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Whether you like complex or simple, smart or retro, bold or elegant, buying or just looking... You will definitely find something to your liking in this selection.
WATERFAST
Solid gold sports watches; it remains instinctively an unusual combination. But also very beautiful, as this Portugieser Yacht Club Moon & Tyde from IWC Schaffhausen. The 18-carat fine case contains a robust in-house calibre that offers 60 hours of power reserve and is powered by an automatic and efficient Pellaton winding system. The gears of this timepiece translate into the information you can read on the beautifully contrasting blue dial: in addition to the time and date, you will find clearly displayed the expected times for low and high tides and the moon phases for the northern and southern hemispheres, where you can also immediately see whether there are extra high tides due to spring tides. In short, a complete watch for the avid sailor who also wants to look distinguished on land. Costs €35,400. www.iwc.com and www.schaapcitroen.nl
ASTROSCOPE
In the German city of Münster, they are making at MeisterSinger special watches, because equipped with only one hand with a fine needle point that allows the wearer to read the time. The same applies to this Astroscope. But it offers something more, namely the days of the week in a way never before seen. It was probably the Babylonians who devised the seven-day system and linked it to as many celestial bodies: the sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. But where most of the planets are named after Roman gods, the very names of our days of the week come from Norse mythology. It is an ancient connection found on this dial, in words and images - and with a bright dot to show you the way to today. Internally, a Sellita SW 220 automatic movement with 38 hours of power reserve ticks. Costs € 1990. www.meistersinger.com
SMART IN THE SUN
Imagine a sporty watch that can do just about everything you would expect from a smartwatch, and more. So is there anything left to wish for? Yep, namely that it can keep all that up for even longer. And then you quickly arrive at this fenix 6 Pro Solar Edition from Garmin from.
This is a multi-sport GPS smartwatch, which -exclusively for the Pro line- has built-in TopoActive Europe maps as standard, ski maps for over 2,000 ski resorts worldwide, over 41,000 golf courses and music storage. All that alongside built-in training profiles for golf, skiing, running, cycling and now surfing, mountain biking and indoor climbing, among others. And Garmin Pay for contactless payments. And insight into your health data, sleep analysis, notifications from your smartphone and so on. But the best part is that watch face: it features a semi-transparent layer of solar cells that ensure that when your watch sees enough light, it is continuously recharged, so you can enjoy its endless list of uses for even longer (16 days in smartwatch mode). Features titanium band. Costs €1099. www.garmin.nl
JUBILEE
TAG Heuer is celebrating its 160th anniversary and is celebrating with a number of special introductions this year. Like this Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition inspired by the White Heuer Montreal from
1972, a time of creative experimentation with colourful dials. The name Carrera is
incidentally another decade older and was conceived by then-CEO Jack Heuer, who realised that the legendary Carrera Panamericana, one of the world's most treacherous road races, provided a nice basis for the name of a watch line created for motor racing. These stories now come together on a matte-white dial equipped with three azure counters. The minute counter at 3 o'clock stands out with its three curved lines of 1 to 5, 10 to 15 and 20 to 25 coloured with yellow Super-Lumi Nova. The same yellow Super-LumiNova is also found on the central minute and hour hands, while the central chronograph second hand has a striking red lacquer. The watch is equipped with an automatic chronograph movement and no more than 1,000 pieces will be manufactured. Costs €6400. www.tagheuer.com and www.schaapcitroen.nl
NATURE
Chances are you have never heard of Hangang. At least, we hadn't. Yet Oris is naming a watch after it. Here's the thing: Hangang is the name of a huge river that runs straight through Seoul, the capital of South Korea, on which 10 million people depend for their fresh water supply. However, the quality of this water has declined dramatically in recent years due to heavy pollution. And that is where ORIS steps in. Indeed, this Swiss watch brand is involved in various conservation projects around the world, including here. In support of a massive clean-up campaign due later this year, Oris is introducing this Hangang Limited edition (2,000 pieces), based on the Aquis Diver. With a stunning tropical green dial and diving ring, waterproof to 300 metres a powered by an automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve. Costs €2400. www.oris.ch
POINT
Welcome to the premier league of watchmaking, the Valhalla for the micromechanics enthusiast. With painful precision, as many as 356 parts are assembled in the manually wound movement to tell the time in sound and vision. Yep, even in the dark this watch, which listens to the melodious name 5303R Minute Repeater Tourbillon, tells you exactly what time it is. Not thanks to an ordinary layer of luminous paint on the hands, but with the help of hammers and gongs that you activate with a slider on the side of the case. The sound of this is so clear and beautiful that you would almost turn off the lamp just to have an excuse to put the hammers to work. But of course, the mesmerising sight of all those visible mechanics on the front and back of this watch is more than excuse enough to enjoy it endlessly. The price is a ding, though: count on around six tonnes in euros. www.patek.com
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