Introducing – H. Moser & Cie. Presents Two Watches For Bucherer, Including a Surprising Heritage-Pilot Watch (Live Pics)
Bucherer certainly has some impact on brands and is powerful enough to have them creating some purpose-designed watches, exclusive to its stores. These watches are named the “Bucherer Blue Editions” and many watch brands already participated (Tudor, IWC, Blancpain and more). All of them share a unique colour for the dial; blue. While H. Moser already participated in this concept, this time the brand decided to go in a different direction. Not only these 2 new “Moser x Bucherer Blue Editions” aren’t blue (at least for their dials) but Moser also introduces a brand new watch, totally different from the brand’s previous creations; the Heritage – a surprising retro-styled pilot’s watch.
At SIHH 2019 in January, Montblanc will launch two new versions of the Nicolas Rieussec chronograph that it introduced last January: one in tone-on-tone of dark grey, the other in a bold mix of anthracite and richly copper-toned red gold. Having spent some time with the new pieces, I’ve fallen rather hard for the latter. It’s one of those “love at second sight” things. (Didn’t take long, though: the initial “Huh?” about the highly unusual colour scheme became “You’re the one” after – oh – a whole 15 or 20 minutes.) Since 2008 and Montblanc’s first tribute to the “time writer” or inked chronograph invented by the eponymous Rieussec in 1821, I’ve been intrigued by the model – a rare example of chronograph readings displayed in something other than the trusty old sub-dials-with-hands format. The 2018 version had me smitten: by losing a lot of the complexity of its predecessors, the design gained even more. And, rendered in tone-on-soft-silvery-tone, it was a thing of loveliness. The big deal, though, is its counter display: rather than the conventional hands rotating around fixed sub-dials, it has a fixed, double-ended pointer and a pair of side-by-side rotating sub-dials – one for chronograph 60…
To talk about this watch, we need to talk about Daniel Roth. Daniel Roth is an immensely talented watchmaker, making his name at Audemars Piguet and honing his skills at Breguet until he left in 1987. After that exceptional grounding, Daniel Roth decided to found his own, eponymous brand, which launched in 1989. With a focus on high-end, complicated offerings, heavy on tourbillons, repeaters and chimes and, of course, that unique squared-off oval shape. And while the Daniel Roth brand — like so many small watchmakers — didn’t make it in the long run, the name lives on. The brand — along with those distinctive cases — was acquired by Bulgari in 2000. Which brings us to this particular Bulgari Daniel Roth. With a large 45mm rose gold case, in the aforementioned elliptical shape, this watch has undeniable presence on the wrist. It’s chunky and masculine, but also unusual and possessing distinctive charms. Charms that extend beyond the refined lines of the case. While most watches make do with conventional hands, this Papillon is not most watches. It’s a jump hour with wandering minutes display — the tip of either of those central lozenge-shaped indicators points to the current minute. It’s…
Anticipation was high for a GMT-Master II release at Basel 2018; however, almost everyone in the business of speculating was predicting a rival carbonated beverage with near certainty, since the Pepsi flavour was already representing the solid white gold variant of the Rolex traveller’s watch. I can only imagine their surprise when the hall gates opened and the first eager show-goers laid their eyes on the all-new stainless steel GMT-Master II with a blue and red ceramic bezel and a Jubilee bracelet. Rolex does know how to have a good time, don’t they? All new? How is it a game changer? Yes. As far as Rolex updates go, this GMT-Master model is all new. Check out the reference number. It has been 13 years of the 1167xx version. This was the first Rolex to usher in the era of chunky cases, ceramic bezels and bracelets that felt super robust. Putting the cosmetics aside for now, it is important to talk about the very heart of this watch: a brand new movement. Years ago, a mentor of mine told me that a car without an engine is no longer a car, but a very nice-looking large flower pot. Well, this GMT-Master…