Alpina had hit a home run with their Startimer Pilot Limited Edition series. These 44m Stainless steel cases cam in a fairly wide variety of movement types (Selitta based 3 hand, Chrono and even a regulator). In today’s review, we will be taking a look at their in-house manufactured movement AL-710B4S6.
The Startimer Classic series all have a matte black dial with white Arabic numerals, nice sized white hands and their signature red triangle at the tail end of the second hand. While this movement displays central hours, minutes and seconds, it also has a date wheel at 6 o’clock, unlike the standard auto (AL-525B4S6). All models will also have sapphire crystals with anti-reflective coating.
The case design is simplistic, but very nice, and has a completely brushed finish. There is some polished accents on the side of the bezel, which add that little detail needed. The bezel is very thin and makes for a ton of dial space. It does make it easy to read, but also gives a slightly larger appearance than some other 44mm’s. The screw-down crown is large and easy to operate, it also gives it that “pilot” type look.
The strap is a black leather with folding deployment clasp. I personally prefer the strap to the bracelet variation, but to each their own. The strap is pretty long, and should accommodate to just about any size wrist.
The AL-710 movement (as I mentioned before) is designed and manufactured in-house by Alpina. The decoration is spectacular utilizing Geneva striping, perlage, blue screws and a beautifully deisgned PVD rotor (that also has striping). Another fine detail and patented design from Alpina is its escapement at 6 o’clock. Underneath the escapement, you will find micro-perlage, which I really enjoyed seeing in the movement. Alpina also rates their in-house movements to -/+ 5 seconds a day, which puts it right up there with COSC standard.
Overall, the Alpina Startimer Pilot AL-710B4S6 is a beautiful piece, and a tremendous value at $2,595 MSRP. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 1-800-486-3996.
Thanks for reading!
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