G-SHOCK has upgraded its fan-favorite octagonal 2100 model with Bluetoothconnectivity and solar charging.
The GA-2100 launched in 2019 – itself a modern reworking of the classic DW-5000C – with an octagonal bezel quickly earning it the CasiOak nickname and repeatedly selling out.
The five new references – with the new model number GA-B2100 – add Smartphone Link connectivity via Bluetooth and solar charging.
Despite the added functionality of the new models, the GA-B2100 matches the length and width of the GA-2100 and is only 1gm heavier and 0.1mm thicker.
For the first watches in this series, Casio has launched with black/grey and all black as well as returning to the classic shades first used for the 5600, namely yellow, green and blue.
The GA-B2100 collection drops on May 2 via G-SHOCK, with prices starting at £130 GBP (approximately $170 USD).
After a two-year hiatus, Richard Mille has just announced the return of the Voiles de Saint Barth Richard Mille regatta — taking place over six days in the Caribbean Sea. This year’s 11th edition will see 700 sailors spread across 71 teams comprised of Maxis, Super Maxis, Multihulls, Spinnakers, and Melges 24s.
With the upcoming competition, Richard Mille revealed a new commemorative watch, the RM 032 Voiles de Saint Barth. The watch has been created to withstand depths of 300 meters and features Caribbean blue accents and white Quartz TPT. The watch has a full grade 5 titanium case middle and is flanked by lugs, inserts, and a case back all made in Carbon TPT. The 50mm skeletonized watch also packs a flyback chronograph function, an annual calendar, an indicateur de marche, and a half-turn locking crown.
Limited to just 120 examples, the RM 032 Voiles de Saint Barth is set to retail for $245,000 USD.
HODINKEE and Bamford London are putting the houndstooth in America’s favorite hound, with a collaborative Peanuts “Joe Preppy” GMT Limited Edition.
The matte brown dial of the 40mm stainless steel GMT is taken over by Snoopy’sbookish alter ego “Joe Preppy” indicating local time in hours and minutes with his arms, while a Woodstock-tipped GMT hand indicates home time against a white and dark brown 24-hour scale on the bidirectional inner rotating bezel, which is controlled by a second crown at the 11 o’clock position.
Joe Preppy is kitted out in tweed check jacket, blue shirt and glasses and stands next to the date window at the three o’clock.
The watch is powered by a Sellita SW330-2 movement offering 42 hours of power reserve and is supplied on a brown cordura strap with white stitching. Each of the 250 limited edition pieces are presented inside a fabric-covered replica of Snoopy’s doghouse emblazoned with the HODINKEE logo.
The Bamford x Peanuts “Joe Preppy” GMT Limited Edition launches today at 11AM ET via HODINKEE, priced $1,850 USD.
TAG Heuer has landed on the green with an upgraded version of its golf-focused Connected special edition smartwatch.
The Connected Calibre E4 Golf Edition offers a redesigned interface, making user control of its golfing functions easier, including high resolution 2D maps of more than 40,000 golf courses around the world showing hazards and distances.
Other new features include a built-in shot-tracker that automatically activates when it detects a swing from the tee and collates collected data to generate shot ‘heat maps’, club recommendations and even generate 3D animations of your best shots.
The 45mm watch’s redesigned buckle also features a magnetic ball marker that slides out, allowing players to mark their positions on the green when putting. The watch is secured on a dimpled white rubber strap and supplied with a second black strap. TAG Heuer has also improved battery life by 30% on the previous generation.
“Our customers play golf more than any other sport,” says Frederic Arnault, CEO of TAG Heuer. “Golf has become an important pillar of the Connected watch: the new Calibre E4 is built to be a watch that wearers don’t take off when they leave the golf course.”
Golfers will be able to review their round at the 19th hole in 3D via a companion app, offering a “dramatic visualisation of the details stored by the watches.”
The Connected Calibre E4 Golf Edition drops in April. Head over to TAG Heuer for more information.
TAG Heuer has produced its most expensive watch ever, setting its case, dial – and even creating the entire crown – using nearly 12kt of lab-grown diamonds.
“Innovation and redefining frontiers is in our DNA,” says TAG Heuer CEO Frédéric Arnault. “With the introduction of the TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma, we want to expand the possible palette and designs for diamond watches and diamonds in general, and create a new and breathtaking vision of mastering carbon and diamond design as well as cutting-edge light effects.”
The TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma features a 44mm sandblasted anodized aluminum case, housing TAG Heuer’s H02 Tourbillon Nanograph movement, which itself features a hairspring made of carbon nanotubes.
The case has been set with 48 lab-grown diamonds totalling 4.8kt, with their mounting designed to make the stones appear part of the case rather than an addition and the crown is a single piece of lab-grown diamond weighing 2.5kt.
The Carrera Plasma’s polycrystalline dial features multiple diamond crystals grown as one for a shimmering, textured effect, while black polycrystalline sub-dial plates offer contrast to the chronograph minute and hour counters at the three and nine o’clock positions.
The H02 Tourbillon Nanograph movement’s carbon hairspring – which is impervious to variation caused by magnetic fields and doesn’t require lubrication – is manufactured using the same chemical vapour deposition process used to grow the diamonds. The movement – which has been hand-finished for the special edition – features a 65-hour power reserve and a TAG Heuer shield-shaped winding rotor.
The Carrera Plasma is out now via TAG Heuer, priced $376,000 USD.
Vacheron Constantin has reinterpreted its classic 1970s sports luxe 222 model in 18K yellow gold.
The model was designed by Jorg Hysek in 1977 to celebrate the brand’s 222nd anniversary and after being discontinued in 1985 remains a favourite among collectors today.
The new model – part of Vacheron Constantin’s Historiques line of reimagined classics – is based on the Ref 44018 and its 18K 3N yellow gold case measures 37mm, reflecting the Jumbo nickname given to the original reference, which was also produced with 34mm and 24mm cases.
Inside a modern Calibre 2455/2 automatic beats at 4Hz – as opposed to the 2.5Hz movement in the original – and offers a 40-hour power reserve. The winding rotor features the original 222 logo.
Vacheron Constantin has also reworked the bracelet to hide the pins and improve comfort.
The Historiques 222 is available now via Vacheron Constantin, priced £53,500 GBP (approximately $69,600 USD).
Belgian watchmaker Ressence has pared back its hand-less watch dial concept to create its new sartorial, entry-level Type 8.
The 43mm Type 8 features a brushed and polished grade 5 titanium case, allowing for a total weight of just 42 grams.
The simplified design reveals only hours and minutes with no lettering or numbers on its domed cobalt blue dial. The hand outlines and baton indices for hours and minutes are infilled with blue Super-LumiNova.
Ressence hides its lugs underneath an overhang, giving the impression of the strap entering the case. As with all other Ressence watches, the case is crown-less with adjustments handled via the watch’s rotating caseback.
The Type 8 drops on March 30 via Ressence retailers, priced CHF 12,500 (approximately $13,400 USD).
Bulgari is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of its Octo Finissimo collection with an eighth world record by creating the world’s slimmest mechanical watch.
The Octo Finissimo Ultra measures just 1.8mm from front to back, beating the previous record-holder – the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept – by 0.2mm.
Like the Piaget, the concept of case and movement has been abandoned in favour of building the 170-component manually-wound movement into the caseback of the 40mm sandblasted titanium case. The caseback had to be fabricated from tungsten carbide to stop the watch bending when worn.
Bulgari spent the past three years developing not just the watch, but engineering an integrated bracelet and folding clasp of matching dimensions.
The Octo Finissimo Ultra also packs in a power reserve of 50 hours using a large mainspring barrel, something ultra-thin watchmaking often struggles with. Instead of a standard crown, Bulgari has fitted two thumbwheels, one for winding and the other for adjusting the time.
A QR code engraved on the mainspring barrels of the first 10 Octo Finissimo Ultra watches provides a link to unique NFT artworks that also serve to authenticate the watches.
“This fabulous benchmark that we are setting today with the Octo Finissimo Ultra is in fact for me and for all the teams an apparently impossible dream come true,” says Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin. “One that guarantees that Bulgari will forever be recognised as a company that has written some of the finest pages in Swiss watchmaking. And the fact that this is an Italian house makes us particularly proud.”
The Octo Finissimo Ultra is limited to 10 pieces and is available now via Bulgari, priced €400,000 (approximately $440,000 USD).
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