New Watch Alert 12/19/19

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New watch: Tissot Couturier

New watch? Always! To keep up with the fast pace of traditional horology, I’m introducing a weekly round up. No further explanation needed, right? So let’s get stuck in, starting with the new Tissot Couturier (image courtesy affordablewristtime.com) . . .

Tissot Couturier

As a French speaker, I take exception to the name. Aside from being nearly impossible for non-French speakers to pronounce, a couturier is an establishment engaged in couture. A fashion house. Tissot’s new watch produces rien – except guffaws from anyone familiar with the asymmetrical beauty of Glashütte Original’s designs. 

Glasshutte Original Pano Reserve

Not to put too fine a point on it, the new Tissot Couturier is a cheap rip-off that totally misses the boat when it comes to balancing visual elements. To cleanse your palate, clock the Glashütte Pano Reserve (above). Avant!

New watch: Doxa SUB 200 in bright new colors

DOXA 200 Professional

The DOXA Sharkhunter topped TTAW’s list of the Best Automatic Dive Watches Under $1000. DOXA has a new watch. Actually, a series of colored watches that stick a dive tank in the mouth of the Sharkhunter (Jaws-style). Just like Bruce, these bad boys pop!

The ETA 2824-2 automatic movement powers the whole line: Orange Professional, yellow Divingstar, navy blue Caribbean, turquoise Aquamarine, silver Searambler and black Sharkhunter. As you can see, they’re attached to a tone-on-tone, color-matching FKM rubber strap.

DOXA SUB 200 orange

The DOXA 200 Orange Professional puts the Seiko Diver Automatic Orange (reviewed here) to shame. At $950 per watch, you’d be forgiven for buying more than one SUB 200. Over at TAG Heuer, if you want one, you have to buy five . . .

TAG Heuer Monaco Exclusive Limited Edition Set

TAG Heuer Monaco Exclusive Limited Edition Set

The Monaco is a quirky you-might-even-say-singular timepiece with a lot of history. I get that. Owning one is an entirely defensible decision. But five? All modern pieces? For $39k? Yup. Behold the TAG Heuer Monaco Exclusive Limited Edition Set.

TAHG Heuer Exclusive Limited Edition Set unbound

OK, sure. They’re all limited edition pieces  – Tag produced 169 examples of each new watch. And yes, the best ones are sold out (as a one-off purchase). But buying this set to get one Monaco you like is like buying a bunch of lesser Ferraris to own one you really want. Which people do. If I had to pick one, I’d take the photo bomber. But I can’t. So there is that.

New watch: Seiko Prospex Alpinist

Seiko Alpinist

The Seiko Alpinist and I were born in 1959. Unlike your humble horologist, Seiko’s first sports watch has been re-engineered to modern specs. The “Japanese Explorer” is still a 39.5mm timepiece with 200 meters of water resistance and a second crown for the internal compass bezel thingie. The new display caseback gets a big thumbs-up. The cyclops date wart, an emphatic downvote.

New watch: Seiko Prospex Alpinist o bracelet

Four new Alpinists shelter under Seiko’s Prospex sub-brand. The SPB121 – green dial on a brown alligator strap – is the most faithful to the original. The others, like the SPB117 above, are not-entirely-convincingly “Alpinist-inspired.”

The $725 price tag seems a bit steep – until you consider the fact that the new Alpinists are powered by Seiko’s new 6R35 automatic movement. The updated engine boasts hand winding, hacking seconds and a 70-hour power reserve. Available early 2020, sold out soon thereafter.

Richard Mille RM 33-02

Richard Mille RM 33-02

Richard Mille is famous for high-tech tonneau-cased watches beloved of the terminally bling and excessively famous. Timepieces that cost more than the gross national product of Belize. The watchmaker’s new RM 33-02 is high-tech and round. Wait. What?

Richard Mille RM 33-02

Simple explanation: RM wants to buy Belize. So he’s devised an entry-level watch, distinguished from pricier pieces by its round case. Price of admission to the RM Club’s lower tier? $145,000. RM 33-02 production’s “limited” to 140 pieces. If it sells out, RM pockets $20,300,000. See how that works? See you next week.

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