Some watches for Christmas
Christmas is only a few days away but you still have time to send your letter to Santa and ask for a special watch… Frank Sans C will give you some ideas.
SWATCH X PEANUTS Holiday Chomp: Peanuts for Christmas!
The Peanuts gang is coming back with a limited-edition holiday special CHOMP!
This is not a first, the happy group of friends had already invaded the set of Frank Sans C video about watches for less than € 400. Our loyal Snoopy and his sidekicks are featured on this New Gent equipped with a red case in a bio-sourced material with a silicone strap on which are featured original black-and-white Christmas comic strips. The bold mirror dial displays the famous beagle on his doghouse with Woodstock on his belly and bone-shaped hands.
The watch also comes packaged in a red dog bowl design with black drawings (Christmas trees, Peanuts characters, etc.) by illustrator Schulz. A detail that makes it unique.
Price: € 140
Technical details:
Quartz movement
Water resistance up to 30m
Bio-sourced case material
Silicone red strap
Plastic clasp material
ORIS Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403: a revolutionary movement at the heart of this retro icon
Emblematic model from Maison Oris, the Big Crown Pointer Date (1938) follows the mechanic modernity trend while keeping its vintage look. This airmen watch displays its famous hand with a red pointed end that indicates the date.
Featuring the new Calibre 403 for the first time (which is a variation of the Calibre 400 revealed in 2020), this in-house movement displays an extraordinary performance. Chronometric accuracy of -3/+5 seconds per day (COSC accuracy is -4/+6), great resistance to magnetic fields (more than non ferrous components, including an escape wheel and a silicone spring anti-magnetic), a power reserve of 5 days, and a 10-year warranty are some of the features of this timepiece. All of this comes with a very competitive price.
Some details:
38 mm stainless steel case with screw-in crown
Sapphire glass, domed on both sides
See-through sapphire glass on the case back
Blue dial with Superluminova indices, numbers and hands
Black leather strap with quick-release bars
Automatic winding pointer date, small seconds developed by Oris
Subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock, fine timing device and stop-second
Accurate to -3/+5 seconds a day (better than the COSC)
Anti-magnetic, power reserve of 120 hours
10-year warranty by registering on MyOris
10-year recommended service intervals, 5-year recommended water resistance control
Price: € 2,900
Read our detailed article on this watch
MINI D DIOR SATINE: a couture watch
Four models, four possibilities, but most importantly four times more difficult to make a choice! Between the 19mm Mini D de Dior Satine, the 25 mm with a textile motif or set with diamonds, and the 36 mm version, I don’t even know where to start! Conceived as a silk ribbon, this jeweller quartet with a quartz movement conducts a poetic show. The Milanese mesh bracelet with undeniable supple and luminous qualities seems like a metal fabric. Equipped with diamonds indexes (on three of the four editions), the mother-of-pearl dial and dauphine hands express the purity of the object. The hardest part is to choose which one to buy…
References:
CD04011X1001 – price: € 2,800 – Read our detailed data sheet on the Mini D de Dior Satine 19 mm
CD047111M001 – Price: € 6,100 – Read our detailed data sheet on the Mini D de Dior Satine 25 mm with bezel set with diamonds
CD047112M001 – Price: € 3,100
Technical details:
25 mm
Steel, diamonds, white mother-of-pearl
Quartz movement
Water resistance: 30 meters
Swiss made
White mother-of-pearl set with 4 diamond indexes, polished Dauphine hands
Milanese stainless steel bracelet with steel folding clasp
Hours – Minutes functions
Two-year warranty
Reference CD043116M001 – Price: € 3,400
36 mm stainless steel case, bezel stamped with a textile motif, diamond-set crown
Water-resistance 30 meters
White mother-of-pearl set with 12 diamond indexes, polished Dauphine hands
Milanese stainless steel bracelet with steel folding clasp
Quartz movement
Hours – Minutes functions
Two-year warranty
VIGILO, limited editions L20: a new brand has arrived in the watchmaking world
Vigilo, which was founded in 2018, is among the many new watchmaking brands. The Maison has already established itself as a great competitor by presenting well-finished watches, with a sporty and sober design and a “tonneau” case featuring a round bezel. In other words: an efficient watch.
Powered by a Quartz Swiss movement (Ronda), the Vigilo L20 models are each limited to 100 pieces in pink gold PVD steel with beautiful glossy sunray dial (navy blue, dark green or chocolate) and silicon bracelets (very confortable to wear) of coordinate colours. Another version exists with a white dial and a chocolate coloured bracelet. You have already discovered them on our article about the video of Frank Sans C on watches for less than € 400. Another great thing to mention: the water resistance of 200 m for the case.
316L Surgical Grade Steel Rose Gold Ion plating 1micron
41 mm Diameter, brushed-polished finished, Crystal K1
Water resistant: 20 ATM / 200M
Blue, green or brown dial, sun satin-finish
Swiss Ronda 585 Quartz movement
High quality silicone band
Price: € 289
MEISTERSINGER Bell Hora: a friendly chime to alert to the passing of time
Renowned as the specialist in single-handed watches, the young Saxon Maison MeisterSinger celebrates its 20thanniversary. For this special occasion, the brand has created a new piece called “Bell Hora”.
This automatic reference in steel with a leather strap features a “sonnerie au passage”, which has become a rare complication in the watchmaking universe. As the name suggests, the watch produces a chime (a “ding”) to alert to the passing of time every hour… every day, and every night! No need to worry: a pusher above the crown (at 2 o’clock) can be switched off to let you sleep.
Details:
43 mm stainless steel case with sapphire glass with 4-screwed exhibition back
Water resistance: 50 meters
Ivory dial
Calf leather strap with crocodile grain
Basis Stellita SW 200 automatic movement with module
MeisterSinger “sonnerie au passage”, power reserve of 38 hours
Price: € 3,850
LIP NAUTIC GMT AUTOMATIQUE: the colour of the sea
Revealed in France in 1968 during the Olympic games in Grenoble, the Nautic-Ski by Lip was the first French watch to be water-resistant up to 200 m. The famous sailor Éric Tabarly used to wear one, for its reliability during his trips in high-sea. This year, the watchmaker is unveiling two new GMT references. One of them is this blue sunray dial with matching polyurethane strap. Named Lip Nautic GMT Automatique, this 41 mm complication watch displays a good value for money (€ 940).
While the timepiece keeps the same features of the original models, the second time zone brings the modern look. Powered by a Swiss calibre named “Myota 9075”, this function is visible thanks to a GMT hand lacquered in red with luminous material on the pointed end. Furthermore, the dial features a red and white outer edge that indicates day and night. This timepiece will certainly please sportsmen who want to break the routine.
Price: € 940
Watch reference: 671521
Technical details
Movement automatic analog Miyota 821A
Diameter 41 mm
Polished 316 L steel case
Date at 3 o’clock
Red GMT hand
Luminescent silver hour markers and hands
See-through case back
Dark blue bidirectional rotating internal bezel, operating in countdown
Crown at 2 o’clock
Sapphire glass
Water resistance: 200m
Blue polyurethane strap “Tropic”
FLIK FLAK: learning to read the time
We would have loved to see Frank Sans C disguised as Santa Claus to present this two Flik Flak models, but the production manager has decided otherwise! Well, let’s ignore this detail and present these two new best sellers. “Dinausoritos” and “London Flower” are here to help our kids to learn to tell the time in an original and fun way. Created in 1987, the “flik” (blue) and “flak” (red) hands belong to our childhood memories and will be a part of our kid’s future universe. Just like the others models from the Maison, these two editions feature dials with many contrasting colours to make it easy to read the time. Hours and 5-minute periods are displayed with numbers, while minutes are represented by small dots.
Each mini instrument comes with a cardboard educational clock that you can assemble by yourself, and a mobile application, developed with education specialists, that helps learn to tell the time.
These timepieces are powered by a Swiss made quartz movement and they are water-resistant up to 30 meters, which means that they are machine washable (up to 40°C). A little tip for you: put the watch inside a sock before putting it in the washing machine drum. Equipped with a Rilsan case (a material made from castor seeds), they come with a textile strap made of recycled PET bottles. There will be no jealousy this Christmas, since there is no age to be a collector!
Price: € 42
RESTREPO, El Caballero Sin Armas chronograph: make place for the oval case
Here is another very young Maison in the watchmaking universe: Restrepo perfectly expresses the multidisciplinary creativity of its founder Federico Restrepo. Beauty, cosmetics, perfume, fashion, jewellery, decoration… this passionate man that lives by no rule (freedom is his philosophy) has recently added watchmaking as a new way of expression. His own approach of time has led him to create these ellipse shaped (not to say oval) dials. A big change indeed!
The chronograph version selected for the video is a beautiful instrument that is no short on originality. Made of 316L steel, the watch displays a tri-compax dial with two blue chrono hands and a small silver seconds. It is powered by a well-known Swiss made calibre: the Valjoux 7750 movement, visible on the back. There is only one flaw: the positioning of the controls (pushers and crown) at the top does not help their handling.
Technical details:
316L stainless steel case
Dimensions: 48,71×37, 90mm
Thickness: 14mm
Sapphire glass on the front and back
Water resistance: 50 meters
White dial with applied chapter numbers 3 and 9
Luminous hands and markers
Swiss made automatic ETA Valjoux 7750 movement
Price: € 2442
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