Forty-one millimetres of mountain marketing
By Hannah Lindqvist, Stockholm ยท
Alpina sells this with snowy peaks in every photo, and I'm exactly who those photos are aimed at. I ski tour most weekends from January to April. I own more buffs than handbags. So why does the Alpiner Extreme leave me cold?
Mostly it's the case. 41 mm across with integrated lugs means the bracelet leaves the case at full width and keeps going straight out, and on a 15.5 cm wrist that's how a watch ends up hovering past the edges. 12.8 mm thick isn't outrageous, but it sits high, and with a shell jacket cuff pulled over it you'd feel every one of those millimetres on the skin track. The 21 mm lug width is also an odd number, literally, so good luck finding straps.
Credit where it's due. 200 m of water resistance, sapphire, a blue dial with real texture to it, and under two thousand dollars. The AL-525 is a Sellita-based workhorse with 38 hours, which means if you take it off on Friday night and head into the mountains with a GPS watch instead, it'll be stopped by Sunday afternoon. Fine. Most things at this price do that.
Who's it for, then? Someone with a 17 cm wrist who wants the integrated bracelet look and finds the Tissot PRX too flat and too common. Not me. I'd love a 38 mm version, Alpina. I'm writing in English so you can't pretend you didn't read this.