The Carl F. Bucherer Manero ChronoPerpetual

Recently launched at BaselWorld 2012, is the Carl F. Bucherer ChonoPerpetual, which combines two of the most favourable functions, the Chronograph and the Perpetual Calendar.  If you missed the first limited edition of this excellent timepiece in 2010, here is a second chance to own one – and fear not, the re-workings are imperceptible to all but the most trained eye, it still combines modern and traditional styling and it is every bit as noble and handsome as its predecessor.

Intelligent dial design ensures that all the indications are functional, readable and useable.  Clever use of dual-purpose subdials – hours and days at 6 o’clock, minutes and months at 9 o’clock and dates of the month and seconds at 12 o’clock – allows enough space to showcase that superb silvery moon-phase disc on the right of the dial.  Recessed displays and contrasting finishes are employed to individualise the indications.

The intrinsics are no less accomplished.  A precision Flyback Chronograph will time the hours, minutes and seconds, whilst the Perpetual Calendar will use its mechanical memory to mark the days taking into account the variations of days in each month, as well as leap years – this piece will need no intervention by the wearer until March 1st 2100, which will be a Secular year. Inside is the Carl F. Bucherer 1904 automatic calibre with 50 hours of power reserve, viewable through an exhibition caseback.

The wearing of a Carl F. Bucherer watch should be enough to ensure high esteem in a room full of watch aficionados, this one with its substantial complications should without doubt elevate the wearer to head honcho.  Carl F. Bucherer watches are, after all reassuringly exclusive.

The Carl F. Bucherer Manero ChronoPerpetual will be a limited edition of 150 pieces with stainless steel case, 100 pieces with rose gold case and an additional 30 piece Stallion edition, shown above, which features a beautiful, but very manly hand-decorated calfskin strap.

That’s A Cool Graham You Have There, Graham.

Graham watches have a new ambassador, IndyCar Series driver Graham Rahal.  As Brand ambassadors go, he’s quite a catch – the youngest pole winner in the Series to date, he is a youthful and talented driver.  Graham maybe the son of Bobby Rahal, the CART supremo but he is quickly making a name for himself on the track.  And he is a self-confessed watch enthusiast.

Graham Rahal joins the growing list of  “Graham People” – quite an eclectic mix of individuals.  Ross Brawn F1 maestro times his team to perfection with his Tourbillograph Trackmaster, Mike Tindall leaves his Swordfish in the locker before scrumming down with the England Rugby team, motorcycle roadracer Guy Martin can just about squeeze his Chronofighter beneath his racing leathers and can probably disassemble it too, Jay Kay grooves with his Chronofighter Classic Black and super chef Marco Pierre White?  he will never overcook an egg as long as he’s wearing his rather dapper red gold and black Swordfish PVD Carbide.

Zenith Star Open Collection New For 2012

Zenith are back.  It’s been a great year or two for the brand’s design department which has taken them back to their traditional values and classical styling.  If you like the watches then you’ll know that we like them.  After a superb collection of Pilot watches, here comes something for girly wrists – a new collection of Zenith Star Open models.

If you've admired the Star Open collection in the past, perhaps you've appreciated it’s compendium of curves – rounded case, feminine pushers and curly, swirly graduating numerals.  I featured one as a Valentine’s Day special, the Queen of Love Star Open – surely the most romantic chronograph available.  The new pieces see a departure from the circular case to an equally voluptuous cushion-shaped case  and with a nod to classical-ism some elongated Roman numerals – an instant make-over which creates a more formal and elegant variation.

Two dial editions are available, white mother-of-pearl or silvered guilloché, two case editions are available, stainless steel or rose gold – but these are trivialities, what is most important and what draws the eye is the heart-shaped cut-away where a seductive little heart counts the seconds and through which the escapement of the El Primero Calibre 4062 can be viewed.

The case measures 37x37mm with sapphire crystal front and back, neat tucked-in pushers and tapering lugs.  The hour and minutes hands are faceted and a central chronograph hand reaches right to the dial edge which features a fine railtrack chapter ring, an elegant detail echoed in the 30-min counter at three o’clock.  Further dressing-up, if it were needed comes thanks to a perfect little cabochon sapphire-set crown.  Those in the know will shun the sparkle and go for the stainless steel lesser-diamond version, serious kit and not in the slightest bit syrupy.

Zenith El Primero Espada – Sometimes Three Hands Are Enough….

For those who lean towards choosing a wristwatch with an uncluttered face.  For those among you who do not feel the need to time a lap or maybe just an egg.  For those who never feel inclined to split the seconds then sometimes three hands are enough.

The Zenith El Primero Espada, released earlier this year ticks all the boxes – clean, classical, uncomplicated and quite frankly, gorgeous.  The decider? Inside is the El Primero 4650B automatic movement, the non-chronograph variety,  industriously vibrating at 36,000 vph.  Read more about it here.

The Zenith Academy Minute Repeater

2012 – A fortuitous year for Zenith?  I’ll say.  Jean-Frédéric Dufour, the brand’s CEO has overseen a restructure which has brought them back into the limelight, back to their classical styling and traditional values and back in to favour with their customers.

This year’s splendid trio of Pilot watches were the darlings of the watch media, a new El Primero 1969 Chronograph was the perfect blend of retro and cutting edge and the new Star Open Collection for ladies, a cushion-shaped beauty, certainly caught my eye.

So – how do you crown such a year?  Zenith do it with a hat-trick of Masterpiece models to add to their Academy Grand Complications Collection, one of which we feature here, the Zenith Academy Minute Repeater.

A Minute Repeater is a notoriously tricky complication and its complexity would confound all but the most skilled and patient Master Watchmakers.  Zenith bring to  the bench a new patented mechanism – one track, three chimes, designed to ensure clarity, consistency of tone and perfect precision.  Integrated into and working alongside the Minute Repeater is an automatic high precision chronograph – that’s a total of 461 micro engineering components packed into a 45mm case – superb.

The El Primero 4043 movement is housed in the elegantly rounded Elite case, and wisely Zenith choose to construct it from 18 carat Rose Gold, warm and luxurious.  Finishing is meticulous including a 22-carat gold oscillating weight embellished with Côtes de Genève decoration.

Add a silver-toned guilloché dial, a little snailing on the counters, a combination of blued and gold hands and some slender elongated Roman Numerals and the result is unconditional and understated perfection.  More if it were needed comes in the form of a look-see through to the tiny hammers on the dial between 2 and 4 o’clock.

The Zenith Academy Minute Repeater comes presented on a lined alligator strap with an 18 carat gold triple folding clasp.

The Automates & Merveilles Exhibition 2012 – Automata, Marketing, the Movies and more ……

The year may be young, but here’s a date for your diary – the upcoming Automates & Merveilles Exhibition which will run from April 28th to September 30th 2012.  This will be a co-operative event – three museums in three cities – the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Neuchâtel will host the Jaquet Droz and Jean-Frederic Leschot exhibit, the Musée International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds will focus on “Marvellous Movements and Amazing Mechanisms” and in Le Locle the Musée d’Horlogerie will feature Masterpieces of Luxury Miniaturization.  Whether you be a horological historian, an fan of eclectic engineering or simply a lover of all things beautiful, prepare to be amazed – this will be the event of the year.

Readers of the Watch Press.com will already know the name Jaquet Droz – we love these exceptional, flawless timepieces.  The Swatch Group, a very modern-thinking company may own the brand now, but between 1768 and 1774 Pierre Jaquet Droz had an ingenious marketing idea to help sell his timepieces.  Along with his son, Henri-Louis and also Jean-Frederic Leschot he created three astounding Automata, the Musician, the Drawer and the Writer – human-like mechanical dolls so-named because each could realistically perform their given task.  The concept was simple – almost Biver-esque in its resourcefulness, those who viewed these superb Automata would be suitably impressed, making the timepieces produced under the Jaquet Droz name highly desirable, and those who he sought to excite were no ordinary individuals, these potential clients were the Kings and Emperors of Europe, China and beyond.

Modern wristwatch calibres contain hundreds of micro components, with added desirability gained from the hours and days invested in its assembly.   The Automatons were constructed from parts numbering in the thousands, and are considered by many to be the first computers, such was their ability to be “programmed” albeit via the use of mechanical cams and switches – complexities made even more astonishing considering the conditions under which they were made – no power tools or well-lit clinically clean workshops.  What is, perhaps even more astonishing is that all three survive to this day, bought by the History and Archeology society of Neuchâtel and donated to the local museum who have cared for them ever since.

Curiously, the art of the illusionist and the art of Automata are intrinsically linked.  Movie fans may have seen Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” – an adventure based on the life story of Georges Méliès – film maker, illusionist and automated toymaker.  “Hugo” is Hugo Cabret, son of a Master Clockmaker, who when orphaned takes responsibility for his late father’s project – restoration of a broken automaton – who writes with a pen.   It is a movie with a story so interwoven with horology that it is simply unmissable for anyone in the industry – see if you can spot a cameo appearance by an exquisite “Mystery Clock”.

The trio of Automates & Merveilles exhibitions will run simultaneously in French, English and German, with pieces from both private and public collections on loan for the first time.

The Jaquet Droz Eclipse Onyx

Worthy of the portfolio, this one has a dial constructed from onyx, housed in a generous 43mm trim-bezeled steel case.  Naturally the eye is at once drawn to the celestial scene of the moonphase and its ensemble of stars.  This is a moon face with an appearance which is almost as humanistic as the renowned Automatons which have gained so much publicity for the brand recently, but is a wonderfully playful arrangement as it peeps out from behind a perfect little moving disc.

A seductive serpentine hand encircles the dial to indicate the date, recessed twin apertures display the day and month and the hour and minute hands are suitably slender.  This is dial devoid of hour numerals ensuring an abundance of empty onyx which simply begs to be admired.  Inside is the Jaquet Droz Calibre 6553LZ with 68 hours of power reserve.

The Jaquet Droz Eclipse Onyx comes presented on a black alligator leather strap.