Vintage style is in vogue. Alpine has taken note of that fact, yet rather than reproducing an identical watch from the past, prefers to take atypical paths in order to showcase its patrimony. With the new Startimer Pilot Heritage Manufacture, the brand’s history is essentially expressed on the battery side of the cushion-shaped steel or yellow gold-plated case. Visible through the sapphire caseback, the new AL-709 self-winding movement – the sixth developed by the Manufacture – pays tribute to the “bumper movement”. Used by Alpina in the 1950s, it featured an original winding system with an oscillating weight turning performing a 120° rotation thanks to two springs alternately pushing it in opposite directions, rather than the typical 360° of a contemporary rotor. The new Alpina caliber revisits the aesthetics of the “bumper” mechanism by picking up the same shape for the oscillating weight, although in this version the latter performs a 330° rotation and the springs are replaced by blades. A technical curiosity that should delight vintage watch lovers.
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