With its 2014 self-winding Alpina Alpiner chronograph, the Swiss-based brand finally offers an interesting timekeeper. Interesting for the kind of customers that are tired of numerous recreations and reissues and just want a watch that would look cool in a room filled with 85-inch 4K TV sets, smart coffeemakers, and modern furniture made of shiny steel and expensive leather. Although in its finish I see numerous references to products made by other watchmakers (like, for example, this 2010 Chronoswiss Pacific Collection), I must admit that all in all the device looks refined and well-balanced. It is one of their collections that Alpina will never be ashamed with.
Swiss Brands
Girard-Perregaux Chrono Hawk Pink Gold & Ceramic
The 2014 Girard-Perregaux Chrono Hawk Pink Gold (Ref. 49970-34-633-BB6B) sports traditional for the Swiss brand extremely well-balanced look that comes as a successful combination of good taste and almost unrivaled design skills. While the new timepiece has a number of elements that are a bit too ahem stylized, they somehow manage to be organic when you look at the gadget as a whole. I have a strong suspicion that GP uses some sort of magic to make such beautiful accessories.
Float With This Breitling S3 ZeroG Chronograph!
The limited edition Breitling S3 ZeroG SuperQuartz Chronograph was introduced to celebrate the partnership between the watchmaking brand and a young Swiss-based company S3 (Swiss Space Systems). The black-and-grey watch not only looks great for a luxury tactical timekeeper but also serves as a boarding pass for those few wealthy customers around the world that are ready to pay a sizeable chunk of money for the pleasure of floating in zero gravity environment for just about 300 seconds more or less evenly spaced by 15 sections of 20 or even 25 seconds long.
Ball Watch Engineer II Pioneer Chronometer
The 2014 Ball Engineer II Pioneer Chronometer (ref. NM2026C-L4CAJ-BK) delivers all the usual treats from the watchmaker that was founded in America, but later moved to Switzerland. The compact, deliberately simple body would look good on almost any wrist, its dial is high-contrast and easily readable even to older persons with poor sight. However, if your idea of a dress watch doesn’t include more than two dozen glass micro-tubes filled with a mildly radioactive, self-glowing gas, you may find this timekeeper slightly difficult to adapt to.
Truly Gorgeous: Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk Cobalt Blue
First revealed in its current form in 2011 (its signature shape, however, was introduced in 2002) and slightly refreshed in all the right places back in December 2012, the Sea Hawk family has been expanded with a new variation.
Called Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk Cobalt Blue and available either on a blue rubber strap (ref. 49960-19-431-FK4A) or a bit less flashy, but a lot more practical stainless steel bracelet (ref. 49960-19-431-11A), the diver makes an even stronger impression. In fact, it radiates such a strong presence that you would probably need to wear Dr. Freeman’s hazmat suit just to walk into your nearest Girard-Perregaux boutique to see the watch in person.
Celebrating the Centennial: Glycine F104 Pilot
Commemorating the Swiss brand’s 100th Anniversary, the automatic Glycine F104 Pilot (Ref. 3932.146AT.LB7R) delivers that great mix of a clean, easy to read dial with an easy to recognize pre-WWII styling, and deliberately oversized body: something that you rarely see when it comes to pilot’s watches designed during the last decade or two. Although, like a number of recently introduced timekeepers that try to strike your imagination with monsters that look ridiculous on almost any wrist of a man of a normal stature, this one will not look that great if you decide to wear it with formal suit, it is still an interesting collectible item that one can even wear from time to time. Perhaps, combine it with an equally expensive winter bomber jacket that would be able to somehow hid the gadget’s overall bulkiness?