The Luminor has always been an unapologetically large watch, as it should be because that is also part of its appeal. As a poster boy for the tool watch, integrating a perpetual calendar complication into this watch is challenging. Panerai cleverly divided the different functions between the front and the back, allowing it to give you a lot of information while maintaining a clean look. The functions on the front are the ones you use the most, like the day and date. Panerai complemented that with a second timezone complication, making this Luminor also a practical travel companion. For this model, the dial is partially translucent. This allows you to see the day and date rings underneath, adding to the technical look of the Panerai. It also makes it that the thick hour markers seem to float, which is a very attractive detail.

On the back, we find a traditional three-quarter plate in which Panerai integrated the month, year, leap year, and power reserve indicator. The rest of the space is occupied by an attractive gold micro-rotor and the balance wheel, which is placed under a full bridge for better shock protection. When fully wound, the movement has a power reserve of 3-days. It is safe to say that the back of the watch is as attractive as the front without compromising that tool-watch feel that, I feel, is mandatory with any Panerai.

The Luminor Goldtech Calendario Perpetuo PAM01269 is also a treat in another way, as Panerai will only make 33 of them. The brand invites the clients who buy them to visit Florence, Italy, the home of Panerai, and experience the city in a unique way. Buyers will also get an NFT to mark the occasion.

More information on the Luminor Goldtech Calendario Perpetuo can be found on the website of Panerai.

Images by Alex Teuscher

Inside ticks the well-known automatic manufacture caliber HUB1280 Unico, which offers a flyback-chronograph function and a three-day power reserve; the movement suspension in the four corners can be seen from the front and back. The side length of the watch is 43mm, the height is 14.5mm.

In addition to the above pictured execution in Hublot’s genuine rose gold alloy dubbed King Gold, which is available with and without a ceramic bezel, there will also be titanium and All Black editions. The watches are equipped with a new rubber strap distinguished by a waffle pattern that can be replaced by other rubber or leather straps via a quick-change system. The Hublot Square Bang Unico in King Gold retails for $39,900.

To learn more, visit Hublot, here.

One of these new models, the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar, joins the brand’s regular production and features a steel case and blue colorway; the other, a limited edition, brings this high complication to IWC’s military-aesthetic Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun series, specifically in its eye-catching “Mojave Desert” iteration.

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Blue Dial

Probably the more attention-grabbing release of the duo is the blue-dialed, steel-cased Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar. The watch is the first regular-production perpetual calendar in IWC’s flagship Big Pilot series in quite some time, and completely refreshes its classical design by staging its highly intricate but still rather legible calendar configuration on a deep blue field.

The watch is housed in the 46.2-mm brushed steel case common to the contemporary Big Pilot’s Watch collection, which has polished accents and stands somewhat tall on the wrist at 15.4 mm thick. The case features a large, vintage-influenced conical crown, which screws in to aid in the model’s 60-meter water resistance. The watch is secured to the wrist with a blue calf leather strap, fastened by a steel folding clasp.

Underneath the anti-reflective-coated sapphire crystal lies the main attraction, the blue sunray dial, which packs displays for all the various complications associated with a perpetual calendar but manages to be overall quite legible. This is in large part due to the enlarged, combined hour-and-minute ring along the edge of the surface, and the matching lume-filled pilot-style hands for the hour and minute at the center of the dial. Additionally, the various whites, red, and silvers used for the remaining features, while not as large or bold as the basic timekeeping aspects of the watch, nonetheless contrast quite well with the bright blue dial. Speaking to these remaining features, they include, at 12 o’clock, the double moon-phase that has become a signature of IWC’s perpetual calendars; at 3 o’clock, a hybrid date and 7-day power reserve indicator; at 6 o’clock, a month indicator; at 7:30, a year window; and at 9 o’clock, a combined day indicator and running seconds subdial.

Notably, this perpetual calendar lacks a leap-year indicator, and this is by design: the movement, Caliber IWC 52615, steadily keeps track of the quadrennial happening more discreetly than most other watches in this category. The in-house-developed automatic movement has a number of other capabilities, including a Pellaton automatic winding system, which is essentially a bi-directional pawl-based winding system produced from ceramic, and which allows for greater resistance to wear over time. The perpetual calendar aspect of the watch is also operated via a module dubbed the Kurt Klaus perpetual calendar module, which allows the user to more quickly correct the time if the power reserve has run out after a few days’ time. The excellently finished automatic caliber contains 54 jewels, beats at 28,800 vph, maintains a seven-day (or 168-hour) power serve, and is visible behind a sapphire caseback.

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert”

A follow-up to the well-received chronograph model released in 2019, the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert,” is visually very similar to its steel, blue-dialed cousin, but is differentiated foremost by its military-influenced “desert tan” colorway. The specific inspiration for the model comes from the landscape of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the Mojave Desert (hence its “Mojave Desert” nickname), where the U.S. Navy tests next-generation weapons systems and trains pilots to use them.

The case, here in a specially developed “desert tan” ceramic, maintains the same dimensions, at 46.5 mm by 15.6 mm. Its two metal elements include the crown, which is likely produced from steel, and the exhibition caseback showcasing the Caliber IWC 52615, which is composed of titanium, with a sapphire window. The dial features an overall matte look, primarily using a greenish brown, along with a tan tone for its details, and eschewing any additional red accents; subtle touches of gray can be found in the moon-phase. Overall, the watch is both a unique take on the classical complication and a supremely durable timepiece.

Price and Availability

Both the Top Gun and blue-dial editions of the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar are available now via authorized boutiques, with the Top Gun limited to 150 total editions and marked at $35,000, and the blue-dial version to go into regular production for $29,900.

To learn more, visit IWC, here.

This new Luminor Marina is foremost distinguished by its deep blue sunray dial, finished using a satiné soleil method and accented throughout with highly visible Super-LumiNova details. The dial hosts a familiar modern Luminor configuration, complete with sandwiched markers throughout — enlarged Arabic numerals for the quarter hours, with prominent tick markers for the in-between positions — and a subtle date window at 3 o’clock. Opposite the date window is a subdial, again using the sandwich dial construction, with a small, stylized hand passing over to track the running seconds. Passing over the whole dial are two straight, sword-style hands for the hour and minute. 

The model uses the familiar 44-mm x 15.65-mm Luminor-style case, complete with its faceted, pillow-style outline, thick straight lugs, massive encompassing crown guard, and smooth bezel. The sturdy brushed case offers a 300-meter water resistance, protecting the automatic movement inside, Panerai’s in-house P.9010 Calibre. This automatic mechanism is capable of a three-day power reserve and is hidden behind a solid, stylized caseback. The watch comes standard on a blue alligator leather strap, with an alternative blue rubber strap for those who opt for a sportier look.

In all likelihood, Panerai will continue its special-edition Luminor releases later this year during the fall season, but in the meantime this interesting blue model does arrive just in time for interested Paneristi hunting for their summer watch. The new Luminor Marina ref. PAM01313 will be available later this year, set to retail at $7,700.

To learn more and inquire for pre-order, you can visit Officine Panerai’s website, here.

1. Breitling Chronomat

Breitling Chronomat (1941)

Launched in 1941, the Breitling Chronomat was based on a patent document that Breitling submitted in 1940: patent number 217012 granted protection for an instrument-style wristwatch with a circular slide rule. This clever system made it quick and relatively easy to perform various measurements and mathematical operations, e.g., the conversion of speeds or distances from one unit of measurement to another, multiplication, division, and cross-multiplication. This new timepiece attracted many aficionados in sports and industry, and technicians appreciated its special features, which made their work easier. Later versions of the Chronomat with different cases and dials were the earliest ancestors of Breitling’s legendary Navitimer. The watch shown here contains Venus Caliber 175. A special feature of this watch is a counter for 45 elapsed minutes – a detail welcomed by soccer fans.

2. Breitling Navitimer

Breitling Navitimer (1952)

Don’t be misled: this watch’s name, which was trademarked in 1955, has nothing to do with the navy. The Breitling Navitimer, which debuted in 1952, was designed to help pilots coordinate time and navigation: it was equipped with calculating functions. Advertisements described this multifunctional device, which contained the hand-wound Caliber Venus 178, as a “personal onboard instrument.” The built-in slide rule enabled aviators to multiply and divide, convert nautical miles to land miles, and calculate averages, fuel consumption, average gain of altitude, and distances during ascent and landing. Fumbling with paper and pencil while in flight could be at least partially eliminated. Since it was introduced, the Navitimer has undergone various changes, mainly to its case and the calibers it housed, i.e., hand-wound, hand-wound with date, or self-winding, but no one has ever tampered with its most distinctive feature: its circular slide rule.

3. Breitling Chrono-Matic

Breitling Chrono-Matic (1969)

Sales of chronographs declined markedly during the second half of the 1960s. Breitling and its competitor Heuer formed a partnership to develop the first automatic chronograph and hoped that its launch would help counteract the downturn. The adventure began in 1965, when the two firms, along with Büren Watch and Dubois Dépraz, signed a contract to develop the watch; they called the venture Project 99. Büren was taken on as movement supplier because of its experience with micro-rotors. No other type of self-winding caliber could permit the rearward and thus service-friendly installation of the specially developed chronograph module because the small oscillating weight didn’t interfere with the two arbors of the elapsed-time counters. Furthermore, the date ring was positioned directly under the dial. Modular architecture also made it possible to install the crown on the left side, where it clearly showed that this was a self-winding watch. Breitling and Heuer (now TAG Heuer) were responsible for the design, the dials, the cases and the other components. The first prototypes of Caliber 11, which ran at 19,800 vph, were available in the spring of 1968. The official launch of the Breitling Chrono-Matic, the world’s first automatic chronograph with micro-rotor, took place simultaneously in Geneva and New York on March 3, 1969. When the curtains rose, the project had already consumed about half a million Swiss francs.

4. Breitling Emergency

Breitling Emergency (1995)

The Breitling Emergency, which debuted in 1995, was designed to save lives in critical situations. The Breitling Emergency was developed in collaboration with professional pilots. Breitling equipped the flip-open case of this big titanium watch with a micro-transmitter set to the international air distress frequency of 121.5 MHz. The transmitter of the Breitling Emergency could send signals via an extendible wire antenna if the wearer needed help. Once activated, the transmitter would repeatedly emit a 0.75-second impulse every 2.25 seconds. If transmitted from flat terrain, the signal could be received within 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) of the disaster site by search planes flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters (19,685 feet). Two lithium batteries in the Breitling Emergency provided enough power to keep the transmitter operating for 48 hours. The electronic time-measuring module, which could measure elapsed intervals to the nearest 1/100 of a second, also had a countdown function, an alarm, and a time display in a second zone. This information was shown in digital form. Pilots in aerobatic squadrons from many nations chose to wear these watches. (Click here to read about the newest version of the Emergency, the Breitling Emergency II.)

5. Breitling Transocean Chronograph Unitime

Breitling Transocean Unitime (2012)

Breitling’s headliner for 2012 followed in the footsteps of its world-timer Unitime, which made its debut in 1951. From a technical and functional standpoint, the new watch, the Breitling Transocean Chronograph Unitime, was light-years ahead of its historical predecessor. The improvements began with the self-winding manufacture chronograph movement and continued with the mechanism under the dial. All indicators could be set and adjusted, either forward or backward, via the crown. When a traveler reaches his destination, he rotates the new reference city to 12 o’clock. This action triggers the central hour hand, the date display and the 24-hour ring to reset themselves automatically; only the minutes and seconds hands continue to run unaffected. The technicians also thought of daylight savings or summer time: they included little sun symbols on the city ring that could be used to make one-hour corrections. Breitling offers the city ring with the cities’ names written in several languages. The 46-mm case is water resistant to 100 meters and, like all Breitling watches, is COSC certified. For more detail on the Transocean Chronograph Unitime, click here.

To read the entire list of 20 milestone Breitling watches, including the stories behind iconic watches such as the Breitling Superocean, Breitling Avenger and Breitling Cosmonaute, download the full article for just $5.99 from the WatchTime online shop.

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