Horological Meandering

One of the most useful complications, IMO, is the big date. With this post, I'd like to offer an overview of the proposals available on the market.

The photographic material has not been produced by me: the pictures come from the internet or they’re taken from catalogues and magazines. For each Maison, I suggest only a watch, except for De Grisogono. On this page, you’ll find the big dates whose operation is explained by a specific image or it’s evident for the transparency of the dial. Please find a second page with all the other proposals I have collected.

What’s your favorite big date?

Ciao!

 

A. Favre et Fils Phoenix 10.1

A. Lange & Söhne Lange 31

Audemars Piguet Edward Piguet Large Date Tourbillon

Blancpain Léman Aqua Lung Grande Date

Carl F. Bucherer Patravi EvoTec DayDate

Chopard L.U.C 150 “All-in-One”

De Grisogono Instrumento Grande Chrono

De Grisogono Instrumento Grande Open Date

Eberhard Extra-Fort Roue à Colonnes Grande Date

Epos Sophistiquée Ref. 3383

 

Eterna Vaughan Big Date

 

Girard Perregaux Vintage 1945 King Size

Glashütte Original Senator Rattrapante

Harry Winston Ocean Dual Time

H. Moser & Cie Perpetual 1

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grande Date

Maitre du Temps Chapter Two

Pequignet Rue Royal

Pierre DeRoche GrandCliff TNT Penta

Richard Mille RM011-Felipe Massa

Ulysse Nardin Sonata Cathedral Dual Time

Vianney Halter Trio Grande Date

Zenith Traveler Minute Repeater Alarm

This message has been edited by heartbreaker on 2010-06-27 14:44:25

Breguet Marine 5817BE/Z2/5V8

Bulgari Collection Daniel Roth Endurer Chronosprint

Clerc Hydroscaph Big Date Power Reserve

Concord C1 Big Date

Davidoff Very Zino Dual Time Big Date

F.P. Journe Octa Réserve

Frank Muller Cintrée Curvex Limited Edition

Jaquet Droz Majestic Beijing Grande Date Ivory Enamel

Kari Voutilainen Perpetual Calendar Observatoire

Maurice Lacroix Miros Sport

Mondaine Evo Gents Big Date

Montres De Luxe Classicone

Tag Heuer Grand Carrera 8RS Grande Date GMT

Tudor Glamour Double Date

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph

 

 i have to admit the Jaquet Droz piece has a presence and an aura which are hard to be achived by others . i personally love it the most .

 

 Faisal

my favourite big date would be blonde, tallish. intelligent, early 30's with loads of money, but i dont own one of those

the only big date i own is the UN Ludwig Perpetual so i suppose by default it has to be my favourite so far.

 

you have shown some great examples. some are very busy and other things detract from the big date, but others are purely date orientated and work much better.

i look forward to many more posts.

best

Graham

but The Vianney Halter Trio is for me the coolest watch with a large date
and one of the coolest watches around.
GEO

Very nice first post and particularly interesting to see the various combinations of numbers, mechanism and disk designs and orientations to display the final two-digit date.

 

Your post demonstrates the variety of solutions to the Grand Date display. I wonder which one takes up the least space within a movement, allowing the manufacture to place the display in different positions? I particularly like the appearance of rectangular date windows in rectangular watches, such as the Reverso.

 

I like many of the displays you show and I have a preference for a leading “0” for the first nine days of the month. The vertical date in the Epos is unusual and I like the way the disks overlap in the GP and the cutouts in the AP Large Date Tourbillon.

 

Ignoring all but the final appearance of the date display, my favourite is Vianney’s Trio.

 

Thanks for putting this together.

 

Andrew

It seems to have faded into obsurity... but that takes nothing away from this very well balanced example:


As I've stated before... I'm bewildered why there aren't any other examples like it.

The watch you have shown uses the panorama date also used by Glashütte Original. Unlike Union, GO normally placed its panorama date at 4 o'clock. Peronslly, I always preferred the Union way of placement, above 6. Meanwhile, GO, too, uses this placement with a few of its models.

Regards,
Marcus

I find the Laureato Evo3 moon to be one of the best looking big dates in the market, so does the Breguet Marine.

Welcome here, first.

As for your question, my favourite big date is between JLC and Lange...

Hmmmmm...Lange, with the Datograph,  closely followed by JLC with the 70eme.

Then, I would say... The U.N Sonata.

The funny thing is that I didn't buy these watches for the Grande Date, but for the Alarm ( Sonata ), the 8 Days Power Reserve ( JLC Reverso 70eme ), and the Chronograph ( Datograph ).

But the other funny thing is that the Grande Date is somehting you first see on these watches.

Great post, indeed.

Best,

Nicolas

When I hear the mention of big dates, I immediately think of ALS.

cheers

fernando

You can't go wrong with ALS' big date implementation. Love that button at 10 O'clock!

But first of all Lange 1 comes to my mind

The shown BP Aqua Lung Grand Date is a very nice sporty watch, which gives my dad lots of pleasure.

Oliver

I also think of Lange & Sohne, when the words big date are mentioned ans specifically the Datograph.

Welcome to the forum and what a lovely thread by way of introducing yourself.

By the way how many (if I may ask) of the photos shown are of your actual watches? 

You're Fernando The Merciless on this one...

Best,

Nicolas...Still hunting.

 

This message has been edited by amanico on 2010-06-28 05:20:19

Definitely my favourites as well.

I like GO's implementation the most...

Goh

Hi, great post!

I own several incl. ALS, Breguet, JLC, BP.

But my absolute favorite is Blancpain Aqua Lung. The reason is not only the big date but the incredible dial. I will not send a picture because NO picture can do justice   Aqua Lung's dial. It is three dimensional in a very interesting way and sometimes it is bitch black, sometimes dark blue. Furthermore, Aqua Lung is a relatively cheap watch.

Go to a retailer, put the watch to your wrist and ask if you can go outside with the watch to admire the dial. If that works, the only problem is that you might be willing to run...

Best, Kari

You forgot to mention the extra cool quick (!) switch at midnight

Oliver

I like to watch to the eyes of a charming woman - seldomly the change of the date in my Aqua Lung.

However, I am really of the opinion that Aqua Lung is very under valuated. I got from a Blancpain Boutique a brushed X-71 steel bracelet for this watch and now it looks and feels very "cool"  Compared with my PP Nautilus, AP Royal Oak or VC Overseas, my Aqua Lung does not feel shy. Furthermore, none of the other watches I mentioned can really compete with the readability of Aqua Lung.

Finally, Aqua Lung is not the slimmest of the above mentioned watches but it is so well designed that it really feels very slim. All in all, Aqua Lung is one of my favorite sporting watches.

Best regards, Kari 

you guys never sleep alone in hotels

Cheers
Oliver

Thanks! I like the big date on the Moser Perpetual 1 best, because it is presented without any dividing lines between the numerals. The Laureato Evo 3 looks similar but I think this is achieved by two transparent discs (?) so I would rank that second. Then, GOs big date, I think this is one of their biggest assets. As much as I revere Lange I do find that in their big date the different levels of the two numeral plates is not pleasing.

Best

Andreas 

Is that a 'double date'???

;-)

Looking forward to seeing more of your thoughts, Heartbreaker.

 

Cheers,

pplater.

Delusively, Art

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For your interesting replies, for your warm welcome and also for your congratulations! I worked on this post for several days and I'm glad it got this success. I'm also very proud it has been inserted between the "Editor's Picks" in the Front Page.

And now, let's turn to my personal views. The big date I like most is that of Girard Perregaux; apart from being well-proportioned, the sapphire disc for the units gives it a pleasant magic touch. Technically, however, I'm impressed by the Moser's ingenious simplicity as I'm intrigued by the Zenith's 3 disks big date.

Finally, to answer Topcat30093: unfortunately I don't have any of the watches presented here.

Ciao!

My favourite big date is by Lange... developed by JLC....

Cheers

I had the Breguet Marine and the Daniel Roth Athys III, which was not mentioned here.

I only have the Grosse Langematik now:

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