ReviewIntroducing Alpina And Their Top Offerings
Cementing their position in the horological world for over 130 years, Swiss watchmaker Alpina continue to attain the most exacting horological standards with the introduction of their new iterations of regulator, aviation, diver and GMT timepieces
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Swiss watchmaking visionary Gottlieb Hauser firmly believed that Alpina would achieve unparalleled global success because his timepieces had unmatchable calibre, robustness, accuracy, and aesthetics. In 1883, he founded the ‘Alpina Swiss Watchmakers Corporation’, an association of independent watch makers. Hauser’s intention was to make the perfect watch for athletes, engineers, technicians and explorers. With the introduction of the ‘Alpina 4’ concept, in 1938, Hauser was able to turn this vision into reality. He brought a revolution in sports watches by defining the four characteristics of a true ‘sport watch’—a steel case, anti-magnetic, water-resistant, and shock-resistant. Then, in 1967, the brand unveiled their iconic Alpina 10, a professional diving watch with a 200m water resistance and an automated mechanism.
Soon after that, the watch industry was hit by the ‘quartz crisis’, and the brand was revived in 2002 by Dutch couple Aletta and Peter Stas (founders of Frédérique Constant). The Geneva manufacture still upholds the principles and innovations that Alpina was built on, producing professional sports watches in accordance with the horological requirements. Let’s take a closer look at their top six offerings.
Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic
Regulator clocks, developed in the mid of 18th century, are known for offering the most precise readings by separating the minutes, hours and seconds—the minutes take centrestage on the dial and are read with a large sweep hand, while the hours and seconds are consigned to smaller sub-dials. The Alpiner Extreme Regulator adheres to the traditional regulator layout, with the minutes occupying the standard position of the hours, and read by a central lumed hand.
On the granite grey dial, the hours are displayed on a blue sub-dial located between nine and eleven o’clock, while the small seconds are presented on an even smaller blue sub-dial located at six o’clock. The dial is caged inside a heavy-duty steel case measuring 41mm, inspired by the architecture of an earlier 2005 model. Flip the timepiece over to discover the brand’s in-house automatic calibre AL-650, beating at a frequency of 28,800vph, and ensuring a power reserve of 38 hours. The Alpiner Extreme Regulator can even accompany you on a dive, as it is built to offer water-resistance up to 200m. The timepiece is mounted on a navy blue textured rubber strap.
Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage Brown
Paying tribute to the first Alpina 10 Super Compressor diving watch introduced in 1969, Alpina launched Seastrong Diver Heritage. The new Alpina Seastrong Diver Heritage comes in a 42mm bronze PVD-treated stainless steel case. Much like in the original model, this version also features two screw-in crowns at two and four o’clock. The crown positioned at two o’clock is used to adjust the rotating inner diving bezel, while the lower crown at four o’clock is used to set the time and date. The Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage seen here has a brown dial with a cream-coloured rotating inner bezel. The colour contrast looks surreal, with rose gold-plated indexes and hands on the dial. An added plus is the small date window nestled between three and four o’clock. Housed within, the automatic calibre AL-525 offers a power reserve of up to 38 hours, and an impressive water resistance of up to 300m. The timepiece fits well on the wrist and looks sufficiently vintage with its brown leather strap.
Startimer Pilot Quartz Big date Chronograph
In keeping with its aviation heritage, Alpina introduced the Startimer Pilot Quartz Big Date Chronograph. This new watch is reliable, extremely precise, and with its oversized luminous hands, markers, and numerals, assures immediate readability.
Arranged in a tri-compax layout, the 1/10th-of-a-second and 30-minute counters are located at three and nine o’clock, and the small seconds, along with a large date window, is tucked at six o’clock. The timepieces are powered by the brand’s AL-372 quartz calibre. The two models presented here are sized at 41mm. The green dial with a matte finish, with beige indexes and luminous hands, is housed in a black PVD-treated stainless steel case. The other comes with a petroleum blue dial in a matte finish, with white indexes and hands filled with lume, caged inside a stainless steel case. Both the models are offered on a brown calf-leather strap with white stitching, which gives the watch a fierce personality.
Alpiner Quartz GMT
Faithful to Alpina’s DNA, the Alpiner Quartz GMT is a classic timepiece with a sporty twist. These new models with a GMT function significantly elevate the brand’s quartz series, while also maintaining their Swiss-made excellence. The 42mm stainless steel case comes in satin or polished finishes, with a sapphire crystal glass covering the dial. Around this is a two-tone 24-hour bezel, offering a clear view of day or night for the time zone you’re tracking with it.
The new Alpiner Quartz GMT is designed with readability and performance in mind. Aside from the standard hours, minutes and seconds hand for current time, the red pointer GMT hand keeps track of the domestic time, using the bezel’s 24-hour markings. Unlike the previous iterations, the date display has been relocated to three o’clock, guaranteeing that the Alpiner Quartz GMT has considerable updates. There are two different dial variations to pick from—anthracite grey with steel bracelet, or navy blue with a perforated leather strap.
Alpina Startimer Pilot Quartz Chronograph Big Date
For pilots and fans of aviation, the Startimer Pilot Quartz Chronograph Big Date embodies a love for flying. Based on the original model from the early 1900s, the timepiece is designed to be durable, readable, and accurate with reference to air travel. Besides the standard hours, minutes and seconds, the timepiece includes two prominent complications in fine watchmaking to quartz technology—the chronograph and the large date. The latter is an uncommon watchmaking complication that lets you to display the date on two different discs, allowing for broad format windows for easy viewing of the date. Powered by the AL372 calibre, the timepiece runs the 1/10th-of-a-second chronograph counter at three o’clock, with the large date window tucked inside the small seconds counter at six o’clock, and the 30-minute chronograph counter at nine o’clock.
The version featured here has a luxurious design and style, in a 44mm rose gold-plated case that houses a radiant navy blue dial with rose gold-plated hands and luminescent Arabic numerals. The dial is protected by sapphire crystal glass and embellished with three black chronograph counters. Strap this modern timepiece on your wrist with its brown calf-leather strap with off-white topstitching to elevate your look.
Alpiner Quartz Chronograph
Following in the footsteps of the classic Alpina 4, the brand introduced the Alpiner Quartz Chronograph timepieces with a quartz movement, known for its reliability and accuracy. With this high precision movement beating inside, the two new Alpiner Quartz Chronograph timepieces are far more accurate than any mechanical watch ever manufactured.
This sporty, Swiss-made chronograph with an information-heavy display features a tricompax layout, with the seconds counter at three o’clock with a distinctive red hand, and 12-hour and 30-minute counters at six and nine o’clock respectively. In addition, a date aperture sits at six o’clock. Available in hues of black and silver with hands generously filled with Super-LumiNova, both models are housed inside a 42mm steel case, with a 100m water resistance, and mounted on a steel bracelet.
