Chronographs remain one of the most popular horological complications, with examples both elegant and sporty abounding throughout the watch world. WatchTime New York, America’s luxury watch show, opens its doors for a fourth year at Manhattan’s Gotham Hall in just a few days, and a some of this year’s most exciting new chronographs are among the hundreds of timepieces on display from our 31 sponsoring brands. Here are five that caught our eye, and which we expect will catch the eyes of WTNY guests as well.
Carl F. Bucherer Manero Flyback
The new, retro-look version of the Manero Chronograph Flyback, inspired by Carl F. Bucherer watches from the 1960s and ’70s, has a 43-mm steel case and a black dial, with silver-colored subdials at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock (for chronograph minutes and running seconds, respectively), and punctuated by red accents in the tachymeter scale and on the central seconds hand. Inside is Carl F. Bucherer’s automatic Caliber CFB 1970, which powers all of the watch’s timekeeping operations, including its column-wheel controlled flyback chronograph function. Completing the vintage-style look is the weathered-look, golden brown perforated strap made of kudu leather and sporting a suede finish. For more on the watch, click here.
Eberhard & Co. Nuvolari Legend
The Eberhard Nuvolari Legend is a vintage-look chronograph inspired by, and named for, Tazio Nuvolari (1892-1953), known as Montovano Volante, or the Flying Mantuan, one of the icons of early 20th-century auto racing. The watch’s black dial has big, luminescent Arabic numerals, baton hands, and a vintage-look spiral tachymeter scale (measured in km/hr) in the center, overlapping the minutes counter at 12 o’clock and hour counter at 6 o’clock. It is available in two stainless steel case sizes, the “standard” 39.5 mm version and the “Grand Taille” 43-mm variation that has become a hallmark of Eberhard watches. The exhibition caseback offers a view of the self-winding ETA Valjoux 7750 movement, whose rotor has been enhanced with an image of the historical Alfa Romeo Type 12C racecar in which Nuvolari won many victories. Click here for more on the watch.
Omega Speedmaster Racing
The new “steel on steel” version of the Speedmaster Racing, whose movement has been subjected to a battery of precision, performance, and magnetic resistance tests to meet Omega’s “Master Chronometer” criteria, features a white dial with black details and a vintage-look, motorsports-inspired minute track that first appeared on a 1968 Speedmaster. Its 44.25-mm stainless steel case is slightly thinner than those of previous models because of a revamped sapphire crystal. The polished black ceramic bezel uses white enamel for its tachymeter scale. The self-winding movement, Omega Caliber 9900, on view behind a transparent sapphire caseback, boasts a silicon balance spring, a column-wheel chronograph function, and a power reserve of 60 hours. Click here for more detail on the model, and here for an in-depth review of the original Omega Speedmaster Racing.
Montblanc 1858 Monopusher Chronograph
This striking, green-dialed timepiece, limited to 100 pieces, hails from Montblanc’s revamped 1858 collection, which takes its name from the founding year of Minerva, the historically acclaimed Swiss chronograph maker that was acquired by Richemont and absorbed into Montblanc in 2006. The 40-mm steel case has slim, curved lugs, a rectangular pusher at 2 o’clock to start, stop, and zero the chronograph, and a large, vintage-style fluted crown. The smoked green dial offers several period-appropriate details from early Minerva watches, such as the cathedral-shaped, cloisonné-style hour and minute hands, the railway minute track, the tachymeter scale on the dial’s outer edge, and a circa-1930s Montblanc logo in a historical font. You can find more details and pictures of the watch here.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph is the sportiest of the recently introduced Polaris collection, whose design codes are rooted in the now-famous Memovox Polaris from 1968, a diving watch with a mechanical alarm. Its inner rotating bezel features a racing-inspired tachymeter scale, and the chronograph pushers have been engineered to ensure an ideal grip. Like all the watches in the vintage-inspired Polaris collection, its dial consists of three concentric circles with contrasting finishes: sunray in the center, graining on the outer circle with its vintage-inspired Arabic numerals, and opaline for the rotating inner rotating bezel flange. The dial’s bi-compax layout has a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and small seconds at 9 o’clock. The timekeeping and the stopwatch are driven by a self-winding manufacture movement, Caliber 751, which is visible through a sapphire caseback and holds a 65-hour power reserve. For my hands-on, detail-packed review of the Polaris Chronograph, click here.
WatchTime New York 2018 takes place on Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27. Friday’s evening session is sold out! Some Saturday session tickets to WatchTime New York 2018 are still available; click here to order yours today!
