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New Blancpain boutique on 5th Avenue
Earlier this month Blancpain opened a new flagship boutique on 5th Avenue. While it is not their first boutique in New York City — they previously operated a boutique at 781 Madison Avenue — it is the biggest on US soil. At 1722 square feet, it is much more spacious than their previous 781 Madison…
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Blancpain Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback Ocean Commitment
Last week, Blancpain introduced the Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback Ocean Commitment limited edition timepiece, which has a portion of the sales from each watch going to support oceanic environmental causes. This special Bathyscape Chronograph comes in a 43.6 mm diameter grey satin-brushed ceramic case. The crown and pushers are ceramic as well. The blue sunburst finish…
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The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication
The highlight at Audemars Piguet during SIHH was the Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication — which features minute repeater, split-second chronograph and perpetual calendar complications. To exemplify their know-how in the area of highly complicated timepieces, AP exhibited 16 Grand Complication pieces from their museum in Le Brassus (pictured below). AP chose to make a…
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Pre-Baselworld 2015: Blancpain Villeret Grande Date
Blancpain has just released a preview of one of the timepieces they will debut at the 2015 Baselworld trade show in March. The Blancpain Villeret Grande Date, fits within Blancpain’s classical Villeret collection, and is being offered for the first time with a grand date function. This refers to the large date display (at 6…
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Hands-On with Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback Ocean Commitment
At Baselworld, last week, we got a hands-on look at the limited edition Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback Ocean Commitment, which we originally featured HERE. As we mentioned before, a portion of the sales from each watch going to support oceanic environmental causes. Also, each Ocean Commitment Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback will be individually numbered. In addition, each…
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Alpina Celebrates 130th Anniversary in Grand Cayman Islands
Alpina Extreme Diver 300 Automatic Orange Alpina brand ambassador William Baldwin accompanied the CEO of Alpina and the President of Alpina USA — along with ProfessionalWatches — and a number of other guests of the brand, to the Grand Cayman islands in October to celebrate the 130th Anniversary of Alpina. During our trip, we stayed…
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Blancpain les Métiers d’Art Shakudō
On one end of its product spectrum Blancpain makes sports watches, like the Bathyscaphe Chronograph we showed you last month, on the other end of the spectrum is the classical Villeret collection. Both are made to very high standards and powered by movements designed and manufactured in the Vallée de Joux. And while PROFESSIONAL WATCHES…
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Blancpain Villeret Quantième Annuel GMT Hands-On
Previously only offered in precious metal, the Blancpain Villeret Quantième Annuel GMT is now available in stainless steel. The new steel model measures 40 mm x 11.04 mm, which are the same dimensions as before. The case is fully polished, along with the crown, which features the company logo engraved in relief. Instead of an…
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Antiquorum Auction New York – September 18th
We previewed the 459 lots that will be auctioned at Antiquorum New York this Wednesday (September 18th, 2013). Of the hundreds of timepieces for sale, our three most wanted are the: AP Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin, Patek Philippe Platinum Perpetual Calendar and Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox in Steel. Click below for a wristshot and description for each…
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Audemars Piguet building contemporary museum in Le Brassus
Over the summer Audemars Piguet announced that is had commissioned Danish firm BIG to expand the headquarters (located in Le Brassus) by adding a spiral building to the rear of the original Audemars Piguet family home (and workshops), which currently houses the brand’s museum. Audemars Piguet opened the original museum in 1992 and expanded it…
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Two-Tone Selfwinding Royal Oak
The modern Royal Oak collection (non-Jumbo) is 41 mm in diameter, and is currently available steel or 18K gold. For 2015, it is now available in a two-tone version the consists of a steel case, bracelet and caseback – with an 18K pink bezel, hands, indices and bracelet plots. This is not the first two-tone…
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Introducing the Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic “Sunstar”
Pre-Basleworld 2014 With Baselworld 2014 just around the corner, watch brands are previewing some of their new timepieces. Today, Swiss watchmaker Alpina, has released images and details on a new addition to the Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic collection called the Sunstar which is a reference to its grey “sunray” dial finishing. The new Startimer has…