The start of the Legacy
In 2025, we launched the Original Legacy Edition.
It was a watch we had spent years thinking about. Feedback from thousands of collectors had given us an extensive list of details worth reconsidering, from case proportions and finishing to the movement and the way the dial behaved on the wrist.
The timing also mattered. We created the Original Legacy for the 70th anniversary of Chinese watchmaking, which began in Tianjin in 1955. For us, that anniversary was an opportunity to look at the 1963 chronograph with fresh eyes.
The result was not another variation. It was a complete redesign.
We refined the case to 40mm with a compact 46mm lug-to-lug measurement. We introduced a multi-tone sunburst dial that moved between silver, yellow gold and rose gold depending on the light. Real heat-blued hands sat beneath polished pin caps, while a three-dimensional glow-in-the-dark moonphase changed the familiar chronograph layout completely.
Inside was the genuine ST1908 manual-wind movement, upgraded with finishing including Geneva stripes and a swan-neck regulator.
There was a lot happening, but each change had a reason for being there. The Original Legacy was where we made the big decisions.
We made 1,500 individually numbered pieces. They sold out in just over three weeks.
That could easily have been the end of the Legacy story.
Instead, the response confirmed something important: the architecture worked. Collectors had responded to the proportions, the movement, the moonphase and the smaller details we had spent so much time reconsidering.
So, when we began discussing what could follow it, the question was no longer how much more we could change. It was what was worth keeping?
This is where the Legacy Burgundy Edition began
We did not want to redesign it again.
The temptation after a successful watch is obvious: change more.
We decided against it.
The Original Legacy had already set up the proportions and mechanical architecture we wanted. Beginning from nothing simply to make the next edition look new would have meant abandoning some of the decisions collectors had responded to most strongly.
So, Burgundy began differently.
Instead of asking what the Legacy should become next, we asked what another Legacy could feel like.
During the design process, we eventually found the simplest way to describe it:
The Original Legacy answered the question of form. The Legacy Burgundy answers the question of mood.
Why Burgundy?
The answer was not simply that we wanted a red dial.
In fact, one of the challenges was making sure it did not feel like one.
We wanted a burgundy that could appear quite dark in softer light and reveal much more warmth when the wrist moved. The sunburst finish gave us that depth without changing the basic Legacy architecture.
The silver, gold and rose-gold character of the Original Legacy made way for a deep burgundy sunburst dial and a wine-red genuine leather strap.
The 40mm case and 46mm lug-to-lug proportions stayed.
The more accurate, mechanical 29.5-day moonphase display stayed.
The genuine ST1908 movement stayed.
What changed was the character around them.
Some of the changes are easy to miss
That was intentional too.
The Burgundy dial stays flatter through its centre before curving towards the edge. The hands follow that profile subtly when viewed from the side. Polished pin caps finish their centres rather than leaving the mechanical fixing points exposed.
They are small decisions. Most people may never notice them. Collectors usually do.
While developing the Burgundy Edition, we kept coming back to one question: does it reveal more with time?
That became a better measure for us than whether a detail looked impressive in the first photograph.
The dial changes as the light changes. The moonphase progresses slowly. The movement sits on display through the exhibition caseback. Some details only become obvious once you have spent time with the watch.
That is part of the pleasure.
The same Legacy, with a distinctive character
The Original Legacy was brighter and more celebratory. The Legacy Burgundy is warmer and more restrained.
We do not see one as an improvement on the other.
The Original Legacy made the Legacy Burgundy possible.
It set up the architecture and showed us how collectors responded when we concentrated on the smaller details as seriously as the obvious ones.
The Legacy Burgundy Edition takes that same idea somewhere slightly different.
We only made 1,000 individually numbered pieces.
Not because a smaller number automatically makes a better watch, but because this is one chapter of the Legacy rather than a permanent replacement for what came before it.
The Legacy showed us what was worth changing.
The Legacy Burgundy started with knowing what was worth keeping.
