2020 Green Dial Watches Part 1: Top 15 Time Only Watches

Green is the new blue. 

Previous years there has been a few splatter of green dial watches. Nothing dramatic and most of the time paired to a bronze case. But 2020 seems to be the year where being seen to be green is in fashion. 

Green is a symbol of hope, luck, growth, and nature in many cultures. Today, it also symbolises environmental protection. There is nothing more eco-friendly than a watch that is powered either by the movement of your wrist or a simple wind up of a mainspring which stores energy in a barrel, which will continue to run (with careful maintenance) for decades?

Now, stop being green and think the grass is greener on the other side. Here are a wristful of green watches that will surely make others green with envy. Go ahead. You have the green light. 

The following is a list of the top 15 green mechanical/automatic simple 2/3 hand watches with/without date we could find that were launched in just 2020 alone. In alphabetical order: 

1. Ball AWF Limited Edition

The Ball Engineer III Mavelight AWF watch was designed for the Australian Watch Forum, the largest Facebook group for watch enthusiasts. 904L grade stainless steel, 40mm case size.

2. Bell & Ross BR03-92 HUD limited to 999 pieces

The collection is directly inspired by the navigation tools of aircraft cockpit. The new BR03‑92 H.U.D (Head-Up Display) gets inspiration from the avionics displays of fighter jets equipped with the most cutting-edge technology. The case is matte black ceramic, 42mm, green sapphire crystal and water resistant to 100m. Power reserve of 38 hours.

3. Blancpain Bathyscaphe Mokarran limited to 50 Pieces 

A special watch dedicated to protecting the great Hammerhead shark. This model will be available exclusively in Blancpain boutiques in New York and Las Vegas. A total of $50,000 will be added to the brand's regular contributions to promoting, respecting and protecting the fascinating world of the oceans. Case is in black ceramic, measuring 43.6mm x 13.8mm. Water resistant to 300m, powered by in-house calibre 1318 with 120 hours power reserve.  

4. Bovet Miss Audrey

It features a green guilloché dial inspired by the lotus flower that reflects sumptuous shades. This timepiece is also housed in the Amadéo® convertible 36mm stainless steel case. The bezel and the iconic bow are set with diamonds.The case's convertible feature allows the timepiece to be worn on the wrist, transformed into a table clock or turned into a pendant without tools. Total of 1.04ct diamonds. Water resistant to 30m.

5. Eberhard Traversetolo Hope

The green dial was chosen as it symbolises hope. Stainless steel 43mm case, water resistant to 50m

6. Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey

The Vintage Rally "Healey" limited editions were created as a result of a partnership between the Frederique Constant Manufacture and the Austin-Healey car brand. Established in 2004, the bond has never been broken; seventeen years of allegiance and fellowship between watchmaking and mechanics, punctuated by rallies, meetings, races and a shared passion for retro design. 40mm stainless steel case, water resistant to 50m. The caseback has been engraved with an Austin-Healey and powered by Frederique Constant caliber FC-303 with a power reserve of 38 hours. 

7. Kurono Anniversary Green ‘森:Mori' Limited edition of 288 pieces.

To commemorate the first anniversary of Kurono, made by watchmaker Hajime Asaoka. Stainless steel case with a high curvature sapphire crystal, powered by Miyota's calibre 90S5, with a 42-hour power reserve. Proudly made in Japan and hand assembled. 

8. Laurent Ferrier Classic Origin Green

Housed in the Classic, pebble-shaped case, this new version is cased in grade 5 titanium. The hand-wound Calibre LF 116.01  is equipped with a free-sprung balance and a Breguet overcoil. 

9. Longines HydroConquest Green Boutique Edition

41mm stainless steel case, with sapphire crystal and water resistant to 300 meters. Green ceramic bezel insert. Powered by Longines caliber L888.5 (base ETA A31.L11) with a silicon balance spring and a power reserve of 64 hours.

10. Montblanc Heritage Automatic

40mm case in 18kt yellow gold, a steel caseback with Minerva Manufacture engraving, water resistant to 50 meters. Powered b by Montblanc caliber MB 24.27 (base Sellita) with a power reserve of 42 hours. It features a flat hairspring and a flat hoop balance. 

11. Norqain Independence 20 Limited to 200 pieces

We mentioned the brand Norqain before, and this is the first piece to use the Kenissi movement. Stainless steel case, 42mm diametre, Kenissi movement with 70 hours of power reserve. Water resistant to 100m.

12. Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 41

41mm stainless steel case, AR-coated sapphire crystal, a sapphire display back, and it is water resistant to 150 meters. Powered by in-house caliber 8900 with a power reserve of 60 hours. Co-Axial escapement. Certified Master Chronometer by METAS, and resistant to magnetic fields reaching 15,000 gauss. Free sprung-balance with silicon balance spring.

13. Oris x Momotaro Divers Sixty-Five

This special steel and bronze version of the Oris Divers Sixty-Five is made in collaboration with the independent Japanese company Momotaro Jeans. Named after a Japanese folklore hero, Momotaro was launched in 2006 by Hisao Manabe. Its roots lie in his textile company, which he established in 1992 with just three employees in the small coastal town of Kojima in Okayama. Stainless steel 40mm case, rotating bezel with bronze edge. Water resistant to 100m, powered by Oris calibre 733 (base Sellita SW200-1) with a power reserve of 38 hours.

14. Rado Captain Cook Diver Green 42

Stainless steel case measuring 42mm x 48.6mm x 12.3mm, water resistant to 300m. Steel bezel with polished green ceramic insert. Powered by ETA caliber C07.611 with a power reserve of 80 hours. 

15. Urban Jürgensen Big 8 "London Edition" Limited to 10 pieces  

This limited edition watch will donate all profits to the Wellcome Trust COVID-Zero Research Fund.

Stainless steel case 40mm x 10.8mm, water resistant to 30m. Soldered tear-drop shaped lugs. Powered by Urban-Jurgensen caliber FP1160 (base F. Piguet) with a power reserve of 48 hours. It features a 21kt gold rotor with guilloché decoration. 

Baselworld 2015 Wrap Up - Part 2 - Trending Blue Watches

Feelin' blue? Well my friend you're right on trend because out of the blue, this year blue is the new black according to the fashion forward set at this year's Baselworld. Blue watches is one of the dominating trends with many brands releasing a blue watch of some sort.

Here at tarts we have curated a quick selection of blue watches in a wide range of price points and varying degrees of complication, suitable for everyone from blue collar to white collar to no collar. That's right. You don't have to be blue blooded anymore to own a blue watch. Why with all these choices there's no reason to sing the blues no mo'. So why don't you take the blue pill and get yourself a blue watch this year?

In no particular order:

Faberge, the egg makers makes a watch

Edox Hydro-Sub

Chris Ward Trident Pro

Breitling Super Ocean

Oris Thelonium Monk Limited Edition

Omega Speedmaster X-33

Frederique Constant World Timer

Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Gravity

Blancpain Fifty Fathom Chronograph The Ocean Commitment

JeanRichard Terrascope Blue

Hublot Big Bang Unico Italia Independent

Sarpaneva Korona Northern Lights

Tudor Pelagos 

Glashutte Original PanoReserve and PanoMaticLunar

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 007 Spectre

Konstantin Chaykin Diana

Omega Globemaster

Eterna Royal KonTiki

H Moser & Cie Endeavour Perpetual Calendar

Citizen Eco-Drive Divers

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!

A look at a rare Fifty Fathoms

Are there sounds in the sea

Fifty Fathoms deep?

Sea Music : W. J. Turner  (1884 – 1946)

In 1952, the French government created an elite team within the Navy called the ‘Nageurs de combat’ (combat swimmers). Headed by Captain Bob Maloubier, the new team’s missions included underwater intelligence, sabotage operations and clandestine port attacks.

Underwater diving was still in its infancy at this point, so Maloubier and his team had to design their diving equipment from scratch. This took two years, and involved new diving suits, fins, goggles, and a watch. The team was equipped with diving watches, but Maloubier was not satisfied, so in conjunction with Lieutenant Claude Riffaud, he set about designing a better one. Their design was first submitted to Lip, whose ambivalence was summarised by their comment that his design was "a portable clock without any future".

The irony of this decision by Lip was not too far away.

Undeterred, Maloubier and Riffaud convinced Jehan-Jacques Fiechter at Blancpain, himself a keen diver, to produce the watch, which they named the ‘Fifty Fathoms’. A fathom is a unit of length used as a depth measurement in English-speaking countries, corresponding to a depth of 1.829 metres. Fifty Fathoms equates to 91.45 metres, the depth one can reach with traditional diving equipment. Jehan-Jacques was the nephew of Betty Fiechter who, with André Leal, had purchased Blancpain in June 1933. Betty had assisted in running Blancpain since 1915, and under the Fiechters, the Manufacture flourished.

The final Fifty Fathoms that went into production was not the exact design that Maloubier and Riffaud had presented, as Fiechter used his own diving experience to make some adaptations. These included a screw-down caseback with a double ‘O-ring’ system, and a humidity indicator at 6 o’clock (blue if the air in the case was dry, pink if water had penetrated the watch case).

Blancpain were unable to sell their watches directly to the French navy, and had to make their way to the Nageurs de combat via Spirotechnique, who were the official suppliers of scuba diving equipment to the French armed forces. Established in 1946, La Spirotechnique, which later became ‘Aqua Lung’, had its origins in 1942-43, when Jacques Yves Cousteau and engineer Emille Gagnan, who was working for L'air Liquide, a French company specialising in compressed gas, created the first scuba regulator. 

Now we come to the (amusingly) ironic part. At the time, Lip was a dominant player in the French watch market. Blancpain was an unknown. This meant that Blancpain and Lip had to sign a marketing and distribution deal to get an foothold in the French market. In 1954 the Fifty Fathoms watches were launched, with both Lip and Blancpain markings on the dial. One wonders whether there were any animated discussions at this time at Lip about opportunities lost. 

Within a decade of its launch, Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms had been adopted by a few specialist oceanographic exploration and research organisations. Most famously, Jacques Cousteau selected the Fifty Fathoms as the dive watch of choice for his 1956 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winning ‘Le monde du silence’ (The Silent World). 

  

From the early 1950s through the 1970s, the Fifty Fathoms became popular amongst the military, and used by the armed forces of Israel, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Finland and the U.S. When the Americans were looking for a dive watch, there was a ‘Buy American’ policy, whereby American manufacturers were given a 25% price advantage over non-American competitors. Fortunately for Blancpain, Allen Tornek, who had met Jehan-Jacques Fiechter through their common interest in diving, took an interest in helping out. To get around the various restrictions, the Tornek-Rayville company took the Fifty Fathoms and rebranded it for the U.S. military under two names “Blancpain Tornek” and “Rayville Tornek” (‘Rayville’, a phonetic anagram of Villeret, was the name used by Fiechter for some of Blancpain’s production). About 1000 Tornek-Rayville Fifty Fathoms were produced, most of which were destroyed by the Navy at the end of the commission, so they are particularly sought after nowadays. 

To understand the history of Fifty Fathoms is arguably a lifetime’s worth of work given the list of companies involved, the number of iterations (estimated at around 100) of design/ movements/ size, and the fact that there have been both military and civilian versions.

In late 2010 and through to 2011, Blancpain launched a travelling worldwide exhibition of the history of the Fifty Fathoms. Starting at their boutique at Place Vendôme, Paris, it was a Fifty Fathoms/ dive watch enthusiasts’ dream, an incredible exhibition over sixty watches retracing its history and a truly once-in-a-lifetime chance to see such a group together.

Mostly consisting of historical models owned by collectors but also covering the latest models, this beauty, belonging to a distinguished collector friend of JPVFX’s, formed part of this important exhibition.

A rare early Fifty Fathoms Rotomatic Incabloc from 1954-1955 (possibly pre-dating the Rolex Submariner), this watch is 41mm with a thickness of 12mm. In a stainless steel case with a screw down case back, it is anti-magnetic and has a bi-directional bezel. The dial is a glossy gilt, and the indices and baton hands are radium-coated. The movement is Cal A. Schild 1361N, rhodium-plated with 17 jewels, line lever escapement, monometallic balance, shock-absorber and self-compensating flat balance-spring.

Invented in 1934 and manufactured by Incabloc S.A., the Incabloc shock protection system is the trade name for a spring-loaded mounting system for the jewel bearings that support the balance wheel in a mechanical watch, to protect the wheel's delicate pivots from damage in the event of physical shock.

The early Fifty Fathoms watches are very difficult to find nowadays, and poor condition is often an issue. There is really something particularly amazing about vintage tool watches like this one that somehow, after over half a century, manage to still have a brightness and clarity to them.

I admit that I’ve wanted a vintage Fifty Fathoms for little while. I really wouldn’t mind this one … 

 Yes you read correctly - a note signed for the 50 Fathoms owner by Captain Bob Maloubier himself

Call me old fashioned, but I’ve never managed to get my head around rose gold Fifty Fathoms, tourbillon Fifty Fathoms etc etc etc. I understand the desire to develop and innovate models that have become synonymous with your brand, but when a watch was created as a proudly utilitarian dive watch, I can’t help but think that something is lost when it is turned into an unnecessarily elaborate timepiece.   

[AP]

Swatch buys case maker Simon Et Membrez

 

The Swatch Group has bought 100% of the shares in family-owned watch case maker Simon et Membrez in a move that it has described as “a seamless fit”. The shares were previously owned by Simon et Membrez CEO Philippe Membrez, Etienne Membrez and Didier Membrez.

Simon et Membrez SA was created in 1975 in Delémont, Switzerland, by René Simon and Etienne Membrez, the father of the current CEO. The new plant was inaugurated in the summer of 2008 and expanded to its current size in 2011. The company will continue to trade under the Simon Et Membrez name and continue to supply third parties outside the group.

The Swatch Group has had an ongoing relationship with the family company, which employs 250 people and supplies cases for some of the group’s brands, including Breguet and Blancpain.

In addition, the Swatch Group has also bought a 60% stake in case polishing business Termiboîtes. Based in Courtemaîche, Switzerland, it has fifty employees and is a subsidiary of Simon et Membrez.

[AP]