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Swiss Replica

BASELWORLD 2017 : Longines Flagship Heritage 60thAnniversary

Although it seems, in recent years, that the popularity of diving into the archives for new releases has markedly increased, Longines has been paying attention to their heritage for awhile.

This year has brought some very pared back models, including a special anniversary Flagship anniversary model. This new model was announced before Baselworld 2017, but consider it now formally launched.  It is important to bear in mind that Longines did release another Heritage Flagship model in 2014, about which you can read here.

The year of 1957 saw Longines launch its Flagship line of dress replica watches characterised by classic, clean, elegant simplicity. The ‘Flagship’ name was and is, a reference to the ship after which it is named.

These new anniversary models come in numbered limited editions of 60 pieces in rose gold, 60 in yellow gold, and 1,957 in steel. All case metal variants share a brushed silver two zone dial, but the (lumed) dauphine hands, indices, and Arabic numerals are yellow gold for the yellow gold cased version and rose gold for both the rose gold and stainless steel models.

Unlike back in the 1950s, the Anniversary Flagship is not a manual-wind but contains the automatic Calibre L609 (ETA 2892 base) with forty-two hours of power reserve.

The case has been naturally increased, to a nicely sized 38.5mm that is on the lower side of modern dress replica watch standards but of a size that hits a sweet spot for many people. It comes on a brown alligator strap.

The Longines Flagship’s name relates to the Fleet Admiral’s flag on his ship, and this anniversary model reflects the historical models with the presence of a stamped relief of a caravel sailing ship. This is, however, a dress replica watch, so water resistance is only 30m.

Heritage re-issues tend to be replica watches that elicit a lot of opinions from replica watch enthusiasts in general, but especially those who own the originals. Small changes are important and the addition of features such as a date window where one wasn’t previously present for modern commercial demands always leads to animated discussion.

For me, this new Flagship Heritage 60th Anniversary model is a particularly fine example of a heritage-inspired piece.

One of the most interesting things about this new model is that Longines are telling the story of its creation as being linked to brand ambassador Kate Winslet. If you go to their website you will see it, but they say that during a trip to the Manufacture, she found herself rather taken by a vintage Flagship model that she saw. This lead to a limited edition of five pieces sold to benefit her Golden Hat Foundation (of which Longines is a supporter) and now, these 60th anniversary models.

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Angelus Replica Brand

BASELWORLD 2017 : Angelus Skeleton Tourbillon U21 andU22

Last year saw Angelus’ launch of the U20 Ultra-Skeleton Tourbillon (see photo below), a innovative piece using a layer of clear sapphire as its main plate, to which the movement bridges are fastened. This year, launched at Baselworld 2017, Angelus decided to push themselves further with the main plates for the new U21 Tourbillon and U22 Tourbillon, with the use of carbon fibre.

Let’s step back a bit first, and revisit the U20.

Released during Baselworld 2016, the U20 Ultra-Skeleton Tourbillon is special because rather than the skeletonisation of an existing movement, the start point was to have an open worked movement, so it was built from the ground up, so to speak.

The manual-wind Calibre A-250 movement is based on a sapphire main plate (created from a solid block of sapphire), with hand finished, blued skeletonised satin-finished titanium bridges. The absence of a dial, in combination with the main plate material, means that even by skeleton replica watch standards, the result is exceptional; it really does look like the movement is floating. At 6 o’clock there is a one-minute flying tourbillon.

To match the modernity of the use of sapphire in the movement, the U20 has added another unusual and contemporary touch – the case’s band made from NPT carbon fibre attached to titanium lugs, also making for an exceptionally lightweight replica watch.

So from the U20 to the U21 and U22.

Both the U21 and U22 share the 42mm size of the U20, with the same domed sapphire crystal, open case back, and water resistance of 30m. However, the case of the U21 is now carbon fibre and 18kt red gold.

As the core features of the U21 are the same as for its elder sibling, it also shows off the manual-wind Angelus Calibre A-250 with a one minute flying tourbillon, this time with an NPT carbon fibre main plate and solid 18kt red gold bridges. The clear main plate of its predecessor makes for an attractive and interesting replica watch (the U20 was one of my personal highlights from last year) but the use of carbon fibre makes it a completely different timepiece, not least of all because transparency is no longer at its heart.

Notwithstanding the absence of transparency, Arnold & Son are still calling both the U21 and U22 skeletonised in their naming, because there remains the skeletonised bridges etc, and the movement is still part of the dial, highlighting the carbon fibre. Along with the hour and minute markers there are rhodium-treated and lumed hands.

There may be the use of the very contemporary carbon fibre in an unusual way, but the use of red gold on the case, especially the lugs, gives it a more traditional twist.

Secondly, we have the U22, an amalgam of sorts, of the U1 and U22. It uses the same titanium and carbon fibre case of the U20, but with the addition of red hands and matching red minute markers.

Hour and minute markings are printed on the outer chapter ring as per the other two models but the rhdodium-treated hands have a fun element – red Super-LumiNova.

Movement wise it’s the same Calibre A-250 with carbon main plate of the U21, but with the titanium bridges of the U20, no longer blued.

In looking at all three of them, I’m still most partial to the U20 (one of my personal highlights of 2016), followed by the U22. As with the U20 from 2016, production of both the U21 and U22 will be limited to 18 examples each.

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Swiss Replica

BASELWORLD 2017 : Slim d’Hermès L’heureImpatiente

I have a soft spot for the unexpected and unusual, whether this be in terms how time is represented, or how time is interpreted. In 2001 Hermès released the Arceau le Temps Suspendu which ‘suspended’ time, then a few years after that, they decided to ‘mask’ time with Dressage L’Heure Masquée . Each of these replica watches in its own way allows the wearer to manipulate their relationship to not just the telling of time, but also how they follow it.

As they have done in the past, Hermès have again sought out Agenhor for this movement. The ‘impatient hour’ of the name refers to the module Agenhor created to attach to the Calibre H1912 (itself made by Vaucher Manufacture, of which Hermès owns a quarter) to create what has been referred to as a ‘mechanical hour glass’.

The Slim d’ Hermès L’heure Impatiente allows its wearer to set their replica watch to chime at any time in the upcoming twelve hour period by using the crown at 4 o’clock to set the countdown, which is depicted on the sub dial. An hour prior to the set time, the retrograde hand on the indicator at 6 o’clock will start its move from the 60 minute position to the 0 position, so you can track the countdown to your selected time.

At the set time a single note chimes.

If, however, you decide that you no longer wish to count down to a particular time, you need only reset it, and the chime can be de-activated via the pusher on the left hand side of the case.

This is Hermès’ first chiming replica watch, and the Calibre H1912 which powers this whimsy is automatic, beats at 28,800VPH, and has a power reserve of 42 hours. It features a circular-grained and snailed plate, satin-brushed bridges, and a decorated rotor. The Agenhor ‘Impatient Hour’ module is a very slim 1.2mm module comprised of 131 components, with 8 jewels, plate and bridges with Côtes de Genève motif. The Calibre H1912 movement is 3.7mm thick and the 40.5mm rose gold case itself is 10.67mm thick.

A svelte profile was important because of the desire top put this within the ‘Slim’ collection, and this challenge was met by Agenhor via not utilising a second power source or extra barrel to power the chime. The striking mechanism and its accompanying retrograde display are powered by the base movement.

The module is particularly notable for its customised chiming lever/ rack. Hermès and Agenhor have found a way to turn this into something more personal by shaping it as Pegasus, a long-time Hermès symbol. The rack tightens the helical spring in the hour before the striking mechanism chimes, creating the tension needed to power the hammer and activate the count-down hand. A shark cam that rotates every twelve hours releases energy when the rack falls back from the cam, which trips the hammer that strikes the chime.

The dial reflects the Slim collection – a silver opaline base with a sunburst chapter ring and snailed centre and counter, the highly stylised almost Art Deco-like black transferred Arabic numerals, and contrasting gilded sandblasted hands for the time keeping and blue lacquered baton hands for the ‘interruption’ novelty.

I don’t know whether the three year gaps between the Arceau le Temps Suspendu Hermès, the Dressage L’heure Masquée and the Slim d’ Hermès L’heure Impatiente were down to the time taken for the development of each new piece or whether it’s planned, but given that the results of their approach of playing around with how we interact with time, it will be worth the wait until the next one.

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Swiss Replica

BASELWORLD 2017 Frédérique Constant Flyback ChronographManufacture

At last year’s Baselworld Frédérique Constant revealed their first in-house perpetual calendar movement for under $10,000. This year, they’ve added a competitively priced in-house complication to their collection, with the launch of the Frédérique Constant Flyback Chronograph Manufacture.

The new automatic FC-760 adopts a modular construction. The flyback module is attached to the base movement, Caliber FC-710. Comprising of 233 components (of which 96 are dedicated to the flyback module), it has a 38 hour power reserve and beats at 28,800 VPH. It features perlage and circular Côtes de Genève decoration.

For those who are unfamiliar with what this type of chronograph is, it’s about timing elapsed intervals.

Whilst the chronograph function is running, the user only needs to press the pusher at 4 o’clock to reset the chronograph’s second hand (the flyback) i.e. you don’t need to press to stop, press to reset, press to start again. Basically, the clutch is disengaged, the chronograph is reset to zero by means of the single-piece hammer, and then, the clutch is re-engaged.

The column wheel that governs the chronograph’s start, stop, and reset functions rotates on bearings. Unlike the traditional column wheels, this one is star-shaped. Working in unison with with the operating lever, which is controlled by the start/ stop pusher, this star-shaped wheel was used to increase how smoothly it runs, whilst a new clutch system ensures that the resetting happens without any variables in timing.

The movement first appeared at Frédérique Constant’s sister brand Alpina as the Calibre AL-760 name. Alpina built a 96-part module into its in-house AL-710, and the AL-760 was their fifth in-house movement. When launched in 2015 it was intended that it would eventually make its way into Frédérique Constant as well. You’ll note the numerical consistency in calibre naming across both brands for these movements.

The new Frédérique Constant Flyback Chronograph Manufacture comes in a number of dial and case combinations. The 42mm cases are available in either stainless steel or rose gold plated stainless steel. Dial wise it’s either a simple flat dial in silver or dark grey with simple line indices, or a silver dial with Clou de Paris guilloché decoration, printed black Roman numerals and Breguet-style hands. At its edge is a tachymeter scale. They come on black or brown alligator straps with a matching metal buckle.

Of the various options my favourite without question, is the stainless steel one with the dark grey dial. One of the inevitable issues that arise with choosing to go with classical designs for chronographs is that if you wish to maintain legibility and a clean dial, there really are a limited number of end results from an ‘overall look’ point of view. The risk of brands releasing replica watches that look similar is ever present. However, that doesn’t mean that a replica watch whose look isn’t ‘new’ can’t still look good, and when combined with an in-house movement and attractive pricing, it’s going to be desirable.

As I mentioned earlier, this movement was first seen in their brand stablemate Alpina (see below). What a difference a dial makes.

The RRP? Frédérique Constant are continuing on their path of competitively priced and handsome complications. It’s 3,695 EUR for the stainless steel version.

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Swiss Replica

MORITZ GROSSMANN : ATUM Enamel LimitedEdition

Last year’s Atum Pure Steel by Moritz Grossmann was not just one of my favourite releases from Baselworld 2016, but for the year. This year, they have added a new Atum to the collection, with a white grand feu enamel dial.

The enamel dial is made of two parts welded together, as you can see; the core larger dial plus the slightly sunken sub dial. The design is very traditional, with the black Roman numerals on a white dial, but with a blue ’12’. Hands are steel, handmade, and heated to a brown colour. The use of a blue ’12’ is that touch which for me, really makes this replica watch.

Inside the 41mm case is the in-house Calibre manual-wind 100.1 with a two-thirds plate in untreated German silver German silver bridges. With horizontal Glashütte ribbing and snailing on the ratchet wheel, it has markedly more intricate hand finishing and engraving than in the mesh model. It has a shock-resistant Grossmann balance, adjustments can be done with a Grossmann micrometer screw on a cantilevered balance cock and 42 hours of power reserve.

The movement has Moritz Grossmann’s (hacking) stop seconds, that you operate both by using the crown and the pusher beneath it at 4 o’clock. Pulling the crown out stops the seconds hand during time setting. Once that has been done, use the pusher to restart the movement by disabling the setting mode.

The Atum Fired Enamel is a Limited edition replica watch with just 25 pieces each in rose gold and white gold. The Australian RRP is AUD $51,000 for the rose gold version and $53,000 for the white gold. Their Australian dealer is Define Replica Watches.

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Swiss Replica

FABERGÉ : Lady Compliquée PeacockBlack

In the latter part of last year that #thewatchnerd arranged for a joint visit to the Fabergé boutique in London, which had kindly agreed to showing us some of their replica watches. We had been motivated by the desire to see the new Visionnaire DTZ, but found ourselves staying not just for that, but also for the Lady Compliquée Winter. The latter is notable for its movement, which made its debut in the Peacock replica watch.

At Baselworld 2015 Fabergé and Agenhor launched the Lady Compliquée Peacock. With a retrograde time display at its time telling centre, there are fanned blades that spread the peacock’s feathers gradually over the course of an hour, indicating the minutes on a scale and the hours via a rotating ring, with the four moving blades flying back to their original position with the passing of an hour.

Based on a 1908 egg which contained a bird automaton that could spread its wings, in this replica watch the first feather moves forward by 15 degrees per hour, the second by 30 degrees per hour, the third by 45 degrees, and the last by 60 degrees. This is achieved by an Agenhor invention that they have called AgenFAN, made of two series of toothed wheels of increasing diameters on one and decreasing diameters on the other which are superimposed on the same axis. They are placed side by side and mesh along their length. The first toothed wheel is driven by the spindle of the hours cam (the hours cam is beneath the visible hours ring) and drives the second, which powers each of the blades.

This complex and really rather glorious new way of doing a retrograde time display was recognised with a win in the ‘High Mechanical’ category at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in 2015.

Powering the fanned retrograde time display is the manually wound Calibre 6901, which has a diametre of 32.7mm and a power reserve of 50 hours, beating at 21,600VPH. It is visible through the case back and has horizontal Côtes de Genève decoration on the bridges, and circular graining on the main plate.

At Baselworld 2016, following on from the original, the ruby, and the emerald, the a new one appeared – the Lady Compliquée Peacock Black Sapphire. It featured an 18 carat gold dial with snow-set diamonds (157), black sapphires (59) and black sapphire cabochons (6), with the hand-engraved peacock in 18 carat white gold. Surrounding this dial are an onyx rotating hour ring, minute track, and and minute and hour indicators in black lacquer.

All of this is inside a 38mm platinum case (and crown) and adorned with a bezel set with 54 brilliant-cut diamonds. The strap is alligator, with a matching platinum Fabergé pin buckle.

This year there is a new version for those who like their replica watches without stones (and their peacock more streamlined), simply called the Fabergé Lady Compliquée Peacock Black.

I find myself more drawn to this new one. The real bird may use vibrancy and colour to gain attention but in a possibly counterintuitive way, black seems to draw my attention because of its absence. In comparing the two black versions, I like to think of the Black Peacock Sapphire as the Art Nouveau version and this, the Art Deco one.

Hopefully, either Horologium or #thewatchnerd will be able to bring you ‘in the metal’ photos of it at some point.

 

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Swiss Replica

SINN EZM 12 : a replica watch for emergency medicalprofessionals

The Sinn EZM range are the most function-focused of their replica watches, and their latest model, the EZM 12, was developed for medical professionals involved in emergency air rescues.

Time is critical in rescue/ emergency medical situations in terms of treatment, and the EZM 12 focuses on two concepts – the ‘golden hour’ and ‘platinum ten minutes’. This means that a patient should arrive at a hospital within the hour of an accident and that a critical patient should be treated and transported within the first ten minutes.

A count-up inner rotating bezel allows the doctor/ paramedic to keep an eye on the ‘platinum ten minutes’ and ‘golden hour’, whilst a countdown outer rotating bezel can be used to serve a number of purposes such as the monitoring of times for the administration of medication. The seconds hand, designed in the shape of a rotor, features a pulsometric scale for recording of the heart rate every 15 seconds.

Another notable feature of the EZM 12 is are the focus on creating a replica watch that is easy to clean. The silicone strap can also be removed without the use of tools and you can remove the rotating bezel, to clean, using the pocket knife provided (or anything else that can fit) in the dedicated space, and simply flip it off.

This looks like a hefty replica watch and that’s because it is; 44mm and 122g (without the strap) of Sinn’s bead-blasted Tegimented steel, and water resistant to 200m. Behind the screw-back nickel-free case back is the automatic ETA 2836-2.

The EZM 12 also features Sinn’s air-dehumidifying technology, magnetic field protection up to 80’000 A/m thanks to a soft iron cage, and has been tested to be reliable from -45°C to +80°C. And if you have no plans to rescue lives in the next few days, it does not really matter. The Sinn EZM 12 is a cool tool replica watch that is also good looking enough to be a daily wearer too.

For Australia the RRP is $5,350.

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Swiss Replica

MBF and L’Epée : DestinationMoon

The latest MB&F and L’Epée collaboration, Destination Moon, uses the latter’s eight-day movement to power a rocket. Developed specifically for Destination Moon, L’Epée’s eight-day movement follows the basic engineering of a real spaceship.

the power for Destination Moon comes from the oversized winding crown in its base. It has a vertical regulator (protected by a panel of mineral glass) underneath the time display, as well as a time-setting knob at the top of the movement.

Hours and minutes are displayed by large, white numerals on stainless steel disks at the very top right below the tip of the rocket. You set the time using a knob at the top of the movement.

Just like on the launch pad of the MB&F Caran d’Ache Astrograph Pen released last year, there is also a small astronaut that comes with the clock, called Neil (not Tintin). Clad in a space suit of silver and stainless steel, he has a magnet at the front which allows for him to be attached to the ladder connecting the crown to the movement.

Powered by a single barrel, the clock’s movement is composed of 164 parts, with mirror polishing, bead blasting and satin brushed finishing. It is made of palladium-plated brass, stainless steel and nickel-plated stainless steel. The rocket’s body is stainless steel, and the hour and minute indications stamped on rotating stainless steel discs

The clearly close relationship that has developed between MB&F and L’Epée over the years of their partnership, which blossomed in sometimes whimsical, sometimes unexpected, but always highly creative ways, was born this time at L’Epée. Movement designer Nicolas Bringuet dreamt up and created the movement, and MB&F intern designer  Stefano Panterotto came up with the body in which it could reside.

If you look at all their co-creations there is no mistaking the partnership. Their creations have developed their own identity and creative signature involving stainless steel sometimes punctuated by colour, and a ‘skeletonised’ type of look. In a way it has almost become its own brand.

Along with the base silver model, the MB&F Destination Moon clock is also available in three different colours variants for its palladium-plated brass landing pods (PVD-coated black, blue, and green respectively), each of which is available in a limited edition of 50 pieces each. Size wise, it is 41.4cm tall and 23.3cm wide at its base, and weigh 4kgs. The RRP is 19,900 CHF.