Back in January, TAG Heuer unveiled the Carrera 160 Years Silver Limited Edition a pure and classic reinterpretation of the iconic reference 2447S, long admired by serious Heuer collectors as one of the finest Carrera’s ever produced. The silver dial and three register layout is elegant and simple, and what many likely think of when they conjure a Carrera in their mind. The latest TAG Heuer release celebrating the brand’s 160th birthday is a more colorful take on the Carrera, and uses a considerably more oddball reference as a starting point. Let’s take a look at the all new 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition. Fake Watches

First, a primer on the watch this limited edition is based on. The watch is based on the Heuer Montreal, reference 110503W, launched in 1972. This was a two register chronograph with a large cushion case, powered by the iconic Calibre 12 with the distinctive left hand crown placement. At 42mm, the Montreal was big for its day, and part of the great tradition of fun and funky 70s sports watches. With red, blue, and yellow accents complementing a white dial with black subdials, the Montreal was very much a product of its time, and has become extremely collectible over the years. Replica Rolex

The new Montreal Limited Edition isn’t a recreation of the original Montreal, but an attempt to harness it’s spirit and place it in the more refined and traditional context of the classic Carrera. So, we have a dial that’s playful in terms of color, but in a traditional 39mm case with those historic Carrera lines. We still have prominent red and yellow accents on the LE, but the blue element has been greatly expanded, now covering the subdials as well as an outer ring just beyond the hour markers.

The same Heuer 02 movement that powered the Silver Limited Edition linked above is running in the new Montreal. Obviously, this movement wasn’t around in the 1970s, so like the updated Silver, the new Montreal has a different dial layout. This is a three register chronograph movement with running seconds, minutes, and hours at 9:00, 3:00, and 6:00 respectively. While the Calibre 12 featured a date at 6:00, the new movement does not, and the dial is cleaner for it. The Heuer 02 also features a vertical clutch and column wheel, along with an impressive 80 hour power reserve. It’s also notably thinner than its predecessor, the Heuer 01, allowing for a case size that’s easy to wear. https://www.toolpatio.com/

There will probably be some (myself included) who wish TAG Heuer had embraced the unusual case design of the original Montreal and recreated it in some form for this release. But I’m an unabashed fan of case designs that most would charitably consider as non-standard, and it’s hard to argue with the traditional Carrera case shape, particularly at just under 40mm. I think what TAG has done here is take a niche product and make it into something that will be absolutely devoured by the masses, and they deserve some credit for that. With only 1,000 of these being made, it’s likely they’ll go quickly. TAG Heuer

Ever since the release of the Black Bay Fifty-Eight, which was announced at Baselworld in 2018, the watch world has heaped praise upon it, and speculated what a follow up might look like. Zach W’s review, just about one year out from the watch’s public unveiling, made it clear that this watch is, quite simply, just flat out good. The size of the case, the way it evokes vintage Rolex, and the overall fantastic build quality are all strong reasons as to why this watch has been waitlisted at authorized dealers everywhere for as long as it has existed. Now, at long last, we have the update we knew was inevitable: a Black Bay Fifty-Eight with a blue dial and bezel, in the same appealing form factor of the original. Let’s take a look at what is likely to be one of the most talked about watches of the year. Replica Watches

First, a little context, because the Black Bay, both as a concept and as a lineup of watches from Tudor, is an incredibly important thing in the world of watches in 2020. The original Black Bay, you’ll recall, was introduced all the way back in 2012. Yes, we’ve been living in a Black Bay world for over 8 years at this point, hard as it might be to believe. Back then, the concept of a heritage inspired watch was still a relatively new thing, and the burgundy bezeled Black Bay was something of a siren song to Rolex lovers who lusted after historic big crown Submariners but couldn’t afford the rapidly rising price tags. Rolex Replica

The watch was a hit, and variants in blue and black soon followed. An in-house movement was developed, and the 41mm Black Bays were reintroduced with additional text on the dial indicating their chronometer rating, and the rose logo gave way to the Tudor’s shield. An almost endless stream of variants would come in the following years. Black Bays with steel bezels and no bezels at all, blacked out cases, hints of gold, cases in bronze, plus a chronograph, a GMT, and a supremely weird diver based on a military prototype. And, of course, we got the Fifty-Eight, a watch which many lovers of vintage Rolex wanted the Black Bay to be in the first place, with classic proportions and a more elegant wearing experience than the bigger Black Bay, a timepiece which many thought to be too thick and unwieldy to be a comfortable daily wearer.

And now, with the Black Bay Fifty-Eight in navy blue, watch lovers have a choice when it comes to the smaller, easier to wear Black Bay. The original has a heavily vintage influenced gilt inflected dial – a choice that’s hard not to love if you have a predisposition toward key classic Submariners. The new option is quite a bit different in character, and while the case and bracelet are the same, and remain heavily in debt to vintage feel and proportions, the new matte blue dial and bezel seen here have a somewhat cleaner and more modern feel, particularly as they’re complemented by a stark white minutes track and lume plots at each hour.

Blue is more than just another color choice for Tudor, however. The Tudor Submariner in blue was introduced in 1969, and in the 1970s was adopted by the French navy. Tudor has had a long string of blue sports watches over the years, making the color an obvious choice for the new Fifty-Eight. Seen side by side with an original blue Tudor Sub, the similarities in tone are striking.

The blue Fifty-Eight is still powered by the same in-house movement, caliber MT5402. It’s chronometer certified, and worth pointing out that this movement was specially designed for the original Black Bay Fifty-Eight – it’s not the same movement found in the larger Black Bays plopped into a smaller case. In order to achieve the thinness Tudor was after with this model, an entirely new caliber had to be developed.

Now that the Fifty-Eight line has actually become a line under the Black Bay umbrella, it will be interesting to see what’s to come for other Black Bays. It’s been awhile, after all, since that original 41mm Black Bay has seen an update, and with expansion in the smaller model (which, we should remember, has been so popular ADs simply can’t keep it in stock), I wonder how committed Tudor is to the larger form factor.

The new Black Bay Fifty-Eight in Navy blue is available now through Tudor ADs and can be purchased on a bracelet for $3,700, or a fabric mil-strap for $3,375. It’s also available on a new “soft touch” strap, which Tudor claims resembles flannel.

Previously launched in both white and pink gold versions, this is the latest incarnation of Vacheron Constantin's Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date, and it is now part of their limited edition and boutique-only Collection Excellence Platine. With a 950 platinum case and a matching dial, the Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date even features strap stitching using thread in both platinum and silk. When VC wants to do special, you know they don't mess around. Replica Watches

Limited to just 50 numbered units for the Collection Excellence Platine, the Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date joins a rare group of watches that have been promoted to this platinum-themed collection since the concept was introduced 2006. Sizing is the same as the other two versions of the Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date at 42.5mm wide and 9.7mm thick. The function set – a large retrograde date display along the northern radius of the dial and a rather subtle moon phase and moon age display (showing the day in the moon's cycle) at six o'clock – is both cleanly symmetrical and visually interesting with lovely details on the moon phase and a centrally-mounted blue hand for the pointer date.

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Apply all of this on a lovely matte sandblasted platinum dial, and you have a brand new look that feels at once traditional in form and contemporary in execution. Just like the previous versions, the platinum Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date uses the 2460 R31L, an in-house automatic movement from Vacheron Constantin that ticks at 4 Hz while offering a 40-hour power reserve and a design that allows all of the functions to be controlled via the crown alone.

While the existing Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date versions (those being in white or rose gold) retail for $40,100, each of the fifty platinum pieces being added to the Collection Excellence Platine will sell via VC boutiques for $67,000. With platinum forming everything from the case to the dial, and even the thread used for the strap, you kinda knew it was going to cost a pretty penny. That said, you get a very limited and lovely watch in return.

The Basics

While the Big Bang Unico GMT is not a chronograph, it does have some chronograph DNA, and it is the inclusion of chronograph-type functionality that makes it so easy and intuitive to operate. Simply unscrew and pull out the rubber-coated, H-branded crown and set all three main hands — hour, minute, and GMT hand — to the correct local time. When changing time zones — as I did, from New York (EST) to Basel (CET) — simply push the pedal-like chrono-style pushers to move the local-time hour hand in one-hour increments in either direction while the minute hand and seconds hand remain unaffected. Because the gears for the minutes and seconds are not driven, it is not necessary to synchronize all of the hands with every change of time zone. Longtime fans of the Hublot brand may note that the rectangular shape of the GMT pushers resembles those of early Big Bang chronographs, thus differentiating them from the more button-like rounded pushers of modern Big Bang Unico models. Hublot has built a safety device into the mechanism preventing simultaneous activation of the two pushers.

Brand: Vacheron Constantin

Model: Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date Collection Excellence Platine

Reference Number: 4010U/000P-B545

Diameter: 42.5mm

Thickness: 9.7mm

Case Material: 950 platinum

Dial Color: Sand-blasted 950 platinum

Indexes: 18k white gold, applied

Water Resistance: 30 meters

Strap/Bracelet: Dark blue alligator leather with platinum folding clasp