Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Tourbillon Chronograph

In 2020, Vacheron Constantin replica draws inspiration from fashionable people in the city, but uses the predictable “Traditionnelle” packaging. In recent years, the most popular Swiss-made tourbillon chronograph watch that collectors talk about is produced by TAG Heuer. In fact, the Heuer 02-T movement is a high-performance Swiss-made automatic chronograph tourbillon. This year, Vacheron Constantin launched the Tradionnelle Tourbillon Chronograph… They added zero to the above price.

Generally speaking, the price of a chronograph tourbillon movement has always been relatively high-end, but it is almost definitely an ultra-modern (rather than classic) watch. The late BNB concept movement manufacturer specializes in exotic chronograph tourbillons, which were later transferred to Hublot when buying talent during the last recession.

Having said that, it is not that you can’t find some interesting chronograph tourbillon watches on the market, they taste more retro. For me, some of the best examples are produced by A. Lange & Sohne in Germany (which owns the same parent company as Vacheron Constantin). The 2020 Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Tourbillon Chronograph combines a chronograph and a tourbillon complication for the first time. This is the first time I recall in the brand’s series of production Review luxury watches. It uses the existing sports architecture, but uses a new mechanism that looks like a real winner on the wrist.

The movement is an internally manufactured Vacheron Constantin 3200 movement-a mechanism certified by the Geneva Seal. The movement is manually wound, has a power reserve of 65 hours and runs at a relatively small frequency of 2.5 Hz. This slower operating frequency does have an advantage, that is, there is a very beautiful heartbeat animation in the rotating tourbillon frame. For collectors, the true value of such a watch is that they can combine the visual appeal of watching a finely processed large-diameter slow-speed tourbillon with the tactile experience of a winding mechanism (as shown by the power reserve indicator). As specified)) and cycle the chronograph operation through the single push button placed on the crown handle. Yes, in other words, this watch is an extremely elegant toy that can calm anxious eyes and irritated hands.

The chronograph measures a special 45 minutes, which I believe is good for football games. The system uses a column-wheel drive system, and in terms of the activation system, Vacheron Constantin has created an all-or-nothing activator in a single button to prevent accidental pressing or damage to the movement. The movement composed of 292 parts is completely hand-decorated (high cost). The tourbillon is also placed at the 12 o’clock position, which is not common for brands-at first glance, one might think that this is a tourbillon model by Carl F. Bucherer. Interesting tip: Vacheron Constantin discussed how the tourbillon frame in the 3200 movement is powered by the seconds hand. This is the opposite of the fourth wheel on the gear train, as part of the open window on the dial, it obviously allows a clearer view behind the tourbillon frame. fake Vacheron Constantin

As the tourbillon chronograph belongs to the Traditionnelle series, the dial adopts elegant brand-style toffee hands and matching pink gold hour markers. The case width is 42.5 mm, but the thickness is only 11.7 mm, so the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Chronograph should not be worn too much. However, the waterproof depth of the case is only 30 meters.

Back to the dial, I know it is classic, but why does the brand seem to need to print the tachymeter scale on two-thirds of the chronograph? No one has used these scales for so long, and no one has considered using a certain type of scale for a chronograph that may have more modern relevance, which seems a shame. Think about it, we value these watches because they will not harass our eyes with unnecessary decorations or false design elements. We have always been crazy about the markings on the chronograph dial, and no one actually needed to use these markings for 40 years. I will let Vacheron Constantin slip because “Traditionelle” is the name of the product, but moving forward, I hope to see designers pretending that people today might want to use these watches for certain purposes instead of supporting the tycoon on the wrist.

Traditionnelle Tourbillon Chronograph is undertaken by Vacheron Constantin’s large-scale complication department. However, because its appeal is so heartfelt, it is very easy to understand intellectually. Of course, it has a high entry cost, but it is a traditional Swiss tourbillon with the Geneva Seal. If you are not the elite few who can afford all the hand-touching, then the TAG Heuer solution may be a viable option for you. I look forward to putting this Vacheron Constantin on my wrist.

In-depth Zenith embraces the future with Defy Extreme

Double the gear train and double the fun.

I really like the stylish and thick sports watches that were born from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. I have asked Saori, Rich and Sean in our retro team to keep looking for the super mint Heuer Kentucky. Or Mark II Speedmaster. But what I really have been bothering them is the old Zenith Defy from the 1970s with a trapezoid bracelet.

I have tried them when they landed in the store before, and when I visited Zenith Manufacture in Le Locle recently, when I was in Geneva Auction Week in Switzerland, I was able to deal with almost the same example, Zenith Product Development Director and Heritage Director Romain Marietta .

Zenith Defy was born in 1969. It is a series of sturdy and durable watches with unique design, a few years before the development of luxury sports watch types. The octagonal tonneau-shaped case, the 14-sided bezel, the Gay Fréres trapezoid bracelet-enough to drive a person crazy. At Le Locle, the experience has been improved by comparing the latest high-tech Defy version with its older predecessor.

Zenith kindly lent me a sample of the new Defy Extreme for 2021, which is a bold extension of the company’s contemporary flagship product, Defy 21. When looking at Defy Extreme for the first time, it is easy to overlook this line as an ambitious attempt to capture advanced 21st century watch design in a bottle. Its frosted case is full of hard corners and corners, which is true; in addition, the case design is closely related to the Zenith Defy series in the early 1970s. The new Defy is not only Zenith’s response to the high-tech world of watchmaking in the 21st century, but also a way for the Swiss company to finally express a forgotten part of its history.

I chatted with Zenith CEO Julien Tornare when I was in Switzerland and asked him how Defy fits the brand’s goals today, especially since works like Chronomaster Sport and Chronomaster Original have won all awards and headlines this year.

“Defy is about bringing our timekeeping expertise and our mastery of chronographs into the 21st century. Defy is about today and tomorrow. Chronomaster is about yesterday and today. For me, Defy is the locomotive that drives the brand forward.” luxury swiss watches

What makes it ticking
The special feature of Defy is intricately connected with the internal movement. The El Primero 9004 calibre is one of the few chronograph movements in the history of horology, which can record up to one hundredth of a second. Zenith managed to achieve this goal with the central chronograph second hand, which can make a lightning-fast rotation around the dial every second. In the past, some other watch brands have reached similar speeds, including TAG Heuer, FP Journe and Montblanc, but Zenith was one of the first companies to apply this technology to the production of watches.

The 9004 movement is based on the original El Primero architecture, but contains a secondary gear train and a high-frequency escapement running at 360,000 vph or 50 Hz, and a second main barrel. The normal timing part of the watch is similar to the traditional El Primero, with a frequency of 5 Hz, or 36,000 vph, and then a specific part of the movement’s auxiliary stopwatch, which is isolated, so it does not consume energy for the basic timing mechanism. There is no clutch to connect the two separate parts of the whole-although both are integrated on the same main board-so running the chronograph will cause the timing fluctuation or amplitude loss of the main time display to be zero.

The fact that each regulation system has an independent power reserve illustrates this most clearly. Traditional hours and minutes have the standard El Primero 50-hour power reserve, while the chronograph can only run in 50-minute increments. Have you noticed that the Defy Extreme has no sub-dial for elapsed hours? This is why.

Although the two main barrels are independent of each other, they are wound individually. Traditional chronographs are wound by a rotor or by turning the crown counterclockwise, while the chronograph can only be wound by manually turning the crown clockwise-it takes about 50 laps to provide enough power for the chronograph. In order to track the running time of the chronograph, the power reserve is located at 12 o’clock.

Due to the great emphasis on the internal movement of the Defy Extreme, fake Zenith uses a partially open dial with colored sapphire crystals. You can see the main chronograph balance wheel at 8 o’clock, and its main barrel is located at 12 o’clock; the independent chronograph balance wheel can be seen through the sapphire crystal glass back. When the chronograph started, it was running at an incredible 360,000 bph (50 Hz!), moving so fast, it was almost impossible to tell if it was moving. (One of my favorite details of hollow Zenith watches is the star-shaped silicon escape wheel.)

Since Defy Extreme can measure up to one hundredth of a second, Zenith ensures that it can be done clearly. There is a scale ring on the rehaut, measuring 1 to 100, and then three sub-dials-chronograph minutes at three o’clock, chronograph seconds at six o’clock, and running seconds at nine o’clock. Unlike the traditional El Primero 400 and El Primero 3600, the date window is placed on the bench.

I have always considered Zenith to be one of the most intellectually satisfactory watch companies in the past or present. My opinion is correct when wearing Defy Extreme, even if its naming convention sounds like it was born out of the syrupy haze of Mountain Dew’s marketing department.

Zenith is one of the few large watch companies that only uses its own mechanical movements. The company uses zero-source movements in any currently produced watches. This is a very rare thing. For luxury brands, Zenith’s operations also focus on accessibility. I mentioned that Zenith was one of the first watchmakers to put the ability to measure elapsed time to one hundredth of a second, and its price was less than $50,000. But I didn’t mention-dare I say-how extreme the difference is. If you appreciate the technical advantages inside, Defy Extreme offers an impressive value proposition.

Finally, Defy Extreme runs as a larger platform-45mm × 15.4mm-demonstrating Zenith’s overall technical capabilities. Similar to how we look at Lange and salivate for their high-tech achievements in Double and Triple Split, we should look at the high-tech achievements of Zenith’s El Primero 3600 and El Primero 21 in the same way.

Some of you may have read these dimensions and moaned. However, if you happen to find yourself in a room with Defy Extreme, please keep trying. You will realize that the combination of size and weight causes its wear to be different from anything else. The presence of the wrist is definitely there, but it will not make you feel frustrated or attract undue attention. I wore it and a suit jacket to participate in the GPHG, while running around in Geneva to participate in different auctions and wearing different formal shirts. I naturally forgot to wear it on my wrist many times.

I also showed it to the gathered collectors and pressed as much as possible. guess what? People think it’s cool-because it’s really cool. Among them was John Goldberger wearing a vintage Longines watch, who nodded to me in agreement.

I have a few people commented that Defy Extreme represents the trend of Zenith jumping on integrated bracelets. Or perhaps showing a certain degree of undue influence flowing from Hublot’s recklessness, Zenith is the young partner of LVMH’s watchmaking department-although more successful-stable. I don’t think so. I showed those people the old-fashioned Defy photos I showed you to prove my point.

Zenith was always there and did it.

Compared with the previous version of Defy 21, the biggest surprise for me with Defy Extreme is that I like it. Yes, it is bigger and has fewer colors (I think the Defy 21 model does a very good job-I love some UV light), but the micro-blasted titanium on my sample watch is very smooth and has an attractive matte finish Bronze beauty. Compared with the first time I saw news pictures, this watch reads much quieter in human eyes.

On the wrist, the appearance is very coherent, full of sharp corners, clean facets, and a sculptural form, which smiles knowingly under the slim architectural silhouette of Bulgari Octo Finissimo. The matching titanium three-chain bracelet is also a new existence. Its strong lines and one-piece appearance immediately caught my attention. Unlike most other integrated bracelets, Defy Extreme uses a proprietary tool-free system that allows you to easily switch between it, the provided textured rubber strap, and an additional Velcro strap. Although I recently stated that I don’t like rubber straps, I mainly wear fashion watches on rubber straps. Life is full of contradictions-oh well.

Defy Extreme is the rare watch I can imagine, which can attract retro minds as well as technical fanatics. It has the same appeal as a fully equipped G-Shock, I mean the absolute best way. (First remind my roommates, let them find the similarities first.) It is this kind of watch that makes you feel adventurous.

Defy Extreme is a large, eye-catching and powerful watch. Despite its large size, it is very convenient to wear. This is the kind of watch I can imagine that can be paired with a collection full of vintage watches-how cool it is to be invited just to watch the central pointer zoom around the dial once a second. Surprise, surprise, people like fast-moving things.

Zenith did not receive enough praise for continuing to develop its iconic El Primero movement. But I don’t even want to propose the traditional El Primero in the context of the Defy series. It seems that the ability of hundredths of a second will continue to be exclusive to the bigger and bolder Defy, and Chronomaster has received a new tenth of a second movement-El Primero 3600-as seen in the original Chronomaster Sport and Chronomaster .

“Our world is timekeeping and precise,” Tonar said. “We must continue to break through the limitations in this area. This is not easy, because technically speaking, how far can you go? There are some limitations in physics that you cannot go beyond.”

The Defy series will not go anywhere. It was 50 years old two years ago, just like El Primero did, although not so much fanfare.

Although El Primero has brought Zenith copy for the past half a century, if we listen to Tornare’s vision, it is clear that watches like Def​​y Extreme will push the company to new heights and move forward.

HYT watch-H1 Alinghi

The new H1 Alinghi from HYT Watches is the result of a collaboration between the Swiss brand and Alinghi-now in its third year-Alinghi is the two-time Copa America champion of the world-famous sailing team and the first European team to win a historic championship. prize.

The new H1 Alinghi is limited to 20 pieces and is the most technologically advanced model in this special partnership.
Many elements of the vessel that inspired it.

The most striking of these elements is the rigging crisscrossing the lower half of the dial. Customized design, it passes through the four holes on the flange, and then is fixed to the three central holes. The result is an unmistakable nod to the yachting world. best fake watches

On the back, the structure of H1 Alinghi echoes the deck of the yacht. The gray sandblasted finish emphasizes the high-tech DNA.

The dial can read the time through the liquid in the capillary to create the iconic fluid time.

Two liquids—the first is transparent and the second is black—flow through a tube along the outer hour markers. Two flexible reservoirs at six o’clock are fixed at each end of the capillary. When the first one compresses, the second one expands, and vice versa, causing the liquid in the capillary tube to move. The repulsive force of the molecules in each liquid separates them, and the meniscus marks the boundary between the two.

In order to improve the readability in the dark, fake HYT installed it on a channel full of Super-LumiNova. At night, the translucent part of the capillary will reflect light so that the opaque time display can be read.

To achieve the best lightness and rigidity, this timepiece is equipped with offset lugs and crown guards, made of folded and forged carbon, and assembled on a titanium middle piece.

Other elements specifically designed for H1 Alinghi include the small seconds of the mainsail roller blind at 9 o’clock, the power reserve in the shape of a winch at 3 o’clock, the jumper Alinghi logo at 6 o’clock, and the power reserve and the ball on the minute hand. The team’s iconic red.

The 48.8 mm x 17.9 mm case is equipped with a manual winding mechanical movement. The HYT movement vibrates 28,800 times per hour and has a power reserve of 65 hours.

HYT H1 Alinghi (model 148-TC-09-NF-RC) is made of a reinforced fabric made of fire-resistant and anti-allergic fibers, and is equipped with a dark charcoal gray strap with black topstitching and a titanium folding clasp.

Jacob & Co. Astronomy Sky Celestial Body Panoramic Gravity Three-axis Tourbillon Watch

At Baselworld 2016 (Baselworld 2016), Jacob & Co. launched a new and fascinating astronomical giant watch called Jacob & Co. Astronomical celestial panoramic gravity three Axis tourbillon. “Jacob&Co. Astronomia Sky” is not intended to replace the original Jacob&Co. Astronomia Sky, but adds some complexity and is actually smaller in size.

The size of Jacob & Co. Astronomia Sky is only 50 mm wide in standard astronomy, with a “width” of only 47 mm and a thickness of 25 mm. No one will be slim because of such a watch, because it is slim, but Jacob & Co. was asked to make a more wearable watch for its interesting astronomers. Also note that our Jacob & Co. Astronomical celestial panoramic gravitational three-axis tourbillon image is a pre-production prototype. One of the most critical missing elements in this prototype watch is the lack of anti-reflective coating on the sapphire crystal. This makes the readability quite poor, and it is almost impossible to photograph the details of the fake watch through the crystal. Suffice it to mention, because the “final” version of the watch will not have these dazzling crystal issues.

The first appearance of the Jacob & Co. Astronomical Observatory Panoramic Gravity Three-axis Tourbillon Watch uses an 18k rose gold case with a large domed sapphire crystal on the top and a middle sapphire crystal ring on the side of the case. It makes viewing the inside and movement of the watch very simple and attractive. And, yes, there is a pen that can be used together. Well, actually these pens are used as a whole with the astronomy series of watches, they are produced by Italy Visconti in cooperation with Jacob & Co.. These are also pre-production prototypes, and they will be in 18k rose gold and 18 white gold.

The whole gist of astronomy is to provide a “four-arm” movement with a time dial (as the entire movement structure rotates on its axis, it rotates to stay upright), a tourbillon (technically in two Move on the pivot point) the rotating second hand indicator and the rotating ball opposite to the second hand. replica Jacob & Co. Astronomy’s Sky more or less retains this feature (although the style and execution are different) and adds some astronomical complexity.

Looking around the dial from the side of the case, you will see a monthly indicator that uses a small hand to closely follow the 12-month scale and completely surround the face. Now, look at the center of the four-arm motion structure. On top of it, you will find a small sphere designed to look like the earth. The earth ball has a hemispherical band around it to act as a day/night indicator. Pay attention to the two pivot points here. They are the 24-hour rotation of the day/night indicator and the fact that the earth rotates every 20 minutes, because this is the rotation time of the four-arm movement. The small “ball” itself is made of titanium, then painted and carved by hand. https://www.moonphase-watch.com