Lange 1 Time Zone is probably not an everyday watch for most people. Yes, it is versatile enough to be worn with different outfits for different occasions, but don’t forget this is a white gold watch, and as such, needs to be treated with respect. By this I mean you can’t just do your everyday activities with this watch and expect it to hold up over time. Gold is soft remember, and scratches easily, so you would need to care for it as such. If you’re a corporate type in a suit and in the office, you could get away with this piece on your wrist each day. However, if you’re like me and are not in such a job, and you’re out and about, doing different things for work or otherwise; kids pick-ups, photoshoots etc, then this is more of a special piece that would come out when the need calls for it.

RELATED READING: Getting To Know A. Lange & Söhne Up Close In Sydney – Photo Report

The Movement

This is the second generation Time Zone, which has now been around for four years, originally coming out in 2020. Inside this beats the manufacture calibre L141.1. At its core, you have a 72-hour power reserve which comes from the energy stored in two barrels in the manual winding movement. It beats at 3Hz or 21,600 VpH, which is not on the high side compared to other modern watches these days, but I would say that this helps extend the power reserve out of the two barrels, meaning the barrels can effectively be smaller, allowing room in the movement for all the other complications.

The movement itself is a work of art, and when it comes to finishing, very few are at the level that A. Lange & Söhne are at. One of the distinct hallmarks of the Lange 1 is the three-quarter bridge, made of German Silver that covers the barrels and drive train. Now don’t be fooled, German Silver isn’t actual silver, it is a Nickel/Copper/Zinc alloy that has a warm hue, and while it’s highly corrosion resistant, it can still tarnish and change colour over time. This is one reason why the watchmakers at A. Lange & Söhne have to be highly trained and no bare fingertip can touch the German Silver components otherwise that small area can oxidise from the oils in the skin and change colour at a greater rate.

Delving a little deeper into the movement, every surface is finished, and I mean finished! All of the edges are bevelled and polished, even the service hatch in the middle of the main bridge has hand-polished bevelling. The use of both blue-fired screws and black-polished screws is evident and showcases Lange’s desire to incorporate different finishes to create an overall aesthetic. Even the rubies are set into gold chaton cups, surrounded by three blue-fired screws, which is reminiscent of historic German pocket watches, as is the rest of the movement.

I’d add as a last point on the movement, A. Lange & Söhne is famous for having to assemble, disassemble and then re-assemble their movements once fully finished to ensure both accuracy and quality. The watches are also tested in 5 positions once cased, so you can be sure that not only are you getting an impeccably finished movement, but it’s also robust and accurate as well!

Final Thoughts

All good things must come to an end, and this sums up my time with the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone. When you’ve worn a piece like this for a while, it’s hard to give back. I mentioned at the start of the article that a beautifully designed precious metal piece on the wrist is like no other and you need to try it on to see what I really mean. The combination of the gold weight mixed with the finish of the watch, and a very stylish alligator strap makes you feel like a million dollars, and somehow, just that little more sophisticated.

While no watch is without its flaws, every now and then some pieces come close, and for me personally, the Lange 1 Time Zone is one of these watches. Yes, it has aspects that I don’t LOVE, but at the same time, none of these are deal breakers and to be honest, I’ve had to nitpick here. With A. Lange & Söhne only making around 5,000 watches in total a year, and with their strict adherence to quality and craftsmanship, not to mention their ability to develop so many in-house movements, I would expect their pieces to be mostly flawless, and thankfully, this has been my experience here.

I’ve always looked at Lange 1’s as the epitome of class, and should a more dressy piece find its way into my collection, it would be hard to go past a Lange 1 of any variant. The Time Zone takes it up another notch with the additional functionality, and when you’re travelling overseas several times a year, it would come in very handy. Will I be seeing one on my wrist as the proud owner any time soon? I’ll see if I win that Powerball jackpot this week and tell you. But if not, then it’s a grail addition for sure, another one added to the list of watches I need to own in my lifetime.

Reference: 136.029 / LSLS1363AG

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 41.9mm, 49.8mm lug-to-lug & 10.9mm thick
• Case Material: Brushed and polished 18k White gold
• Case back: Brushed and polished 18k White Gold with sapphire crystal display
• Dial: Black galvanised Sterling Silver with two-time zone displays, world time function, power reserve indicator, outsized date and day/night indicators, white gold hands and indices
• Crystal: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment
• Water resistance: 30m / 3bar
• Movement: Calibre L141.1 hand-wound movement beating at 3Hz / 21,600 VpH and pivoting on 33 jewels
• Power reserve: 72 Hours
• Strap: Brown sustainably sourced alligator leather strap with double folding 18k white gold clasp

Australian Recommended Retail Price: $99,000 AUD

Availability: Available now from A. Lange & Söhne in Martin Place, Sydney. Enquire online at Alange-soehne.com

Image Gallery

In 2021, Hublot welcomed World #1 tennis star, Novak Djokovic into the fold, and since then, has been seen sporting many of Hublot’s pieces, such as the Big Bang Meca-10 and Big Bang Unico. It was a seemly great fit for the brand, as well as Novak himself. Both have carved their own path in their respective fields, and both are not without some controversy, but most importantly, both have dared to be different and through this created success. So it was only a matter of time before Hublot and Novak Djokovic put their heads together to create a collaboration fitting of the 24x Grand Slam winner.

The result is the new Hublot Big Bang Unico x Novak Djokovic. A 42mm Big Bang Unico, but it’s not just any old Unico, nor is it a piece where they have used a signature or colourway. Hublot, always a brand to try something new has created the lightest Big Bang Unico ever, and a watch that not only has performance at its heart, but sustainability as well.

Weighing a mere 49.5 grams on the elastic strap, the Hublot Big Bang Unico x Novak Djokovic is lighter than a tennis ball, a feat that has been achieved through several innovations that talk to the above – performance and sustainability. The watch is made from a composite that comes from 25 HEAD racquets (Novak’s racquet of choice), as well as 17 dark blue and 15 light blue Lacoste polos used by Djokovic during his 2023 season, the year in which he broke the records by winning his 24th Grand Slam singles title – edging out both Rafael Nadal (22 Grand Slams) and Roger Federer (20 Grand Slams) and equalling Margret Court’s record.

The composite material of which the case and bezel are made is an Epoxy resin, which is reinforced with quartz powder and glass veil that has been fused with recycled racquets and shirts. The result is a case that is speckled with fragments of light & dark blue textiles and black carbon, which creates this blue camouflage effect.

The weight-saving measures don’t stop there, however. Hublot has designed the crown and pushers out of aluminium as well, as has the case sides and caseback. Rather than traditional sapphire crystal, Hublot has chosen to use ultra-tough Gorilla Glass, similar to that found on the new iPhones. It’s highly durable while being 2x lighter than sapphire.

The movement is Hublot’s Unico HUB1280 movement but with a small (or rather large) change. In order to make the watch super light, the Unico movement has been altered, and instead of the standard materials, Hublot has swapped these out for aluminium, reducing the weight of the movement by 27%. Not only this but due to the lightness of the watch and the way it is made, this is a piece that you can strap on and play tennis in. The aluminium in the movement is anodised in light blue or grey to echo the camouflage colour scheme and is visible through the display caseback.

The watch is one for not just fans of Hublot but of Novak Djokovic and tennis in general, with many nods to the player and the game. As mentioned, the start/stop pusher at 4 o’clock is tennis ball yellow, and on the bezel, Hublot has designed the screws to be reminiscent of tennis balls, now rounded with the curved lines of the ball instead of the traditional H screws. The counterbalance on the chronograph second hand is Novak’s logo and the the watch is limited to just 100 pieces worldwide.

The watch keeps the same dimensions as a conventional Big Bang Unico, 42mm diameter and 14.5mm thick, and so on the wrist, it wears pretty much the same as your standard, albeit it is much, much lighter. I mentioned that on the elastic strap, this watch is lighter than a tennis ball, at only 49.5gms, but should you not want to put this on the elastic strap, Hublot also includes three other straps –  a velcro strap as pictured here, making the watch a total of 54gm, a tennis wristband increasing it to just 65gms, or on the standard Hublot rubber strap and titanium clasp making it the heaviest version at 75gms. Whatever you choose to pair it with, you’re sure to not feel much difference!

Final Thoughts

The release of the Hublot Big Bang Unico x Novak Djokovic showcases what Hublot does best – meaningful collaborations with it’s ambassadors that go far beyond the colour changes, logo additions and caseback motifs. Hublot has a way of teaming up with collaborators and infusing as much of them into the watch as Hublot itself. Just look at the Big Bang Unico Nespresso collaboration with recycled coffee pods and coffee beans, or the Classic Fusion Orlinski that allowed Richard Orlinski to imagine what a Hublot would be if designed by him. Now, teaming up with arguably the best tennis player in the world, a lightweight, fit-for-purpose Big Bang Unico made from actual items from Novak himself, and that can be worn whilst playing. Will we see Novak play with this piece on the wrist? Only he will answer that in time, but the fact is, it can be!

Trying this on for the first time, I can say without question that it is a great piece that will make many, well, 90 collectors happy (Novak bought the first 10 for his support team!), and wears exactly as it should – light, very little movement on the wrist and is just an overall great looking watch. For those of you out there who are looking for something a little different and has some real sporting credibility, the Big Bang Unico x Novak Djokovic is a piece that you should consider adding to your collection!

Reference: 441.QKB.5120.NR.DJO24 – limited to 100 pieces

Specification:

• Case: 42mm x 14.5mm thick
• Case Material: Composite epoxy resin made from 25 recycled HEAD tennis racquets & 17 dark blue and 15 light blue Lacoste polos
• Dial: Matte sky blue open-worked dial with white luminescent indexes and
• Crystal: Gorilla Glass
• Movement: In-house HUB1280 Automatic calibre with a flyback chronograph movement. Beating at 28,800 VpH / 4Hz and pivoting on 43 Jewels
• Case-Back: Polished Sky Blue Anodizing Aluminium with Gorilla Glass inset
• Water resistance: 100 metres / 10ATM
• Power reserve: 72 hours
• Straps: First strap – tennis wristband, second strap – blue elastic, third strap – blue velcro fastener fabric & fourth strap – white rubber strap 
• Buckles: Polished Blue Aluminium Sport buckle for the velcro strap, & a Titanium Deployant Buckle for the rubber strap.

Australian Recommended Retail Price: A$78,700

Availability: Available through Hublot Boutiques, and online at Hublot.com

TAG Heuer and Formula 1 seem to be inextricably linked, not surprising given the Swiss brand’s history with motorsport all the way back to the 1960s. This link is further solidified with their watches – one carrying the famed sport’s namesake in the TAG Heuer Formula 1, the other with the Monaco, one of the most iconic F1 races, gaining fame thanks to Steve McQueen wearing the piece in his 1971 film, Le Mans. Yes, it wasn’t F1, but a screen legend wearing a sports watch prominently on the wrist in a film about another iconic motorsport event helped to put the Monaco front and centre. While the materials and designs these days a lot more modern, the classic Monaco DNA is still there and instantly recognisable.

So it comes as no surprise that TAG Heuer would drop their latest Monaco just ahead of the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, and this time it’s a hot pink skeleton version, emulating the colours of the famous Glitter Strip! Now normally we would be writing up an article about the release of the new piece, but this time, we had the opportunity to review the watch ahead of its release, and what’s a better way to introduce you to the new piece than a review on all the ins and outs of the new TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton in pink?!

First Impressions

The TAG Heuer Monaco is one of the several iconic pieces in the TAG Heuer stable, and funnily enough, it’s the one piece that I was yet to actually review properly and have on the wrist for an extended period of time. Needless to say, I was quite looking forward to wearing a Monaco for a week or so and getting to spend some quality time with it. The bonus? It was the new black DLC titanium model with a pink skeletonised dial, yet to be released.

Now, I’m not one to love a pink watch, or red for that matter, the colour doesn’t seem to work all that well on me. But, the pink on the new Monaco really stands out against the stark black and for some reason, I was liking it. What helped it in my eyes was the pink isn’t in your face as it is done in the same way the turquoise and blue variants have been done with just enough colour on the black skeleton dial to give it some colour and depth.

I’ll say at the outset, I’ve never been a big fan of square-shaped watches. I appreciate them for what they are, but I’ve never really warmed to them all that much – probably because I’ve not worn them too often and my association of them with dressier timepieces. Plus, familiarity often helps, so if you’re not used to wearing something specific, you’ll probably not love it at first. Call it a comfort zone thing. Nonetheless, I wanted to give this piece a chance and hoped that with a longer period of time, I’d get used to the square shape on my wrist.

The Design

The design of the new TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Pink is similar to that of previously released skeleton models, from the original trio released last year prior to the Monaco F1 Grand Prix, to the Monaco Dark Blue released in May. The case has been made from grade 2 titanium, and coated in a black DLC to give the watch that stealth look, which admittedly looks great on the newer Monaco models. The pink dial however really hits home here and stands out quite a lot, and for this reason, you’re drawn into it.

RELATED READING: TAG Heuer Unveils Three Brand New Monacos Ahead Of The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix

The dial is really the focal point of this watch. I mean, it’s pink, you can’t miss it, but in a good way. Given that this is a watch that was designed with the Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix in mind, the pink makes sense. But if you put that aside, it is still a good looking piece that stands out. TAG Heuer has done the two subdials and their hands in pink, as well as the hour indicators on the dial and chronograph seconds hand, which is done in a pink lacquer.

The skeletonisation has been done well, showing the movement and its elements beneath the surface, along with the date disc running along the outside of the dial. The bridges are all sandblasted, and at the top of the dial sitting over the barrel at 12 o’clock is the TAG Heuer Monaco logo finished in rhodium plating.

Like its predecessors, the new Monaco is comprised of a grade 2 titanium case, which has been given a black DLC treatment to give it a stealth look and enhance the durability of the piece. The titanium and black DLC is sandblasted as well, making sure this is a sports piece through and through. This treatment has been given to the crown and chronograph pushers as well so you have a seamless blacked-out look for the entire case, and it works!

The one aspect of the Monaco that I loved, and originally didn’t think I would was the faceted square crystal. This does a couple of things for the watch. The first is the raised crystal, which allows the watch case to be thinner, giving the movement, dial, and hands more room inside without adding extra depth to the case dimensions. The second is that this helps aid the watch’s overall appearance, with fewer flat surface areas to draw your eye to. The third is, well, it just looks super cool and not something that you see every day on a watch.

How It Wears

This is where the rubber hit the road for me, the wearing experience. As I mentioned, not having had the chance to take out a Monaco before and wear it over a longer period of time was an injustice that I was looking forward to rectifying. The first thing that I immediately noticed was the weight or lack of it. The grade 2 titanium means the watch is light to start with, and then adding to this, you have skeletonised elements on the dial and the watch is paired with a rubber and leather combination strap. So as a sports watch, and a watch that evokes the vibe of F1 where weight is paramount, it ticks this box very well.

I really wanted to talk about the size of the TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph. On the surface, it does looks like a chunky watch. Square sports watches often do as they take up more wrist space than a round watch does, but being square, the all-important lug-to-lug dimensions are often shorter. In the Monaco’s case, this is true. With a case dimension of 39mm in diameter, a lug-to-lug of 47.4mm and a thickness of 15.2mm, the Monaco isn’t large in diameter, but a 39mm square watch will traditionally wear more like a 41mm piece. However, with small lugs, they, and the strap don’t protrude much at all, so across the wrist, you still have plenty of space left. As a result, the watch appears proportionate on my wrist, which is 17.5cm in circumference.

Initially, when I first looked at the Monaco, the 15.2mm thickness had me a little worried, given the 39mm diameter. Would it feel too thick on the wrist? The short answer is no, not really. As I’ve said many times before, measurements on paper can deceive and it all comes down to how the watch is designed. If you have too much flat surface area on the case and sides, a watch will look thicker and wear bigger. Break these areas up with bevelling, rounder case shapes, stepped sides, a multi-faceted bezel etc, and all of a sudden, the watch won’t appear as thick. Where the new TAG Heuer Monaco alleviates this feeling of a thicker watch is the crystal, which accounts for about 2mm of the 15.2mm, and blends into the background almost when looking at the watch. The case is also angled on the top and bottom, so the side of the case doesn’t have as much flat surface area as if it was just a full block of titanium. Couple these factors with an all-black watch that is quite light, and your perception of the watch changes when wearing it. It just doesn’t feel thick at all.

TAG Heuer has equipped the new Monaco Chronograph Skeleton Pink with a combination rubber and leather strap. The leather on the top side is done in a checkerboard weave pattern and set into the rubber, giving the strap some texture and detail, which I really like and appreciate. The underside is rubber so it protects the strap from unwanted sweat and moisture, but also makes the strap comfortable to wear. The addition of the titanium folding clasp means you can easily do up or undo the clasp, plus it has the clamp style fastener so you can un-clamp it, and slide the clasp up and down the strap to get the perfect fit and then push the clamp back down to secure it.

The Movement

Like all modern TAG Heuer Chronographs that are at the higher end, the new Monaco Pink has the calibre Heuer 02 TH20-00 inside. We’ve written about this movement quite extensively in the last couple of years as it is TAG Heuer’s in-house developed movement under the guidance of Carole Forestier-Kasapi. You will find this movement now in many of TAG Heuer’s chronographs which are outside the standard. The new Glassbox Carrera, Carrera Extreme Sports, and the Monaco Skeletons and limited edition pieces as examples.

With an 80-hour power reserve off a single barrel, and a column wheel and vertical clutch mechanism, the operation of the chronograph is fairly smooth as it should be. The pushers have the right amount of resistance with very little lag thanks to the column wheel, and the way the pushers are designed is easy to use as the top of the pusher is angled to suit the angle of your finger when using it. The same goes with the reset pusher at 4 o’clock.

Now while the TH20-00 movement isn’t COSC (Yet!), the accuracy of it is very good. In this particular case, I measured the accuracy over a 48-hour period which included time on my wrist and off my wrist. Over that period, the watch lost about 3 seconds a day, which is very acceptable in my book. The crown is a pull-out crown, not screwed, and I would love to see this as a screw-down crown given the sporty nature of the piece. No, it’s not a dive watch, it’s a racing chronograph, but it is a sports watch with 100m water resistance, and for me, it’s that additional safety knowing it can’t come out accidentally when wet.

Final Thoughts

The TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton in pink is a prime example of taking your time in order to get to know a watch and if it’s right for you. At first, I wasn’t sold on the pink, a mostly black watch or a square watch. But as the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover, or in this instance, a watch at first glance. The pink took me some time to get used to, but I actually grew to really like it as it is such a contrast to the rest of the watch and in all honesty, made this a little more wearable for me as I tend to shy away from all black watches. It breaks the black up, and stands out, so I’d say that if you’re not a pink person, give it a try!

The case could be a little slimmer, maybe shaving off a couple of millimetres. It does feel slightly thick on the wrist when you first put it on, but as I explained, the case design, raised and faceted sapphire crystal and lightness of the watch makes it feel less so once you’ve had it on the wrist for a little while. On that note, I found it super easy just to pick it up, throw on my wrist, and go to the point where for me it could be a daily watch.

I didn’t think I’d love wearing a square watch as in general I don’t normally go for them, but this has given me a new appreciation for them, and should I buy a square piece, then the iconic TAG Heuer Monaco would be a contender for sure. Am I 100% sold on a square watch? Not yet, but I’m halfway there! The other thing the Monaco did for me over the week was also my non-love of black, stealth watches. This piece has now got me considering something a little more stealthy, and something in the titanium or ceramic world especially given the lightness and ease of wearing.

At A$16,300, the Monaco Skeleton in pink is at the same price point as the other black DLC Monaco Skeleton pieces in TAG Heuer’s catalogue. While I have heard some pushback on the price in wider watch circles, the reality is all watches are now more expensive than they were 2,3, 4 years ago, and when you look around at other watches with an in-house movement, titanium, skeletonised and a chronograph, there are not a lot of other options on the market, especially with the same level of iconic history the TAG Heuer Monaco has.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the piece and got quite used to looking down and seeing that pop of pink against the black. I also got quite accustomed to the lightness as well, so putting on a steel watch after felt a little foreign and heavy I must admit. We always say at Watch Advice that there is no such thing as the perfect watch, only perfect for the individual, and the Monaco is not perfect. BUT, I grew fond of it and was one of the few pieces I’ve had for review this year that I did not want to give back, and that sentiment and feeling right there tells me something…

Reference: CBL218B.FT6236

Specifications:

• Size: 39mm, 47.4mm lug to lug & 15.2mm thick
• Case Material: Titanium grade 2 sandblasted black DLC
• Case back: Grade 2 Titanium with sapphire crystal case back
• Dial: Pink and black sandblasted dial, Rhodium plated TAG HEUER applied logo, 6 o’clock date with blue Super-LumiNova®, pink indexes with blue Super-LumiNova® and pink lacquered hands on the chronograph seconds, minute and hour counters
• Crystal: Beveled, box sapphire crystal
• Water resistance: 100m / 10bar
• Movement: Calibre HEUER 02 TH20-00 Automatic Column Wheel Chronograph
• Power reserve: 80 Hours
• Strap: Embossed black calfskin & rubber strap. Sandblasted titanium grade 2 folding clasp with double safety pushbuttons: TAG Heuer shield

Australian Recommended Retail Price: $16,300 AUD

Availability: Available now from all TAG Heuer Boutiques and online at tagheuer.com

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