Baselworld

The White Dial Patek Philippe Nautilus

As we came off from a much superior showing of horology in the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, with giant releases from Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph, A. Lange & Söhne New Datograph and the awaited release of the 40th anniversary of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, a lasting tribute to the legend that is Genta. How could then Baselworld live up to the standards? Recent release of the new Rolex Sky Dweller were reviled by most watch connoisseurs despite the new annual calendar movement, a first from Rolex. With only Tudor as its shining beacon for the all new Heritage which made perfect strides for watch nerds and fashion nerds alike. It's almost apparent that SIHH takes the edge this year, that is until Patek Philippe made their mark in Basel. No other brand can pull-off such a feat that Patek Philippe did with their all new Nautilus, a piece of similar stature that the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak has, in fact it was originally design by the very same person (The late Gerald Genta). Both watch had developed a cult following and has become two of the most iconic designs ever created in the world of horology. As mentioned earlier, 2012 marks the anniversary of the original Royal Oak, a piece that has been compared with the Nautilus ever since the dawn of luxury sportwatches. After the phenomenal release in SIHH, it would seem that the Nautilus will perhaps take a back seat this year. But boy are we wrong, Patek has taken it's A-game and just provided one of the best that they could offer and a feat that is done so effortlessly, by simply changing the color of the dial. Introducing, the white dialed Patek Philippe Nautilus in all its glory. Fans of the Nautilus are surely in for a treat, the iconic blue dial Nautilus is changed. The white dial offers a refresh look from the original Nautilus. It made a sportier overall look on the piece and that is what the Nautilus should be about. The new piece will be called the ref. 5711/1A-011, and will still retain the thinness of the original Nautilus. Furthermore, it's not that the standard Nautilus that had a facelift, so did the popular chronograph model, the ref. 5980. You can see from the gallery below that the new chronograph will be sporting the same white colored dial and an all-white  chronograph sub dial with a 60-minute and 12-hour mono counter at the 6 o'clock position, instead of a multi-colored sub-dial. The last piece of the collection is an entirely new model. It is reminiscent of my favorite Nautilus the 5712/1A moon phase complication. The new model sports the same moon phase complication but on entirely new movement, the Caliber 324 S QA LU 24H, that was quite a mouthful. The new model will be the ref. 5726/1A-010 for the white dial and -001 for the black shown on the gallery below. The piece offered a less cluttered look from the original moon phase piece by introducing a sweep seconds-hand along with a date and a day-month indicator. While removing the seconds sundial and the power reserve indicator from the 5712/1A. A side-by-side comparison is shown below between the 5712/1A left and the new 5726/1A right. The all new Nautilus are all exceptionally well made, aesthetically speaking the white dial is extremely good looking and moving away from the shadows of the original 3700/1A. In fact, Patek Philippe made sure that the Nautilus will not go unnoticed in the year that is supposedly the year of the Royal Oak. A simple touch of white magic is all there is to it. No frills, no bling, no gimmicks, just simply Patek Philippe! Expect the prices to be relatively the same and the folks at Fratellowatches had made a good review about it. In the meantime, I let you enjoy the lineup and see the gallery for yourself after the jump. Don't forget to head on over to Patek Philippe site for the complete 2012 models.

Tudor at Baselworld 2012

Tudor the younger brother of Rolex shocked the world back in 2010 when it went back to its root and re-introduces its coveted piece the Monte Carlo in Baselworld 2010. It was later known as the Tudor Heritage Chrono, a brand that has catapulted the Tudor back into the watch scene and away from the shadows of Rolex. In 2011, the Heritage tradition continued with a fancier dress watch that is the Heritage Advisor, built with a minute repeater inside, a worthy piece for a Rolex / Tudor collector but it failed to capture the magic that the Heritage Chrono had. Now in Baselworld 2012, everyone is expecting the return of Tudor's Submariner, and were they right. Tudor was generous enough to give us two new dive watches for 2012. The Heritage Black Bay with Tudor's signature snowflake hands back in the 1950s, built for vintage enthusiasts around the world and the new Tudor Pelagos, a true professional divers watch that comes with a clasp that can blow your mind. Both piece are dedicated divers watch, the other a more professional piece. While the Black Bay is offered on a more traditional scale, continuing its vintage inspired design that the Heritage Chrono has started, the Pelagos is equipped with a more modern approach to diving, a self-adjusting clasp mechanism. The change in pressure in diving has haunted many divers in wearing a steel bracelet diving watch, as the contraction and expansion from the neoprene wet suit can disrupt the diver's comfort and view on the watch. Tudor has delivered an answer to those problems, with the Pelagos, that expands and contracts as the wearer descends in the water to ensure a snug fit always. Hit the video link below to see how this clever mechanism works. In all essence, Tudor has delivered yet another winner for Baselworld 2012, and watch fans around the world will continue to be amaze with its direction. Let us hope for another winner come Baselworld 2013. Pricing for the two pieces has yet to be announced but words are flying around that they would be offered at a generous 3700USD to 4500USD. An extremely reasonable price for a true dive piece, bravo Tudor, bravo!  

The All New Rolex Sky Dweller

The folks at Rolex weren't too keen on keeping secrets. Rumors have been flying around that the behemoth of a Swiss company had already filed for a trademark on the name "Sky Dweller" a fews week prior to Baselworld. Now that the horological world is on a standstill for the entire exhibition, Rolex had indeed released a new piece in their collection. It is almost  crazy to think that such a brand who is so conservative in their styles, and the way they make simple adjustments to their existing collections to make a new watch, would be releasing an entirely new piece of micro engineering beauty. Introducing, the new Rolex Sky-Dweller and what better way to introduce the entire thing than to show a video release of it, coming from Rolex themselves. From the initial looks of it, it seems that the Sky Dweller is sort of a mixture between a standard Date Just II and a GMT Master. With its Roman numerals marking and a dual timezone, it is indeed that the Sky Dweller will probably be replacing the GMT Master as the dedicated Pilot watch for Rolex. The Sky Dweller is a first from Rolex to have an Annual Calendar, meaning it will be able to distinguish between a 30-day month from a 31-day month with the exception of February (We leave that to the whizzes from Patek Philippe.)  With the new Annual Calendar complication, comes with a new in-house movement, the caliber 9001. Also, Rolex has equipped the piece with a rotatable bezel, that allows setting of the date, local time or reference time, in which they call it the "Ring Command". The piece will be available in white gold, yellow gold and Everose gold. As with most Rolex releases, we expect the steel version to be coming out next year.

Tissot teases for Basel 2012

Tissot, the world's largest watch producer, currently own by the Swatch conglomerate is giving us a short tease on probably Tissot's finest. Not just finest for Baselworld 2012, but also one of the most sought after Tissot watches in the vintage scene. Tissot teases us with a piece from its vast heritage of watches. A few weeks to go before Basel and we got ourselves the Tissot Heritage PR516. A tribute and homage to the original PR516. The entire piece looks exceptionally good retaining the original markings, sized at 40mm and with a sapphire case back to showcase the automatic movement of the watch. The piece will be available in steel or PVD gold with the option to choose from a racing leather strap or a steel big hole bracelet. Stay tune for more until the official unveiling in Basel.   (via Hodinkee)