The Lange Zeitwerk Striking Time is haute digital

THE Lange Zeitwerk Striking Time solves the problem of unclear time display on digital watches.

A. Lange and Sohne’s latest model in the Lange Zeitwerk range, Striking Time

IN the world of horology, “digital” is a dirty word.

Displaying the time as a number rather than with the more traditional hands pointing at numbers around the dial is thought to be the realm of the quartz watch industry. However, digital display mechanical pocket watches first appeared at the end of the 19th century and the first digital wristwatch dates from the 1920s. Today the manufacture of a mechanical digital watch is such a technical feat that it is only ever seen at the very haute end of horology.

Unlike in an electronic digital watch, the time display on a mechanical one can often appear unclear as the indicators move between the hours and the minutes. A. Lange & Sohne’s latest model in the Lange Zeitwerk range has a jumping numeric display — meaning the discs advance instantaneously rather than in the creep mode so that the time is always precise and unambiguous. The Lange Zeitwerk Striking Time is the first mechanical digital display watch from A. Lange & Sohne and its design has been inspired by the Semper Opera House digital display clock in Dresden. The jumping mechanism is powered by the Glashutte-based company’s patented constant-force escapement and is so fast it’s almost imperceptible to the human eye.

A small click can be heard as the numbers change and then as the time strikes the hour and the quarter hour the watch chimes. The hammer on the left strikes the hours at a low pitch and the one on the right the quarter-hours with a higher-pitched tone (the gongs are visible suspended in a recess between the dial and the bezel). While a chiming watch can certainly be useful it also has the potential to be slightly annoying. Thankfully the chiming function can be muted by pressing the button at 4 o’clock. The manually wound watch, which has a 36-hour power reserve, comes in a 44.2mm white gold case or in a limited edition of 100 pieces in platinum. RRP $124,200 from Watches of Switzerland. lange-soehne.com; watchswiss.com

Black as night

THE Breitling for Bentley collaboration is now in its 11th year and for 2014 it pays tribute to Bentley’s biggest engine: the 6.75-litre version that powers the brand’s Mulsanne limousines. The Breitling for Bentley 6.75 Midnight Carbon is an update of the 6.75 that was shown in Basle last year. As the name suggests, the latest incarnation is black, a colour achieved through a special carbon-based treatment of the satin-brushed steel case (which is 49mm in diameter). The design of the watch’s bezel has been inspired by the iconic pattern on Bentley’s radiator grilles; and the dial of the watch features on open-worked striped motif that offers a glimpse of the watch movement behind. The watch is water resistant to 100m and is in a limited edition of 1000. breitling.com

Evolution of revolution

MAGNETS can wreak havoc on a mechanical timepiece (they stop or lose accuracy) and watchmakers have been trying to create antimagnetic watches for centuries. Most antimagnetic watches, such as the Rolex Milgauss and the IWC Ingenieur, house the movement in an antimagnetic protective cage, but Omega has taken the development a step further and created the actual movement out of non-ferrous materials. Omega unveiled its antimagnetic movement at Basle last year in a Seamaster Aqua Terra watch. This year it went a few steps further and introduced the Master Co-Axial movement, which is antimagnetic to 15,000 gauss, in a new version of the Seamaster 300 as well as De Ville Tresor. At Basle Omega president Stephen Urquhart said that eventually all its proprietary movements will be antimagnetic.