Topper Fine Jewelers debuts its eighth “Topper Edition,” this time designed in partnership with Laco Watches. This new Laco Flieger Topper Edition is Topper Jeweler’s first pilot watch collaboration. It is characterized by a crisp white lacquer dial contrasted by heat-blued hands and hour markers – a configuration not previously available from the venerable German manufacture, and a detail that required new manufacturing techniques to achieve. This Flieger also continues a long-running tradition established by earlier Topper Edition watches, which have exhibited a fondness for white dials and blue detailing.

The Laco Flieger Topper Edition presents its classic aviation charm with a 42mm x 11mm thick stainless steel case, whose brushed and polished surfaces exhibit traditional Pforzheim finishing hallmarks utilized by the brand’s mid-century pilot watches. Inside, the watch is powered by a manually-wound Laco 98 movement (a Swiss-made ETA 6498 base), denoted by a running seconds counter at 6:00, and custom perlage visible through the watch’s sapphire crystal caseback.

In every Topper Edition watch, we like to utilize details or design elements that challenge our partners – in this case, it was one of the most iconic names in aviation watches, whose history stretches all the way back to 1925. Thusly, Laco enjoys a long history of heat-blued elements in its Flieger watches – though this detail is usually reserved only for the handset, as it was originally designed to amplify legibility in low light, in an era of pilot watches that pre-dated luminous material like radium, tritium, and the Superluminova we have today. For this Topper Edition, we sought to pay homage to those blued elements and maximize their presence on the dial by heat-treating all of the applied steel hour markers. The end result is a perfect match between hands and hour markers, which together appear black or matte blue in low light, then reveal a vibrant flash of color when hit with light – all the while ensuring perfect contrast and legibility in any environment – cockpit or otherwise.

Specifications:

• Manufacture: Germany
• Dimensions: 42.5mm, with 22mm lugs (49.8mm lug-to-lug, 10.7mm thick)
• Case: polished & brushed stainless steel, fitted with Sapphire crystal & caseback
• Dial: heat-blued steel hour markers & hands filled with BG-W9 Superluminova
• Water Resistance: 100 meters (10 atm)
• Movement: Laco 98 (Swiss-made ETA 6498 base with Elaboré finishing), 17 jewels
• Limited to 100 individually numbered pieces