The older generation of Steel Kings has been fried to the sky, and ordinary cousins can't reach them, such as Patek Philippe's Nautilus, Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak, and Vacheron Constantin's Globe Coast, Rolex Panda Di, and this year 2023, let's take stock of the rising stars who are more close to the people, and see if they can become the future "Steel King"?
1) IWC's new engineer
Budget range: 9
IWC's new engineers have a certain potential both in appearance and in the movement, and the design is also very appropriate to the previous generation of luxury steel king, which is also designed by the master of Zunda, in line with the elements of the steel king, such as: the use of: luxury one-piece case, ultra-thin design, thickness of 10 mm. The bezel uses 5 fixing screws,
The steel case of the IWC engineer is 90,002 at the public price, which is a low budget compared to other steel watches with a one-piece case, and other steel watches are above 100,000, such as Piaget 110,000, Chopard Mountain Eagle steel case 10.9, Girard-Perregaux Laureate 11.8, the new generation of engineers of IWC, but now it has become a relatively low one.
2)伯爵Polo
Budget range: 11
Piaget's brand is of a very high grade, especially in the jewelry collection, and it is one of the best in watchmaking with its ultra-thin movement, Polo is also listed among the potential steel kings because of its round and square case shape, which is a bit similar to the pp Nautilus or AQUANAUT, and Piaget also uses a one-piece case like other steel kings.
Piaget has always had a long history of expertise in the field of ultra-thin movements. The Piaget Cal. The 1110 P automatic movement is only 4 mm thick, and the overall watch is only 9 mm thick, but the disadvantage is that the design of the dial is not as complex as that of other steel kings, but uses horizontal stripes on the deck.
3) Chopard Snow Mountain Eagle
Budget range: 11
Among these potential steel kings, the recognizable Snow Mountain Eagle is also a relatively high-value one, and it has enough highlights. For example, the crown guards on the left and right sides of the case have the shadow of PP nautilus, and the bezel screws are the same as Audemars Piguet oak, all of which are combined to virtually improve the sense of class.
It seems that in the field of "Little Steel King", it pays more attention, except that the appearance is that the dial is different from other steel kings, other steel kings are using textures or small checkered dials, and the snow mountain eagle uses a rough radial pattern, which is more heroic than the conventional sun pattern, and it is said that this texture is from the retina of the mountain eagle. Chopard Cal.01.01-C in-house calibre, polished and performant, chronometer-certified, 60 hours of power.
4) Girard-Perregaux laurel
Budget range: 11
Among these steel kings, Girard-Perregaux's brand awareness is not high, in fact, there is a certain height in the watchmaking industry, once on an equal footing with Vacheron Constantin, Vacheron Constantin has used Girard-Perregaux movements for a period of time, the design of the laurel crown gives people the first impression and Vacheron Constantin's criss-cross is somewhat similar, are octagonal bezels, but the design of the laurel is more distinct than the edges and corners of the sea, but also more masculine.
Girard-Perregaux's workmanship details can definitely stand the test, and the grainy dial should be more textured, and Girard-Perregaux is incomparable to these steel watches at the watchmaking level, especially when Girard-Perregaux and Piaget are put together, it is obvious that Piaget is very thin. Of course, the shortcomings are also obvious, Girard-Perregaux's brand is not rich in gold content, low visibility, and there are too many materials and many categories in the Laurel series, resulting in a low value retention rate of a single model.
Summary of tips: All the potential of the steel king, each has its own shortcomings, I personally think that the new engineer of IWC will have a certain potential in the later stage, after all, the brand awareness is wide, and the design of the integrated case is from the hands of the master of Zunda, followed by Chopard's Snow Mountain Eagle, the appearance is relatively high, the Piaget texture is insufficient, the brand gold content of Girard-Perregaux is too low, so these watches have a good market in the hands of secondary watchmakers, almost fractures, if you want to know more about the situation of new watches or second-hand watches, you can leave a message to discuss, we will try our best to answer。
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