Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Perpetual Calendar Chronograph

Cartier’s ultra-complicated models, such as this year’s Grand Complication, have garnered much of the replica Breitling watches industry spotlight in recent years, but not to be overlooked is the Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, introduced at SIHH 2013, the first timepiece in the Rotonde de Cartier family to combine these two popular complications.

The watch, which comes in a 42-mm-diameter case of rose gold (pictured) or white gold, is powered by Cartier’s automatic manufacture caliber 9423 MC, which includes a new, in-house, dial-side module for the perpetual calendar functions. The calendar mechanism, which is designed to compensate for the irregularities of the Gregorian calendar, such as 30- and 31-day months and leap years, is a complex system of snails and cams that has at its heart a wheel that completes one revolution every four years. The wheel has 48 indentations of various depths on its circumference that indicate, via a feeler, the length of the current month (30, 31, 28, or 29 days). A retrograde hand, mounted on the dial at 6 o’clock, indicates the days of the week, and another center-mounted hand indicates the date by pointing at the numerals 1 through 31 along the edge of the dial. All the calendar displays are easily controlled — and, if necessary, reset — by quick-correction pushers in the case middle.

Cartier Rotonde de Cartier QP Chrono- front

The Perpetual calendar Chronograph is built on the base movement (Caliber 1904-CH MC) of Cartier’s existing Calibre de Chronograph watch and includes all of its functions, including a skeletonized rotor and two barrels that provide the Cartier replica watches sale a power reserve of 48 hours. The movement also incorporates an in-line, flexible lever that reduces stress on the bearings of the hand shafts when the chronograph counters are reset to zero. It also boasts the latest generation of vertical clutch, which helps the chronograph to start with no hand jump and to run continuously without affecting the torque.

The dial features openworked areas and guilloché and sunray patterns, both Roman and Arabic numerals, and sword-shaped (for the hours and minutes) and hammer-shaped (for the date and day) hands in blued steel. The caseback features a sapphire window offering a view of the movement. The beaded gold crown is accented by a sapphire cabochon. The best Breitling fake watches comes on a black or brown alligator strap with a gold double-adjustable folding clasp. The rose gold model is priced at $74,000, the white gold at $79,000.

Cartier Rotonde de Cartier QP Chrono - back

Cartier Rotonde de Cartier QP Chrono - angle

Anniversary Exclusives

It was a year of cheap Breitling replica anniversaries at Baselworld, with special editions celebrating not just brands’ foundational dates, but anniversaries of key collections, archival icons, founders’ birthdays and more.

It seems almost anything is fair game as an inspiration for a special edition anniversary timepiece. A quick look through immediate past sales at Antiquorum and Christie’s, for example, reveals a Hublot 10th anniversary Big Bang celebrating the first Ferrari timepiece in China (selling for $81,250), an A. Lange & Söhne Langematik made to celebrate the Millennium in 2000 ($35,500), an Audemars Piguet platinum edition to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Maserati in 2005 ($22,672), and even a steel Rolex commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Sommozzatori of Italy’s Polizia di Stato (the diving corps of the Italian State Police) ($141,527). Even the most obscure fetch a premium.

These days attaching an anniversary to a timepiece doesn’t automatically add value. To reach investment status, anniversary pieces should also have a special movement, with a complication or an interesting combination of complications, something that constitutes a “first” (or perhaps a “last”) for the brand, or at least an elite movement, with silicon or ceramic components. Limited numbers also potentially affect the value.

MB&F, 10 years already

Anniversary editions were big at Baselworld this year. Tenth anniversaries were especially strong, starting with a piece that is totally unique in the world of replica Breitling watchmaking: MB&F’s Melchior, the latest incarnation of Max Busser’s adventures in transforming boyhood space fantasies into sophisticated timepieces for grown men. Melchior is a robot that is fitted with a clockwork – along with a gatling gun and a rocket launcher. The weapons are not functional, but the jumping hours, sweeping minutes and double retrograde seconds are functional. The escapement is located in the robot’s “brain”. It is powered by five mainspring barrels and runs at 2.5Hz, with a 40-day power reserve (which would no doubt be much shorter if the rocket launcher could engage). Created with prestigious Swiss clockmaker L’Epée 1839, Melchior is only the first of several anniversary pieces MB&F will create this year in celebration of its tenth anniversary, under the theme “A creative adult is a child who survived”. If uniqueness is a prerequisite for collectors’ potential, Melchior automatically has high intrinsic value. It is limited to 99 pieces.

10th anniversary of the Big Bang

Hublot celebrated 10 years of its signature collection, the Big Bang, this year by releasing not one, not two, but three limited editions, even creating a special anniversary logo for the press kit. It begins with the Big Bang Unico, the first all-gold Big Bang, made with the brand’s proprietary alloy, Magic Gold, a fusion of ceramic and gold. It contains the brand’s top-drawer in-house movement, the Unico, in a limited edition of 250 pieces. The second piece is a Big Bang Tourbillon 5-day Power Reserve, with a new tourbillon caliber, HUB6016 that is skeletonized, with a power reserve indicator at 9 o’Clock (with a 115 hours power reserve). The case and bezel are Magic Gold, with a titanium and rubber crown. It is limited to 50 pieces.

The third anniversary Big Bang is actually a series of 10 Big Bangs. Big Bang Unico 10 Years Haute Joaillerie is a collection of spectacular jewellery watches, each priced at $1-million (15 have already been sold). The watches are special for the complex setting techniques and gem cuts used, including invisible setting, clou de Paris setting (the gems are set to form tiny pyramidal shapes, resembling clou de Paris guilloché) and rail setting, in which the gems are set between rails of metal that are not visible. Cuts include baguettes (both black and white) and trapeziums, a type of step cut. Rubies and blue sapphires are also used. 400 hours of research and development and production, plus 350 hours of setting, are required to create one piece. The latest Breitling replica watches contain an elite movement, the Caliber HUB 1242 Unico flyback chronograph.

70th birthday for the Vintage 1945

Girard-Perregaux celebrates the 70th anniversary of its Vintage 1945 collection by introducing an anniversary edition with a tourbillon escapement, including the brand’s signature three gold bridges, an invention that garnered a gold medal for the brand at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. This movement for the anniversary piece was reshaped to adapt to the case shape of the original Vintage 1945, which is rectangular in the geometric Art Deco style. Like the original Vintage 1945, it is two-tone gold and steel, another hallmark of the Art Deco style. This is not the first time Girard-Perregaux has combined its two most iconic developments – the first Vintage 1945 Tourbillon was introduced in 2004, followed by several iterations in the rectangular case, including the unique Jackpot Tourbillon in 2006. The 70th anniversary editions are being made in two versions, one in 18k white gold (18 pieces), and the other in white gold, invisibly set with 112 baguette-cut diamonds totaling 5.72 carats (eight pieces). The back is satin-finished and engraved with the commemorative logo of the 70th anniversary.

The Bulgari Roma was created in 1975

Bulgari is celebrating 40 years of its Bulgari Roma timepiece this year. The Bulgari Roma was originally conceived in 1975 by founder Sotirio Boulgaris for 100 of his best clients. Bulgari now produces full collections containing in-house movements with traditional complications, all while remaining faithful to its contemporary approach to design. Among the anniversary pieces is an ultra-thin version, equipped with the hand-wound Bulgari Finissimo Caliber, with a small seconds counter and an ultra-slim tourbillon, powered by an in-house movement, the BVL 268, which holds the record as the world’s slimmest tourbillon. The movement was introduced last year in the Octo case, and now appears in the rounded Bulgari Roma, which makes it seem even slimmer with its sleek curves. The tourbillon is a 100-piece edition.

100th anniversary of the two-pusher chronograph

The Breitling Transocean Chronograph 1915 marks the 100th anniversary not of the brand, or a collection or a founder’s birthday, but of the two-pusher chronograph. In the early 20th century, all chronographs were monopushers, with the controls for starting, stopping, and returning the timer to zero all placed in the crown. In 1915, Gaston Breitling, son of founder Léon Breitling, designed a timing watch with a separate pusher to control the start, stop and reset functions. He placed it on the side of the case at 2 o’clock, just above the crown, which would soon become standard, as it was easy to reach and control on the wrist. The limited-edition Transocean Chronograph 1915 is a tribute to this design innovation – an angled pusher sits at 2 o’clock, above the fluted crown – but is updated with the dial and case design of the current Transocean collection. The silvered dial has a bicompax display: a small-seconds subdial at 9 o’clock and a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock. The best Cartier replica watches is fitted with Breitling’s manufacture movement, Caliber B14, which is manually wound and Chronometer-certified by COSC. It is a limited edition of 1,915 pieces.

Baume & Mercier, 185 years of existence

Baume & Mercier celebrates a 185th birthday this year with a piece from its most recent collection, the Clifton. The brand is known for its classic dress watches, and the anniversary piece, the Clifton 8-Day Power Reserve, therefore embodies this aesthetic. The rounded, stepped design of the case, slightly recessed crown, applied gilt hands and numerals and minimalist dial are all hallmarks of the elegant dress watch. The 45 mm case size makes for a large, and therefore uncluttered, dial. It contains a manufacture movement, based on fellow Richemont Group brand IWC’s caliber 59210, with a power reserve indicator at 9 o’clock and a small seconds at 6 o’clock. It is limited to 185 pieces, each marked “One out of 185” rather than with a specific number.

80 years for a Van Cleef & Arpels’ signature piece

Van Cleef & Arpels celebrated the 80th anniversary of one of its signature piece, the Cadenas, earlier this year at the SIHH. It is not marked as an anniversary edition, and it is neither numbered nor limited. But the redesign could be as valuable and collectible as iconic men’s models from big brands, as ladies’ pieces become more prominent in best Breitling fake watchmaking. It also has the power of a big brand name behind it, as well as a compelling narrative: the Cadenas was designed in 1935 and made famous in 1936 when it was gifted to the Duchess of Windsor by King Edward. The dial is discreetly angled so that only the wearer can see the time; to everyone else, it looks like a gold bracelet with a double snake chain and a chunky gold rectangular case. The new model remains faithful to the original, with three updates: the dial has been enlarged and is thus more visible (it is no longer considered impolite for a woman to check the time); there is a larger, more secure clasp on the bracelet; and the case is now decorated with snow-set diamonds. There are nine models in the new collection, including three pavé versions.

Revelation downsizes to save its idea

The little brand from Lully-sur-Morges has abandoned its own-brand caliber and slashed its prices twenty-fold, but still enjoys playing on the replica Breitling watches display of time.

What to do when you having a winning idea that isn’t the commercial success you’d hoped? Above all, don’t just push on blindly—instead rework it, adapt it, strip it down to its essence and jettison everything else with cheerful abandon. Which is exactly what the small team at Revelation has done. This young couple, based in Lully-sur-Morges amid the vines overlooking Lac Léman, started out with an own-brand caliber complete with a caroussel tourbillon, but switched to a Sellita movement without demur and without compromising their identity in the slightest. Anouk Danthe, co-founder of the business, describes their guiding principle as “prioritizing the information displayed by the watch, making it appear and disappear in turn.” A concept that can be interpreted in countless different ways, from mass-produced entry-level watches to exclusive pieces, crafted in the workshops of renowned Artisans.

At the beginning of the century, when Anouk Danthe and Olivier Leu decided to launch the venture, they knew they would need an original concept. And they found one through the methodical observation of a market dominated by the clash of two contrasting trends—that of traditional fine watchmaking and that of the independents, who are standard-bearers for a new type of watchmaking that was all the rage at the time. On the mechanical side, Max Busser, Urwerk and many others were regaling enthusiasts with complex displays, to such an extent that on occasions, the dial itself became illegible. So Anouk Danthe and Olivier Leu asked themselves how they could reconcile all of these ideas to develop a watch that would be by turns classical and innovative, legible and complex. They turned to the automotive world for inspiration, where concept cars, which often house incredible mechanisms under the hood, reveal nothing but sleekest lines once it is closed. And so their first production sported a hood. When closed, a set of polarizing discs meant that only the hour and minute hands could be seen. And when opened, the heart of the best Breitling fake watches was exposed, revealing a caroussel tourbillon with an outsize balance wheel. But beyond this watchmaking complication, the piece’s true originality lay in the two discs, whose nanostructures were developed with the CSEM (the Swiss electronics and microtechnology center).

Downsizing

This piece, whose price exceeded CHF 200,000, earned plaudits aplenty, but not much more. At which point Revelation began the delicate pruning operation that forced it to question its entire approach without abandoning its basic principles. The first victim of the process was the hood itself. Buyers were put off by its apparent fragility, and so it was abandoned in favor of a more playful and more traditional watchmaking component, the “magic bezel”. While making this change, the discs were moved to a position under the hands in order to offer a second level of time-reading. But even that was not enough. Although the product itself was impeccable, the couple still lacked the credibility required for buyers to pay the new price of CHF 150,000 without raising an eyebrow. Not to mention the concerns caused by an own-brand caliber in terms of after-sales service.

And so the downsizing process was taken further still. “We hung on to our concept of prioritizing information, but used it in a different way.” First came a chronograph by Dubois-Dépraz, followed by a self-winding Breitling fake watches equipped with a Sellita movement, still sporting the magic dial. Thus in barely three years, the brand had replaced the hood of its first piece with a rotating bezel, substituted a chronograph for its tourbillon, lowered the price of its new products from CHF 200,000 to CHF 10,000 and begun to review the size of its cases, beginning with unveiling a women’s timepiece in Basel with a diameter of 42 mm, which would be reduced still further to 38 mm in the following two years to suit an Asian clientele.

“We had to open up the concept, fill out the product pyramid and meet market expectations,” explained Anouk Danthe. But how far could the exercise be taken without calling into question the very foundations of the brand, and without affecting the concept itself? A question that was already asked of the pieces presented this year, which this time did away with the polarizing discs. Also gone were the nanostructures, replaced by an openwork disc which reveals or hides a large date on the sports piece (R07 Legend) or a ladybird perched on a clover leaf—all on a serrated ring, which in turn masks and reveals the date aperture on the women’s watch (R05 First Lady). The risk is now that clients may be unable to tell the difference between the Revelation and other watches with animated dials, such as Perrelet’s turbines and Albray’s mechanical games, not to mention (albeit in a totally different category) the travelling diamonds of Chopard or the poetic complications of Van Cleef & Arpels.

One hundred units in 2014

Revelation owes a great deal to its magic dial, including the support of the Confederation from 2013 for its nanotechnology and optical research carried out with CSEM, and, from 2015, that of Innovaud, the body that assists innovative businesses in the canton of Vaud by funding part of their marketing expenses or research studies for a maximum of five years, as well as helping them file patents. “Switzerland has the resources to drive innovation forward—it’s up to us to use them,” says Anouk Danthe, who is working on new variations of the polarizing discs in order to vary the color of the dial. “Our first attempts have been promising, but we’re still a long way from being able to use them on a new Breitling replica watches.”

So the future is in smaller cases and more affordable products. In order to reduce prices, Anouk Danthe has of course set her sights on increasing volumes, with a hundred units in 2014, and double that number planned for 2015, which would allow her to benefit from economies of scale. She also has some room for maneuver thanks to the rather lenient standards of the Swiss-made label. “For the time being, everything comes from Switzerland, but if our quantities were slightly higher, it would make economic sense to seek suppliers abroad, within the agreed limits. “

A Swiss tourbillon chronograph for 14,900 Swiss francs! Who would dare?

At Baselworld, TAG Heuer has announced the end-of-year launch of a tourbillon chronograph priced at just CHF 14’900 (USD 15,450 – EUR 14,230). Is the brand looking to ruffle feathers?

Photos of the replica Breitling watches uk had pride of place at the TAG Heuer stand yet, somewhat surprisingly, the object has gone unnoticed until now. Of course, Jean-Claude Biver had other priorities in his Baselworld announcement schedule, but this is a real grenade that TAG Heuer is preparing to launch at the end of the year. The forthcoming TAG Heuer tourbillon chronograph (COSC Caliber Heuer 02) featuring a modular case will be put on sale before the end of 2015 at a price of just CHF 14,900! And what’s more, this automatic movement will be produced in Chevenez, Switzerland. Jean-Claude Biver envisages selling between 500 and 1,000 models per year in around 500 of the brand’s points of sale.

To get an idea of the scale of this explosion, just remember that the majority of tourbillons (sold mostly by Fine Watchmaking brands) are put on sale at prices easily exceeding CHF 100,000 (USD 103,’600 – EUR 95,500). Nonetheless, over the past few months, several tourbillons have been sold for between CHF 60,000 and CHF 85,000 (USD 62,200/88,150 – EUR 57,300/81,200), and Baselworld 2015 is confirming this trend. However, let’s remember that it was Jaeger-LeCoultre who first made waves some 10 years ago by offering a finely manufactured tourbillon for under CHF 50,000 (USD 51,800 – EUR 47,750), which enabled the Joux Valley Manufacture to sell hundreds of them.

With this incredible exploit scheduled for October or November-the watch has not yet been produced on a large scale by TAG Heuer-the tourbillon complication is certain to take another hit. Although the finishes adorning fine cheap Omega replica watchmaking tourbillons are often what makes the difference-Chinese tourbillons have long been available for just several thousand francs-explanations and justifications in points of sale now run the risk of becoming rather convoluted. This will be a definitive downgrade for the tourbillon in the hierarchy of complications. As although the tourbillon complication is iconic-it is not an additional function, but has the advantage of being constantly visible and moving-it is no more complex than a chronograph, which is itself largely underestimated.

The reality of the market

TAG Heuer will be the first renowned Swiss brand to offer its own COSC tourbillon chronograph movement for under CHF 15,000. This inevitably raises questions in the watchmaking world, which doesn’t seem to understand the move. Jean-Claude Biver refutes any notions of provocation, and highlights the need to continue operations at the Chevenez factory and protect the jobs of the qualified watchmakers working in Fine Watchmaking. He also intends to demonstrate TAG Heuer’s expertise and mastery in chronometry, as this tourbillon chronograph will be a COSC-certified chronometer. As for the price, Jean-Claude Biver maintains that it corresponds “to the current market reality and not to the dreams of watchmakers 20 years ago.” To support his demonstration, he alludes to the work of Montblanc, who also has no prior experience in certain types of complications, and who is entering the market with extremely aggressive prices.

As far as TAG Heuer is concerned, between 500 and 1,000 tourbillon chronographs are supposed to leave Chevenez each year-enough to deliver the final blow to a long overestimated complication on which buyers of higher price ranges are now turning their backs. It’s also easy to imagine that in Jean-Claude Biver’s mind, this launch is a riposte to all those who claimed or envisaged that TAG Heuer would be leaving the Fine Breitling replica watchmaking sector for good.