THE CHARM OF YESTERYEAR
The Geneva-based watch brand is exploring its origins and equipping two new limited edition watches of 188 pieces each with its sixth in-house caliber.
The past decade has proven that vintage style – timepieces taken from a company’s heritage to be reissued, faithfully reproduced or strongly inspired by the past but equipped with contemporary innovations – is more than just a passing trend. Today, these retro-looking watches transcend the trend and delight those who appreciate the charm of yesteryear with a modern twist, like Alpina‘s two new Startimer Pilot Heritage Manufacture. This elegant pairing, available in 188 pieces per reference, relies on both aesthetics and mechanics drawn from its own archives.
The cushion-shaped steel or yellow gold-plated case measures 42×40.75mm and is 13.25mm thick. It incorporates the in-house AL-709 caliber, an automatic movement (38 hours of power reserve) that uses the “bumper” concept for winding but in the 2022 version. However, in this case, the rotor does not turn 120° before being sent back by a spring in the opposite direction but 330°. Its particular dance is visible thanks to the transparent case back. In order to better highlight the curved, bezel-less silhouette of the case, Alpina has chosen to play with the finishes, polished on the sides and brushed on the upper part, thus bringing out the grain of the dial, which is offered in metallic gray with blackened applied Arabic numerals and hands or in midnight blue with silvered elements. A railway timer with vanilla luminescent indexes runs around the central display of hours, minutes and seconds.
