This Week in Watches: June 13, 2020 — Innovative Edition
Welcome to This Week in Watches for June 13, 2020, the Innovative Edition. We’ve got quite the smattering for you this week.
Omega De Ville Tourbillon Numbered Edition
This week’s first watch happens to be innovative and expensive. The 43mm Omega De Ville Tourbillon Numbered Edition is the first-ever Master Chronometer manual wind central tourbillon. Honestly, I’d bet there are a lot of firsts in there, but this watch is robust enough to withstand a magnetic field of 15,000 gauss. Appropriately, the watch is beautifully finished with a Sedna gold case and “Canipus” white gold. Interestingly, this new alloy is extremely bright and tarnish resistant. Caliber 2640 is viewable from the front and more fully from the back. It moves around a fluted Sedna ring. This new masterpiece will retail for CHF 162,750. Omega has a dedicated site for the watch.
Glashütte Original SeaQ Panorama Date
The Glashütte Original SeaQ Panorama Date watches aren’t exactly innovative, but I still enjoy the way the date is displayed using two wheels. Jorg took a look at the stainless models back in March and came away impressed. I like them, but I’m on the fence about the skindiver case. After all, those were used on some rather cheap watches back in the day. Still, here we are. Now we have two new Panorama Date models. One is bi-color with a red gold crown, bezel, and hands. The other is in full red gold. Both have grey dials and come on rubber or nylon straps. The in-house 36-13 automatic works away inside a 43.2mm case. Pricing starts at €14,500 for the two-tone and €24,500 for the full gold. Visit Glashütte for more information.
Alpina Seastrong Gyre Divers
Now, our next entrant is innovative because it uses recycled nylon fishing nets for its case. You may recall our article on the Gyre SeaCleaner and it’s cool to see that the company has paired with Alpina. Yes, the new Alpina Seastrong Gyre is available in both men’s and ladies’ sizes. The black cases are made of recycled nets along with glass fiber. The men’s version comes in at 44mm with an automatic and the ladies’ sizes at 36mm. Both use an automatic movement. There are different dial choices and pricing ranges from €1,295 for the smaller to €1,395 for the larger of the two. Visit Alpina for additional details.
Longines Flagship Heritage
Longines has stepped it up during the past couple years with some seriously good releases. Just this past week, RJ profiled the new Spirit collection. Those look pretty darn classy. Now, we get a retro nod with the all-new Flagship Heritage. Longines drops some innovative marketing by calling the 38.5mm stainless watch a unisex design.
In the brand’s defense, I’d say that’s true and a nice way to try and make it attractive to everyone’s shopping list. The black-dialed beauty uses the Longines L615 automatic, which is essentially an ETA 2895. Another nice detail is the blue enamel caravel on the case back — just like the original. At €1,390, it’s hard to find fault with this new model. Head to Longines for more information.
13(!) New Seiko 5 Sports Models
I’ll admit that I didn’t see this coming quite yet, but Seiko is bringing the heat with 13 new Seiko 5 Sports models. Seven of them come in the familiar 43mm diver-style case with rotating bezel. But the bigger — or smaller — news is the introduction of six new 40mm watches that look similar to the diver, but use a smooth bezel. All of them use the familiar Seiko 4R36 automatic. I’ve included some pictures here, but all of the models are included in a gallery below. There’s info available on the Seiko site and even some more models that didn’t make the German press release (go figure!).
The Seiko 5 Sports “Divers”
Regarding the divers, we get three in the “Sports” category (SRPE71K1, SRPE72K1, SRPE74K1). There’s one with a gold plated case, rose gold case, and normal stainless. These pieces feature matching bracelets, dials, and “blasted” bezels all in the same color. Check the bezel font — very retro Seiko. It’s all very bright, to be frank. Pricing ranges from €329-389.
The next two divers (SRPE79K1 and SRPE80K1) sit in the “Specialist” range and pay homage to the Earth. One has what looks like a pewter finish on the case and the other looks bronze (but isn’t). Each has a funky dial that reminds me of either soil or minerals. They come on leather straps and also have matte-finished bezels that match the cases. Pricing ranges from €389-399. I was really hoping for the first Seiko bronze watch, but it seems the time is not yet ripe…
The final two divers (SRPE75K1 and SRPE77K1) are part of the awkwardly named “Suits” collection and use normal dive bezels. These come on mesh and have pastel dials that change as light hits them. One looks to be light purple and the other light champagne. Both are priced at €369. Of all seven of these, I like the two Specialist models with their innovative-looking finishes. The rest aren’t really for me, but I’m glad that Seiko is “pulling a Swatch” by keeping things fresh with all the new models.
The Seiko 5 Sports 40mm Watches
The six new 40mm Seiko 5 Sports watches are interesting. They have the same 100-meter water resistance but lack a bezel. They kind of remind me of the Seiko 5 SNK80x series that always rank as inexpensive fan-favorite field watches. These new pieces (SRPE51K1, 53K1, 60K1, 63K1, 67K1, 69K1) are sturdier but pricier. They come in a variety of styles and on bracelets and straps. There’s even a bi-color model. Pricing comes in from €269-329. I like these new Seiko 5 watches — there’s a lovely grey dial piece on bracelet — and I am sure that the smaller size and cleaner looks will make them popular.
Folks, thanks for reading along on the latest installment of This Week in Watches. Have a great weekend!
