The latest addition to the Alpina’s family of watches is an amazing timepiece with aggressive and distinctive personality named Alpiner 4 Manufacture Flyback Chronograph Full Black.
The new Alpiner 4 Manufacture Flyback Chronograph is housed in a masculine case crafted from black PVD coated stainless steel. The sporty and robust case measures 44mm in diameter, 14.88mm in thickness and, like all the other Alpina timepieces, it is shaped into a precision timekeeping instrument, featuring ergonomically shaped chronograph pushers, screw-down winding and a setting crown, as well as a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal. From the rear, the screwed steel case back is encrusted with the well-known Alpina logo. The water resistance is assured down to 100 meters (approximately 330 feet).
I must say that the Full Black Alpiner 4 even looks larger due to its large opening of the dial and the absence of external bezel. The case features short and curved lugs for greater comfort on the wrist, despite the large dimensions.
Number four in the name of the watch means that it has four impeccable features (this concept was introduced back in 1938, with the first Alpina 4 model) of being antimagnetic, water-resistant, anti-shock and stainless.
The most important feature of the watch is its mechanism. The beating heart of the new Alpina’s timepiece is the in-house manufactured caliber Al-760 chronograph movement equipped with a flyback function and based on the robust caliber AL-710. It took three years for the development team to develop this caliber which features a balance frequency of 28,800 alternations per hour (4 Hz), center seconds and a date hand at the 6 o’clock position. The Alpina’s team of technicians acted in accordance with a wise saying from a French writer, Antoine de Saint Exupéry: “Perfection is attained, not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.”
The caliber Al-760 movement consists of 233 individual parts of which 96 components are used for the flyback module. The highly complex chronograph mechanism features a rotor operating in both directions and it is capable to store enough energy to keep the watch ticking for no less than 38 hours. The movement has no standard-type column wheel, but a star-shaped one which together with the operating lever is responsible for the exceptionally smooth operation of the mechanism.
The movement’s finishes include Geneva stripes, circular graining and blued hands. Also, the rotor shows a shape reminiscent of old bumper watches, even if classically rotating, which is a quite interesting feature.
Underneath the front sapphire glass lies a sleek, black dial with beige luminous applied indexes, and matching beige luminous hands. A telemeter scale is printed in yellow on the dial flange. The minutes/seconds chapter ring also features yellow nuance.
Alpina Full Black Alpiner 4 Manufacture Flyback Chronograph (ref. AL-760BBG5FBAQ6) is mounted on a black genuine leather strap with beige stitching. The retail price is $4,750.
