WATCH

THE SPECS

• 40mm stainless steel case with 100m water resistance • L888.4 automatic movement with 72-hour power reserve • £1,750, longines.com

HANDS-ON WITH THE LONGINES

SPIRIT GREEN

In case you happen to be colourblind or a particularly well-read dog, you might have missed that green is the colour of 2021. Rather than any eco-friendly, sustainable, upcycled way I mean it literally. Hues of emerald, olive and forest have been encroaching their way into the watch world for a while now, but this year they’ve taken root as a fundamental dial option.

Even the big boys like Rolex and Patek Philippe have gone green, so it’s definitely here to stay. Which suits me just fine to be honest, it’s my favourite colour. I’m a fan. I also happen to be a fan of Longines 2020 Spirit collection, which for me was the finest non-Heritage release from the Winged Hourglass for a couple of years at least.

I think you can guess where I’m going with this. Yes, Longines has now introduced a new model to their five-star Spirit range and yes, it has a green dial.

The Spirit is that precarious halfway house between modern and retro, a kind of ‘what if vintage Longines pilots were made now’. It’s a more difficult balancing act than it sounds and Longines has done a pretty solid job of it, creating a broader, more accessible type of pilot’s watch among the host of archival re-issues we’re consistently inundated with.

It does still have some of the core characteristics of an aviation timepiece, with its large, legible indexes towering over the dial, a retro railtrack minute scale and an oversized but not ridiculous crown. It’s definitely not trying to be authentically military, but the hints are there, which make the olive green Longines has chosen a perfect fit.

Olive naturally has military connotations but, also serves to offer a more casual option than darker, dressier colours. In fact, the colour here is pretty close to what Patek has used on their last hurrah of a 5711/1A and for much the same reason. It’s the perfect compromise between trendy elegance and sports practicality.

Otherwise, the Spirit is unchanged, including the exceptional case finishing of brushed and polished surfaces. Here we have the 40mm version which isn’t just a better size as far as I’m concerned, but also drops the three entirely in favour of the date window, unlike the 42mm version which cuts it off. This way it looks cleaner and neater.

Either way it comes on either a three-link bracelet or, as we have here, a beige leather strap. Beige and green are perfect together, so I’d definitely opt for this version. That said, the straps are easy enough to change on these models that I’d probably switch now and then.

Inside we have the L888.4 which is basically a modified ETA number. Very well modified, I hasten to add, as the anti-magnetic silicon balance spring and 72-hour power reserve make it a beast of a movement in this price range. And the one above, for that matter.

Indeed, the Spirit as a whole is a lot of watch for the £1,750 it’ll set you back, cementing Longines as a go-to mainstream brand for value. Sure, that’s what you get when you have the gargantuan infrastructure of Swatch Group behind you but that’s still an impressive achievement.

Now I can go back to waiting for their next Heritage launch…

£1,750, longines.com

The Spirit is that precarious halfway house between modern and retro, a kind of ‘what if vintage Longines pilots were made now’

THE SPECS

• C63 Sealander Auto / C63 Sealander GMT • 39mm stainless steel case with 150m water resistance • Sellita SW200-1 / Sellita SW330-2 with a 38 / 56-hour power reserve • From £595 / £795, christopherward.com

HANDS-ON WITH THE CHRISTOPHER WARD

SEALANDER

Christopher Ward’s release schedule seems unstoppable. Every couple of months there’s some cool new addition to their range, whether it’s slathered in lume, covered by translucent sapphire or a colourful, retro throwback. You could say there’s a watch for everyone.

Now though the accessible watchmaker has released what they consider the watch for everyone: the C63 Sealander.

You can trust Christopher Ward to exploit any hole in the market and, with Rolex’s lacklustre celebration of 50 years of the Explorer, it’s not hard to imagine what the British brand is going for here.

There are two main watches in the collection, the first being the vanilla Sealander Automatic. It’s 39mm of stainless steel and comes in black or white dials with various strap options. It’s honestly pretty basic but handsome all the same, especially in the white version we have here.

It really is the everyman’s watch and there’s not really an occasion it would look out of place for. At the same time – or perhaps because of that – it just doesn’t grab me. It’s meant to be that fine balance of elegance and utilitarianism that made the Explorer so famous, and it does have some of that going for it with the lovely light-catcher case with its perfectly proportions lugs. There’s just not enough to get my attention.

That though might be a bit of a moot point as it’s hard to argue with the price. Equipped with a Sellita SW200-1 calibre, a workhorse if ever there was one, it’s solid, versatile and has the kind of precision finishing that you generally don’t find in watches under £1,000. The Sealander Automatic is just £595, £700 on a bracelet. Go figure.

Then there’s the Sealander GMT which is even more impressive, both for value and for sheer style. The similarities to the Explorer II are even more obvious here, with its fixed 24-hour bezel. Honestly, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Christopher Ward has made their name showing up and undercutting classic designs and this is absolutely pitchperfect for them.

Again, it’s available in black and white, the latter of which we have here, complete with orange highlights on both the hour markers and centre seconds and GMT hand. The original idea behind the fixed bezel was so that you can tell the time of day via the 24-hour hand, even if you find yourself stuck in an arctic cave.

In this instance however, the Sellita SW330-2 GMT movement lets you set the 24-hour hand separately, allowing this version of the Sealander to double as a traveller’s watch, too. It also has a 50-hour power reserve, again slightly above what you’d expect at this price point.

My only real qualm about it is the date window. It’s actually slightly to the left of the six o’clock mark, which brings out the OCD itch at the back of my brain. That’s down to the

Sure, the GMT may wear its inspiration on its sleeve, but that’s led to a great-looking watch

movement used of course, but it’s still a touch frustrating.

Beside that, the Sealander GMT is certainly handsome, although it’s perhaps a little chunkier than I’d like. For a watch designed for all occasions, the dimensions come across sporty more than anything else. Still, it’s a reassuring weight of metal and definitely a more interesting watch than the basic Sealander Automatic.

Then, once again, there’s the price. The bracelet version we have here is £900, a solid £200 above that of the entrylevel Sealander. Honestly though, that’s money well spent. Sure, the GMT may wear its inspiration on its sleeve, but that’s led to a great-looking watch – and it’s not like you’d go to Christopher Ward for prestige, anyway.

I still don’t think that Christopher Ward has somehow, against all odds, created the ultimate watch for every occasion, the only watch any man will ever need. They have however built a seriously competitive all-rounder that looks and feels like its hitting well above its price tag. That’s more than enough.

From £595 / £795, christopherward.com

THE SPECS

• 43mm titanium case with 50m water resistance • UN-230 calibre automatic movement with 72-hour power reserve • £22,700, limited to 30 pieces, ulysse-nardin.com

HANDS-ON WITH THE ULYSSE NARDIN

FREAK X RAZZLE DAZZLE

The Freak is… an insane watch. I mean with a name like that it couldn’t be anything else, but even in the realms of avant garde haute horology with your MB&Fs, Urwerks and other weird and wacky designs, it stands apart.

A good part of that is that it came at the right time, a perfect storm of inspired design and haute horology that the turn of the millennium was desperate for. Part of that is the sheer audacity with which Ulysse Nardin has presented it over the years.

For the former you can check out Alex Doak’s piece on the history of Ulysse Nardin and the Freak on page 53. For the rest, there’s this, the Freak X Razzle Dazzle. It’s a ballsy name for a ballsy watch.

As part of the Freak X collection, the Razzle Dazzle is essentially the base level version of the famous carousel model. The concept is the same as it has been since the first Freak burst onto the scene, a movement that itself rotates without dial or hands, instead using its main bridge as the minute indicator and one of the wheels for the hours.

The difference here is the new pattern. Eye-catching doesn’t even come into it. The zebra-striped geometric mess of black and white might look like a magic eye picture, but it’s actually based on camouflage. Not traditional, army camouflage but that used on British boats in WWI.

Calling it camouflage might seem crazy, but the idea wasn’t in fact to hide the boats, but to confuse the eye, making it hard to gauge size, distance and ultimately hit the target in a real-life game of battleships. Looking at it now though, it’s no surprise that Picasso claimed Dazzle camo was designed by cubists.

It takes a certain kind of madness to apply a pattern overtly designed to be an eyesore to a watch and honestly, if there were more dial to the Freak X it wouldn’t work. It’s touch and go as it is, but for me, the way the height of the carousel dominates the visuals means that the razzle dazzle fades into the background enough to make it acceptable. Not subtle, but acceptable.

The idea was apparently to tie into Ulysse Nardin’s marine heritage, and there have been nautical nods in Freak models before, so the thinking tracks. It’s going to take a seriously outgoing collector to wear this bad boy on the regular though. That said I did love it for the few days I had it on and, while my own tastes have skewed a little more ostentatious over lockdown, I’m still a minimalist at heart.

On the wrist it feels fantastic. The strap is well-made, but it’s more the lightness of the 43mm, blacked-out titanium case that makes it comfortable. Having worn heftier versions of the Freak in the past, this is one of the few times I’m completely on board with the superlight metal.

The zebra-striped geometric mess of black and white might look like a magic eye picture, but it’s actually based on camouflage

Powering the whole thing is the latest generation UN-230 movement with its 72-hour power reserve. It’s hard to equate to anything else out there, given that it’s main function is being unique.

The bottom line is that dazzle camo is eye-catching to the point where it’s going to put off some watch collectors – but that doesn’t really matter. The Freak X is already eye-catching, already a mental piece of watchmaking and if there’s any watch out there that can pull off the kind of pattern to make a zebra see stripes, it’s Ulysse Nardin’s seminal iconoclast.

£22,700, limited to 30 pieces, ulysse-nardin.com