For a while now, I’ve wanted to review the “Hossegor” (previously the “Moorea Hossegor”) from French watchmaker Pequignet. The last time I reviewed a Pequignet watch on aBlogtoWatch, it was a very different type of product — the more expensive Royale Titane, which includes an in-house-made movement. The Hossegor is a lower-priced watch meant for near-entry-level luxury watch consumption that contains a Swiss Made Sellita automatic movement.
Design and construction-wise, the Hossegor is a light-duty sports watch with a lifestyle design element to it. That means it is a social sports watch meant for casual daily wear. What first drew me to the Hossegor collection was its legible, almost military-style, dial and focus on having some design personality rather than aiming to look like the other similar watches on the market. That said, at its heart, this is a diver’s-style watch design with 100 meters of water resistance and a unidirectional rotating bezel.
What is also interesting is that this is among the few 43mm-wide watch cases that wear small. This is due to the narrowness of the lugs because they actually feed into what is, essentially, an end-link. This version of the Pequignet Hossegor is the reference 4701443S, the “Black Titanium Hossegor.” The case is produced from titanium with a black-colored DLC coating that makes the surface much more scratch-resistant. This version of the Hossegor doesn’t come with a matching metal bracelet but rather an interesting black rubber strap that comes complete with titanium metal links. The concept is a bit similar to what some people recall from the Ulysse Nardin Maxi Marine collection of watches, which have the link in the otherwise rubber strap.
With Pequignet, the metal and rubber concept is taken even further. Not all, but most of the bracelet is made from this combination of metal links and rubber segments. The idea is a metal-rubber hybrid bracelet that is meant to combine the comfort of a rubber strap with the style of a bracelet. I like the concept overall, but I’m not sure having a cut-to-measure butterfly-style deployant is the best choice of strap enclosure. It means you need to cut the rubber to size, which limits your ability to resize or share the watch, especially because extra strap segments are custom to these watches and can ostensibly only be purchased from Pequignet.
French military and dive watch design is some of the best in the world, and even here, with a lifestyle sports watch, you can see a real focus on tactical looks and bold legibility. The otherwise black composition is contrasted by broad lume-painted white hands and hour markers. The “0” at the “12” o’clock hour marker is a fun style decision that reminds me of brands like Bulgari and Chanel, and the rest of the case isn’t cluttered with any necessary details (making for a proper “tool watch” aesthetic). Over the dial is a flat AR-coated sapphire crystal. The bezel is decent in design but could be a bit sturdier in the turning operation with the experience being closer to that of last-generation parts. Another downside is that the lume application seems a bit light given the amount of perceived space available for luminant material.
Insider the Hossegor is the Sellita caliber SW200 automatic movement (similar to an ETA 2824), which operates at 4Hz with about 38 hours of power reserve. I like that on the dial of the watch, Pequignet positioned the date window not to cut off an hour marker, as well as with a black-colored date disc to match the black dial.
If you are looking for a daily wear European sports-style watch that is still quite uncommon and will make you look “in the know,” a Pequignet Hossegor or other watch from the French company is a solid choice. It isn’t a perfect watch, but few that really have personality are. For the money, I think there is a lot of appeal here and feel that the Hossegor collection is one that really deserves some “next generation” consideration by Pequignet because the core design can be built upon and refined for even more enthusiast interest. As of writing, Pequignet is made even more exotic by the fact that the brand isn’t officially sold in the United States, right now (even though you can easily get them online in Europe, or other places). Price for the reference 4701443S Pequignet Hossegor Black Titanium is 1,400 Euros. Learn more at the Pequignet watches website here.
