Carl F. Bucherer Manero Powerreserveby Marcus Hanke
„On the one side, the new A1000 movement is a thrilling development, with very promising potential. Its peripheral rotor permits flat and elegant watches, but is also solid enough for sports watches that tolerate more than an occasional blow. Additionally, it is a flexible concept, planned as base for a variety of extensions and modular additions.
... On the other side, CFB has done its new movement a disservice, with the choice of this case design: The EvoTec is neither as flat as would be permitted by the movement, but really thick. It is not elegant, but oversized and clumsy. Nor is the EvoTec as robust as its movement would be, but bulky and not satisfactory watertight.“Together with pointing out the mediocre performance of the movement accuracy-wise, this was the conclusion of one of my most critical watch reviews, more than six years ago. Its subject was the then new Carl F. Bucherer Patravi EvoTec with the self-developed A1000 movement, noteworthy for its unique peripheral winding rotor configuration.
Since then, I did not hear a lot about things having been improved, until one of the Carl F. Bucherer distributors advised me: „Give it another chance!“ And so I found myself with a new Carl F. Bucherer Manero Powerreserve on my wrist.
First impression:Although a substantial piece of watch, the Manero is not bulky or of ungainly appearance. It is that type of sportive dress watch that young and dynamic businessmen like to wear, if they have better taste than to combine a massive steel bracelet diver with their black or dark grey suit. You have no doubts that the Manero is able to accompany you even after you change the business outfit for a casual dress and go hiking into the nature. It breathes “value” every time you look at it, and whispers “take me out for a road trip, and then for dinner!”.
Case, crystal and crown:
The case is round, but not circular. On the crown side, the flank is sloping outward a bit to enclose the base of the crown - an effective protection of the latter, and much more elegant than dedicated, but mostly clumsy crown guards. With a diameter of 42.5mm and a height of 12.5mm it is larger than the average dress watch, but still within the size range of elegant sports watches. Due to its curved outlines, it does look smaller; a bit. Also the polished bezel ring with its concave curvature contributes to the optical illusion of a smaller and thinner watch. The lugs are curved down at a steep angle to comfort also smaller wrists and feature facets with varying polished and brushed surface finish.
The fully threaded display back shows the unique CFB A1000 movement. Surprisingly, the watch has a water tightness rating of only 30 meters. With a round case, fully threaded caseback, screw-down crown and the absence of additional holes in the case for corrector pushers, this is impossible to understand. I agree that the life of an elegant dresswatch is less demanding than that of a diving watch, but the Manero is - as I have already stated - more than just a dress watch, it is a sports dresser. While the fine alligator strap supplied with the watch is hardly a good choice for swimming, or taking a shower, it is not unimaginable that a Manero owner might add a nice OEM rubber or textile strap and take his watch for a holiday at seaside. I think a water tightness of 100 meters is both technically possible and feasible for a watch like that.
The top sapphire crystal is slightly domed and has an antireflective coat on both sides. The screw-down crown is relatively large and easy to grip.
Dial and hands:
Dial and the hands are a real highlight of the CFB Manero: The dial’s black-coloured surface is not simply plain, but sports various surface finishes. The center is brushed with a solar-pattern, so that direct light falling on it reveals that the colour is rather a dark anthracite grey and not pure black. The area of the applied wedge-shaped hour markers is bevelled and reflects light differently, as do the areas used by the indications of the power reserve and the small second.
The polished hour markers are accurately shaped and show no flaws, even under high magnification and sided light. White frames are printed around the windows for big date and weekday, which are displayed by a black font on white base; the opposite would make them less apparent and keep the dial less busy. However, as a fan of good legibility, I have to admit that black on white is easier to read. A small touch of red colour is added by the CFB logo and the “low” area of the power reserve.
The highly polished Dauphine-style hands are are perfectly executed, without any blemishes or particles on them. Their Super Luminova centers complement the luminous dots aside the hour markers, assuring very good legibility in the dark.
Movement:
Most buyers of a Carl F. Bucherer will be attracted by its style, but I am sure there are enough enthusiasts acquiring it for its highly unique movement, the cal. CFB A1000 with its most important feature, the peripheral winding rotor. Since earlier movement developments employing this construction principle, suffered from various problems (lack of winding efficiency, susceptibility of shocks, etc.), it is not astonishing that Carl F. Bucherer’s announcement of this movement caused some sceptical remarks concerning its future suitability in daily use.
Those making these remarks, though, mostly forgot that the A1000’s predecessors had to meet different guidelines: back then, the design of a very thin movement was of highest priority, in order to manufacture ultra-flat watches that were so popular. Of course the resulting under-dimensioned movement parts thus suffered from a lack of stability. For CFB, however, the situation was entirely different: the peripheral rotor’s main function should be to make the movement upgradable with a wide variety of additional complications. Normally, an automatic base movement can accommodate a complication module on its dial side only, since the rear side is occupied by the rotor and its winding bridge. The combination of several different complications requires either the development of a very complex, integrated module, or the stacking of several individual modules on top of each other. Neither of these options is service-friendly, and the latter also causes a complicated path of the power transfer from the base movement to the various modular mechanisms, or course connected with a substantial loss of energy in this transfer.
The peripheral winding rotor would avoid many of these problems, by permitting the placement of complication modules on both sides of the base movements, offering better accessibility and shorter paths of the energy transfer. When a rear module is absent, then the concept displays the whole base movement with its wheels and plates through a display back, combining the optical beauty of a handwinding movement with the comfort of automatic winding.
Of course the developers from the small company THA, which was later bought out by Bucherer, were well aware that such a rotor configuration would make it necessary to meet several challenges, in order to avoid the problems of the early peripheral rotor constructions. Consequently, they widely opened their box of tricks: to keep the energy loss due to friction as small as possible, the rotor is running on ceramic rollers, which themselves are effectively protected from wear by a coating with diamond-like carbon (DLC). Additionally, the rollers are mounted on spring-equipped rockers, making the rotor operation safe even when confronted with substantial shocks. According to the CFB engineers, the A1000’s rotor shock protection is even better than that of a conventionally ball-bearing design.
Another interesting uniqueness of the movement is the precision regulation mechanism, offering the possibility to separately regulate beat and rate, and to securely lock the setting. Especially the latter is very important for a steadily good performance after shocks and hits. The rest of the movement is conventional, including the Swiss lever escapement without use of new materials, such as silicium. Main reason for this is the supply with spare parts in the future, which is an important issue for a small and independent manufacturer.
Regarding the critical point of winding efficiency, I found the Manero’s movement to be very effective, as I also had experienced the A1000 of the EvoTec to be. Unlike the latter, however, this time the finish of the movement is very good: However, on one bridge of the winding mechanism I found a tiny fibre had settled in a jewel bearing.
This should not happen, but has no influence on the performance. Otherwise, I found no reason for complaint: There are no abused screwheads, no scratches and large dust particles on the bridges. The bevels are clean and straight, so the modernistic design of the movement can be admired without compromises through the display back.
Accuracy:Another big difference, compared with my first encounter with the A1000, is the movement’s accuracy. This time, only in one discipline, the difference between horizontal and vertical positions, the COSC chronometer limits are closely missed. Other than that, the watch could easily be a certified chronometer. When worn 24 hours a day, a gain of an average second is excellent. However, massive changes in the wearer's acitivity level might induce some variations, as can be seen in the table below.
Strap and clasp:Another change from the huge EvoTec with its needlessly complicated and uncomfortable deployant, the Manero comes with a conventional double folding clasp on the high quality alligator strap.
Conclusion:If I were to possess only one watch, this Carl F. Bucherer Manero Power Reserve would be a very hot contender for the role. It is equally elegant and sportive, highly practical, accurate and reliable. A very attractive companion. If I could improve something, it would be the water tightness rating, that is unworthy of an everyday accessory, and I would also reduce the size by a millimeter or two; the days of oversized timepieces seem to be over, and an elegant dress watch is generally considered large enough at 40mm diameter.
