Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

Every year, the world’s watch brands unveil the vast majority of their new pieces at either the SIHH watch salon in Geneva in January or at the huge Baselworld trade fair in March. Occasionally, however, some brands debut a new model, or even an entirely new collection, later in the year, independently of the two major fairs. And in recent years, the venue several of these brands have chosen is WatchTime New York, the two-day collectors’ event hosted annually by WatchTime Magazine at Manhattan’s posh Gotham Hall. This year’s WTNY was the biggest ever, with 30 sponsoring brands and nearly 1,200 guests. Here are five new releases from five brands that you didn’t see at SIHH or Baselworld.

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

Longines Avigation Bigeye

A modern re-issue of a chronograph that Longines produced in the 1930s, the Avigation BigEye (“Avigation” is an amalgam of “aviation” and “navigation,” which are the two functions the original A Lange And Sohne Watches For Sale was engineered to serve) is distinguished by its extra-legible, semi-glossy black dial with big luminous Arabic numerals and extra-large 30-minute chrono counter at 3 o’clock (presumably, the “big eye” referred to in the model name). The dial, protected under a domed sapphire crystal with several layers of AR-coating, also has a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and a sub-dial for running seconds at 9 o’clock. The 41mm stainless steel case is water-resistant to 30m and features two prominent chronograph pushers for easy handling, even for a pilot wearing gloves.

In response to getting the message in the people who they want to have more value from their watches, the business has simply gone out and started to produce less expensive watches. This is logical, but it misconstrues the issue. The reason is that they are just making lower-priced watches that frequently simply suck. Several have potential, but cost-cutting schemes in both construction and materials are glaringly obvious in watches out of all but the most detail-obsessed brands. Let me clarify what the business seems to have misunderstood — people didn’t request cheaper watches. People asked for more watches worth what they cost. There’s a major difference.Why do business decision-makers believe that a $10,000 watch which feels just like a $5,000 watch will have any greater difficulty in being marketed than a $4,000 watch that feels like a $1,000 watch? The issue on the cost-cutting side of this industry is that watches don’t feel as though they are worth what brands are charging for them — and I am not even going to bring up the gray market within this discussion. When folks complain of “greed” and “stupidity” from the watch business — what they are actually referring to is making watches which no one would like to buy for the purchase price. There are already legions upon legion of inexpensive watches on the market which connoisseurs would never be interested in. Why, then, do “prestigious” watch brands appear intent on following this model?There is not even a precedent with this strategy. Their only real argument in defense of this practice of selling cheap watches for a whole lot of cash is that they can attempt to compensate for it in branding and marketing (such as celebrity ambassadors, etc.). Once more, this is a very clear sign of somebody who does not know how to appraise a fantastic watch, making decisions about making watches. Rolex, for instance, does counter the market with marketing messages, but they also happen to deliver an industry-leading product concerning overall quality for the money. Why, then, would anybody purchase a non-Rolex opinion of reduced inherent quality for the exact same or even more income? Other than “they need something different,” I’ve yet to hear a good answer to this.Even though fresh models (shown to press) from several watch brands were restricted this season, there are some standout versions which defy the norm and offer excellent artistic craftsmanship or attractive layouts and approachable value propositions. No matter what your price range is, there is something new for you to be excited about from SIHH 2017. Especially at the lower-end (in terms of cost), there’s actually something new to report on from SIHH, although the show is more commonly associated with releasing items of incredible beauty and sophistication, but typically at costs just the planet’s elite may try to afford.

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

Powering the watch, albeit hidden behind the engraved caseback, is Caliber L688, an ETA A08.L01 modified exclusively for use by Longines. The self-winding movement has a 54-hour power reserve and column-wheel chronograph control. A brown calf leather strap with contrast stitching completes the vintage-aviator look.

Some Lange watches put me in real pain, I need them so much. If someone has copyrighted that already, have his attorney contact mine. Exactly because it’s a heavy weight horological muscle-flexer of a watch, a A. Lange And Sohne Watches Price List that’s so overdone, its doping has enabled but a couple of small sections in the Lange DNA to survive such intense treatment. In fact, we’ve observed the combination of a round instance, perpetual calendar and moon phase in sub-dials, along with a chronograph many times earlier. The Tourbograph even reveals some skin (lovely skin, in fact) at 6 o’clock to allow you to know not just using its font selection and ever-so-slightly unique lugs that it is a Lange.I fully understand the value and the awe-inspiring goodness in the bespoke, not-copied-from-anyone-else engineering that’s under the hood of the Tourbograph Perpetual, but we are not speaking about an uncased motion here, but a complete watch. On this note, anyone who doesn’t tingle in the sight of this movement should seek medical attention, quick! To have a more positive approach to what unquestionably is a watchmaking masterpiece, we must check at the myriads of nice details the Tourbograph offers.
Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events
The Saxonia collection represents entry level pricing for A. Lange & Söhne, and there are two versions of the Saxonia, one in white gold and the other in pink stone. By comparison, the 37mm guys’s Saxonia is priced at $14,800, (together with all the Caliber L093.1) as well as the 40mm at $24,500. But neither of these have the tiny moments or mother-of-pearl dial. Both the tiny Lange 1 Moon Phase and Saxonia cater to different sub-markets from the women watch marketplace and Lange has presented some genuinely fantastic pieces.The Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2017 has become concluded, and the aBlogtoWatch team is predictably exhausted. We tried something new this year — a video log (vlog) show — to help capture what it’s like to be at the show. Combining high enthusiasm and energy-draining hours, we’re glad people enjoyed that very intimate look behind the scenes and what it’s like to attend the “world’s most prestigious” high-end watch commerce show.In my 9th year attending SIHH (itself in its 27th year) I would like to once again recap the general sentiment of this series in addition to point out key highlights which we believe the overall watch-loving public should be excited about in 2017. Before we reach our best 11 watches of SIHH 2017, I’d like to learn more about the general watch and luxury industry atmosphere so that people get a clearer idea of why particular products are being created — and also for whom.It was a particularly cold and blustery week at Geneva, Switzerland, during SIHH 2017. Our accommodations near Lake Geneva offered a first-rate view of exactly what struck me as a suitable metaphor for the industry’s present circumstance. High winds blew over the water inducing not just surfable waves (if you’ve got an Iceman-like tolerance for cold) but also spilling onto the adjoining walking trails that from the spring and summer result in popular walking paths for fans and languishers alike. The seas and menacing river waves seemed a fitting metaphor for the luxury watch industry that is continuing to experience a storm.

A. Lange & Söhne Blue Dials

Germany’s A. Lange & Söhne brought to the U.S. for the first time a quartet of new, blue-dialed timepieces from four of the brand’s most coveted collections. The deep “Prussian blue” dials adorn new versions of the Lange 1, Lange 1 Daymatic, Saxonia, and Saxonia Automatic. All four models are in white gold cases and contain manufacture movements, adorned with polished hands and rhodiumed gold appliqués that provide a stark and pleasing contrast with the azure dials, all made from solid silver. All are mounted on dark-blue alligator straps with solid white-gold buckles.

The Lange 1, widely regarded as the flagship of the Saxon brand’s collection, has a 38.5mm case and is equipped with the manually-winding Caliber L121.1, which powers the hours, minutes and subsidiary seconds indication as well as an indicator for the watch’s 72 hour power reserve and the model’s hallmark “outsize” date.

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

The Lange 1 DayMatic is the self-winding, slightly bigger brother to the Lange 1, with a 39.5mm case and driven by the automatic Caliber L021.1, whose power reserve is 60 hours. Instead of the power reserve indicator – not as important in an automatic watch – the DayMatic adds a retrograde day-of-the-week display to the timekeeping and outsize date functions.

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

The case of the Saxonia, another of Lange’s most storied models, is a more discreet (some might say feminine) 35mm in diameter and only 7.3 mm thick. It is powered by the manual-winding Caliber L941.1, which stores 45 hours of power when fully wound. Its elegantly simple dial displays only the hours and minutes on central hands and seconds on a sub-dial at 6 o’clock.

The dial facet has many other treats for the onlooker, particularly people linked to the perpetual calendar and also the rattrapante chronograph. The former is composed of 206 components, nearly a third of the 684 total element count of the L133.1 caliber. Lange’s moon phase is “accurate to 122.6 years” — mind you, which “accuracy” means that it takes that much time to get the moon phase screen to be off by a complete day. This sort of arbitrary way is the way the precision of moon phase displays in watches is usually determined, not that anybody actually cares about real practicality beyond its aesthetic and engineering element.The rattrapante chronograph on the other hand is among the most technically impressive and hard complications on the market. Some watchmakers I asked told me they find it more difficult to do than a sonnerie or moment repeater, and definitely a much bigger pain in the throat than a perpetual calendar (unless it is instantaneous or further complex). The two laser sharp chronograph seconds palms break a hair’s width above one another in their reset position, with all the blue being the rattrapante hand, managed by the pusher at the 10 o’clock position of the case.The rattrapante chronograph also gives us the perfect reason to turn the A. Lange & Söhne Tourbograph Perpetual ‘Pour Le Mérite’ around and have a better look in its caseback. It is one metropolis of a motion, truly like a small-scale town of plates and gears. A complicated Lange, and notably a chronograph, will forever be one of the very splendid-looking calibers in most of watchmaking history.
Both are priced at $16,100. In contrast, the 37mm guys’s Saxonia is priced at $14,800, (together with all the Caliber L093.1) as well as the 40mm at $24,500. But neither of these have the small seconds or mother-of-pearl dial. Both the Little Lange 1 Moon Phase and Saxonia cater to different sub-markets in the women watch market and Lange has presented some truly fantastic pieces.The Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2017 has become concluded, and the aBlogtoWatch team is predictably exhausted. We tried something new this year — a video log (vlog) show — to help capture what it is like to be at the show. Combining high excitement and energy-draining hours, we are happy people enjoyed that very intimate look behind the scenes and exactly what it is like to attend the “world’s most esteemed” high-end watch commerce show.In my 9th year attending SIHH (itself at its 27th year) I would like to once more recap the overall sentiment of the series as well as point out crucial highlights which we believe the general watch-loving public ought to be excited about in 2017. Before we reach our best 11 watches of SIHH 2017, I’d like to explore the general watch and luxury industry atmosphere so that folks get a clearer idea of why specific goods are being made — and for whom.It was a particularly cold and windy week in Geneva, Switzerland, during SIHH 2017. Our lodging near Lake Geneva provided a first-rate perspective of exactly what struck me as a acceptable metaphor for the industry’s present circumstance. High winds blew over the water inducing not just surfable waves (in case you have an Iceman-like tolerance for cold) but also spilling on the adjoining walking paths that from the spring and summer make for popular strolling paths for lovers and languishers alike. The high winds and ominous lake waves seemed a fitting metaphor for the luxury watch industry that is continuing to experience a storm.

Like the DayMatic, the Automatic version of the Saxonia has a slightly larger case diameter (38.5mm, but only slightly thicker, at 7.8mm) and a self-winding movement (Caliber L086.1). The movement has a power reserve of 72 hours and, like all the other movements in the new blue-dial models, is equipped with a stop-seconds function and features the array of decorative finishes for which Lange has become well known, all on display through sapphire crystal casebacks in each watch.

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

Tag Heuer Monaco Gulf Special Edition

Swiss sports-watch specialist TAG Heuer, exhibiting at WTNY for the first time, made a splash with the official US debut of its new TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf Special Edition. The year 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic blue-and-orange Gulf Racing stripes, the logo that famously adorned Steve McQueen’s Porsche 917 racing car and livery in the 1971 film Le Mans. Portraying driver Michael Delaney in the movie, McQueen – channeling the style of Swiss Formula One legend Jo Siffert – wore on his wrist a Heuer Monaco Ref. 1133B, launched in 1969 and outfitted with a Heuer Caliber 11, one of the first automatic chronograph movements ever developed and the first to reach the market.

Five New Timepieces Launched At WatchTime New York Shows & Events

The new Pre-owned A Lange & Sohne Watches is a modern descendant of the original, which was also notable for being the first Swiss-made automatic chronograph that was both square-shaped and waterproof, as well as the first with a left-side winding crown. The stainless steel case measures 39mm and features alternating brushed and polished finishes. The sapphire crystal over the dial is domed and beveled. Water-resistant to 100m, it has chronograph pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock. The blue sunray-finished dial is decorated with the Gulf racing stripes on the left side, and also features a Gulf logo above the date window at 6 o’clock and a vintage “Heuer” logo (in place of the modern TAG Heuer logo) under the “Monaco” text at 12 o’clock. The Monaco’s hallmark squared sub-dials (running seconds at 3 o’clock, 30-minute chronograph counter at 9 o’clock) are also in evidence. A red lacquered central hand tallies the chronograph seconds.