2020 Green Dial Watches Part 2: Top 10 With Complications

To continue our look at green watches launched in 2020, part 2 focuses on watches with complications.

1. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore

This year we have yet another variation of the extremely successful Offshore range, in black 44mm ceramic case and bezel, and powered by the in-house Calibre 3126/3840 with 59 jewels, 21,600 vph and a power reserve of 50 hours. 

2. Breitling Chronomat

The Chronomat played an important part in Breitling's history. Introduced in 1984, when the world was still reeling from the quartz crisis, it was launched as a bold mechanical watch that would become an icon of its era. The new version recalls all the classic styling cues from the 1980s and features the in-house B01 calibre, with 70 hours power reserve and COSC-certified.

3. Bvlgari Octo Roma Tourbillon Sapphire Malachite Watch

This is a stunning watch with Malachite used not just for the indices but also in the middle case. Paired to a green strap I think overall, it qualifies for the green watch theme. A classy case with a restrained skeletonisation, coupled with baguette cut diamonds set in the bezel and lugs, it’s high jewellery without being blingy, and with an in-house tourbillon to boot, it has the brains to go with the beauty. 44mm platinum case is no lightweight either. Limited to just 30 pieces. 

4. Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar Forest Green

This is a classic that we all know, but with a gorgeous green dial to be in fashion. 40mm stainless steel case with the dial retaining its original display guided by the Golden Ratio. Powered by the in-house Calibre 90-02, an automatic movement with an off-centred rotor, following the shape of the typically German 3/4 plate. 

5. Grand Seiko "Toge" Special Edition

This new model takes inspiration from the Japanese and British legacies of the two respective companies, combining classic British Racing Green with the fine texture of Grand Seiko's signature Mount Iwate dial. The term 峠 (Tōgè), or mountain pass, refers to a navigable route through a mountain range, and this special edition timepiece subtly evokes the image of a spirited drive over the many ridges of Mount Iwate in Northern Japan. Movement is the Japanese automatic Grand Seiko in-house Calibre 9S66 with a power reserve of 3 days.  

6. Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Saxem 

Ok not quite a green dial per se, but the whole damn watch is about as green as they come! SAXEM stands for Sapphire Aluminium oXide and rare Earth Mineral and is, as the names indicates, an alloy that is the mixture of aluminium oxide (the building block of synthetic sapphire) with rare earth minerals such as thulium, holmium and chromium. Powered by the legendary Zenith El Primero movement, it is limited to 100 pieces. 

7. IWC Portugieser Chronograph

This is the Classic Portugieser chrono, with in-house movement and a very much on-trend for 2020 green dial. 41mm stainless steel case, power reserve of 46 hours.

8a. H. Moser X MB&F Endeavour Cylindical Tourbillon
 
H. Moser & Cie. has borrowed from MB&F the concept of three-dimensional movements, protected by a sapphire dome and featuring a one-minute flying tourbillon that rises above the main dial through a ventricular opening appearing at 12 o'clock. H. Moser & Cie. has equipped its tourbillon with a cylindrical balance spring, invented in the 18th century, it is reminiscent of a worm- or corkscrew, rising perpendicularly around the upper rod of the balance staff. Commonly used in historical marine chronometers at the time, it offers the advantage of developing concentrically, and therefore geometrically, since it works perfectly along the axis of its pivots. This gives it a significant advantage over the flat balance spring, whose opposite ends tend to exert forces on the pivots, despite the Philips or Breguet terminal curves which were specifically developed to partially correct the non-concentric opening of the balance spring. Fitted with a Breguet overcoil at both attachment points, the cylindrical balance spring reduces pivot friction and greatly improves isochronism. Due to its specific shape, the cylindrical balance spring is far more difficult to produce and takes ten times longer to make than a traditional balance spring. Limited to 15 pieces each colour. 

8b. MB&F x H. Moser LM101 

The Legacy Machine 101 distils the very quintessence of mechanical watchmaking: the balance wheel, the power reserve and the passing of time. MB&F has chosen to remove its logo and return to its roots and the origins of horology, when only the movements were signed. The fumé dials are borrowed from H. Moser & Cie. Topped with a domed sapphire crystal, the case is made of steel, for only the third time in the history of MB&F. Limited to 15 pieces each colour.

9. Ressence Type 1 Slim X

The new Type 1 Slim X is a limited-edition piece marking its 10th anniversary. Ressence continues to change the way and the why we experience watches by introducing the first piece of their X collection. 

Visually Ressence created a dedicated symbol for the collection that is the fusion of an X, or ten in Latin, and an hourglass. It sits proudly on the hour disc of the Type 1 Slim X. Each of the four watches of the Collection X is limited to 40 pieces and shares the main dark olive-green color. 42mm case in titanium, powered by Ressence patented calibre ROCS 1 - Ressence Orbital Convex System with a  power reserve of 36 hours. 

10. Tag Heuer Carrera Heuer 02

Hey look I really like this. I don’t know why there is always this hate for Tag Heuer watches and it always seems to be universally poo-pooed by “collectors”. This latest version of the Carrera is powered by the in-house Heuer 02 movement and to me, a much classier look which straddles modernity and timelessness quite nicely. I think This will age well compared to the skeletonised versions. But YMMV. it’s a nice shade of green and with the steel bezel, it works really well. Now if they’ll just refocus their marketing strategy...

The Quest For Thinness Part 2: The Minute Repeater Strikes Back

It is very entertaining observing the intra-company sibling rivalry that doesn't seem to stop. Round 2 involves the same 3 siblings of the Richemont group: Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget and Vacheron Constantin. Piaget as you might know wanted to hold the record for everything thinness category there is in the world of haute horlogerie. And they did have all the records (thinnest automatic, thinnest mechanical, thinnest minute repeater, etc) until Vacheron decided to spoil things by introducing the thinnest minute repeater watch late in 2013, pushing the total height down to a mere 8.09mm (compared to Piaget's 9.4mm in the Piaget Emperador Coussin XL, which was released in early 2013).

JLC, still reeling from having their thinnest mechanical watch record wrenched away by Piaget after such a short period decided that there is nothing like the sweet revenge of beating them at their own game (and dealing a double blow to Vacheron at the same time) and launched not only the world's thinnest minute repeater watch, but one with a flying tourbillon/flying balance AND a peripheral winding system to boot! Just as the thickness of the thinnest manual wind watch dropped quite significantly (in terms of percentages) the thickness of the ultra thin minute repeater watch dropped from 9.4mm to 7.9mm in just under 12 months. Sure is amazing what intra-group competition can do!

(Yes I realise that it takes far longer than mere months to plan/design/engineer/manufacture such amazing feats of craftsmanship and oneupsmanship but it makes for a much more entertaining read to pretend as if all this has just happened in real time)

I guess Vacheron can console themselves at still owning the record of the thinnest minute repeater movement (at 3.9mm thin) compared to JLC/Piaget's (at around 4.8mm each) but then again, the Vacheron movement is manual wound whereas both JLC and Piaget are both automatic movements.

The Vacheron and the Piaget are both quite traditional in their movement design, whereas JLC pushed the envelop just that little bit more in order to cram in extra complications (just like Piaget did away with a separate movement and case construction in their quest for ultimate thinness in a mechanical watch and combined the two to make the watch one integrated unit). Rather than having a slider to activate the minute repeater, JLC instead opted for a pusher, which stays flush with the case after activating the minute repeater, and a separate mini slider to release the pusher if you didn't catch the time the first time 'round.

JLC has also removed as much as possible around the tourbillon to make it first of all, reduce the amount of space it takes up and second, to offer a completely unobstructed view of the tourbillon. Again, people have expressed concern at the fragility of a flying tourbillon topped with a flying balance, but I guess JLC's done their homework and made sure something like this will still be sturdy enough for everyday wear.

And finally, a peripheral winding system dispenses with a centrally mounted rotor (takes up too much space), instead a weight spins around the edge to wind the movement up. This idea is not new.  The first patents to this system where filed in 1955 by Paul Gostel and a decade later by Patek Philippe. The first brand to offer this system in a serial production was Carl F Bucherer back in 2008. Subsequently numerous brands also presented their version sof the peripheral winding system, with DeWitt in 2009 with their Calibre DW8014, followed by Audemars Piguet with their Calibre 2897 in 2011, then in 2012, by Cartier (of all brands) with their calibre 9603 MC, even though they've not announced it as such, instead focusing on the design attributes (a bejewelled panther spins above the dial, but is in fact the 'rotor' for the movement). And finally, in 2013 with Breguet's Calibre 581DR, which currently also holds the record of the thinnest automatic tourbillon movement (that's another one Piaget needs to get back...).

From Top Left: Carl F Bucherer, Audemars Piguet, DeWitt, Cartier. Breguet movement not shown because I couldn't find a brand PR shot.

Personally I like this strive for thinness. As Daniel Riedo, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre mentioned, that it is much easier to make a watch with a thick case, than it is to make it thin. It shows the capabilities of a manufacture, when they are able to make a watch as thin as possible, without all that dead space inside the watch. I salivate at the prospect of what could possibly come next! I wonder how much space the minute repeater takes up? If JLC got rid of it, could they challenge Breguet for the thinnest automatic tourbillon movement? Or does Vacheron and Piaget have something in the works already? Only time will tell and perhaps stay tuned for: The Quest For Thinness Part 3: The Whirlwind Timekeeper.

Carmelo Anthony joins the league of Swiss Watch Brand Ambassador

We briefly talked about NBA players and watch endorsements. Well, let us welcome the latest addition to the NBA league of Swiss Horlogerie brand ambassador/friend/connoisseur - Carmelo Anthony. The news came around the same time as AP releasing some news about their friend of the brand LeBron visting the factory at Le Brassus and the launch of the new LeBron James Limited Edition. (Although I'm sure we'll soon see the IWC Melo limited edition - maybe they can pacakge it with a pair of shoes, with the strap made from the same material as the shoes? Imagine hyperfused and flywire straps! Hmmm... Copyright on that idea! Same goes for LeBron.)

Carmelo Anthony joins IWC as a friend of the brand

Jordan Melo M10 goes pretty well with the IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar... 

Is it a coincidence that the players getting their own watches also happen to be the ones with a signature shoe? LeBron is up to number 11 with Nike, and Carmelo up to number 10 with Jordan. (Incidentally, Hublot ambassador, the Black Mumba himself Kobe Bryant also made news recently about him presenting HIS watch to a few lucky owners in Abu Dhabi. He's up to number 9 on his shoes with Nike. Yes, only 9 generations as he was with Adidas before that)

Nike Kobe 8 Black Mumba goes perfectly with the Hublot

The AP Royal Oak Offshore Lebron Edition. Limited, no doubt.

Makes me wonder when/which Swiss watch brand will pick up CP3 as an ambassador? he's up to shoe number 7 with Jordan... Bit of a shame that high end Swiss watches wasn't in vogue when Michael Jordan was at his peak. Rose is only up to shoe number 4 but he has plenty of potential...

But going off the prices of these watches, (AP, Hublot, IWC...) I think I'll stick to the shoes...

Espace Horloger- Great Watchmaking Museum in the Vallée de Joux

Espace Horloger - Vallée de Joux
Grand-Rue 2
1347 Le Sentier
T. +41 21 845 75 45
info@espacehorloger.ch

As a reader of this blog I'm sure you already know that in the Vallée de Joux  there lives a number of high end watchmaking manufactures. Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet and Jaeger-LeCoultre just to name a few. There are also numerous smaller maisons such as Daniel Roth, movement manufactures such as Dubois Depraz, and a number of parts makers such as Francois Golay. What you may not know is that there is also a very nice little watchmaking museum up in the mountains - Espace Horloger, believe it or not. And it's only a short stroll from Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre.

This was a surprising little gem, and apart from a permanent exhibition on watchmaking and the history of, there is also a section of temporary exhibition which as the name suggests, changes from time to time. The tour guide is well versed in multiple languages, is extremely knowledgeable and very humorous to boot. The building that houses the museum used to be a 'maison' for watchmaking and on the top floor, a section is preserved from back in the days when watchmaking activities were the norm. You get a first hand view on how things were like 200 years ago.

However, don't assume that just because there are a lot of history in the museum, it's all... well... historical. It also utilises some of the fanciest 21st century technology. Ok, the first one, a 3D movie about watchmaking in the Vallée de Joux isn't exactly breathtakingly high tech these days, but the next bit of technology comes almost straight out of the movie Minority Report. You have a huge touch screen table, with a number of 'discs' on the side. Place the disc on the touch screen and it comes alive, with a touch menu extending out of the disc and onto the screen. Choose from the menu and it takes you through a journey right there in front of you. Move the disc and the whole thing moves with it. Personally I didn't think this sort of technology was available to the public! There are also watchmaking lessons on the big touch screen, where you can 'virtually' build your own watch, then email the final product to yourself.

At the moment the temporary exhibition is all about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, and on exhibition is the extremely rare and sought after Royal Oak A series, amongst others. Over on the more permanent exhibition, there are items ranging from clocks, animatrons, watchmaking tools including an example of the millionometre as invented by Antoine LeCoultre, and various watches on display. I won't spoil it for you. The images here are just a small sample of what's on show. It is a definite must for all watch enthusiasts. Especially if you're already making the trek up the gorgeous sweeping mountain passes (no need for an Aston Martin, a Golf will do nicely) to the Vallée de Joux to visit the various Manufactures.

Oh, and if you prefer to read the old fashioned (proper) way, they also have a ton of various watch literature for sale.

Thanks to my contact in the Vallée de Joux for the images and the heads-up on this place!

NBA Finals Players and Watches

As we head into Game 7 of the NBA finals between San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat, why don't we have a quick look at the players' wrists and see what sort of wrist jewellery are present, other than those weird rubber straps that's meant to emit some sort of energy frequency to make you perform better. Right. And just so happens some of the players from both teams in the finals have pretty decent watch endorsement contracts in place.

Representing the Heat:

LeBron James with his Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore.

Dwayane Wade with his Hublot King Power Dwayane Wade

and of course, the Miami Heat themselves have a watch too- The King Power Miami Heat.

Representing the Spurs:

Tony Parker with his... Tissot..

Let's get back to Hublot and AP. Hublot has also signed up the Black Mamba himself, Kobe Bryant as an ambassador, and AP did used to have Shaq on their watches. Shaq, on the other hand wore a Swatch before he was signed by AP. Quite the step up. Perhaps there is still time for Tony to upgrade...

Kobe Bryant's Hublot

Swatch Shaq - image from Squiggly.com

Shaq Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore

Formula 1 and Watches

Being a huge F1 fan and a watch nerd, I'm sadly all too aware of the F1/ watch connection, but there haven't been any recent looks at the watch side of F1 racing that I'm aware of, so I thought that it's time that we had one!

I think we all know about the partnership between car companies and watch companies as it seems like watches and cars get on like Homer and beer.

What is perhaps less talked about in the mainstream media is that there are also a lot of watch companies getting in on the act with Formula 1 racing. The two have become so intertwined that as the top 3 drivers at each race get ready to get on the podium, they all made sure (well, at least someone made sure) that the relevent watch is firmly strapped onto their wrists.

(For those without a watch sponsor... I think I might have just figured out something!!! If you have a watch sponsor, you are more likely to be on podium than if you don't. Think about it...) By this logic, will we see a Marussia driver on the podium soon?

Hublot clock at the Abu Dhabi circuit - image taken from the internet

Hublot is of course, the current official timing partner with Formula One, and has even launched special editions for certain races. However, for each individual teams, and even individual drivers, there are different watch partnerships going on. The prices of the watches spans a great range from three figures all the way up to six figures!

[NOW] Now let's take a look at the most affordable to most expensive watches on the grid, in the 2011 finishing order.

Hublot F1 King Power - image taken from the internet

Red Bull Racing: The watch partner is Casio, and both drivers (Vettel and Webber) wear Casio products. There is an official Casio Edifice Red Bull racing watch, and Vettel also has his own Casio Edifice watch.

Casio Edifice Red Bull Racing - image taken from the internet

Mclaren Mercedes: This is a partnership that is deeply rooted in history and has been going on for a long time.  TAG Heuer equips both Hamilton and Button with wrist jewellery as well as branded timing screens and whatnot in the garage. TAG Heuer branding used to be on the actual cars, but now they're happy to have the drivers as ambassadors instead of having stickers on cars.

Lewis Hamilton posing with his Tag Heuer - image taken from the internet

Jenson Button and his Tag Heuer - image taken from the internet

Jenson, being a bit of a watch lover, had his fair share of different brands on his wrist (depending on if there is a contractual obligation or not). Back in his days of driving a Honda, he wore Seiko Sportura watches, but when he was driving for Brawn in his championship winning year, he had on Jaeger-LeCoultre watches for the first half of the season or so, until Graham watches came on board later on in the year, and that relationship has continued to...

Jenson modeling the JLC Extreme Lab while he was with Brawn GP - image taken from the internet

Mercedes AMG Petronas: Best known for their partnership with Graham watches from their BrawnGP days, they have dropped Graham has the official timing partner, and picked up Thomas Sabo instead for the 2012 season as the official jewellery partner. Nico Rosberg is also sponsored by Sabo, and sports a Thomas Sabo watch. However, this partnership look set to end at the end of 2012 as IWC has signed on as the official engineering partner with the team starting 2013, which makes sense since IWC has a partnership with AMG.

I can’t help but notice the creativity involved in naming the category that the brands are aligned in. Graham was the official 'timing' partner, [WHICH IS] straightforward enough. Thomas Sabo is the official 'jewellery'  partner… ok… still quite straight forward but, IWC as the official 'engineering' partner? Hmm….thinking aloud here, but I reckon SIHH 2013 will see IWC announce a new range of engineering watches inspired by F1… Engineering watches you ask? For those who parlez francaise, you’ll of course, realise that French for engineer is oh… gee… IWC has a line of watches named “Ingenieur”…

IWC Ingenieur AMG collection from 2005 - picture taken from the internet

IWC Ingenieur Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team edition… you read it here first.

Oh. And Schumacher, once a long-time Omega ambassador, has 'upgraded' to Audemars Piguet, who also had Barichello, Buemi and Trulli on their roster until the three drivers were unceremoniously denied drives for the 2012 season.

Graham MercedesGP GMT - image taken from the internet

Michael Schumacher with his AP - image taken from the internet

Barichello, Trulli and Buemi all sporting AP Royal Oak Offshores - image taken from the internet

Ferrari: They recently signed up with Hublot, after a short stint with Panerai, and before that with Girard Perregaux. Let's hope this new partnership with Hublot is more successful than either GP or Panerai. However, this does not seem to extend to the drivers, as Alonso sports a Viceroy and Massa has a Rchard Mille named after him. So even though Alonso has the upper hand in racing, Massa definitely takes the top step in terms on wrist wear...

Hublot Ferrari Big Bang Magic Gold - image taken from the internet

Alonso's Vceroy watch - image taken from the internet

Richard Mille Filipe Massa - image taken from the internet

Oh... and there is also the more 'accessible' range of Ferrari watches which you can buy online from the Ferrari shop...

Ferrari watch- image taken from the internet

Renault: TW Steel jumped onboard during their tumultuous 2009 'crashgate' year, presumably because the space was going cheap after losing a few of their major sponsors after the scandal, but they've certainly made it work. They're big on oversized watches, and Kimi Raikkonen is seen wearing TW Steel. Romain Grojean was wearing TW Steel up until just before Monaco 2012, when he switched over to TAG Heuer.

Ironically, Kimi used to be a TAG Heuer ambassador back when he drove a Mclaren, and he continued to be TAG eyewear ambassador after his switch to Ferrari back in 2007. Past driver and current commentator David Coulthard also has his own  'named' watch in the range.

TW Steel Renault F1 Team - image taken from the internet

Force India: Don't seem to have a watch sponsor at the moment. So... here's an opportunity to add stickers to Force India cars and adorn drivers Hulkenberg's and di Resta's wrists!

Sauber: Certina has been with Sauber for 8 years, and the partnership has been quite subtle, with very small stickers on the cars and the drivers' helmets. They supply not just the drivers but the whole Sauber team with watches to wear.

Certina Podium GMT Sauber F1 Team Ltd Ed - image taken from the internet

Torro Rosso: Again, no partnerships here...

Williams: Oris has had a long partnership with Williams - since 2003 (I remember Mark Webber had his own 'Mark Webber' edition Oris) and this continues for the 2012 Championship.

Oris Williams F1 Day-Date - image taken from the internet

Caterham: no watch partnerships

HRT: no watch partnerships

Marussia: is strangely partnered with a small indie watch brand called Armin Strom. Maybe this is a good way for Armin to gain more brand exposure, but I'd think they'd probably get better returns had they partnered with say... Caterham, since they're consistently the best of the three newcomers to the F1 party...

Armin Strom Racing Chronograph - image taken from the internet

In F1, engineering is an ever-moving goal post, and I think the same goes for (watch) sponsorship... Who knows we might need to do an updated F1 wrist watch next season!

[o]