Baltic Unveil Gold PVD Black Editions of the MR01, HMS 002 and Bicompax 002

French watch brand Baltic have been going from strength to strength this year, and while the sale of their extremely exciting Experiments Premier Quatrième Perpétual has been delayed by the postponement of Only Watch, they’re determined to have a strong close to 2023 with the launch of three of their classical time pieces in new golden colourways. They’re the MR01, HMS 002 and Bicompax 002 Gold PVD Black.

This is a pretty easy set of releases to understand, they’ve taken the steel cases of the watches and given them gold PVD coatings. That’s the 36mm case of the MR01, the 38mm step case of the HMS 002 and the 38mm step case of the Bicompax 002 chronograph.

Each watch has a rich, yellow lustre that gives them an elegant aesthetic to suit their retro, Art Deco influences. If you’re unfamiliar with PVD it stands for “physical vapour deposition” and is a technique for applying an extremely thin coating of a material onto another surface by vaporising it in a vacuum and then depositing it atom by atom to create a uniform coating.

Gold has also been used across the Gold PVD Black models’ dials with polished and applied numerals across all three, as well as golden hands. It pairs incredibly well with the black dials and dark brown accents for the various sector display decorations, subdials and railway minute tracks. The overall impression reminds me of the Furlan Marri Nero Sabbia, which had a similar black and dark tan display. However the Nero Sabbia didn’t go the extra step of having a golden case as well.

Beyond the updated colourways, these are the watches we’re already familiar with. The MR01 is a dress watch with Breguet numerals and the micro-rotor movement Hangzhou CAL5000a. Then the HMS 002 is a time only display (HMS stands for Hours, Minutes, Seconds) housing the Miyota 8315 automatic with 60-hour power reserve. Lastly there’s the Bicompax 002 chronograph which uses the Seagull ST1901.

As for pricing and availability, the MR01 Gold PVD Black is €545 (approx. £470), the HMS 002 is €385 (approx. £335) and the Bicompax 002 is €565 (approx. £490). The MR01 and Bicompax 002 are both set for delivery in December 2023 with the HMS 002 being delivered in January 2024. While they’re not as exciting releases as a something like brand new collection such as the Hermétique, these more prestigious renditions of Baltic’s most classy models are a great way to tie a bow on 2023.

More details at Baltic.

​Oracle Time 

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