Category: IWC

Before Christmas we asked our team to present us with their favorite watches from the 2023 releases for three different budgets that we had the opportunity to share here, and today we are back at it, but with a different challenge. 

This time we got the team together and challenged ourselves to present a dream collection of just three watches, once again all the watches had to be from this year’s releases, there could be no repetitions of brands and models but this time with no budget limit. 

We bring three collections each with a dress watch, a chronometer watch and finally a diver or sport watch. 

COLLECTION I

Cartier Santos Dumont Skeleton Micro-Rotor

One of the great novelties brought this year by Cartier is the Santos Dumont with skeletonized movement, whose biggest highlight is the figure of the plane piloted by Albert Santos Dumont but also the lacquer inserts on the bridges to match the leather tone of the strap. Housed in a case measuring 31mm by 8mm, operated by micro rotor movement. What we liked most and which is overflowing with refinement is the rose gold variant with a burgundy strap. 

Omega Speedmaster Super Racing

Of course, any self-respecting collection must have at least one Speedmaster, the ‘king of chronographs’, and in this sense we bring what was Omega’s first novelty of 2023, whose main highlight is its honeycomb pattern on the dial and countless details in yellow, its robust 44.25mm by 14.90mm case hides the other great novelty which is the new Caliber 9920 which incorporates the innovative Spirate System which among other advantages offers great accuracy (0 / +2 seconds per day) . 

Seiko Prospex The 1965 Diver’s Re-creation SJE093 

Inspired by the first professional Diver’s watch from 1965, it is by far the most similar to the original, featuring the same case shape and its 38mm diameter, 60-minute unidirectional bezel, screwed crown and case back engraved with a ‘Dolphin’. The similarities also prevail on the dial, featuring a sunburst grey dial, applied baton hour markers and hands, a lollipop center seconds hand and a framed date window at 3 o’clock next to the crown. Inside, it is powered by the debut Caliber 6L37 automatic movement that offers up to 45 hours of power reserve. 

COLLECTION II

Grand Seiko Elegance Hana-Ikada SBGY026 

This beautiful limited edition of 100 pieces could well be the biggest showcase for the Japanese watchmaking brand, as it reflects its two greatest skills, a stunning textured dial in pink and white tones inspired by cherry blossom petals and the Spring Drive movement Caliber 9R31 which brings together the best of mechanical and quartz technology resulting in stunning accuracy of -1 / +1 second per day. All of this gathered in the elegant ‘Omiwatari’ style case in rose gold. 

Zenith Chronomaster ‘Aaron Rodgers’ 

Another of the iconic chronometers that could not be left out of this list is the ‘El Primero’ movement, this time brought through yet another limited edition (it’s almost a case of saying that this is the collection of limited editions), which pays homage to one of the great professional NFL player. This exclusive edition stands out for its green dial and bezel, whose dial with the usual three registers here in different shades of gray are complemented for the first time with Arabic numerals, which we thought worked incredibly well. Inside, it is powered by the high-speed El Primero 3600 movement, which offers up to 60 hours of power reserve. 

Longines Spirit Zulu Time GMT 39MM 

The beautiful and versatile pilot’s watch with dual time-zone introduced in 2020 in 42mm, now appears in a moderate size, with a steel case measuring 39mm by 13.50mm, maintaining the bidirectional 24-hour bezel with ceramic insert and 100m of water resistance is powered by the Caliber L844.4 automatic movement that offers 3 days of power reserve. The variant chosen by us is the two-tone one with an 18k yellow gold bezel and crown, brown-chocolate insert bezel and black matte dial with gilt accents. 

COLLECTION III

Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Duoface Tourbillon 

It is the most ingenious watch brought by JLC this year, which in its distinctive pink gold case brings together a silver main dial with time functions and a flying tourbillon suspended on a single bridge, which when turned to the other side reveals a second round black dial with a second time zone, plus a discreet day/night indicator and the same tourbillon. All this is only possible thanks to its hand-wound Caliber 847 with 254 parts. 

TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox Chronograph In Gold 

Inspired by the models created exclusively for Ferrari drivers in the 70s, the new chronograph also comes in yellow gold but now housed in a Glassbox case, whose material now also extends to the Panda dial, which now adds a running seconds at 6 o’clock with a window dates to the two original black counters. Inside, the expenses are covered by the Caliber TH20-00 automatic movement that offers a robust 80 hours of power reserve. 

IWC Ingenieur Automatic 40 

We couldn’t finish without introducing one of the biggest market trends of recent years, a sport watch with integrated bracelet. The new IWC Ingineur is inspired by the 1976 original Gérald Genta designed, the fourth generation of the watch arrives in a 40mm steel case with a brushed finish on the surfaces and polished on the chamfers, smooth bezel, fluted crown with crown guards. On the dial the ‘Grid’ pattern, applied hour markers and pencil hands all filled with Super-LumiNova and finally a framed date window at 3 o’clock. Inside, the Caliber 32111 automatic movement operates, offering 3 days of power reserve.