Chopard, H. Moser & Cie and Vacheron Constantin resurrect the steel sports watch
Steel reissues of mechanical timepieces are designed to keep the price down and attract a new, younger generation of fans. However, at HK$320,000, the Historiques Cornes de Vache 1955 appears to be the exception
It’s been a few weeks since the last column and I am happy to report that I have not shamed myself, lost anything valuable or sustained any injuries. By the same token, nothing particularly interesting has happened to me either, so perhaps I should leave the house more. However, one thing did pique my interest, actually that’s a lie, I am totally obsessed with the beef between British football wives Colleen “Wagatha Christie” Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
If you have no idea what I’m prattling on about, google it now, seriously, stop reading this and go and search it out. For those of us who are familiar with the story (it made The New York Times for goodness sake!), can we all just bask in the perfection of Rooney’s plan, the tortured five months she spent laying her intricate, fiendishly clever trap and the oh-so delicious reveal that will echo throughout time: “It’s ......... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Right, we should probably get on with the watches. In my downtime, as well as consuming all Rooney-Vardy related content, I’ve been looking at the slew of high-end steel watches that have hit the market. I am a big booster of steel watches, as they appeal to my more egalitarian pretensions but also rose and yellow gold can look a bit gaudy, while white gold and platinum are gilding the lily a touch.
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The chunky, brushed-metal case and strap, along with the nice symmetry of the eight screws holding things together, makes for a joyous exhibition of retro goodness. The watch is relatively devoid of features, but that’s not the point – it’s a piece for everyday use and designed to take a knock or two. There are several versions of the Alpine Eagle (as well as the blue dial, there is a grey-dial version and a grey-dial-and-gold edition), but crucially this watch also comes in two sizes.
That means this collection is for everyone – people with big wrists and people with small wrists. The 41mm blue-dial watchis priced at HK$98,000 and features a Chopard 01.01-C movement, with 60 hours of power reserve, while the 36mm version is HK$77,000 and has a 09.01-C movement, with 42 hours of power reserve.
Another luxury steel sports watch that has caught my eye is the H. Moser & Cie Pioneer Perpetual Calendar MD. Yes, this is a sports watch but I doubt anyone has ever taken it out for more than a light jog to their Bentley.
This watch is a first for H. Moser in that it is its first perpetual calendar piece with two windows displaying date and month. Again, this might be too much for some as the indication windows detract from the smoky dial effect that H. Moser is famed for, but you can’t fault the added functionality.
The steel case is 42.8mm and inside is an HMC 808 movement with a whopping seven days of power reserve. There’s also a power-reserve indicator. The watch is priced at HK$320,000.
Finally, we have a steel reissue of a classic from Vacheron Constantin’s archive, the Historiques Cornes de Vache 1955.
Steel reissues are made primarily to bring the price down and attract a new generation of fans, but this bad boy goes for HK$325,000, which makes it “cheap” in Vacheron Constantin terms but still way out of most people’s league. Despite that, I can’t deny my throbbing love for this watch. It has all the classic styling and grace you’d expect, nay demand of a Vacheron Constantin but also looks sporty and modern. As well as the brand name, punters are paying for the hand-finished, polished Geneva Seal-sporting 1142 movement, which has 48 hours of power reserve.
