Worn & Wound
Alpina Expands their Solar Quartz Offerings with New Startimer Pilot Solarmetre References
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...
