I Fall In Love Too Easily...The Cimier 711 Pop Pink

Cue Chet Baker -

This is the Cimier 711 Pop Pink, and I am in love!

Passing through the NYC Wind-Up show before we kicked off The HYPE the next day, I got a chance to see this little wrist-rocket from Cimier.

As the unofficial head of the North American FC Biel/Bienne Football Club as well as Biel/Bienne Hockey, I know that when you are leaving the stadia complex, you will see the Cimier offices as you turn out onto the roadway. So suffice it to say, I feel a certain affinity with this one ; )

The asking price is CHF 2’575.00
Excluding taxes. Here are the pertinents -

TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATIONS

Functions

Hours, Minutes, Chronograph, Tachymeter, Telemeter

Case Material

Stainless steel 316L

Case Diameter

39.5 mm (47mm lug to lug)

Case Thickness

14.45mm

Crystal

Box sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the inside

Case Back

Secured by 8 screws, with sapphire crystal

Movement

CIM 100 automatic chronograph (based on the Valjoux 7750)

Dial

Pink, Sand-blasted, with tachymeter and telemeter scales

Indices

Printed markers with voluminous C1 X1 grade Super-LumiNova®

Hands

Facetted hands with Super-LumiNova®

Bracelet

Choice of Calfskin leather strap, Steel mesh bracelet or Steel bracelet

Buckle

Pin buckle for leather strap / Safety folding clasp for steel bracelets

Power reserve

48 hours

Water-resistance

10 ATM / 100m

The Rallychron

From Ollech & Wajs -

Courtesy of Ollech & Wajs

Editor's Note - James Henderson is the North American Representative for Ollech & Wajs.

This is the latest offering from Ollech & Wajs - the Rallychron.

Courtesy of Ollech & Wajs

This new chronograph is of stainless steel, measuring 39.5 mm in diameter.

The movement is Valjoux's 7753 automatic. 

As I am the North American representative, I am providing you with the facts straight from Geneva, no added commentary from yours' truly ; )

The OW Rallychron is a love letter to the golden era of motor racing and the legendary circuits that bore witness to the most memorable moments in the sport’s history. One of the defining features of this era was the sheer diversity of racing circuits and the challenges they presented. From the fast and flowing tracks like Monza and Spa-Francorchamps to the tight and twisty streets of Monaco, each circuit demanded different skills from drivers and teams. The bezel of the Rallychron features hypothetical historic ‘perfect lap’ times for 11 of the world’s most iconic race tracks. It also bares the characteristics of Ollech & Wajs classic competition chronographs and rally timers from the 60s and 70s.

TECHNICAL SPECS

Dimensions

39.5 mm × 15.3 mm

Case

Brushed 316L stainless steel heritage-type chronograph case, screwed back, screw-down crown, twin pushers with 4 gaskets

Date adjusted by special diving pusher at 10 o’clock

Bezel

Black PVD-coated rotating, unidirectional bezel with 11 perfect lap times and tachymetric scale

Crystal

Sapphire crystal with anti-glare treatment

Dial

Chequered baton hands with white Super-LumiNova®

Seconds register, 30-minute timer and 12-hour totaliser

Both the main chronograph hand and 30-minute timer hand are tipped with Orange Super-LumiNova®, for maximum visibility.

Water resistance

300 m / 30ATM

Movement

Automatic Valjoux 7753 chronograph OW PRECISION 5, position adjusted, 27 jewels

28,800 bph, with a power reserve of +/- 54 hours

Mainplate: engraved Ollech & Wajs Zurich 1956 and OW-machined rotor

Strap

20 mm black leather racing-style strap, with natural tan underside, handmade in Italy and finished in Switzerland; with a brushed stainless steel thorn buckle, signed ‘OWZ 1956’

M-Heritage bracelet (optional)

20 mm medium gauge, stainless steel mesh bracelet, hand-brushed, reinforced ends, with an OW-engraved thorn buckle

Origin

Handmade in the Swiss Jura

The New Pilot LE.1 GMT Chronometer

From Brellum -

Courtesy of Brellum

The case is of stainless steel, and measures 41.80mm.

                                                            Courtesy of Brellum

The movement is listed as the BR-754 GMT which is based on the Valjoux 7754.

This one is limited to 23 pieces total, so if it's in your wheelhouse, I suggest you don't dawdle ; )

Price (incl. VAT and shipping worldwide) approx. USD3450 / £3120 / €3520 / CHF 3150.-

Here are the pertinents -

Caliber 

BRELLUM BR-754 GMT Automatic Chronometer (Valjoux 7754 base) 

Certification Officially Chronometer certified (COSC) 

Decoration 

Perlage, Geneva stripes, blue screws, Brellum Pilot 4N coated rotor 

Movement

Automatic 28'800 A/h, 25 jewels, 46 hours power reserve; Incabloc, Glucydur Balance, Nivarox Alloy Hairspring typ Anachron 

Functions 

Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date window, GMT hand, 12 hours chronograph, stop-second 

Case 

Stainless Steel 316L, DIN 1.4435, Diameter 41.80mm, thickness: 11.70mm without crystals, 15.90mm total 

Crystal 

Box sapphire crystal on top and back with anti-reflection coating (inside) 

Dial 

Multi-level dial, Silver/white opaline, satined indices with Super-Luminova 

Hands 

Satined with Super-Luminova material 

Water resistance 

100m, 10ATM, 100% tested 

Case back 

exhibition stainless steel case back, with sapphire crystal and antireflection coating inside, numbered from 01/23 to 23/23 

Strap 

Delivered with: 1 x black Nubuck Pilot strap with stainless steel deployment buckle and 1 x stainless steel bracelet and tools for sizing

The One That Got Away - The Pioneer Mk I

From Hanhart -

Courtesy of Hanhart

It has now been just about ten years since I worked (very briefly and very limitedly) with Hanhart. It was an interesting time, new owners, new management, and the attempt to pull what had been up to that time (in fairness) fairly dormant. A lot of money was pumped in, a lot of communication, a lot of effort. In the end, the owners and the managers fell out, the end the owner sold the brand and new management came in.

Actually, I am getting a little ahead of myself. In between, perhaps one of the sharpest operators in the Swiss watch business came in and through a fairly exhaustive audit process helped clean things up so that the brand could be sold to new owners.

Enter the new owners. And in fairness, now several years on it seems that Hanhart is growing in a nice, sane and positive manner. New models have been introduced, with a few limited edition drops selling out completely. It is a far cry from the Hanhart I knew, but in a very positive sense.

But this is the one that got away -

Courtesy of Hanhart

Perhaps more accurate to say that I let it go. But times change, and it is safe to say that I have much fonder feelings for the Hanhart of today ; )

 I can say that it was a great watch to wear, and one that I miss. So for those of you potentially in the market for a true flieger chronograph, you could do a lot worse than the Pioneer Mk I. And at €2,090.00, it is priced very fairly for what you get.

Here are the pertinents -

MOVEMENT
Automatic chronograph movement HAN3601
Base Movement: ETA7753
Mono-pusher conversion
28,800 vibrations per hour, 4 Hz, 27 jewels
Power reserve of min. 42 hours

FUNCTIONS
Small second
30-minute counter

CASE
Stainless steel
Diameter 40 mm, height 15 mm
Large crown and red button
Fluted rotating bezel
Anti-reflective convex sapphire glass
Screwed-down case back
Water-resistant to 10 bar/10 ATM

DIAL
Off-white or black
Super-LumiNova® coated numerals and hands

STRAP
Calfskin or stainless steel

Love Overdue - the Expedition Chronograph

From Siduna -

Courtesy of Siduna

I am a Siduna fan. And I'll go further, I am a big fan of one of the partners at Siduna, Francis Jacquerye.  Yes, watches are made by brands. But more importantly, brands are made up of people. And having spent some time with Mr. Jacquerye, I can honestly say that I take a great deal of pleasure when I wear my Siduna Standard Issue Compax Chronograph.

But today I am excited to share with you the newest offering from Siduna, and one that I suspect you will really want for yourself.

Courtesy of Siduna

The Expedition Chronograph is a bi-compax chronograph with a bit of what Thierry Henry in Ted Lasso referred to as va-va-voom!

The case is stainless steel and measures 42 mm in diameter.  The movement is listed as Valjoux's 7753 top grade. 

You want this.

It is currently available for pre-order at a friendly price of (approximately) $1,485.  The first deliveries are anticipated for early December (if I have read that part correctly).

Here are the pertinents -

Reference

490 CPN

Description

Self-winding chronograph with hours, minutes and running seconds. Compax chronograph feature with minutes and seconds.

Dial with machine turned pattern, dark blue. Printed Arabic numerals and telemeter scale.

Water resistant case in austenitic stainless steel, screw-down crown, 5 bar (50m/165ft static). Flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating.

• Diameter 42.0mm
• Thickness 13.5mm
• Lug width 20.0mm
• Lug end to lug end 50.7mm
• Buckle width 18.0mm
• ISO 764 magnetic resistance 4,800 A/m
• ISO 1413 shock resistance
• ISO 22810 water-resistance 5 bar (static 50m/165ft)

Movement

• ETA/Valjoux 7753 Top grade
• Adjusted in 5 positions: CH, FH, 6H, 9H, 3H
• Incabloc shock protection
• Glucydur balance wheel with Anchron alloy hairspring
• Nivaflex NM mainspring
• Nivarox pallet lever and escape wheel
• Diametre 13 ″ ¼‴ (30.0mm), thickness 7.9mm
• Power reserve 48h
• Rubies setting 27

Things I'd Love To See In 2021 - A Mechanical Mach 2000

Growing up a Northern Youth, I found Sundays were typically spent daydreaming. I would imagine leaving my small Ohio town and seeing the world. I would pour over books about Japan, Finland and Sweden, and imagine what it might be like to visit, or even live in such places. 22 years later, I can answer those questions. But I still wonder about things not yet seen, or things that went away that I wish would come back.  

This past year Swatch miracled many of us with a reissue of Keith Haring Swatches in partnership with Disney. But having spent some time in France, and Besançon in particular, I keep hoping for one specific watch to come back in a mechanical or self-winding format, and that would be Roger Tallon's iconic creation, the Mach 2000 from Lip -

Photo kindly shared by a collector who prefers to remain anonymous

This is an example of the "original" version. It sports 
the red, yellow and blue color code that is now synonymous with the Mach 2000. Under the hood is a manual winding Valjoux movement.

Now point of full disclosure, although I have visited the Lip HQ and factory in Besançon, I do not have any "inside info" on any possible reiteration of the Mach 2000. The team at Lip play their cards very, very close to their vest and as far as I know, the hope for a new mechanical/automatic Mach 2000 is probably just my own late winter Sunday daydream. But wouldn't it be cool?

Now I realize that we are living in different times than the 1970s, and the cost of a Valjoux chronograph is far loftier (when allowing for inflation to current prices) than it was back when the Mach 2000 made its debut, but my hope is that the team at Lip will find a way to bring back a mechanical/automatic Mach 2000 and offer it at a price that stays true to the ethos of Lip - great watches at a fair price.  Here's hoping that 2021 will flip the script on 2020 and we'll have some positive surprises!

For now, there is still a great option that in many ways perhaps out-Tallons the original -

Monsieur Tallon was, at his heart, a modernist.  And when we go back to the birth of the Mach 2000, a quartz movement was like water from the moon. A Valjoux chronograph made a great deal more fiscal sense. But I suspect that being a modernist, he would have been interested in the latest technology.

Sorta' funny how things change! In many ways, I suspect that the current model is what he would have designed and what Lip would have made if it would not have been so shockingly cost prohibitive. That's just my take on it, but there you go.  

At any rate it's Sunday, and I'm going to return to my daydreaming ; )

Enjoy your watches!

Moonphase Mon... Make that Tuesday

Okay, I can't really blame it on COVID, but clearly my head was elsewhere when the day flipped from Sunday to Monday. So a day late but hopefully not a dollar short, it's Moonphase Monday with the
Horaire Chronographe from Nivrel -

Courtesy of Nivrel

Bucking the norms, this watch is (overall) slightly smaller than you might expect, measuring 38.7 mm in diameter, but you have to accommodate the 7751, hence a height of 13 mm.

Courtesy of Nivrel

Hours, minutes, month, date, day, chronograph, 24 hour scale and moon phase.

Here are the pertinents -

Movement:

• Automatic movement calibre ETA Valjoux 7751
• Functions: Indication of hours, minutes, small second, week day, date, chronograph, month, 24-hours, and moon phase.

Case:

• Material: Stainless steel 316L, corpus matt, polished bezel, inner-rotating bezel, screwed crown
• Diameter: 38,7 mm
• Height: 13 mm
• Glass: Sapphire crystal
• Case back: Screwed case back with mineral crystal
• Water resistant: 5 bar

Dial:

• Art: Black galvanized dial
• Numerals: White print, indexes with Superluminova
• Hands: Steel hands covered with Superluminova

Strap:

• Material: Leather
• Color: Black
• Width: 20 mm
• Buckle: Signed clasp

The Pilot LE.1 Power Gauge Chronometer

From Brellum -

Courtesy of Brellum

Continuing to go from strength to strength, this is the latest offering from Brellum. 

This one is a bit special.  The Pilot LE. 1 Power Gauge Chronometer offers a wonderfully legible dial that is also truly striking.  Styled on the instrument panel in a cockpit, the case and bracelet are available in either stainless steel or black DLC.

Courtesy of Brellum

The case measures 41.8 mm in diameter.  

Courtesy of Brellum

The movement is the Valjoux 7750 with a customized rotor, and is COSC certified.
Available on bracelet, or on a Nebur Tec strap.

Courtesy of Brellum

Limited to 33 pieces, this one will likely move quickly.  Priced at CHF 2’990

Here are the pertinents -

Movement

Caliber -
BRELLUM BR-750-PR Chronometer automatic (base Valjoux 7750)

Certification -
Chronometer Officially Certified by the COSC

Decoration -
Perlage, Geneva stripes, blue screws, Brellum Pilot LE.1 numbered rotor

Technology -
25 jewels, 28'800 A / H, power reserve 46 hours

Functions -
Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date, Chronograph, Power Gauge indicator IRM

Case

Material -
Stainless Steel 316L, DIN 1.4435; Black DLC coating

Dimension -
Diameter 41.80mm

Crystal -
Box sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment

Dial -
Domed dial, with indexes and Superluminova (old radium style)

Hands -
Hours and minutes with Superluminova (old radium style)

Water resistance -
50m, 5ATM, 100% tested

Case back -

Numbered caseback with Box sapphire crystal, anti-reflective treatment

Weight -
On Nebur Tec strap approx.120 g, 170g on steel bracelet

The Lac Chronograph

From Claude Meylan -

Courtesy of Claude Meylan

Here are the pertinents -

CASE:

43 mm stainless steel 

Crystal back
Sapphire front crystal
3 atm- water resistant

MOVEMENT:
Black Valjoux 77543 

Self winding
Skeleton
Chrono
Date at 3 o’clock

STRAP:
Leather 

The Klondike Moonphase

From Delma -

Courtesy of Delma

Sort of an unusual take on the moon phase chronograph.  the twist being the Day/Night indicator at 9 o'clock - which I personally REALLY LIKE!  

The case is of stainless steel and measures 44 mm in diameter.  As mentioned this is a chronograph with both moon phase and day night indicator.  Hours, minutes and date round out the features.  

Here are the pertinents -

Collection	Gents Collection
Mechanism	Automatic
Caliber	Delma custom rotor, ETA Valjoux 7751, Perlage and blued screws, with Cotes de Geneve
Power reserve (h)	48h
Number of jewels	25
Frequency	28'800 A/h
Case material	Stainless steel
Case back	Stainless steel with transparent mineral crystal
Size in mm	44
Height in mm	15.3
Weight in grams	130
Water resistance	20 ATM / 200 m / 660 ft
Bezel	Stainless steel
Dial color	White
Bracelet material	Genuine leather
Bracelet color	Black
Clasp	Butterfly deployant clasp
Clasp material	Stainless steel
Model	Klondike Moonphase
Collection category	Racing
Functions	Chronograph, Day-and-night indicator, Day-date, Month, Moonphase