Watches And Wonders Is Winding Down And Here's All The News From Patek, Bremont, Bell & Ross, Baume et Mercier, Parmigiani, Piaget And Ulysee Narding

In this issue:

• Patek Philippe Keeps It Classy With An Understated Perpetual Calendar And Travel Ready Watches

• Bremont Relaunches Entire Brand With Two New Lines And Major Cuts To Existing Watches

• Four New Versions Of The BR 05 Are Bell & Ross’ New Models At Watches And Wonders

• New Releases From Baume Et Mercier Show Off Their Modern and Sporty Side Just As Much As Their Traditional Watchesr

• The Return Of The Toric And An Update To The Tonda PF For Parmigiani Fleurier

• The Thinnest Tourbillon In The World And A Polo Couple Is The News From Piaget

• Ulysse Nardin Releases The Freak S 'Nomad'

Today’s reading time: 12 minutes and 24 seconds

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Patek Philippe Keeps It Classy With An Understated Perpetual Calendar And Travel Ready Watches

I made a mistake. In all the rush around Watches and Wonders, I only had a short time to look at what each brand was offering in order to figure out where to feature them. The first day was reserved for the heavy hitters from the most commercial brands. Yesterday was for the really expensive pieces that impressed me most. And today was supposed to be for what’s left over from the expensive watches and a few independents. In my initial assessment, I pushed Patek Philippe off to the side, relegating them to day three of W&W coverage. And that’s the mistake. I failed to see how fantastic their lineup is this year. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

• Starting off with the impressive grand complications 5236P, a stunning In-Line Perpetual Calendar. It comes in a platinum case that measures 41.3mm wide and 11.07mm thick, very much resembling the case of the first perpetual calendar from Patek, the 1962-released 3448. The dial is a beautiful not-quite-salmon rose gilt and the 31-260 PS QL movement has a module that allows the key calendar displays to be read in one line. You get three hands, the In-line perpetual calendar, leap year and day/night indication, and a moon phase. It won’t be limited in number, but Patek doesn’t make many of these watches and price is $141,405.

• Here’s a new white gold version of the Annual Calendar Moon Phases with a gradient blue dial, the 5396G. Blink and you’ll miss the baguette hour markers. The case measures 38.5mm wide and 11.2mm thick and inside is the automatic 26-330 S QA LU 24H with an annual calendar function. Price is set at $63,510

• Another grand complication this year is the Calatrava Pilot Alarm Travel Time 5520RG. The hefty 42.2mm wide and 11.6mm thick case comes in rose gold with white gold details, and the addition of a chiming mechanism. The dial has a grey sunburst finish and the characteristic Calatrava Pilot prominent numerals and handsets. Priced at $259,240.

• The Patek Philippe World Time Date 5330G gets a very slight update with the blue-grey dial and denim-look leather strap, something that we will see on a couple of other models later. The case is white gold, as are the applied faceted baton-style hour markers. Priced at CHF 65,000.

• Speaking of blue-grey and denim looks, here are three new Nautilus/Aquanaut watches. Starting with the Nautilus Flyback Chronograph Ref 5980/60G, it gets the same denim-patterned calfskin strap attached to a white gold case. Inside is the automatic Caliber CH 28-520 C/522 which gives you hours, minutes, a date and a flyback chronograph function. Priced at CHF 67,000.

• Next up is a new take on the 38.8mm travel time, powered by a quartz movement and set in a rose gold case that measures 8.77mm thick. It gets the same blue gray dial, but instead of the leather strap it gets a rubber one in the same shade as the dial. Interestingly, the quartz movement gets perlage and Geneva stripes finishing. Priced at $35,350.

• Last of the three is the Aquanaut Travel Time 5164G, getting the same grey blue dial and getting a white gold case which joins the 5164R in rose gold. Sad news, Patek will no longer be making the steel 5164A. The 5164G is priced at $63,043.

• The third and last grand complication from Patek Philippe is the new Rare Handcrafts Retrograde Perpetual Calendar 5160/500R. It comes in an officer case with a hinged caseback and an incredible hand engraving on the rose gold case that measures 38mm wide and 11.81mm thick. You get hours, minutes, seconds, a perpetual calendar with retrograde date hand, Day, month and leap year in apertures, and a moon phase function. Priced at CHF 171,500.

• If you have spent any time on watch social networks, you would have noticed that tiny luxury gold watches from the 1970s are making a comeback. Cartier, Piaget, Vacheron or Patek, they are all the rage. So good on Patek for capitalising on this trend with a recreation of their legendary Golden Ellipse. This is the 5738/1R, measuring in at 34.5mm by 39.5mm and 5.9mm thick, made out of rose gold. It comes on a chain-style rose gold bracelet with more than 300 links mounted by hands. Priced at $60,100.

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Bremont Relaunches Entire Brand With Two New Lines And Major Cuts To Existing Watches

Pretty huge news from Bremont this year. As the FT reported a few days ago, there have been major changes in the company. With the arrival of the new CEO, ex-Tudor CEO Davide Cerrato, it seems that not only are the English brothers practically ousted, they are trying to majorly change the brand to appeal to a younger audience (which is a weird claim, as their new line is inspired by World War I watches, not particularly youth-like). According to the FT, they are doing this by distancing them from the military and British connection the brand had towards a more adventure theme that’s supposed to serve Land, Sea and Air. They also cut about 40% of the lineup, leaving only the most iconic of watches. There’s a new logo and font, but also a brand new Terra Nova line and a radically changed Supermarine line.

Starting off with the new Terra Nova it comes in four setups - the flagship 40.5 Turning Bezel Power Reserve, the 40.5 Date, the Chronograph, and the 38. All four models have the same angular tonneau case, which give the watch a very distinct look, but I’m not so sure it will be of huge appeal to younger buyers who aren’t usually looking for characteristically 20th century case shapes for their favorites. The cases come in 38mm wide, 40.5mm wide and 42.5mm wide, so they do cover all the bases, and give off a rugged look with brushed finishing and a couple of polished details. The watches all have 100m water resistance, sapphire crystals, and crowns that seem quite large.

The dials all have the same big, bold Super-Lumi-Nova Arabic indices, and a number of dial colers. It looks like all the models share a brown dial, while the Terra Nova 38 also gets a white dial, the Terra Nova 40.5 Date a green date and the Terra Nova 40.5 Turning Bezel Power Reserve a blue dial. The Chrono comes with only a black dial and it has sunken sub-dials.

Inside, major changes but no details. Bremont was making a significant move towards in-house movement which aren’t really in house but made by a third party in Switzeland. According to the FT, this plan was scrapped and Bremont will be using a wide range of Sellita calibers. This, people in the company say, allowed them to lower their entry price to £2,500, which is not really that cheap for an entry level Sellita.

The other major update comes in the form of a brand new Supermarine 300M which come in a 40mm wide brushed case with polished chamfers. While the Supermarine used to use Bremont’s Trip-Tick three-part case, Cerrato claims these have been “more of a design trick” with “no real functionality”, so the Supermarine now gets a more generic dive case. Water resistance remains at 300 meters. The Supermarine 300M comes in time only and time and date configurations, with no indication of what the movement is.

The new Bremont Terra Nova models are priced between $2,850 and $5,700, depending on the configuration, while the Supermarine 300M carry a price tag of $3,650 to $6,250. I’m not sure what to think about these changes. Change doesn’t need to be bad. But Cerrato promised for months to give us a new and unique Bremont, only to show off a generic diver and a very retro field watch that’s supposed to appeal to younger people, all at pretty high prices. I would love to see the watches up close and make up my mind. See more on the Bremont website.

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Four New Versions Of The BR 05 Are Bell & Ross’ New Models At Watches And Wonders

Not everybody came super strong at Watches and Wonders. But that’s OK, no judgement here. Here’s Bell & Ross with four new versions of their ubiquitous BR 05 collection - one in the form of a two-tone chronograph and three black ceramic versions.

Starting off with the cases of the BR 05 collection, they all come in slightly different sizes. The Bell & Ross BR 05 Chrono Grey Steel & Gold case measures 42mm wide and 14.25mm thick and it’s made out of brushed steel and gold. The BR 05 Black Ceramic measures in at 41mm wide and 11.2mm thick. They all have sapphire crystals on top, 100 meters of water resistance and the recognisable square shape with prominent bezel on top.

The Bell & Ross BR 05 Chrono Grey Steel & Gold has a grey dial with a ruthenium coating on the dial’s sunburst finish and a bi-compax setup with prominent 12 and 6 numerals. The Ceramic gets a bit more complicated. There’s the regular edition which has a black dial, a skeletonized all-black edition and a limited edition skeleton dial with green lumed plots.

Inside the chrono version is the BR-CAL.326, which is based on the Sellita SW-510 which beats at 28,800 vph and has a 60 hour power reserve. The ceramic versions use the Sellita S300-based BR-CAL.321 automatics that beat at 28,800 vph and have a 54 hour power reserve. The chrono can be had on either a bi-metal bracelet or a black rubber strap, while the ceramic comes on either a black ceramic bracelet or a black rubber strap.

The Bell & Ross BR 05 Chrono Grey Steel & Gold is priced at $9,700 on rubber and $14,100 on the steel and gold bracelet. The Bell & Ross BR 05 Black Ceramic prices range from $6,600 to $9,700. See more on the Bell & Ross website.

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New Releases From Baume Et Mercier Show Off Their Modern and Sporty Side Just As Much As Their Traditional Watches

The releases from Baume Et Mercier seem a bit under the radar at this years Watches & Wonders, which is a shame as they have a really nice range of releases, from elegant dress watches to super sporty stuff.

• The already popular Clifton Moon Phases gets a 38mm wide and 12.2mm thick steel case, along with two new dials - a vignette blue or grey. Depending on the color, the hands and indices are either rhodium-plated or gilded, and at 6 o’clock you’ll find the moon phase and date indicator. Inside is the Baumatic BM14-1975 AC1 automatic, developed by ValFleurier and with a 120 hour power reserve. Priced at €4,950.

• The Classima model line isn’t the first one that comes to mind with Baume & Mercier, but the new Chronograph lineup will likely give it a boost. Housed in a 42mm x 13.2mm stainless steel case, it’s powered by the legendary Valjoux 7750 automatic movement with a 48-hour power reserve. Three dial colors are available - sand, blue and green. Price is €3,300.

• The Riviera is already very well known for their fantastic transparent dials that allow you to peek inside. Now they’re expanding the line with the Riviera Squallette with a 42mm wide and 11.1mm thick stainless steel cases that has a skeletonized dial. Inside, you can see the Sellita movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. Priced at €4,650.

• Not very many people associate Baume et Mercier with highly complicated watches, which is why the limited edition Riviera Perpetual Calendar released last year was a huge deal. And that’s why it sold out so fast. Well, good news, the Perpetual Calendar is now a regular production watch, although with a grey dial instead of the salmon. The 40mm wide and 11.8mm thick steel case is surprisingly compact for a QC, and inside is the Baumatic BM13-1975 AC2 movement with a Dubois-Depraz module with a 120 hour power reserve. Price is set at €21,500.

• This is an awesome one. Instead of just steel, the Acier-Titane gets a 42mm wide case that’s rendered in blue PVD-coated steel, with a grey PVD-coated titanium bezel and gold PVD chapter ring. Price is €4,750.

• Just like you don’t associate the Riviera with a Perpetual Calendar, you also don’t associate it with gold. But tell me this Riviera in a 39mm wide 18k pink gold case isn’t amazing? I would have preferred a full gold bracelet instead of an alligator strap, but this will do. There’s a grey transparent dial and gold indices and hands. Price is €20,500.

• Baume has already updated their Hampton line last year after it became clear that rectangular watches were becoming trendy again. This one, the Hampton Black Quartz, gets exactly what the name says - a quartz movement and a pitch black dial. Priced at €1,800, it might be a reasonable dress watch option.

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The Return Of The Toric And An Update To The Tonda PF For Parmigiani Fleurier

After a few years without it, Parmigiani Fleurier is bringing back the Toric line. The first three models come in 40.6mm wide cases that can be had in either rose gold or platinum. Two of the references are the Petite Second which, no surprise here, have a small seconds display at 6 o’clock, while the one left over is a rattrapante chronograph. The small seconds come with either a beige or a very light green dial, while the rattrapante comes in an almost taupe color dial.

Then, there’s the update to the ever popular Tonda PF line. Parmigiani goes back to their roots and strips away everything other than the skeletonized hour and minute hands. The dial gets a textured surface in a color the brand calls Golden Siena. New for this watch is the PF703 movement, which gets a micro-rotor, a first for the line.

The Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Petite Seconds is priced at $48,400 in gold and $55,900 in platinum, while the Rattrapante Chronograph is limited to 30 pieces and will set you back $145,200. The new Tonda PF Micro-Rotor is priced at $25,300. See more on the Parmigiani Fleurier website.

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The Thinnest Tourbillon In The World And A Polo Couple Is The News From Piaget

Piget set the watch world on fire a couple of months ago with the Piaget 79, a retro styled fully gold watch. This is why everyone was really waiting forward to see what they release at Watches and Wonders. Unfortunately, no new retro styled watches. What we did get is a decent update to the Polo line and a pretty crazy thin tourbillon.

First up is a duo of new Piaget Polo models which the company calls the Couple, as they are a perfect “his and hers” combination. The two watches come in both a 42mm wide (9.4mm thick) and a 36mm wide (8.8mm thick) size, made out of stainless steel. The smaller version gets a diamond bezel and both get taupe and rose gold dials with gadroons, those iconic vertical lines. Limited to 300 pieces, the larger is priced at $14,500 and the smaller at €21,400.

Then, there’s the new Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon. A couple of days ago, Bulgari broke the record for the thinnest watch in the world, measuring in at 1.7mm. When you think of thin watches, the last thing you would think of is tourbillons, as a tourbillon needs to move in space to do its job. Well, seems like nobody told Piaget as they just released the thinnest tourbillon watch in the world. The Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon measures in at 40.5mm wide and an incredible 2mm thick, with a case made out of a M64BC cobalt alloy. Price is on request, but don’t expect it to be anything even close to rational.

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Ulysse Nardin Releases The Freak S 'Nomad'

The Ulysse Nardin Freak occupies a unique position in watchmaking. It was a groundbreaking watch when it first came out, now more than 20 years ago, and with each iteration it pushed materials and looks forward with crazy experimentations. Two years ago, UN released the Freak S a continuation of that trend. Now, at Watches and Wonders, they are releasing the Freak S "Nomad" which uses unusual materials and technologies that put it right there on the edge of what’s possible.

The Nomad comes in a 45mm wide and 13.7mm thick case that’s made out of titanium case with an anthracite PVD-coated titanium bezel. The case flanks are made of carbon fiber, which extends to the lugs. Of course, it’s the dial, or lack thereof, where things get really crazy. That’s a guillochéd hour disc that rotates at the back of the dial and in front is the central flying carousel rotating around its axis and acting as the minute hand.

The movement is the manufacture Calibre UN-251. The movement features a twin-inclined silicon balance wheels each oscillating at 2.5Hz. Twin escapements are treated with high-tech DIAMonSIL for added precision and durability. These are linked by a vertical differential system mounted on ball bearings which is also on full display. The movement’s bridges are coated in anthracite PVD, while both the hour and minute indicators are coated in white Super-LumiNova that glows blue at night.

The new Freak S "Nomad" is limited to 99 pieces and priced at $148,300. See more on the Ulysse Nardin website.

⏲️Wait a minute

A bunch of links that might or might not have something to do with watches. One thing’s for sure - they’re interesting

• Shaun of the Dead is one of those movies that left such a deep mark on the film industry that it will likely never be erased. It was hilarious, fantastically made and brought back the idea of horror comedies. It’s also been 20 years since it came out and now director Edgar Wright and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost get together to discuss the cult film.

• Colleagues using the N-word frequently and openly. Spray-painted swastikas in the parking lot. White-power graffiti in the bathroom. Inappropriate touching and catcalling. On-the-job injuries. A lack of training. The list goes on. Bryce Covert’s cover story for The Nation is a deep dive into the rampant and blatant racism, sexual harassment, and discrimination that Black and female employees face at Tesla, and its factory in Fremont, California, in particular.

• Shaun Overton, a former programmer from Fort Worth, Texas, has a vision: to turn his 320 acres in far West Texas into a desert forest. Overton, having no formal experience in ecology, hydrology, or agriculture, has grown an audience by sharing videos on TikTok and YouTube from his property, Dustups Ranch, about his efforts to change the landscape into one of abundance. His work has caught the attention of conservationists as well as volunteers who want to help; critics, however, are skeptical, saying he should instead focus on restoring the natural habitat rather than try to grow a forest in a harsh environment and climate. Ultimately, it’s an inspiring journey.

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