For the year 2011, the Italian-based Officine Panerai adds a number of new models to their historic 1950 Collection. The Luminor 1950 3 Days (PAM 372) is the most affordable of them all.
Swiss Brands
Urban Warfare: JeanRichard Highlands Sand GMT
During the SIHH 2011 event, JeanRichard has presented its new take on their successful line of cushion-shaped watches. The Highlands Sand GMT features the familiar exterior, which is now presented in a more sanguine (if a trifle militarist) khaki color scheme and even offers a complementary calfskin leather strap with the standard textile strap that looks like it came directly from a tactical rifle.
Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 XXL in Rose Gold
Girard-Perregaux is proudly expanding its 1945 Collection with the deliberately archaic Vintage 1945 XXL (ref. 25880-52-721-BB6A) model. Offering a combination of a vintage-style exterior and a modern (albeit very simple) mechanism, the watch is a sort of a daily beater for the kind of people who can afford one at a price of a base Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan.
Die-Hard Vintage: 2011 Longines Twenty-Four Hours
It is definitely going to be a year of remakes! At the upcoming Baselworld 2011 show, Longines will reveal its new Twenty-Four Hours (ref. L2.751.4.53.4) “aviator.” Featuring everything a die-hard fan of vintage style could hope for (well, perhaps sans the movement since the new version comes powered by a modern self-winding mechanism), the new timekeeper is a good example of a “vintage-modern” pilot’s watch that successfully combines historic styling with reliability and ease of use provided by modern technology.
Look at this Richard Mille with a “Declutchable” Rotor!
During the SIHH 2011 event, Richard Mille presented its RM 030 model with a so-called “declutchable” rotor: a complication that, unlike something as unnecessarily sophisticated as a tourbillon or a minute repeater, is not just nice to have but is actually quite useful for many reasons.
Designed to slow down the process of wearing-out of the self-winding mechanism, the declutchable rotor is what it is: a rotor that, colloquially speaking, disengages its “clutch” the same way an automatic gearbox declutches, um, automatically when you press on the brake pedal while stopping at a traffic light. In this particular instance, the winding system is physically disengaged from the winding barrel as soon as the estimated power reserve reaches the 50-hour mark.
JeanRichard Bressel Hommage a Daniel is a Tribute to the Brand’s Founder
As the name implies, the new JeanRichard Bressel Hommage a Daniel (ref. 60119-52-70A-AA6) is a tribute to the gorgeous Daniel pocket watch from the XVIII century. Created by Daniel JeanRichard just over 300 years ago at 1710, it featured a sophisticated chain and fusee mechanism, featured an egg-like case that allowed to admire the mechanism in all of its beauty, and can be considered a true marvel even in our time after three centuries of constantly accelerating technological progress.