A year after the inauguration of its Piazza di Spagna boutique, Hublot pays tribute to Rome by introducing the best copy Classic Fusion Chronograph Special Edition Boutique Roma. A charming and sophisticated play on nuances, lights, and shade, with a dial reminiscent of the romantic atmosphere of Roman sunsets. Cased in a 45 mm black brushed finished titanium case with a bezel in the same material, these two components were purposefully finished to appear aged/weathered as an ulterior tribute to the age-old history of Rome. The Classic Fusion Boutique Roma is available in a limited edition of only 50 pieces and sold exclusively in the boutique located at the bottom of the Spanish Steps on the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, Italy.
Titanium Case Fake Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph Boutique Roma
A year after the opening of their boutique in Rome, perfect replica Hublot decides to celebrate this anniversary by celebrating the Eternal City. The dial in grey and beige dégradé with rhodium-plated applied Roman numerals and markers evokes the magnificent colors of the sky above Rome at sunset and all of its nuances.
A chromatic choice of chiaroscuro which envelops the aesthetics of all the components of the watch, including the black rubber and grey calf leather strap with grey stitching fitted with a stainless steel black brushed deployant buckle clasp.
Grey Dial Fake Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph Boutique Roma
At the heart of the quality fake Classic Fusion Chronograph Special Edition Boutique Roma beats the automatic HUB1143 chronograph movement, characterized by a 42-hour power reserve and protected by a display case back specially engraved for this limited edition. This automatic movement composed of 280 parts and 59 jewels beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph.
A contemporary and sophisticated model dedicated to those who, this year, have not yet been able to travel and really enjoy the grandeur of Rome and the charm of its sunsets: dreaming of its magic from afar, until once more being able to stroll its streets. Available in a limited edition of 50 pieces exclusively sold at the Hublot Boutiq
As if out of thin air, Swiss fake Audemars Piguet dropped a new release on its website today. The Royal Oak is one of the most iconic watch designs of the last 40 some years, and the Royal Oak Chronograph has since carved out a special place of its own in horological lore. This new 18k white gold Royal Oak Chronograph is a limited edition, and it features a light-blue “Grande Tapisserie” dial.
18K White Gold Fake Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Watch
Initial Thoughts
The light, almost powder shade of the blue dial plays nicely against the white gold case and integrated bracelet. There is a contrasting dark blue ring around the outer portion of the dial, as well as around the sub-dials, boosting the overall legibility of the watch. The “Grande Tapisserie” pattern is classic AP, and it continues to look great on this limited edition model. Both the hands and markers are filled with luminous material, and the dial features an anti-reflective coating.
This release is effectively an existing – and well-known – perfect replica watch in the AP catalog, sporting a new dial variation, in a small limited run. That’s it. But that simple fact notwithstanding, I happen to like the way this one looks and would love to see it in the metal. The color scheme of the watch – with the dual shades of blue – invokes a somewhat frosted aesthetic that fits in perfectly with the incoming cool fall and winter weather. I don’t know if that was the intent behind the design, but let’s go with it.
Limited Replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Watch
Inside this watch beats the AP selfwinding caliber 2385 featuring an 18k gold oscillating weight, and 40 hours of power reserve. This is an integrated, column-wheel, chronograph mechanism. The best copy watch features the now-iconic integrated Royal Oak bracelet, also in white gold.
A watch like this could be gone just as quickly as it magically appeared. As mentioned at the top, it will be limited to 100 pieces and is available now.
Omega is continuing its pledge to protect our oceans with a new dive watch in partnership with U.K.-based Nekton, a non-profit research foundation committed to preserving the Indian Ocean. The new model, the perfect replica Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer Nekton Edition, features a polished-and-brushed stainless steel case fitted with a unidirectional rotating divers’ bezel in grade 5 titanium.
In 2019, Omega and Nekton began a series of missions, called “First Descent,” to explore and conserve the Indian Ocean, which will resume next year. Omega’s famous Seamaster divers’ watches and their heritage have played a key role in Nekton’s mission: the foundation even named its research submarine “Seamaster 2” in tribute to the late, legendary yachtsman Sir. Peter Blake, a passionate advocate of the ocean and a close friend to Omega.
Nekton’s research submarine: The Seamaster 2.
“Our friends at Nekton are protecting the ocean with the global goal of 30 percent protection by 2030,” states Omega president and CEO Raynald Aeschlimann. “As a pioneering brand with a long history of pushing at the boundaries of what is possible, we have the utmost respect for this bold, confident vision and, we are thrilled to help make the goal a reality.”
The best copy Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer Nekton Edition features a laser-ablated, black ceramic dial, matte-finished with a polished wave motif in positive relief. The unidirectional rotating divers’ bezel comes in grade 5 titanium, replacing the LiquidMetal typically found on Omega’s Seamaster 300 models. Its laser-ablated 60-minute diving scale sports silver-colored Arabic numerals in positive relief, along with the traditional triangle-shaped marker at 12 o’clock.
The watch’s caseback features an engraved embossed Nekton submarine medallion, “NAIAD LOCK, DIVER 300 M,” lettering, and the watch’s water-resistance, as a tribute to the partnership.
42 MM Watches Replica Omega Seamaster Diver 300M
Beating inside the 42-mm-diameter case is Omega’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8806. The self-winding movement features a free sprung-balance with a silicon balance spring, holds a power reserve of 55 hours, and meets both the COSC chronometer certification standards as well as the METAS standards of magnetic resistance to 15,000 gauss. The movement’s rhodium-plated rotor and bridges feature Geneva waves in arabesque, a familiar decorative finish for Omega calibers.
The new Seamaster is available in two models, one with an integrated black rubber strap with a polished-and-brushed buckle, or a stainless steel bracelet. The watch (Ref. 210.32.42.20.01.002) retails for $8,850 and is available in October.
An introduction by editor-in-chief Elizabeth Doerr: At Quill & Pad we are often contacted by readers. Most are requests for information, but some lead to an interesting exchange of opinions. A recent message from Perry Heim had much to do with his thoughts on one of today’s blue-chip watches: the Swiss fake Patek Philippe Nautilus.
He has organized his thoughts well, which I believe makes for a great conversation starter.
Perry Heim writes:
I’ve had the idea for this piece in mind for quite some time now, but as always when I think of writing something I inevitably ask myself, “What’s the point?”
Well, after reading article after article discussing the virtues of Patek Philippe’s Nautilus – such articles seem to be popping up exponentially – it became clear to me that none state a self-evident truth that appears obvious to me. So I decided to give it a go.
Here is what I find so appealing about the best replica Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 5711.
Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 5711A (photograph courtesy GaryG)
Water resistance and a thin case
What I find most remarkable about the design of the Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 5711 is that it offers 120 meters of water resistance within a case merely 8.3 mm high. You may ask, “What of it?”
In my humble opinion, the two most important factors when evaluating a luxury sports watch are elegance (hence, luxury) and durability (hence, sports). And while the following might err on the side of reductionism, I believe these two can be quantified quite easily using just two parameters: water resistance as a signifier of durability and case thickness as a measure of elegance.
Granted, there is more to luxury than elegance, and there is more to elegance than a thin case (the same going, of course, for sports, durability, and water resistance), so some may disagree with the significance of these two.
I do have more criteria. Being a watch enthusiast for several years, I have developed a specific ideal for my everyday watch. You know the watch I’m talking about: the beach-to-boardroom-go-anywhere do-anything kind of watch.
My ideal everyday watch has to be mechanical (automatic or manual winding, both fine by me) with an exhibition case back, some degree of luminescence, no thicker than 10 mm, and with a water resistance equal to or greater than 10 atm (100 m). As we shall see, finding the conjuncture of these last two is challenging within the confines of a single watch.
Tom Holland at the Wimbledon 2018 men’s finals wearing a Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 5167 (photo courtesy Ralph Lauren)
Not-so-competitive landscape
I will now demonstrate that this is a feat unmatched by any other watch, save Patek Philippe’s own 5167 Aquanaut, which manages to fit the same movement in an 8.1 mm thick case while retaining said water resistance. Does this mean the 5167 is superlative to the 5711? Of course not; originality, design, and heritage are but a few of the additional factors at play here.
Putting aside these other aspects by which we are to judge a timepiece, and regardless of which one you prefer, Patek Philippe, at least of the holy trinity – an informal WIS grouping comprising Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin – appears to be alone in achieving this challenging combination of demands.
Patek Philippe Reference 5711-1A Nautilus (photo courtesy Tim Mosso)
What the other two holy trinity brands and a few select others offer
The water resistance of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oaks are rated to a mere 50 m, with a screw-down crown on Reference 15202 and without one on the three-handed variants.
Many debates have arisen over the interpretation of water-resistance ratings, and while some claim that 50 meters with a screw-down crown is sufficient for swimming, I am reluctant to submerge any luxury watch with less than 100 m water resistance.
In any case, the models with a screw-down crown are about a centimeter thick. And while the 15202 is a delightful 8.1 mm thick, no one would advise you get it too wet.
And the Royal Oak Offshores? Sure, they’re water resistant. But whether Chronograph or Diver, they have all the thinness and finesse of a Big Mac.
Vacheron Constantin’s second-generation time-only Overseas is a fine candidate; with a depth rating of 150 meters and a reasonable case thickness of only 9.7 mm, my main gripe was its lack of an exhibition case back (I also felt the hands were a tad too short).
Vacheron Constantin added just such a case back to the third generation of the Overseas in 2016 – all the better to show off the new in-house 5100 caliber – but at the expense of adding nearly 2 mm to the case height. At more than 11 mm thick, it doesn’t appear at all sleek.
What about the white gold ultra-thin Overseas Perpetual Calendar? Oh, if ever there was a delicious watch to behold. Sadly, it achieves its clean design by doing away with a date window and second hand, and its 7.5 mm thin profile is accomplished at the expense of water resistance, down from 150 to 50 meters.
The A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus, Breguet Marine, and Glashütte Original Seventies all exceed 11 mm in height as is prone to happen with a big date complication (interesting enough, the new Marine did away with the big date but didn’t get any thinner).
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s sports watches tend to have a solid case back and are usually far from thin, as is the case, of course, with Rolex (surely to be expected with a base movement 6 mm in height). Omega’s current offerings are housed in cases with sapphire crystal case backs, but I find the Co-Axial escapements tend to render the timepieces with the dimensions of a small hockey puck.
Steel Cases Fake Watches
Other contenders
A couple of unusual suspects come to mind. Piaget’s Polo S and Girard-Perregaux’s Laureato are both rated to 100 meters and come in at just under a centimeter in height. Prima facia this sounds good but, alas, these fine timepieces only deliver further proof that numbers aren’t everything. In addition to being among those who find the designs of these pieces derivative, they just don’t feel all that thin to me.
Other noteworthy models, albeit discontinued, are Omega’s Constellation Double Eagle with the 2500 caliber. It’s still (or, rather, already) Co-Axial, you get a sapphire crystal case back and 100 m of water resistance, but unlike Omega’s current offerings it comes in under 10 mm in height.
Another is Blancpain’s Leman Aqualung (the limited edition of 1999 pieces, not the one with the grand date, mind you), quite fetching in my opinion.
Lastly, a watch I personally own and highly recommend if you can find one: the Nomos Tangente Sport Datum 531. Similar to the recent Hodinkee limited edition, the 531 is powered by Nomos Glashütte’s Beta caliber so it does have a date window in addition to an exhibition case back. It’s rated to 100 m without a screw-down crown (good thing, too, as it’s a manual wind) and is roughly 8 mm thick (roughly because Nomos claims a thickness of 7.9 mm with the exhibition case back, whereas my own Vernier caliper yielded a result closer to 8.1 mm.)
While it might have beat the quality copy Patek Philippe Nautilus insofar as the numbers go, the Nomos Glashütte Sport Datum doesn’t seem as thin due to its case being smaller (36.5 mm in diameter) and not as elaborate. Nonetheless, it was my choice for a luxury sports watch, though, arguably, without the luxury price tag.
Finally, we come to what just might be my watch of the year: Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo 100 m satin-polished stainless steel. As the name suggests, this Bulgari is sufficiently water resistant and only 5.25 mm thick. More than thin enough in my book.
So, is it a Nautilus killer? Not really.
Male Replica Patek Philippe Nautilus Watch
Patek Philippe Nautilus or Bulgari Octo Finissimo?
Personally, and in contrast to the Purists/Hodinkee point of view, I feel that a date window is rather apropos on a luxury sports watch (it’s a useful function on a daily wearer) as is a second hand – preferably a central second hand, which is easier to notice.
But most of all, I believe a sports watch ought to be lumed. The Bulgari Octo Finissimo isn’t. No doubt this is in order to preserve the integrity of the design, and I respect that. All of which is to say that, while I likes me some lume, I find the Octo Finissimo compelling enough that it just might be my next purchase.
The presence of lume, a date window, central seconds, and an additional 20 m of water resistance means that I still prefer a Nautilus. But supply, demand, and the market mean that a Patek Philippe Reference 5711 with my name on it will take quite some time.
Giant Patek Philippe Nautilus drawing by Simon Beck on Brean beach in Somerset, England
Nonetheless, I hope that in these few words I have, to some degree, illuminated a few aspects as to why I think Patek Philippe’s Nautilus Reference 5711 is so successful and desirable.
Hublot’s Big Bang series has always been slightly outrageous since its 2005 release, but intentionally so. Large, loud, and undoubtedly luxurious, there could be no better candidate for a collaboration with Maxime Plescia-Büchi. The Swiss tattooist is responsible for the sprawling platform that is Sang Bleu, covering and influencing tattoos, clothing, typography, art — both visual and performative — and much more.
Our first taste of a Hublot x Sang Bleu project was in 2016, with an intricately engraved wristwatch, covered in mesmerising geometric patterns across the dial, case, and even embossed into the leather strap.
2019’s Baselword witnessed the sequel piece, the Swiss fake Big Bang Sang Bleu II in titanium and King Gold, looking less like a modified Hublot and more like an occultist’s spaceship. Now, a new variation has been released with the same case materials, but freshening the dial with splashes of white and a complementing white rubber strap.
There’s no hiding from the visual feast that is the quality copy Big Bang Sang Bleu II. From top to bottom, its detail and artistry never stops providing something to look at. The evocative style is borrowed, understandably, from Maxime Plescia-Büchi’s tattoo designs — often focusing on the macabre, hedonistic, and occult side of life. Referring to the 45mm case as ‘design’ feels like a disservice, when it more closely resembles architecture.
The engaged and machined patterns all cascade off each other, with different facets of high polish and directional brushing creating a hall-of-mirrors effect. At 16.5mm thick, its chunky dimensions barely compare to the size of its personality, so going unnoticed on your wrist was never an option, especially if you go for the iced-out diamond-encrusted versions.
King Gold Fake Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu II White
The dial is nothing short of entrancing, lattice-filled hexagrams entrapping your gaze from the bezel and sub-dials. Legibility may have been slightly compromised with the loss of contrast between the white hands and a darker dial, however the broad kite-shaped hour and minute hands, creating new intersecting patterns as they float around, tend to draw the eye regardless. Enhancing the mystical qualities is the hexagonally chamfered sapphire crystal, distorting and mirroring the edges of the dial in quite an alien way. The white highlights are tastefully balanced by a slate-grey background, occasionally opening up to reveal the workings of the HUB1240 UNICO Manufacture movement, which packs a flyback complication into the column-wheel chronograph.
Hublot’s history of rubber straps is strong, having created the first natural rubber strap on a watch, so it’s no surprise that this perfect fake Big Bang has a great one. The integration with the case is perfect, with arrowhead layers stepping down and continuing the geometry of the case. Black edges to the strap keep it looking constrained to the wrist, and reduces the visual real estate that too much white can take up.
Titanium Replica Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu II White
The specifications are well up to scratch, with 100m of water resistance giving ample peace of mind for wearing it in the wet. The power reserve of 72 hours is a great bonus for those who like to leave their chronographs running, and it’s quite likely that with hands like these you’ll be wanting to see them move. A beat rate of 28,800 vph ensures that the sweep of the shapes isn’t too juddering and distracting, although you may end up distracted by the enticing view of the see-through caseback with another geometric web as the rotor weight. The release is highly limited, with only 200 of the titanium models and 100 of the King Gold varieties, priced at 23,900CHF (approx. AUD$36,700) and 44,900CHF (approx. AUD$68,950) respectively.
Ceramics have been around since primitive times, but it as in the 1980s that these artificial materials made their way into the watch world. Used for their scratch-resistant qualities, high tech ceramics are nonmetallic and inorganic, and they boast some seriously strong molecular bonds. This grants the material a high melting point and an extreme hardness—hardness that rivals diamonds. Certme is a ceramic-metal composite that is as light as titanium and as hard as a diamond. The aerospace, automotive and ballistics industries for high-performance ceramic inserts. Swiss copy Richard Mille used the material for the case and bezel of the RM 11-05. Richard Mille partnered with the IMI Group, a microtechnology solutions company that services the luxury goods market, to perfect the material.
Ceramic Case Watch Fake Richard Mille Flyback Chronograph GMT
The perfect replica watch has a lot more going for it than just a revolutionary ceramic. It boasts a skeletonised automatic winding movement that is made of titanium. The movement also includes a flyback chronograph that displays minutes and countdown counters at the 9 o’clock position, an hour counter at 6 o’clock, and UTC functionality. It also has a variable geometry rotor and offers 55 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on a Carbon TPT band.
Hollowed Dial Watch Copy Richard Mille Flyback Chronograph GMT
As you might imagine, putting a quality fake watch like this together is no easy feat. Just to make the case, RM and IMI had to pioneer a new process called “flash sintering.” With that in mind, only 140 pieces will be made. If you’re looking for a nearly indestructible yet incredibly handsome watch, you can get an RM 11-05 automatic winding flyback chronograph GMT for USD$215,000.
Swiss TAG Heuer replica has been quite productive this year, creating more than one cool limited-edition chronographs. In addition to the two Carrera made for the brand’s 160th anniversary – Silver Edition and Carrera Montreal – the brand also renewed its partnership with designer Hiroshi Fujiwara and his streetwear brand Fragment Design. Following a minimalistic Carrera model in 2018, this year we have a new watch that not only looks brilliant but could also well be a teaser for new permanent motorsport-inspired models. Let’s have a closer look at the TAG Heuer x Fragment Design Chronograph.
TAG HEUER X FRAGMENT DESIGN
Hiroshi Fujiwara is an internationally renowned Japanese streetwear designer, influencer, musician and founder of Fragment Design. He’s also a watch lover and has been working with TAG Heuer since 2018, to create special edition watches infused with its unique sense of design, mixing boldness and minimalism.
The first watch resulting from this collaboration was based on a Carrera, fitted with a minimalistic black dial and discreet connection with the brand Fragment. Not only the watch was stunning in terms of design, but it was also the base for the Silver and Montreal editions to come next. And for 2020, both brands are teaming up again and bring an unprecedented watch, which isn’t based on something existing yet in the permanent collection.
Black Dial Fake TAG Heuer Watch
A NEW TAG HEUER CHRONOGRAPH
Certainly, this new 44mm Automatic Chronograph will feel familiar to Heuer and TAG fans. Arguably, its shape and design are somehow close to both vintage watches or existing models. Yes, the mechanics inside the case aren’t new and have been used in multiple TAGs already. And yes, there’s an undeniable motorsport inspiration in this watch, and that’s not a surprise for a TAG Heuer. However… the combination of all these elements is not something we’ve seen before. This second TAG Heuer x Fragment Design watch is new and not just a different colour on an existing watch. That’s already quite interesting.
The base for this new watch copy TAG Heuer x Fragment Design Chronograph is named the “C-case”, a large and robust tonneau-shaped block of steel that easily refers to 1970s Autavia watches – specifically, the third generation ref. 1163. Indeed, we find here the typical pilot’s case with integrated lugs and highly raised bezel on top of the watch. Almost entirely brushed, the case, as some would have remarked, is also in line with the current Formula 1 watches, yet larger and built with more details (polished bevel on the side) but also more robustness… Maybe you can figure out what’ll be coming in the next month at TAG… This watch could easily become the top-tier extension of the F1 range. The references to the Autavia or the Formula 1 don’t end there.
The bezel’s insert, made of polished ceramic, includes a tachymeter scale with the same graduation (70-66-63) and deep notches as glorious 1970s racing models. The right side of the case features the crown, well-protected with guards, and recessed pushers for the chronograph. The screw-down crown and caseback allow for a comfortable 100m water-resistance.
Replica TAG Heuer Watch With Caliber Heuer 02
Fujiwara’s touch is particularly visible on the dial of this TAG Heuer x Fragment Design Chronograph, which has been treated in a very minimalistic way – which mostly comes down to the absence of applied hour markers, creating strong negative space on the dial. This bi-compax chronograph plays on monochromatic tone – black and white – only with red accents on the markers and hands. A discreet “Fragment” inscription is found between 4 and 5 o’clock, as well as the two brands’ logos at 12 o’clock.
There’s something really special to this dial, and even though simplistic and flat, it has a great personality. Legibility is also perfect in daylight, while slightly compromised during the night – only the hands feature SLN. The watch is delivered on a new 5-link steel bracelet, with polished and brushed surfaces. As a personal note, I could easily see this watch worn on a 1970s-inspired perforated black leather strap, just to reinforce its classic appeal – and to make it more comfortable too, as the case is quite large and heavy.
Finally, while many of the TAG Heuer Formula 1 watches are powered by quartz chronograph movements, this new perfect fake watch Fragment Design Chronograph relies on the brand’s in-house movement, the Calibre Heuer 02 – an integrated automatic chronograph with column wheel and vertical clutch. The movement is partially visible under a red-tinted sapphire crystal with Fragment’s logo transferred on its surface.
So yes, TAG and Hiroshi Fujiwara have created another very cool limited edition watch. No doubt about it. What’s even more interesting is that it somehow announces what will be the upcoming top-of-the-range Formula 1 Heuer 02 watch. When and how, we don’t know yet, but it will surely come.
When most of us think of perfect Omega replica, the first thing to come to mind is probably the Speedmaster, followed closely by the Seamaster and other tough, technically advanced sports and tool watches. Something that probably does not readily spring to mind is the tourbillon, although it probably should – Omega made some of the very first generation of tourbillon wristwatches, in a time (the 1940s) when the tourbillon was not a visual entertainment for the titillation of horological enthusiasts, but was instead at the cutting edge of experiments in producing better chronometry. Omega’s first generation of tourbillon wristwatches virtually never appear for sale or at auctions, but when one did, at Phillips in 2017, it hammered for the rather breathtaking sum of CHF 1,428,500. The tourbillon wristwatches made in the 1940s used the caliber 30 I, and they were not made for sale – rather, they were intended to be entered in the observatory timing competitions. They had tourbillons which rotated, rather unusually, once every seven-and-a-half minutes, and they were, in their day, the last word in the pursuit of cutting-edge chronometry. Today, Omega has introduced another milestone in both its own history of tourbillon production and in the history of tourbillon watches in general – the new Omega De Ville Tourbillon Numbered Edition, which is, in addition to being the latest version of the De Ville Central Tourbillon, the first to be Master Chronometer certified and capable of resisting magnetic fields of up to at least 15,000 gauss. This latest version of the Omega central tourbillon has a three-day power reserve and a co-axial escapement, as well. The central tourbillon was first introduced in the De Ville family of watches by Omega in 1994, and it was both a remarkable achievement and a statement of purpose for one of Switzerland’s largest and most important watch firms. Omega had emerged from the Quartz Crisis having lost much of its internal expertise in movement manufacturing, but the company was determined to distinguish itself in this area again. The De Ville Central Tourbillon of 1994 signified its resolve to make the technical excellence of watchmaking at Omega a theme for its future as well as its past.
18K Gold Fake Omega De Ville Watch
The original copy De Ville Central Tourbillon, 1994, as seen at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2018, with the original central tourbillon caliber 1170. The original De Ville Central Tourbillon was, as they say, just what it says on the tin – a wristwatch in which the tourbillon cage is placed at the center of the movement, rather than at a more customary location (often at 6:00). The project began in 1991 and, according to a very in-depth article on PuristsPro.com from 2007, was codenamed Project 33 (P33) by Omega’s Moritz Grimm and André Beyner (an interesting bit of trivia mentioned in the article was that Beyner gave special projects odd numbers starting from the year of his birth in 1927; P33 was his fourth such project). The team had just three years to produce the watch as it was meant to debut in time for Omega’s 100th anniversary in 1994. The single biggest technical problem was that the hands of a watch are, of course, normally mounted on pivots placed at the center of the movement, and the location of the central tourbillon made this impossible. A solution was found, however, which was to mount the indicators for the hours and minutes on two sapphire disks, which were driven on their peripheries from gearing under the case bezel (a solution similar in some respects to the Cartier mystery clocks). The project was, ultimately, completed in time for Omega’s 100th anniversary and was released in a De Ville case, with the central tourbillon caliber 1170. The watch was re-released, this time with a COSC chronometer certification, in 2002. The U.S. patent for the central tourbillon was granted in 1995 (no. 5,608,694) and expired in 2015, but central tourbillons remain extremely rare (one notable example, using a different technical approach from Omega, is the Haldimann H1 Central Flying Tourbillon).
Sedna® 18K Gold Copy Omega De Ville Watch
The new fake De Ville Tourbillon Numbered Edition uses a new central tourbillon movement, which keeps the same basic architecture and some of the same basic technical solutions as the caliber 1170, but which is also, in many respects, a new movement. This new movement is the three-day central tourbillon caliber 2640. De-cased and viewed from the dial side, the system for driving the disks carrying the hour and minute indicators can be seen. The actual driving gears are at the one and two o’clock positions, and there are three retaining guides for the two disks at twelve, four, and eight o’clock; these have two recesses for the two disks. The keyless works for winding and setting occupy most of the space at three o’clock, with a quite beautifully shaped skeletonized cover plate (with integrated detent spring, which is the small, club-like projection at more or less exactly three o’clock). Though it’s a shame this particular element isn’t visible in the finished watch, it’s one of those hidden pieces of craftsmanship which historically has lent so much interest to fine watchmaking. The two mainspring barrels are prominently visible in recesses in the back of the movement; they are visually connected by an arc-shaped bridge which also acts as the sector for the power reserve. (While the original 1994 model was self-winding, the new model is hand-wound). Based on the placement of the jewels, the barrels appear to run in series, with the one on the right driving the actual going train for the central tourbillon (the jewels and pivots for the train wheels are located under the bridge that makes up the upper third of the movement). Plates and bridges are all in Sedna gold, and the movement in its design and finishing recalls both traditional fine finishing techniques, as well as more modern materials and approaches. The use of a frosted gold finish, rather than more conventional Geneva stripes is, to my eye, a bit reminiscent of the English pocket watch tradition. I don’t know if this was intended by Omega as a subtle homage to George Daniels, the inventor of the co-axial escapement, but it certainly gives the movement a very dignified appearance, contrasting as it does with the large jewels and highly polished steel-work. This is the first Omega central tourbillon to be Master Chronometer certified, and Omega has succeeded in creating a tourbillon which will continue to function when exposed to extremely high magnetic fields (the minimum resistance for Master Chronometer certified watches is 15,000 gauss). The carriage for the tourbillon is made of ceramised titanium, with the entire movement running in 50 jewels. The one-minute carriage also functions as the seconds hand for the watch. This is a quite major piece of news, albeit in the quite small (relatively speaking) world of high-end horology. The De Ville Central Tourbillon marked an historic moment when it debuted in 1994 for Omega’s centennial, and it remains one of the most groundbreaking tourbillon watches of all time, representing, as it does, a combination of great visual interest and very clever technical watchmaking. The original brainchild of Moritz Grimm and André Beyner has now been brought very much up to date with Master Chronometer certification and a co-axial escapement. It’s a watch I hope very much to be able to see in person at some point this year.
