Carl F. Bucherer Boosts Heritage Bicompax Annual With Reverse Panda Dial
Three references are now available for the well-received Annual Calendar Chronograph.
Carl F. Bucherer has added a third reference to its popular Heritage Bicompax Annual, an annual calendar chronograph with Grand Date display wrapped up in a mid-century design.
The 41mm Heritage Bicompax Annual debuted in 2019 with a two limited edition models; a stainless steel and gold bi-metal model with a champagne dial and a stainless steel model with a panda dial.
The brand, which belongs to family-owned watch and jeweller retailer Bucherer, selected this mix of complications, that is only offered elsewhere by likes of Patek Philippe, Ulysse Nardin and Richard Mille, and then priced its stainless steel model lower than many mid-tier brands would price their vanilla chronographs. This was only possible through the use of an ETA-based movement mated with a Debois Depraz module, which takes care of the complications.
Not only that but Carl F. Bucherer’s take on the Annual Calendar (or rather Debois Depraz’s) seems to exceed the original specification of the complication. These usually require adjustment once a year to account for the short month in February, however Carl F. Bucherer claims that its Annual Calendar accounts for 28-day months and only requires adjustment once every four years to account for the 29-day February of leap years.
All of this served to create an instant buzz around a watch that genuinely sat alone in terms of the value it offered, something illustrated by the fact that all 888 pieces of the original stainless steel model appear to have sold out.
Now comes the turn of the next stainless steel iteration, this time in a Reverse Panda dial configuration with silver sub dials sitting on a black dial. Again, the piece is limited to 888 and priced at £5,500 GBP ($7,600 USD) via Bucherer.
In other watch news, Audemars Piguet debuts a redesigned 43mm Royal Oak Offshore case in a $270,000 titanium chronograph.
