By Jovan Krstevski
As if a tourbillon is not that complicated at all, Angelus decides to bomb us with a watch filled with multiple complications that most of watch connoisseurs would certainly agree that could only be participated by the most skilled players which of course include Angelus. To break out the excitement to you guys, Angelus is not really a giant player since behind it is the La Joux-Perret that owns it which also happens to be owned by Citizen Japan through Prothor. Well, I am not here to lecture you on who is who but what is what, so let us delve deeper into the puzzling complexity of the new Angelus U30 Tourbillon Rattrapante watch. By the way contrary to naysayers thinking that the value of tourbillon watches going down the hill forces watchmakers to introduce radical concepts to fine watches such as seen here on the Angelus U30 Tourbillon Rattrapante watch, I strongly believe that there is more on the matter so I withhold any of my assumptions for now.
Going back to the watch something very particular about it is its marriage of classic modern components with the latest ones. Hence, we see multiple technologies integrated into one massive movement that includes a tourbillon and a double column wheel flyback split second chronograph featuring automatic winding and power reserve indication engineered in a beautiful mechanical fashion, yes I am talking about a fully skeletonized display.
The 47 mm case is appropriately sized considering the components involved and to match its beautiful presentation, it is coated in black perfectly matching its untreated grade 5 titanium bezel and lugs and the dark themed dial. It is very robust, to say the least, and the design of the bezel is very timely, I like the fonts used and the combinations and red and white highlights. The massive crown is so handsome that it makes the pushers around it disappear in the background.
As for the dial, well there is really none thanks to its highly skeletonized display. I know that some of you would like to see some fat hands and indices for legibility but in my case, the design is just perfect for those looking to the mechanical side of things. There are 15 visible wheels on the dial side but on the first glance there seems to be more. At the center are the hours and minute hands while at the 3 is the sub-dial for the 30-minute counter chronograph. Just below it is the column wheel for the split-seconds which is one of the main highlights for this watch as it is the famous rattrapante functionality of the chronograph. The power reserve indicator in red and green colors is located at the 8. We can see the 1-minute tourbillon at the 11 o’clock operating at 4 Hertz. There are plenty of skeletonized bridges on the dial so there is really an overdose of mechanical treats.
The Angelus U30 Tourbillon Rattrapante watch is powered by the in-house Angelus A–150 manufacture caliber designed from the ground up fitting all the components together in one massive integrated movement. Most of its beautifully engineered parts are visible on its dial and through its exhibition caseback as well. I can simply say that this watch simply belongs to the coolest and most impressive high-end chronograph watches in existence.
For more info, please visit angelus–watches.com
JOVAN KRSTEVSKI – FOUNDER, PROPRIETOR & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Jovan Krstevski has been collecting watches every since his father bought him an Omega Seamaster back when he was just a teenager. He launched Watchgeek back in 2011, which is now known as WristReview and is one of the most widely read watch blogs on the Web. He quotes ’WristReview is a site to help people find, explore, discover and enjoy wristwatches.’ Besides WristReview, he also writes for a number of publications. Read his articles here
