New Arrivals
The watch fairs of Geneva and Basel now seem to be merely a distant memory...
New Arrivals
The watch fairs of Geneva and Basel now seem to be merely a distant memory but time moves quite quickly these days and already some of the watches that were launched have started to land in the country.
The main trends of the collections this year seems to be that rose gold continues its renaissance, chronographs have a huge prominence and that there is a strong male bias. The watch houses that are obviously ‘on a roll’ include Patek Philippe with their manually wound chronographs, Audemars Piguet with the Formula 1 inspired GP chronograph collection and IWC who added to the already hugely impressive Portuguese collection.
Patek Philippe made sure that the ladies were not forgotten about by releasing the 7071 in rose and white gold.
Here are some of the highlights of what we can expect during the rest of the year:
Patek Philippe
As I mentioned previously, the Patek Philippe collection was hugely impressive and one of the highlights for me was the 5980 Nautilus chronograph in rose gold. Originally released in 2006, the chronograph version is available for the first time in rose gold with a brown alligator strap. A truly gorgeous timepiece.
As well as this Patek Philippe made sure that the ladies were not forgotten about by releasing the 7071 in rose and white gold. Using the CH 29-535 PS caliber, 7071 shows that high end watch making is not just exclusively for men.
IWC continued their program of refreshing part of each family of their collection every 5 years
IWC
IWC continued their program of refreshing part of each family of their collection every 5 years. This year the Portuguese got the attention that it truly deserves with the launch of the Yacht Club Chronograph. Once again, oversize cases are the name of the game but this only tells part of the story. The Portuguese is now a true bona fide sports watch in a 48 mm case with rubber strap, see through case back and water resistant to 100m. The watch is powered by the exclusive in-house IWC calibre.
TAG Heuer came back with a vengeance with the release of the Monaco 24.
TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer came back with a vengeance with the release of the Monaco 24. Released last year as a concept watch, the Monaco 24 received such rave reviews that TAG Heuer were given little alternative but to release it onto the market.
The Monaco 24 appears to be a regular Monaco chronograph but on steroids! Made in black PVD steel in an oversize case, with an oversize 24 at 12 o’clock and bearing the blue and orange livery of the Gulf car that Steve McQueen drove in the film Le Mans, this watch could have come directly from the Mulsanne straight. The watch also contains a world first with its unique ADAS shock absorption system to prevent damage from sudden impacts.
