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In recent years Zenith have been the masters of the skeletonised dial. Many of the Defy models, including the Defy 21 and Defy Zero G, have received the skeleton treatment. In time for LVMH Watch Week Zenith are adding to their integrated sports watch line up by combining skeletonisation and a chronograph movement in the new Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton.

Starting with the basics, the new chronograph is available in two colours, black and blue. This very much mirrors the core of the current Defy Skyline Chronograph line up. Occasionally, Zenith have expanded the colour palette, for example with the slate grey boutique only edition from last year, but black and blue have always been the strong foundations of the collection.

Across the case, the Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton remains true to the existing line up. You have the same octagonal case silhouette and 12 facet bezel. All made from stainless steel with the case measuring 42mm in diameter. Where Zenith really excel with their integrated sports watches is with the alternating brushed and polished finishing which is applied to each case angle. In a watch peppered with geometric shapes the alternating finishing accentuates the angular lines of both the case and the bracelet.

The bracelet of the new chronograph adopts Zenith’s interchangeable strap system and as standard comes with a second star patterned rubber strap to match the dial colour. This strap system isn’t new. It can be found on many of the current Zenith sports models where the single push button release makes changing the aesthetic of the watch a breeze. It’s something we’d all love to see brands do more often. Kudos to Zenith for leading the way here.

Also carried over from the Defy Skyline Chrono is the 5Hz El Primero 3600. The movement was first introduced in 2019 and its party trick is its ability to display 1/10th second. Instead of the central chronograph hand completing a full rotation in 60 seconds, the El Primero 3600 does it in 10 seconds. Allowing you to impress friends and colleagues with precision timing.

The Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton has a couple of big changes from the existing collection. The first, obviously, is the skeletonisation. As Zenith describes it, “the art of skeletonisation consists of hollowing out the plate, bridges and other components”. In opening up the dial Zenith have finished the main plate and bridges in either or black and blue and each watch has a complimenting star shaped oscillating weight visible through the caseback. The only change from the primary colour is the grey subdials, which have also been skeletonised at the centre.

The other change from the existing Defy Skyline Chronograph is the absence of the date window. Usually shoehorned in at the 4:30 mark this skeleton version has thrown away the date and for good reason. Skeleton dials look busier anyway, add in chronograph subdials and you’ve already got plenty to capture your attention. I doubt the date window will be missed.

Priced at £13,900 the Chronograph Skeleton is one of the more expensive in the Defy Skyline range, tourbillons excluded. However, you’re packing in a lot of cool and a lot of conversation starter from your money. In the integrated sports watch category the Defy Skyline skeleton watches are the only ones that can hold a candle to Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Openwork models. Plus you’re taking several rungs up the pricing ladder for one of those. And the AP isn’t exactly accessible to begin with. For a skeletonised integrated sports watch chronograph you’ll struggle to find better than the Defy Skyline at this price point.

More details at Zenith

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It was only recently that we were discussing the wealth of purple watches out there at the moment, impressing with their rich, royal dials. Evidently Tag Heuer were sad to be left out of the discussion because now they’ve launched not one but two purple Carrera Chronographs, a standard model and a tourbillon edition. Let’s take a hands-on look at the pair.

Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph

Starting with the standard model, it’s the Carrera we know and love. It measures 39mm in diameter, which works perfectly for the size of my wrists. It’s arguably a touch on the small side for a chronograph where I find 40mm the perfect size for balancing wearability and legibility. However, the Carrera really works because it has a touch of that retro-vintage sizing to it that has been popular among collectors recently. I also like the sharp, angular style of the case and strong lugs, which helps give the piece a sporty appearance.

Looking at the dial, it is of course purple. That rich tone has been paired with a fumé gradient around the edges, giving it a smoky design that’s enhanced by the slightly grainy texture of the sunray brushed dial. It reminds me of the skin of a plum, nice and juicy (I can’t think of a way to phrase that without it sounding a little Hannibal Lector-ish). The exact tone is inspired by a purple Monaco from 2022, although when it comes to colourful Monacos it’s pink that’s the current focus.

Flipping the watch over reveals the exhibition caseback with a view of the TH20-00. It’s an impressive column wheel chronograph movement with an 80-hour power reserve operating at a 4Hz frequency. It’s also nicely decorated with a brushed rotor and Côtes de Genève plate. It contributes to the CHF 6,500 price tag (approx. £5,830).

Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon

Adding another layer of complexity to the Carrera Chronograph formula is the Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Purple. Unsurprisingly, it adds a tourbillon into the mix, which takes pride of place at 6 o’clock. As with any tourbillon you’re instantly drawn into its delicate waltz, pulling the watch close your eye and staring at the internal mechanics of the small vortex of motion. I mean, there has to be some reason for them, right? Original design purpose be damned.

Here the tourbillon has been paired with another plum purple dial with fumé gradient. The case is necessarily larger than its non-tourbillon counterpart, measuring 42mm in diameter with a thickness of 14.33mm, giving it a bit more pronounced presence on the wrist. That said, the constant movement of the tourbillon is arguably more likely to draw the eye rather than the increased size.

The movement here is the TH 20-09. It has a slightly lower power reserve due to the power intensive tourbillon, resulting in a total of 65-hours. That’s still more than admirable for a chronograph tourbillon.

As for the price, it’s a touch more than the standard model. And by a touch, I mean a lot. It’s a lot more than the standard model at CHF 34,000 (approx. £30,500). It’s a price that feels high when compared to the non-tourbillon, but when you look at the competition, is actually decent value for a Swiss tourbillon, plum purple or not.

More details at Tag Heuer.

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If I’m being honest with myself, I often overlook the Tag Heuer Formula 1 collection. It’s predominantly a quartz collection with an uber sporty design philosophy that frankly doesn’t appeal to me. I much prefer the cleaner design of the Carrera or retro influence of the Monaco. However, now that Tag Heuer have become the official timing partner of Formula 1, they’ve expanded the limited number of mechanical automatic models in the collection with five new references in titanium called, quite simply, the Tag Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph Automatic.

First things first, the Formula 1 is a big, big watch. It measures 44mm in diameter with a thickness of 14.1mm, making it an imposing wrist monster. But don’t let that deter you immediately because now that the case is made from titanium for the first time, it’s much lighter than previous models, improving its ergonomic performance. Of course, if you’re worried about being dwarfed by your watch, no material is going to change that.

Alongside the change in metal, the design of the case has been tweaked as well. The lugs are much shorter, giving the watch a much squarer silhouette that pairs with the new cushion shape of the piece. Shorter lugs will also help it sit well on slimmer wrists. Another part of that square silhouette is the addition of broad, flat chronograph pushers as opposed to circular pushers. It makes for a chunkier, angular aesthetic, which are not necessarily adjectives that come to mind when you think of F1 cars. But look at the front wing or rear spoiler and you can see that they do in fact share some aesthetic similarities.

Looking at the five individual references there’s the standard titanium model with black DLC tachymeter bezel, three full DLC coated models and finally an Oracle Red Bull Racing special edition in exposed titanium with a forged carbon bezel. The standard model has a black dial with vertical tricompax chronograph display and red accents for the chrono hands and hour scale ring. The full DLC models have the exact same dials, but the accent colours are in a choice of red, blue or lime green.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing edition is markedly different from the other editions because it does away with the somewhat minimalist two-colour scheme in favour of something a bit bolder. The plain black dial has been replaced by a blue checkerboard design with alternating empty and crosshatched squares. The central chronograph hand is yellow but the 30-minute and 12-hour subdial hands are red. On top of that the small seconds hand has a red tip whereas it has no colour on the standard editions. There’s also the added visual texture of the carbon bezel.

It’s the busiest of the five watches by a wide margin but at the same time, I can imagine it looking good on the wrist of an Oracle Red Bull race engineer in a team shirt. Personally, I’d opt for one of the black dial options because I like the flashes of high contrast from the coloured accents. It makes the colours feel luminous even though the actual luminous areas of the watch are the hour and minute hands as well as the indexes.

Turning the watches over does not reveal the movement as the watches all have solid casebacks, each with the checkerboard pattern of the Oracle Red Bull Racing edition. If they had exhibition casebacks instead, you’d see the Tag Heuer Calibre 16, the same movement used in the previous automatic Formula 1 Chronographs. It’s based on the ETA 7750 with 42-hour power reserve.

As for price, the plain titanium case version is £4,100, the three DLC coated editions are £4,300 and the Oracle Red Bull Racing edition is £4,750. While the Red Bull watch is a special edition, it’s not limited. Though a big, 44mm case like this might limit who can actually wear one.

More details at Tag Heuer.

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Back in 2021 we covered the release of the Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Orange Sapphire. A watch that stood out for its impressive use of coloured sapphire crystal, a material that’s notoriously difficult to produce. In the introduction to that article I quipped that Hublot had almost completed the sapphire rainbow and in the years since they’ve done their best to complete the colour spectrum. However, some colours are simply too difficult to make in sapphire, which brings us to the new Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Green SAXEM.

SAXEM is a crystal material that shares many similarities to sapphire crystal such as its translucent appearance and high scratch resistance. However, there is a crucial difference. Where sapphire crystal has a triangular structure at a molecular level, SAXEM is cubic. This fundamentally changes how light passes through the material and completely changes what is possible to achieve in terms of colour and intensity.

The rich emerald tone of the Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Green SAXEM is impossible to achieve in traditional sapphire crystal. The same is true of the neon yellow edition they released back in 2023. Evidently there is a quality about the green-yellow spectrum that is ill suited for sapphire but that works great in SAXEM.

As for the watch itself, it’s the same Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic as we’ve known for more than half a decade at this point, although the SAXEM versions sit at 44mm as opposed to their sapphire counterparts that are 43mm or 45mm, depending on the colour. It has a skeletonised display with central hours and minutes, and a tourbillon at 6 o’clock. Considering that it’s a skeleton, it’s actually a very dark dial with grey Arabic numerals and a smoky grey sapphire disk below the time indication.

The movement on display is the MHUB6035, which has a 72-hour power reserve supplied by the micro-rotor visible at 12 o’clock. Interestingly, the rotor is presented on the dial side of the piece, which means the exhibition caseback offers and uninterrupted view of the movement in the same manner as a manual timepiece.

In terms of price, the Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Green SAXEM is a clean £200,000 in a limited edition of 18 pieces. This watch is unapologetically Hublot. It’s big, it’s brash, it’s colourful but it’s also impressive on a structural and mechanical level. Not to mention it feels like they’re only scratching the surface of what is possible with SAXEM.

More details at Hublot.

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There is no denying how significantly Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking at La Fabrique Du Temps has evolved. This culminated in the new 40mm Tambour, where Vuitton revitalised the integrated bracelet genre. That may sound overwrought, but the brand’s emphasis on modernity is significant in a world of reissues. What then of the Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence?

Ahead of LVMH Watch Week, we were expecting a delightful twist on the much-lauded Tambour. But these first images of the Tambour Convergence have surprised us. With this significant release, Louis Vuitton has taken 2025 by the horns with an unexpectedly new and understated look. Where the Tambour is modern in size and execution, the Tambour Convergence has its very own identity. This includes a smaller size (37mm) and, frankly, lugs to die for. If pressed for a term, call it retro-modern, but that doesn’t do justice to this important move by Vuitton.

The first impression is of rakish charm and a big presence for its goldilocks size of only 37mm. Visible at first glance, the case of the Convergence is an all-new design by Vuitton. In a world of vintage reissues, LV offers a sleek emphasis on minimalism, taking inspiration from vintage ‘montres a guichet’ or ‘aperture watches’. This was a niche trend instigated in the thirties and often referenced in the desirable Cartier Tank a Guichet.

There is much to unpack within the new Tambour Convergence, and its beauty lies in exquisite detail work. The cambered, slightly tapering case shape and polished tapering crown are the only recognisable family traits in the 8mm case. There are two distinct models in the debut range, one in solid pink gold and the other a gem set version in platinum. Both have a distinctly brushed sides and the tambour case has a brand-new set of soldered lugs that gives a strong juxtaposed sense of modernity to the recognisable Tambour shape. Instead of a sapphire crystal, the slim brushed bezel frames a curved, solid precious metal plate with a fan-shaped twin display at 12 o’clock

What makes the Tambour Convergence so distinct is the modern, sculpted lugs. With their scalloped, sandblasted sides they contrast the flamboyant guichets or windows. The hour window offers a view of engraved serifed numerals on a circular-brushed disc, with the minute disc underneath. The numerals are filled with a deep blue lacquer, and the distinct Art Deco-inspired windows are set within a fan-shaped recess. In the pink gold reference W9PG11 this is sandblasted, as is a ring between the outer and inner parts of the polished precious metal front.

The French term guichet comes from a grill opening or ticket window, where two rotating discs with the hours and minutes are visible through small openings. We will forgive you if you haven’t seen this bygone concept before. Vuitton takes the idea of the Cartier, most collectors’ reference point, transforming the niche genre to perhaps spark an exciting new trend. You could also cite other independents like the visually similar but fundamentally different Andersen Geneve Jumping Hours. The Tambour Convergence has a quiet and balanced sense of proportionate elegance, with a refined play on contrasting finishes that is taken to another level with the ref. W9PT11 in platinum.

Both Louis Vuitton Convergence references have a capitalised logo at six o’clock. On the platinum version this is crafted into a fan-shaped plaque that balances out the guichets at 12. The entire centre section is set with a dazzling array of diamonds totalling 795, using a technique known as snow-setting, where all stones are fixed so closely that their settings cannot be discerned. It involves a highly experienced gem-setter who combines stones of various sizes to create one seamless glittering surface by hand. The Tambour Convergence in platinum utilises stones in seven sizes and requires 32 hours to complete. The watch is presented on a deep blue calf leather strap echoing the blue lacquer-filled hour and minute numerals.

The case of the Tambour Convergence is made in-house at the newly inaugurated La Fabrique des Boitiers. This is Vuitton’s new case-making facility, and the movement within is also new for the Convergence. The compact Calibre LFT MA01.01 is a slim, automatic movement developed entirely in-house, marking a significant step for the Manufacture. With sandblasted bridgework that exhibits micro-sandblasted edges, the juxtaposition of traditional and modern is continued from the case itself.

Contemporary chronometry standards are ensured by features that include a free-sprung balance with high-precision inertia blocks (masselots). For those who appreciate traditional watchmaking touches, details like the elegantly arched barrel click enhance the visual refinement of the Calibre LFT MA01.01. With this surprising release, we are already looking forward to seeing what other aces Louis Vuitton has up its bespoke sleeves this year.

More details at Louis Vuitton

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Amazon.com has the upcoming Casio AE-1600 series available for pre-ordering with a February 1 release date, but with an inexplicably high price of $77.94 for each model. In comparison, Casio Singapore has each model listed as coming soon for S$55 (around US$40). The very similar AE-1500 series has a list price of $29.95 per model […]

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Gerald Charles is turning 25. As most collectors will know, the man behind the brand is Gerald Genta (yes, that Gerald Genta), who made his legendary name in the 70s. But most of those famous designs – your Oaks Royale, Nautili, etc. – were commissions, not under his own label. Gerald Charles on the other hand was founded by him in 2000 and given the designer’s first and second name. So here we are, two-and-a-half decades later, and Gerald Charles are celebrating that fact with two new timepieces. On the one hand we have a magnificent tourbillon with a painstakingly hand-hammered dial; on the other, an ultra-thin number with a painstakingly made Lapis dial. They really don’t make things easy on themselves, do they?

Gerald Charles Maestro 9.0 Roman Tourbillon

The Maestro is one of the most distinctive watches in its rarefied realm of sports-adjacent dress watches. Created in 2005, the stepped, technically octagonal case was designed to show off a 6 o’clock tourbillon with that distinctive smile. In that sense, while the brand’s 2024 flagship finally brought in what Genta’s best known for – a gorgeous integrated bracelet – the Maestro 9.0 tourbillon is arguably the modern brand’s signature.

What sets this new version apart however is the dial. As alluded to earlier, rather than being engraved with some kind of pattern or texture, the white gold has been hammered by hand. The result is a beautiful, grained dial that by its very nature is irreplicable. And while I say ‘hammered’, the actual technique involved something more similar to a blunt chisel, a tiny, delicate tool that requires patience, precision and 23 hours minimum per dial. ‘Hammered’ suddenly doesn’t seem like the right word.

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t the first time Gerald Charles has used this technique, with a previous version of the Maestro 9.0 offering the same in rose gold. Personally though, the cooler, white metal here showcases the hammered finish much better, especially with the colour matching stainless steel case. Not that it’s monochromatic, of course.

To add some punch and readability to the dial, the oversized Roman numerals at 12, 3 and 9 – the 60-second tourbillon takes over 6 – are stark white and bordered in blue, matching the Maestro’s stepped bezel, which has been given a blue coating for both hardness and colour. Though let’s be honest, mainly colour.

That said, there are some nods to practicality in the Maestro 9.0. It has 100m water resistance, a rarity for a tourbillon, and the case is made from a combination of steel and titanium. It also has 5G shock resistance, which is even rarer. Top that off with a 50-hour power reserve and you have a surprisingly durable, everyday wearable tourbillon. I mean, it’s no field watch, but it’s good to know.

Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin Lapis Lazuli

While artisan hammering gets a lovely, natural grain, you can’t get better finishing than nature. Or at least geology. Semi-precious stone dials have been gaining popularity of late, but as is the case with most of his work, Gerald Genta was a fan before it was cool. Indeed, he had a particular penchant for Lapis Lazuli, the watchmaking world’s blue stone of choice. So what better gift for Gerald Charles’ 25^th anniversary and a Lapis dial?

Rather than a tourbillon, which would cut out too much of the dial to make sense, the base here is the Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin. It still has the same case shape as the rest of the Maestro line, but just 9mm thick. It’s not record breaking but my goodness it feels skinny on your wrist.

That thinness and the stone dial would obviously make you assume that this is a dress watch. But again, with 100m water resistance, some serious shock resistance and a 50-hour power reserve, it’s a good deal more practical than your standard gold number. The 39 x 41mm case is also in stainless steel, so it can take a knock or two if you’re particularly careless.

Set on a dial-matched blue rubber strap with its own splash of Clous de Paris, this is a watch that proves why Gerald Genta, even if under a slightly different name, was the master of sports luxe.

More details at Gerald Charles.

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