It’s a new year and spring is in the air - time to come out of your shell with fresh and sporty timepieces that’ll set pulses racing
'New year, new you’ may be the oldest cliché in the book, but there’s a reason it rears its familiar head each and every year. After the lavish excesses of the party season it’s only natural we should turn our thoughts to simpler living - and a sportier aesthetic. Clean, lean and fresh needn’t only apply to our diets, with 2022’s selection of sporty timepieces showing a refreshing tendency toward minty-crisp brightness and lightness. That’s not to say we can’t enjoy a little excess along with our ice-cool watches - in fact, there’s some mind-boggling bling (and corresponding eye-popping prices) amongst the new launches. And there are also some ostentatiously complex technological developments - Richard Mille’s new butterfly rotor was three years in the making. But it’s all done in the preppiest of horological styles, fit for any fitness fanatic. Sizes range from Audemars Piguet’s dinky and ladylike 34mm Self Winding Frosted Gold Royal Oak, to the diamond-studded heft of Chopard’s 41mm Alpine Eagle Frozen. So if your new year’s fitness regime involves weightlifting, you may as well begin with some new wrist candy.
Girl Powered
What better vote of confidence could there be for an athletically-styled watch than to see a top football star sporting one? As captain of Spain’s national women’s football team, Alexia Putellas is a powerhouse on the pitch and has now found a new position in partnership with Hublot. At the announcement of her new role Putellas was pictured wearing a Big Bang One Click with a bright blue strap, the perfect young, fun choice for a sporty watch lover. The Big Bang One Click King Gold White Diamonds keeps the fun going with 42 impressive sparklers set into its bezel, while the ostentatious Big Bang Integral Tourbillon High Jewellery takes the idea and simply sprints with it - skeletonised, 484 baguette-cut diamonds and a plus-million dollar price tag. Footy never looked so good. Big Bang One Click King Gold White Diamonds, Hublot
The Ice Is Right
If anyone can do diamonds, it’s Chopard. It may not be the first name you’d associate with a sports aesthetic, but the new Alpine Eagle Frozen hits the mark with style - and serious bling factor. The entire 18-carat white gold exterior - bracelet, bezel, dial and even the crown - has been painstakingly paved with 872 diamonds, adding an haute dimension of gemsetting skill to this timepiece. Designed to evoke flakes of frost on a glacier, the diamonds aren’t the only impressive feature of this 41mm watch. A 60 hour power reserve and self winding movement prove some serious watchmaking creds - not just a pretty face, even if it is pretty impressive. Alpine Eagle Frozen, Chopard
Back To The Future
We all love a bit of nostalgia, especially when it results in such enticing design as the Breitling SuperOcean Heritage ’57 collection. Now available in a capsule collection of pastel hues, this timepiece harks back to a glamorous time of adventure and has a nautical, seaside appeal. And while the look may be sassy and sparkly, the Breitling 10 caliber is a COSC-certified chronometer with water resistance to 100m. Super indeed. SuperOcean Heritage ’57 Pastel Paradise, Breitling
Off The Deep End
If you’re looking for solid build and clean, stylish practicality then a timepiece inspired by a real-life endurance heroine should be everything you need. The Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Great White was created with Italian free diver Alessia Zecchini in mind, an update to the original Lady Diver which launched in 2007. The Lady Diver comes in three standard colours - deep blue, intense black and mother of pearl - but it’s the limited edition Great White that has real cool factor. A grey and white palette, diamond hour markers and domed sapphire are the very picture of marine chic, while the automatic movement’s water resistance to 300m puts it in the serious sports category. And at 39mm with a thinned-down profile, this may just be the Goldilocks of ladies’ diving watches. Lady Diver Great White, Ulysse Nardin
Float Like A Butterfly
Richard Mille and Rafael Nadal’s partnership continues apace with the newest edition of the ‘baby Nadal’ RM 035 collection, inspired by the RM 027 tourbillon timepieces that Nadal wears on court. This time round the RM watchmakers have gifted us with a nifty bit of horology that will fascinate any watch lover: the ability to adjust the geometry of the rotor, and therefore the winding speed of the movement, dubbed the butterfly rotor. “Previously, any modification of the rotor’s geometry needed to be done by one of our licensed watchmakers,” says Salvador Arbona, technical director for movements at Richard Mille. “We wanted to perfect this system and give wearers the possibility of directly acting on the watch’s winding speed. It’s like a driver being able to adjust the transmission style from city use to racetrack by activating the sports mode.” Of course, it wouldn’t be a Richard Mille watch without that heavy-duty look and feel, complete with skeletonised movement. A chunky and funky ‘Selector’ button controls the functioning of the butterfly rotor. But its proprietary white quartz and carbon TPT case (water resistant to 50 metres) and beautiful baby blue carbon TPT strap give this timepiece a lightness that evokes its new feature’s fluttering namesake. RM 35-03 Automatic Rafael Nadal, Richard Mille
Twilight Sparkle
Who said that wearing a diver had to feel clunky? Once again proving that the Royal Oak’s iconic status is well earned, this self-winding beauty from Audemars Piguet is all at once elegant, eye-catching and subtle. The polished lines of the octagonal bezel have all the charm of their larger cousins, but the 34mm version - first launched in April 2020 - is small enough to let the wrist do the wearing, not the other way round. In this new edition, the classic AP tapisserie dial carries a brighter hue of blue than seen before, set off so stunningly by the icy twinkle of the maison’s proprietary frosted gold finishing technique. With a 50 hour power reserve and a date complication, as well as a glare proof sapphire caseback for observing the pink gold oscillating weight, this is a whole lot of watch in a beautifully small package. Royal Oak Frosted Gold 34mm, Audemars Piguet
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