The first week of October had more than its fair share of new watch announcements, with the introduction of the colourful H1 Colorblock from HYT, and on a nautical theme, some newcomers from Bell & Ross and two heavyweight Nautilus anniversary pieces by Patek Philippe. The marine theme continues this week with an article by Brice Lechevalier, recently back from the Monaco Yacht Show, where the fair’s official sponsor Ulysse Nardin unveiled a new special edition, as it does every year: the Diver Chronograph Monaco. The article, which also touches on the company’s other news including the GPHG 2016 and SIHH 2017, will be available to read on Tuesday.
« Ce mois-ci, gagnez une montre Eterna pour dames »
This week on WorldTempus you will also find interviews with the heads of two major watch companies. Before leaving for his holidays, Paul O’Neil was asked by our partner magazine Shanghai Tatler to interview Roger Dubuis CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué. The original interview was published in Chinese in the magazine’s October issue, and you will find extensive extracts on our homepage today. Another interview, another magazine, this time closer geographically, since GMT and WorldTempus share the same offices: GMT’s editor-in-chief discusses the first three years as head of the company with Van Cleef & Arpels CEO Nicolas Bos. You can read it on Wednesday. Staying with GMT, the Great Magazine of Timepieces has announced the launch of its Middle East version this November.
Camille Gendre has been wearing a Corum Bubble watch for the past few days, which hasn’t gone unnoticed around the office. On Friday she will be playing her Joker (that’s the name of this colourful model) and sharing her impressions. As for myself, today I look at my favourite perpetual calendars from IWC’s Top Gun, Ingenieur, Aquatimer and Portugieser collections (LINK). Next Thursday I’ll be back with one of the watches shortlisted for the GPHG 2016, the uncompromising Hublot Big Bang Impact Bang. Finally, we end the week in football stadiums all over the globe in the company of TAG Heuer.
We actually debuted the Seafender versions of this Admiral’s Cup watches when the Seafender 47 Tourbillon GMT premiered in 2011. At 47mm wide, Corum decided it was fitting at the yacht watch set to make an aluminum-cased tourbillon. There was also an 18k red gold version. While these Seafender Tourbillons are admittedly interesting, I just find no company putting them inside of Admiral’s Cup-style cases. The above mentioned model with diamonds has one of the strangest personalities I have seen all year. It isn’t an issue of good or poor even though it is not for me, it is more a matter than it twists the DNA of the Admiral’s Cup set so much it’s all but lost some meaning.On paper, the Corum Admiral’s Cup Chronograph Tourbillon 47 Seafender sounds like a worthy idea. It’s a lot of interesting features and slick materials like the sum of its components could actually be tremendously provocative. Instead, we have a watch built like a Cadillac that contrasts with an Abrams tanks. These worlds of aggressive luxury boating and high-end complications just don’t meld together properly in my eyes.Rather than partner a tourbillon using a GMT complication, this Seafender marries a tourbillon and a chronograph – back using a dial to get the date. Powering the watch is your caliber CO 398 automatic that’s fairly wonderful. If you recall what I said about the initial Corum Seafender view it had been that the movement view looked better than the dial. The caliber CO 398 is rare, being an automatic for a tourbillon, also in addition to that, it is a tourbillon that operates at 4 Hz. The 60 second chronograph is column-wheel established, and the dial features a nice window to the tourbillon (using a Corum key emblem on it). This dial is much more composed than the Seafender GMT, but that variant with the tiny round-cut diamonds really from the sub dials just doesn’t do it for me personally. Allow me to ask you, although I really do feel that there is a place for diamonds on an Admiral’s Cup case (especially baguette-cut ones)… are they really helping anyone by being on the dial just like that?
Our October competition will make our readers dream of Paris’s hallowed clay courts, as we are offering a magnificent Longines Conquest 1/100th Roland Garros in steel worth CHF 1,500. It could be yours – all you have to do is enter!
In conclusion, the entire WorldTempus team is delighted to welcome Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud as a partner. The young company’s first timepiece has already charmed the jury of the GPHG 2016, which pre-selected it for the final round of the competition. Welcome and good luck to Ferdinand Berthoud.
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