Hublot supports the Manchester United Legends Tour in Asia

Visiting Bangkok on the 6th April 2011, Kuala Lumpur on the 8th April and Hong Kong on the 9th April, a memorable tour by the Manchester United legends has just taken place in Asia, supported by Hublot.

At each stop, the Manchester United legends attended a charity dinner in support of the Asia-wide “UNICEF Legends Charity Dinner”, organised by UNICEF and the Manchester United Foundation. All the funds raised have been channelled into UNICEF projects protecting at-risk young populations, including children, from the threat of HIV and AIDS.

To mark this occasion, Hublot designed and created three unique watches with the exclusive Red Devil emblem on the dial and an engraving on the back detailing each date and location (Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur & Hong Kong). These three watches were each put up for auction during the 3 dinners to raise funds for UNICEF and the Manchester United Foundation.

NEW WATCH - EDOX - X-TREME PILOT III, The New Bad Boy

The over-sized push-piece captures the attention, its electric green evoking the lights indicating the start of a race. Designed for WRC drivers, the watch is in ultra-light titanium and the movement rotated through 180 degrees, makes for instinctive and enjoyable use.

As ever, the WRC collection features many inspired details: wheel rims embossed on the caseback, green oversize push-piece in anodised aluminium and a tachymeter scale on the dial.

The new X-treme Pilot III Limited Edition is a real tool for drivers. It is limited to 1000 exclusive pieces and comes in its personalised presentation box. Edox is the official timing partner of the World Rally Championships.


Technical specifications
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, date display, chronograph functions
Calibre: Edox 103, based on Ronda 5021.D
Diameter: 45 mm
Finishings: 316L stainless steel, black PVD coating on selected pieces, limited numbering of the watch engraved on a plate affixed to the case flank
Water resistance: 100 meters / 10 ATM / 330 feet
Dial: black carbon, green and white markings and indices
Glass: scratch-resistant sapphire with anti-reflective treatment
Strap: genuine black rubber (with WRC prints) with stainless steel clasp, embossed Edox logo

X-treme Pilot III Limited Edition - Available worldwide June 2011

Suggested retail prices : CHF 2350.- / EUR 1890.-

NEW WATCH - ORIS - CARLOS COSTE LE CENOTE SERIES

Fans of the Oris limited Edition Carlos Coste series will be jumping for joy right about now, because there is a new 46mm timepiece available for 2011.

Product Features

Oris Carlos Coste Limited Edition – Cenote Series
No. 674 7655 7184-Set Ø 46.00mm
Limited to 2000 pieces

• Automatic mechanical chronograph movement ETA 7750 with red rotor
• Hour, minute and stop second from the centre, subsidiary dials at 6, 9 and 12 h position.
• Titanium case with ceramic top ring and Superluminova inlay and screwed case back with Carlos Coste’s logo
• Pushers and screw down crown in stainless steel
• Automatic helium valve at 9 o’clock position
• Water resistant to 50 bar / 500 metres
• Black dial with applied indices filled with Superluminova
• Titanium metal bracelet with easy adjustable folding clasp

Set
• Multipurpose soft pouch, replacement rubber strap, tools for the bracelet change. Limited edition certificate

The new Carlos Coste Limited Edition Cenote Series boasts a number of original features to highlight Coste’s incredible feat (in 2010, Carlos Coste established a new Guinness World Record for free-diving, by completing a 150 meter underwater swim using no apparatus).

The essential minute counter glows in the dark for ease of reading and to indicate the time spent under water; a triangle on the 2 minute position symbolizes that Carlos would be reaching his own breath record of 2:30 minutes for a dynamic dive at this point, whilst a second triangle at the seven minute position highlights Carlos’s record of 7:30 minutes for holding his breath during a static dive.

The top ring of this watch is made of scratch proof ceramic, a plus for all extreme sports aficionados who need their watches to be as resilient as they are. The numerals and triangle at the zero position are filled with SLN to provide optimum visibility in darkness like that experienced during cave dives. The case back is graced by the Carlos Coste logo and the limitation number.

NEW WATCH - GIRARD PERREGAUX - SEA HAWK PRO 1000M

The GP Sea Hawk Pro has been around in a variety of iterations since 2002. It was a bold design in 2002, but the design now strikes me as a bit long in the tooth, especially circa 2011.

GP is not one to make any radical changes, but a rethink of the Sea Hawk Pro design might be in order.

On the plus side, the dial design is a pleasing matte black with subtle orange highlighting provided by the power reserve, small seconds, and minutes hand.

The 1,000 meter water resistance will make this watch popular amongst professional divers, but whereas in 2002 this watch had little company in terms of solid professional diving watches, in 2011 there is an abundance of choice for divers looking to purchase a true diver's watch.

BASELWORLD 2011 - HUBLOT - KEY OF TIME

This is the second piece in the Masterpiece Collection from Hublot. The first piece in this collection, the MP-01, was presented in January 2011. It was a barrel-shaped titanium watch with a shaped chronograph movement offering a 10-day power reserve thanks to its three barrels working in series, and produced in a series of just 100 pieces.

For Baselworld 2011, Hublot have introduced the MP-02 Key of Time.

The watch has three time-measuring modulations:
Position 1: If you want to savor every second of the passing of time: you can slow down the speed of the watch hands, dividing time by 4, whereby 1 conventional hour is represented as quarter of an hour on the MP-02 Key of Time display.
Position 2: If you want “real” time: select normal hand speed, to retain “standard” time, whereby one conventional hour equates to one hour on the MP-02 Key of Time.
Position 3: If you want time to pass quicker: you can accelerate the hand speed, multiplying time by four, whereby a conventional quarter of an hour is represented as one hour on the MP-02 Key of Time Key of Time display.

Other Key Specifications:
Reference 902.ND.1190.RX
Series of 50 pieces numbered from 01/50 to 50/50
Case in microblasted titanium (Grade 5), with black DLC coating
512 components
74 jewels
21,600 vph
Seconds via vertical tourbillon cage

It's a playful concept,  an interesting design departure, and an exercise in "what-if" thinking for Hublot, but its novelty would wear-off rather quickly for me, and I couldn't justify the purchase.

BASELWORLD 2011 - LOUIS ERARD - Excellence Régulateur Réserve de Marche

To celebrate its 80th anniversary, Louis Erard proudly presents a new line, the Excellence, comprising seven steel models – five for men, two for women – that are also available in pink gold. The showpiece, the Power Reserve Regulator, pays tribute to the regulator, a veritable symbol of precision in the field of chronometry. This timekeeper uses its own modules and houses the watchmaker's unique, exclusive complication. A round 40-mm case, a refined white case displaying the hours shown by Roman numerals in an off-center counter at 12 o'clock, a small seconds at 6 o'clock, and a power reserve at 9 are just some of the many sophisticated details accentuating the simple, classic lines of this extremely varied collection. Louis Erard has produced a real coup here in an haute horlogerie spirit at an affordable price.

I am a huge fan of this brand. Good, clean design and affordable pricing. This watch in particular is gorgeous!

Specifications

Movement:
Hand-wound, ETA 7001 RE9 calibre with in-house Power Reserve Regulator complication

Functions:
Hours, minutes, seconds and power reserve

Case:
Stainless steel, 40 mm
Anti-reflective sapphire crystal
Decorated back
Water-resistant to 50 m / 5 ATM

Dial:
White
Regulator with off-center hour counter at 12 o'clock, minutes at center, seconds at 6 o'clock
Power reserve at 9 o'clock

Bracelet/Strap:
Black leather with stainless steel folding clasp

Other versions:
Power Reserve, hand-wound, ETA 7001 RM 10 calibre with in-house complication; hours and minutes at center, small seconds at 6 o'clock and power reserve at 10 o'clock