Oris have a new addition to their diver’s watch collection, the Maldives Limited Edition.  Some of the profits from the sale of the piece will be donated to help to preserve marine life in the Maldives.  The brand from Hölstein did something similar with last year’s “Great Barrier Reef” watch which featured a large-ish stainless steel case and a wave-ripple textured dial.  The 2011 piece is just about as understated as a diver’s watch can be.  It has been scaled down to 43mm, the dial has been smoothed out and the case of this one has been upgraded to titanium with a bezel inlay made from very tasty brushed ceramic.  This summer’s dive watches just keep on getting better and better!

I first got a glimpse of this Maldives piece on watchuseek.com’s BaselWorld 2011 coverage back in March.  The images were not brilliant, but something about this watch just looked right.  The proportions, the colourway, or maybe the unusual bezel?  I liked it then, I love it now.  Oris have the right combination of great build quality and keen prices and in recent years someone in the design department has got it spot on too.

Inside is the Oris 643 automatic movement with power reserve of 38 hours.  The blue dial has applied indices with deep orange superluminova and a small seconds subdial at 9 o’clock.  On the case side at 9 is the “anti-bends” helium valve with a stainless steel screw-in crown at 3 o’clock.  On the back is an image of a Manta Ray.  Water resistance is to 300 metres.

The Oris Maldives Dive watch is a limited edition of 2000 pieces with a choice of either rubber strap or titanium bracelet.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Hublot’s Jean-Claude Biver once again brought traffic to a halt to open another brand boutique this time in London’s New Bond Street, and to help with the launch was tennis icon Ilie Nastase for whom a new limited edition Big Bang, the Nastie Bang was unveiled.

If you were a lawn tennis fan in the 1970′s then you had a decision to make, should you cheer for the cool-headed, silky smooth Björn Borg or the charismatic and feisty Ilie Nastase?  Borg was impeccable and flawless, Nastase took to the courts like a slightly scruffy rock star and his show-man antics had the more traditional Wimbledon spectators choking on their Pimms.  Borg is remembered for his supreme perfection and has his name on a nice collection of men’s underwear, Nastase on the other hand was passionate and slightly dangerous and now has a very tasty Hublot Big Bang designed in his honour………

The piece features a 44.5mm microblasted black ceramic case.  The dial is anthracite grey with black nickel appliques and faceted black nickel hands and a red chronograph hand.  The Nastase personalisation comes in the form of a “tennis ball” 30 minute counter at 3 o’clock and a 60 seconds counter at 9 o’clock with tennis points markings, 15-30-40.  Ilie’s signature appears beneath the sapphire at 6 o’clock and the sapphire case back is inscribed with an image of the man himself.

Inside is Hublot’s HUB 4100 Calibre automatic chronograph movement.  Water resistance is to 100 metres.  Nastase won 132 titles in his career and in tribute to this the watch will be an edition of 132 pieces.  The Hublot Nastie Bang  comes presented on a black rubber and leather strap with contrasting yellow stitching.

Popularity: 11% [?]

It’s a summertime tradition in the watch world – less diamonds, more diver’s watches.  Richard Mille watches are anything but traditional, none-the-less the brand have just released an exclusive new addition to their diver’s collection, the RM028 Saint-Tropez.

There is a certain size/weight ratio with Richard Mille watches, the bigger it looks, the lighter it wears.  This RM 028 is a 47mm diameter watch with a thickness of 14.6mm but the tripartite case, the lugs and the rotor, botttom plate, bridges and balance cock are all made from titanium.

If you know the brand then you will also know that they have recruited a number of high profile sporting ambassadors to showcase the highly technical features contained within their watchcases.  The rotor on the Calibre RMAS7 which powers this piece, for example, features an adjustable rotor which ensures efficient rewinding of the mainspring regardless of how fast or leisurely the wearer chooses to move about.

The piece features the traditional maritime colours of blue and white – white rubber strap, touches of blue on the dial and bezel, the whole effect is pleasingly pelagic, even if naming it “Saint-Tropez” is more likely to evoke images of substantial floating gin palaces than some bloke wearing neoprene.  It’ s summery exterior almost belies the technical details of this watch – the fact that it is a serious piece of diver’s kit with all the necessary safety features and is capable of withstanding depths of 300 metres.

The Richard Mille RM 028 Saint-Tropez is an ultra exclusive edition of just 10 pieces.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Corum release a limited edition piece, the Seafender 48 Chrono Bol d’Or Mirabaud to celebrate their continued partnership with the classic European regatta.  The brand will sponsor a number of prestigious sailing events in the coming season – the perfect excuse to showcase their thoroughly thalassic Admiral’s Cup collection.

The traditional colours of the Bol d’Or Mirabaud are blue and gold which Corum used as inspiration for last year’s very tasty blue dial Chronograph 48 Bol d’Or Mirabaud. The 2011 piece features a 48mm titanium case coated with blue PVD and gold chevrons, hands and hour markers presented on a black dial – the images don’t do this one justice, try to imagine the brilliance of those golden chevrons and numerals glimmering in the sunlight.

This is a highly textured piece.  The outer edge of the black dial is decorated with interwoven Clous de Paris.  With the chronograph minute hand mounted on the same axis as the hour and minute hand, there is no need for a chrono subdial which leaves lots of plain dial space in the middle, a contrast to the outer dial embellishment.  At 9 o’clock is a gold small seconds counter, with a date window at 3 o’clock.  Inside is the COSC certified CO960 automatic chronograph movement with 48 hours power reserve.

The Admiral’s Cup portfolio continues to grow and develop.  What began as a commercial link to the world of yacht racing more than half a century ago has become a fundamental part of the brand and if Corum have made a duff Admiral’s Cup model I’ve not seen it.

The Admiral’s Cup Seafender 48 Chrono Bol d’Or comes presented on a textured black leather strap and is a limited edition of 30 pieces.

Popularity: 12% [?]

TW Steel continue to strengthen their F1 paddock presence with a Special Edition David Coulthard piece.  The former F1 driver has been a brand ambassador for TW Steel since last year and his namesake watch is stylish, techy and slightly understated – not unlike the man himself.

TW Steel launched in 2005 are, in watch terms, a youthful brand.  Their portfolio is packed with sharply styled chunky designs produced to Swiss Standards, mostly crafted from top grade stainless steel.  These are big pieces, keenly priced – you get a lot of TW Steel watch for your money.  On the marketing side, the brand have the enterprising knack for putting their watches on the right wrists with an impressive line up of ambassadors.  They are also timing partners to the Renault F1 team.

The WatchPress have a fondness for ol’ DC.  He has always conducted himself with decorum, even when lady luck kept stamping on his career with her 6 inch killer heels.  How we gritted our teeth when the Williams F1 team relegated him to spare driver to allow Mansell to s-q-u-e-e-z-e into his driver’s seat, even though he’d help rally team spirits after Ayrton Senna’s tragic accident.  How we cursed the mighty Ron Dennis for providing him with what seemed to us to be second rate equipment.  We were at Monza in ’97 where we hastily put away our Jordan flags and cheered him to victory.  Since then, how we have sniggered at the schoolboy bickerings of Coulthard and Eddie Jordan on the BBC F1 coverage and have listened in wonder at his indepth knowledge of how the cars and drivers function.  As they say, he’s the real McCoy.

The David Coulthard piece forms part of a new CEO Tech collection.  Two case sizes are available, 44mm and 48mm both crafted from sandblasted steel with a silky matt finish.  The bezel is PVD coated titanium as are the chronograph push buttons and the crown.  Vibrant red touches on the seconds hand, the counters and on the tachymeter scale add an eye-pleasing contrast to the grey dial which features subtle David Coulthard branding beneath the TW Steel logo.  It’s a refined design and one which works perfectly.

The David Coulthard CEO Tech comes presented on a matching grey Italian leather strap and is water resistant to 100 metres.

Popularity: 13% [?]

How boring the watch industry would be without Hublot’s charismatic Jean-Claude Biver.  He is simply unstoppable.  His knack for forming business partnerships where previously there were none ensures that his list of “friends in high places” continues to grow and grow – which must leave the CEOs of other brands more than a little perplexed.  For Hublot’s latest release, the Oceanographic 4000, the brand form an alliance with the prestigious Oceanographic Museum in Monaco ( – ingenius!) and the watch is, of course no ordinary diver’s watch.  It is capable of withstanding the pressures of a recorded depth of 4000 metres.  And it’s quiet a looker.

At such depths, as you can imagine it is all about survival,  so for a wristwatch to cope with such conditions without imploding required substantial research and development and the addition of a few safety features.  The seal has been tested to 5000 metres and it passed.  The sapphire has a thicknesss of 6.5mm.  The screw-down case back is made from super strong grade 2 titanium.  On the case side are two screw-down crowns.  At 2 o’clock is a unidirectional crown to set the dive time protected by an oversized guard which is not only a life saving feature, but is also quite swanky too.  The other crown at 4 o’clock is used for winding and setting the date and the time.  Both are perfectly positioned for ease of use.  To alleviate the watch equivalent of “the bends”, a stainless steel helium valve is positioned at 10 o’clock just out of shot on these images.

High readability is ensured.  Everything that you need to see has a liberal coating of SuperLuminova including the internal rotating flange which counts down the dive time.  Otherwise the dial is uncluttered, clean and clear.

At 48mm it’s big and chunky, but it’s not unwieldy thanks to super-light case construction.  Two versions are available, titanium case edition limited to 1000 pieces and All Black carbon fibre edition, limited to 500 pieces.   Inside is the automatic winding HUB 1401 movement with power reserve of 42 hours.

The King Power 48mm Oceanographic 4000 comes with two lengthened tongue and buckle straps, a style rare for Hublot, but more manageable while wearing diving gloves.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Sometimes words fail me.  Sometimes when I write an article to describe a watch I need to keep it short, for fear of publishing drooling drivel because I love it too much.  The Grande Seconde Ceramic Mother-of-Pearl is such a watch – so this will be brief.

You might already be familiar with Jaquet Droz.  The brand creates exquisite peerless pieces.  La Grande Seconde is a symbolic part of their portfolio, an instantly recognisable collection with two off-centred overlapping subdials, the larger of which counts the seconds.  Nothing receives the Jaquet Droz marque unless it is flawless, so as you’d expect when ceramic was introduced by the brand in 2008, it was ceramic of the highest quality.  Extra fine grains of zirconium oxide powder used in its creation ensure a finish of the utmost purity and toughness.

New to the collection is the Grande Seconde Ceramic with mother-of-pearl dial.  It has a lustrous glossy white ceramic watchcase, an ethereal mother-of-pearl dial animated by a whisker-slim red lacquer seconds hand and it comes presented on a white rubber strap – a white rubber strap which is set with two pairs of diamonds ………  I should stop now.

Popularity: 4% [?]

How black do you want your black watch to be?  When Graham named this model “Full Black” they weren’t messing about.  The 48mm steel case and bezel are PVD coated with black titanium carbide.  The dial is, of course, black and those now-you-see-them/now-you-don’t numerals are crafted from polished rhodium.  Inside it also has a black heart – every part of the movement has been blackened with rhodium.  This gives it a certain high-tech demeanor -  but it’s no pretender.  This is a superbly engineered chronograph to add to the brand’s portfolio – a portfolio which already has sporty timers in abundance, after all George Graham is said to be the inventor of the chronograph.

The tourbillon, normally a glistening feature on a watch dial has also been blackened on this piece.  It has been re-engineered to be tougher and lighter, Graham call it a “shockproof tourbillon” and had it integrated into the chronograph – a column-wheel chronograph, which many believe to be the only true chronograph.  It would seem that with this piece Graham have created a true mix of  traditional and technical.

Inside is the Calibre G1780 automatic tourbillon column-wheel chronograph movement with 48 hours power reserve.  A domed sapphire crystal and sapphire crystal caseback give an ample look-see at the superb hand finishing techinques use to craft the movement and that see-through tourbillon cage.  You’d never expect such a handsome brute to have to endure the watch equivalent of boot camp, but Graham had this one Chronofiable tested, which accelerates the ageing process to reflect 6 months wear in 3 weeks, and to date it is the only automatic tourbillon to have passed the test.

The Graham Silverstone Tourbillograph Full Black comes presented on a black croco strap with black ceramic folding buckle and if you think it’s just a little too inky, also available are an 18 carat red gold case with black or white dial and an 18 carat red gold option with black carbon dial.

Popularity: 7% [?]