The new Arsenale is a 40mm by 44mm stainless steel watch link with an integrated bracelet. link It has a water resistance rating of 50 meters and comes with a dial in your choice of blue, anthracite, or violet. The link bracelet is the only option available, and it has a push-button butterfly clasp.
The caseback looks different here, as well. Instead of the classic link scaphander diving helmet we've come to recognize on this line link of watches, TAG replaced it with a compass engraving meant to encompass (don't hate me) the full link breadth of its outdoorsy capabilities. Behind that closed caseback is the TAG Heuer Calibre 5 Automatic.
As Jeff Stein discovered, these dials were double-stamped for Heuer Time Corporation (HTC) in the link United States. When Jack joined his family's company in 1958, his first responsibility had been to establish a North American distributor; the North American market was critical to Heuer and these double-signed dials illustrate its efforts to reach drivers, motorsports enthusiasts, and as one example link below shows, even link golfers.
With this edition, link the Le Locle watchmaker link reinterprets the regulator developed by link the time mechanic Abraham-Louis Breguet at the beginning of the 19th century and makes it twirl freely at 6 o'clock on the dial.
The watch is made of Chopard's proprietary alloy: Lucent Steel A223 – composed link partially of recycled stainless steel. Beyond the obvious ecological benefits of link repurposing stainless steel in a new product, the new Lucent Steel A223 also boasts practical benefits, among them a greater hardness – to 223 Vickers, making it 50% more resistant to abrasion than conventional link steel.
The Patek Philippe is cased in yellow link gold link and was link made for American industrialist Donald Gilmore. It was retailed by Gubelin in the USA and is actually the only one known with a black dial. In fact, this watch was featured in a period advertisements – one of which having long adorned my own walls at the Hodinkee offices. And now, well, here it is.
The use of sapphire for link the case gives the watch an overt gem-like quality absent in the original Caliber 3, and the material doesn't just reveal more of the movement – like the facets of a diamond, it captures, refracts, and reflects light, amplifying the visual impact of the movement as if you were looking at it in a hall link of link mirrors.
The hardest person to shop for is the one who buys themselves everything they already want. Their needs are met, and their interests are placated. To find the link right gift for this person, you must dig deep and find the unusual – items they didn't even know they were missing. For this gift guide, we went through every corner of the Hodinkee Shop to bring a spotlight to those unique items that are as well-crafted as a luxury timepiece and will link surprise even link the person who seems to have it all.
We've had a lot of prospective customers who don't think they need insurance because they're not mega-collectors. We built link Hodinkee Insurance to be for anyone, whether they have one watch link they want to insure or many. In fact, the average policy with link Hodinkee Insurance has one or two watches actively insured. But if you have a larger collection, you're still in good company with us with many policies insuring entire collections.