HEAVY DUTY
Ready for your next adventure? Arm yourself with one of these sturdy timekeepers, designed to withstand the most extreme conditions
Arm youself with timekeepers designed to withstand the most extreme conditions
Nothing compares to the thrill of pushing yourself to the extreme, and whether it’s mountain climbing, flying, biking or diving, there is a perfect timepiece to complement an adrenaline junkie’s repertoire.
Designed for use in the coldest parts of the planet, Tudor’s North Flag is a Cosc-certified chronometer featuring the brand’s first in-house movement, the automatic calibre MT5621. Inspired by Tudor watches worn by the British North Greenland Expedition in the 1950s, the model’s monobloc case design with integrated lugs assures wearers of durability.
When it comes to racing, Richard Mille’s lightweight RM 36-01 Sébastien Loeb watch is the first of its kind, with a rotary G-sensor designed to visually display the number of Gs felt by a driver during acceleration, deceleration and cornering.
Known for reliable diving watches, Panerai’s latest addition to its Luminor Submersible line is the 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback Automatic Titanio, whose name pretty much sums up the watch’s functions. The 47mm titanium timepiece is water resistant up to 300 metres, and easily legible underwater with its luminous hour markers and hands.
Championed by actor Charley Boorman in the biker travel series Long Way Round, the Bremont ALT1-Z was designed with aviators and world travellers in mind. The latest version features an artificial horizon indicator and Zulu Time, allowing the wearer to display local time together with the official world time standard.
If you’re in a sticky situation, Breitling comes to the rescue with the Emergency II, the first watch equipped with a dual frequency distress locator beacon that will transmit your location, whether land, sea or air, to nearby aircraft and ships through a satellite system called Cospas-Sarsat.
BACKGROUND
A bright, young student of engineering and prosthetics, Buttet discovered that finding work in his field was difficult, and decided to accept a post at watchmaker Nouvelle Lemania, famous for its chronograph movements, to make a living. His first task there was to make movements for Breguet and Daniel Roth. In 1994, Buttet moved to Vacheron Constantin, later moving to Franck Muller as director of R&D. In 2000, Buttet and three partners decided to establish BNB Concept, a company that supplied specialist movements to brands that lacked in-house capacity.
One of the company’s first customers was Jean-claude Biver, then head of Hublot, who had a vision for the company and wanted an innovator he could trust and work with. It was a friendship that would result in an important partnership after
DESIGN FOCUS
In 2010 Biver asked Buttet to join Hublot as director of R&D. Within a year, Hublot launched its Masterpiece Collection, made up of limited edition timepieces, all with in-house movements that push the boundaries of traditional watchmaking.
NOTABLE WORK
Among Buttet’s first projects was the MP-02 Key of Time watch, which can be set to slow time down or speed it up on the dial, but with the timekeeping function unaffected. In 2013, Hublot released the MP-05 Laferrari watch, an impressively engineered masterpiece that incorporates the design codes of Ferrari’s Laferrari car and which has a 50-day power reserve. Next year, Buttet promises to reveal his most complicated timepiece yet.
FINE WINE US BASKETBALL STAR KOBE BRYANT WEARS HUBLOT’S NEW BIG BANG UNICO CHRONOGRAPH RETROGRADE KOBE “VINO” BRYANT, A MECHANICAL WATCH DESIGNED TO TIME BASKETBALL GAMES. THE LAUNCH OF THE TIMEPIECE WAS HELD AT A NAPA VALLEY WINERY.