Hands-on – Graham Chronofighter Nose Art Limited Editions
Nose-art is an art form consisting in decorative painting on the fuselage of airplanes, in particular during WWII when colorful images, shark teeth or pin ups appeared on the nose of military aircrafts. As Graham’s most emblematic timepiece, the Chronofigther, is inspired from aviation, the brand started to feature pin-ups on the dial of its Chronofighter Nose Art in 2017 and new girls just joined the Graham pin-up squad at Baselworld 2018.
Of all of Montblanc’s fine timepieces, I’ve had a soft spot for the distinctive Rieussec line, an uncommon take on the common chronograph that draws its inspiration from the daddy of them all, the original chronograph device invented by the eponymous Frenchman, Nicolas Rieussec. The Rieussec has been in the Montblanc family for a while, but to me it’s always occupied a somewhat liminal space, sitting above the more accessible TimeWalkers and their ilk, yet not quite in the same league as the famed Minerva-based chronographs. But that’s not to say that the Montblanc Rieussec isn’t a serious piece of kit, the MB R2000 is a solid movement, modern, with an interesting layout. It boasts a column wheel, vertical clutch and 72-odd hours of power. On top of that it looks darn good, too. That same statement definitely applies to the exterior of the watch as well. Fundamentally, the design of the big 44.8mm (and a good 15mm tall) watch’s dial has been tweaked; the date now has a more balanced, six o’clock position, instantly giving the watch a less cluttered look than previous iterations. But the changes don’t stop there. The heavily textured dial is dominated by the classical…
If you look at the last two years, the price of vintage Heuer has rocketed, but so far the uplift has not raised all boats on the modern TAG Heuer and Heuer tide. David Chalmers, founder of Calibre 11, the “home of TAG Heuer and vintage Heuer collectors”, asks the CEO of TAG Heuer, Jean-Claude Biver, why is it so? For those not interested in watching the 90-second response from Mr Biver, the transcript is below. If you look at the last two years, the price of vintage Heuer has rocketed, but I wonder how much benefit has that given to TAG Heuer, because normally you follow the idea of saying vintage Rolex values go up, new Rolex values go up because of the perception around the brand. It seems as though that hasn’t necessarily happened with vintage Heuer and TAG Heuer. “No, it has not happened in the past because there was such a discrepancy between the beautiful, traditional, old TAG Heuer pieces from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. When you are looking at the pieces of now, people would say, ‘Oh, is it the same brand?’ because the past was so much better than the present. Now, with…
For those who know me and my taste in watches a little bit, the fact that I own a TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 01 typically comes as a bit of a surprise, as there’s a perception that I like the simpler, smaller things in watch life. For those who know me and my history in watches a little better, the fact that I’m rocking a big, bold, skeletonised chronograph raises no eyebrows at all. But personal preferences aside, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to spend some quality time with the Heuer 01, you’ve come to the right place. My first impression was … whoa, that’s a whole lot of watch. I first saw the Heuer 01 when it was released, back in 2015. It was a watch that was presented as the face of Jean-Claude Biver’s ‘new’ TAG Heuer, and boy did it look the part. Large, modular and aggressively skeletonised. The Carrera DNA was still there, but the Heuer 01 was very much its own beast. And while my original focus was on the ceramic bezel version with red highlights, the watch I ended up strapping onto my wrist was this, the Grey Phantom, which removed any hint…