The Lastest Watch Blog

500 Numbered Timepieces in Support of Instituto Ayrton Senna

After the phenomenal success of the first Big Bang Senna launched in 2007 and the Big Bang Senna Foudroyante presented in Tokyo in 2009, the week-end of the São Paulo Grand Prix, and in the year of what would have been the driver’s 50th birthday – Viviane Senna and the Instituto Ayrton Senna hosted a special event on the 3rd of ovember,2010 which provided the backdrop for Hublot’s unveiling of the King Power Ayrton Senna, a limited edition of just 500 numbered timepieces with a part of the proceeds going directly to the Instituto Ayrton Senna.

Refined and powerful, made from an array of high-tech materials used in Formula 1 , some of which – like Nomex – have never before been used in watchmaking, the King Power Ayrton Senna is a split second chronograph with power reserve indicator.
It is the first time that this piece has been created in an “Aero” version, which allows the watch’s movement and motor to be admired through a skilfully open-worked dial. In addition to Ayrton Senna’s signature, displayed as a yellow transfer on the sapphire crystal of the dial at 9 o’clock (the same yellow which dominates the Brazilian flag), the piece includes a wealth of high-tech details directly inspired by Formula 1 .

The complex creation of a case made entirely from carbon fiber (a material widely used in Formula 1, a first for Hublot), a ceramic bezel with a circular-grained satin finish adorned with multiple holes to represent an F1 , brake disk, also in ceramic, a strap made from Nomex, a synthetic fibre developed by Dupont De Nemours and used – thanks to its very low combustibility and thermostability – to make the suits worn by F1 , drivers. The power reserve indicator at 6 o’clock in green, blue and red to evoke the timers used in Formula 1 , the Start, Reset and Split push buttons, the latter for the split second function and a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock.

Finally, on the back of the piece, laser engraved with yellow infill for the engraved text, the transfer portrait of Ayrton Senna is emblazoned on the sapphire case-back. The watch comes in a special Hublot presentation case, made from black ebony with a sapphire glass window decorated with a transfer of Ayrton Senna’s signature in yellow, matching the one on the sapphire crystal of the watch’s dial.

TAG Heuer Celebrates 150 Years of Pioneering Innovation with a 60-piece Limited Edition of its Transmission Belt-driven Monaco

The double-patented watch is nominated as “Design Watch of the Year” for the 2010 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève Awards

First unveiled at BaselWorld 2004, the double-patented MONACO V4 is the world’s first watch with a high-yield mechanical belt drives and a linear rewinding system.

In this new “Next Generation” version, the case is bigger (41mm instead of 39mm) and made of polished 18kt rose gold with fine-brushed silicon nitride “ceramic” inserts.

Other rose gold components are the hand-applied faceted indeces on the dial, the minute and hour hands, the small second hand at 4 o’clock, the thermo-lacquered crown at 3 o’clock, and the strap’s folding buckle. The strap itself is a soft, large-scale alligator, with anthracite hand stitching, titanium inserts and a rubberized leather lining. 

Inside, and visible through the timepiece’s AR-coated sapphire crystal front and back, the V4’s avant-garde architecture remains unchanged (tungsten ingot linear mass, two pairs of barrels in series, set in parallel and linked by belts), but the finishes have been completely revisited, with a high-resistance black ruthenium coating on the back plate and the Cotes de Geneva decorated bridges.

The black juxtaposes with the white “V4” and “TAG Heuer” engravings on the dial, and with the patented transmission and rewind white belts, now in high-contrast, high-tech white polymers exclusively developed for this version.

Limited Editions of 300 Pieces – 100 in Rose Gold, 100 in Yellow Gold, 100 in White Gold 

The cases measures 43mm x 26mm x 10mm. The crystal is an AR-coated sapphire and it is water resistant to 30 meters. 

Movement is the Swiss hand-winding Steinway caliber C60 with 19 jewels, 21,600 vph and a power reserve of 38 hours. It features a “metronome” seconds complication. 

Dials are gold and enamel. Strap is Louisiana alligator.

Limited Edition of 30 Pieces

The case, in 18kt rose gold, measures 42mm x 10.5mm. It has a sapphire crystal and display back, and is water resistant to 50 meters.

The dial is slate stone, extracted from 300 million year old geological strata. This particular slate stone, with its characteristic veined pattern, was obtained from marine sediments. 

Movement is the Swiss automatic Paul Picot caliber PP1400 (base ETA 2892) with 21 jewels, 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 42 hours. It is COSC-certified as a chronometer.

MSRP is $19,650.

Limited Edition of 500 Pieces

The flagship model of the watchmaking Manufacture in Le Brassus, the Fifty Fathoms was created in 1953 in response to a special order from French Navy combat divers unit.

50 Fathoms circa 1950 
 

From that time onwards, the Fifty Fathoms firmly established itself as the archetypal modern diver’s watch and has been interpreted since then in around twenty different versions, all distinguished by their powerful identity and their tried and tested reliability.

50 Fathoms circa 1970 
 

The case, in stainless steel, measures 45mm x 15.5mm, with 23mm lugs. It has an AR-coated sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 300 meters.

Movement is the Swiss automatic Blancpain in-house caliber 1315 with 35 jewels, comprised of 222 parts and with a power reserve of 120 hours (double-barrel).

Limited Editions of 15 Pieces Each for the Americas 

This is Richard Mille’s thinnest timepiece. These limited editions are available at authorized Richard Mille retailers in North and South America, as well as the first Richard Mille boutique in the region, which opens in Beverly Hills, California this November.

They are done in a titanium case measuring 49.8mm x 38mm x 8.25mm with a keletonized automatic winding movement with a power reserve of 55 hours and a rotor with variable geometry.

They are water resistant to 30 meters and feature double AR-coated sapphire crystals.

MSRP is $65,000.

Limited Edition of 2,000 Pieces in Steel and 200 in Rose Gold 

This version of the Chronomat 01 model comes in an exclusive finish and with a sapphire display back so that Breitling’s in-house movement can be better seen. The caliber 01 has 47 jewels, 28,800 vph and is officially certified as a chronometer by the COSC. 

The case measures 43.5mm, and both the steel and gold version feature an Onyx black dial. It is water resistant to 200 meters (steel) or 100 meters (gold).

Limited Edition of 500 Pieces 

The case, in satin-finished zirconium, measures 48mm. It has a zirconium and ceramic bezel, with disc brake decoration and with 6 H-shaped black PVD titanium screws in relief. The crystal is an AR-coated sapphire.

The lugs and lateral inserts are black composite resin. The crown is black PVD titanium with a black rubber insert. The chronograph push-pieces are done in black PVD titanium with red rubber inserts, marked START and RESET. It is water resistant to 100 meters. 

The dial is multilayered, with indeces in black nickel treatment, black SuperLuminova, F1 logo at 12 o’clock.

Movement is the Swiss automatic Hublot caliber HUB4100 with 27 jewels, 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 42 hours.

It is micro-blasted, satin-finished & rhodium-plated. The bridges are micro-blasted, bevelled & polished, with black PVD screws. The rotor is done in Tungsten carbide with black PVD treated dimpled surface.

The strap is black rubber with Hublot and F1 logo inside and black Nomex outside, and the clasp is titanium with black PVD folding mechanism.

Limited Edition of 100 Pieces 

The artist Andora is maybe only known by a small circle of art enthusiasts, but in over 30 years of his artistic activity he has made some amazing art.

The case, in titanium, measures 42mm. It has an AR-coated sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 200 meters. It features an unidirectional turning bezel in red, green, blue and yellow with different human expressions (120 divisions) and a dial with the text: “Tradition does not mean preserving the ashes but pass on the fire” in a circle.

Movement is the Swiss automatic ETA caliber Valjoux 7750 with 25 jewels, 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 42 hours. It has an Incabloc shock absorber.

Zenith joined forces with Arctic explorer Jean-Louis Etienne to develop a watch suitable for extreme situations and taxing weather conditions. Clear skies prevailed in Southern California on the evening of October 7th, but giant outdoor glacier walls, snow-white decorations and a carved ice bar turned the Westime Beverly Hills boutique into a glacial setting ideal for the timepiece’s debut.

Westime President Greg Simonian welcomed guests, and Zenith CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour described his collaboration with Jean-Louis Etienne before introducing the explorer himself. The first man to reach the North Pole on foot alone, Jean-Louis Etienne recalled his most recent expedition for which the new watch was created–his solo flight over the North Pole in a hot air balloon. Founder of Westime John Simonian and President of Zenith USA Alain Huy were also in attendance to celebrate the occasion.

Guests enjoyed specialty “Avalanche” cocktails created for the night, as well as risotto snowballs, North Pole crab cakes and peppermint profiteroles while viewing a film of Jean-Louis Etienne’s flight and perusing a large selection of Zenith watches on exclusive display for the occasion. The event concluded with a drawing to award one guest with the prize of the night: a hot air balloon excursion.

El Primero Striking “Jean-Louis Etienne” is a 500-piece limited edition, and until mid-November it will be available only at Westime Beverly Hills and Westime Los Angeles. Here is the regular edition of the El Primero Striking, which was introduced earlier this year at Baselworld.

Westime