Watches & Wonders, the world’s largest watch show, is in full swing in Geneva. The highly anticipated cascade of new releases is marked by confident individual brand identities — perhaps a sign that watchmakers are done scrambling through the violent collision of restricted supply and soaring demand for high end watches. All seem to be back on solid footing.
“Up/Down” refers to the unique power reserve indicator at 6 o’clock. It indicates the fully wound AUF status and AB status of the movement, at which point the hand will pivot to the red section, indicating it’s time to wind the watch. If you can’t get your hands on one of the 125 pieces of this blue Datograph Up Down, it’s good to know the model is still available in a platinum and pink-gold with black dials.
Meanwhile, within the watch is Grand Seiko’s Calibre 9SA5, an automatic hi-beat caliber that brings together numerous Grand Seiko technologies: Boasting twin barrels, 47 jewels, and the brand’s Dual-Impulse Escapement, it offers 80 hours of power reserve despite an unusually high beat-rate of 36,000 vph.
Available in a dress watch format based upon the 44GS of 1967, the new Caliber 9SA4 is housed in a 38.6mm titanium or 18K rose gold case boasting a sapphire box crystal, a sapphire caseback, 30 m of water resistance, and a thickness of just 9.95 mm. Both expressions come paired to a crocodile strap with a three-fold clasp featuing a push-button release system, and both feature a white birch tree-inspired dial.
To hear the chime of the hours, quarters and minutes, simply engage the dedicated slide on the side of the case. Once you do, hammers will strike the elongated U-shaped branches of the steel gong visible around the edge of the dial, a “tuning fork” structure designed to ensure optimal resonance.With a case made up of “a circle within a round shape” and a crown positioned at 1 o’clock, the new Hermès Cut collection offers a playful commentary on silhouettes.
Perpetual calendar watches adjust for leap years every fourth February. The Portugieser Eternal Calendar piece before you, thanks to a newly engineered 400-years gear, accurately takes leap-year exception rules into account and skips three leap years over four centuries .
The flying minute tourbillon itself consists of 56 parts and weighs only 0.675 grams . The globe-shaped day and night indicator at 9 o’clock is visible both from the dial and the movement sides of the watch, while the movement’s gold-plated works can be observed through the sapphire case back.A huge amount of R&D has gone into the dial colors in all the new Portugiesers unveiled , according to Grainger-Herr.