The Fourth Wheel, Issue 60

From AP and Omega to HYT: Every Alinghi watch ever made, ranked from worst to best

Hello and welcome back to The Fourth Wheel! I have been somewhat busy recently - those who know me personally will know why, and those who don’t will find out soon enough - and one consequence of that is that I completely forgot that every ten issues of The Fourth Wheel I like to throw it open to you, my wonderful readers, to ask me any questions you like (but preferably about watches). So we will do that AMA next week, instead. You can reply to the email, you can message me on Instagram or Threads, or you can reply to this post, which shows you some of the questions that have been asked before. I love answering your questions, I promise to throw myself into them, and I look forward to hearing what might be on your minds.

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In the course of researching last week’s newsletter, I was struck by a thought. Has any sporting entity been quite as horologically promiscuous as the Alinghi sailing team? My dear own Manchester United has had three watch partners in my time - Bulova, Hublot and TAG Heuer¹ - but Alinghi really gets around. In the last twenty years it has had no fewer than five Swiss watch partners, most recently Tudor which as I mentioned, announced two carbon-cased Pelagos watches to mark a new partnership with Team Alinghi Red Bull Sailing. I thought I would try and track down every other watch that has ever worn the Alinghi logo, and pass my stern judgement upon them. By my count, there have been 16. Did I miss any? Let me know. From worst to best, these are the many watches of the Alinghi sailing team.

Hublot King Power Alinghi 4000, 2012

Sometimes, objects of great physical capability take on a proud beauty that belies their functional, no-nonsense construction. This is not one of those times. The original Oceanographic 4000m, Hublot’s entrant into the super-deep dive realm, had a certain something about it²; I could even forgive the carbunculous crown guard - very ‘Graham’, very 2010s - but the addition of carbon fibre weave has rendered this watch quite unsightly. A true famine for the eyes. But it ranks lowest on my list for one other reason: equipping a sailing watch with a depth rating that could explore the Titanic really is the height of pessimism.