This year Poljot International group celebrates 30th anniversary. If you are not familiar with this group - just a VERY SHORT history. The company was established on a roots of USSR Poljot German branch office by Alexander Shorokhoff. The first brand was Poljot International, followed by Basilika and then Alexander Shorokhoff. Brand Basilika was abandoned few years ago but a name stayed active as a product line inside the Poljot International brand.
Let's stop here with the history, you can find more about it on my web site here: Poljot international group or on the web site of the company here poljot-international.com/history.
Company took their anniversary very seriously and this year they already issued a lot of novelties dedicated to the anniversary. The main focus was/is on Alexander Shorokhoff brand. They issued several watches limited to 30 pieces (two of them are in preparation for the review, one is preordered), but the most interesting approach is the launch of the UNIQUE30 series of watches. On thirty Thursdays at 12.00 they launch an unique watch, one of a kind, based on some of their existing models. Most of the watches have specific dial, sometimes specific case, but the essence of the watch remains the same as the original line. At the time being 25 watches was already launched, almost all were sold within the few minutes after the launch.
For the Poljot International brand, anniversary is not celebrated with so many models. At the time being, only two watches are issued as dedication to the anniversary - Jubilee XIX and Jubilee XIX 2. By saying two watches I don't mean two models but two watches. One watch Jubilee XIX and one watch Jubilee XIX 2. So each limited to just one watch!
Both watches are very similar, the only difference is that first model has a yellow gold plated dial while second model has a rose gold plated model. I don't know if some third model will follow, but if it will, it will again be different to other two.
For the main picture of this review I took the picture of the watch from the PI web page. The reason for that is the fact that I simply can not take such a good picture plus that this is in fact the picture of my watch and not a picture of some generic watch.
You probably wonder how was I able to get the watch which is limited to just one piece. Well, quite simple. As a fan of the Poljot International group (what can be seen from my collection and number of reviews dedicated to the watches of this company), I wanted to have some unique watch. And I was frustrated that every unique watch that was launched and that I liked was sold out even before I was able to click "Buy" on their web page. So in a desperation I contacted Mrs. Kuhn, their sales manager and asked her if there was any chance to pre-book one of the unique watches. She kindly responded very fast and seeing all my collection of their watches she offered me one AS Unique30 watch and Poljot International Jubilee XIX 2, both at that time still not yet available for sale. I checked both and reserved PI Jubilee XIX 2 since AS Unique30 which was then available was for me not so interesting (BTW the model was Unique Avantgarde 4 - AS.UNIQUE.25, sold at once..).
So, what kind of a watch is this Jubilee watch? Well - as the name states - it is a watch with a tourbillon movement. Of course, the Poljot International is not a brand which would use high end movements (that line is reserved for Alexander Shorokhoff brand), so it is quite obvious that here we are talking about the tourbillon movement produced by the Hong Kong company called PTS. PI describes, that the hand wound caliber 3340 from PTS is used, which is refined, revised and adjusted by the watchmakers of the manufacture. I checked the PTS web page and I was not able to find the movement with 3340 signature, the very similar one is 3320. So it might be that base movement is 3320, but due to the revision and adjustments the movement is renamed to 3340. You can check PTS tourbillon movements here: https://www.ptsresources.com/?page_id=658
In fact Jubilee is neither the only neither even the first tourbillon watch from PI. Several others are in their regular offer. But what it interesting is the fact that other tourbillon watches from the existing regular production all use 3360 (3361?) PTS skeleton movements. So, this exact 3320 movement is used just for XIX and XIX 2 watches. To be quite honest, as I remember, the first tourbillon models from PI, which are not in production any more, were not skeleton watches and therefore it might be that those models did use 3340 movement.
Even though 3340 and 3360 movements looks the same, some important differences can be noted.
While both movements have day/night indicator (at 3.00), the complication which has its position at 9.00 is different. 3340 has a power reserve complication while 3361 has a GMT complication instead.
The second important difference is the power reserve. 3340 has 80h reserve while 3361 just 40h. Quite a difference.
Even though this is a tourbillon (where the influence of the gravity on the balance wheel should be reduced by rotating the wheel itself), the movement 3340 is not a top of the art from the accuracy point of view. Declared daily accuracy is +- 25sec a day. From the factory I received their measurement of +6 to +20 sec/day, depending on the position of the watch. On my regular all day and night daily wear watch runs closer to +20 than to +6 sec/daily.
In general, I don't like skeleton watches and I hate just open heart dials. The only exception, where open heart is tolerated, are tourbillon watches. At the end of the day, the open heart is in fact the main attraction of the tourbillon watch, right? But even though, I am still very demanding about the general outlook of the tourbillon with the open hart. I believe PI has done a marvelous job in this respect on this watch. Red gold plated engraved dial is beautiful, what I particularly like is the fact that the 12h dial is clear, without engravings. This just emphasize engravings around and on the other hand ensure better visibility of the time. Hands are blued, combination of dark blue hands on red gold dial is extraordinary. Of course, no luminova here...
A nice but hardly visible touch are small crystals on the power indicator dial. One crystal at the bottom and two at the top. When shorter part of the power indicator points towards one crystal, the power is full, when pointed towards two crystals, watch must be winded.
As I understand a picture of a day/night indicator is already predefined by the movement producer, what PI has added is a small bridge across the indicator, to which they added "Basilika" inscription. Since there is no "Poljot International" inscription on the dial, I as an long time collector of PI watches asked myself if this might be a rebirth of a Basilika brand. But as it is seen from PI web page, as said in the introduction, this Basilika now is not a brand name but just one of the production lines within PI brand. Beside XIX watches, "Alexander the Great tourbillon" is also a part of Basilika line.
If you check "standard" 3320 movement, you can notice, that PI has redesigned also the tourbillon cage. Here you can notice, that they used the cage to serve also as second hand (see the arrow at the end of one arch).
The very thin inner bezel (again plain and not engraved) is used for a bunch of additonal text. You can find "80h power reserve" on a 10.-12. o' clock), "Hand winding tourbillon" on 1.-3. o'clock, "limited edition" at 8. o'clock, "27 jewels" at 6, and "Made in Germany" at 5. A lot of (unnecessary) text, but on the other hand text is written on a such a subtle way that it is hardly noticed. You must really focus on and even take the magnifying glass to read everything.
The dial itself is by far the most interesting and intriguing part of the watch. The case is stainless steel, nothing special I can say. For my personal taste, a bit boring. Crown is of a shape already seen on other PI watches. quite big, oval shaped. With a PI mark on the top.
Mentioning the crown. A strange thing happened when the watch arrived. I tried to set up the time, pulled out the crown, and I pulled out the crown entirely together with the stem. As if the stem was not properly placed into the movement in the assembly phase of the watch production. No big deal in general. I of course contacted PI and Mrs. Kuhn offered me the courier service to come and collect the watch ASAP, but my local watchmaker put the crown back without any cost in just a minute. Maybe the transport of the watch had something to do with the loosening the screws, I don't know. But it is strange anyway.
As it is expected from this kind of watch, back plate is glass, on the edge it is stated that it comes from Unique30 series, that watch is 5ATM water resistant, with sapphire glass and stainless steel case. So, again nothing exiting here. Movement itself from the back side is quite boring, mainly you can see just the main plate. Text around is very classic, only Unique30 indicates, that this is a very special, one of a kind watch. For my taste one of a kind watch deserves more. I am missing some "one of a kind" statements here (or on the dial).
Watch comes on a high quality crocodile leather strap with pin buckle. Even though I like pin buckle, a more prestigious clasp would be a better choice for a Jubilee watch.
So, how does everything looks on the wrist? Basic measures are not too problematic, diameter is only 43mm, height is 14mm, with 20mm lugs. On a normal wrist size, very wearable. I have a very comfortable feeling. But even though, watch on a wrist seems big. It has quite an impressive look and it is very noticeable. The main rotating cage is huge, it is the main eye catcher. I would rather have smaller one, but the construction of the movement is as it is.
Strap is very soft, no issues here at all. Brown color is a good choice, dark blue fits fine as well, (blue hands and day/night indicator connect fine with the dark blue strap). Black color does not go well at all, also the stainless steel bracelet is not a good choice. I don't have a rose gold bracelet to try it but I would not wear it anyway.
Watch comes in a very standard PI box, same that is used for all other standard PI watches. The only difference is the booklet, which is again Basilika and not PI branded. As already complained - the unique watch should deserve an unique package.
What about the price? To be quite honest, even the price is not so unique. Price is 3.333 EUR with German tax included. That is just 400 EUR more than other tourbillon watches from the regular production. To make just one of a kind dial, using different movement for just two watches (again, maybe this movements are just old stocks from the previous tourbillon series!!), separate back case engravings,.. compared to other PI tourbillons price is more than reasonable.
Of course, for a lot of the watch lowers the main question here might be, does the German watch with a Hong Kong made tourbillon deserves such a price? Chinese watches with Chinese tourbillon movements can be found far cheaper. Can a horological freak fulfill an ambition of having tourbillon with such a tourbillon? Is a - now already well established - German brand watch with the Chinese movement so much better than a no name Chinese brand watch?
To be honest, I did not ask myself those kind of questions. I did not want to buy a tourbillon watch as a prime goal, my prime goal was to get a one of a kind, unique watch from the company which I like, for a decent, acceptable price. And that is what I got. That watch is a tourbillon on a top of it is just a plus.
At the end I have to give an official big thanks to Mrs. Kuhn for giving me the chance to get a such of unique watch and for all her support and fast response. Well appreciated.
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