Line extension: Alpina, the sister company of Frédérique Constant, just presented these two new timepieces. I must admit I like them! Have a look and tell me what you think …
Alpina is not a new brand! Alpina was founded in 1883.
After several patents to ensure water-resistance and following the development of the famous Alpina “Block Uhr” in 1933, in 1938 Alpina presents the “Alpina 4”: one of the first modern Swiss sports watches.
The concept behind the “Alpina 4” was to combine the 4 essential features that defined a sports watch, in one single timepiece:
1. Anti-magnetic
2. Anti-shock
3. Water-resistant
4. Stainless
So together with a few other brands Alpina was responsible for the concept of the modern Swiss sports watch, as it is known today.
Alpina Alpiner 4 Automatic
The line is composed of three models with three different dial colors: glacier blue, black and silvered.
With the Alpiner 4 Automatic, Alpina also re-introduces its signature “Glacier Blue” colored dial, the distinctive blue of the Geneva manufacture.
Case
Stainless steel, 44 mm diameter with 360° bi-directional turning bezel
Scratch – Convex Resistant Sapphire Crystal
Water-resistant 100m / 330ft
Anti-magnetic
Anti-shock
Engraved case-back
Threaded crown
Movement
AL-525, Automatic Caliber, 26 jewels, 38 hours power reserve, 28,800 A/h (= 4 Hz)
Dial
Light blue dial with sun ray finishing, Silver dial with sun ray finishing, Black dial with sun ray finishing, all with applied silver lumina indexes Date window at 3’ o clock White luminous coated hour, minute hands
Strap
Brown leather strap with red lining or Black leather strap with red lining
Functions
Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date
Price ???*
And some mood-shots of the new watches…
Alpina Alpiner 4 GMT Business Timer
The watch features an easy-to-use GMT-caliber. The Alpina AL-550 “Jumping Hour” GMT movement allows to set local time by independently moving the hour-hand one hour by hour forward and backward, while the 24H-hand will always display you set home-time. This type of GMT-system (invented and first presented by Rolex in its GMT-Master II at the time being) is the most intuitive and the only useful one to read local and home time. If you loose your home-time when traveling and setting your watch, I´d recommend you better not to buy such a gimmick.
Both Alpina Alpiner 4 GMT Business Timer feature the 4 Alpina sports properties. Concerning anti-magnetism, the watches are certified according to the ISO 764 norm, which specifies that a watch must resist exposition to a direct current magnetic field of 4 800 A/m without any impact on its accuracy. Regarding the anti-shock properties both watches certified to the ISO 1413 standard.
Movement
Automatic, 26 jewels, 38H power reserve, 28’800 Ah
Functions
Anti-Magnetic, ISO764 certified to 4800 A/m.
Anti-Shock
Hours, minutes, seconds, date, GMT 24H, 360° turning compass bezel
Case
Stainless steel case, 44 mm diameter, Bidirectional turning bezel, Sapphire crystal, Water-resistant 100M/ 330ft
Dial
Black sun ray dial, Silver sunray dial with applied luminous indexes, Date window at 3’, Nickel hands with white luminous and Red GMT
Strap
Brown, Black genuine leather strap with red lining
Price ???*
And some mood-shots of the watches…
* Yes guys, I will add the prices of the watches as soon as Alpina confirms them …
I love them. They look great.
I suppose the 36 on the bezel indicates time zones? The reason this is a question is that I just Goggled and found were there are now 38 time zones.
So what is up with the bezel and how does it work?
Thanks.
Keep up the great work!
36 stands for 360 degrees. You can use it combined with a map (when you know where N (north) is…) and check out the direction to go to. Better be a boy scout…
Too much text and numbers on the GMT-modell (boy scouts will like it). But the “normal” watch with the glacier blue dial looks great.
Miss Alpina looks beautiful in her different dresses, will get plenty of offer to be taken out for dinner.
Your article says, “If you loose your home-time when traveling and setting your watch, I´d recommend you better not to buy such a gimmick.”
Please elaborate or clarify.
Thank you
When you set the watch at home to the correct time and reference time (=home-time) with the second hour-hand you must not loose either the minutes, nor the seconds when you set the watch again when traveling. E.g. arriving in NYC coming from Europe you simply pull out the crown in its second position and you only adjust the hour-hand in one-hour-steps. For NYC you adjust six hours to the back. Then when correctly set the hours the watch still shows the correct minutes and seconds since the adjustment process did not interact with minutes and seconds, because the movement continues to tick. And, the second zone-time indication still shows the reference-time set at home (=home-time). If a “GMT” watch does not offer these features it is useless and just a gimmick…
I agree completely. Does the Alpina GMT work as it should?
Alan
They should’ve added more text on the dial: a quote from the Bible, for example.
🙂