Introducing The Alpina Heritage Automatic, An Instant Classic At Geneva Watch Days

The life of a watch enthusiast can be a psychologically perilous one, inasmuch as it is a real-world demonstration of the first Noble Truth of Buddhism. This is sometimes rendered as The Truth Of Suffering, and it is an existentially indisputable factual assertion that suffering exists, although “suffering” is a bit incomplete as a translation; the word being translated is “dukkha” which also has connotations of dissatisfaction or unease.

Certainly, any enthusiast or collector who introspects honestly will detect in this observation a grain of truth; we tend to go from one watch to the next driven by desire but that desire is never really satisfied and while many enthusiasts cope with this by the simple expedient of simply, cheerfully adding more watches to their collections, there comes a time when some of us wonder – uneasily – why we cannot find satisfaction in just one watch. All the way back in 2013, which seems much further behind in the rear view mirror than a paltry eleven years, Jason Heaton wrote “Fantasies Of Being A One Watch Guy” and in it he expressed for us all the wistful desire, never to be fulfilled, to find one watch that’s all the watch you need. Certainly, if you could do it there would be less satisfaction and it would be one hell of a lot less expensive to boot.

I’m not a one watch guy either but I do sometimes wish I could be as the sheer number of watches I have quite unsystematically acquired over thirty or so years reflects in its disorganized  variety, what I suspect is an incurable inability to commit. However, there are sometimes rare occasions on which I see a watch and think to myself that it might be a contender for the Only Watch I’d Ever Need, in a world manifestly not this one, in which I’m actually capable of being happy with just one watch.

This year at Geneva Watch Days I was pleasantly surprised by the new Alpina Heritage Automatic. The Alpina Heritage Automatic is actually two watches, both influenced by Alpina wriswatch designs from the period just before World War II, when the wristwatch was for a number of both technical and historical reasons, becoming firmly established as not only an alternative to the pocket watch, but also the default type of watch, period. (The historical reasons include the widespread use of wristwatches by the various belligerents during World War I; the technical reasons include the development of antishock systems.)

The specific watch which inspired the Heritage Automatic is a diminutive 25mm; the Heritage Automatics are 38mm x 10.15mm, which would have made them oversized in the 1920s and 1930s, but which puts them in the Goldilocks zone for contemporary timepieces.

Cases are steel, there is a box sapphire crystal; the solid caseback screws down; water resistance is 30M and the movement is the Alpina AL-520, Sellita SW 200-1 base caliber. A date guichet is conspicuous by its welcome absence. The two watches differ in their dials. One model has black Arabic numerals with an ecru-toned dial and an outer railroad style minute track; the hands are wide, blued sword hands and there is a vintage adjacent legend on the dial reading “Automatic 28 Jewels” which hearkens back to the Good Old Days when an automatic watch was a big enough deal watch brands would put it on the dial.

The other version has an ecru center with a cream colored outer dial and bronze elongated Arabics at the quarters, with bronze stick markers in between. The minute track is slightly less elaborate and the overall effect is a little more design forward – the outer section of the dial with the hour markers is gently domed so it looks a little more three dimensional than its stablemate.

The funny thing about both watches other than the interesting intellectual exercise they offer, is how both manage to be more than the sum of their parts without feeling as if they’re trying so hard to be design forward vintage adjacent watches that you worry they’re going to hurt themselves. There’s an ease to both watches – this is purely subjective but I felt an almost palpable sense of relief when I saw them; yes, they take inspiration from a vintage Alpina design and yes there are definite vintage/pre-WWII design cues but ultimately both watches just seem content to be watches.

While I know that my being a one watch guy is a ridiculous pipe dream at this point, these both feel like contenders – simple but not simplistic, cleanly executed watchmaking that stands out from the crowd exactly because they don’t seem to be striving for effect in the least. The watch industry often seems to do better at generating hyperbole than producing interesting watches at a sensible price and the Alpina Heritage Automatics are a refreshing exception to the rule; the only source of dissatisfaction is trying to pick one.

The Alpina Heritage Automatics: case, polished two part stainless steel with sapphire box crystal and solid screw down caseback, 38mm x 10.15mm, 30M water resistant. Beige dial with matte finish and silver color outer ring with sunray finishing with printed bronze Arabic numerals and indexes; or beige dial with matte finishing, printed black Arabics and black seconds track; both models with blue PVD hour, minute, and seconds hands. Movement for both, AL-520/Sellita SW 200-1 automatic, 38 hour power reserve, running at 28,800 vph in 25 jewels. Price, $1795 on a calfskin strap with contrasting stitching; available starting in October. For more info visit Alpinawatches.com.