Gaber & Company USA

Hublot has made a Big Bang with integrated case and bracelet in transparent sapphire for the first time. For such an exceptional creation, we opted for the new Automatic Tourbillon calibre with its sapphire bridges, the transparency of which creates a stunning spectacle, says Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO. The act of creating an integrated case and bracelet from sapphire was, however, deemed impossible. But we were the first brand to gain perfect mastery of sapphire, indus...trializing it and making it reproducible in series production. It took us five years to bring our first sapphire cases to life and almost as long for the bracelet. Producing both from sapphire and integrating them together is the pinnacle of the in-depth work undertaken by all of Hublot’s teams. We are proud to be the ones writing the first lines in this new chapter in the history of materials, he adds. The case is 43mm in diameter and 15.25mm thick and is water resistant to 30 meters. Only 30 of the watches are being made, priced at $480,000.00.

Audemars Piguet’s Concept watches are rarely subtle. Like their equivalents in the motoring world, they stretch convention far beyond core collection pieces by experimenting with form, function, materials and design. A partnership between Audemars Piguet and Marvel’s Comic Universe, announced in March, was flagged as an opportunity to create another Concept watch, leading to speculation of how radical or safe the brand would go. The answer, out this week, is the Royal Oak Concept Black Panther Flying Tourbillon, and it is hard to imagine a more radical first watch from a collaborative watch.

Zenith has broken with the trend for trimmer timepieces by introducing a new 45mm case size for its 2021 Defy Extreme collection. The character of the Defy Extreme comes from its sharp titanium case, faceted and carved like a boulder in a storm. There are titanium and titanium with rose gold versions, both with matte-finished micro-blasted surfaces. There are interchangeable straps in rubber and velcro or titanium bracelets.... Both models house Zenith’s El Primero 9004 automatic 1/100th of a second chronograph caliber, with separate escapements for timekeeping and the chronograph functions. It is rated with a 50 hour power reserve.

Montblanc has used an 18ct gold alloy called Lime Gold for a limited edition 1858 Split Second Chronograph. Its design and functionality is based on a 46mm Minerva military chronograph from the 1930s. Montblanc 1858 timepieces are typically sports watches that might be worn by mountaineers and explorers. A lime gold reference with a golden dial and green accents, worn on a green calf leather strap, is a little more dressy than usual, but retains the DNA of the Minerva military piece.

Meistersinger has produced a limited edition Astroscope in black and orange as its first novelty of 2021. Astroscopes display the weekdays in the symbols of celestial bodies, a method that dates back around 4,000 years to the Babylonians who also used sundials to mark time with a single shadow on a dial much as Meistersinger does today with its single hour handed watches. Babylonians considered the number seven to be especially holy and connected with seven celestial bodies...: The Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn, which came to be associated as days of the week as they are today. Meistersinger’s new model has a dark dial that represents the night sky while the astronomical symbols are luminous orange in a nod to the sun rise. See more

Sometimes it takes a watchmaker a few attempts to truly perfect a watch’s look and feel. The chronograph’s case has an elegantly integrated set of pushers and crown that take a back seat to the stunning blue and gold Résonance-patterned guilloche dial. The movement’s diamond-blasted anthracite bridges and golden oscillating weight can be seen through a transparent case back. The blue of the dial is achieved using a special ALD coating developed by another Czapek partner, Positive Coating, based in La-Chaux- de-Fonds.

A truly sublime piece limited to 99 pieces per dial shows the time at home on level one, while the next level presents local time catering perfectly to the jet-setting travelers of the world when any type of Covid-induced restrictions sit firmly in the rear view mirror. Designers say the most important and highest level is placed above the calendar window. There, at an elevated bridge a magnifying glass is innovatively positioned to enlarge the visibility of the small date display of the ETA-movement cal. 2671. In this arrangement the magnifying glass resembles a monocle and underlines the creativity of Alexander Shorokhov, who has seemingly broken the status quo to build-in the magnifying glass directly into the sapphire front glass.

Accutron has reissued a watch made famous by Elvis Presley in the 1960s, who took a shine to its angular style. The original Accutron 521 was launched in 1960 in a 14ct gold asymmetrical square case measuring just 32.8mm x 32.5mm. It keeps the same dimensions, potentially making it more appealing to women today, but is now made in a gold toned steel case and is worn on a mesh style bracelet or brown lizard-embossed leather strap.