While Carl Suchy & Söhne might be best known for its elaborate table clocks and elegant dress watches, the latest release from the Austrian brand for 2023 represents the most casual and sporty timepiece that it has ever put forward. Officially launched earlier this year in Geneva at Time to Watches, the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere gets its name from the Belvedere Palace located in Vienna, and its name translates to “beautiful view,” as the building was created to offer an expansive view of its natural surroundings. Intended to embody Vienna’s relaxed attitude towards life, the new Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere offers an elegant and modern take on the classic sports watch concept, and it features a unique approach to the conventional date window that changes its location on the dial with each passing day of the month.
The case of the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere is crafted from 316L stainless steel, and it measures 40.8mm in diameter by 12.2mm-thick with 22mm lugs and an overall lug-to-lug profile of 43.9mm. The case features a fine media-blasted finish with high-polished facets on the tips of the lugs and a matching polished edge along the rim of the bezel. Due to the thick structure of the lugs and the way that they extend on the 3 o’clock side to almost form small integrated crown guards, the case of the Belvedere offers somewhat of a rounded cushion-shaped profile, and this allows the watch to organically sit on top of the wrist.
At the 3 o’clock location is a screw-down crown with a black lacquer-filled cap, while a recessed pusher sits at the 8 o’clock location and is used to advance the date display. A gently domed sapphire crystal (with anti-reflective coating on both sides) is fitted above the dial, and this further plays into the case’s rounded and modern overall appearance. The display caseback features a gold-plated ring surrounding the movement, which includes the engravings that would normally appear along the outer metallic rim, and although the caseback itself secures with a pressure-fit style connection, the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere still offers users 100 meters of water resistance.
Available in either black (“Night”), white (“Day”), or blue (“Danube”), the lacquered dials fitted to the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere feature a contrasting linear pattern that echoes the aesthetic of the dial found on the brand’s Waltz No. 1 dress watch that we previously reviewed here. The outer section of the dial features a concave profile and contains applied rhodium-plated hour markers that are filled with Super-LumiNova, while dial text is kept to an absolute minimum, both in terms of its size and quantity.
The “Carl Suchy & Söhne” name appears at 12 o’clock, while the “Swiss Made” signature (rather unusually) sits at the 9 o’clock location, with the words “Wien 1822” printed on the opposite side of the dial at 3 o’clock, which translates to “Vienna 1822” as a reference to the founding of the Austrian brand. The hands offer a rounded skeletonized design with luminous circular sections near their tips, although the single most unusual aspect of the Belvedere’s dial is what Carl Suchy & Söhne calls its “jumping” date display. Rather than having a fixed aperture in the dial with a date disc that rotates below it, the date disc itself is fixed, and the circular central section of the dial rotates, which results in a different location for the date window each day of the month.
Powering the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere is the brand’s Caliber CSS201 automatic movement, which is based on the Dubois Dépraz DD90000 series and therefore runs at a rate of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of approximately 42 hours. Unlike the micro-rotor movements made by Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier that can be found inside the brand’s Waltz No. 1 watches, the Cal. CSS201 fitted to the Belvedere features a much more conventional design with a centrally mounted rotor and less elaborate finishing. A quick glance at Carl Suchy & Söhne’s Caliber CSS201 will reveal a familiar core architecture, although the movement has been modified and decorated to be fairly attractive with perlage on the automatic bridge and a gold-plated skeletonized rotor that depicts the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. Additionally, due to the presence of the engraved gold-plated movement ring that sits below the caseback crystal, the reverse side of the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere offers a much more elevated appearance than if the brand had just opted for a traditional clear display window.
Fitted to the lugs of the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere is a curved rubber strap that is color-matched to the specific dial of each watch, and it tapers from 22mm at the case down to 20mm where it connects to the deployant-style folding clasp. The ends of the strap have a fitted design to offer an integrated appearance with the case, and they connect to the lugs with quick-release springbars to enable easy and tool-free strap changes. The sizing holes on the 6 o’clock side of the strap allow it to fit wrists between 140mm and 190mm in circumference, and the interior surface features a textured pattern inspired by the Belvedere Gardens to promote airflow and increase comfort. Meanwhile, the stainless steel folding clasp is signed with the Carl Suchy & Söhne logo, and it features a double push-button release design with a fine media-blasted finish to match the case.
Due to the fact that the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere does not use one of the brand’s micro-rotor movements, it costs significantly less than the various Waltz No. 1 models, and it is accompanied by an official retail price of $6,400 USD. While many companies charge more for their sports models due to their robust cases and added utility, it’s refreshing to see Carl Suchy & Söhne position its sports watch collection below its dress models, as the Belvedere is intended to live a more active lifestyle and be subjected to rougher treatment than one of the elegant and refined models from the Waltz No. 1 lineup. Additionally, due to the relatively limited output capacity of the brand, the first production series of Belvedere watches for 2023 will be created as a run of 100 examples, with each watch featuring its individual number engraved upon the gold-plated movement ring that sits inside the caseback. Despite being a very different timepiece than the Waltz No. 1, the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere still embodies the brand’s same Viennese-inspired design language, and it nicely toes the line between refined and sporty, allowing it to easily exist in a wide variety of different situations. For more information on the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere, please visit the brand’s website.
