The Marine Torpilleur

From Ulysse Nardin -

Available in three different versions:

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

A 42 mm stainless-steel Marine Torpilleur with a white dial.

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

 A blue dial with stainless bracelet.

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

And a 42 mm 18 kt rose gold model.

Here are the pertinents, straight form the source -

Movement

caliber UN-118, 13 3⁄4‘’’
In-house designed movement
Escapement, patented DIAMonSIL
Oscillator: patented inertial balance wheel I 10 with silicium hairspring

Power Reserve

approximately 60 hours

Winding

self-winding

Functions

chronometer COSC with power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock small direct seconds and round date window at 6 o’clock forward and backward date corrector

Case
18 kt rose gold or stainless steel

Bezel
fluted, 18 kt rose gold or stainless steel

Dial
white or blue with roman numerals

Crown
screw down security crown 

Diameter
42 mm

Water-resistance
50 m

Crystal 
anti-reflective sapphire crystal

Case-back
open case-back with sapphire crystal

Strap
leather strap with folding buckle or stainless steel bracelet

The Stars and Stripes Forever

Ordinarily I am not super fussed about movement decoration.  That's just me, and should not be taken as any sort of definitive statement as to the importance or lack thereof.  I think the main reason is that it is usually something reserved for mega-high end pieces.  Or, as in the case of a certain would-be movement manufacturer based near the sunny Pacific coast, the end result of "finishing" of the movement renders a look not dissimilar to something being polished with a hot Hershey bar.

And that is why the Stars and Stripes offering from Stowa caught my eye.

Courtesy of Stowa

The look is at once industrial, and whimsical.  The basis is the ETA 2801-2.  And instead of trying to be something that they are not, the folks at Stowa laid out an achievable design that fills, but does not overwhelm the canvas of the base movement.

This is a limited offering from Stowa and there are a few incentives for those interested in purchasing a watch with this option:

If you order your hand wound Stowa watch with this option, you can get it at a very special price.  For the early birds who order a hand-winding Stowa watch priced below 750 Euros before October 24th, this movement upgrade will cost the princely sum of 50 Euros.  But wait!  If the price of the watch is 750 Euros or more, then the movement upgrade is free!

But as with anything special, it is time sensitive, and limited in scope.  After October 24th the price of this movement option will increase to 150 Euros, regardless of the model you order.

Stowa also stressed one final point 

(at this moment we have around 50 movements available, not knowing if we can do this version of movement anymore !) 

My understanding is that the Stowa website will be updated TOMORROW (that is Wednesday, October 19th), to add this option.