The Year Of The Chronographs
Second only to the ubiquitous date display, the chronograph, or stopwatch function, is the most common watch complication. This year was a particularly significant vintage for chronographs, including three that stand apart for technical milestones and sheer design audacity.
For A. Lange & Söhne, the chronograph may be a specialty, but the German brand broke new technical ground with its red-hot Odysseus sports watch, developing its first self-winding chronograph movement: the exquisitely hand-finished L156.1 Datomatic caliber. The Odysseus Chronograph (left, $145,000) is limited to 100 pieces.
Without the typical sub-dial counters, the 42.5-mm stainless steel model does not present as a chronograph. Instead, it tracks elapsing time with two center hands: red for seconds and a lozenge-tipped hand for minutes. The design preserves Odysseus’ clean aesthetic, with the brand’s signature big date and week day apertures at 3 and 9 o’clock.
When the reset button is pushed before the minute counter hand has tallied 30 minutes, it instantly jumps to zero while the chrono second hand spins a full revolution at lightning-fast speed for each minute measured. If the minute counter has passed the 30-minute mark, both hands go to zero clockwise, with the chrono second hand spinning a full revolution for every minute required to reach the full hour.
Grand Seiko’s Tentagraph (right, $13,700), powered by the new Caliber 9SC5, is an automatic high-beat chronograph that beats 10 times a second, ensuring optimal precision. Its energy-efficient escapement and two barrels deliver a power reserve of three days, even with the chronograph running.
An extension of the brand’s sporty Evolution 9 collection, Tentagraph is put through 20 days of rigorous testing to ensure it meets the brand’s accuracy standard of +5 to -3 seconds per day. The 43.2-mm polished titanium case is fitted with a ceramic bezel insert that frames the deep-blue dial exhibiting the brand’s Mt. Iwate pattern.
On the creative side, Bell & Ross teamed up with the award-winning designer Sacha Lakic of Blacktrack to produce the futuristic Blacktrack BT-06 café racer with a companion watch, the BR 03-94 Blacktrack chronograph (middle, $6,900).
Limited to 500 pieces, the 42-mm black ceramic Blacktrack echoes the faceted angles of the motorcycle, with its look of a stealth aircraft. Other design links to the bike include red accents and the superposition of the off-center chronograph second hand over the minute hand echoing the Blacktrack “B” emblem. This is not your grandfather’s chronograph.
