Category Archives: Tag Heuer Replica Watches

World’s Most Complicated Swiss Replica Watch

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On Sept. 17 in Geneva, at a celebration marking its 260th anniversary, Vacheron Constantin will present what it calls “the most ingenious and sophisticated mechanical tag heuer replica watches ever made.”

Ahead of the launch, Vacheron has released some preliminary information about the watch to a small number of watch publications around the world, including WatchTime. (It did not provide an image of the watch.)

Here’s what we know.

The watch, which Vacheron says has two dials, has been created entirely in-house by three VC watchmakers, who worked on it for eight years. The watch was commissioned by a prominent, as-yet-unnamed collector. It incorporates, Vacheron says, “entirely new and unique complications representing the most significant technical advancements in watchmaking in modern times. The new complications had to be calculated, designed and developed from scratch. Thus a completely new caliber of movement was created unlike any seen before.”

One of the new complications, WatchTime has learned exclusively, is a dual calendar mechanism that Vacheron has invented for the watch’s perpetual calendar function. It presents data for two different calendar systems: the traditional Gregorian calendar, which emphasizes months and days; or the ISO (International Organization of Standards) 8601 business calendar, which emphasizes the number of the week of the year. More on this below.

Vacheron Constantin - Calendar functions

Calendar options: Do you want the Gregorian or the ISO 8601 business mode? Vacheron Constantin’s Grand Oeuvre’s perpetual calendar offers both, a world first.

Another unusual calendar feature of the watch is a seasonal calendar and astronomic scale at the edge of one of the two main dials. The scale has three rings, one for the months and days, one for the zodiac constellation periods, and one for the seasons. The scale enables one to calculate the moveable dates of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.

Vacheron does not specify the number of new complications, saying only that there are several (i.e., more than two): “This watch has introduced several important brand new complications to the world of watchmaking.” The watch also has “more familiar” complications, the company said. No word on the number of total complications, but it is likely to be more than 16. That’s the number of complications in the Tour de l’Ile wristwatch, the star of the large collection of unusual watches Vacheron made for its 250th anniversary in 2005. Vacheron refers to the new aaa grade swiss replica watch in its briefing material as the “Grand Oeuvre” and “the most complicated watch” and characterizes it as “a watch of hitherto unimaginable complication and technical innovation,” implying that it will outdo the Tour de l’Ile in technical complexity.

Vacheron Seasonal Astronomical functions

The Grand Oeuvre’s seasonal calendar and astronomic scale

Vacheron calls the addition of the ISO 8601 business calendar indication “a significant first.” The ISO model is used mainly in the international financial sector and avoids confusion caused by different conventions around the globe for writing numeric dates and times.

When the ISO 8601 mode is employed, the number of the week within the year and the number of the day within the week take precedence over the traditional month and date indication. The number of the week is read from the dial concentric to the month indication. The number of the day within the week is indicated in a window directly above the week dial: 1 for Monday, the first day of the week in the ISO system, and 7 for Sunday.

Vacheron’s dual calendar mechanism has two separately functioning yet mechanically integrated options. In the Gregorian mode, the date is given via a retrograde display, the months in an inner ring, and the leap year indication (1 to 4) in the window above the calendar dial.

The new swiss replica watch has a lot to live up to: Vacheron has not attempted to curb its enthusiasm for it. The company states that the research and skills used to develop and construct these and the other new complications “can be considered the greatest contribution to the advancement of mechanical watchmaking since the 1920s.” It said the watch “takes its place as one of the greatest man-made objects in the world.”

Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight Blue Review

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When we first saw the Tudor Heritage Black Bay a few years ago (2012), we knew that Tudor had gold in its hands. An amazing timepiece that was inspired by Tudor’s own heritage (we did a report here and here on their vintage pieces). This year, just one day before the BaselWorld exhibition opened, we were invited to witness the new & old collection of Tudor. They decided to come back with a new version of the Heritage Black Bay, this time in the wonderful Midnight Blue color.

Although we already showed you the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight Blue watch in this previous post, we were able to wear the watch ourselves for a couple of weeks and will now share our findings and photos with you.

Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight Blue

Tudor Heritage Black Bay

Perhaps I should start by saying that the introduction of the Heritage Black Bay in 2012 was a very welcome one. Although the vintage Tudor Submariner high quality replica watches are highly sought-after and collectors willing to pay impressive amounts of money for them, continuing the Tudor Submariner model would make no sense.

The Tudor Submariner used the same case, crown and bracelet as the regular Rolex Submariner models. Basically, only the dial and movement were different from Rolex’ Submariner.

Tudor Submariner 7928With the new Heritage Black Bay, the inspiration is quite clear, but I’ve to say that it is Tudor’s own design. The hands, the dial, case, crown and bracelet (or use of the leather and soft fabric straps) are all Tudor. Whether you take a look at the burgundy model or the midnight blue model, there is definitely an aesthetic link to Rolex but nothing seems to be identical to the iconic Submariner design.

Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight BlueWith a list price of approx. € 2500 Euro for the Tudor Heritage Black Bay with a fabric strap (and leather strap) or € 2760 Euro for the version with a stainless steel bracelet (and leather strap), the price is far more attractive than the € 6150  Euro for the Submariner No Date (114060) or € 7000 Euro for the Submariner Date (116610LN). Admitted, Rolex uses an in-house movement instead of the Tudor 2824 which is based on ETA’s 2824-2 movement but of course this doesn’t make up for the difference in price.

Tudor in the Market

Whether the difference in quality of finish and used materials is different, I will tell you later based on my wearing experience. First, let’s see how Tudor is doing in terms of popularity. Checking the data of our sister-company Chronolytics, whose information is based on Chrono24 (world’s biggest market platform for luxury watches) and their 7mio visits / 60 mio page views on a monthly basis, Tudor is awfully popular compared to a few years ago. Not only in the United States and United Kingdom, but also in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, France, Hong Kong, China, Russia and so on.

Chronolytics is also able to generate information on its competitors. Therefore, we had to set some definitions first to keep it real. We used the price range between € 2000 and € 3000 Euro and marked ‘new watches’ only. They queried all requests for watches from people, who also had been looking for new Tudor watches in this price range in the period of January 2014 till October 2014.

Based on this, the first three competitors for Tudor as a brand are 1. Omega (10% share-of-voice), 2. Breitling (5,7% share-of-voice) and 3. TAG Heuer (4,3% share-of-voice). These are BIG names. But it only counts – of course – if Tudor would be considered competitor for one of these three brands (using the same definitions) as well. So Chronolytics did, and showed us that using Omega as a starting point, Tudor is coming in as 3rd biggest competitor for them (with a 5,2% share-of-voice) in this price range and based on queries on new discount fake watches only.

Next, we asked what the first 10 competitive watch models would look like in this price range. So, people who had been requesting a Tudor Black Bay Heritage (no matter whether it is a burgundy model or midnight blue model), what are the watches from other brands they also requested. Below you see the out come of that request. Mind you that all competitive models are also according to the definitions set and that this data is based on actual market value, not list price (there might be 0% difference for highly sought-after models but we all know there is some discount on particular watches as well).

Tudor Heritage Black Bay

Tudor Heritage Black Bay on the wrist

As said, I had the Tudor Heritage Black Bay in midnight blue on the fabric strap, reference 79220B. The midnight blue would be my preference over the burgundy model to be honest, as I am not particularly fond of faux patina but also because I love the midnight blue tones. It is a color not only used by Tudor, but also an official BMW color, Stockinger uses it as an optional color for their beautiful safes and Apple’s iPhone covers can also be ordered in midnight blue (the most affordable thing in midnight blue in this list, which I do own).

In fact, the blue of this Tudor Heritage Black Bay refers to the old French Navy Submariner models by Tudor in the 1970s.

Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight BlueThe Tudor Heritage Black Bay is full of details. The crown has the famous Tudor Rose and is of course screw-down to ensure water resistance and prevent dust from coming inside the case. As you can see in the photo above, the sides of the case have a high polish finish. A nice thick facet line separates the polished side from the brushed upper side of the lugs. Like we’re used to from Rolex watches.

Although the uni-direction bezel has a much more fine set of teeth than the older Tudor models or Rolex models, it is easy to grasp and use. Sames goes for the crown basically. In all honesty, I had to get used to the shape of the crown a bit at first, but it is such an easy thing to use and it suits the shape of the aforementioned bezel.

The buckle – as you can see above – has the shape of the Tudor shield and works like a charm.Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight Blue Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight BlueThe blue fabric strap is very comfortable on the wrist and unlike some of the cheap stiff NATO straps out there, which I don’t fancy at all personally. I do love the look of NATO straps, I just happen to find them cutting a bit too much in my wrist to be really comfortable. This Tudor fabric is somewhat thicker and perhaps therefore a bit softer on the skin.

As already mentioned, the movement in this Tudor has the internal 2824 reference which is basically a modified ETA 2824-2. The price of this watch (€ 2500 LP) totally justifies the use of this movement and it has got a long track record as well. The use of an in-house Tudor movement would probably crank up the price making it come to close to Rolex. Also, if the movement is a big influence on the very attractive price of these Tudor watches, I’d rather have them using these movements. I love the fact that this Tudor is actually in a very affordable price range. Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight BlueAbove a ‘lume-shot’ as people tend to call them. Admitted, I already have worn this tag heuer replica watch during last Summer, so it didn’t take too much effort to charge the lume. I am currently wearing a watch with no lume at all, which made me realize how much I miss it during the evening or night.

All-in-all, this is definitely a watch that would be on my short-list when I was in the market for a new modern watch with a budget between 2000 and 3000 Euro. The finish is amazing and comes very close to what I am used to from the Rolex watches that I have or used to have in my modest collection. I might find the sides a bit too high polished, but this is also due to the fact that the height of the case is a bit bigger than those of my Rolex watches. Perhaps I just should not be comparing them, as these are different watches but from the same mothership.

As I’ve said, I would lean a bit more towards to the Midnight Blue version of the Tudor Heritage Black Bay than the burgundy version. But at least you do have a choice of course.

One thing that I’ve heard some comments on while wearing (and also wondered about it myself) is the use of the wording ‘Rotor Self-Winding’ on the dial of the Tudor Heritage Black Bay. I can imagine this was something ‘cool’ on a dial when it was all kinda new when Tudor started using automatic movements, but in 2014 it doesn’t make much sense. I guess it is there for ‘heritage’ reasons, but I could have lived without. I am sure however, that there will be people who love it.