One of the surprise standouts I saw last year in Geneva at Time to Watches 2023 was the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere, which is the Austrian brand’s dedicated sports model. While Carl Suchy & Söhne might be best known for its elaborate table clocks and elegant dress pieces, the Belvedere represents an entirely different side of its catalog, and it pairs a distinctly modern aesthetic with a unique date display that changes its location throughout the month. Earlier this year, Carl Suchy & Söhne introduced two new versions of the Belvedere (one in titanium and the other with a black DLC finish), and for its most recent release of 2024, the brand has created two additional Belvedere models with the names “Bordeaux” and “Champagne” that are fitted with either deep red or pale gold dials.
Aside from their updated colorways, the new Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere Bordeaux and Champagne models are otherwise identical to the original trio of Belvedere watches offered in either black, white, or blue. Crafted from 316L stainless steel with bead-blasted surfaces and high-polished accents on its lugs and bezel, the case of the new Belvedere Bordeaux and Champagne watches offers identical dimensions to the cases of its siblings, and it measures 40.8mm in diameter by 12.2mm-thick, with lugs that are set 22mm apart and extend to create a rather compact overall lug-to-lug profile of 43.9mm. A gently domed sapphire crystal protects the dial, while a display-style caseback is fitted to the reverse side of the watch, and water resistance for the new Bordeaux and Champagne models comes in at the same 100 meters that can be found throughout the rest of the collection.
Just like other Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere models, the new Bordeaux and Champagne colorways feature a signed screw-down crown on the 3 o’clock side of their cases; however, the crown is exclusively for winding and setting the watch, and a small pusher sits recessed into the side of the case at the 8 o’clock location to function as a corrector for the date display. Although the Belvedere’s case features somewhat of a cushion-shaped profile, the 3 o’clock side notches inwards near the winding crown to give the Belvedere a more modern and dynamic appearance. Additionally, since their lug-to-lug measurement is only a few millimeters greater than their diameter, Carl Suchy & Söhne’s Belvedere models offer a surprisingly compact overall package that easily fits a wide range of wrist sizes.
The dials fitted to the new Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere Bordeaux and Champagne watches offer an identical design and layout as the other colorways from the series, with a contrasting linear pattern throughout their surfaces, applied luminous hour markers, and a rotating central section that has a rounded oblong aperture for the date display. Rather than consisting of a rotating disc that shows the date through a fixed window in the dial, the central section of the dial rotates above a fixed disc, with the date window changing positions each day to reveal a different number. Additionally, while the handsets for the new Bordeaux and Champagne models offer the same rounded skeletonized design as the other models from the Belvedere collection, the seconds hands are now finished gold to better complement the warm hues of their burgundy and champagne-colored dials.
Just like the rest of the Belvedere collection, Carl Suchy & Söhne’s new Bordeaux and Champagne models are powered by the brand’s Caliber CSS201 automatic movement, which is based upon the core architecture of the Dubois Dépraz DD90000. As such, the Cal. CSS201 runs at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of approximately 42 hours, and it is fitted with a gold-plated skeletonized rotor that depicts the Belvedere Palace in Vienna, which serves as the inspiration and eponym of the brand’s Belvedere collection. To further complement its golden rotor, the movement is surrounded by an engraved gold-plated movement ring below the crystal, and the cumulative results of these aesthetic flourishes is quite a bit more ornate and aesthetically pleasing than what you would otherwise expect from a movement that is based upon this familiar Dubois Dépraz platform.
All of the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere watches are paired with rubber straps in their respective colorways, and the new Bordeaux and Champagne models receive the same style of strap that can be found among their siblings from the collection. Tapering from 22mm at the lugs down to 20mm on the underside of the wrist, the straps feature a smooth outer structure with an intricate pattern on the underside, which is inspired by the Belvedere Garden in Vienna and helps promote air-flow and comfort. Just as you would expect, the Bordeaux model is paired with a matching burgundy strap, while the Champagne version receives a strap in the same pale gold hue as its dial, and both versions are completed by stainless steel deployant clasps that operate with a double push-button release and are signed with Carl Suchy & Söhne’s logo.
While the titanium version of the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere naturally costs more than its stainless steel siblings, the new Bordeaux and Champagne models are positioned directly in line with the other colorways from the collection with an official retail price of €7,900 EUR (or approximately $8,750 USD, at the time of writing). While numerous highly compelling watches from major household-name brands also exist at this price point, the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere offers something a bit different from what typically exits within the luxury sports watch segment of the market, and the new Bordeaux and Champagne models offer a warmer expression of a design that has previously been dominated by more neutral colors, such as blue, gray, black and white. For more information on the Carl Suchy & Söhne Belvedere collection, please visit the brand’s website.
