ALPINA ENLARGES ITS TOP-OF-THE-RANGE COLLECTION WITH A NEW AUTOMATIC LINE AND “BUSINESS TIMER” GMT MODEL. THE ALPINER 4 COLLECTION INTEGRATES THE CONCEPT OF “4” THAT SERVED AS A BASE IN 1938, WHEN ALPINA INVENTED THE CONCEPT OF THE SWISS SPORTS WATCH.
The concept of 4
More than any other watchmaker, Alpina was responsible for the concept of the modern Swiss sports watch, as it is known today. After several patents to ensure water-resistance and following the development of the famous Alpina “Block Uhr” in 1933, in 1938 Alpina presents the “Alpina 4”: the first modern Swiss sports watch. The concept behind the “Alpina 4” was to combine the 4 essential features that defined a sports watch, in one single timepiece:
1. Anti-magnetic, 2. Anti-shock, 3. Water-resistant and 4. Stainless
Such had to be a sports watch, in the vision of the Alpina founder Gottlieb Hauser, to be able to tackle the entire vertical Alpine sports environment, from mountain climbing to alpine lake diving. In 2014, Alpina revived the Alpina “4” concept with its new “Alpiner 4” collection, dedicated to the Alpine sports universe.
The Alpiner 4 Automatic
Encasing Alpina’s AL-525 Automatic movement, the Alpiner 4 Automatic is a luxury sports watch offering unmatched performance and robustness due to its Alpina 4 sports features. The simplicity and effectiveness of the dial design underline the professional nature of this watch, while the 60min turning bezel allows for key sports time measurement functions. With the new Alpiner 4 Automatic, Alpina also re-introduces its signature “Glacier Blue” colored dial, the distinctive blue of the Geneva manufacture. A genuine leather strap with red stitching completes the design concept of this new 44mm watch line. The line is composed of three models with three different dial colors: glacier blue, black and silvered.
The Alpiner 4 GMT “Business Timer”
The new Alpiner 4 GMT “Business Timer” features an extremely easy-to-use GMT caliber. In fact, the Alpina AL-550 “Jumping Hour” GMT movement allows to set local time by independently moving the hour hand from hour to hour, while the 24H hand always displays home time. This particular GMT system is the most intuitive one to read local and home time. For business purposes, on this new model the 24H scale has been decorated with a distinctive red and blue “Pepsi” color scheme that indicates business-opening hours. When travelling abroad the 24H hand and the corresponding position on the 24H scale allows reading at glance if at home it is operating hours. Both models, of course, feature the 4 Alpina sports properties. Concerning anti-magnetism, the watches are certified according to the ISO 764 norm, which specifies that a watch must resist exposition to a direct current magnetic field of 4 800 A/m without any impact on its accuracy. Regarding the anti-shock properties both watches certified to the ISO 1413 standard.
