Precision Winter 2022: New for this year
Rolex
Watch websites were awash with speculation about what mighty Rolex would release at this year’s Watches and Wonders show but even the top pundits failed to predict that the revered brand would go left field. The GMT-Master remains one of the most popular Rolex models in terms of new sales. Never before, however, has the GMT-Master been produced with a left-hand winding crown and date window.
Rolex GMT-Master II
£9250
Junghans
In its heyday in the early 1900s, Junghans employed 3000 people and churned out three million timepieces a year. Since that golden era the fortunes of Junghans have fallen, risen, fallen and most recently risen again under the ownership of spring manufacturing tycoon Hans-Jochem Steim. This year it has wound the clock back 50 years to revive a model it last produced to mark its role as an official timekeeper of the Munich Olympics. The 1972 Competition chronograph is a dead ringer for the original piece and is being made in a limited edition of (you guessed it) 1972 examples.
Junghans 1972 Competition
£2100
Meistersinger
Fans of minimalism should be drawn to MeisterSinger, which makes only single-handed watches. When Manfred Brassler founded the firm in Germany 21 years ago, he took inspiration from one of the earliest forms of timekeeper, the sundial. MeisterSinger watches work by ‘single-handedly’ pointing to the number of minutes which have passed since the top of each hour – and it’s a system that’s easy to get used to. The range comprises four ‘families’ with one of the most appealing models being the Pangaea Day Date, centre middle, which combines the regular timekeeping function with an easy-to-read calendar based on a pair of revolving discs.
MeisterSinger Pangaea Day Date
£1850
Marloe
Marloe has come a long way since its founding in 2015 by marketeer Oliver Goffe and designer Gordon Fraser as a maker of British watches powered by Chinese movements. Key for 2022 has been the launch of the four-model Pacific line that celebrates important years of the jet age, including the arrival of Concorde. This is marked by the Pacific 76 that honours the Anglo-French plane with a blue dial, white indexes and a red seconds hand.
Marloe Pacific 76
£975
Soldat
If you like the looks of genuine vintage driving watches but not the prices or the idea of wearing a delicate, 60-year-old timepiece on a daily basis, Soldat’s creations are worth considering. The Indonesia-based business was set up by watch enthusiast Jesse Prawiro who looked to the shapes and features of some of the great chronographs of the ’70s and adapted them to create the Promessa. Although designed in Indonesia, the watches are assembled in Japan using good-quality, tried-and-tested Seiko movements.
Soldat Promessa Automatic True Blue
£1150
Herbelin
French brand Herbelin has re-launched three new versions of one its best known models, the Cap Camarat. Named after the cape near Saint-Tropez that’s famed for its 130m lighthouse, the GMT version of the watch features an integrated bracelet, a porthole-style bezel and a neat blue dial stamped with deck-like stripes. It’s limited to 500 examples, but there’s also a quartz-powered chronograph version and, recently introduced, a square-cased model that’s 39mm and features that deck-line dial.
Herbelin Cap Camarat
£539
Frederic Constant
Frederique Constant was established almost 35 years ago by Dutch husband-and-wife team Peter and Aletta Stas with the aim of making Swiss watchmaking affordable to all. Coming under the ownership of Japan’s Citizen six years ago doesn’t seem to have altered the ethos, as evinced by one of its top-selling models, the Highlife automatic chronograph. Designed to be a daily wearer, it has a tough automatic movement housed in a 41mm case. We fancy the limited edition model on a blue leather strap to complement its blue and silver dial, top centre. Just 1888 will be made.
Frederique Constant Highlife
£3195
REC
Denmark’s REC – which makes limited editions that use bits of interesting old vehicles – is about to launch a new category entitled Inspired By that will comprise watches based on the key features of best-loved cars from the ’50s to the ’80s. It’s latest honours the DeLorean DMC-12 in a series of watches with dials made from stainless steel salvaged from the divide between the gullwing doors of DMC-12s. REC obtained enough to make 456 examples of the SPX DeLorean watch which is powered by a Swiss-made Sellita automatic movement. It goes on sale on November 1.
REC SPX DeLorean
£1800 (approx)
Christopher Ward
One of top watch e-tailer’s signature models has long been the C60 Trident Pro 600. The new Pro 300 is a slimmer, lighter, daily wear version and can be had in a choice of three case sizes (38mm, 40mm and 42mm) and four dial colours (black, white, green or blue). There’s a bezel made from scratch-proof ceramic, the hands and dials are highly luminous and, as the name suggests, it’s water resistant down to 300m. Choose from a steel bracelet or, for even more of a bargain, a ‘tropic’ rubber strap in black or orange.
CW C60 Trident Pro 300
from £695
Citizen
There’s a reason why fighter pilots have to prove how clever they are by passing exams that show they know all about maths, physics and navigation – it’s so they can operate watches that have as many features as Citizen’s Skyhawk A-T, made in honour of the RAF’s Red Arrows. The plethora of subdials, scales, screens and readouts is accounted for by a 1/100sec chronograph, and the fact that the watch uses Citizen’s Eco-Drive technology means it draws its energy from any available light source and never needs a battery.
Citizen Skyhawk A-T Red Arrows
£649