A few weeks ago, Watchuseek Team visited Laco in Pforzheim, a small yet prominent jewelry and watchmaking city in the German Black Forest. Besides seeing the remodeled workshop, and addition of showcases, we had got a glimpse of the future releases.
While we cannot discuss the watches in pipeline, we can now announce the release of Augsburg Taupe and Aachen Taupe limited-edition pilot watches. We can easily state that the consensus amongst the team was these fliegers were great and will do well for Laco. One more positive note to report from the HQ is that Laco is also going to introduce a variety of new straps to the collection.
Laco has expanded its entry-level collection, what they refer to as their “Basic pilot watches”, with two sophisticated taupe color dial variations of the Baumuster Type A and Type B fliegers. The dial offers a greyish color with a tinge of brown, also described as color of the French mole, which the French call as “Taupe”. Mole grey has always been a favorite of fashion designers, as this neutral color can be combined with virtually any type clothing and occasion. For Augsburg Taupe and Aachen Taupe, the taupe color is additionally set off by the subtle sunburst pattern. All together, these aspects give a cosmopolitan and refined look to the pilot watches.
The numbers and hour markers, as well as the hands, stand out in gleaming white. The SuperLumiNova C1 lume provides a refined after-glow shade of blue to ensure ease of readability at night and in poor light conditions. Apart from this, the dials of both new watches assume the instrumental look of the Baumuster pilot watches, which are solely geared to intuitive readability. The Augsburg Taupe model follows the typical dial type A of the observation watch with hour, minute and center second hands, and the Aachen Taupe represents the historic dial type B, with external minute markings, inner hour circle and center second hands.
The 42 mm stainless steel case with the distinctive and grip crown assumes the rugged appearance of the classic Laco pilot watches. At the rear, the sapphire crystal base offers a clear view of the movement. All Laco Basic Pilot watches are powered by reliable Miyota 821A automatic movement. However, unlike the standard version, the movement will be equipped with a second stop function (hacking) for these two models. The case back also has the engraved serial number. The watches are offered with a double riveted brown leather watch strap, which adds some vintage appeal to the modern flieger.
Augsburg Taupe & Aachen Taupe Specification:
- Pilot watches with stainless steel case, engraved limited edition number on case back
- 42 mm, water resistant up to 5 ATM, height 13 mm, flat sapphire crystal, sapphire crystal case back
- Automatic movement Laco 21 (basic movement: Miyota 821A), hacking
- Taupe colored dial with sunray pattern, classic pilot watch dial design type A and B
- Numerals, indexes and hands filled with Superluminova C1 Blue Line (blue lume)
- Brown calf leather strap with light stitching and rivets, 20 mm
– Limited To 500 Pieces
The retail price of Augsburg Taupe and Aachen Taupe is 390€. They will be available from August 2019, but pre-orders can be placed now. As a special promotion, Laco will raffle Aachen Taupe Edition 001/500 on their website and social media channels for four weeks as part of the release of the novelties beginning August 5th.
Editorial: Bhanu Chopra and Mike Stuffler
Photo: Mike Stuffler and Laco