In this instalment of our regular watch series, The Wind Up, we have a stacked card with pieces from Longines and Nomos all the way up to Vacheron’s latest series additions (10 in total), and an anniversary piece from Patek that has split the watch community in half. So as always, sit back, relax, grab a coffee (iced?!) and enjoy!
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Nomos Glashütte Metro Neomatik Nachtblau
Boy oh boy do I love Nomos. Their designs speak to the youthful side in me, while their movement architecture is both interesting and traditional. The Metro Neomatik Nachtblau is a beautiful watch with its dark dial, cream-coloured dial highlights and an orange small-seconds hand that does a wonderful job at adding another dimension to the piece. The tire-tread crown and wire lugs do well to round off the flowing aesthetic of the piece, while the super thin skyscraper-like hands keep things to a minimal on the dial. Add to that an in-house built automatic calibre DUW 3001 with its 42-hours of power reserve and bi-directional rotor that wouldn’t look out of place in a far more expensive piece, this is a great entry-level luxury timepiece for all you budding collectors out there.
Vacheron Constantin Harmony Tourbillon Chronograph
A pillow-cushion case, check. A mono-pusher chronograph function, check. An enormous tourbillon doing its thing, check. Ladies and gentlemen, here is Vacheron’s Harmony Tourbillon Chronograph in pink gold. The very definition of haute horlogerie from one of the foundational pillars of the Swiss watch industry, the Harmony Tourbillon Chronograph really is really the epitome of high-complication watchmaking. From the enormous tourbillon at 12 o’clock to the ace-of-spades hour hand and the beautiful brushed pink gold case, this piece really represents everything that Vacheron is. I love the simplified chronograph function, with only one sub-dial representing the passing minutes. Priced very high but definitely something I think Vacheron won’t have any issue with selling.
Longines Heritage Military
Longines has so much to offer with respect to quality entry-level luxury pieces, and I think that their collections do get somewhat overlooked. But anyhow, their latest piece is a triumph in every sense of the word. At 44mm, it is maybe a bit large, but with its military-design and oversized crown, any smaller and I think it’d look a bit off. The old-fashioned Arabic numerals look phenomenal and the hour and minute hands look just as good. The small-seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock is a neat little addition, but the added date window I think ruins the vintage-military feel of the dial (but I do like the added functionality). The thickened bezel and oversized crown look wonderful, while the integrated lugs are cleverly designed to sit relaxed on your wrist. Longines have opted to use an ETA calibre to power their piece (renamed the calibre L615.3) which is not a bad thing and will still give the wearer a couple of day’s worth of power reserve.
Bausele Oceanmoon II Cave Black
I love featuring Australian brands. I think they’re under-represented in the watch industry and they get overlooked by a lot of people, especially those just entering the watch market. Mainly because of the lack of information, but nonetheless, they don’t get the attention they deserve. Bausele’s Oceanmoon II (in Cave Black) is my pick of the crop. It’s bold and well designed, and can be dressed up and down. I normally wouldn’t vouch for a piece at 47mm in size, but with its stealthy matte black finish it’ll fly under the radar quite easily. For $890 you get a time indicator, a date indicator, a chronograph function, moonphase indicator and even a high tide/low tide feature. For that amount of money, you get a lot of bang for your buck, and I think that that’s its primary selling feature. Love it!
Patek Philippe Nautilus 40th Anniversary 5976/1G
Now for Patek’s 40th Anniversary piece, celebrating the 40th birthday of the iconic Nautilus (duh..), let us take two views. One that’s purely objective, and one where I’ll give my personal subjective view on it. Objectively, its conception is targeted towards current Nautilus owners who want to add an anniversary piece to their collection of Nautiluses. At just under 50mm and in solid white gold, its designed to have presence and the bold anniversary scribe just under the Patek namesake on the dial is also there as an obvious indicator as the piece’s purpose. Patek have the in-house calibre CH 28-520C automatic flyback chronograph powering the piece, and is limited to only 1,300 pieces. Oh, and it costs over $100,000. Now subjectively, I’m not really surprised Patek did this. What, did you expect them to come out with a brand new calibre inside their movement that was going to revolutionize the Nautilus line? They don’t need to, and they know that. They know they have a hardcore following, and that following will most definitely be putting their names down to get this piece added to their collection. Do I like it? I don’t hate it. Would I buy it? I’m not a Nautilus fan in general, so probably not, but were I a Nautilus-diehard, then yes I would Why? Why not! Its big, its bold, its expensive and to be quite frank it isn’t half bad. It’s Patek letting Nautilus wear its birthday suit, and with style.
Zenith El Primero Range Rover Special Edition
Let’s get one thing straight. While I don’t normally feature Zenith on the Wind Up or on my Instagram page (@haulogerie), I have so much respect for what they bring to the industry and I hope to one day add an El Primero to my collection in the future. This piece is a celebration of Zenith and Range Rover’s partnership, and its damn beautiful. The vertically brushed dial looks incredible, and the black ceramic-coated matte finished aluminum case adds a dimension of wearability to it that I think is lost when using a precious metal like gold. The minimal aesthetic design is really quite astounding, and with the in-house calibre 400B being utilised as the engine for the piece, it’ll tick a lot of boxes even with those that have a staunch opposition to collaboration pieces.
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