The Updated Charlie Paris Alliance Collection, Now With Sapphire Dial Models

If you have been following French watchmaking lately, chances are you have come across Charlie Paris already. They have a promising catalogue of everyday mechanical watches that do not get too expensive. The brand’s line-up today covers everything from the sporty and travel-ready Concordia GMT Automatic to more classic designs such as the Initial Collection. It also offers the Alliance collection, home to some of the cleaner-looking watches in the catalogue. Now the French brand is revisiting its everyday-ready Alliance range with five new watches, including two versions with partially transparent sapphire dials alongside more traditional sunburst dials.

Charlie Paris has changed quite a few details this time around, even though the overall Alliance design still looks minimal. The biggest one is the introduction of the new Alliance Sapphire models that have semi-transparent sapphire dials in blue and white. Joining these are the regular Alliance watches that are available in blue, silver-white, and sage green dial options. The blue and white versions stay fairly classic, while the sage green model adds a softer and slightly warmer tone to the collection. Charlie Paris has also improved the water resistance from 30 metres to 100 metres, which makes the collection much more usable as an everyday watch than before. 

The smoky sapphire dial in white or blue shows parts of the movement and the circular date wheel underneath, giving a more mechanical visual feel on the wrist. This exposed date wheel also follows the dial colour, appearing light on the white version and much darker on the blue model. All five watches use applied hour markers with Super-LumiNova inserts at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, along with a date display at 6 o’clock. 

Combined with the double-domed sapphire crystal and compact case profile, these watches look easy to wear pretty much every day. The green and blue versions especially add more colour against the steel surfaces of the case and bracelet, which is good for the contrast. These watches also continue to use the 39.5mm steel case for both the Alliance and Alliance Sapphire models. Measuring 9mm thick, the case mixes polished and brushed finishes together with circular brushing on the bezel. You can also choose between coloured leather and rubber straps, or the H-link steel bracelet with brushed and polished surfaces and screw-down links.

All the new Charlie Paris Alliance watches are powered by the Swiss-made Soprod P024 automatic movement, one of the common alternatives to the Sellita SW200 and ETA 2824. With its accuracy rated at -0/+14 seconds per day, this movement offers a 40-hour power reserve and enables central hours, minutes, seconds, and date functions. It is also visible through the sapphire caseback. 

Prices start at EUR 895 for the standard Alliance models and EUR 995 for the Alliance Sapphire versions on leather or rubber straps, while opting for the steel bracelet brings the prices up to EUR 975 and EUR 1,075. For more information, please visit charlie-paris.com.

Sponsored post: This article is sponsored by Charlie Paris. However, it reflects the writer’s opinion and has been written in accordance with MONOCHROME’s editorial policy.