As part of their Geneva Watch Days presentation, Alpina unveiled several new solar quartz references in their Solarmetre line, which effectively places solar quartz movements made by La Joux-Perret in familiar Alpina references. It’s about the most natural move possible from a business perspective. Alpina and La Joux-Perret are both owned by the Citizen Group, who of course make Citizen watches and have been leaning heavily into solar quartz technology for years. The Alpina watches sit at a higher price point than the average Citizen, so the expansion of solar quartz across Alpina’s collection naturally begins an interesting conversation about value for enthusiasts who might have an interest in both brands.
The core of the release last week would have to be a trio of new Startimer Pilot Solarmetre watches. These are solar quartz powered versions of the still new Alpina pilot watch introduced earlier this year at Watches & Wonders. I think the value here is in the particular way these watches take advantage of the smaller La Joux-Perret quartz movement compared to their mechanical counterparts. The mechanical versions of these watches measure 40mm in diameter and a hair over 10mm tall, while the Solarmetre watches come in at 38mm wide and 9.3mm thick. That’s a meaningful difference in size, with the added grab and go benefits of solar quartz (Alpina says the AL-140 movements here will run for 10 months in total darkness, and of course it doesn’t take much light to charge these modern solar movements up, so they effectively run forever with moderate use).
Three Startimer Pilots are available in the Solarmetre guise. We have black and blue dials in steel, as well as a brown dial version in a PVD coated steel case. The color of the PVD is attractive and described by Alpina as “champagne.” To me it immediately conjures the popular “Mojave” colorway introduced by IWC in their ceramic pilot watches in recent years. This is obviously a different material and far less expensive, but the vibes feel similar.
Dials all have a prominent grain texture, as well as oversized lume filled Arabic numerals. We also get a date window at 3:00. The Startimer Pilots retail for $1,495 in steel with the PVD version coming in at $1,695.
Alpina has also introduced the limited edition Alpiner Extreme Solarmetre to celebrate their participation in the Route du Rhum, a sailing race sponsored by the brand that runs from Saint Malo in France to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadalupe across multiple days. Here we can again see that Alpina is choosing to size their solar watches down compared to their mechanical cousins, as they’ve also released an automatic version, the Seastrong Diver Extreme Automatic, which measures 39mm compared to 37.5 for the solar.
These are both aggressively styled modern divers incorporating bright colors and carbon fiber accents. The Solarmetre version features a black dial, turquoise chapter ring, and carbon fiber bezel insert, while the automatic piece has a turquoise dial (with a motif depicting the route of the race) and a carbon fiber compass bezel. The solar watch is priced at $1,495 and limited to 513 pieces, while the automatic is priced at $2,295 and limited to 313 pieces.
I’m a fan of the look and feel of these Alpina watches, but I suspect that your assessment of their relative value will depend on how strongly you identify with Citizen’s similar solar powered quartz watches, which have similar specs but come in under $1,000. Alpina is of course positioned as a more luxurious product and the small details in case and dial finishing are superior to what’s found in the average Citizen sports watch, but solar itself is positioned as a “value” option in addition to being one of convenience, so there is something anachronistic about a higher priced solar watch. That hasn’t stopped other brands from adopting the technology at even higher price points. TAG Heuer makes solar watches with La Joux-Perret movements, and Cartier made a very well received solar Tank a few years ago. Still, I think what’s truly interesting about these watches is that Alpina is taking full advantage of the physical benefits of the movements here and offering these watches in what will be a more wearable option for many. Alpina
