Finally a straight-forward perpetual calendar watch, once again. Many companies attempt to breathe a breath of fresh air into the common set of complications, but sometimes it is just nice to see a simple classic. Not only is the look of this Chronoswiss watch basic, but so is the name being just the "Chronoswiss Perpetual Calendar" watch. The 40mm watch sits on the stealth wealth side of the fence being in white gold, that a few feet away is almost indistinguishable from steel. Love those classic long, thin lugs.

I believe the dial comes in silver or black (blued steel hands on the silver dial). Inside the watch is the Chronoswiss manufacture made C. 127 caliber movement. Wound via the large crown, and providing the time, perpetual calendar functions, and moonphase indicators. At $34,600 it is a classic looking and high value watch compared to prices from Swiss brand. Ironically ChronoSWISS is a German brand.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Someone mentioned to me a while ago that F.P. Journe watches were all starting to look the same. I tacitly agreed and then began to give the idea some thought. A watch company (especially one that does not release many models) has a tough task of keeping a brand identity secure, while at the same time delivering innovation in terms of design and function. F.P Journe watches each have a distinct character to them, which is important to preserve in each new watch. Though I do agree that many of the their models were starting to look the same with just the subdials doing new things. This new Octa Perpetual Titanium is a different matter because I sincerely get the feeling that this is a brand new model, but still characteristically a F.P. Journe timepiece.

The dial here features an off-center watch face and emphasis on the perpetual calendar with the retrograde date display taking up most of the dial. There are also windows for the day and month an an almost hidden leap year indicator located inside of the month window. Notice in the image the lower window that reads "BFE." The "B" is actually on a separate disc and is the leap year indicator. "B" stands for "bissextile," which indicators the 4th, and thus leap year (other years simply read "1, 2, or 3"). The time is easy to read in the functional watch dial that is applied over the face and features some light, but tasteful decoration. I further like how the subsidiary seconds dial is built into the design.

Titanium is the metal of choice for the 40mm wide case of the Octa Perpetual Titanium watch, a metal I am not sure that F.P. Journe has used before for cases. Inside the watch is an automatic OCTA Calibre FPJ 1300-3 movement made from 18k rose gold (nice). Having an all gold movement is rather sexy, and you are able to view it through he caseback window. I think that having a heavy gold movement rather defeats the purpose of having a light titanium case, but I am sure that F.P. Journe had their reasons. The watch is also quite thin at about 10mm thick. Overall a very classic looking timepiece that is undeniably F.P. Journe in character with a lot of luxury appointments. It does of course include its quirks, which makes for a well-natured luxury watch.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Covering all these new trendy gray watches has allowed me to realize one thing, no one can agree on how to spell the word "gray" ("grey?"). I am beginning to have no idea myself on what it correct. So I will just mix up the spelling a bit. It seems that all the nice brands have a gray toned watch this season, and German A. Lange & Sohne has announced their own - this time it is the beautiful Datograph Perpetual Calendar watch in white gold with, yes, a gray dial. The classy Datograph watch feels right in a sober feeling tone, which goes nicely with the blue trim on the moon phase and some of the hands. The main functional appeal of this white gold cased watch is the 30 minute flyback chronograph and perpetual calendar with moon phase and big-date display. The dial also features a small but useful day/night indicator.

The extremely complex L952.1 mechanical hand-made, manually-wound movement consists of 556 parts with the perpetual calendar that will not need an adjustment until the year 2100, and then again 122 years after that. The case is 41mm wide, while the dial in silver done is done with the gray tone. Everything about A. Lange & Sohne watches sing quality and refinement - not necessarily flamboyance and decadence as is the case with some other expensive watches. While not a limited edition, I expect the Datograph Perpetual Grey watch to still be quite rare - certainly a collector's piece if there was one.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.